Beneath the Shadows Chapter Two: Chasing Shades

[Nanami Touko]

"Sorry to intrude," Linn said, barging her way back into the kitchen. She was just making a general statement, she didn't know Zeff was actually talking to anyone. "Oh, sorry! I thought you were alone back here, Zeff. Hello Raelyn," she said as she found her way back to her stool, "what are you two talking about? His amazing surprise ability to cook? I thought it was pretty great myself. And it smells really good! I hope it's done soon, I feel like I'm going to fall over if I don't get something to eat."

Edited October 8, 2013 by I have opinions

[Vestige]

"Lamb, eh? Most of what I've cooked before is chicken. You wouldn't happen to know your mother's recipe by heart would you? If not, that's fine. I could teach you a recipe I know, though, the ingredients are a little hard to come by so it might be a while until we get that opportunity." Moving on to her second question, "Actually, not quite. My...friend was the one who taught me how to cook...and usually...what ever she wanted to eat was what I'd make for us. I've made stew and on occasion, usually from left overs and the like."

He then turned to Linn as she came bustling through the entrance. Rather embarrassed at all the attention he was getting about his cooking ability, he wondered if Chandra got the same reactions. "Just discussing favorite foods and what not. Food should be ready soon, it'd be a shame for you to collapse when you're so close to salvation," he laughed. Walking over to the pot, he added the remaining two ingredients, and gave the pot a good stirring before letting the contents settle. Should only be around ten more minutes before it's ready. He took a spoon, and tasted the broth, which to him, was satisfactory.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Vestige

[Nanami Touko]

"Oh, favorite foods! I could sure go for some fettuccine. I haven't had any since I left Inthus. There was a wonderful pasta place in the heart of the city, and while I rarely got to go because it was so expensive, the food was to die for. I can almost taste it now...and it's making me more hungry, so I should probably stop!" She laughed a little, though that quickly turned into a sigh as her stomach audibly reminded her how hungry she was, as if her talking about food wasn't bad enough. "So what's your favorite, Raelyn, Zeff? I thought I heard Zeff talking about lamb before I came in. Was that his or yours?"

[Rothene]

Making his way back to the inn, Caslan followed Linn to the kitchen. Either he was getting rather hungry or the smell of the food was getting more delicious. "Hello Zeff. Hello Raelyn," the elf greeted, "favourite foods the current topic? Nice way to increase expectations. I like fish. Can't get enough of those in the desert."

[Nanami Touko]

"Oh, shoot!" Linn said, suddenly, "I still have something I need to do at one of the stores. Caslan, I-I hate to be a bother, but do you think you could come with me to handle it? It's gotten fairly dark out, and with all that's been happening, I don't feel too safe walking along alone." It was fairly unfortunate, and she was mentally kicking herself that she didn't remember until now. I could've gotten this all done earlier, ugh. Time to adventure back into town on an empty stomach. And the food's almost done, too...

[Rothene]

"Sure!" Caslan replied quickly without fully contemplating what might be asked of him. "Uh, what needs doing?"

[Nanami Touko]

"Just come along, you'll see. You might find something for yourself, too!" she said, as she grabbed his hand and started to drag him out of the inn entirely. Now, where did I see it... There was some light left, just barely, and it was, luckily, enough for Linn to see the store she was looking for. "This shouldn't take too long!"

The store Linn had seen earlier was a magic store! Full of tomes and staffs alike, she'd put the place into her mind as she wanted to nab herself a wind tome. One that a much better mage had infused with power, that she could use to be more affective in battle. Letting go of the poor elf she'd been dragging along, she almost dove herself into a nearby pile of books (the store had been ransacked, and piles were sitting everywhere), sifting through them to look for said tome.

Edited October 9, 2013 by I have opinions

[Rothene]

After letting himself get dragged along, the elven mage was pleasantly surprised by where he was led to. How did I miss this? Doesn't matter. So much stuff to really look through!

With great enthusiasm, Caslan started sorting the tomes based on their respective element. Setting aside water, air and light into neat piles, Caslan pointed it out to Linn, "Here, I'm putting all the wind tomes I find on this pile. Can you put any water or light based tomes on the other pile?" Light magic could be wielded by anyone, and Caslan intended to make use of it eventually. Against all those dark magic users and demons, light magic would prove valuable.

[Nanami Touko]

With about five books in her hands, Linn spun around to Caslan's announcement of stacking all the wind tomes into one pile. Almost about to drop everything and shoot through that pile, she stopped at his suggestion of actually sorting them. "R-Right, sorry. A bit too excited for this." She took the five in her hands and organized them accordingly, before starting to sift through the wind ones. It didn't take her long; only the third book down, and she screamed with delight. "Perfect! This is just what I was looking for!" Giggling madly, she helped Caslan organize whatever books were sitting around in that pile. "Did you need something here? I'm sure you could find something for water in these!"

[Rothene]

"Well, I'm also interested in studying light magic, so I'll be picking those as well. If you don't mind, can you help me carry some?" Caslan asked leaving two light magic tomes nearby. He found a tome detailing how to cast water spells more rapidly with minimal incantations. But he was not too sure what light tomes to really study and decided to just carry the lot of them.

With the new water tome in one arm, and two unexplored light tomes in his bag, Caslan was ready to leave, "Yeah, if you could help me carry those two other light tomes, I think I'm good to go. If not then, just leave them."

[Nanami Touko]

"Sure, I can do that." She carefully placed the books in her pack, not wanting to ruin any pages of something Caslan was serious about. He turned to the door, and she stood herself up. Hmm... What to do... She wasn't sure how she was supposed to do this, but still, she came up behind him and pulled him into a hug. "Hey, about earlier... I did appreciate Zeff trying to cheer me up, but... I-I'd wished it was you." She turned red and let him go, stepping herself back a bit. "S-Sorry, I'm not very good at these sorts of things. This whole feelings business, it's...rather new."

"Anyway, we should probably get back to the inn, right? I've got the books, let's get going. I can't wait to eat!" Her perkiness restored to regular levels, she bounced herself out of the shop and across the way to the inn, straight into the kitchen, with a silly grin on her face.

[eclipse]

Raelyn didn't have a chance to enter before Linn bounded off elsewhere. She turned to Zeff and shrugged helplessly. "Ma didn't tell me what she put in there, 'cause she figured I'd spill it out if I got drunk with a customer. All I know is that it went real well with something creamy. I'm not sure what you had in mind, but I'm willing to give your lamb recipe try!" Her nose twitched. Dinner would be ready soon. "Heh, have you ever thought of cooking something. . .like, just for yourself, because you WANT to?" 'cause any friend of mine who insisted on always having it her way would be dumped in a hurry.

[Snike]

"Feel free," Andre responded, frowning upon Alfonso's mention of Xane. "In fact, I want everybody else out, once healing is complete. I have a few questions I want to ask Val here."

He was unamused, and not acting, for once.

***

Hours later, there was a knock at the door, then General Matthias Brams stepped through. He was a tall red-haired man with matching red eyes, wearing blue ornamental armor, and a plain black cape. A silver sword was at his side.

"Royal function?" Aldrick asked, to which the officer nodded. His usual armor was as red as his other attributes, but had no business in the court. "We caught the prince, as expected. They should be back in a few days with him."

"Excellent," Matthias responded, clasping his hands behind his back. "How did LUNA perform?"

"Satisfactorily. Eliminated the whole village and one of the enemies before I was forced to retreat, but I have a concern about her power."

"Oh?"

"One of the other enemies would have been able to eliminate her with relative ease, and I was at the limit of what I could access. At this state, there is no way she will-"

"Get to the point. What do you want to do with her?"

"Well, if we completed the transforma-"

"You know we can't do that," Brams interjected. "We need her mortal, for the ruse to work."

The room fell silent for a few minutes. Finally, the shaman spoke up.

"We could remove the suppression, and move to manipulate her memories so she'll battle to her fullest extent," he said, the beginnings of a grin on his face.

"Right, and that could backfire drastically if she sees a trigger. How the hell do you plan on controlling her?"

"Easy. You and I both know LUNA's immediate family and friends are all dead. There's no way there could be a trigger, especially the way I plan on writing her 'memories'. And hey, what's a village for our goals?"

"..."

"The ends justify the means, Matthias," Aldrick said, grinning.

"... Alright, you get your way," the General responded as he moved to leave. "You'd just better be sure she's ready. We've found the items necessary, so all we're waiting on is the centerpiece."

The shaman waited a few minutes, before leaving himself and making his way over to his thrall's cell. This was going to be a fun evening...

[Vestige]

"That's a smart mother you've got there, never let the family secret out," he said. Raelyn's next question had him rather stumped however, cooking because HE wanted to make something? Truth be told he was rather indifferent to what he ate, and whatever made Reva happy had made him happy. Sure there were times where he'd make something of his own choice but more often than not, he'd just ask Reva. But now...he couldn't quite do that anymore.

"Cooking something that I want? Sure, sometimes I'd do that. But," he shrugged, "it feels good serving something that you know someone else will enjoy. I'm not a picky eater so whatever it is that I cooked, at long as people were happy, I was happy. But now that I'm away from home, as long as there's a kitchen around I guess I'll be able to make things of my choosing now. But if you ever have a request, I'd be happy to fulfill that."

As he made his way over to the pot, Linn came, once again, bursting through the entrance and into the kitchen. "What with the grin? I don't suppose having that guy take your measurements would have been nearly that exciting."

[Nanami Touko]

"No, no, it's nothing like that~" she said, with a certain spring in her voice. "Wow, I feel so great. And really nervous all at the same time. This is probably the weirdest I've felt in a long time. The food smells, amazing, Zeff. How are you, Raelyn?" She laughed a little bit, and tried to calm herself down, taking a deep breath. "What a weird, weird night..."

[Vestige]

Zeff was taken aback by Linn's attitude, it wasn't so long ago where she was crying onto his sleeve and now she's going on about weird nights. No matter, it was better seeing her happy than sad.

[spoiler=Keeping it PG-13 Guys]Unless she...and the boy?! No...they don't even know each other that well...Besides Caslan was there too so it's not like--unless! Was he a cohort with that archer guy? Oh dear...Well I suppose it's none of my business what people do...

"I'm glad you like it, I think I'm about done here actually. I'll give it another minute or two. You girls think you can help me out a little? Get out some bowls and spoons from the drawers if you can find em'?"

[Nanami Touko]

"Phew! Sorry about all that. I just had to nab a few books from the magic store across the way. Caslan should be heading back in any time, now. Sure, I'll help!" She was extremely glad for what had transpired. The terrible thoughts and sadness from earlier were still sitting somewhere in the back of her mind, but she wasn't about to think of them any time tonight. Tonight was good friends, and great food; nothing else. She took out the bowls, and some utensils, sitting them on the island in the kitchen. "You just need them out, right? I doubt I'd be a very good waitress, if you want us to serve the food too."

[Vestige]

"Yeah, I just need them out, thanks a bunch. You can go grab a seat if you'd like, I'll bring the pot over to the sitting area. Raelyn, you said you worked in a bar, yes? Linn might not be any good with serving, but if it's not too much trouble, would you mind helping out? For now, I just need you to bring the bowls and spoons with you, maybe get a big serving ladle if you can find one."

He grabbed a pair of mitts to prevent burning himself while be picked up the pot, and he started walking over to the main room to set the pot down.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Vestige

[Xinnidy]

Alfonso nodded in return, crossing his arms and not moving a muscle on his face. He somewhat shared the mercenary leader's sentiment, though he was certainly eager to get an answer, if somewhat glad that Andre acted upon it as he hoped.

[Oersted]

Stirred awake by the smell of something other than blood Ernce looked up from where his head lay in his arms to find the source of the smell. He saw Zeff carrying a pot of which the smell originated from. Eager as he was to get some of whatever was in the pot, his near trip to dreamland somehow reminded him that Andre or Adari would probably want to know what the dwelf had told him. Speaking of the dwelf, she seemed to be terrified again and for good reason; the elf from earlier was near her again however she seemed to be far less hostile. With any luck that wouldn't change anytime soon.

He spotted Andre on the second floor speaking with Alfonso about something. With a grunt he stood up and did his best to focus on his shield and the smell of whatever was in the pot as he made his way to the stairs. Unsurprisingly it didn't do much to help and he figured he looked rather pale by the time he'd made it up the stairs. To make it worse the smell of blood seemed to get stronger the closer he got to Andre. "E-Excuse me... sir," Ernce said, feeling lightheaded and ready to pass out. Ernce paused and inhaled deeply through his mouth to calm himself. It seemed to work as he felt reasonably better afterwords; perhaps because he was focused on Andre. "I may have some information that you'd like to hear. While we were waiting for you the dwelf explained herself and her mission. Do you know of General Brams?"

Edited October 9, 2013 by Oersted

[eclipse]

"Alright!" Raelyn said enthusiastically. She gathered all the usable bowls and utensils in one place. Ladle, huh? What were they using to stir the stew? The ladle was tucked away in a cabinet. It looked like it was well-used. Just enough of everything. How fortunate! Guess I can continue my convo with Zeff over dinner. She found a board to use as a makeshift tray, fit as much as she could on it, and slowly walked out. "SERVING STUFF COMING THROUGH!" Always give a yell when you're walking through; that way, if someone tries to trip you, you'll know it's intentional.

[Nanami Touko]

"Oh, I can carry bowls. Just not too keen on trying to serve them with food in them." She did her best to pick up some of them, following Raelyn and her massive tray of cutlery and bowls. That's gotta take some serious coordination. I can't imagine how long it took her to get that... Maybe that's why she's so good at fighting? Linn mused a little, doing her best to not drop what she had in hand, remembering what she'd wanted to say in the kitchen before the food was ready. "Oh, hey, Raelyn," she said, getting as close to the woman as she could without knocking her over, "can I talk to you later? Girl talk, just us. Would be appreciated." There was a larger table in the middle of the inn foyer, and she set her stuff down, making sure to get out of Raelyn's way, since her load was obviously much bigger.

[Vestige]

Setting the pot down on the table that Linn had placed her items on, he made sure there was enough space for Raelyn to set her tray down. He separated around eight bowls from the pile and asked Raelyn if she could fill them with the stew. "Just these bowls, the guys that are coming late can serve themselves, I'm sure." He took the ladle off of the tray however, and filled up a separate bowl for Aina, and walked over to her table, placing the bowl in front of her.

"Hey, food's ready, it's beef stew but it's kinda hot so try not to spill it on yourself," he said. "I'll be back in a bit. Got to go get my own food." And with that, he walked back over to the larger table.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Vestige

[Snike]

"Yes, Matthias the Scarlet, of Senia. Close friend to the King, if I recall correctly," Andre said, as Ernce mentioned the general. "What part does he have to play, in this?"

***

Jacob eventually pulled out his playing cards, and began to shuffle them, staring out into space as he did so.

[eclipse]

"Sure, Linn," Raelyn whispered back. She set the bowls down as instructed, and quickly filled a bowl with stew. "This is for you, Zeff. Do you mind keeping Aina company?" The thieving barmaid worried about the newly-blinded swordswoman. It would take time before she would be able to function on her own. For now, someone needed to stay by her side and guide her. Raelyn cleared her throat.

"DINNER'S READY! FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE!"