Nanami Touko

'Hi there! Um, well... I'm Carrie, you are..?' "Amera, now sporting broken ribs and a tired body. Kinda curious as well," she said after Ignatius had asked, "why a girl with seemingly nothing special about her, is wandering through a wood in which giant boar are home to." She lazily raised an arm to point out the massive creature to Carrie, not having rolled over to talk with her yet, and she wasn't really planning on it. Hopefully the girl takes Iggy's advice and sticks with us. I'd rather not have her go off into the woods and get herself killed; she seems like a nice girl. ----- Adrian stirred as carrion got herself out of bed, opening an eye to see Danyon at the door, but only hearing parts of the conversation. "Bah... shiny armor knight man just go away no one likes you..." he mumbled, shifting around in bed a little. Of course, he didn't shift much, as his body hurt trying to roll over. "Stupid bed... urgh... stupid body..." His mumbling could probably be heard by the two of them, but he was too tired to care.

"If 'Mr. Fancy Knight does come by... wake me... up..." Her body sprawled onto the bed, and Adrian's eyes wandered across it, making him blush and wish that he wasn't in such a state. "Hey, what... about me...? I want to sleep," he paused to yawn, moving his head onto a pillow, "too..." He might've been able to hug her, at least, but he fell asleep himself, as his body sort of shut down. Hope Carrion wakes up for that knight. I... don't know if I'm going to be able to wake up, let alone get up, if he shows up.

"Come on, up and at em, yoooou've got a bed tonight to rest on. How does that sound, huh?" "Yes mommy, I think that sounds great," he joked, as his arm slung itself around her shoulder to keep from falling, "I'd love to spend tonight in a nice soft bed." Despite his silly tone, he couldn't help but keep laughing at how she'd spoken to Danyon. "So, how was talking to Mr. Fancy-knight? Sorry, but, that was the best laugh I've gotten in a while. Too bad I had to hold it in, I wouldn't want to have everyone in the inn staring at me, ha ha!" He laughed some more, this time audibly. One or two people looked his way, but after what had happened before they'd arrived, none of them seemed particularly interested. He slowly made his way up the stairs, into his room, and collapsed on the bed. Rolling over, slowly, he felt like cracking a joke. "Want to join me? Maybe I'll heal faster if you're next to me."

"Oh, sure, sure..." "Thanks-- wait, Carrion? Carrion, what are you doing-- Carrion, sto-- no!" He gave a hushed yell as she wandered her way to Danyon, Adrian mentally shoving his face into his hand. If you ask him for the room, you're not getting out of it without telling him you're actually the Crimson Witch, you know? He thought loudly at her, as if she could read his mind. Unable to actually do anything to stop at her, he figured he might as well enjoy how awkward she sounded, as he stifled a laugh as soon as she spoke. Okay, never mind, ask him for the room. Just keep up that tone, and I'll be fine with it.

"Stop it, dammit. You told me to stop feeling down, so now I'm returning the favor... Don't be hypocritical on me, please, Adrian." She said, slowly walking in the inn, wondering why there were smashed tables and bodies strewn about. "... The fuck?" "Alright. I'm not sorry this time." He smiled and chuckled, though, his smile turned into the same confused face that Carrion wore as they walked into the inn. Teis brushed past them, before they could even say anything to him. "Uh... do... we want to know what's happened here?" He looked around the inn, not recognizing anyone there, except for the flashy knight, but he'd rather not bother with him. Damn... I guess I'll be stuck with church cot, unless Teis comes back... He stumbled over to one of the still standing chairs, bringing Carrion with him. "Sorry, I just want to sit for now; take some weight off my legs."

"Not looking, so you've gotta tell me what it is," she sighed at his little quip, but still chuckled at it, somewhat. "There's some girl here, that's what it is. I'm done changing; your eyes can wander again." She shuffled, the flames nice near her feet. The smell from the boar was less than pleasant to her refined nose, though, as she covered it with her hand. We'll eat well, but... ugh, that smell is almost impossible to stand. Her tail flicked to represent how she was feeling, and then settled down with the rest of her.

:E

"Hey, don't laugh! I'm just not... used to t-talking about that, even though you didn't mean that, but... agh, I'm just gonna stop talking." He was scarlet, looking away from her as to not give her more incentive to taunt him. At least, not right now. The church unfortunately was beginning to come into view, which meant that he'd probably be forced to rest, as much as he just wanted to keep talking with Carrion. Without the teasing. "Um... They were pretty cool, I suppose. I just wish I coulda learned something from em, you know? As it is, I just see people doing crazy shit and winning. I know it's not meant for training that way, but... damn." "It was pretty crazy, especially Teis... and you're right, it's not. Sorry..." The conversation had been going fine until he mentioned the fights. He should've just let them sit for a while, and talked about anything else. ----- No time to rest, Amera heard the odd knock against wood of... something, proceeded by an 'Owwww!'. She looked over her shoulder at the girl having walked out from the trees. "Huh... that's not something you see every day... Hello" She said absently. The girl seemed pretty normal, so Amera didn't pay her much mind, rolling back over and trying to rest a bit.

"Don't worry, I'll have you whipped in no time, kid. The sooner you start listening to me, the sooner I stop being a bitch to you, OK?" "I don't think you're being a bitch, you just... care. And I don't really think I'd be opposed to you whipping me." He blushed, as they walked along some more. "I-I mean I know you don't mean it like that, but, I just, I-I mean... That you... I..." he stopped himself from talking, lest he sound even more like an immature idiot. "...Yeah, I'll just... think of something else to talk about. Even though you think I should've stayed in bed, how did you enjoy the matches?" He'd enjoyed them a lot, and wished he could show up the next day for more. ----- "Haha less than pleasant, yes, but I do not mind what you said, child. I take everything into consideration, you know. I'm not as... barbaric as my presence often alludes to." "I would hope so." She needed something to rest her head on, but, other than a large rock, there was nothing nearby. I'm wearing something underneath my shirt... right? She took a quick peek, hoping the boys wouldn't notice. Yes, there was a tank top underneath, but it was rather snug. Well, I guess I can just roll away from the two of them, can't I? I can trust them to not try anything. "Don't look, you two." She forced herself to sit up, and took her shirt off quickly, the tank top barely managing to stay on. It clung to the shirt for a moment, but she pulled it back down. Her shirt was squished into a ball, and placed under her head, as she rolled over, facing away from them. "There, that's better..." she said to herself, getting comfortable once again.

Amera listened to his story, quite impressed by the whole ordeal. So, he's like this because of some experiments gone wrong... poor guy, I guess. He doesn't seem to be too annoyed by it. So maybe it's a good thing? Amera had completely missed his gesture towards her, but, she wouldn't have minded either way, as she quite enjoyed the way she was. Not so much at the moment, as he stomach decided to hurt her once again, forcing her to lay back down. Sitting up was too much of a hassle. At least the fire could keep her feet warm. Amera then noticed the boar, as if she'd suddenly realized it had died. "Yeah, Ignatius, could you help him with that? I'm a bit too worse for the wear to be helping anyone, right now." Gideon's didn't seem too happy to see Ignatius here. Maybe I'm imagining it, though? I'm in too much pain, can't hear properly, ha ha. "I think a better question is how do you know her name?" "I... met him on my way to Lazarynth, on the mountain. I said some... less than pleasant things to him, as well." She sort of blushed, but mostly turned her face away from the two, still too stubborn to admit she was sorry.

Scratch that, reverse it.

"Adrian, what the hell did I just get through telling you? Stop it!" She hurried over and gave him her support, "For the love of fuck, stop pushing yourself! You know what would reeeally make me upset? You not listening to me. You know what'd piss me off? You getting permanently injured because of your goddamn stubbornness. Look, I'm sorry I stupidly engaged that magician, but that doesn't mean you get to go and 'get even' by making an equally stupid decision! I told you earlier that I was close to exploding, right? Well this isn't helping me any, and being in public will only make this worse on both of us, so let's just get you back to that infirmary, maybe get you to a more comfortable bed back at the inn when we can get the money." "I-I just don't want to be a burden, I'm not... not trying to act tough, alright? I'm sorry... I'm not used to having people to... to rely on, so it's kind of tough for me to just stop trying to do things... myself. But I'll have to get used to it, because of the sad state I'm in. So I'm... sorry. I'll stop trying to do everything by myself for now, alright?" He let himself relax against her, letting her help him balance. "I'm... I'm really sorry. I just can't seem to listen, can I?" He started walking with her, letting her lead this time. "Maybe Amera, or Gideon will be back... by now with some money. Wouldn't that be nice? To... to relax in a nice inn bed. Heh." He was beginning to enjoy the thought of that, though, he'd probably be stuck in the church's cot for a bit longer.

"I'm not a child, I didn't have to see this thing today, I just offered and forgot you had to rest. I... really appreciate the gesture, Adrian, I really do, but it's not healthy." Her voice got quieter, "You've been through a lot these past few days, so please, just try and take it easy for a bit. If not for your own well being then do it to put my mind at ease. You've got nothing more to really prove to me, so don't act all tough if it's gonna hurt you, alright? I figured you'd be smarter than that, but..." She smiled, "I guess I was wrong." "Yeah... I guess you were. I'm sorry." He felt like an idiot now, not sure why he thought it would've ever made her happy for him to push himself like this. "D'you want to leave right now? We can, I don't mind. I'd rather not make you upset... I'm really sorry about this." He resisted the urge to beat himself up, as that'd probably make her even more upset than she was at the moment. He pushed himself to stand, not wanting to have her have to hold him any longer, feeling she was too upset at him to want to do such at the moment. "We're... going, right? I need... to get some rest." His legs shook, but, he wasn't going to argue that he needed to go and get some rest.

"Did that hurt you, Adrian?" Damn. I was hoping it wouldn't be that obvious. "You should really be recovering right now, dammit... why did you talk me into taking you here?" Yeah... it's probably that obvious. "After this tournament, you're resting again. End of story..." He sort of sighed, but kept his smile. "Is it really that obvious? Heh... I was hoping you wouldn't... wouldn't pick up on how much pain I'm in. I didn't want you to miss out on all of this, so I sucked it up and just went with it. I'm... sorry." He felt bad now, thinking about it. She was worried about him, and he truly was hurting, but he'd lied about being alright just to see people fight. "If... you think I should go back and rest after this match, I will." ----- "I guess..." Her uneasiness around this wolfman was extremely apparent, but who was she to deny him the ability to rest against a warm fire? Two things were nagging at her mind, though. "What's your name? And, what are you doing all the way out in the woods, anyways?" A bold question, but a question nonetheless. She groaned once again, leaning back as much as she could in this awkward sitting position.

<3

"You give me too much credit," he replied, his fingers brushing against hers for just a moment as he took the knife from her. "That or you've never met a man with a job. If it's the latter, then I'm terribly sorry." "You don't give yourself enough." She felt his fingers touch hers, and she shot him the same coy smile from earlier. Don't get too touchy with me, Gideon. She chuckled at his last comment, making sure to not laugh too hard, lest her ribs cause her more pain. "I haven't met many men with jobs, sorry to say. I guess that's a bad thing?" The fire crackled some, and she pulled herself over to it, wanting to rather have warmth than comfort for her body. Before they could converse more, a familiar voice spoke up from behind them, "You both take this beast on by yourselves? A bit foolish, no?" She didn't have to turn to see who it was. "So... you're back?" She had wanted to apologize for how she'd acted towards him before, but she was too stubborn to do it with someone else there. "What do you want with us?" "Don't worry, Gideon, he's not going to hurt us... I hope." ----- "I can't even believe..." the match was amazing. He'd never seen two people go at it like this, and for so long. Any prior thought he'd had about wanting to participate in something like this had been destroyed, as he'd never be able to do this. He looked over at Carrion to see if she was enjoying the fight, but... she was shaking, almost. "Carrion, are... you're alright, aren't you?" He slipped an arm around her and pulled her closer, twitching a bit as his hand shot pain through him as it was moved.

Votin' for Strawman. Like the concept. If only the shading was better :E

Siguuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuune <3 Yeah-I-know she's been shown before, idc.

"It's not like I'm doing a very good job of saving you anyway. I mean, every time you're around me you break something..." "I'd rather break something than be dead." She struggled to sit up, leaning back against the tree she'd slumped against a moment ago. "Damn it..." "Er... sorry about that. I sort of had to... well, I didn't, but I didn't want to be half dead boar chow." She almost smiled, thinking about what would've happened if she hadn't. A small shudder was all that came of the thought, as a few sticks landed in a pile. Build a fire, good idea. I can handle that. "What good hunter doesn't have a carving knife?" she asked, pulling the dagger from off of her belt. "Jes' one moment..." The pointed it at the stick, a bit of electricity gathering in the knife, shooting into the sticks and catching one on fire. "I hate using these things to concentrate my mana... it's never as potent as when I use myself, but it hurts to charge it into my hands, so, what's a girl gonna do? Ha ha-- ow!" She reminded herself not to laugh. "Guess I'm not that impressive unless I've got something to kill, huh?" She held out the knife for him to get at the boar with. "I wouldn't say that. You're more impressive than most of the guys I've met." ----- "Damn... he must be really used to that friggin armor. I know I'd never get used to anything like that." "You an' me both. He seriously didn't look that quick..." The fight continued, and Teis punched the knives the girl had blocked with. "Whoa, did you see that!? Did he really just punch some knives?! Geez, he's crazy!" Adrian was seriously getting into the match, wanting to see Teis win this over the girl.

"Well, there aren't any around here. Probably just us." "With how... how big that was... I would say so..." She finally caught her breath, sighing now. Her ribs hadn't moved around as much as they could have, as she could still breath, and unless she laughed or moved, her stomach didn't hurt. Must mean nothing's punctured... alright... "Do you think you can stand?" "Y-Yeah, of course... I can." She said, with an unfortunate stutter. She managed to pull herself up by holding onto the tree, but as she took a step forward she collapsed to her knee, and then proceeded to fall to the ground. "Nope... I can't... really stand... Too tired," she whined a bit, rolling onto her back. "I think... one of my ribs is broken... Don't get too worried, if I rest for a bit, it'll stop moving around and I can get it healed, or something..." She looked up, noticing how early in the day it still was. At least if they had to camp, they had all the food they'd need. "Hey, Gideon... I really have to thank you. This is... the second time you've saved my life."

"Amera!" he cried, trying to sit up. It didn't work out too well. "Get away from it!" "Wha...?" Amera only had time to look up as the boar freed itself from the tree, its copious amounts of blood spraying across the forest floor. She shook, standing, trying to move, but the beast moved faster. In its death throes, it charged her, not powerfully, but enough to lodge her between it and a tree. "Gah!" She was almost crying, a few of her ribs snapping under the strength of it. Its mouth opened to enjoy its new meal, running purely on instinct as more of its blood sprayed and flowed from its head. Amera had one way out of this, and she had to act. Gideon's axe was still lodged in the thing's head. She grasped for it, and pulled, hard, the axe not wanting to budge. "Come on, you stupid piece of metal and wood!" Another hand grasped the handle, and it finally came free. The boar's mouth, teeth bared, shot at her head, but met with the axe shoved in instead. Amera scrambled away from it, as the boar thrashed, the blade cutting into its mouth. It ran into another tree, and finally collapsed, groaning some gargled noise before gallons of blood began to poor from its head and mouth. It was finally dead. Amera pulled herself to her feet, and leaned against another tree, only to slide back down it. "Nevermind... I... I don't want to fight a dragon... any more..." She was gasping for breath, but she found herself chuckling at her own small joke. She didn't chuckle long; her ribs hurt when she laughed.

:E

"Yeah yeah, I'm moving but you're so stiff and slow, kid. Hurry up!" "I'll see if I can keep up with you, grandma, ha ha ha..." He really was enjoying this, as much as his body hurt. Maybe I should've stayed in the bed. My body's seriously hurting here... No, I'm here to spend some time with Carrion and help her feel better. My body can wait. They sat down as the fifth match ended, though it didn't look like it was a very impressive match. "Hey... wasn't that, that noble looking guy? The one who wouldn't stop bothering you about being... you know?" He wasn't about to mention who she was in the middle of the crowd, lest someone less than pleasant hear them talking. Before she could get some time to answer him, Teis walked out onto the field. Wow, Teis is in this tournament? Next you know, Ormis will walk out onto the field. Ha ha, that'd be hilarious. He snickered at his thought, trying to get comfortable as the assassin rushed Teis.

Nino and Brunya's colors aren't saturated enough to fit into FE8's color style. Especially Brunya, her shades aren't distinguishable enough to be FE8 style.

"What just..." Her ravaged body struggled to stand, as her vision became shaky for but a moment. "I need an answer, Amera!" Gideon...? What... Looking up at the monster between them, she shot back into reality. "Alright, bring it over! I can do it!" Can I really? No, no time for hesitation. You've just got to do this, girl. Just jump over it one more time... As Gideon rolled, the boar turned, noticing its previous prey. If monsters could smile, this one would have, as it practically reared into its charge this time. Alright, stay still... Let it get close... Now! Amera moved to jump, but the boar wasn't falling for the same trick three times. As Amera jumped over it, it kicked up with its hind legs, slamming its back into her, and sending her into another tree. Of corse, the trap had already been sprung, as the boar's tusks dove into the tree. "Haa... haaa... G-Gideon, he's stuck! Get 'im!" It's up to you now. Hope that axe is as tough as this thing is. ----- "Laugh it up, heh..." he knew it must have looked funny, his poor attempt at standing, so he wasn't at all surprised by her laughter. At least she's helping me to stand, now. Nearing the arena, some part of Adrian wished he was fit to fight in this tournament. The crowds cheering only furthered this want, though, watching would be just as enjoyable. "Quick, let's get in before the next match starts!" He'd have hurried along himself if Carrion wasn't being used as his crutch.