Tarrasqing a Question

[Alain the Carnedge]

He was momentarily surprised by how Aang dealt with the situation. Alain expected the so-called "Avatar" to just let the spartan on board without hesitation. However, this expectation was evidently wrong, as Aang merely left it up to him and Kuzan to decide instead, though they did favor the "bring the stranger along" route as opposed to letting the man starve to death. Alain was obviously the most amoral of the trio, but he still wasn't a fan of straight-up stabbing the seemingly-innocent, at least not in public, and especially not when he didn't get anything from doing such a thing. He glanced at the spartan and decided that Kuzan could deal with it, whether he wanted to or not.

So Alain's new plan was to abandon everyone else for the moment and get to Darkshire before they did, which'd give him enough time to collect information and get some supplies of his own to increase his chances of survival. Death was still just an inconvenience if he was to believe that Primes just "respawn", but the body parts of a Tarrasque were likely to sell high to the right people. None of the group seemed like businessmen, except perhaps the bloodsucker, so he assumed they'd leave the corpse alone if they lived to see it. So his main goal when the fight begun was self-preservation. No kicking anyone out of the way of an incoming attack so he could take it instead, no taking unnecessary risks that might end in an untimely demise. Secure an escape route if possible on the off chance all else failed, and take note of how this thing fought so if he was forced to try again, his chances would drastically increase. So, in the interest of getting to his destination ASAP, he started to summon some transport.

He hoped that the primes were familiar with summoning by now so that it worked as a cover just in case someone actually noticed his staring during the analysis. Just not familiar enough to notice that the summoning shouldn't have taken as long as it seemed to. He'd be surprised if they weren't, but it didn't matter quite that much. He could just pretend he had no idea what they were talking about if they were to ask about it. Yes, it would seem incredibly weird, but they didn't have a way of finding out about the analysis magic that wasn't Alain giving them the information himself. Unless the tall man, vampire, or the girl had the same type of ability or some kind of advanced technology, which seemed unlikely though not certain. He glanced at Kuzan out of the corner of his eye, quickly activating the analysis so he could check the information later as he started to concentrate again.

He thought that he vaguely heard someone speaking to him, but he ignored it. Summoning required his full undivided attention, and all had to go according to plan, or this could end badly...but, in spite of himself, the mercenary almost grinned underneath his hood. Just a few right moves behind the team's back and he had a much better chance at survival than anyone else. Perhaps Alain might've felt a twinge of guilt about not preparing everyone equally that would've been very quickly eradicated, but seeing as nobody here could apparently die, there was not a single stain on his conscience. But despite how excited he was for the upcoming battle, the mercenary wanted nothing more than to hurl a few insults or snide comments at his companions. Even the most dedicated of actors felt a distinct urge to drop their facade of politeness so that they could wreak some havoc the old fashioned way. But alas, that option was far from available. Soon, said a voice in the back of his mind, apparently unperturbed by his attempts to summon some transportation without any interruptions. Soon.

As the rainbow colours started to take shape, Alain was resisting the urge to walk instead. Minutes of standing still and waiting just wasn't for him, moving at all would've been preferable. If he didn't know that taking the stroll would've taken even longer, he might've actually walked. But he persevered regardless, waiting for minutes and minutes for his transportation to arrive, not daring to look at the tall man's profile on the off chance that his change in focus would force him to do everything all over again.
But soon enough, (a few minutes of dead silence and intense boredom) a white horse was revealed from the rainbow bubble, which would look astonishingly like a unicorn if it had a horn...or an arrow in it's head. Relieved that he could finally leave and completely unaware if the other two had followed Aang already, he quickly saddled up without so much as a glance back, and set off through the forest.

Alain checked Kuzan's profile before he was attacked by vampires, or werewolves, or werepires. It wasn't going to be fun if he had to fight while on a job, even without the majority of his vision obstructed. The tall man was apparently an ice magic user that had the ability to create blades, spikes, spears, the ability to freeze others, and he could create some frozen bird...thing. Also, he had the ability to turn himself into a type of medieval ice knight, and he was a good jumper who could use the same "burst" trick that Alain could. Ice magic didn't come as too much of a surprise considering that they didn't seem to have a weapon on-hand, and definitely didn't look like they had super strength. Ice was very versatile in his universe, (as it apparently was in Kuzan's) and seemed a good fit for him. Kuzan actually didn't seem like he'd be that out of place in Alain's own universe, but he'd never heard the name before. Keeping track of where everyone was from was a pain, so he didn't try. The spartan said he was from "ancient sparta", which didn't ring any bells, so Alain assumed it was another person from another universe, though Ancient Sparta sounded like some kind of pit in the depths of hell to him.

Then the profile disappeared, and Alain let out a sigh just as his horse left the forest. Just him, the wasteland, and his horse now. He knew where he was going, just not how long it'd take to get there. Either way, he knew it wasn't going to be an action-packed journey. It was still a pale lifeless wasteland that reeked of death no matter where you went. Alain almost missed the manor already, but not so much that he was tempted to go back. He'd begun this quest now, and now he had to finish what he'd started. Get to Darkshire, get supplies and information, go back, leave again, fight evil beast that hates people. Simple, really, it just wasn't very exciting. There's only a few ways that you can entertain yourself while riding on a horse through what is basically Hell with less fire. Playing I-Spy against yourself is not one of them, as he soon found out. Unfortunately, over-preparing himself didn't give him anyone to talk to on the journey, though the way back was fair game. One of the things that kept him going was the mere idea of having some guards that he could be rude to, though he lamented that he couldn't injure others or make thinly-veiled death threats without getting immediately butchered by the skeletons. And perhaps his new comrades when they got there, with or without the spartan. So, tired and bored, Alain opened his dataverse device so he had something to do on the trip.