Lord of Azure Flame: Chapter 7: Injury, Exhaustion, Renewal

[Snowy_One]

"Nyuggg.... I'll... I'll be fine once my head stops... Whoa!" The headmaster suddenly pitched forwards, collapsing on the ground. Her cloak fell down on top of her, however, no longer did it cover her face. Smooth skin, softly tanned from its natural white, covered her thin, yet streamlined cheekbones and chin; framed by short and almost tomboyish green hair. Though marred by leaf and her blood, it was clear that the headmaster was a being of simple beauty, wearing no apparent makeup upon the sleek features of her face.

"Uggg... I shouldn't have done that," she moaned, her natural voice smooth and almost melodic as it slid across green lips; probably the only un-natural mar on her face. She pushed herself upright before looking at Ixion with eyes that managed to be both playful and wise at the same time. "My hood is off, isn't it?"

---

It's good to be back. My father... Bribed a court to clear my name. Makes me sick to realize how much power he holds. replied Katie before giving him a quick hug just before he left for the dorms.

Now, I have to cook for the idiot girl, right? she scribbled down, confirming her task.

[Phoenix]

Irina(Waiting for tea)

Ixion

Ixion: Yes it is -_-

The Headmaster was a sight to behold, but Ixion was more concerned with getting back to TISME without incident.

Ixion: I suggest you remain still until your head clears. As I said before, I've no intention of dragging you back to the academy.

[Ether]

"I guess we should do that later then.It seems we are all tired..." Damian said,before putting some water in the small kettle,and pulling out a small gem.

"These things are really convenient,I don't know what some people would do without magic..." Damian said,placing the gem into a small indentation in the kettle,and placing the tea leaves in.After a few minutes,the tea was brewed,and Damian handed a cup to Irina and one to Aiya,then poured himself one.

"We should likely head off to bed soon,is there anything else for now?" Damian asked,sipping his tea.

OOC:Th gem is basically just using a small amount of imbued fire magic to heat the water.No,it cannot cause actual fires or anything,it's just a convenience thing.

[Phoenix]

Irina

Irina quickly drank the tea as was her custom. Satisfied that her thirst was quenched she smiled and replied.

Irina: Nope. Nothing else I can think of. Thanks for the drink, Damian ^_^

[Ether]

"Alright then...I'm heading off to sleep.See you a bit later,Irina." Damian said,turning towards the dormitory room that he,Aiya,and Esphyr had been in before.

"Wait up,Damian! Hehe,see you later,Irina." Aiya said,waving to the other wyvern rider before catching up to Damian and holding his arm as they walked away.

[Snowy_One]

"I'll be fine." said the headmaster, standing upright once again. "Just a bit of momentary dizziness from the headbang. I'll recover in time."

---

Esphyr didn't know what to do. Rather, now with the others gone their merry ways or having been conscriped into making bacon, she had no plans at all once again. "I wonder if those pies are still out there." she asked herself before heading outside to see if the vendor had moved on.

[Phoenix]

Irina

When Irina made it back to the room she and her brother were using, she softly opened the door to find her Iso fast asleep in one of the beds. She carefully shut the door behind her as she entered the room and took off the rest of her armor quietly. Once she was done, she got under the covers and dozed off.

Ixion

Ixion: Good. Now I don't suppose we'll be having a picnic out in these woods, correct?

[the_whistler]

There were people milling around in the streets, but most of them looked more interested in avoiding the dead bodies lying on the ground than eating pie, their stomachs turned by the smell of rotting flesh. The merchant grumbled slightly to himself. Bah, how many hours have I been standing around here? These pies are getting cold..... at least it means more for me to eat though, mmm pies. He rubbed his slightly bulging stomach, imaging what it would be like to take a bite of delicious blueberry pie....

[Snike]

Having no success in finding Tessa, Eric decided to return to the room he used before the attack, and collapsed into the bed, falling asleep in moments.

[Inactive Account]

As those who had routed the bandits dropped off to sleep, the city was waking up. New medics were brought in, and a fresh shift of soldiers dispatched to clear out the streets; merchants assessed the damages done to their stores; cityfolk gossiped about the attack.

The students of TISME had largely retired for the day, but the staff were out in force, running messages for healers and cleaning the place up.

The exhausted warriors slept all day and into the night. By the next day, things were on their way back to normal.

Arrin awoke to sunlight streaming through his window. A glance at the sky told him it was shortly after dawn: he had slept all day. Now he was properly refreshed.

He got up, dressed, and headed down the hall, looking for the others. Most seemed to be either asleep or elsewhere; Kelas was absent from her room, probably in the stables. Arrin's stomach growled: he was famished. He thought he knew where the students' mess was... he set off towards it, hoping to find some of the others there.

edit to add OOCdisclaimer: TIMESKIPP'D.

Edited June 10, 2010 by The Clockwork Alchemist

[riariadne]

Chase felt a bright light shine in his eyes. He opened his eyes and blinked, thinking over the events that had occurred. I got out of jail... we fought bandits... I got the Crimson Bow... At this, the bow materialized in front of him. Chase moved back a bit, startled, then relaxed when he remembered. Deciding he should probably do something productive while he was awake but no food was ready- it was very early- he attempted to cast the small spell he had learned a year ago. He focused his mind, and then a small floating sphere of energy formed in front of him. He smiled a little, glad that he had been able to work it on his first try, then let it fade away. Realizing how early it still was, he laid down and rested again, half-asleep.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Lightning

[Kanami]

Reika awoke as sunlight hit her face, she definetely wasn't here the last time she was conscious. Looking around she found she was slumped against a tree in some bushland, She found 5 bags and her steel daggers placed neatly beside her which instantly reminded her of her encounter with the woman and the cloaked thing thing that had interrupted her attack. Noticing a blanket placed over her, she snarled and threw the blanket off herself and into the wild. Groaning as she stood up, dusting herself off, she took another look around. She definetely didn't recognize the place, but she figured she'd come across someone sooer or later, she wasn't near a main road or anything but she could hear the sound of people nearby. She sat back down and rubbed her head, it felt like it was going to explode at any moment. As she was rubbing her head she noticed a golden yellow jewel embeded in her wrist. She immediately reached for her daggers, but reconsidered the idea and left her daggers alone.

By keeping this jewel they'd most likely appear where-ever she was, she contemplated taking the gold and making a run for it but decided she wasn't stupid enough to face them alone. Perhaps she could use the group they wanted her to tail as meatshield, until she could discover the identity of the group. She'd join the group, pit the Halton group against the shady group, and kill off the tired out survivor once one side had fallen. Collecting her money and concealing her daggers she got up, now where too :/ She asked herself, "Probably should head towards Ilyphina" she told herself, before walking in a random direction of her choice.

[Inactive Account]

A flash of violet caught Arrin's eye as he walked along: there was a purple cat in the hallway. "Oh, hey there, kitty," Arrin said, bending down. "Did someone turn you purple with a spell?" He reached out to pet it.

To his disappointment, though, the cat fled. Arrin shrugged and continued on his way, finally arriving at the mess hall.

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan woke up and performed her daily rituals (personal hygiene, not blood magic). She relaized that she hadn't eaten in quite a while, so she headed down to the mess hall.

On her way there she saw Arrin. She approached him and said relatively quietly "What should our next course of action be? We still should find General Jackson, but I am not sure where he is and any encounter would likely be hostile. We also need to obtain that theif girl, though we have no idea as to her location. The demon sightings are also distressing, if we take care of some now it might cause less problems later. Ordinarily I wouldn't ask for your opinion, but you have managed to rank in the top half of Crimson Weapon wielders in terms of common sense."

Edited June 10, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Inactive Account]

Arrin jumped, startled that Morgan was actually asking his opinion. After thinking about what Morgan had said for a moment, he replied, "I don't know, ma'am. I'm unfamiliar with the thief, so I can't really say anything about her... I don't think we'd be able to get anywhere near military command right now, at least not without heavy losses. The demons might be a bit more manageable if we go after them now..." He thought for a moment. "Also, if word gets around that we're killing demons, we could get some public opinion on our side. That might make it easier to at least talk to the general." He sighed. "But I don't know. I haven't really got any experience with this sort of thing..."

[riariadne]

Chase grew bored of sitting and resting, and exited the room slowly, noting that Morgan had left earlier. He got himself ready for the day, dematerialized the Crimson Bow, and exited the room, looking for who else in the group was awake.

[-Cynthia-]

"Hmm. That that makes some amount of sense, lessening our criminal status before seeing the general. I am somewhat surprised that you seem to have a head on your shoulders, being a mage and Kelas's brother. Stranger things have happened I suppose. Now off to see Damian."

She walked off, forgetting to eat, there were more important things to do. She walked to Damain and Aiya's room, though the door appeared to be closed. She did not want to walk in on them while they were...fraternizing, so she went back to her room, where she ran into Chase.

"Have you been able to use the Crimson Bow without falling unconscious yet? she asked.

[Snowy_One]

With the day having seemingly slipped past her, Esphyr was still up and about; and still without much of a clue as to what to do. "Ah well..." she sighed, knowing all too well as to what was happening. She was a undesirable. All mercenaries were. Hired only for a job and not talked too otherwise. Without a job, there wasn't anything for her to do. So she did the only thing she felt like doing. Lie in bed and do nothing!

---

Katie had spent most of the day hard at work, learning how to cook. Recipe books and ingredients lined the walls of her dorm room as she paced back and forth, a pile of bacon and a chocolate cake cooked for Remilla to eat in the event the little twerp decided to show her face again. She wished she had laced it with a laxitive out of revenge for the name calling, but she was above all that.

---

The headmaster was back in her room, a pile of reports detailing various magical discoveries at her bedside. She was honestly enjoying the reading, learning about the power of magic and the many artifacts in TISME. She just didn't know what to do about them.

[Snike]

A tapping on the side of Eric's head woke him up. Opening his eyes, he saw a pigeon, looking back at him. Recognizing it as Loc, Derek's pet, he sat up to find a small roll of paper lying at his feet. Picking it up, he began to read.

No luck in Septimus. Got a lead about seeing Dani in Halton, though. See you there. -Derek

Pocketing the message, the traveler pulled out his notebook, to the page where he jotted down the fact that Dani had left 3 months beforehand, and added that he might take a while. Tearing it out of the notebook, he rolled it up and placed it in Loc's beak. The bird immediately took off into the morning. Eric watched him for a few moments, then decided to get up and head for the dining hall. On the way, he spotted a purple cat, but paid it no mind. After all, it was probably the result of an experiment the mages conducted. What harm could it do?

[Kanami]

Kamilla had woken up to find Tessa fast asleep, not wanting to pester the healer she looked around for Morgan only to find her already missing. Getting out of bed and crawling out the door, she headed down the hallway and down a flight of stairs before seeing a familiar face up ahead. Though she couldn't remember the name she scampered over to the man. "I'm Kamilla" she said proudly smiling at the man doing a clumsy curtsy.

[Snike]

As he saw Kamilla curtsy, Eric felt pity towards the girl, for some reason. She was apparently forced to travel with the group, and then got threatened to be killed, followed by her mind wiped by a shamaness. It was just one disaster after another for her, kind of like his whole life... Putting this aside, he smiled at the girl, and said, "Hi, Kamilla. I'm Eric. I'm going to the dining hall. Do you want to come?"

[Kanami]

Kamilla frowned, "Eric?" she repeated dumbly, she felt something click inside her head and she raised her hand and before she knew what she was doing she'd slapped the man across the face. "You're a bad man!" she said pointing her signature accusing finger at Eric "You let bad stuff happen to Kamilla!" she said extremely upset but not entirely sure why. Eric seemed to be shocked or confused but Kamilla didn't give him a chance to say anything "You're a bad man!" she repeated before wailing loudly about "bad stuff" as she ran back down the hallway.

[Snike]

OOC: Well, damn. Nice set-up for a Morgan VS Eric argument. Curse you Kanami!

Without warning, Kamilla slapped Eric across the face, calling him a bad man, and saying something about letting 'bad stuff' happen to her. Stunned, he began to say something, but the girl cut him off, repeating that he was a bad man, before running off. ...She remembered, he thought. If she could remember, then Miss Shamaness botched the wipe? Guess that means it wasn't as thorough as she said it was... Well, I'll have to speak with her later. The traveler decided to go after Kamilla, just to make sure she wouldn't burn the academy down was OK, and to apologize.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Snike

[Kanami]

Kamilla could hear someone after her, she didn't know who but it was most likely someone who wanted to do more "bad stuff" to her. She kept trying to work out what it was that had happened, but there was alot of discrepancies in her mind. These people were supposed to be her friends, but the only person who had been nice to her was Tessa and maybe the greedy red haired man who had eaten her bacon. She had also noticed a few people giving her wierd looks and her "friends" sometimes wouldn't look her in the eye when speaking to her, it was like they were hiding something from her. And now she was sure it wasn't anything pleasant.

She looked around for somewhere to hide, and tried a door which was.... unconveniently locked >_< She quickly was about to try another door but she knew she was too late and that the bad man had already caught up to her.

[Phoenix]

Isotov and Irina

Iso had waken up quite awhile ago and had been reading through Proxima's numerous pages while lying back comfortably with his pillows stacked high to prop him up. He'd read the book a dozen times over, but it was the one book that would always be available, and he hadn't yet memorized every word of it, so his personal challenge wasn't complete yet.

Irina finally woke up and stretched in bed while rolling around. Ignoring her display, he kept reading not so much as glancing in her direction. After a few moments she threw the covers off of herself and hopped out of the bed!

Irina: *yawn* I'm ready to go! ^_^

Iso: Go where?

He kept reading while waiting for her answer. His eyes never left the pages.

Irina: Go to take a bath, clean up, check on Kiev, you know, morning stuff.

Iso: I didn't realize mercenaries had time to bathe.

He flipped to another page as a horrified look appeared on her face!

Irina: Just what are you implying?! I bathe all the time! All the time!

Iso: Relax. I'm your brother, remember? It's my job to make you uncomfortable.

He grinned as he continued to read.

Irina: Yeah, well that's not funny. I have feelings you know <_<

???

A small purple feline carefully made its way across the hayloft of the horse stables outside the academy building. Its every step was precise and seemingly calculated. It looked down at the animals seemingly counting their numbers. It's pupilless azure eyes took in the entire area, and then it fell back into the shadows and disappeared.