The Furry Forums
Creative Arts and Media => Roleplay => Serious RP => Topic started by: fireheart126 on October 04, 2013, 02:49:40 AM
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((Please only post IC posts on this board. Everything else, including Character Creation, must take place in the OOC thread. I moved the Character Creation to the OOC thread Here: http://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=23463.msg1039238#msg1039238 (http://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=23463.msg1039238#msg1039238)
-Cho'Gath))
The setting is the streets of Konoro City. It is bustling with activity as the markets are open. Syaoran Kitesun is walking down the street at a leisurely pace, thankful he has a day-off to romp around in his hometown. He kept an eye out for someone he might want to talk to.
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Incendium walked down the bustling street of the always busy market district of Konoro City, a stride in his step as he approached the venders with his robe flowing behind him. The masked man looked very out of place in the city, dressing as though it was winter. His mask was the most peculiar part of his outfit, lacking eye holes it instead only had a series of small glowing holes where the eyes would be. The lack of compensation for any muzzle in the mask though, showed that he was probably human.
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"WWWWAAAAHHHHOOOO!!!! Comin' through!" I shouted as I come bolting down the street and break-neck speeds, propelling myself telekinetically so as to actually be able to maneuver w/o impact, that is, until I crashed right into a Foux just meandering about the market. After I picked myself up, I offered a hand and an apology to the poor fellow I knocked over. "Sorry about that there, Kinda got out of hand."
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Cefirul stood there at the side of the streets, unwillingly showing off some of his bones where the flesh hadn't regenerate. He was what the called a zombie but he knew better. He kept his hands in his pocket, taking care to hide them as well as he could to avoid unnecessary attention. To most people he was a tool. To others, he was a creature without feelings. Deciding that there are things he could do other than just standing there, he started making his way through the market.
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Syaoran grabbed the hand outstretched to him and stood up. He brushed himself off.
"It's okay, just be careful next time. I'm Syaoran, what's your name?" He then noticed the other two people that kind of stood out like a sore thumb. He grabbed the Human-Luporo and rushed off to check them out. One was a white hooded man with a mask built in a way that suggested he was human. The other was a Foux who looked somewhat depressed and had a slight smell of necromantic magics.
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Abbygale stood in one of the nearby alleyways simply listening to the commotion and movement of the different races. Face covered by the hooded robe she was wearing, she projected an aura of magic around her sensing and probing each movement that her ears or nose would be unable to detect. Stepping out from the shadows that clung to her body like a blanket. She stood there and looked at the Foux, or at least that's what she thought it was, but the magic around him was not the usual.
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The market was crowded, too crowded for Cef to linger around. "Trying to get something you actually need shouldn't be hard, if you're alive that is, but when you're dead you tend to think of your past life." Cef thought to himself to remember that food is no longer necessary. He looked at some of the trinkets sold by a shady store keeper, one of them particularly catching his eye. "The amulet with a caged bird. How much for it?" Cef said and took out his good hand, the one with mostly normal plus few scars, and pointed at it
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"That's 100 Palums right there." The rather shady merchant said chuckling to himself a little. At that moment, Syaoran, still dragging the Hybrid, caught up to him. He noticed the caged bird as well and looked at it closely. He frowned and turned toward the Foux next to him.
"It's a forgery. He's ripping you off." He then turned towards the merchant who was now a little worried as Syaoran began a minor incantation. Chains of light wrapped his hands around his stall. A member of the authorities soon came to officially arrest the con artist. Everyone in the market stared as he was carted off to jail.
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"I wasn't particularly interested in it's properties or it's uses. But now thanks to you he's just got a free lodging in prison. Now good day my strange suddenly appearing friend for I have... Work to do..." Cef said and walked away towards the back alley. He was looking for a way to roof. The view should be better up there and nobody should be able to spot his so-called deformities that easily. Finally he came to a ladde. "People shouldn't notice your skeletal hand would they? Hopefully.they won't" he muttered to himself and began climbing up
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Syaoran blinked for a moment and let go of the hybrid who has yet to answer any of his questions and pondered to himself. "Well that could've gone better. Wonder if I'll ever see him again? Something was a little off about him." He then turned around and noticed the gray felin in a group of people. He decided to talk to her. When he approached, he reached out his hand in a position for a handshake and said, "Hi, my name's Syaoran, what's yours?" (This is targeted to Abby by the way.)
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Froze for a moment as she could hear a distinct set of footsteps heading right for her, years of training her ears meant she could tell the difference between how people walked, reaching for one of the blades defensively she didn't draw the kukri but instead her moved her fingers over the hilt of it. Reaching out with her free hand after he introduced himself she replied rather punctually. "Abbygale. You cast the light spell?" going strait to the point as she was known to do.
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Syaoran grabbed the hand outstretched to him and stood up. He brushed himself off.
"It's okay, just be careful next time. I'm Syaoran, what's your name?" He then noticed the other two people that kind of stood out like a sore thumb. He grabbed the Human-Luporo and rushed off to check them out. One was a white hooded man with a mask built in a way that suggested he was human. The other was a Foux who looked somewhat depressed and had a slight smell of necromantic magics.
"My name's Eli, it's nice to me--WHOA!" And Now I was being carted of by a complete stranger. Great."That's 100 Palums right there." The rather shady merchant said chuckling to himself a little. At that moment, Syaoran, still dragging the Hybrid, caught up to him. He noticed the caged bird as well and looked at it closely. He frowned and turned toward the Foux next to him.
"It's a forgery. He's ripping you off." He then turned towards the merchant who was now a little worried as Syaoran began a minor incantation. Chains of light wrapped his hands around his stall. A member of the authorities soon came to officially arrest the con artist. Everyone in the market stared as he was carted off to jail.
I responded w/ "Aw, so your a mage."Syaoran blinked for a moment and let go of the hybrid who has yet to answer any of his questions and pondered to himself. "Well that could've gone better. Wonder if I'll ever see him again? Something was a little off about him." He then turned around and noticed the gray felin in a group of people. He decided to talk to her. When he approached, he reached out his hand in a position for a handshake and said, "Hi, my name's Syaoran, what's yours?" (This is targeted to Abby by the way.)
I did to answer his question. Wait, I wasn't supposed to know that, how'd I know that? Anyway, I said, "A bit trigger happy w/ the greeting aren't you there sonny?"
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Incedium watched as the merchant was carted away due to the acusations of the foux before turning back to mind his own buisness. "No need in getting mixed up with ever hooligan this city has to offer." he said to himself as he approached a book keeper's stand. Incedium looked over the tomes with the eye of a profesional, and eventualy chose one that stood out among the rest. The book was black leather with an etch of a skull on the front. The book had a powerful presence about it, and it reaked of Necromancy. He looked up at the seller, "How much is this?"
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To Eli, Syaoran said, "I'm a very social person if you haven't noticed. I like to get to know people a lot." He then turned to Abby, "Well it's nice to meet you. Yes I did." He then noticed that she had a hand over one of her weapons. "You don't have to worry. I'm not here to hurt you or arrest you like I did the other guy. You didn't do anything wrong that I'm aware of." He smiled to prove his point.
Meanwhile in another part of the market...
"That'll be 75 Palums sir, and between you and me, I've been trying to get rid of this thing for ages now. I have a feeling it's cursed. You seem to be able to handle most dangers though from your looks, but that's why this thing is so cheap, I just want it gone."
(Second part Targeted towards Incendium)
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Incendium digs in his robe pocket and pulls out a pouch containing several gold and silver coins. He places some of the coins from the pouch onto the table and directs his attention to the merchant. "Cursed? Probably not. It just has strong powers and in inexperienced hands it can have some nasty side effects." Incendium says with an air of knowledge. "Thank you for your business."
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Her hand still remained on the hilt. She knew that he wouldn't know she was blind, but to her the smile was wasted she had to trust in the tone of his voice and with her past and training trust wasn't something that happened easily. Her head turned a little as she felt a strange sensation of power from around but she couldn't place it yet. "Whether you mean me harm or not still remains to be seen."
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The shopkeeper smiled as he took the change and handed him the book. "You're welcome and good riddance to this thing."
Back with Syaoran.
Syaoran laughed a little, "Trust me, I won't harm you unless you give me reason to."
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Incendium smiled behind his mask as he began to walk from the market. He would head home and spend the rest of the evening researching the book and discovering it's secrets. Necromancy was a good business for those who could practice it, and while he prefers his frost magic, there was nothing stopping Incendium from getting a bit of coin selling a few potions here and there.
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Alex had been chatting to a baker who he always stopped by for a midday snack when his ears twisted around at the sound of the commotion several stalls down and he watched what seemed like a bizarre parade of unusual characters, even for Konoro City. One stood out though as his distinguished sense for magic picked up necromantic magic on the one inquiring on the amulet while there was another that seemed to have a kinship with the darkness standing off to the side.
Alex bid the baker fair well after getting one of his favorites a glazed twist of dough and walked over to the group. Getting a bit closer Alex picked out more details including the escorting of the forger getting dragged away. Alex made a soft contemplative sound then muttered to himself, "Can I find no supplier who isn't simultaneously doing something so obviously illegal?" Alex shook his head disappointedly and steered clear of the scene in case the apparent forger spotted him. Alex slowed his approach as he spotted the half louporo and waited at a stall watching them. Once he had a better grasp of the group Alex walked up and smiled to the group, his gaze shifted over to the dark character that had come from the alley. then to Syaoran "I don't think we've met before, but I believe I heard you say your name was, Syaoran?" Shifting his gaze over to the cloaked character with her hand on her weapon he smiled warmly. "Abbygale I believe you said? Mines Alex, well met. To all of you as well" Even as Alex stretched his paw like hand to Syaoran he turned with a smile to address the others. It was nothing against them, but Syaoran was a known social person and the girl, Abbygale interested him deeply.
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Syaoran reached out his own and shook Alex's hand. "Nice to meet you. I came here to pick up some sleeping medicine for my friend in Hectomatru City. You see he's an inventor and tends to habitually pull all-nighters, so he takes medicine to help him sleep. I already got the meds, but I thought it would be nice to spend some time in my old hometown and then I met all of you people. I'm gonna be headed back to Hectomatru soon, if any of you want to join me, I'm sure Yumoru would love to meet you all." He then walked off, and soon bumped into the masked, hooded man that came out of the bookstore.
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I noticed something odd from my usual passive levels of psychic perception, the entire time she was talking, she didn't move her eyes, not even to look at us. I stepped forward and moved my hand back and forth a foot in front of her face. The word odd probably slipped my lips w/o my conscious notice.
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Incendium looked at the foux who had so carelessly bumped into him and caused him to drop his book. He bends over and picks it up before looking at the man. "What is it with you people and bumping into each other" He says disdainfully.
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Cef was only halfway up the ladder when he felt a sudden change in magic. "That feeling... The book must be around here somewhere." He said while making his way towards it's source. There stood a group at least four people. "The one in the mask should be human by looking at the shape of his mask. But is he... Nah why would he come here anyway" Cef walked towards them and placed.a hand on the human's shoulder. "That book. Where.did you get it? From.what I know it's owners are dead. Or the living dead"
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Syaoran recovered for a second and apologized, "I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." He then noticed the guy who just showed up. "Hey, I remember you. You were there when I apprehended that con artist. We never did introduce ourselves, I'm Syaoran, and you are?" He held out his hand as a formality.
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"I am Incendium." The mage says before turning to the scarfed man. "You stink of old flesh boy, and I know not of the book's owners, sorry."
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"Cefirul. Or Cef. Whichever you prefer." Cef said and looked at the hand. "How can me showing him a part of me make this stranger when I've asked about the book." Cef thought and shook it with his skeletal arm, interested in looking at his reaction. He then looks at Incendium. "Very well then, it seems like you chose to take a chance with the book. Good luck"
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Incendium looks at the man before calling out to him. "Wait," he says "what do you know of this book?"
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Syaoran was a little shocked at the skeletal hand. "What happened? That doesn't look good?" He thought about it for a moment, "You must be a result of necromancy. You're not the first one I've met either, though most of the ones I have didn't show the amount of intelligence you do."
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Cef looked at incendium. "Not much. Just the fact that most people who tried to transfer it's ownership at the wrong time turn up dead." He finished and turned to syaoran "And yes I'm a product of necromancy, thought I pride myself in being special unlike the ones you call zombies"
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Syaoran shrugged, "Hey, that's perfectly fine, if not the best public topic. Anyways I have to get this medicine over to my friend in Hectomatru City. If any of you guys want to follow me, that's perfectly fine." He continued on his way out the city.
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Abbygale seemed to shy away a little the more people entered her area. She simply nodded at Alex to let him know she wasnt ignoring him before trying to grab the hand waving in front of her face. "Dont do that,its distracting." She reached up and pulled her hood back jsut enough for her eyes to be touched by the sunlight the dull emerald green orbs seemed lifeless and clearly she was blind before she moved the hood back. "I have business to attend to." she bluffed before moving towards the shadows once again, following the group but just out of range to be sensed.
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Incendium shook his head at the Foux's offer. "No thanks, I have things to do." He said before starting down the street, headed towards his home.
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"I'll think about it. Besides, I wonder where the wind will take me." Cef said and walked away, not knowing where he'll be going. Or even where he is. He went to the back alleys and wondered where he'll be brought to.
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"Well, I guess I'll see you guys again maybe. I'll be off." He walked on for a bit. A few minutes later, everyone heard a sort of cry of pain. It appeared to be Syaoran's voice.
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Cef stopped in his tracks as he heard the sound that pierced the air "What the..." He muttered and ran back to where he last saw syaoran. Only to find him screaming.
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Alex watched as she headed back to the shadows and seemed to just sink in. It crossed Alex's mind more than one time to follow her but he thought better of it. Just as he was starting to reconsider his idea he heard Syaoran's scream and ran off towards the source, static buzzing around his fingers as readied a heady dose of lightning for any potential attacker who found his way into the fair city. "Syaoran what's going on? What happened?" Alex's eyes darted around and his ears twisted while his nose took quick sharp inhales each time he turned his head.
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Incendium was halfway down the road when he heard the scream. He sighed, "This is a bad idea" before turning back around and striding to the market, finding the
Faux from earlier, screaming his lungs out. "Calm down, boy, and tell me why you are keeping me from going home." Incendium said.
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When they reached him, Syaoran was there holding a large gash on his shoulder with one hand, and his sword with the other. Next to him was a Foux woman in a red combat outfit that had a purple skull emblazoned on the front. Her boots were really unusual as they had blades protruding out of them. It was clear the gash was caused by these boots. She jumped to her hands preparing a spin kick to all of them.
"Drat, more people came, I'll just have to take care of you all!"
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Alex spied the unusual girl and sprang forward, ready to tumble under or jump over the spin kick depending on how high or low it was. Once past her Alex hoped to come up behind her and hit her with enough electricity to put her down without killing her. Better they be able to question her as to her motives then simply bury her, in Alex's opinion.
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Abbygale shifted from the shadows as she looked at heard the scream and the scent of blood in the air. Sensing some of teh people from earlier she picked up on another scent, a female. Her cloak dissapated as if it had been shaped and formed from the shadows themselves, her long black hair falling loose the crimson streaks looking more like blood in the sun. Jumping back to avoid the attack she slammed her hands into the ground and soils of shadow shot forth like tendrils to incapacitate and grab anybody in their path.
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"I hope that by take care of us you mean walk away like the good girl you aren't. But I doubt it would happen" Cef took out a pair of daggers , with runes etched into the blade,and walked towards the attacker, trying to anticipate her moves as he got closer.
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The girl leaned her body weight so that her feet caught the lightning, which was quickly absorbed into the blades in her shoes. She however didn't anticipate the shadow attack and so had her wrists caught, causing her to lose balance, also leaving her open to whatever Cef might do in the future. Syaoran, mostly recovered, though still had a huge gash in his shoulder walked up to her.
"What are you doing here Skylar? You of all people should know that I would be around to keep you or any of Keiko's forces from harming anyone." He asked.
"Tch, I was sent to take you out! You've been a thorn in our sides for far too long and I was supposed to end your life!" She replied, still defiant despite her situation.
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The sudden eruption of combat ensuing had caught me off guard. By the time I was there the assailant was caught up in shadowy magics and everyone else was trying to talk to her. Might as well join in, "What just happened?" I said, semi-dumbstruck.
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Incendium had been watching the commotion with interest, and was listening in on what the woman was saying. "I suspect you are more than just an ordinary townsman, faux" He said, speaking up. "Just who exactly are you?"
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Raised her hands the shadowy tendrils still gripping at her target crushing her one hand into a fist the shadows become more solid and gripped harder starting to show that the young cat could inflict some serious damage if she wished. "I could rip her apart but it seems you all have some stories to tell."
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Syaoran started to explain, "I'm one of the ones who stopped Keiko when she first took over Vulpyre. I was a key member in the Vulpyrian Liberation Force started to remove her. And Skylar here, is one of her generals one of her 'Dark Skulls.'" (Basically, he's important to Vulpyrian history, so most people would know about his actions in that period of time about 3 years ago.)
While Syaoran was busy explaining and everyone else was busy listening to him, Another Foux woman, this one dressed in a painter's attire, came down and managed to dispel the shadows trapping Skylar and began drawing in her sketch book. Syaoran noticed this and his eyes grew wide with for what she could do to the rest of the people here. She finished drawing and ripped the paper from her notebook and tossed it in the air, she spawned what appeared to be a monstrous, firebreathing black demon of sorts which began attacking Syaoran and the group. Syaoran suffered yet another gash in his chest, ruining his cloak and shirt, but not before he landed a well placed frost bolt in his face. However, it was not enough to stop the drawing demon. In the confusion, Skylar and the other Foux began to make an exit.
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Incendium looks up at the demon and sighs. "You have got to be kidding me" he says before quickly breaking into action. He reaches up with both hands and blasts a force equal to that of a blizzard at the creature while turning his head to Syaoran. "Are you alright, boy?" He asks.
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"Whoop whoop whoop whoooooooop!" I yelled out one of my more common battle cries and telekinetically leapt into the air, w/in almost a full forward spin I was above the beast and had pull my ringblade out w/ my foot, slamming both down as I descended and completed my spin. Now back then I usually spat out some sort of nonsensical phrase, pun, or one-liner related to something that my attack resembled, in this case what came out of my mouth was, "Zip-it! Zip-it good!" as I, using my foot, ran my weapon down the entire front of the creature, it's blood spraying. I finished w/ a back roll that put me out of it's reach.
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"Not letting her get away that easily." Cef said and struck the beast with his dagger, the runes glowing and flowing onto the beast's skin. "Flesh absorption stage 12 begin." He said and felt a blow from the beast before a part of it disintegrates while flesh grew where it was empty. Looking at the attackers, he pulled out one of the daggers and ran towards them "Now for those two." He said and aimed at skylar with a revolver and fired a few rounds while chasing them at the same time.
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The beast was ripped open as the ink-like blood poured out. It only recoiled from the force of the attack however and didn't seem to be able to feel pain. It swatted Eli away as it started breathing flames, resulting in a few buildings catching fire.
Syaoran got up and answered, "Yeah, I'll be fine, but we have to get rid of this thing before it burns the city down."
He then readied his sword and a blue aura surrounded his legs as he sped off slashing at hyperquick speeds at the demon.
Skylar noticed her pursuiter and decided to try and ward him off. She did a vertical spin kick in the air, focusing on releasing the absorbed lightning from Alex's attack earlier. The lightning left in an arc towards Cef.
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Her senses got overwhelmed for a moment as the large mass of magical energy formed from the paper. Several burn marks visible on her arms from the recoil of her magic being dispelled so easily She could sense and hear the sounds of fighting, but didnt get involved, no she wanted that person to pay for dispelling her magic. Running towards the direction she heard them move she giggled softly thick shadows swirling around her steps. Drawing one of her Kukri's the blade seemed to warp and absorb the light around it, rushing out from one of the side alleyways she could feel a discharge of lighting close to her. "I wont let you escape me."
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"Remember... You're dead. Your concerns aren't similar to those who are alive" Cef thought to himself and let the lightning bolt hit him, his flesh singed a little.but regenerated due to the fact that the daggers we're.soaking up the monster's artificial life force and transferring it to regenerate his undead flesh. Deciding that this would last forever, he tapped a rune on his dagger and threw it.towards skylar
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Skylar jumped out of the way, but the dagger instead hit the artist's sketchbook. Her eyes went wide in terror at this as she tossed the notebook in Cef's direction before it exploded. As it exploded, the demon writhed and appeared to have gone berserk rampaging across town completely out of control. It shoved everyone else aside in its path of destruction.
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"Well that worked in a way" Cef said as he picked up his daggers and saw runes flowing onto the artist's body and joining up with the dagger. It slowly expanded and turned into a circle, covering the area.where they were standing on. "Now you'll stay" he said and a wall of spiked bones blocked.their escape, trapping them along with Cef and Abby. "Didn't see you.following me. Good job back there" he said to Abby
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The artist and Skylar stopped in their tracks. The artist turned around and scowled. "Well, that was unexpected. Good thing I have a spare. You will regret the day you decided to tango with Magic Artist Zorie!" She pulled her notebook out and hid behind Skylar while scribbling in the sketchbook. She ripped 2 pages out and tossed them to the floor. "How about you try and face yourselves?" She said rather sadistically. The papers on the floor grew and changed until there were identical copies of Cef and Abby in front of them. The only difference was the fact that their eyes had no pupils or irises. The drawings readied their weapons to attack on order. The Cef portrait readied its copied daggers and Abby's readied kukris and both charged to attack.
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"That's easy. Cause I've been studying myself.quite closely in the grave. And thus find it comfortable though I've no intentions of letting ink get the better of me." Cef commented and dodged the doppelganger's attack, placing a hand on the floor, creating a skeletal hand that held onto it. "The only difference between the two of us is that. I am already dead." He said and cut its throat, ink pouring out in large amounts. Meanwhile another hand silently slipped into zorie's pocket and pulling out another sketchbook. It sunk into the ground and disappeared withit
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W/ the demon out of the way I could see the Lich and the Shadowmancer dueling their doppelgangers. I decided 3-on-2 odds would most likely shift that battle in favor of the originals. Again w/ my Psi-speed I rushed up to the Felin's ganger, feinted, and through my ringblade at the artist like a ninja star, aiming for the spare book.
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Alex stared between the demon and the escaping assailants. Mind torn between pursuing the source or dealing with the symptom. Unfortunately at this point it would cost more in property and people lives and well being if this creature were left to roam. Alex eyed the creature up, wishing to use his magic to avoid getting close to the creature. Realising that it breathed fire Alex decided to get it's attention a little sooner. Taking steady aim Alex jabbed his index and middle fingers towards the creature releasing a precision blast of lightning at the creatures face. Alex didn't expect this to do substantial damage but it was the creature's attention he yearned. Once the creature looked to him Alex's hands would quickly generate cold energy. The air around him cooled till bits of frost started forming around his feet and when he spoke, his breath came out visibly. "Now that I have the benefit of your full attention, gimme what you got ugly." As the creature opened it's mouth to breathe fire Alex released a near solid blast of ice into it's mouth, hoping to cripple it or at least silence it.
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Zorie noticed the notebooks disappearing or getting destroyed a little too late and went livid. "Hey! Magic Paper isn't cheap you know! You are going to pay for this!" She began focusing energies and reality began to bend slightly. Syaoran noticed this bend and rushed over as soon as he could.
"Watch out! She's invoking her dimensional spell! We need to stop her now!" Of course Skylar stood in their way and she wasn't about to let anything reach Zorie. She took off her boots and switched to a different pair that appeared to have a different kind of blade. Instead of on the side, it went vertical down her boot, cirling around the outside of her leg. She launched a spark of magic into each boot and the blade whirred to life. It was clear that it was a chainsaw blade now. She aimed a kick towards Syaoran who blocked with his sword and fired a short range fireball at Skylar who was pushed back. She recovered on her feet though and using the momentum of her new chainsaw shoes launched herself forward at Eli aiming an Axe kick to his face. She also grazed Syaoran's cheek, cutting into it leaving a nasty, mangled wound on his face. He yipped upon the strike.
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"Well two can play that game." Cef said and the runes began glowing with a portal opening underneath him. "If there's one thing dead things have in common, it's the ability to go through planes if they aren't governed by law. Just like me." it started getting.bigger and at the same time, dimensions shifted.
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(On Cef's end.)
The two reality bending spells conflicted and bent and eventually merged, resulting in a Piccaso-esque version of whatever Cef was trying to do. The now abstract reality allowed Zorie to travel to anywhere within the spell's limits at will and she used this to try and break Cef's concentration by attacking him with an abstract dagger.
(On Alex's end)
The demon was caught in the ice blast and roared, before going silent. It then did something unexpected, it burst into black flames as ink poured out from its body and eventually all that was left was a black puddle and 2 halves of a drawing. At that moment the whole city was caught in the Dimension bend and Alex was soon exposed to the abstract reality.
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Cef grunted as the knife grazed his side. "The only place I can feel pain and also feel alive... Welcome to my mind" Cef said and everything started to fade into nothing, there was a constant buzz in the background and a recreation of the future filled the emptiness. A broken version that is. He held out a hand and watched as everything unfolded before him. With Zorie standing in the crowd and him with two large speakers. "I now present to you my life. Played in remixes." Cef said as the speakers.came to life disturbing any kind of magic that would.be used. "Just you and me artist. With no drawings or weapons" he said while letting a part of his reality crumble.
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A smirk on Abby's face as she felt the sudden shift in energy and a twin source of her own rushed at her. "Really. Do you think some second rate copy of me is any match". Her blind eyes closed for a moment as she held both her Kukri's infront of her. "Consume." she said out as a loud hissing and almost screaming came from the blades before she ducked down under the clones fist slash knowing that move all too well she rolled to the side as the clone followed up with a low diagonal upward slash. Standing up as a red stain spread over her arm. "Hmmm it knows my moves." Throwing one of the kukri's into the wall she rushed forward and slashed a few times trying to get the clone to defend herself, finding an opening she ducked down and pulled on a thin shadow line attached tot eh dagger in the wall sending it flying out and towards the clone. "Suck on this!"
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After the speakers came to life, the drawings were dispelled, so Abby didn't hit anything.
Zorie smirked as Cef mentioned the word 'mind.' "It just so happens I have some minor training in psionics." She proceeded to distort her own brainwaves resulting in an earthquake in the reality.
-
Alex looked around as the ink fell to the ground and flooded out and around his footpaws which were bare. Alex strode through the flow of ink looking around as the world shifted to a blank mute reality. "Well.. going by all relevant stereotypes this would have to be the mind of an undead, or something close." Alex started walking then stopped and noticed some motes of disproportionate objects that were growing. "And that.. looks like the mind of either a modern arts major or Pablo Picasso." Alex started walking towards where the flow of magic was coming from and as the artist came into view the tremors started rocking the ground. "That.. feels like trouble.." Alex walked up to the two of them as Cef was calling her out and scoffed at his remark. "Just the two of you? Why don't we make this a three way? The more the merrier, ya know. I'd throw my own world bending magics in here but you two are already, well.. TEARING THE CITY APART ALREADY!" Alex added a bit of force and volume to the last bit so that they might realise that their spells were colliding dangerously.
-
Incemdium was knocked aside by the demon in it's blind rage, and flung through one of the local shops before coming to a rest on the floor. He swore as he lay on the floor.
-
Zorie clearly didn't care as she continued her own onslaught, manipulating her end of the dimensions as she continued the use of the abstract knife.
While Incendium was on the floor, a Raucoon wearing his shirt the wrong way stretched his hand out.
"Yo, you need a hand or something?" He asked. "Zorie's magics can be pretty nasty, I should know, trust me. I'm Ritsuo."
-
"And apparently you forgot that if I end the dimensional shift right here you could just fade out of existence. But I've got better things to do " Cef said and skeletal arms took hold of zorie. "Like inserting false information" He finished and stabbed zorie's head with a spear. "It won't killyou. But you'll start attacking your own comrades"
-
Incendium shakes his head and grunts, standing up. "Well then, Mr. Ritsuio, What is that creature and how does it die?" He asks.
-
"I don't know how long you were out for, but that demon thing is dead. That Hybrid, I think it was Alex, took it our already. In the future, painting golems have a similar anatomy to whatever they're based on, so kill it like you could to a person." Ritsuo responded before bounding off to rejoin Syaoran, "Oh and look around you, we're in a dimension spell at the moment, a mix to be exact." Incendium should notice the grim, abstract appearance of the place.
-
She recovered on her feet though and using the momentum of her new chainsaw shoes launched herself forward at Eli aiming an Axe kick to his face.
And I threw up a telekinetic wall to block the scary lady who wanted to kill me.
-
Skylar continued bashing at the telekinetic wall with her boots, showing no signs of giving up any time soon.
Zorie smirked, "While you are able to cast dimensional magic, you don't seem to understand all of its properties. You can't make me fade away. That's not how this works. Now, I'm getting tired, so I think it's time I made my exit." Before Cef could react, Zorie made a dark portal underneath herself and removed herself and her dimension spell away. Skylar noticing the exit began to follow. "You got lucky this time punk! I'll get you next time." She said before jumping into the portal and the portal closed. From there everyone noticed a shirtless Raucoon trying to wake up a collapsed Syaoran.
-
So I decided to follow suit. Grabbing, Syaoran, I began Slapping his back and forth until he awoke; the whole time shouting "WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"
-
Ritsuo punched Eli in the face, "Dude, be more careful, do you not see the puddle of blood underneath him, he is severely injured and needs a healing specialist. Like his girlfriend or something. But slapping him is not helping!"
Eventually, Syaoran woke up, "Oh, hey Ritsuo. Does anyone have a roll of bandages or 2? I think my chest has been ripped open and it's hurting really badly."
-
The punch knocked me flat on my back. "Sorry. @.@ " I responded. I was lucky I didn't pass out.
-
Ritsuo shook his head, "Geez, what a sissy, I didn't punch you that hard."
Syaoran was still in pain and the blood puddle wasn't getting any smaller. "I feel faint. Seriously, does anyone have a roll of bandages, I need to stop this bleeding before I..." He passed out again.
-
Incendium stepped out of the rubble that used to be a bakery, and walked towards the party. When he arrived he saw the young Faux lying on the ground, bleeding. "Somebody messed you up badly, eh?" He said, kneeling down to him. "Let me see what I can do."
The mage placed his palms on the chest of the boy and released icy air, numbing the pain and thickening the blood. He then took the faux's shirt off and tore it into thick strips before blasting them each with cold air, sterilizing them, and wrapping them tightly around his body.
"You'll be alright, boy. 'Tis but a flesh wound"
-
"Thanks, It's a little confusing though, Skylar usually comes with her twin, I wonder she didn't this time?" Syaoran said as he pondered for a bit, "Oh well, I need to get to Hectomatru." He stood up and recovered the ruby talisman clasping his cloak together and attached it to his neck as a necklace of sorts, they noticed two more on his wrists. He began to walk off with Ritsuo. "You know, I think it would probably be a good idea to stick with us for a while, all of you. The Dark Skulls now see you as threats and will quite likely try to take you all out, so strength in numbers right? Besides, something's fishy and I don't know what." Syaoran said, turning back towards the group. "They're probably planning something elsewhere." Ritsuo added.
-
"I'm in" Incendium said, walking over to you. "Somebody has to keep you out of trouble"
-
"Cool, thanks. Anyone else?" Syaoran asked.
-
Cef laid there as the runes started to sink back into the dagger while the dimension fades. Again he let someone get away. "You're good at nothing but talking to yourself aren't you?" he said and the flesh he stole from the beast disintegrated, making him look like a zombie again. "Well that's that. I'll see what syaoran has to say about this
-
Syaoran noticed Cef had caught up to him as well, "Don't worry about it. They didn't cause any lasting damage, at least nothing that can't be fixed by the Construction Magic Guild and they get away from my friends and I all the time."
-
Alex strolled up listening to the conversation to get caught up on the end of the conflict, noticing that the dimension spells were fading. Hearing Syaoran comment on their adversaries frequent escapes Alex scoffed at the remark, "Them constantly slipping out of your grasp isn't something I'd mention when I'm trying to be reassuring. I suppose I should come along as the voice of reason in this cacophony of madness. Seeing as everyone wants to make games out of screwing with reality and whatnot. I do need to pick up a few things, though."
-
"The point is, nobody died, and that's what the important part is, and more than likely they'll come back again, probably with more reinforcements next time. The reason they're able to get away, is the fact that after our fights with them we're too exhausted to do much else. We try to conserve our energies only to eventually be forced to use our best magics, then we're too tired to do anything else. I've even passed out from overuse of magic at once. It's not fun, trust me on that. Anyways, what do you need to pick up?" Syaoran explained. Ritsuo was still miffed about letting those two get away again.
-
Alex looked to Syaoran and smiled ruefully, "Some things I've picked up in my travels. Many useful, others entertaining. All interesting however, I wouldn't own something that wasn't interesting." Alex cracked his fingers and stretched, "So where shall I meet you once I've gotten my things?"
-
Incendium nods in agreements. "I've got some things that might be useful for us as well at my home, some potions and books, as well as my traveling cloak are among them"
-
Syaoran nodded, "Alright, everyone who's coming, meet me at the north gate of the city."
-
Alex nods softly and walks off to the slums where he found the normal run down hovel he used and dived into his bolthole and grabbed the stuff that was stashed along the way and came out in some underbrush outside the city. Seeing no one around and no sensory magic spying on him he re-covered the exit and enchanted it to subtly guide animals and people away from it. "There we are. Long time no see old friend," he spoke casually to the hole and then walked off towards the north gate, leaning leisurely in the large gateway at the north end of town, being the first to arrive no one would question why he came from the outside. The only truly noticeable difference in his appearance was that he had a cloak colored in earthy colors.
-
"Well. Guess that's my cue to look for..." cef was.about to finish his sentence before getting interrupted by the cops. "HEY YOU!!! STOP RIGHT THERE!! YOU.ARE UNDER ARREST FOR STEALING STORE MERCHANDISES!!!"
"You can't steal something that's free popos!! Besides, I have a coupon to show you that the ice cream is mine" A purple wolf being pursuited yells back with a tub of ice cream in her hands.
"Here we go again" Cef sighed as a shockwave of sound sent to cops flying backwards. Noticing Cef, the purple wolf waved at him and gestured to tell him to go to the nearby cafe.
*minutes later*
"Hey Cef! You're late! Ice cream is melting" Filarie said while digging into the tub of ice cream. "Look something happened while you were away." Cef said while looking at Fil. "Uhuh." Fil said while still eating her ice cream. "We might have to leave town for awhile" Cef finished and Fil stopped. "What for? The cops are friendly. They have plenty of food. They have ice cream and. Well. It's just a nice place." Fil finished and Cef sighed, thinking that she wouldn't stop, he got up and dragged her by the hand. "Hey where are we going? Cef I haven't finish my ice cream. Cef!!! I haven't finish my ice cream. Do you know how hard I worked for that? Cef!" Fil nagged while Cef ignored her and carried her to the north gate.
-
Syaoran reached the north gate to see Alex there, "Huh, wonder how you got here so fast?" Before Alex could answer, Syaoran noticed Cef dragging a purple Luporo, complaining the whole way there. Syaoran just sort of stared... "Who's she?" He asked.
-
"Someone special in a few ways." Cef said and let go of her. "Look Fil. We were attacked moments ago while you.were getting ice cream ok? Now we're just leaving for.safety.reasons and also to help one of this guy's friend." Cef.said.while pointing at syaoran. "So we're leaving for safety.reasons huh? Good enough" she then turns to meet the others "The name's Fil. Nice to meet ya"
-
"Syaoran, it's nice to meet you too." He responded.
Ritsuo soon showed up as well, and noticed Fil, and doing what he always does around women, began flirting.
"Well beautiful, I haven't seen you around here before. What's your name?"
-
"Fil. But I warn you" she said and turned Cef into a scythe. "these claws are sharp" she finished
"Do you really need to do that everytime someone flirts with you?" Cef said while still.in scythe form.
"Better to scare them before they try anything. Besides, I'm just telling them that I'm not single" she said and let him turn into an anthro again
-
Ritsuo went into a slump after being rejected. (as usual)
"Hmmm. I wonder what's taking Incendium?" Syaoran wondered.
-
Incendium arrived at the small cottage he called his home towards the outskirts of the town. He unlocked the door and entered. Inside the place was a mess, with books and empty tea cups scattered all over the place where he had started on a project, but hadn't finished it. He looked around untill he found the few things he was looking for, a few potions, some books, a couple notes he had jotted down. He put all of this in a small leather backpack and put it on over his brown leather cloak which he found hanging by the door. He finally grabbed a large polished staff and, against his better judgement, he grabbed the book with the skull he had just aquired. It looked as though it may be of use.
Incendium exited his house and made his way back to the market district, meeting up with his new found companions.
-
"Good, everyone's here, we can get going, we need to get through the HectoKono forest between the two cities. Please stay on the path if you can, it's very easy to get lost." Syaoran warned, possibly needlessly.
When they set off, it took them a few hours to make it to the woods, when they went in, it was pretty dense, but a few paths could be clearly seen. Syaoran went on ahead a few feet then stopped and looked up at the sky, "Nightfall already huh, well dimension bending does do hell to one's sense of time. We'll have to camp out here. I didn't realize this would take this long, so unless anyone brought food with them, all that's available is squirrel jerky." ((Not that most Foux would complain))
-
Alex trudged on down the path and when they stopped he looked around and sighed, "Another night on the cold ground," he thought to himself. Hearing that Syaoran had squirrel jerky Alex considered it but at the same time he was sure that there would be some kind of berries or suitable plant life around and then when it was daylight he could hunt and sate his carnivorous side. "I'm gonna go forage for something else, I'll be back in about fifteen." Alex whipped out his pocket watch and took a quick glance at it then pocketed it again. Alex wasn't going to be the one to mention that the half-louporo was still back in town. Honestly he wasn't sure if he could sleep if he was still around.
-
Off the path, in a small clearing ringed by trees, Trace practiced the forms of his martial arts. He had found the clearing a few weeks before and came every day to practice in secret. Noticing that nightfall was approaching, he set up his sleeping bag, deciding to camp out in the clearing. Next, he went over to a tree in the clearing and activating his blue Dragon Fist, proceeded to stab through it with his arm. The pressure caused by the freezing water molecules caused the trunk to burst and the tree toppled to the ground. Trace then smashed the driest part of it into slivers to use for the fire. When this task was done, he built a small fire next to his sleeping bag and sat down.
-
"Well you guys do that. I got me some snacks" Fil said while taking a bag of chips out from her jacket and started snacking. "Nah I can manage. Being dead and all." Cef said and lied down on the ground "Another night under the stars. Well. See you guys at twilight. I'm taking that watch. Just in case something happens." he said and drifted into sleep
After finishing her bag of chips , Fil put on her headphones and sat down against a tree. "Wake me up when its dawn kay? Don't want to miss anything"
-
Ritsuo looked around. "Hey, where's Eli? Didn't he come with us?" he asked.
Syaoran also looked around and heard the sounds of trees splintering and decided to check it out. "I'm going off for a bit, I'll be fine, but I'm investigating that sound."
After wandering for a bit, he came across Trace's training field and Trace.
"Oh, I didn't realize there was anyone out here. What's your name?" he asked.
-
Trace was gazing at the fire, when he heard another individual approaching him and ask for his name. Since the individual did not appear to have hostile intentions, Trace made no move to attack him. Regardless, he stood up in preparation of an attack and said "My name is Trace Legacy. What is your name?"
-
"Syaoran Kitesun. My group and I were passing through to get to Hectomatru City, but it got late, and then I heard you breaking that tree and came to investigate." Syaoran responded.
-
"Oh, yeah. I was practicing something." Trace said with a sheepish look. "Wait, you're going to Hectomatru City? Mind if I come with you? I have some business there myself." Trace asked.
-
"Yeah, sure, just follow me." Syaoran began to walk in the direction of the group again.
-
Trace gathered up his things and followed Syaoran to what Trace expected was the group's location.
-
When Syaoran and Trace made it back to their makeshift camp, Ritsuo came up to them.
"So this is the source of that sound then." He asked, rather dryly.
"Yes, his name is Trace and he'll be travelling with us too." Syaoran answered before getting ready to sleep.
"I suggest you get to sleep too. We can get you properly introduced in the morning."
-
"Very well." Trace spread out his sleeping bag and prepared to go to sleep. "I'll meet you in the morning. Wake me if anything happens" he called out as he closed his eyes.
-
Soon enough, morning came and everyone was woken up either by Ritsuo or Syaoran.
"Good morning, before we move on, this is Trace, he'll be accompanying us, as he's also headed for Hectomatru, also, it worries me that Eli and Abby haven't caught up to us yet... I hope they're okay. Well we should keep moving, we shouldn't make Yumoru wait any more than he needs to." Syaoran walked ahead a bit with Ritsuo following.
-
Incendium woke up after being prodded by the Faux a few times and stood up. He had slept slumped against the base of a tree that had proved itself more comfortable that he had imagined. After standing, the mage dug in the pocket and pulled out a small cloth about the size of his hand. He unwrapped it to reveal a lump of white cheese. Incendium lifted up his mask just enough so that he could eat without exposing his face to his new companions. He followed silently, slowly eating bits of the cheese.
Being a mage, Incendium was used to traveling the long paths between the cities. Many times he had been called to one of the neighboring cities to help the locals dispell a particularly nasty void rip, or to give a presentation at one of the local colleges about the life in the magical profession. He knew the path well.
-
"Ice cream...." Fil woke only to find herself in the forest. "Must've been a dream." She said and went to wake Cef up
"Well you looked almost peaceful" was the first thing Cef woke up to. "Except I would give people a good scare when I wake up." Cef said and got up. "Good thing nothing bad happened while I was asleep. Last time I slept in the middle of nowhere something bit off a part of my ear."
-
Eventually, the group made it out of the forest and the town was in sight. They made it over there when Syaoran got glomped by a white Felin. "Syaoran! You made it!" She yelled rather gleefully. She then noticed the other group, "Who are they."
"Haruko, these are some people I met up with in Konoro City. Feel free to get yourselves introduced." Syaoran responded.
-
Alex more or less materialized from the woods shortly after everyone woke up and started off for town. When they finally emerged and the felin tackled Syaoran Alex's fingers crackled with energy before dying down, being caught off guard by the girl Alex stepped up and nodded to her, "My name is Alex Jace, a pleasure, I'm sure." He smiled warmly to her before stepping aside so someone else could step forward, if they so chose.
-
Seeing the girl tackle Syoaran, Trace quickly dropped into the Dragon's Tail first attack stance. Realizing that it wasn't an attack, he stood up and introduced himself. "Hello, my name is Trace Legacy. I joined up with the group a little while ago. It's nice to meet you." His introduction done, he stepped back towards the rear of the group, allowing someone else to go.
-
Haruko after exchanging introductions with those who wanted took the medicine from Syaoran, "I'll make sure this gets to Yumoru. You go hang out, I'll catch up with. See ya!" She then kissed Syaoran on the cheek and pranced off to the Western District.
Syaoran, not sure what to do from here asked, "So, what do you guys want to do?"
-
"I will admit that I haven't been to this town but maybe once. If there's nothing more needed at this time I suppose I'll walk around and scout out the place." Alex looked off to the city and mumbled under his breath before looking back to the others then wandering off not really worried about any objections that might be had over his wandering off.
-
"Well guess we misses our introduction." Cef said as he saw the group split up. "Hey we can meet them by lunch. I'll go see what I can grab" Fil said and turned Cef into a scythe. "And by that you mean 'see what you can steal and have fun at the same time'" He said as they went for the back alleys.
-
Alex did his usual rounds around the fairly new city. Found out who he could information from, where he could camp out unnoticed, escape routes if the city came under siege, the list went on. Once Alex was satisfied with his knowledge of the cities layout he circled a few blocks a time or two stopping to see if he was being tailed before he made it to a dark alley behind a burnt out building and pulled out a mirror the size of a hand mirror without the handle and looked into it. Murmuring softly he drew a finger along it's surface in a counter-clockwise motion until the air buzzed as the mirror's magic came to life and Alex smiled. "Bored?" there was silence as the mirror transferred the words to him. "There's something going down and it involves that Keiko girl and her Skulls." Alex sighed and nodded, "I'm certain. Soon then?" A quick nod was all he gave before wiping his hand over the surface of the mirror and shoving it in his cloak and walking to the market.
-
Syaoran decided to follow Fil to make sure she didn't do anything illegal and kept up rather well.
Alex just as he put his mirror away, he noticed a human girl with the face as creepy as the creepiest, nerdiest girl you can think of x 100 right next to him. "A magic mirror, right? I collect those. There are so many different kinds. That's a Communications variety, right? I'm Sasha, nice to meet you."
-
Incendium watched as the others walked off. He himself had nothing particularly planned, but decided that he would scope out the town to pass the time. He headed for the market of the town, this was normally the most interesting place to be, and perused the many market stalls. He finally walked up to a man who had a variety of runes on display, and spoke to him. "What do you have for sale?" He asked the merchant, hovering a keen eye over the runes.
-
Fil continued down the alley way and saw a bunch of bullies. "Hey boys. Play time." She said, interrupting whatever they were doing to a kid. "And I'm pretty sure that it's timeout for that kid"
-
Alex's ears perk and he jerks his head over to look at the girl quickly, shocked that he didn't notice her before now. "This girl must have some stealth magic. She certainly puts it to disturbing use." Alex kept moving towards the market as she spoke and after several moments of silence Alex glanced over, and seeing her still there he sighed and stopped before they got to a crowded area. "Yes it's informally known as a Communications Mirror, the proper name is 'Speaking Glass' now how about we stop talking about this before we get to a crowded area, hmm?" Alex stressed the last part by giving her a stern, no nonsense look and crossed his arms in front of him.
-
(To Incendium) "Sir, what we have here are an assortment of protective charms. The one you are currently pointing at is a charm to protect against divination magic used by those who wish to harm you from locating you or whoever you give it to." He then nodded and said, "That particular one is 1372 Palums."
(To Cef) Syaoran rushed over and got between Fil and the bullies. He turned to the bullies and said, " Now, look here, you don't have any reason to bully that poor Raucoon." The bullies laughed as they said, "Yeah, but we're punishing him for being a no good theif. After all, that's all a dumb Raucoon knows how to do anyways." Syaoran's face soured as he turned towards Fil and stepped aside.
(To Alex) Sasha's face quickly turned to one of embarrassment as he said that, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'd put a sound barrier up, but I'm no good with magic. Anyways, you seem to know my friend Syaoran, so I have no reason to hide from you." She began humming as her happy face came back, as creepy as ever.
-
Alex watched her and nodded slowly as she spoke then sighed deeply and turned away, "Yes.. well, I need to meet someone, and having you tag along won't be helpful, she's wary of strangers and even if she wasn't.. to be frank, you scream creeper to anyone who looks at you. Have you tried getting sun? Relaxing your facial muscles? NOT creeping around in the darkness then suddenly springing yourself on people?" Alex started to walk towards the market and tried to find someone who sold darker sorts of charms, but not necessarily evil ones.
-
Incendium shook his head slowly. "That's a bit pricey for what it does. No, I think I'll just be on my way. Farewell." He said as he turned and walked off, his cloak flowing behind him.
After exiting the loud and busy market, Incendium returned back to the place where he and his companions had split up, deciding that he would wait here for them to return once they had finished their business. The mage, for once, had a bit of down time to himself. He spent this extra time doing what he loved, reading. Taking the book he had bought earlier out of his pack and sitting down under an old oak tree, Incendium opened it and began to read it's contents. He took a pen and notepad from his bag and began taking notes on it. Most of the book was written in an old dead language known only to those who practiced the magical arts for a living. He quickly translated the most important parts when he came across them.
The book was full of dark magical spells. Curses, puppetry and manipulation were among the most popular. Incendium always found the dark arts terribly interesting, and he sat under the tree reading and taking notes on the book until eventually his companions returned.
-
"Hey. Aren't we going a little overboard there? There's no such thing as a no good thief. Only an amateur and the darn good ones. Like me. Say anyone lost their wallet?" Fil said and waited for them to react. Prepared to send a shockwave as soon as they look away
-
To Cho and Alex: Again, Sasha was embarrassed. "It's not my fault. My parents were both stalkers. That's actually how they met. I was born with my face like this. I guess you could say stalking's in my blood." She then proceeded to walk off and bumped into Incendium in her sulk. "Whoops, sorry." She said as she decided to sit down.
To Cef: The bullies looked worried as one of them, a luporo, took out a switchblade and attempted to stab Fil from behind. Syaoran watched on, ready to stop them if she tried to kill someone.
-
Alex blinked and one brow shot up as he heard about her parents. As she walked off in a sulk Alex began to spoke up when a paw came down on his shoulder.
"Talking to stalkers? I thought I was your one and only stalker?" The leopardess' face materialized from the shadows of her hood as she moved away from a vendor and looked at him with the same friendly look she always did. "When do you think they'll be here?"
"Not soon enough for you. To be honest I'm not sure, I hadn't seen or heard of them for a while till yesterday. They attacked us but they ran away. It was Skylar and Zorie that time. They toyed with us mostly, I think they were mostly after Syaoran but when we jumped in they needed to test the waters."
"All in good time, Alex, dear. All in good time" Akasha purred softly.
-
Being a scythe, Cef saw the oncoming attack and swiped the attacker's hand. "And don't think my boyfriend won't do anything. I'm not alone here" Fil said without looking back and walked towards the gang of bullies. "First time being told off by a girl?" She said and slipped a hand into his pocket after deliberately knocking the bully's shoulder. Hard enough to shock him.
-
Trace had left the group after his introduction and was currently searching the city for the damn martial arts tournament he was going to enter. Lost, he had decided to simply wander the streets till he found something to do. He heard the sounds of a scuffle and went to investigate. It was that girl from before, surrounded by several thugs. Judging by how the battle was going though, it didn't look like he needed to worry just yet. Trace was content to observe and step in when necessary.
-
To Alex: Ritsuo popped up. "Hey man, didn't know you had a girl here. I came looking for Syaoran's bro.
He owes me a drink."
To Cef: The bullies ran off. All Fil found in the boy's pocket was a half chewed pack of licorice flavored gum.
To Jormungdang: Haruko pulled out a chainsaw and proceedex to chase off her attackers. She appeared to be winded.
-
Incendium looked over at the girl as she sat next to him. "Well hi there...." he said, wondering who this woman was.
-
Fil sat down next to the kid as Cef turned.back into an anthro. "Hey kid. Gotcha this" she.said and gave him the wallet she stole. "Next time they.disturb you again. Call me." She said and turned back to look at syaoran. "Shows over dude. You done with your stuff?"
-
Abby had been following the group they just didnt realize it as of yet. Her magic allowed her to hide and even partially dissapear from existence if she wished. She had been following them far away that she could track them but not close enough that they would detect her. Upon arriving in Hectomatru she instantly shifted back into existence albeit still hiding in the shadows and back alleys, she didnt trust the group but perhaps this would give her an opportunity to get vengeance on the mage that dispelled her magic. Climbing up onto a roof she smirked when she noticed Incendium talking to a rather interesting feeling female.
-
Trace walked up to the girl with a concerned expression. "Are you alright, miss?" He was ready to dodge, should she attempt to use the chainsaw on him, but she seemed tired. Extending his hand toward her, still wary of her weapon, Trace offered her a drink from his canteen, averting his eyes sheepishly when he realized he didn't have a cup to pour it into.
-
To Cho and Suzu: Sasha noticed Incendium and responded, "Hi, I'm Sasha." She then proceeded to look at the roof, "You can come down from there. As a fellow traveler of the shadows, I can see you bright as day."
To Cef: Syaoran looked up and began to follow Fil and Cef again, "I appreciate what you did for that boy. When I lived out on the streets, nobody really helped me until I was accepted into the Liberation Squad to oust Keiko from the throne to restore the true heir, our current ruler. Now, why don't we head to Yumoru's lab. I hope he isn't building a flying machine." He shuddered at the thought.
To Jormungdang: Haruko graciously accepted the canteen, drinking out of it imediately after putting away the chainsaw. She then gave a thumbs up as thanks and took a sec to recover. "You were with my boyfriend, thanks. Those guys wanted to..." she trailed off and put on a disgusted face. She quickly bounced back though, "Well, I need to get to Yumoru's so unless you have something you need or are heading the same way, I guess this is bye for now." She then walked off.
-
Alex and Akasha walked around the market murmuring about their plans for their next encounter with the Skulls before they both jointly decided that there was nothing of interest to them in the market. Heading down towards the quieter parts of the town they sought out an out of the way apothecary or charm peddler that would have something more in Akasha's area of expertise. "Ah damn, that's right. There was a girl you might have been interested in," Alex remembered as he thought of a few sigils he'd been looking for.
"Oh? And why would that be 'Fawxe'?" The Felin smirked, using his nickname which she, of course, saw right through.
"Because she worked with the shadows in a most exquisite way. She might have some magics of interest to you, perhaps even distantly related." Alex glanced at her sidelong knowing it would get her interested as they neared a shop that they hoped would have something of interest.
-
To Alex: When they entered the shop, a rather scatterbrained looking Luporo girl walked up to them.
"Welcome to Diana's All-purpose charms. How may I help you?"
-
Biting her lips Abbygale jumped down and used the wall to slow her decent before coming to a soft landing, once again the shadows swirled around her feet and body before settling into a dark hooded cloak over her face. "Unexpected." she muttered to herself. "I didnt think somebody would be able to see though this spell...perhaps you received the same training as I, but I don't recognize your energy or your scent." She looked directly at Sasha, the dull blind eyes locked on her.
-
"Hey, don't leave me here!" Trace shouted as he chased after her. He didn't want to get lost again now that he had finally found someone he knew. As he caught up to her, he asked "So, where's this Yumoru place?"
-
To Suzu: "I don't know what you mean by training. I've always been able to do this and I suck at magic. Some scientists confirmed it to be supernatural phenomena, but who can understand the scientific mumbo-jumbo they always talk about. I'm Sasha, nice to meet you." Sasha responded.
To Jormungdang: Haruko pointed in the west. "It's in the western district. A lot of scientists make their homes their. Also you'll have to keep up if you want to come with." She continued walking with quite a spring in her step. Of course, this is natural considering she's a Felin.
-
Abbygale held out her hand. "Abbygale. Not many with the skill to see past these shadow spells, well at least outside of my clan." she kept the cloak over her face for most of the conversation. "Seems you got lucky there Sasha...or rather, I am the unlucky one." She giggled softly before glancing around.
-
Alex's eyes shot to the shop keeper and though his expression was open and friendly his mind was calculating, appraising. Eying the girl up to see what potions or weapons she could have to use against him. Akasha meanwhile took the lead in the exchange keeping the girl distracted until Alex was satisfied with his little investigation.
"We came looking for charms we won't find out in the market, if you understand my drift? I work with.. lesser known magics, and Alex here does some alchemy. We just wanted to know if you had anything interesting in stock, so can you help us?" Akasha shot the girl a knowing glance as she spoke, hoping beyond hope that there was something here more interesting than her usual finds.
-
To Suzu: Sasha looked around with her, "If you're looking for Syaoran, he'll likely be headed for Yumoru's place in the Western District, I mean, I could probably locate and take you to him if you really need me too, it's one of my powers, but he'll likely end up there at some point if you're not in a rush..."
To Alex: The luporo's smile vanished into a more neutral emotion, "You want the back room if you're looking for... lesser known charms, Madame Diana is the only one who knows how to get back there though, and she's out right now," Her smile returned, "However, alchemy stuff is over in appropriate section, I'll take you over there." She proceeded to lead the way but tripped on a book lying on the floor and crashed, causing other books to fall off the shelves and on all three of them, "Artina-dammit, I'll flay that Raucoon alive if he leaves one more book on the floor! He KNOWS I'm clumsy enough as it is." She got up and dusted herself off, "Sorry about that display, we have a part-timer who tends to read a lot on his spare time. We don't mind so much, except he leaves his books on the floor and I tend to trip a lot. Shall we keep going?" From what Alex could see, it appeared that the real threat, if any, was the sloppy part-timer.
-
Abby smirked rather cruelly underneath her cloak, a toothy grin visible that would unsettle most. "Tracking people down and hunting them is what i was trained to do, perhaps not instantaneous, but i would be able to find him. Ofcourse there is still that matter of getting back at that girl who dispelled my shadows...but that can wait. Thank you for the offer Sasha."
-
Sasha smiled, "Well, you're welcome. We'll probably meet again, if you stay around Syaoran or his friends, so there's no real need to say good-bye." She then looked towards Incendium, "I noticed you have a rather interesting book on hand. I haven't seen a book so knowledgeable about necromancy since the time I spied on Keiko for the Liberation Force. Anyways, you should probably go inside with that, while it isn't illegal, it's not a popular school of magic and you will probably get harrassed. Best not to get in that kind of scene if it can be avoided if you ask me. Anyways, I have nothing to do right now, so what are your plans?"
-
Abby growled softly as she still felt the book that Incendium carried that cold darkness that swirled from it put her on edge before she scoffed and walked off her entire form engulfed in shadows the second she touched the shade she seemed to dissipate into nothingness. Making her way to the western district to see if she could detect where the others had gone.
-
Abby felt Trace and another girl, one who's energies were heavily entwined with Syaroan's. Syaoran himself was on the way alongside a girl and Cef.
-
Alex watched the display and raised a brow at her outburst quickly scanning over the fallen books and picking up the one that the Louporo assistant had tripped over. "So where is Madame Diana, do you know? I don't know how long we'll be in town and we do have other business to take care of."
"We're meant to meet some old acquaintances, and they don't like to be kept waiting." Akasha spoke coolly and calmly, not lying, but not telling the whole truth either. It was something she'd become skilled at over the years. "If she is nearby we would be more than happy to meet up with her to discuss the 'lesser known charms'."
Alex dropped his worry to his normal level of caution around Louporo and moved over to the alchemy supplies and rooted through the herbs, vials, and jars.
-
"If you are looking for Madame Diana, here she is" A human woman, looking no older than early 20s walked in. "So you need to go to the back room, do we? Here I'll open the door." She walked over to a sealed door and muttered some unintelligible incantation. The door opened. "Be careful in there. Some of those charms are dangerous. Are you looking for anything in particular?"
-
They both turned hearing the woman enter and Akasha at least flashed a smile to her as she headed for the back room and the two followed closely. Walking into the room they both spread out to opposite sides of the room and looked over the various charms and sigil stones around the room. "Got anything about the undead? Or blood magic?" Akasha spoke a lot more openly in the security of the back room. "Alex dear, you were interested in some enchantments, yes?"
"A Mark of Impact. I have a hammer that doesn't quite scream 'I'm going to dismember you or at least send you very far away' loud enough." Alex spoke casually as he ran his paw over the marks to fell their energies.
-
Diana looked through the charms more in the back of the room. "Let's see here... Ah, here we go." She managed to find a small stack of charms Akasha was looking for as well as a paper with a Mark of Impact. "Let's see, for the set, that'll be 18340 Palums." She further explained, "These are rare charms, you can't expect them to be cheap unless there's something wrong with them."
-
Abby continued to stalk Trace aswell as the girl who seemed strangely tied to Syaroran. Her movement remained rather cautious and well hidden as she drew more shadow energy around herself bending an warping the light around her to render her invisible to sigh sound aswell ans magical detection. Most mages wouldn't be able to survive in the pitch black mass of energy but she thrived in it, her blindness having given her an edge over it.
-
Haruko looked up for a moment, "Hey dude," She began to ask Trace, "Do you ever get the feeling of being watched?" She looked around for a moment, "It must just be me." She continued on, unaware of Abby's presence.
-
Incendium closed his book and tucked it, along with his notes, back in his bag before turning to face Sasha. "Well Miss, Sasha was it? Seeing as how it is so dangerous to study necromancy out here, and since I'm feeling slightly hungry, how about you tell me more about local affairs over lunch?" He said, getting up and offering her his hand up.
-
"So... Flying machines. What do they do anyway. I mean which kind does he build? Transportation, cargo, military stuff. Which one." Cef said as Fil followed from above. "Hey could you just come down? I mean is the conversation really that boring?"
Fil continued walking but was staring at a shadow that didn't look right. "Hmm. Must be an illusion" She said while ignoring it before noticing Cef's question. "Erm YES! I'm not interested in flying stuff ok. Just talk about stuff I can steal. Or music. Then maybe I'll come down"
-
To Cef: Syaoran pondered a moment. "It was a transportation. Now that I think about it, Ritsuo was with us. He's terrible around tech. That might explain things. He builds other things as well. His primary project is a teleporter that his grandfather made blueprints for, but said prints are incomplete, so it's more difficult than it looks."
To Cho: Sasha took his hand to help him up. "I know a good spot in the northern district." Still holding his hand, she looked around for a bit and then a second later, they were in a restaurant. "Well, here we are."
-
Alex frowned softly at the price, it wasn't that it was unfair but more that it was more than he hoped to pay for the much needed rune and sigils that he and Akasha would put to use. "Surely there must be something we can offer, goods or services rendered to help mitigate this cost. Something you've been wanting around town, or business taken care of."
"I'm a wonderful problem solver, within reason of course. Don't want to get my fur bloody unless it's a real slimeball. Besides, the acquaintances we're meeting aren't very friendly towards people like us. So on top of offering some favors we're on the hunt for those who hunt people like us. Surely that should entice you, hmm? Helping the good fight?" Akasha chirped up with her usual bit of charm despite her tendency to be quiet and at times unsettling.
-
Diana thought about for a moment, "Well, I could use some help cleaning my closet. It's more dangerous than you think. The part-timer was sent in there, but now he's in the hospital. I'm willing to discount your purchase by 75% if you do this for."
-
Rending the shadows around herself they settled over her body in her cloak. Her voice speaking up directed straight at Haruko "You know where he is... your energy and his are to entwined not to know." Voice distant and cold as she came straight to the point. "I dont care about my original target, I need to find those skulls and teach them fear."
-
Haruko stopped, mainly because they reached the lab Yumoru lived in and because of Abby. "The reason our energies are so entwined is because we are lovers. As for the skulls, you won't find them easily unless they want to be found or if you have Sasha do recon. I should know, my cousin is Keiko, their leader."
-
Abby hissed and stepped closer,clearly annoyed before she calmed herself down the cloak around her body disappearing. "Then I will wait. I am not about to have my reputation ruined by some second rate mage dispelling my magic." it was clear that whatever training had been drilled into her made her slightly unstable aswell as efficient at killed. "I...appologize." she mumbled as she started to calm down.
-
Haruko smiled, "Hey, don't worry about it, I get the same way if I think someone's trying to steal Syaoran from me." After she said this they heard a boom from the lab.
-
Incendium approached the front desk of the diner, speaking to the person behind the counter. "What do you have for sale?" He said whilst looking around the place.
-
Sasha took him aside for a moment, "It's primarily a sandwich shop, and they'll work with just about any ingredient that isn't dangerous to use."
-
Alex and Akasha both looked up then around noting a very slight tremor from some kind of explosion then both looked at one another. "Think it's them?" Alex questioned Akasha.
"You know them, they keep a very sustained level of madness, violence, and destruction. As much as I'm interested in what poor creature **censor** up that bad, 75% is a steep discount I don't think we'll see again." Turning to Diana Akasha smiles and nods, "Alright, we'll play this game. Take us to this room and tell us what's waiting for us in there."
-
Diana led them out of the back room and upstairs. "Eh he. You see, we have a bit of a demon infestation. The closet is a pocket dimension and demons opened a portal there. I've sealed it so they can't get out, but I'd like to be able to use it again. Well, good luck." She opened the door and shoved them in. It was dark inside other than a faint purple light. It was clear the infestation was bad.
-
The two walked in just barely feeling the push as they more than happily walked in. Akasha hadn't had a serious fight in a while so she started to mindlessly walk into the dark before Alex caught her and pulled her behind him, causing her to sigh and mutter at him. Alex's fur crackled with energy and it slowly shifted into his left paw. "Fighting blind is a challenge. We're not getting extra for making things challenging, though we might get some tidbit if we're efficient." Alex drew his lucerne hammer and charged the energy into the head of the hammer then dropped it to the ground releasing a surge of hot light. Both Alex and Akasha searched the illuminated room for any trace of demons.
-
The illumination revealed a few shadows that quickly recoiled. Alex and Akasha both felt a chill down their spine as something was stalking them, waiting to pounce, they also noticed in their light a bit of a green cloak. They only got a glimpse before it disappeared, but in that glimpse, they saw something on the sleeve that was hard to mistake for anything else. A familiar purple skull logo.
-
Abby turned in the direction of the explosion looking in its directions she instantly tried to feel if this was chemical or magical in nature, if it was magical her senses would be able to tear the entire explosion into tiny bits of information that would help her lead herself to who ever did this.
-
It appeared to be both. A boy was the source of it and it seemed to be an accident.
-
"Dang it! What now?" Cef said and was about to rush into the place before being turned into a scythe
"Hold on Cef. Remember this is a lab. You might be dead. But that.doesn't mean you can't be crippled. Who knows what chemicals might be involved. I don't want my boyfriend coming out as a skeleton you hear? I'll leave you if you do die a second death." Fil said and let him turn back into an anthro.
-
When Cef walked in he noticed a human boy who was blackened by the explosion on the ground.
"I think I used too much Sulfur." Cef heard him say before the boy passed out.
-
Alex and Akasha both noted the shadows moving in the fading light but Akasha noticed the familiar skull symbol first and she hissed her revulsion at it as she swiftly plucked a posie from her pocket and with a few utterances in a rough, guttural tongue she threw it and it burst into flames, landing about where she'd seen the cloak with the skull on it. A few moments later it burst apart scattering bits of herb and burlap a few dozen feet around, each piece burned with a white light which clearly illuminated the area.
Sliding her shortsword from it's holster she leveled it in front of her and waved it slowly back and forth as Alex began charging energy into his hammer again but for a different reason than last time, "Show yourself you worthless little meat sack, I've been waiting for this."
-
"What did I tell you. Now if my calculations are correct. You have 30 seconds or so to get him out before you start rotting and stuff." Fil.said and Cef ran towards the boy and picked him up. "Can you walk. I'm not that strong you see, I literally lost a lot of muscles a few years back." Cef said while carrying him towards the group
-
Abby simply watched and processed as Cef ran in. The undead can risk his life my purpose is not to save young ones who play with fire. She thought to herself rather cruelly.
-
To Alex: The light didn't last long and Alex felt something grab him as he heard a gunshot and noticed his shoulder bleeding as a sharp pain settled in. Akasha noticed that she couldn't move as a demonic clown face stared at her. It was almost as if she was tied with invisible rope. "How do you like my Mime. Quite effective, you wouldn't believe that I found a demon summoning ritual in here. Unfortunately we can't seem to leave. What a pity. I suppose destroying you will have to do. You had your chance. It's too late now." The green robed vixen walked up. Akasha recognized her as Lara, Skylar's twin. Lara pointed her pistol at Akasha's head.
To Cef and Suzu: "I'll be fine." The boy got up and escorted himself and Cef out after putting a barrier around the both of them. Haruko sighed with relief as Syaoran gave him the meds he asked for. "Don't worry us like that Yumoru."
-
"So, this is Yumoru." Trace said as he scratched his chin, carefully memorizing the boy's features in case he became a potential enemy later. Then he turned his gaze back towards the lab, and asked "If I may ask, what were you trying to do anyway?"
-
Yumoru shrugged, "I was working on a teleporter device that my grandfather designed. He died before he finished the blueprint, leaving me to decipher what was supposed to go. I tried Sulfur. It was going well, but it suddenly blew up in my face when I tried to use it. You know the rest."
-
Alex growled and cursed under his breath feeling the bullet rip through his shoulder. Turning to the source he heard Akasha grunt against some mysterious creature. Alex ran as best he could. "Where!?" Alex shouted to the air.
"Point blank in front of me!" Akasha yelled back to him. Judging on her last known position Alex used the momentum of his movement to swing his hammer in a high arc that would land right in Lara's chest. With Lara being caught in the tough position of whether she was ready to sacrifice herself to kill the infamous Witch Akasha, the Witch called out to the air.
"Oh Kitten! Momma's in danger!" There was a flash in Akasha's eyes and the air shifted as a serpentine dragon with decided feline features surged into existance next to Akasha and jumped at the mime, aiming it's jaws for it's throat.
-
Lara quickly noticed the hammer coming and put up a barrier to stop it. It still stunned her for a second though, enough time for Kitten to kill the mime demon that was trapping Akasha. Unfortunately once she was released, she lost balance and fell down. "Well, this is starting to get interesting, I should expect nothing less from you or anyone you associate with, Akasha. Zios, I require asisstance." With that, a hooded man rushed at unnatural speeds attacking fiercely, combining swordplay and magic spells to attack Alex unrelentlessly. He caught a glimpse of fangs protruding from his mouth and a feeling similar to being around Cef.
-
"Well next time try to use safety precautions. Don't you have a blast proof room or something. I mean don't most engineers have one?" Cef said as Fil climbed down from the building. "And yeah do you have a place to stay or something? Cause there's a fire in there." Fil said while dusting off her clothes.
-
Yumoru continued dusting himself, "I did, though all my assistants had their day off today. I was forced to test it myself. You know the rest. As for the fire, the sprinklers should be on now." On cue a small drain pipe on the side of the house started pouring water out.
-
Akasha spun up to her feet in a spinning sweeping motion that left her crackling with energy. When she rose to her feet Lara would realise that at some point amidst the swirl of her robes she'd drawn her staff. "Fun time now, Lara, isn't that right Kitten?" Akasha glanced down to the creature and hopped on it's back happily and waved her staff around herself, causing darkness to drop like smoke and cling to herself and Kitten. "Now you see me, now you don't." There was a soft sound as Kitten pushed off the ground then nothing was heard.
Alex glanced over just long enough to see that Akasha was safe. Hearing Zios' being called Alex slung his hammer to the straps on his back and just barely got his scimitar out in time to twirl it swiftly-it was the only thing he could do to protect himself. Backing up quickly and keeping the blade spinning artfully, causing a near constant flurry of steel on steel sounds. Alex began muttering softly and pulled his free hand behind his back. After a few seconds he spun and his cloak which was colored earth tones did indeed turn to the consistency of stone and earth. Alex didn't have enough time to power the spell as much as he wanted but after sheathing his sword and putting both hands to work he gave but a second then spun, his cloak softening again and held a channeled pyroblast in his hands, aimed right at Zios. "Vampires like fire, don't they?" Alex released it at him, if nothing else, giving him some breathing room.
-
"Kay. Cool. But there's a few guys that aren't here yet. Wanna look for them? Don't know what they'll be looking for but incendium is probably looking for books. That bookworm." Fil said and sighed. "Let's go look for him. Cef you look for the other guy. Alex right" She said and started walking off. "Look for us if you don't see us in 15 minutes" Cef said and started moving too
-
To Alex: Lara pulled a black rune from her pouch, supposedly one of the demon summoning runes she "found." She used it and suddenly Akasha noticed that Kitten wasn't responding to her anymore. Looking more closely, she noticed ethereal strings wrapped around her. When she looked back up, she saw a giant, demonic eyeball glaring at her as the thing moved what looked like Marionette controlly thingies (I don't know the proper word, sorry.) and forced Kitten to flip and shake Akasha off.
Zios took the fireball and didn't appear to be affected other than a normal human, though Alex noticed that markings on his visible skin were lighting up, almost like they were protecting him. He then took out his large sword and crashed it down on Alex.
To Cef: Yumoru took out his laptop and began typing some things into it. It beeped several times and Yumoru looked up. "Incendium is in a local sandwich shop and Alex's last location before he disappeared from this dimension was in Diana's All-Purpose Charms. I know Madame Diana and she has a pocket dimension in her closet, so that's a likely first place to look."
-
"Pocket Dimensions...Arnt they susceptible to breaches by inter-planar magics?" Abby said casually, her own shadow veil in effect was something similar but distinct. "If the bookworm has that girl with him he will be fine, the others I am not sure about."
-
Yumoru thought for a moment, "You might be right. I remember Madame Diana asking me for an expulsion charm powerful enough to oust demons... Oh crap." He rushed back into his lab and they heard some crashing and banging and he came back out with a scrap of paper with a charm inscribed on it. "Cef was it, take this to them in case they need it."
-
Akasha spat something that was alien to all ears that could hear it but all the same sounded very foul and full of rage. The symbol on her chest burned bright through her shirt and an identical symbol shone on Kitten's forehead as Akasha used their full bond. "Kitten is mine, Lara. You should get your own-ah but that's right! You can't!" The silent magical flight of the Eidolon took it behind Lara and the only warning she'd get before they charged headlong into her was Akasha's brutal words, "I'll take my magic to the grave you little worm."
Alex blinked and cursed more loudly this time as he sidestepped and hastily drew his sword. "Worthless, bloodthirsty, maggot farm." Alex was thrown off balance but sent up a storm of electricity around him to not only defend himself while he became more stable but also lay a trap if he drew too close.
-
"Okay. Geez. Whats with the charm store anyway." Cef said while keeping it in his pocket. He went in through the front door only to see Fil in it. "Took you long enough. The door was locked a few seconds ago. And it's still pretty much empty." Fil said while looking around for a secret button or lever. "Right. Did you check the other door?" Cef said and pushed open the door behind the counter
-
To Alex: Zios jumped back from the lightning and while Alex was regaining his balance, he heard a groan from somewhere in the closet. When he looked behind him, it was Ritsuo, who had apparently been in here for a while. He was just waking up and had a huge bump on his head and a large gash in his shoulder. He got up, "Oh, hey Alex, wasn't expecting you to be here. There are a lot of demons... Oh. Never mind." Ritsuo struggled a bit to get his senses in order as he was quite disoriented from being knocked out for a farily long time.
The Puppeteer demon attached its strings to Lara and pulled her out of harm's way before even she could be able to react. Lara responded by putting a trapping barrier around Akasha, "No more fun and games now. It is time to die." Akasha then noticed that it was progressively getting harder and harder to breathe. At this rate she might suffocate.
To Cef: A ditzy looking Luporo walked up to both of them, "Welcome to Diana's All-Purpose Charms. How may I help you?"
-
Alex realised that Ritsuo was the absentminded part-timer who left books sitting around everywhere and groaned out the words, "of course." Readying his sword the blade hummed as he channeled energy into it then charged the vampire and readied a flurry of attacks spin stepping every few swings to change position and make himself a harder target.
Akasha smiled devilishly, taking deep measured breaths, the immediate threat to her life didn't seem to phase her. Akasha simply dropped off Kitten and gestured to Alex and the feline-esque dragon flew off to help Alex flank the Vampire. Pointing her staff at the Lara Akasha started a charge. The unnatural jewel emitting an energy that as Akasha drew closer to Lara she would realise had the feeling of Abjuration magic.
-
Zios moved in rhythm with Alex and eventually cast a spell which caused illusionary copies of Zios. This confused both him and Kitten. Ritsuo finallly recovered and shot each of the copies. "Now you don't have to deal with that mess. If if weren't for that part-timer getting himself hospitalized, I wouldn't have to be here, and neither would you."
The Puppeteer demon once again took Lara out of harm's way. It was clear it had to go before she could attack Lara.
-
Akasha smiled slyly as she followed the strings up and shot a thin ray at the demon which would permeate it and cause it to collapse in on itself. With the demon taken care of Akasha looked to Lara and took another breath, fighting to fill her lungs then holding it softly as she glided quickly towards Lara with her feet barely skimming the ground with her staff glowing with a dark purplish light.
Alex watched the illusory copies and had only taken out a few of them when the Raucoon took out the rest of them, Alex nodded softly to Ritsuo's words and focused on Zios. Alex circled Zios until Kitten was behind him at which point Alex charged him while Kitten's tail whipped out at his feet. If the tail hit it would drag his feet out from under him, letting him fall head first.
-
Lara, knowing she wouldn't be able to dodge anymore, simply put a barrier around herself. However it still put strain on her body. Panting she cried out, "This isn't over, I still have one more trump card to play." With that, she pulled out a pink card with a blood red rose emblazoned on it. "Lord Zanzir, we require your assistance." An eerie wind blew by as the scent of roses drifted through the air, Zios had fallen, but he did a handstand backflip to avoid hitting his head, but left his sword behind. Ritsuo's face turned to one of complete panic. "Alex, I'd be careful if I were you. Zanzir is another Dark Lord, separate but allied with the Royal Skulls and Keiko and he is one of the strongest people in the world. Syaoran's father took him on and only managed to seal him off until Keiko partially undid it. Even at only a third of his power though, he's a force to be reckoned with and has nearly killed us all on multiple occasions. He also has a serious grudge against Syaoran's family and is attempting to murder him and his brother. Be careful, all right?" It was unusual for Ritsuo to be this serious, so there was something really wrong.
-
Alex smiled seeing Zios struggling to keep up his guard, it was a pleasant twist to be sure and seeing his opportunity Alex scooped up the vampire's sword and pressed the attack. Doing a spinning strike with his own sword while delivering a thrust with the Zios' own sword, Kitten seeking to strike the vampire's high back and get a hold of him again, hoping to keep him from fully getting good and level.
Akasha looked to the air and then back to Lara. Alex was trying to wrap things up good and quick then bail before trouble rained down and Akasha felt the same way. The witch could smell the desperation of the barrier, it was meant to hold her off. Though time was not her ally it was not Lara's either. Touching the staff to the surface Akasha moved it across the surface in various patterns and motions. The Felin's face was grave and determined, "Soon, dear Lara, you'll be mine.." Akasha was more than confident enough to spare some of her breath as her next inhale got just over half her lungs full. She had faith that she could slay or at least drive off the girl before the Dark Lord arrived.
-
"We're looking for something ancient. Something that heals the undead." Fil said and exposed an area on Cef where flesh hasn't grow. "I do believe you sell those kind of charms."
-
Unfortunately, Zanzir, a Foux in a black black jacket with white underneath had arrived. He proceeded to scan his surroundings and immediately went for Akasha. As he backed her into a corner with rapier thrusts and a lot of elemental magic, he took out a throwing dagger and tossed it in Alex's direction, however it got caught in the closet door.
Cef and Fil heard a bang from the closet as the assistant was about to lead them to the charm they were looking for and noticed the pointy end of a knife sticking out the door.
-
The couple looked at each other and shoved the luporo aside. Fil turned Cef into a scythe and charged towards the door. Blasting it open first with a shockwave and then scanning her surroundings. "Well they were right on one thing. This is a hell hole"
-
Alex gave a triumphant smile as Kitten caught up Zios but caught the dagger out of the corner of his eyes and spun out of the way. Alex looked over and saw Zanzir and decided that it was time to unleash something stronger. Alex released an ice shard that would seek out Zios which should be easy as Kitten lifted him into the air. Once buried in some part of him it would spread a freezing cold through him. Turning to Zanzir Alex released a wave of static at him. It wouldn't damage him but it would draw energy to him.
Akasha muttered to her staff and several runes lit up and it continued to draw as she backed up, her rather nimble frame weaving in and out of strikes. Any who dared to touch her staff would feel searing pain in their hands or paws. As long as the barrier went down Akasha could get to Lara and break the seal. Though as she neared a corner she also realised her breaths were getting shallower and she had to speed things up. Feinting up she suddenly dipped down and dove between Zanzir's legs trying to get to Lara where she planned to deal some magic tipped claw strikes to her barrier.
-
Fil looked at the two the at zanzir. "Hey you need some help there?" She said and started drawing the rune given by the human on the blade of her scythe. "Cef. If it doesn't do what I think it does. Scream." Fil said after finishing it. It started to glow a deep blue colour.
-
Since they opened the door so ubruptly, a lot of demons came flying out the door and into the city. Lara laughed as she said, "Well, looks like you two bozos did our work for us. Zios, we're going." The two left and Zanzir proceed to summon a multitude of blood red rose petals, which he fired at the group. The petals,were sharp as,knives and got everywhere. On the plus side, Akasha can breathe freely now since Lara is out of range.
-
Alex scoffed as the vampire seemed to disappear the moment before Alex would have skewered him. Seeing the petals Alex threw up his cloak and heard the distinct sound of the petals scratching at the stone shield though when it changed back the cloth of the cloak was fine. "At least I got his sword as a trophy. Akasha you'll need to mask it so they can't scry it to find us."
Akasha took a deep breath and sighed happily being able to breathe snatching up her staff Kitten flew to her and coiled up behind her as she sent a surge of force forward that barely deflected most of the petals, some making it through the cone of force and cutting her cloak up. "Yes Alex dear, one moment, they damaged my cloak. I liked this cloak, now I'll have to mend it." Akasha walked over and whispered to the sword while waving her staff over it. The odd smoke it emitted clung to it. "I think we need to speak to Diana."
"Agreed, I want a larger discount preferably one called Free."
-
They appear to have forgotten that Zanzir was still there. While the two were busy disguising the sword, more rose petals came flying about, except these seemed to be purple, when they hit though, the coloration returned to the usual blood red. They noticed Ritsuo had taken quite a few beyond his fur and he started to feel nauseous and began puking. The purple coloration appeared to be some sort of poison.
-
Fil took a moment to realize what happened but her body already started moving. She spun the scythe around while muttering something silently, paused, and struck it's blade into the ground. "And through death shall the reaper claim her souls" She finished and the first rune on the blade spread onto the ground. Letting lost souls reappear in a thirty meter radius. Catching with it any unholy beings that emerged from the closet. She kept the spell going for a moment and spoke in an otherworldly language. "Dear Lich. Lend me your wings, for there are those who require the judgement of reaping." She finished and pulled it out of the ground, which slid out like knife through butter. She ran out and skeletal wings grew out from her back. She rose above ground and began following the glowing trails the souls left behind
-
Alex threw his cloak over the two of them and called out to the Dark Lord. "Didn't your little followers say it was time to leave? I know you're not at full power Zanzir, I know because I'm still alive and better off than I was five minutes ago." Better off in that he now had a new weapon which he and Akasha were eager to examine for any special properties.
"Alex dear, lend me your hammer." Alex pulled out his hammer and held it to her. With careful grace she spoke to the hammer while letting a yellowish mist seep over it which caused it glow with dull power. "Well go get him. You and your friends." Akasha winked and with a tap to the ground illusory copies of Alex poured around the cloak and Alex dismissed the cloak and shifted into the group of easily a dozen, moving around with them, their illusory hammers glowing just like his leaving no sign for the real one. The closer he got the more his hammer seemed to cry out, abjuring his presence.
-
To Cef: Some of the demons slipped through before the rune activated but the majority of them were caught. Some of the weaker ones were killed immediately just by that rune. The others were unable to escape and awaited death.
To Alex: Zanzir scoffed, "I don't have to listen to them. I'm not a Royal Skull, I'm merely allied with them. I act on my own agenda, which at the moment is killing you." When the illusory copies surrounded him he shook his head and began an incantation. A field of reality bending power, like that of which Zorie produced occured. The difference is, is that it was significantly more powerful. When he stopped the incantation, the inside of the closet exploded with blooming roses, all blood red. There were many razor sharp petals that pierced and dispelled several copies. Eventually he summoned rosy vines that grabbed at Akasha while the thorns dug into her skin. Meanwhile Ritsuo's condition appeared to be getting worse as he started coughing up blood. He managed to fire a shot out of one of his guns. However it only grazed Zanzir's side and embbeded itself into the door.
-
"May the gates of hell keep you in your rightful place. And may you be reborn. In a different time and space" Fil said and skeletal hands grabbed them and pulled them down. Sending them straight to hell while the lost souls merely disappeared. "Thats that. Now let's see if we can't help those two battle this Zanzir guy." Fil said and let Cef morph back. While still feeling wobbly, he made his way just fine although his visions were weirdly curved.
-
Alex staggered as did the remaining clones and he found it hard to advance. Alex grunted as petal after petal cut through him, not having the time to use his cloak. Half the clones were holding up to the attack so this might just work out.
Akasha gasped and hissed at the thorny tendril and raised a paw spitting out furious and profane words in the same alien, guttural language from earlier and her hand started to emit an acrid smelling smoke. Using the Withering Touch Hex she sought to kill the vine holding her and she focused much of her energy on it while maintaining the remaining clones as best she could.
The clones started throwing their hammers at the Dark Lord and as the last one released his Alex smiled remembering something. "Zanzir never dodged the Curse of Magic Attraction, he must have thought it was just a weak attack." Throwing his hammer at the same time as the last clone Alex stood fast, his blade and the vampires in either hand, now.
-
To Cef: The two of them nearly trip on Ritsuo, who is passed out with rose petals in him. He is clearly worsening from the effects of the poison.
To Alex: Zanzir anticipated the attack and redirected the rose petals to shield him. The hammer hit him on the head though. "I will not be ridiculed." With that he dispelled his shield violently in every direction attacking anyone in range with multicolor rose petals.
-
Alex sneered and whistled and his hammer flew back and buried itself in the ground at his feet, Akasha walked up chuckling softly and Alex sheathed the swords and put one paw on the hammer and the other on her and once again activated the robe shielding them. "You don't have much experience with the less common use of Abjuration, Zanzir. Abjuring spells can shield, but the one my hammer left in you.. can expel you from this place." Dropping the shield and facing Zanzir, they watched as the banishment started tugging at Zanzir. Once it's full effect came into play the spell would rip him from the spot and he'd vanish-quite fortunately for them, only to appear a good distance from them and this town.
"Tootles darling, till we meet again," Akasha blew a mock kiss to the Dark Lord and watched on.
-
Zanzir, ever defiant, decided to leave first and burst into a stream of rose petals, obviously just as sharp as the ones before it. His spell was removed and the closet reverted to normal as the demon gate deactivated. Ritsuo was still coughing up blood and looked really terrible.
-
Alex walked to the door and stood in it watching Akasha walk up to Ritsuo. Taking out a very ornate athame she purred out the word "Puuurge" and the runes up it's length glowed red as she cuts fairly shallowly up his chest. The blood that drained out was dark and discolored, obviously carrying the poison out with it. Eventually the blood returned to it's normal hue. Running a finger over the wound Akasha muttered softly and the Ruacoon would notice a bit of a searing pain as the wound knit itself together.
After helping him to his feet she pushed him onto Kitten's back and they walked back into the store, Alex shutting the door firmly behind him. "Oh Diana.. we need to renegotiate our deal.." The witch called out.
-
Ritsuo jolted awake at the pain of his wound closing up, "Damn, that hurts!" Diana came over and said, "Yeah, I realize. New deal. You get double stock for same price with the 75% offer still standing. Basically your order is doubled and the discount is still there."
-
A hooded figure watches the madness ensue from a balcony. Strands of raven hair poke out from the black hood as he breathes heavily, a bead of sweat running down his face; so much going on at once, and so much to take in... Mordred couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed.
He had his mission and purpose for being in Konoro city, of which he was not incredibly willing to share with just anyone. However, there were few to no actions he was willing to perform without observing the current scuffle for a little longer.
Nervously, he drummed his fingers along the lavender bound, leather codex at his side. On the front were printed two gold leaf masks of tragedy and comedy... He hoped he wouldn't have to revert to asking them for help yet (not that he minded).
Things could just get complicated with Mercutio and Alexander.
And so, Mordred waited, glass blue eyes carefully watching the combatants... Or were they finished?... Whatever they were, the hume silently kept his gaze upon the one shouting about a closed wound.
-
Alex stood before Diana safely within the shop, away from prying eyes as did Akasha and Ritsuo. Gazing at Diana Alex couldn't help but wish that she had offered the things to him free. Hearing that she would give them double the stock was an interesting offer. Akasha blinked and opened her muzzle as if to speak but thought better of it. "Madame Diana may we speak in the quiet security of the back room? I have a special request."
-
Ritsuo noticed the man looking at him and decided since he was feeling better, to go and say hi. He expertly climbed his way up to his balcony and said, "Yo. Haven't seen you around Hectomatru. What's your name?"
Diana cocked her head to the side, "Sure. I guess?" She lead Akasha into the back room. Leaving Alex alone with Fil and Cef as well as the Luporo assistant.
-
Letting out a small cry of astonishment as the Ruacoon clambered up the building, Mordred took a few steps back.
Biting his lip, he kept his hood up, but shakily answered with a quiet voice, offering a gloved hand, "H-hi. My name is Mordred. And you probably haven't... I only recently got to the city."
Mordred patted his right side pocket as he was greeted, more so out of nervous habit than purpose; to think that just sitting around and observing would have brought the action to him.
And so he stood, gloved hand lofted in mid air as time felt like jelly around him; he hoped he hadn't been seen as rude for being a spectator...
-
Alex watched them go then turned to the other three and nodded softly his eyes shifting to Cef and Fil, "What were you two doing while we were fighting for our lives? Surely someone must have known what was going on. A Dark Lord being summoned by two Royal Skulls isn't easy to hide." Alex arched his eyebrows at the two as Akasha quietly shut the door behind them.
Now in absolute privacy Akasha turned to Diana. "We faced a Dark Lord in there, Zanzir, he only left because he didn't want to take a blow to his pride by suffering by a common Banishment. I am in contact with.. unusual forces. These forces however are hard to stay in contact with. I could deliver sweet wrath upon them if I could create a greater connection with my.. patrons." Akasha ran her fingers along a wall staring at it as she waited, perhaps for the sheer sake of dramatics or maybe she was thinking of how straightforward she wanted to be. "I need to know if you have any books that are considered Forbidden Lore. If you do, I need them. If Zanzir gets back to full power, it will be the end of us all. I know you understand. You seem like the kind of woman who's handled illegal magic."
-
To Alex Fawxe: Diana sighed, "Involuntarily, yes. Those demon summoning runes in the closet were a prime example of what goes through this shop sometimes. As for Zanzir, I believe keeping him from full power is lot easier than you think. The seal that ties off his power is connected to the Kitesun family. You know Syaoran, right? Well, his father was the one who originally sealed him off. I was... am considered a family friend, so I know a few things regarding them." She frowned slightly as if in regret. "Well, the only way to completely destroy the seal is to perform a blood ritual at the site. Therefore the key to keeping Zanzir's power from returning, is to keep Syaoran and his brother as far away from Zanzir as possible and failing that, keep Zanzir away from his seal. Now, as for the Tome you were looking for, I don't have any copies. I know where one is though."
To Alex Laetus: Ritsuo shrugged, "Dude, you look like you've seen a ghost. Then again, I nearly got slaughtered by something much worse, so I guess that's an understatement. You need to relax a bit." With that he climbed up to the rooftop. He motioned for Mordred to follow. "Oh, by the way, mine's Ritsuo."
-
Watching Ritsuo climb the roof, Modred pulled back his hand, and then exposed his head, his pale complexion certainly standing out... Compared to the Racoon being, Mordred felt... Exposed.
"Alright... Sorry, I just don't hang out with people very much. And very nice to meet you Ritsuo."
Seeing the motion to follow... Mordred bit his lip, "Uh... I probably won't be very fast in keeping up....
Erm, well, that is... Unless you'd be willing to wait for me for a few seconds to go get changed into something else."
-
"For you it may not be hard to find because you use arcane magic and runes. For us who deal with the dead however. It's a different story." Fil said and nodded to Cef. "See it was designed to store and hide things that do not belong from each other. That includes me and Fil. I'm a lich who can summon things from the other world. So a door would be easy to tunnel through. Which would let them go free." Cef finished and let Fil start. "Also I'm not invited. Too. Because my soul is tied to his and the effects are similar. The door too has it's own defenses. A normal person could open it easily. But for those that do not belong. It disintegrates. Which is why I blasted it open instead of touching it." Fil finished and crossed her hands. "Now care to tell me why your dealing with forbidden runes?"
-
Ritsuo sat down at the top, "Sure, I'm not going anywhere."
-
Alex crossed his arms casually and arched his brows, "What makes you think I'm dealing in forbidden runes? This is a legitimate shop selling legitimate runes and herbs, so on and so forth. Some are rare and mostly unheard of. I simply wanted a rune of greater impact for my hammer. Nothing illegal about that is there?" Alex looked them dead in the eyes. Nothing about him suggested he was lying, because he wasn't lying. Nothing about him suggested he was withholding the truth either. That, however, was because he was skilled in wit and word choice.
Akasha walked up to her and looked her dead in the eyes, her gaze that of a starving beggar being told of a place with a feast fit for a king. "A map, a picture, a set of simple directions, a general heading. Give me something I can use. I want this tome." Akasha's tone was fierce and demanding. The witch certainly didn't mean it but she was becoming quite forceful and intimidating.
-
"REALLY? Then might I have the pleasure to.ask you why.you were so DESPERATE as to 'cleaning' a 'closet' full of demons. And might I add that it is one which contains not one but TWO royal skulls PLUS a dark lord" This time it was Fil's turn to cross her arms. She knew she got somewhere. She just needs a little more proof to pop the bubble.
-
Alex chuckled at the indignant response he got and shook his head. "'Desperate'? We were smart. We were told there were a few demons loose, and we were getting a hefty discount to clear them out. That is being an opportunist is what that is." Alex gave the girl a stern look. Alex had gotten a long way saying the right things at the right times and best of all, he didn't have to lie. "First we knew there was one Royal skull and some minor demons. We could easily stave off Lara, but she called in Zios. At that point we didn't have much option in retreating. We were on the defensive. Just as we were getting the upper hand Lara played the trump, she summoned Zanzir. There was no choice in turning and running. Any attempt to flee would have left us too open. As it is Ritsuo nearly died." Alex tilted his head and arched a brow to her, his defense being air tight given that it was cemented in fact. "Had we known how much danger was inside we would have gathered all of us immediately."
-
To Alex: Diana was not fazed in the slightest, though she quickly got to her point, "The Tome is in the castle in the capital in the royal library. You are going to have to get permission directly from the Queen herself, if you want to get it though. I'm sure if you explain, she'll understand why you would need it."
-
Akasha let out a soft growl and turned away and strode to the wall. "Not everyone is understanding as we are, Diana. There's been remarkably few people to outright accept my powers as okay. They don't come from gods or even a Vestige. These beings are so incredibly beyond comprehension that most just label them as some horrid, malevolent, alien beings wielding ungodly power." Akasha stared at the wall and muttered softly before exclaiming, "I need a good convincing cover. They'll never let me undo seals on planar boundaries to allow more of their alien presence to slip through so that people like myself can use it."
-
"Just a few minor demons? There were hundreds. what? thousands in there. Do you have ANY idea how much harm that would cost a town who probably uses magic to do the laundry and nothing else? Do you think EVERYONE has as much skills as you do? SURE magic is common but people won't be using YOUR magic to do their chores." Fil grunted and turned Cef into a scythe. "I'm leaving. For now. Thanks for giving me work to do. Moron" Fil spat at the last word and looked around the town in search of the remaining ones that got away. "You blew it there didn't you" Cef said telepathically. "How am I supposed to lecture someone who practices normal magic with what I know. Why can't he just be more sensible. Seriously" She said and swung the scythe down onto a demon's back. It body slowly disintegrated into ashes as the wind blew past it. "One down, ninety-nine more to got"
-
Alex strode casually out after them and called down the street, "For the record! We were the only ones in danger up until some rotten, loud-mouth child BLASTED the door down. You make your bed you lie in it!" Alex gave a smug grin mostly to himself. Confused as to how the girl managed to forget that she set the demons loose and not Alex. All the same Alex turned to go back inside but spotted Ritsuo and some stranger up on a balcony. The newcomer was interesting to Alex but Alex needed to know what was going on with Akasha. Undoubtedly she was looking for old and blatantly outlawed tomes, but such was the nature of her work and her craft.
-
Diana muttered under her breath for a moment, "Look, you need that book to fight Zanzir. That alone would be a good enough reason for her to give you the book. If you explain it to either one of the Kitesuns first, it'll probably boost your favor. Their family is very well respected, among the royal court."
-
Akasha sighed and nodded. Subterfuge and half truths would be her greatest weapon here. According to what Alex had told her Syaoran was with them. So through him, she'd get the families favor, then through the family she would obtain the courts favor. Then-"Alright, fair enough. Alex is going to want a Greater Elemental Burst to go with his Greater Impact. I will ask for nothing more, given the invaluable information I was given. What is our new total?"
-
"Same as last considering the double up deal combined with the 75% discount."
-
Giving a nod, Mordred ducked into the building, and sought a private room.
Closing the door behind him, he lifted a hand, causing his tome to rise, along with his two brands to faintly glow as he flipped open the pages...
Finding the one he was looking for, Mordred reached into the pages to retrieve a mask that featured the face of a Raccoon, a slash across one of its eyes.
Closing the book, and slipping it into one of his pockets, he places the mask on his face, closing his eyes as he feels a purple light envelope him...
~ ~ ~
About a good three minutes after he entered, a Raucoon in very light clothes and a green bandanna on his head burst out, he hopping onto the roof.
Giving a sly wink to Ritsuo, he gave him a thumbs up, "Alrighty; ready to get going Rit?"
-
Ritsuo blinked multiple times, "Enchanted Mask user huh? Not the first time I saw one, but it has been several years." He proceeded to bound across the rooftops in the direction of the residential district where most of the others were. "I'll introduce you to everyone else."
Meanwhile over at the sandwich shop where Incendium and Sasha were, Sasha noticed something off, "Um, we should probably go. I sense something demonic approaching." She proceeded to hurriedly walk to the door and waited for Incendium.
-
Akasha looks to Alex in the doorway who walks in. Catching him up on the situation Alex sighs and starts to pony up some money though Akasha comes up with most of it. Carefully picking out Luperian currency without Diana seeing she hands over just over half and Alex finishes the rest and collects their things. "I hope it was worth it Akasha..."
"It was Alex, believe me." Akasha gave him a wry look then led them to the door, "I believe you should find a guild who will lend you use of their enchanting equipment, hopefully they won't make a game of getting permission. I'm no longer in the mood for games."
-
Diana spoke up, "Actually there's some equipment next to the alchemy stuff. The nearest guild is halfway across town, so I may as well save you time."
-
Alex nodded softly, "Thanks," then walked over to the table and set his hammer down on it. Alex carefully applied the Rune Of Greater Impact then picked up the bonding rod and used the bolt of energy to bond the rune to the hammer, after done Alex carefully inspected his work then set the hammer down on the pronged hammer head so that the fresh rune was facing the wall and repeated the process with the Greater Elemental Burst rune. After completed Alex inspected his work again then nodded to Diana giving one last thanks before exiting the shop. With the street still clear from the small outpouring of demons Alex smiled to Akasha. "I wanna try out my new toy. Try not to get in the way."
Kitten, having followed them out simply waited as Akasha got on her back then they followed after Alex as he bolted off running a paw over the head and storing electricity in it till it hummed and glowed. Making his way past Cef and Fil Alex spotted an impish demon starting to terrorize a small group of towns people and took a little bit of a skipping step landing in a sturdy stance. With a firm grip Alex put the hammer into the Imp and both effects activated. A wave of electricity and kinetic energy blasted the impish hellion into the air in a shower of sparks. At it's peak the discharge seemed to have finished it off leaving it as a scattering pile of ashes as it fell. "Why didn't I do this sooner?"
-
As they moved on, they noticed Syaoran was fighting a demon nearby as well. His sword was boosted with what appeared to be a light-element spell that was pretty effective at wiping out the demons. "Where did these demons come from!? They're swarming the place!"
-
Eyes opening a bit, Mercutio replied, "What? Me using masks? What are you talking about XD? This is OBVIOUSLY the work of a magic shawl ; P. You should brush up on your magic."
Watching the Raucoon hop ahead of him, Mercutio tightened his bandana, and a smug grin on his face, hopped after his new friend, exclaiming, "I'd love to! Sounds like if they're anything like you, they have to be a fairly interesting bunch!"
-
"Not you, the guy you were before. I know how enchanted masks work." Ritsuo continued bounding ahead until they reached Yumoru's Lab. Ritsuo noticed that Syaoran was missing. "Hey, where's Sya at?"
Haruko responded, "He went off in the direction of some screaming, apparently there's been a bit of a demon infes-"
"We know. Oh guys this is Mordred... er was, don't know what name he's using at the moment. He's a mask user."
Yumoru and Haruko responded with their own greeting. "So, what now?" Ritsuo asked.
-
Alex snickered and cracked his neck. "Feel free to join. I do so enjoy our little competitions. You know the rules." Alex dove into a small group of demons, these bigger. They took more of a beating, but the impact enchantment still gave him some breathing room. The kickback took some getting used to. The ones that fought the kickback made the hammer kick back a little. The first time Alex had to take a step back to avoid being knocked over. That was a mistake he didn't repeat. Shifting his stance to absorb the kickback when he needed to Alex picked his way from demon to demon.
Akasha hopped off of Kitten and snickered, "Yes yes, rules rules. Kitten's kills don't count towards my total." It was a joke, really. They often lost track and in the end they usually just recounted humorous tales. Akasha gave Kitten a kissed, "Go play with the demons Kitten." The Eidolon bounded off and immediately started chewing on one while her tail whipped around smacking some demons while grabbing others and using them as a weapon to batter other demons. Akasha herself twirled her staff and tapped one of the demons trying to hit Kitten and whispered to him, "Would you kindly help kitten with these other demons?". The demon stood for a moment then immediately stabbed the closest demon in the back of the neck. "Thank you, dear."
-
Watching the various members so quickly spring into action; this looked like a lot of fun! 8D! However....
Mordred could not help but feel if combat were involved... Another form should be used?
With a playful jibe, he bent down, asking, "Mind if I join in the fun~?"
Snagging a silver pouch at his side, he opened it, a golden leaf, Luporo mask.
Putting it to his face, his form began to shimmer, a purple veil seeming to mask the mage.
Within seconds, a Luporo with golden fur brushed a strand of hair out of his face, a cocky gleam in his eyes as he gave a wolfish grin, "Here now... this may be of more use."
Slipping away his other mask, Alexander lept into action, he starting to engage the demons outermost to the cluster
-
Syaoran worked side by side and continued killing demons one by one, his usually bright orange fur getting stained blue... with chunks.
"Ugh. Even with magic, cleaning demon blood off yourself is a real chore." Ritsuo on the other hand was doing better using his twin pistols and some light based magics. Haruko was having way too much fun with this firing arrow after arrow, and if a demon got close, she either stabbed it with the sharp pointy end of her bladed bow or tore it shreds with her chainsaw. Yumoru stabbed the demons with his spear and also protected the others from attacks using shield magic.
When they were done, the area was painted blue... with chunks. It also smelled pretty bad. "So... separate or shared?" Ritsuo asked.
-
Akasha got a devious smile as the last demon fell then handed the charmed demon a small cloth wrapped bundle with a single rune on it and a lit match. "Would you kindly wander into the middle of the gore and light this on fire then lay on top of it?" The demon looked down at the objects and nodded walking into the mess. It did as told and after a few moments of lying there the magical explosive went off and dark purple flame blasted him a few inches off the ground then consumed him quickly and it dissolved into a pile of ashes.
"Akasha?" There was a coughing noise behind her and when she turned she found Kitten coughing around a flailing impish demon.
"Chew your food, Kitten." Was all Akasha said as a smile spread across her face
-
Glancing around, Alexander admired the groups handiwork; who knew it was this easy to take out demons with friends! Not to mention it was a lot more fun too!
Back peddling a bit, he called, "Everyone okay?"
-
Haruko bonked Ritsuo on the head, "Perv, of course we're separate. Like he was trying to say, we need to get cleaned up. Demon blood is extremely difficult to get out of fur."
-
(Sorry, I haven't replied. College applications were pressuring me. Assume that Trace was helping out, I guess.)
Trace laughed at the light beating Haruko was giving to Ritsuo. Luckily, for him, he was wearing armor, which made cleaning up slightly easier. He calmly unstrapped his armor, which fell to the ground with a loud clank, leaving an average height boy standing there. Witnessing the sight of all the blood, his Dragon eyes and senses flickered briefly to life but then subsequently died down. Gathering up the pieces of his armor, Trace said "Well, I'm ready for a bath".
-
Yumoru sighed, "I have an emergency shower, but first we need to get exorcised. Demon blood can't be removed without an exorcism first." Haruko then stepped forward, "Fortunately I'm an expert in mass exorcism, come close everyone." She said gleefully.
-
Alexander glanced at the bit of blood on his own paws...
Did this really need to go through all that trouble just to remove it?
"Seriously... We'll be like, cursed if it doesn't come off?"
-
Yumoru explained, "Well, no, you won't be cursed. But if it isn't exorcised first, it won't come out, no matter how hard you scrub."
-
Akasha looked down at herself and smiled, being absent of blood. Due to her manipulation of others she had achieved a significant body count without getting too close to the splatter. Alex only had a bit on his clothes given the fact that his weapon was mostly designed for blunt force, and the Impact rune sent it away. Alex shrugged and walked a little closer.
Akasha chuckled and looked to Kitten who was casually bathing herself. Being a magical creature and an outsider herself it wasn't much trouble to get it out of her fur. Of course there was also licking her chops to be done.
-
Haruko took out her bag and began dumping the contents out. After a pile of stuff that normally shouldn't be able to fit in a small purse came out, a sound similar to that of someone banging a piano came out of purse. "Oh geez, is that thing stuck again?"
-
Watching the others with a pronounced Eyebrow...
Alexander shrugged, pulling out his lyre, and began humming and strumming while watching the others; he couldn't help but wonder what these guys planned to do. Him? He'd just go with the flow..
Do, dee da.... Do, dee da... Do, dee da, dee dah....
-
Haruko found what she was looking for and proceeded to start chanting an incantation to begin the exorcism. When she was done, the chunks fell off of everyone, though everyone was still splattered in blue.
-
Alex looked about and sighed and walked off, "Well if anyone needs me I'll be at the bath house." Akasha smiled and followed after him with Kitten at her side, "As will I, haven't had a real good bath in forever." Murmuring in conversation the two made their way to the bath house and split an exotic herbal soak meant to cleanse the body, mind, and spirit.
-
Trace had followed what had happened an watched the two leave for purification. "Weird, they had assassins after them on the first day." He thinks to himself, wiping demon blood off his fists. Then he crosses his arms and walks over, asking "So, why did they attack you?"
-
Ritsuo had also followed the two of them as he overheard Trace's question, "Actually they weren't assassins, they had been planted there to prepare demons to disrupt the city. We got in the way and they tried to remove us." It's as simple as that.
After that, Ritsuo proceeded to also relax in the hot spring. (It was co-ed after all.)
-
Alex shrugged and nodded before the two of them and Kitten climbed into the large tub. Relaxing into the water their ears twitched as Ritsuo entered. The leopardess arched a brow as he came in to join them. "Alex dear, I thought that when you payed for this special bath mix they took us to a private room."
"You know I was just thinking the same thing.." Alex watched him making a point for him to stay on the far end if he really insisted on staying.
-
Ritsuo shrugged as he sat over at a farther end, "Most of the hot springs around here are shared, co-ed. I also paid for the same mix, so they put me with you guys. I will say this, this stuff is great for purifying oneself after dealing with demons. Actually, most hot springs offer this mix for that reason."
Syaoran and Haruko also got cleaned up, but they paid for a different mix, though everyone saw them pass by on the way to a different room.