Mercenary on the Winds Posted August 19 Author Share Posted August 19 (edited) With the arena now setup as well as it could be–a patch of dirt in the middle of town, surrounded by seating for the spectators–the battles could begin. The allure of the seeing the Tigers, the heroes of Eslcas, in action was drawing quite the crowd. While not quite the roar of the arenas of Eibar, and Cerezia, the merriment and cheer of the night provided more than enough of a backdrop for a series of duels. Talulah was the first to step up in her violet armor, the Yscavlene still at her side but a lock placed upon it to symbolize that she would not be bringing it to bear today. Out stepped Lumina, an experienced arena fighter, but without the padded armor of the arena was deemed to be the perfect lead. The fight was a glimpse into how many of Lumina's fights would go; the light mage struck first, a powerful blast of light, nearly knocking Talulah off her feet, but Talulah held, and with a single strike, she dispatched the light mage. Close, but not enough. Then Cinead stepped forward, arms ablaze, but unfortunately for the dragon, Talulah was far better prepared for his fost than Lumina's magic, weathering strikes and hitting back several times as hard. It looked to be a decided fight as Talulah switched to the offensive, when Cinead found a burst of speed, slamming her with two strong blows. Far closer than it looked, Cinead finally yielded. The Green horsewoman was simpler, but there was a permanent air of danger to her attacks. So far, quick fights. Eva broke any illusion that the fights would remain as quick. Two fighters who excelled at defense. Neither one could truly overcome the other's guard, turning the fight into a series of counter hits. Talulah simply hit harder, and eventually Eva fell. Talulah's counterhit style was simply too much for Alistar, hardly even scratching her before he felt to the wayside. Then came Laniva. Whether the cheers were for her, or the dress-armor mix greatsword wielding feline in front of them, was anyone's guess. The victor was not. Laniva missed her first strike, but Talulah's counter hit, undeniable so far, struck and almost bounced off. Then switching to the offensive, her attacks did bounce off. Lani struck twice, the first made the seats rumble, and the second made very clear that with that massive sword it was only a matter of time before victory belonged to Lani. Talulah's evasion was valiant, but Lani proved inevitable. As Talulah departed, a twin tailed woman with an axe about her size stepped into the ring. Thalia subscribed to an entirely different style of combat than Talulah. A fact that Lumina learned very quickly as Thalia walked up, and subsequently launched her into the air. Then Cinead and Jesse all followed suit. However, Eva proved to be an entirely different problem. She could not find the purchase to break through Eva's guard, her attack rebounding up her arm, before Eva's sword sent her to the ground. The brightest stars burn out the quickest, and Thalia had lit up the arena. Then, Coral stepped in. There was a unique beauty in their elegance of movement, a seasoned duelist in their element. While Lumina did not fall in a single strike, Coral side stepped her counter with remarkable ease, dispatching her easily. Cinead wasn't given the luxury of trying his luck, as Coral finished him, and Jesse with a dagger each. Eva was Coral's first real struggle, their daggers weren't missing but Eva was striking back making things difficult, but as if it were planned, Coral's next two daggers dispatched Eva handily. Alistar met the same fate as Jesse and Cinead, and another found themselves staring down Laniva. The duelist threw two daggers before realizing that they weren't doing much to slow the slab of iron now rapidly approaching. With a single hit, Coral was almost ejected from the arena. Slowly people began to wonder if anyone was going to reach the end with Laniva standing in the way. Then it was Ryfia's turn. The wolfgirl stepped up, and began to lay into Lumina. Ryfia's first punch connected, and she wound up her second punch… only for Lumina to barely evade it. Lumina, frustrated with how the fights had gone so far, mustered every bit of magic she could. Enough so that no one else saw exactly what happened, aside from the aftermath–Ryfia blasted back where she'd walked out. Syndra took offense to that. A single ice spell to Lumina's face was enough recompense for what happened with Ryfia. Then, oddly, a single ice spell was enough to deal with Cinead– being a fire dragon, a weakness to ice and water magic made sense. Jesse was also a single spell away from victory. There was a familiar lull when Eva stepped up– the few who blazed through the Arena found difficulty with her defensive counter style. When Eva's sword nearly knocked Syndra off her feet, people were ready to call it a loss. All except Syndra, as she stood up, and the temperature in the area suddenly dropped. What followed were two powerful spells, one sending Eva careening, and the other, right out of the ring. Syndra carried that energy into the next fight, against her own retainer. Alistar struck, before, again the temperature dropped. He, too, found the exit of the arena courtesy of Syndra's spell. Leaving, once more, the undefeated Laniva. Syndra chose to take her chances, knowing that sword was going to launch her if it connected with her being. Her attack was perhaps the most damage that anyone had done to Laniva, but Laniva was sure to return the favor with one good swing, ending Syndra's run. For the moment, there were no more takers. The 7th fighter remained untouched, no one able to find their way past Laniva. But the cheers came regardless for all who participated, challenger and duelist. Just maybe a little more for the cat in the dress… Kieran guessed wrong again, as Marigold appeared out of the shadows below him, his own shadow, doing her usual thing--being as close as possible, and kind of just prodding him. "Hell... I'm never going to get used to that... I don't get drunk in seconds, thank you very much. I get that I'm small, but I'm pretty above average in that respect... and me? Down there? Ha, yeah, I guess I did come up here to brood. They won. Owen, Cassandra, the Tigers, they did it, they beat Kazran and won. But I don't think I get to bask in that. That's for the Tigers to experience and have a good time; I nearly got several of them killed. Why the hell would I have the right to enjoy this time with them?" Kieran sighed, and shook his head, "Yeah, I guess I am feeling sorry for my ass... and waiting for you. Because if I was going to go down there, then I think my time would be best spent with the person who doesn't have a reason to push me off a peer. Unless you don't wanna, stuff like this without getting drunk can't be all that enjoyable." The man found himself stunned, first by Sylmaria's clumsy, but earnest request, followed up by Miria's almost daredevil request. The man's eyes bounced between the both of them, before he burst out laughing at the pair. "Serdio living, but weeks ago I would have only dreamed of hearing such straightforward requests!" The man threw his head back, and laughed even more, "Ah, the energy of mercenaries never ceases to amaze! Our strongest drinks, best fish, and the spiciest possible? But of course! They will take but a moment, and I can assure you, that they will be all that you have hoped for!" The man turned to the building behind him, and disappeared through the curtain, a smile from ear to ear matching Miria's own. The familiar blue haired man was chatting with a woman who had the same hair color, just falling all the way to her back. It was the woman who turned first, looking at Renais with piercing red eyes. "Oh, a visitor. I must admit, I hadn't expected anyone to pop in with all of the festivities going on." She looked at Renais with a curious look. The man followed her gaze and smiled at Renais, "Ah, yes. I'm afraid that you'll have to visit the actual vendor for a staff like that, I'm afraid one of those hasn't come through my connections. But, questions? I'm not adverse, but I'm unsure as to how much help I would be. Ask away." Edited August 19 by Mercenary on the Winds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanami Touko Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 (edited) Talulah returned herself to the viewers area, huffing quietly. She'd expected this to be a challenge, but she hadn't expected to run into a wall before that man. The cat woman, Laniva, had proven herself to be much more effective than she'd ever thought, so tough despite the dress, and so strong. Such a large sword, anyone would figure it would swing slowly, but she wielded it like any other blade. A weapon that massive getting tossed about like the average iron blade, truly a terror... "Hopefully someone can make it to him. I need to see him fight... I must." Eva huffed, brushing off her wounds after Lucretia went around fixing everyone up. It seemed they were going to get a small break, no more challengers lining up as of now. "The Tigers sure are strong... At least I stopped one, but, God, damn." She slowly made her way over to Lumina, giving her shoulder a fistbump. "You got one, hun. Though, it doesn't seem like you're made for arena fighting... You'd do way better on the field of battle with someone next to you to make sure you didn't get charged like that. Then you follow up with your magic and bam~ No one survives." Eva stretched, yawning some. "But, you can figure out how to go about the next rounds... I guess this thing is open for the next few hours." "LANIVA~!" Syta dashed out of the stands and threw herself at the cat, colliding into a hug with the biggest grin in the world. "You're SO, COOL! You stopped them all! And you looked AMAZING doing it! Oh, my, GOSH, I'm so damn proud of you~!" She squeezed her extra tight and squeed, finally letting her go, almost bouncing in place. "I'm gonna keep watching until this is all settled... I'm rooting for you, Lani! Every time~ I can't believe how cool you are, gosh... I might have to give this a go and see if I can make it to you... Just so you can toss me aside~ Hahhh~" She sighed perhaps too idyllically, blushing heavily. Coral made it past the riffraff, of course, finally getting stopped by that damn cat with the club of a sword. It was just as barbaric as Thalia's fighting style, but with its length, Coral's attempt at jumping back and out of the way fell flat, barely managing to get their arm in the way so when they were sent rolling, their dress wasn't touched. They laid there for a second, sighing, staring up at the sky. "This is not the life." With a hefty groan, they'd collected themselves and went back to sitting, pulling out a brush and going after their dress, trying to get the dust and dirt off of it. "What a mess... Ugh... Thalia, you did fairly well, but considering how terrible that cat is, I don't expect we'll be winning this little exhibition... Hahhh... I suppose it's good that this is a festival of sorts... It should be easy to get a decent meal for cheap, but... No restocking on our supplies." "Is that so~?" A sultry and perhaps excited voice sounded out from right behind Coral and Thalia, the former turning with a dagger drawn. "Wh-When did you...?" They hadn't heard anything, quite alarmed that someone could sneak up on both of them so readily. "Right now~! I just couldn't help myself." Kise reached out and snatched Thalia, pulling the girl onto her lap, and cuddling tight against her. "It's so rare," impossibly so, "to meet someone of my race~! Even if she is a little runt, I can tell, I can tell I can tell I can tell~ That magic flowing through you... You're a kitsune, just like me. But, how? Ahhh, I thought you were all dead and gone... yet, here you are, warm, breathing, two wonderful tails... You're so weak, so small... Ahhh..." She almost started crying as she smothered Thalia with hugs and affection, leaving Coral quite baffled, slowly putting away their knife, unsure of what to do or say. Krystal nearly jumped as Giovanna started speaking, having fully lost herself in wyvern care. She was wearing some baggy pants, sheer, over a similar but clearly different set of black dancer attire, a white, sheer shawl hanging off of her shoulders. It wasn't much more coverage than Kazran had afforded her, but it was coverage she'd chosen, so it didn't bother her in the slightest. "Gosh, Giovanna, what do you want? And what's with the getup? That's all besides the point, anyway, Sara is a good girl and even if Dwight did some stupid things, she doesn't share her daddy's sins and shouldn't be mistreated for it. Isn't that right Saraaaaa~?" Krystal rubbed her hands along the wyvern's chin, some contented purring leaving the creature. "Even he's... not, that bad. Just misdirected, and if we went around killing everyone, there'd be nothing of Islexia left. I did some bad things under Kazran's orders and I'm still around... So he should get a second chance as well." Iris was practically crawling all over Ullr, spinning around him and then around on the ground near him, finally ending up on his back, pushing herself up to riding on his shoulders so she could get a better view of everything. "Wooooowwwwwww..." She couldn't believe places could put on celebrations like this... Everyone was singing, drinking, eating, dancing, enjoying themselves, it was happiness and excitement everywhere. "Take me, anywhere! I don't care where we go, as long as I get to take part in all of this! Woo~! Away, steed; giddyup, Ullr!" "Oh, my Gawd, you're such a sad sack. Come on." Marigold latched onto his arm and started dragging him towards the stairs to leave. "I can at least enjoy the food even if I can't get drunk, and it means I can watch over you to make sure you don't do anything stupid when you're done putting like, eight back. Alright? Don't have the right, sheesh... You helped on the ship, you turned over a new leaf, come on already. How long are you gonna beat yourself up for something well resolved? It's over, Kieran. The underground scattered, the Tigers were all fine, and Kazran's a corpse-- and not one that still moves, either," she joked, cracking a grin. "So get over it! No more feeling sorry for yourself! None of it! I won't have it." She kept dragging him along, heading down the stairs. "R-Right! Thank you... Ah..." Sylm slowly turned redder and redder, realizing what she'd just done and requested, shrinking into herself and hiding her face behind her claws. "Oh, Gods, what am I doing...? I, I shouldn't, be demanding drinks, I... but, hhhh... I've, never drank before, what am I doing...?" She mumbled her frustrations and whined a little, her whip tail going a mile a minute behind her. "Hahhh... It's too late now... I can't just tell him to t-take it back. Have to drink it. All..." Edited August 20 by Nanami Touko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldsbroTSG Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 (edited) Miria saluted as the man respected their requests and disappeared inside. His laugh only fueled Miria's excitement for this food and drink. With someone this passionate about serving someone, it was bound to be delicious food. Her feet pit-patted a few times, but her attention was taken by Sylm's mumbles, expressing what felt like frustration. The cub's smile softened, and pulled the dragon into a light side-hug. "It's gonna be fiiiiine, Sylm. If it helps, this is my first time drinking too." She gave a small laugh. "It's all part of a fun festival like this, I think. Good food, a drink or two, and partying. And we, are gonna, party." She tried reassuring her friend the best she could, and gave a playful pat on the shoulder once she let go. "And if we don't like drinking, then, we were brave enough to try." Edited August 20 by GoldsbroTSG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursali Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 (edited) Mira had accompanied Sari to his arena duties as promised, watching the variety of fighters try and fail to even reach the not-elf. Laniva was currently the furthest anyone had gotten; had Syndra played her cards differently she could've snatched victory and at least made it to Sari. It felt... almost uncomfortable to refer to the Tigers, even internally, with familiarity that wasn't hers. At least none of them had come over during the rounds; Alriana tended to be fairly left alone by the Tigers, with the creation usually having to engage with the Tigers on her terms for interaction. Mira was all too glad to reap the benefits of Alriana's typical behavior as long as she felt like this. Rather than dwell on that feeling of insecurity, she focused her attention back onto Sari, catching the slightest look of boredom flick across his face. She took that as her que; her tail pushed her off the ground to standing, Mira gingerly walked over to him now that there was a lull in challenges. "Feeling bored, Sari?" A slight smirk had taken to her face, smugness atypical to the face she wore directed at the not-elf. "Want me to run the gauntlet so you have something to do aside from look menacing?~" To the careful observer, although it looked like Aly, there was a never before seen air of peculiarity around the creation. The way she carried herself was different, more confident and less passive than Alriana. Her speech pattern full of disdain for spoken word was gone. And, to the especially observant, the creations usual red eyes and stripes had taken on a deep violet color. Edited August 20 by Ursali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanami Touko Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 Can You Control The Beast Inside? Spoiler As soon as they were able to pull away from the crowd that had gathered around the boat Alriana was quick to pull Versaris to their shared room at Castle Esclas, not speaking a word to the not-elf other than “We need to talk,” before they were securely behind the doors to their room. Yet, the words she wanted to say still didn’t come easily, staring at Versaris, unable to utter the conclusion she’d already reached by herself. It felt like an eternity of silence, an eternity of staring up at Versaris’ concerned expression, before she was able to speak. “...She got out. Kise and I fought on the ship, and she got out. And…” She couldn’t continue, averting her gaze. They’d promised each other they’d be safe, that they wouldn’t take risks, and she’d been the one to break her word. It hurt, more than any wound ever had. Versaris wasn’t initially against getting dragged away from all of the merriment, but he grew increasingly concerned as Aly refused to say a single word. He’d kept trying to coax her into saying anything, even teasing her a little, but she was like a stone wall. By the time they were alone, he was greatly concerned, trying to watch her expression for anything that would give away… something, but still, nothing, for minutes, until she’d finally spoken. “She… Alright… Why, did you fight with Kise in the first place?” That fucking fox. “And, you’re okay, so I guess… someone took care of things. Okay… Aly, I’m… A little disappointed, but I’m not upset. You’re alright, you’re, in control… So, what’s wrong? You pulled me away, so there has to be more to it. What has you worried?” Blaming her or getting angry wouldn’t solve anything. He was more upset at Kise, confident that she was the one that started things. If she wasn’t so powerful I’d do something about this. Bitch… Ugh, not now, Versaris. “You have to tell me, Aly. Silence won’t solve this.” Alriana flinched as Versaris’ made clear his disappointment; once she had declared herself immune to words, but as she grew and learned more she had begun to realize that they could wound just as easily as her daggers. She kept her gaze off of his, unable to look up into his emerald eyes. She focused on his first question, it was easier to talk about. “Heard her talking about Luthier, how he was her prey. But, we have to kill him. Told her that, she told me that I’m not the original, that She wants her body back, and challenged me to a fight. Wasn’t scared like with Jeremiah so accepted. Then she started it immediately, up on the sails. She got a hit in, then… She took control. Watched, as body fought Kise. Was winning, until wasn’t.” The memory was vivid, understandably so as the actual event had occurred within the past hour, but Alriana knew it was something that would be seared into her memory for a very long time. “Then…” She trailed off, gaze even more downcast. The ‘truth’ she’d arrived at was hanging over her head, causing her chest to ache as she fought speaking the words into being. “Then, Renais came up, I, body, She, attacked Renais as she healed me, her. Didn’t more than scratch, but, still attacked Renais. Couldn’t, couldn’t stop… I…” There had been slips in the past, moments in battles where she had lost control, but never once had she raised a murderous hand to any of the Tigers. “I’m, dangerous.” Her voice cracked, then shattered into a whisper. “Jeremiah, was right.” “So it was that damn fox’s fault…” He was still frustrated that Aly had accepted such a duel in the first place, but there was nothing to be done about it now. The rest was the more alarming part… Whoever was inside Aly lashed out at Renais as she attempted to heal her to put her away again. What came next, Versaris didn’t want at all, hugging Alriana tightly and suddenly. “You’re not. Dangerous. That’s not you. That’ll never be you… Kise coaxing you into a fight, you probably agreed because you thought it would be… simple. Just a test. I can’t imagine that fox wanted anything less than to see if she could harm you, genuinely. She’s changed… But you’re still you, Aly. The fact that you’re even upset about this is proof enough that you’re you. Isn’t it?” He was sure of it, slowly releasing the hug to try and turn her face to look at him, smiling a bit. “You’re alive. You’re here. You’re okay. It means that this isn’t you, and it isn’t going to control you so easily… Are you… Worried, about taking part in the gauntlet they’re organizing, because of this?” That would be the only reason, surely… The only immediate reason. “Of course, I imagine you’re scared, and I’m not dismissing that. We’re going to find a way to fix this. I’m never giving up on you… And, if it scares you enough that you’re worried about hurting the others, I don’t mind at all if you sit out, you know? I don’t think anyone would…” He wished that he had more than this. Some magic solution to pull whatever it was inside her, out, but… If even the Evokers and Jeremiah haven’t thought of something, what am I supposed to do? Nothing here. Nothing so far in remote Islexia… Maybe there’s something in Lufiria, if they don’t try to kill her on sight. Hahhhhh… Frustrating. I need to do more. She didn’t resist his hug, but neither did she return it, standing in his embrace with her gaze locked to the floor. She couldn’t accept his reassurance so easily, not with what Kise had said. The reality the fox had unceremoniously forced her to come into contact with couldn’t be brushed aside, not when there had been no reason to lie. She let him turn her face up to his, but there was no smile to greet him; Alriana didn’t know it, but she was on the verge of tears, the sorrowful droplets welling up in the corner of her eyes as Versaris hit her underlying worry on the head. “I… I don’t want to hurt the Tigers. Don’t know if fighting will let Her out. Can’t take risk. Not unless…” She trailed off, the thought momentarily shelved, unwilling to consider it with what she needed to say still unspoken. The seeds of doubt had taken root in the creation, Kise’s words festered like an untreated wound. Alriana’s doubt was not in Versaris’ promise, but in herself and if ‘fixing’ her would actually entail what they wanted it to. “How… How do I know am still me? I, I not even the original! Body, Hers. Feel Her emotions, sometimes can’t tell difference from own. Line, blurring ever since Luthier made Her wake up…” The dam finally broke, tears streaking down her face with unparalleled speed due to her hydrophobic skin. “What if fixing ‘me’, gets rid of me?” So it’s this serious… Words won’t fix this, then. Not from me… I don’t know enough. About what this entails, about how it feels, about what to do… “Alriana.” He got down on one knee to meet her eye level better, gently taking her hands. “I think… you’re, right to be worried. I think you’re right to be upset. I believe that you’re you, but, that’s not enough. I believe, that if you were meant to be her… Your mother wouldn’t have left you with Natalya, as you. It simply… doesn’t make sense. But. It doesn’t matter what I believe. You’re upset. We should speak with someone that knows more about magic and perhaps knows more about these sorts of things. Would you be willing to come see Tio with me? Tell her what happened and what’s been going on?” He squeezed her hands and held strong to his smile, hard as it was. “I’m sure she’s much smarter than me when it comes to some of the aspects of this… Maybe she has answers that even Jeremiah wouldn’t have. Maybe even a solution… And… no matter what, if ‘fixing’ you means that you disappear, we’ll find another way. Some method to split you two, even…” He bit back a sigh, swallowing hard to force it down. He wanted to smile. He wanted to be strong and be there for her. “It’s not like I don’t feel for this, other you, that’s trapped inside. She’s aggressive, she lashes out, but she’s also been trapped in a prison of someone else’s making for who knows how long… Anyone would be upset. However… That doesn’t give her the right to remove you. To get rid of you. I don’t care if she’s the original, you are here, you feel, you exist, and you matter… And if she can’t be patient enough to let us figure things out, she can stay in the back of your mind for all I care.” Alriana’s tears slowly came to a halt, sniffling as he finished speaking. She wanted to accept his belief in her but, as the not-elf himself said, it wasn’t enough for her to believe in herself, not enough for her to be willing to fight the Tigers without some sort of failsafe. She wanted that failsafe to be Versaris himself, and absolutely not Kise, but if he was taking her to see Tio then maybe it would be safe for her to test if he was enough to ensure she didn’t hurt the other Tigers in a worst case scenario. “Y, Yes, we can go see Tio. We, probably should have before, but both have been busy.” Splitting me from you… What a hopelessly idyllic idea. Where will the extra body come from? Get Grelbiria to make it? Hah. Ridiculous… Normally she ‘slept’ when there was no immediate danger to her body, but she had tasted freedom for a precious few moments so recently and the failure had been in a bad mood since. The best thing about her was that she typically enjoyed doing nothing for long periods of time, no excitement to interrupt her ‘dream’ and drag her into the hell of being a passenger in her own body. But with how upset the bitch of a fox had made Alriana, it was impossible for it to not spill into herself, preventing any hope of ‘sleep’ while she was riding the high of her freedom. Not to mention that passing thought the failure had begun to entertain; if she went through with that, well, she wouldn’t say no. Alriana did her best to ignore the disdain she felt from her Other, choosing to believe in the solution Versaris had proposed, no matter how impractical it was. She had experienced what her Other had for an infinitesimal amount of time in comparison, but the feeling of being an observer in her own body was one she didn’t want to experience again, even if she would have to if she was going to put Versaris to the test. She wiped what little remained of her tears from her eyes, squeezing Versaris’ hands back tight. “Let’s, go see Tio.” “Right. I'm sure she'll have some idea of what to do.” He stood back up and forced that smile to keep going. There was little chance she could tell he was pushing himself, and he truly hated having to lie so boldly, but he was struggling with his own faith in Tio knowing anything. Maybe she'd have some idea, once she had the full picture, but… It's such an impossibly rare situation, how could she? It's better than doing nothing, but… Ahhhhh, I need to crush this anxiety! Nothing will come from worrying. Act. Act! He took Alriana along to find their evoker associate, spotting her training, of all things, on the targets from before. “Can't say I'd expected you to be practicing, but I suppose even people as skilled as you need to make sure to stay in top form. Despite that, can we borrow you… for, perhaps, a time?” He glanced down at Aly. “She has something she needs to explain to you, and once she has, we need to know if there's anything you can do about it…” Wave of the hand, all of the crystals behaved exactly as they should have, following her lead. A simple spell was really that was necessary; magic built on itself, an intimate understanding of the base spell meant everything afterwards would be that much easier. She closed her eyes, and focused on the connection between herself and her crystals, only to hear footsteps behind her, and then Versaris’s voice called out to her. She turned to see both him, and Alriana though, Alriana was looking unusually anxious. Alriana, as long as she’d known her, tended to be unreadable, more stoic… but now, it was a bit easier to see that something pressing was on her mind. “Magic is much like anything else, and with how long Elisa and I weren’t able to do terribly much, I need to take time to get back into the swing of things…” Tio then raised an eyebrow, looking at Alriana and then back to Versaris, “I’m not doing anything for the time being, so, of course. What exactly do you need from me?” She offered Alriana a small smile, not entirely sure what Alriana would be asking of her in particular. Swear to the stars if this is another god voice… As they approached the training grounds and Tio came into view Alriana felt a sudden spike of anxiety, unsure if it was her’s or her Other’s. The Other didn’t speak to make it easy to discern and, while she’d only ever felt anxious towards Versaris, she could understand why she would feel towards herself. She didn’t know that it was written all over her face, thinking she was holding her normal stoic expression as she cast her gaze upwards to Tio. “There’s, another me, inside me.” There was no point in trying to skirt the issue, not with what she was planning to ask Tio to do shortly. “She’s been there since Luthier. Or, She woke up because of Luthier. Jeremiah confirmed while at compound. Need to know if you know anything about. Or anything about separating me, her… Us. Kise said She’s the original. That she wants Her body back. Know it true after Kise gave Her chance to take control. Know She feels like that.” She kept her Other’s feelings about separating them from Tio as well. Doubt… didn’t need to be felt by anyone but herself. “That's… the gist of things, yes. It's not like we expect you to be an expert on, creation biology and magical make up, but… You're the strongest mage we know, well studied, smart, and if anyone can figure out anything… it's you.” It has to be you. Versaris’ facade slipped a little, the urgency in his voice apparent. “And, to be clear… I'm, against trying to erase either of them. If it's this, other one’s body, then we move Aly into a new one and they both get their chances at life. I'd much rather that, than anyone… disappearing. As upset as I am that they're trying to force Aly out of the way… they didn't, choose this. Grelbiria, for whatever reason, put two, living, thinking, fully cognizant personalities inside of her. They both deserve the chance to live.” Tio blinked. On the one hand, it wasn’t another god’s voice. That was a blessing at least. On the other, it was an entirely different voice. “...Another you? Inside of you?” Tio paused for a moment, and recalled what Iris had said to her. Back when the Tigers had gone to root out the underground. She said that she had heard a voice in her head, urging her to do terrible things with her dark magic. She had also said that Alriana had her own voice. “...Oh dear.” Tio waved her hand, and her crystals all came back to her, floating behind her in a circle. Versaris’s voice gave things away on his end for a moment, concern, desperation–neither of which were written on his face like they had been with Alriana. “Alright… Where to start then…? I have heard of things like this before. It’s extremely uncommon to the point where most studied mages would say it’s impossible, but, there are records of it. Two existences inhabiting the same body… usually it’s something that doesn’t last very long–the very mechanism through which something like this happens usually means that one personality will eventually overcome the other.” Tio leaned her head into her cheek, “Separating two separate existences like that… Well, it has to be possible, that much I can say for certain.” Tio pointed at Aly, “If Aly had been like you or I, Versaris, I’d be far less confident of that… but Alriana is a created existence. If she’s not the original, or even if she was… the fact that both of them are still entangled, to the point that Alriana knows that the other exists and vice versa… it’s not implausible that there’s a way to separate them. What that would be though… that’s not my area of study, and I know too little about this to give anything concrete.” Perhaps Kisara has an idea… she bound her existence to that amulet. Perhaps there’s a way to recreate that in reverse… difficult, but not impossible… we’d need someone with an absurd amount of skill to pull that off… “There is, of course, what you already cordoned off: destroying the other one. But I’d need to know much more if I were to try to do anything about that directly… Loathe as I am to admit, my expertise can only stretch so far.” So even Tio wasn’t sure of a method that would allow her two selves to be separated, just confidence that it was theoretically possible. “That better than what Jeremiah said. He said mostly same thing, that one of us shouldn’t be alive, or that if She got stronger than she would start to overwrite me. Don’t know, how true that is, but it what he said. She definitely more awake than normal right now, at least.” She glanced between Versaris and Tio, knowing that at least the not-elf wouldn’t like what she was going to suggest next. “If don’t know way to separate us, then, if going to fight against Tigers, need to know that someone can stop Her. Want that person be you, Versaris.” She did her best to give him an encouraging look, her expression steeling with resolve after. “Won’t, allow body to hurt the Tigers. That means, you have to fight Her and win, if going to be in gauntlet with you. She ‘won’ against Kise without her magic. Will let her out, to see you can win. And if can’t, Tio’s around to make sure nothing happens.” Tio's answers were better than nothing, even if they were almost literally that. She was sure it had to be possible because Alriana had been created through magic, rather than born naturally. A small bit of comfort for the suggestion that was about to come next. “...What?” Versaris lost his smile, staring down at Aly with great concern. “I, what? Aly, no. We've no idea how dangerous it could be to cede control to her. What if she doesn't go away once you do? What if it makes it easier for her to take it? What if you start disappearing the longer you're locked in there? No. That's way too dangerous.” ... And I'm… I'm not confident I could stop her, now. Before, sure… but with how strong you've gotten, how quickly you've improved… I… He looked away from her with a sudden glare of incredible frustration, then shutting his eyes and sighing. “If you think this is truly for the best…” She'd likely been thinking about this all day. Everyone was preparing for the festival and she'd been eating at herself, worried sick, ever since they'd landed. Trying to fight her further on this… would probably make her feel so much worse. “I'll do what I can.” “If she doesn’t go away, then knock me out, it always worked before.” She wouldn’t allow herself to be swayed, keeping her resolved gaze squarely on Versaris. She needed to know, for her own piece of mind, before she would so much as throw a punch at anyone aside from Kise and Versaris. “If that was case, She would already be gone. She’s been ‘asleep’ for at least a year.” She watched as he turned away, knowing that she was asking far more than she ever had from him. Knew that he wanted to do nothing to do with what she was asking. He’d masked his pain, his concern, and his fear when he’d turned back to her and given her his answer, but she knew better than to just accept his expression. “Don’t know if this is for the best, Versaris. Might be making a big mistake, might be doing exactly what you’re afraid of. But, I need to know that I’m not too dangerous for the Tigers.” “Yeah… I know you do. But. I don't want to hurt you. Either of you… So I'm going to try and talk with her first, if you're fine with that.” Hopefully this could be resolved with words. It would be difficult, given all the rage built up in there… but he had to try. “So Jeremiah thought the same…” That lent more credence that she was onto something, but it was going to be some time before she was sure of a course of action. The same could not be said for Alriana, who immediately suggested releasing whatever was inside of her, and for someone, preferably Versaris, to be able to stop her. “Wait, hold on a–” Versaris was well ahead of her, expressing all of the very real possibilities. Tio quickly understood that she wasn’t going to have much input beyond doing what was being asked of her; this was between Versaris and Alriana, and she was only to step in if things were to get too out of hand. It occurred to Tio that she’d never really seen Alriana fight, she’d been on the field of battle with her, but she’d never seen the creation take a life. Once things were all resolved, and it seemed as if they were going to go through with Alriana’s request, Tio shook her head and sighed, “I have to say that I don’t like this at all. But… I’m sure that Versaris likes this even less than I do. And so…” Tio held out her hand, and conjured an ornate looking staff. “I’ll be ready if things go south.” “Thank you, Versaris. Thank you, Tio.” Truly, she had no idea if she could even do what she was suggesting, but part of her, perhaps her Other, just knew she could. She closed her eyes, focusing on the presence inside her, reaching out for Her for the first time ever. I’m here. I won’t say no to what you’re trying to do but you really should listen to him. I’m far greedier than you could ever imagine. It felt like she was falling into slumber, even though she was wide awake, her awareness dimming until it was entirely subsumed by her Other. Her eyes blinked open, red replaced with a deep violet, the lines along her body pulsing that same violet. She couldn’t believe that Alriana had been so worried about her that she would willinging hand control of her body back to her under any circumstances. A grin took to her face as she looked over at Versaris, hand already reaching for her dagger. “Hello, Sari…” She’d overheard everything of course, knowing what had been set up for her. Tio was here, so there was no point in defying Alriana’s plan. “You said you were going to talk, so get talking.” Sari watched with a more than moderate amount of fear, as Alriana’s body changed to reflect the takeover. “... Yeah. Let’s talk.” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose… “Can I have a name, first? I don’t expect you’ll want me to call you Alriana… And beyond getting your body back, I’d like to know what it is that you want.” He finally looked at her, trying to figure out what the grin meant, if anything. “If you’ve been hearing everything… I’d, like to figure out how to have you both alive and happy. So… how far are you willing to work with us?” “It’s Mira. That’s my name.” That was by far the easier of the trio of questions the not-elf had asked her. Her brow furrowed, her grin faded, and her tail began to roll in agitation as she thought about the second question asked of her. A minute passed, then two, the look on her face growing more dire as more time passed. Finally, she opened her mouth with a growl. “Look, I don’t know, okay!? I’ve spent all my limited time just trying to get control of my damn body back!” Her tail flicked along the ground, stirring up the dust of the training grounds. “And it’s nice of you to want that for me… Us. But the person you need the help from the most couldn’t give less of a shit about me, especially not to the extent of making either of us a body. So even if I do cooperate, what you’re pursuing might as well be some fool’s idyllic dream.” “Then call me a fool. Look at me.” He got down and close again, taking her hand and squeezing it tight, not going to let go even if she tried to pull away. “I don’t care what Jeremiah wants. Do you understand me? He could wish for you all to perish and for him to never have to think about it again. I will fight him at every turn if that comes to be, so this isn’t about him. This is about you, Mira, you, Alriana, and I, and how we make this work. You deserve to live. So does she. You both deserve the life ahead of you, so please.” He did his best to hold her there. “Work with us.” “Oi…!” She let out a growl as Sari closed the distance and took her hand, glaring as she tried to flinch away out of his hold. She froze as he started speaking, like an Islexian in a manastorm, the glare fading into a look of disbelief as the not-elf completely misunderstood who she was referring to. “Hah. Hahahaha…!” She didn’t mean to laugh in his face, but she couldn’t resist the laughter, not that there was any mirth to be found in it, only defeatism. “I’m not talking about Jeremiah, Sari. Who do you think we need to make a new body for one of us? Who would know how to transfer a living being to a new body? Jeremiah wouldn’t know the first about that.” She stared him in the face, deadly serious. “I’m talking about that bitch Grelbiria.” “Then we find someone else.” He didn’t falter in the face of her emotions or her claims, it didn’t matter who did it. “You’re made of magic. That means someone else can figure it out. You’re not some impossible spell with one key, even if it takes a while. I’m not asking you to lock yourself away and wait for more years… Just… work with us. I’m sure, if you and Aly talk to each other in there you can… share.” He didn’t like it, but it was the most fair outcome, even if Mira argued for more time in charge for all the years she’d already been locked away. “I don’t want you dead or gone, so cut the nihilism, cut the denials, cut the lack of faith. Work, with, me. I want you to live.” “I appreciate your determination, Sari, but you’ve let yourself fall into the f… Alriana’s misunderstanding of how serious this actually is. Jeremiah was right. Now that I’m ‘awake’, eventually, one of us will overwrite the other.” She huffed, shifting her weight onto one of her feet. “And since this is my body, everytime I take control it becomes more and more of my body. You were right, it was a mistake for her to let me out, but now it can’t be undone. If you truly want both of us to be able to live, you don’t have years. You might not even have a year, especially if she keeps getting into situations where I have to come out to make sure my body doesn’t die.” She sighed, staring at him. “Sure, we can talk to each other, but sharing?” She growled, not liking the idea of her already short time having to be shared with the failure. But, more importantly than that, ”Intentionally sharing will just decrease the time that either of us have. Alriana is still the dominant one, somehow. So…” She growled louder, glaring, not believing she was actually going to help the failure. “Any time given to me is just going to accelerate myself becoming the dominant person, which means when we run out of time she’ll be the one being overwrote.” “It wasn’t a mistake. We never would’ve been able to talk if she hadn’t… And I’m learning plenty.” He stood up and let go of her hands, running one over his face and taking a deep breath. “Okay. So, we just solve this within the year, if we don’t have a full one. Problem solved.” He sighed. “There’s nothing that worrying will do to solve it. We go back to Lufiria once we find the Evokers’ missing envoy… That is, if you’re willing to come along with me and do that. You’ve still not said as much… Are you willing to work with us, Mira? Because I don’t want to force this. You’ve suffered enough, and Aly is already plenty scared… So I’m… really hoping you’re willing to play along and try to find, something.” Tio kept close watch over the proceedings, staff in one hand, crystals at her back, more surprised that whatever Alriana had done, worked. The ‘Aly’ in front of her, was an entirely different person, spoke differently, acted differently… felt differently. The woman’s magical signature was similar, but different at the same time. A reasonable sign that they could be separated in the future, but the question still remains how… Versaris was adamant in trying to get the second existence, Mira, to work with them on a plan to figure out how to separate the pair. So far, things hadn’t come to blows, but there was always time for things to go sour. Hmm… Will Lufiria even assist them? Given Jeremiah’s interaction, and what I’m aware of… “We’ll see if it is one or not.” She’d effectively been around Versaris just as long as Alriana had, even if it was only recently that she came into conscious awareness of the not-elf. She knew he wasn’t typically a man of blind optimism, but she also knew that he deeply loved her other, in so much as she knew he had declared as much. Much like Alriana, her understanding of the actual emotion was yet to be actualized. She folded her arms and leaned back some as she stared at Versaris. His insistence that she cooperate was annoying but she knew he wasn't going to let up until she gave her answer. She knew what answer the failure wanted, she knew what answer the nearby evoker wanted to hear, and she knew what Versaris wanted to hear. She growled, her tail flicking. “It’s not like I have much of a choice. Even if I say no, all you have to do is make sure Alriana stays in control and you can go anywhere you want.” “I’m asking because you deserve as much. If you said no… Well, unless you were a danger to the rest of the tigers, I guess… I would just have to accept it. I’m… not, comfortable with a lot of this. Not comfortable with deciding your future for you, not comfortable with Alriana disappearing, not comfortable with keeping you locked up… but it’s… your body, and someone else did this to you. So if you say, no… Then you say no. I’m glad you’re willing to consider it, but… mmm.” He sighed and he wasn’t sure what else to say. It was just a terrible situation for everyone involved… “I guess… that’s all, then. I’m not going to force you to hand things back to Alriana… Thanks, for discussing things.” He sighed, again, but it was much sadder, looking away from them both. “We’ll figure this out. We will.” “You sure have changed your tune from the first time we ‘met’ Sari… What was it? You said something about deleting me?” She couldn’t help but mock him some, trading his feelings for some needed stress relief. “It’s not unwelcome, your kindness, but are you sure you have enough to share between me and her? Can you handle the weight of both of our fates?” She huffed, moving behind him but not reaching out to touch him. “I’ll cooperate, no harm to the Tigers or whatever. But if something happens that puts me in control of my body, I want to be left alone to enjoy my fleeting freedom.” “When I thought you were just the worst aspects of Alriana, yes. I wanted you gone. I wanted you to disappear… but I know better, now. I know that you aren’t some specter of her creation. You think and feel the same as she does.” He shook his head, not running away from his mistakes. “Yes. I can.” He’d forced his feelings back once again, he wasn’t going to cry here, not over this, not when there was still a chance. “I’m not going to stop unless it kills me. I’m not strong enough. I don’t know enough. I haven’t done enough… And that’s okay. I’m young. I have time. I have people to help me.” He turned to face her and stared down at her, unfaltering, knowing this was the path he wanted to walk, no matter what. “I will become a hero for you. You don’t have to believe me; you can even laugh at me. I won’t stop moving forward.” “At least you can be honest…” She let out a quiet huff, arms still folded, as she watched his back. She met his gaze as he turned to look at her, faltering some under the intensity of his stare. She stared at him as he finished his declaration, unsure how to take what he’d said. “A hero for a true Creation like me. Jeremiah would turn pale at the thought.” She couldn’t help but laugh, the ridiculousness of everything Versaris had just said too much. “Alriana deserves your devotion, but if you’ll offer it to me then,” a dangerous smirk took to her face, “I’ll take as much as I please.” It would do to make him squirm some… “Jeremiah can turn pale as a sheet for all I care. I know who I love.” He sighed, unsure how to deal with this lizard… She was similar to Aly in some ways, but clearly more… lurid, in a way. Like she was unafraid of the limits Aly imposed upon herself as far as discussions or groups went. “My apologies, Tio… It, seems this could be solved with just words. Next will be actions. When you and Elisa return to Lufiria, please take us with you… I’ve got connections in the capital, so I won’t need you to vouch for me, or help us get into contact with who I need to speak to. Just, mm… Yeah. Sorry.” Tio had long since put her staff away, though the crystals were still floating behind her. There was some point at which she wondered if she should even be here at all; some moments were best left between the immediate players. One thing was for sure, Versaris was dead serious–it was hard to imagine that he was anything but serious with what he was saying. He didn’t bare his emotions often, if at all, so to see them now was both surprising, and a confirmation. Tio sighed, “You don’t need to apologize for me doing nothing. I’m quite fond of the idea, honestly.” She chuckled, and then looked at him, “It will be very difficult to justify taking you both to Lufiria. For one, there’s the immediate issue of her being a creation–I can’t imagine that a lot of people will be very happy about you walking into Lufiria with one by your side. Second, and more important to me, that would increase our group making travel across the sands that much more difficult. I’m sure that Elisa and I can handle that, but… it certainly does add a lot of risk.” “They can take it up with my family. My father wouldn’t let anything happen to me without his say, so I don’t quite care who takes issue with them being at my side. I’m still a Didarion, and that makes me one of the most important people in Lufiria’s government.” He didn’t like playing his family as a card, but it was true, and he’d use it if he had to. “As for the Sands… I have the knowledge, but not the experience. It can’t be worse than getting splattered against the tile by an aura spell, and Mira is a magical creature, I can only assume she’d be more suited to the Sands by her make than most would be… If any of that assuages some concerns.” No hesitation for even a moment, huh? Tio shook her head, and sighed, “Admittedly, it doesn’t, really. But, by this point, I know better than to try and argue you down from this–I did just watch you argue with Aly’s other self, and somehow talk her down. I will correct you on one thing though, specifically because Mira is a magical creature, the sands will affect her more, not less. The only real protection that any of us have is through healing magic, which, unless I’m not privy to something, neither Aly or this Mira have. Either way, if you’re absolutely sure… I’ll have to speak with Elisa, we might have to rely on a unique spell of ours to make sure that we all cross just fine… as it would be Elisa and I, and yourself and Mira at a minimum. But if we make it across… Perhaps using your family name will make it significantly easier in tandem with ours to get to where we need to be.” “Well, excuse me…” He almost scoffed at her comment, managing to smile some. It did make more sense when she explained he was completely wrong about the Sands, but at least his family name held weight. “I’ll do everything that I can with the relations I have. If Jeremiah has returned by then, both him and my father will vouch for me, and… As, furiously displeased as Serena would be to see, Mira, or Aly, she would vouch for me as well. I would, just… Have to tell a little white lie about who I’m traveling with. Hahh… The worst part is that she’d be one of the best people to get a handle on this… And one of the few that I can’t figure out how I could possibly convince.” Tio waved her hand, and the crystals behind her flashed, before disappearing themselves, “That’s good at least, though, this is the second time that I’m hearing that name, Serena. Aegean mentioned her to me, the Grand Cleric of Lufiria, and the architect of her necklace. Though, she didn’t mention that she would be particularly difficult to convince on this… Why is she so difficult to convince here, if you’ve managed to at least bring Jeremiah to your side on this?” Versaris sighed… “Her and her friend's children were, attacked by creations. They managed to fight them off, but… While it was just work for Jeremiah, for Serena… It's, very personal. I'm sure she'll understand, Aly, Mira, they aren't mindless beasts, but… The fear and anger will still be there. It'll be an uphill battle.” Tio clicked her tongue, “That… would do that.” Tio was well aware of how protective people could get over their children, and considering what was being expressed, asking her to assist him with beings who had tried to harm her, her children and those of her close friends would be an incredibly rough sell. “This really is a rather unique situation. Though, if she is like what Aegean expressed to me, perhaps it’s possible to get her to help–she’d be far more assistance than I or Elisa are capable of. But… this also poses a different problem, I think… Because you mentioned the children of a close friend. Do… we know who that friend was?” Mira’s eyes went wide as Versaris let that line fly, unconsciously taking a step back from the not-elf as she tried to process what he’d just said. There was no chance that he was speaking at her when he’d said that. However quickly her being out had been accepted, Alriana was still very much present, still the dominant owner of her body. There was no way that Versaris’ love extended to her just because the two of them shared a body. Her fist clenched, a spark of jealousy was lit, towards the interloper who– How would you know? “Wha–” The failure had been present the entire time, witness to everything, but chose now of all times to speak up. You know how he is. He might. She paused, glaring at the ground in place of having an Alriana to stare at until her expression eventually softened. “...Then he’s a fool.” She could feel how pleased Alriana was with this development, a stark contrast to the torrent of self-loathing that had brought this about in the first place. She glanced back at the not-elf, who appeared to have started discussing what would happen once the Evokers moved onto the second part of their mission. “The Wastes, huh.” Was how she chose to barge into the tailend of their conversation. “When I was taken to Glacies we went by boat, maybe because of what you said. Don’t know the first thing about them either. Other than that they exist.” She crossed her arms, staring at Tio as she debated answering her question. “Jeremiah said it was Rosaria, which is the worst case scenario for Sari’s little master plan.” She left it at that, knowing that she didn’t want to get within at least a ten-mile radius of the woman. “... Yes, it’s as Mira says. The other was Rosaria, who will very hopefully be extremely busy. I can’t imagine she’ll have any way to help with this, so we can… just ignore her, and not interact with her in any way. Problem solved… And if she makes her presence known, well. Only thing to do is explain things, but, that’s a then problem, not a now problem. The most pressing now problem is,” he turned to Mira, leaning over a little, “are you staying like that today? Or am I getting Aly back?” “Oh.” That was a name that Tio knew for sure. There weren’t many, but Rosaria was one of them. Queen Iseria had mentioned it time and time again. “Concerning. Very concerning.” It wasn’t often that Versaris’s response was effectively, ‘Pray that we don’t see her,’ but if Iseria had warned about her, and Versaris was concerned, then it was best to start learning how to pray herself. “In that case… I guess Elisa and I might have to back up the request ourselves as well. Hopefully something from the Evokers of Glacies should smooth things out a little in the worst case scenario.” Tio then looked over at ‘Aly’. “That is the question of the hour, isn’t it? You really are an entirely different person… even your magic signature is different, not by much, but it is… Not surprising that you traveled by boat–traveling the sands is just asking for trouble, many have tried, and the number of revenants within grows each year. Most don’t make it across, it’s a ghastly place. Saps all living things of their mana far past what would be safe for any of us, until it kills you.” Tio shook her head, “But that’s something to worry about in the future, Versaris’s question is more pressing… Can you do the same as Aly did, or…?” She didn’t have anything else constructive to add to the Rosaria talk so she didn’t, instead sighing and grumbling as both turned to her with the inevitable question regarding Alriana. She was tempted to turn away, to refuse to answer, but being hostile this far in would only result in countermeasures being taken against her. “I can.” She answered Tio first. “The fact she was able to do it is really just a sign of how bad it is for her. How close she is to being overtaken by me.” It would be a lie to say she wasn’t glad about that, but she knew better than to rub it in their faces. She turned to Versaris, an indescribable blending of emotions welling up within her as she stared into his eyes. Rather than answer, she posed her own question, her voice tired. “Do I actually have a choice?” She glanced over at the Evoker, the woman had put her staff and crystals away, but between the two of them there was no way she was getting through them if they decided her ‘turn’ was over. He figured this was coming… and he didn’t have it in him to be harsh about it. “Yes. You do… I just, worry, since you keep going on about Aly being the one with more of a time limit… but I don’t think a day will do anything terrible. Just… talk to her, while she’s in there, and… try to get along. If this all works out, you’ll be sisters. It would be better if you got along.” He figured there would be several days like this, ones where he’d have to seriously stow his concerns, hoping that Aly would be fine, but… if he wanted to be fair to both of them, it was all he could do. The sincerity of his answer took her edge off, tensed muscles relaxing as her stare softened. “I’m hardly an expert on how overwriting each other works, but if it was based on time ‘awake’... I’d be nothing more than the violence woven into our being at this point. The act of me taking control is the problem… Probably. If it keeps happening then one day I’ll be the one waking up in the morning.” She didn’t know if she was right. She didn’t care if he believed her as long as it gave him pause. Anything was fair game if it meant that she got to exist in more than just the heat of battle while on the verge of death. “If it’s actually my choice, then no, you don’t get her back today.” She laid it at his feet, waiting for his reaction, already anticipating rejection or an objection. If not from the not-elf, then certainly from the Evoker. “... Okay. Enjoy your day, then.” Versaris turned back to Tio, shrugging. “I guess that’ll be all… I’ve got an arena to attend to, and the festival isn’t going to wait for us all to begin.” He began to walk off, pausing for a moment, “if you want to see the festival for yourself, Mira, feel free. Just don’t attack anyone, or try to pretend to be Aly. Not that you have to explain it to everyone, but, I don’t want you to cause problems just for the sake of it. Alright?” “Haah…” Tio had her own thoughts about kind of just, allowing what apparently the ‘violence woven into their being,’ just wandering around the festival. Versaris gave his answer, and Tio could only shrug, “I don’t feel comfortable allowing this, but I have to defer to Versaris on this–he knows the both of you better than I do, and if he feels that things can be fine, then I can trust in that…” She could only hope that she wasn’t going to have to deal with this herself. “I do think that it will be better for the moment, if you avoid explaining all of this to everyone–no telling exactly how the others will react, and the last thing anyone needs tonight are any problems. Tio shook her head, “If that’s all, then–oh.” Tio turned back to Versaris, “Right, I almost forgot. I finished your request. Harder than I expected, but I’ve never really worked with something like this before. I’ll give it to you in the morning, since you have the arena to manage.” Tio then looked back at Mira, “I will have to be more direct than Versaris is, however. I am following his lead on the matter, but if you cause problems, I will have to take my own precautions. I would like to believe in Versaris’s belief in you, so please don’t squander it.” “Rrrrr…” Mira couldn’t mask her annoyance as both of them immediately assumed she’d go and make trouble as soon as she was out of sight. She didn’t even know what she wanted to do, but kicking a hornet’s nest like they were expecting her to wasn’t high on her list of priorities. “If you’re so worried about what I’m going to do then why don’t you show me around, mister ‘hero’.” She huffed, putting her arms on her side. “You were probably going to take Alriana out on a date, right? Well, she can still see and hear you.” “That’s wonderful to know, Tio. I’ll see you in the morning about it, then… Just in case and all. Hahh… And I suppose you’ll want me to take you on that date instead, yes?” He looked back at Mira once again, shaking his head .”Fine. But I’m fulfilling my obligation to the arena we’ve set up, first. Maybe watching some fighting will be interesting to you… Need to try and figure out where you and Aly differ.” “What, got a problem if it’s me?” She huffed and folded her arms, her tail flicking behind her. “Maybe I’ll run the arena then, give people a real show to watch…” With one final huff she was moving up to join him, leaving Tio behind. She had no idea what they had briefly talked about, but she doubted she’d get an answer. “Let’s go then, Hero~” Versaris stifled a yawn, watching people fight up to Laniva, and fail against the cat. She was strong, plenty, and Syta was happy to see her do so well... but Sari was at the end for a reason. Such a large blade was beyond simple to dodge, so she wouldn't have posed a challenge to him. It did make things a little boring, having to wait until someone could defeat her, just to stretch his muscles and get some practice in. "Not going to make any forward progress like this..." Still, he'd agreed to it, and he wouldn't abandon it without a replacement willing to take over. It seemed as though Mira had noticed his feelings, slinking up beside him and whispering about running things instead. "You're free to try. You might be surprised by Laniva, though. She's strong, and you're not as quick on your feet as I am." He wouldn't have minded it, getting to stretch himself against her. Aly was a difficult opponent and Mira knew their body better, willing to go to full lengths to make use of it. "Not enjoying the show? It's nice to see them having fun fighting, instead of fighting for their lives..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemask 96 Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 (edited) Gean’s hand felt empty as Kise stopped in the doorway. Something was up, though Gean could assume from the earlier events of the day what that was, and now she had a choice. She could stay here at the bazaar with Renias, or follow Kise into the festival. Gean released a breath and approached Renais. She touched her shoulders and gave a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later, though it might be a dinner of two instead of a dinner of three.” Gean then gave the shopkeep a wave as another sign of thanks, and departed the bazaar after Kise. Oh boy, they’re gonna have to talk at some point; but how to bring this up… At some point Renais and Kise would have to talk things out, and Gean just hoped she could bridge the conversation in some way, things were already tense enough. For now, Gean was off to find a kitsune in a festival. It took Gean a few minutes to catch up to Kise, but she finally found her at the makeshift arena Sari and some of the tigers were holding. Gean had considered trying the challenge herself, but spending time with Kise was more important. Speaking of Kise, her tails were flaring out. “Kise? What's going on, love?” Gean called out to her girlfriend, who was being looked at questionably by a… blindingly beautiful person with lavender hair. Gean looked towards said person “I'm sorry, did something happen?” Jesse sighed as she leaned forward on her horse. Every challenger that made it to her had soundly defeated her. She just couldn't find a decisive hit nor survive a blow. “Maybe I need some more training. Would've missed the broad side of a barn if today's anything to go by.” Truth be told, she was tired of being knocked off Charlon. Repeatedly landing on your back is no fun after all. At least Charlon was being a good sport about everything. "Thanks for hanging in there bud, you've done great." There had been a break in challengers for the moment, so Jesse took the opportunity to speak to the person she was most interested in. Talulah had remained after her run to watch the rest of the matches, and that tugging feeling had yet to leave Jesse. Jesse hopped off Charlon and approached the swordswoman. “Good run out there Talulah. May I have a moment of your time?” Edited August 20 by Bluemask 96 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy12510 Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 Alistar wandered over towards Lumina and Eva after the first set of challengers had wrapped up. His own performance was subpar to say the least, everyone who had made it to him had advanced, and the only one he put up much of a fight against was his own boss. He gave a little sigh before speaking. "Honestly both of you are exceptionally skilled at what you do. I wish I could say as much for myself but I haven't been able to live up to my own expectations here. I suppose that's a credit to all the talent these Iron Tigers have been able to attract to themselves and how they were able to topple over Kazran." Ryfia and Syndra also headed over towards them after the first set of rounds finished. Ryfia was feeling a little dejected for not even being able to score one win, but watching Syndra's run through got her spirits back up. "Hi guys! Lumina... you were so cool! I've never really seen light magic before, so I didn't really know how strong it was. And Eva, you're a great fighter too! The way you clashed with that other swordswoman, going back and forth like that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time!" She then turned towards Alistar. "And Alistar... I guess both of us aren't living up to our billing of 'elite agents of the Belrose' today are we? Eheh..." Alistar took what Ryfia had said in stride, mostly because it was accurate before continuing off on that point. "Honestly I wasn't ever expecting to have to fight my boss in 1-on-1 combat, much less getting manhandled by her like she did. It's proof that you've grown from your travels all these years." Syndra was proud of her performance. Considering the plethora of physical weapons in the gauntlet she was a little surprised she had gotten as far as she had, but there was a more pressing reason for her to follow Ryfia back to where the other fighters were. "Miss Lumina. Miss Eva." Syndra said with a bow towards the pair. "I never got to thank the two of you for coming to the rescue of my retainers. They both mean the world to me, even if they can be a little unruly at times..." After a little pause Syndra said the other thing that was on her mind. "I owe your sister a great debt Lumina, one I'm not sure I'm truly capable of repaying, but regardless after this festival's over, I plan to do whatever it takes to rescue her from whichever agent my father's sent to hunt her down. I promise you that." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xinnidy Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 "Ahahahah~ Well, I was just looking for the first person I recognized. I'm trying a new look, as you can see. I want to stop being Giovanna Kastille, at least for a while." A small grin formed, Giovanna shifting her attention to the wyvern as it was brought up. "Well, my plan is to try and turn my hair wavy, but that's going to take a while, so this is the look for now... Her name is Sara, huh? That would make the second Sara I know. I don't know if my Sara would be ecstatic at the comparison..." She held back a chuckle, "I'll take your word that she is a good girl." Leaving room to breathe, Giovanna observed Krystal and the wyvern Sara, an obvious ponder as her words hit. "Yeah. We all did. That is what power does." Her voice was a pensive, lower tone, her arms crossed. "We couldn't refuse Kazran, so we had to play his game, stain ourselves with his sin. It is good that Lord Owen and Lati think of giving us a chance, but the bitter doesn't wash away like that." The orders she'd given, the plans she'd made... "Nor do the enemies I've made." Finding herself in a bit of a loop, reminiscing on the way she spoke to Marigold at the boat, Giovanna winced, and quickly shook her head. "...Still, nothing to it but move forward, hm? What are your plans from here on out, Krystal?" "Hm?!" Iris was energetic as usual, crawling to his back quickly, but Üllr didn't mind it. It was good for his spirits too. "Okay, I'll look. I want to eat first." Food! It wasn't the main treat of this festival, by the looks of it, but it was something he wanted at all. Ship rations... were less than desirable. "I want meat. Good meat." Üllr held her thighs firmly, looking for a lively dinery. Crowded places weren't his thing, but it was part and parcel for these things, so he'd do his best to not mind. "Then I want to fight. Heard the others are holding a contest. Then... I can buy you something, maybe?" He thought back to their last foray to buy clothes. Maybe something similar... jewerly? He had no idea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRoon Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 Renais met the red eyes with her own red pair once she got the shopkeeper's attention, but before she could speak she turned her head toward Gean who had arrived on the scene. "Gean? Where's Kise?" She looked at the doorway and briefly saw large fluffy tails swishing away from the bazaar. Her mind went to the worst case scenario and she opened her mouth to call out her kitsune's name. "Kise wait!" No reaction, none at all. Things have been so different ever since the Underground incident, and now that the reality has finally settled in for Renais it left her with heartache. The pinkette lowered her head slightly and closed her eyes. "She's still upset with me..." Gean briefly comforted her with a kiss and a shoulder rub, but Renais couldn't say much else before she went after her. She eyed Gean's strong back as she left. As she felt her emotions rise she at least called out to Gean. "I love you..." Before she left her sight. I'm sorry, Kise. I want to make things up to you...it hurts. She held her own hand as it shook slightly. After a short moment, she gathered herself and turned back to the shopkeeping duo. Her expression was a little down but she did her best to keep her business. I have to figure something out, maybe a gift would help. After she briefly rubbed her eyes with her fingers she addressed them again. "Good day sir, ma'am. Thank you, I'll look for a vendor soon but..." Her eyes scanned the wares and they fell on a unique looking staff. "How much is that one?" She pointed toward the Slow staff. "And while I have your attention, have you seen a woman? She's a fair bit taller than I am, slender yet built physique, silver hair, red eyes? Her name is Liza Silvavolke." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursali Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 (edited) Ember's fluffy tail wagged behind the trio as Seila led them around the festival, the witch sandwiched between her fluffy companions. "Oi... Finish chewing your food before talking. C'mon now..." Ember sighed, yet had a smile on her face, as she chided the excitable cat. "And do you even need to ask, Seila. When have we ever turned down free food and drink?" Her mood had significantly improved after they had disembarked and the festival had entered full swing. She raised her eyebrow as the cat leaned in, a soft blush quickly taking to her face with the next words out of the cat's mouth. "O-Oi! I don't need help with that, damnit!" She grumbled and growled, knowing that she was far from an expect on the art of seduction, especially with how intimidating she tended to be. That didn't mean she was just going to accept the truth, though. "I'll have you both know I got Owen into bed before we left for Kazran's damn keep!" She huffed as if that was the final say on the matter, but her house of cards would fall to any push from the either of them. "You'll need me around anyway for when you both get so drunk you forget where you are. Someone's gotta carry you both back to the castle..." "What do I get if I make it to you then? What do I get if I beat you? Aside from whatever you have set up with the bazaar." She was still all smug, a toothy grin on display, hoping she could make the not-elf squirm. She glanced over to the entrance of the makeshift arena, observing the Tigers as her other was wont to do. Until her eyes fell on Kise, almost hissing in response to the sight of the woman. "That fox bitch is up there... Maybe I wait until she's gone before I head up there to make my challenge." She'd intended to ignore his question, but now that she couldn't just run into the arena she was stuck with it in front of her. Watching the fighting hadn't done anything for her, effectively watching a pack of strangers politely beat the shit out of each other. The only one she cared to watch was Sari, and no one was good enough to get to him. "Don't really know. Surprised you care more than making sure I'm not causing trouble." She sighed, staring into his eyes before quickly averting her gaze. Looking at him without her guard up brought a lot of her negative emotions to the surface. Emotions that weren't conducive to playing nice with the failure. She kicked her leg up, grabbing it and stretching her muscles by pulling it above her head. Anything to take her mind off of that maelstrom. Edited August 21 by Ursali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanami Touko Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 (edited) Coral huffed, sheathing their knife under their dress, shrugging. "You've got eyes, don't you? Walk around and look." They sighed, unable to both fathom where this fox had come from, or what her desire was, beyond, well, Thalia in her entirety. Speaking of, the girl had frozen completely, staring off at nothing. "Hello? Thalia? Are you in there?" Coral waved a hand in front of their face, the kitsune smothering her either not wanting to, or being completely unable to notice Coral in front of her. "Hahhhh..." Talulah had been going over her duels ever since sitting down, eyes still locked onto Versaris. How can someone so, carefree, be so strong...? What has he been through to get there? Rrrhghhn... That damn cat... I was so close. I must see him fight. I must! Someone had to beat that creature. Her concentration was broken by Jesse, though her gaze did not falter. "You may speak freely, if that is what you wish. My time is completely taken, though, as I will be staying here until this makeshift arena closes. If you can achieve what you need with only words, by all means... But I refuse to miss a single minute of combat here. I have too much to learn." And she hadn't learned enough, beyond armor being quite the effective stopper of regular blades. And she's wearing less than she was during the assault on Kazran's fort... Terrifying. Defeat her. Defeat her and reveal that man's secrets to me. "This Sara is much better than yours." Krystal stuck her tongue out at Giovanna for a moment, grabbing a brush and going about scraping it against the underside scales on the beast. It seemed the Kastille was going to go about changing her identity down to the smallest details, even if it would take time... It made sense, given her connection to Kazran as his tactician, and she'd harmed plenty of other families out there, though, never in person. It made the appearance change a bit weird, if Krystal was being honest about it, but, maybe the woman wanted to turn a whole new leaf around, appearance included. "What am I going to do? I'm gonna stick around with these mercenaries, like, are you kidding me? Hoooooly, crap, they're CRAZY! All I gotta do is touch some backs, arms, flirt a little, wave a staff around, and I get people to protect me that are even stronger than KAZRAN? Yeah. I'm going with them, like, geez. Couldn't ask for better protection, and they're pro Clouded too? Mwah. Chef's fucking kiss. They're, perfect... So I just need to make myself useful, maybe get in bed with one of the stronger ones, if they aren't all fucking each other already... I'll figure it out~" Iris held onto Ullr with her claws in his hair, making sure not to tug. "Good meat... Iiiii dunno if you're gonna find much of that around here. I did some explorin' while you folks were killing that slime. Lots of fish!! Makes sense, cuz, they're on the water and all, but WHOA, they've got a whole fishmarket here, like sheesh! It smelled like the ocean, and there were a lot I recognized, and a lot I didn't... Like some, weird white thing with a bunch of arms! It's probably tasty, though... You up for fish, Ullr? Not sick of it from all our travels, I hope? I know we do a lot of foraging when we're on the move and fishing is real easy, between you, me, Miria, Laniva when she thinks no one is looking and she acts like a real cat and catches them with her mouth..." Iris rattled off some names as they walked into town, getting PLENTY of stares for being this, pinked haired, white thing, riding on top of an extra fluffy wolf man. "I... Have decided. Ullr... It is your mission to find me... SALMON. So juicy, so tasty~ Raw or cooked... Little salt, ah~! Sublime. You'll love it too! And it's low in fat so you can stuff your face with a bunch if you aren't satisfied right away... You game?" She leaned over his head and smiled, poking his nose. "You don't gotta buy me anything, y'know? I mean, unless you like, REALLY wanna, but I'm nice and happy with everything I've got. Friends, family, you~ So don't feel the need to or nothin'... but I mean... I guess jewelry is kinda pretty... BUT, BUY, for you, first. Okay? Got it? Ullr?" Mira was certainly different from Aly... Especially with how defenseless she was acting. "Trying to entice me, are you?" He didn't explain what he meant by that, stretching his arms up. "It's a good show... Mmmm, let's think, then... If you manage to beat me in the arena, I will buy you whatever you want in town, Mira. How's that? Whatever catches your eye, even if it's expensive... Or I'll wait on you with regards to food for the rest of the night. Whatever you'd like." Either she was very good about playing nice, or she was only so angry because she'd been locked away for so long, finally getting to be herself with that newfound freedom. "You shouldn't be surprised that I care, though. I've already told you, I care for you plenty. Both of you. I'm not here to monitor you... I am truly trying to figure out what it is you want, what you'll enjoy... I'm not looking to replace Alriana, but I'd be glad to make the both of you as happy as I can manage. I wasn't talking past you when I said I'd be a hero for you." He winked at her, some real affection attached to the expression. She was certainly cute, in her own way, and with the same body... It was difficult to separate some of his feelings for Alriana from her. "But first! You have to win. That means getting past Laniva, and she's going to rock anyone's world... Even yours. If you're so confident, why don't you give it your best shot? I'll cheer you on." Edited August 21 by Nanami Touko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercenary on the Winds Posted August 21 Author Share Posted August 21 (edited) Dwight had walked off to gather some more of a grooming equipment for Sara; Krystal always had a knack for handling the mounts, so leaving Sara with her wasn't too difficult to justify. He could use the time to think. What exactly was he going to do now? He'd already crossed off the possibility of going back to Lati, believing he didn't fit in there, but he couldn't fall into Lord Gaffney's employ either. Was leaving Islexia his only option at the moment, or did he need to find a compromise of some sort? It wasn't so simple to change on a dime; he thought back to the Clouded caravan... the carnage left in their wake, several villages, many lives all extinguished and everything they had taken away. It was... the inflection point for him. His own parents were Islexian standard, fear of magic and the monsters were instilled in him with vicious efficiency... but it was a young woman and her family from the town over that had... started chipping away at it. Karin was her name? Dwight shook his head, it had been seven years since it happened, and her town, her family were all killed. The face of her sister, one of his first loves, left in her burned out home, neck broken. They never found her body, so perhaps she escaped, but he'd never seen little Karin again. He'd sworn never to say but she had a talent for magic; nothing impressive--the battle at the keep, Sylmaria, and Giovanna had proved that to him--but for an Islexian, it was wonderous. As he rounded the corner, he paused as he found a lavender haired woman alongside Krystal just chatting. "Oh, didn't realize you'd be having guests, Krystal." Dwight held his distance, announcing his arrival--he'd left Kazran behind but until three days ago, he was in that man's employ. He was at the mercy of the people of Eslcas. "Are you being good, Sara?" "It's not over and done with until the Tigers say it is." Kieran knew that Marigold wasn't going to stand for the self deprecation, wrapping herself around his arm, and then dragging him towards the stairs. Kieran offered very, very little resistance--not that he could against Marigold, or really anyone who wanted to drag him somewhere--and followed Marigold down the stairs. "I'll keep beating myself up until I have something tangible to prove that I've actually changed." He looked over at the revenant with a cocked eyebrow, "I said that I was above average, not superhuman, eight drinks would destroy me..." Hell, five would, eight would have me talking about things I'd rather not... Especially while too many of the Tigers are around... Kieran shook his head, and fixed his robes, "So... I guess we're going to go find food then? Needless to say I didn't have any plans for tonight, so I'm at your mercy." That's not entirely true... you did have one plan, question is, are you gonna follow through? How odd... rosy hair, red eyes... She reminds me a bit of... The young woman's eyes were elsewhere, on a dark skinned merwoman. Aquatic clouded were fairly rare; it had been years since she'd seen one. But almost as quickly as she had come, she was gone, off in pursuit of--the woman's eyes widened. Was... was that a Kitsune? She looked over at her husband quickly, only to realize that he had seen the same thing. Both just staring at one another in disbelief, a kitsune, here in Islexia? Both were drawn from their confusion by Renais's return of focus, a fair bit more downcast than she had been before the merwoman arrived, and the tails had swished away. "Ah... the staff you mean?" The woman stepped up instead of Barios, nodding her head, "That's a Slow staff, and it's a very rare acquisition--can really only acquire one of these from Lufiria or Glacies. Mmm... I'd say it's about worth 4000 gold. Can't part with it for less than that. As to your second question," She looked back over at Barios, "Dear, doesn't that match one of those women from before...? The group that was looking for someone?" Barios put a hand to his lips, "...The one with the other rose haired woman, and the white haired dragon? Wait... You're right, Kiri, that does match her quite well." Barios then stepped up, "There was a woman who came through here who matched that description, actually. She didn't give her full name, but she said mention Liza." Moments later, the man reemerged from the building with two glasses, and a whole bottle, placing a glass in front of the pair. "Your food will take a couple moments, but! I can at least give you the drinks you requested." The man gestured at the bottle, "This is a rather rare piece, to the southwest of here there's a brewery that's quite legendary in Islexia, all of the great liquor that Islexia is known for comes from down there--they mostly work with the Westermark family, so it's remarkably difficult for people not aligned with Nicolas to acquire anything from them, and even then, many are expensive enough that only nobility can acquire it~" The man grinned, "Lady Pashmina of the Celea Family is quite the lovely woman, so she managed to... find a way to acquire quite a bit of liquor from Madeseyme brewery, and at a greatly discounted price, passed it along. I have only a few, but, for the both of you, and your company, I think the price is well worth it~" The man poured the wine into the glasses, and left the bottle, "I'll be back soon enough, enjoy your drinks, and don't hesitate to finish the bottle." Lumina was quiet. Simmering. She was well aware that she was slight compared to the bulk that tended to favor arena fighters, but even despite that, she had been a prominent force in the arena. The Tigers, and the current challengers, were just several steps above what had been coming to Cerezia's arena. Everyone was closer and closer to the purple haired swordswoman, who practically ran the arena over. No one had even gotten an attack off on her back then, not only was her swordsmanship impressive, there was unique magic involved too, and not to say anything about how well she moved despite her figure. But that hadn't bothered her much then--she was well beyond all of them. This burned differently, it didn't feel like anyone here was that far beyond her, and yet, almost everyone had breezed by her either in a single hit, or by evading her, or even tanking her spell. "Mmm... Getting just one is disappointing for my standards..." Was all that Eva got out of her to start. But then Alistar wandered over, also lamenting his shortcomings in the arena--everyone who made it to him, also then made it to Laniva. It really was a selling point for the Tigers--Laniva so far hadn't come close to losing, Cinead had simply been incredibly unlucky, and the one time that he hadn't, he very nearly came from behind to snatch a victory that didn't look possible. All the while, the sword-swinging elf was still at the end, and if he had gotten any stronger than when he had been at Cerezia, she wasn't sure that anyone was going to beat him. At least I can be sure that Pasha's going to get good help... even if it might not be me with this kind of showing... Ryfia joined the congregation too, praising both Eva and her for their fighting. Lumina sighed, "Light magic is surprisingly effective. Underestimating anyone with it is risking your own life unnecessarily. That said, I do have to apologize--I allowed my frustration to make that attack stronger than it should have been, so I'm sorry for that." It didn't feel amazing to apologize for her only victory of the evening so far, but it needed to be done. Then, finally, the woman of the hour stepped up. Blue hair, noble distinction, there was exactly one person who could be in front of her now. Lumina huffed, "Of course we rescued them. Anyone beset upon like that deserves our assistance." Lumina studied Syndra, the fact that a Belrose was thanking anyone was already a foreign concept. She'd only had the displeasure of meeting any of the Belrose twice, a far cry from Pashmina, and each time, it felt like the considered themselves above everyone else. In a manner of speaking, they were, but it wasn't a good way to facilitate being allies. Though, apparently it had worked, so what did she know? Lumina then turned to Syndra with a look of confusion on her face, "...You owe my sister? What would she have done that you owe her for? Aside from maybe pull the eye of that worthless brother of yours, for a time being." Having a Belrose in her debt was something that could prove incredibly useful in the long run, though, "Come to think of it... what are you doing with this group? Judging just by the makeup of this unit, they're not Islexian. And it sounds like you had basically no idea what was happening with Pashmina until we arrived... Explain yourself." Edited August 21 by Mercenary on the Winds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanami Touko Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 (edited) The man swiftly returned with... an entire bottle of fancy red wine. Sylm would've been shocked by that, were she not still frozen by the shock of sudden contact, only finally freeing herself from Miria's little hug to stare down the alcohol. "Uh... Y-Yeah... Drinks, whole bottle, first time... Good idea." She, almost on autopilot, reached over to the bottle and poured herself a glass, then staring down into it, unsure of the deep red liquid. It smelled of grapes, fermentation, some spices she couldn't place... and it was strong. Just a taste... Strong, certainly. There was something off-putting about it instantly, but it quickly mellowed into a something good, the flavor settling, the sensation hitting her quite foreign, but far from bad. "Whoa." That was the only way she could describe it, quickly going in for the rest of the small glass she'd poured herself. "Hey, I only got one as well. These folks are real tough... Hmm." Further talks were stifled for a moment as Ryfia, Alistair, and the Blue haired menace made themselves known to talk for a moment. Eva had planned on staying quiet, but talk of 'oweing' Pashmina made her eye twitch, putting herself between Syndra and Lumina, leaning down over the blue haired woman. "What's your fuckin' game, Belrose? You know how much shit Pashmina has been going through because of your siblings? Your family? Showing your face now of all times and acting all chummy... I don't buy it. I helped your retainers because I saw a Clouded in trouble. Had nothing to do with you, likely never will... Feh." She was enjoying her time with Lumina too much to get any angrier, taking a step away towards the light mage, letting out a sigh. "Fuckin' Belrose family..." "First you call out for me, now I've gotta decide the night? Damn, Kieran, really put a girl to work... Yes, food is fine, and first, because I'm gonna walk you through Eslcas until your legs ache and your brain is full... Gonna run you ragged, Kieran~" She tugged him down and down, finally out of the castle doors, then and only then, letting him go enough to walk on his own. "And you get to share it all in the presence of yours truly~ The most fervent and everlasting of Lord Owen's retainers... And I've got nice hair, I guess." She scoffed and leaned into him some, her bodysuit hiding very little of that body she didn't care all that much for. Which, was a discredit to herself, and her absolutely amazing thighs, squeezing against the fabric with every new step. "Thinkin' fish... How's fish sound?" Edited August 21 by Nanami Touko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorri Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 Cinaed walked away from the arena's fighting area grumbling to himself. He'd had one decent fight. One! The rest of them, he'd found himself blown away before he could even begin to fight. It seemed he'd made the right decision to put himself second after all, given his fight with the swordswoman had only been so close because of luck. I have to get stronger. I do. Ugh. Glancing around, he spotted Lani and Syta, the latter excitedly bouncing around the former, making him grin. Maybe I should have asked Siorel to come hang out... I just didn't think it would be that interesting. I'll have to ask her later, see if I messed up. Relationships were hard, he still really had no idea what he was supposed to be doing in them most of the time. Maybe that meant he wasn't ready for one, but he couldn't let that stop him at this point. He would just have to figure it out and keep moving forward. Shaking those thoughts away for now, he moved over to Lani and Syta with a grin. "Hey you two. Lani, you were amazing to watch out there. It was like no one stood a chance against you. I meant to find you earlier actually, ask about maybe doing some training together. Watching you during that last fight, it was really impressive how well you handle yourself. I... I need to get stronger and that's only going to come from training and fighting people stronger than me. So what do you think? Maybe try to spar some time?" Koba moved through the crowded city carefully, watching the people flow around him with a wary expression that he didn't even realize he had. Old habits were hard to break and even though he hadn't stolen anything since he had joined the Tigers, he was used to hostility from these sorts of crowds. Someone would find something missing from a pocket and he would be the first to be blamed. It was a deep set paranoia that he hardly even noticed anymore. He just knew he had to look out for himself. It didn't help that he had a certain picture burning a hole in his pocket, something he knew didn't belong to him. He just hadn't had the right time to find M and return it. No, that's an excuse. You've just been scared of the conversation that might come with it, with how upset she was. He sighed, changing his path. He'd been intending to go to the arena, try things out, not that he expected to get very far, but he had to do better than that. First, he would find M, finish what should have already been completed. Then he could indulge in other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldsbroTSG Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 Miria approached along with Sylm, and listened as the man described the drink. One of the best wines in all of Islexia... then, it had to be good. She took one of the glasses, and also poured for herself. It was a red color, and it reminded her of juice. With a sniff, Miria also liked what it smelled like. It was a grape scent with some other little details in it. She took a sip, and instantly, she felt her face scrunch. The first thing to come from the taste was nothing she'd tasted before. It was... strong. Extremely strong. She shook her head to get back in focus, but then... there was a sweet grape-y flavor. Miria's smile showed again, as she was quick to finish the glass. The strong taste was still a shock to the system, but... there was a warmness in her chest now. It was surprisingly comfy. With a relieving sigh, "I think if I ever end up meeting this Pashmina, I have to thank her. I'm glad my first time drinking was so nice. And I got to share it with a friend." The cub smiled at Sylm. She looked as she waited for their food, she was really feeling how hungry she was. She grabbed the bottle and prepared to pour some more. "Would you like another glass, Sylmaria? I can pour it for you if you'd like?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursali Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 "Wha--" She was entirely caught off guard by his first question, initially confused until she followed his gaze and saw where the not-elf had directed his gaze. "Where the hell do you think you're looking...!?" Her foot slammed down like a lightning bolt, scowling as a blue tint took to her cheeks. There wasn't even anytime to get her claws on him before he continued on like nothing had even happened. "Mrrgrrr... You'll be doing both for that, you damn pervert." She growled, yet she didn't bare her teeth or roll her tail in a threatening manner. Though, all of her aggression came to a stop as he continued on. As did the original creation herself, staring at Versaris in disbelief. She refused to believe him. Refused to believe it was this easy to get what she'd erase the failure for in a heartbeat. "...You don't mean all that. You can't mean that. You love Alriana, not me!" She growled, her jealousy ignited. Why did the failure get to meet him first? Why did she get to live so innocently, so carefree. It wasn't fair, it was her body! "You're just trying to placate me until Alriana's back out, then it'll go back to how you were talking about me with Jeremiah. That has to be your game. I won't be tricked again." You know he's not lyin-- Alriana tried to speak up, not willing to let her other besmirch Versaris' intentions when she could feel that Mira knew better, but even internally the original was able to roar over her. Shut up! You think that just because you can share my feelings that you know everything!? You know nothing! She just wanted to live. Wanted everything the failure had. But it was too good to be true that Versaris would just accept her so easily. Not with the threat she posed to Alriana. She'd seen the man in action, heard him. He was as ruthless as she was. It had to be a trick... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanami Touko Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 "Y-Yeah... I'm, surprised its so nice. Is this why people drink?" That feeling of warmth was steadily spreading through her, holding her glass over to Miria to have another drink, gently sipping this one this time. This must be why everyone in town is having such a good time... My mind's already starting to feel a little fuzzy. It feels... good. It's a pleasant kind of woozy, though... Haha~ She smiled a little, glancing around the stand for the man, the smell of fish slowly wafting towards her. "Mmmn... We, should go take on that arena, thingy... You guys are all so strong. I wanna see if I can stand up against that... Keep my place, an' all. I know you're all, too nice to kick me out for nothing, but... I wanna help, and... Even if I hate this body, it's strong. So I should, see how strong it really is... R-Right?" She looked to Miria for reassurance, slowly glancing down at her glass, realizing it was empty again. "Uh, can I have another...?" She was going to be a tricky one. "Ahahah... Of course I mean it. Before, I'd spoken out of turn... I failed to understand everything; I'm far from perfect... Actions always were worth more than words, though. If you won't believe me when I say it, I'll just have to show you-- and of course I'm a little perverted with you. I've been all over that body... You might not be Aly, but I can't just snap my fingers and stop looking at 'you' that way. Give me a bit to change gears if it bothers you." He was sure that Mira wasn't just putting on an act... He had certainly said some terrible things, both out of frustration and a lack of full understanding. He could only take them back and prove his sincerity with time, and if she didn't want to play along right away, no point in forcing it. "You going to give it a shot, then? You know who to speak with. The pink haired woman over there with, the uh... Staff. Ahem." Lucretia remained an obstacle to observe... it was as if everything jiggled on purpose. She did still wink at him when their eyes met. She's a menace. A rather familiar menace... Still need to speak to Jeremiah about that. "She'll round us all up, and if you get past Laniva... you can try to put me down. I look forward to having you jump on me-- whoops... Still adjusting. My apologies, Mira." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcd900 Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 In all truth, Laniva was surprised three of the challengers had made it to her - it was no small feat to win five fights against this set of people, even if her own fights had ended in an exchange of but a few blows. She spent the time between her bouts waiting, watching the matches with a slight blush across her face - she'd been similarly embarrassed the last she'd worn this dress, and the half-layer of armor underneath was doing absolutely nothing to mitigate the feeling, now. Ohh, why did I agree to this... isn't the dress going to get all ripped up if I go fight in this? Mrahh, Syta... The feeling distinctly disappeared from her face as she drew her blade for each bout, though, and as her opponents fell before her blade the thoughts faded away, if temporarily, replaced with the sound of fighting and Syta's all-too-enthusiastic cheers. As Laniva stepped back towards the fighters' waiting area, Syta dashed out of the stands and right into the cat in a full-body hug, the woman not moving an inch from her spot from the tackle. "Whoa, mrahhh, hey, Syta..." She squirmed in the hug as Syta poured on the compliments, red as she'd ever been. "Ahh... mm, thanks, Syta." She returned the hug for a moment before Syta let go, visibly giddy with excitement. "I can definitely hear you cheering from in there... mrrh." A mildly sheepish, concerned expression crossed her face at her last remark, one ear flopping a bit. "Wha, mrahh...? Uh, Syta, I don't mind sparring with you, but, um... tossing you aside, that's a little... mrow." Cin fortunately broke her awkward train of thought as he stepped up, first with compliments for her fighting and secondly to express his interest in a spar. She gave Syta's hand a little squeeze, turning to address Cin. "Oh, mm... thank you, I'm just... fighting as well as I can. And, that sounds like it'd be good... For as long as the Tigers have traveled together, we all haven't done that much sparring with each other, it feels like." Thalia groaned as she picked herself up out of the dirt, slinking defeatedly back to the challengers' benches. The first three fights had gone - well, to say they'd ended quickly would be a bit of an understatement, but that dragon Clouded was just too damn stodgy to get through. Coral, for their part, had defeated more of the combatants - of course they had - only to get defeated with a single swing from the big cat Clouded with a greatsword. They let her have that big sword and we all get stuck with basic weapons, huh... She sighed as Coral sat down, sharing their mild despondence. "Uh huh. That mage, Syndra, she managed to do pretty good against the cat... we're definitely not getting whatever free thing from the bazaar." Thalia shifted in place on the bench, rubbing her arm where she'd gotten smacked. "I wonder if we can pack up any of the food from the festival, if they're selling it cheap... I know we can forage and stuff on the road, but ughhhhh." The kitsune blinked as a third voice inserted herself into their little chat, and before she could respond she was getting pulled into a taller woman's arms, flailing for a moment before freezing up at how unexpectedly... tender the hold was, the woman saying... something. Thalia was a bit too lost at the situation to understand what she was saying, opening her mouth as if to protest or say something - but only managing a baffled "Kon...?!" As Coral put their dagger away, and... whoever this was continued to smother her, Thalia blinked, only now processing the ears atop the woman's head... and the multitude of tails to her back. "Huh, whaaa... kon, kon...?! Uh, wha... runt?!" Her voice was raised, but it was hard to get upset; this was perhaps the most cuddling she'd ever had in her entire life, and there was an odd, almost familiar warmth about the other kitsune, and so she settled for squirming somewhat in her hold. At Coral's wave, she huffed. "Gawds, yes, I'm... I'm here, okay, do I look like I know what this is about..." Seila smiled with a little amused exasperation as Amera fought through her fish (effortlessly) before managing a proper response, giving the cat's hand a quick squeeze. "Mhm, we should celebrate. Need to celebrate, even; we fulfilled our contract splendidly, and a couple free drinks never hurt~" The witch laughed, caught with a little of Amera's infectious energy, piling in on Ember as the opportunity struck. "Yes, yes~, you bedded our employer, the lovely Lord Owen, Ember, dear. And as proud as you ought to be of that, I think you might have a little difficulty making that an ongoing thing..." She smirked at Ember's huffs, tugging herself - and Amera by extension - in towards the hellhound, bumping up against her arm. "And yes, we will need you dearly. You know how the kitty gets when she drinks. Sweep us up in your big strong arms tonight, won't you~?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xinnidy Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 (edited) "Hm, you're sticking with them too." Giovanna paused once more, thinking how that'd been the second person she knew to readily express their desire to join the Tigers. "You know where they're headed, right?" She understood it well, why Clouded like Sylm and Krystal fit this company so much better, and she fully intended to keep at Sylmaria's side, but to journey there of all places... she was still an Islexian, it made her blood turn. "I'm not su--" They had company, Giovanna remembered the man, not by name, but by appearance. One of the rank soldiers that had enough sense to throw down his weapons at the end. "Ah. Well met." She made a little curtsy, wondering whether the man would figure it out, or Krystal herself would tell, all the while holding a smile short of a smirk. She was having fun with this bit. "White thing with a bunch of arms...?" Üllr's interest was piqued, he wasn't a picky eater, and as long as it was tasty... "Fish still better than biscuits. Still meat." He decided the terms were acceptable, and turned towards the port. They were eating fish today. "Eh... Salmon, got it. That does sound good." Üllr was content enough with the decision, not being one of the fish he was tired of. "Think I'll try cooked, this time..." He stopped as she poked his nose, a brief squirm, and turning his head up to meet her eyes. "...Yeah. I just thought it was fair. I lived, I got money. I wanted to give you something." He turned his focus back on the road, taking himself up wooden stairs with his baggage, to a dinery specializing on the local fishes. The lightest blush forming on his cheeks. "Because I like you." The smell of fish was strong as Üllr entered. Fairly welcome to his empty stomach. He kept Iris in his grasp, not one to care about the odd looks as they approached a waiter. "We want salmon--a table, too." Order of operations, some basic etiquette was not lost on him after seeing the other Tigers do it. "Please." Edited August 22 by Xinnidy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldsbroTSG Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 "Maybe?" Miria replied to the first question, before pouring Sylm another glass, then another for herself. She took a drink, not as much as the chug before, but it wasn't exactly a sip. Her face still scrunched, but she was trying to get used to the first taste of the alcohol. "My papa was really the only person who drank of us. Mama would sometimes, but not as much. It's just a fun thing that makes you feel good. Especially if you're not feeling gr-greaat." She gave an exhale and shook herself back into focus. That was weird, she felt a bit lightheaded. Not like her head hurt, just... like the tired kind. She did notice Sylm's smile, and it made her happy. It was nice seeing her dour friend perking up a bit. Then a suggestion of the arena. After finishing her second glass, Miria responded, "If we do, I think I'll j-just watch tonight. The big fight with Kazran was... e-eeexhausting. I don't feel at full strength exactly." Her eyes blinked multiple times, she had a flat expression, looking between Sylm, the bottle, and her glass, and immediately filling her glass again. "I don't think it's a good idea if we're drinking either." Almost like suddenly acting suspicious of the drink, she sipped at it. Setting her glass down, she went to refill Sylm's glass as well. "If you stay with us, you'll get plenty of time to show you're stuff. I-I have utmost faith you'll be fine." She took another sip from her glass, and an unwanted thought accidentally slipped out, "If I can fight as poorly as I did back at Kaz--" She stopped. "Sorry. You didn't h-hear that." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanami Touko Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 "MroWHOA, you really slept with Owen!?" Amera wasn't quiet about it, leaning into Ember as Seila dragged her along, giving her some hefty wide eyes of shock and awe. "You gonna make that permanent? I mean... He's gotta stay here, so I guess not, but WOW, I can't believe he agreed to that... Mostly, cuz, y'know, obligations and duties and busyness during the planning of attacking Kazran, but... I mean, hey, good for you, girl~!" Amera wasn't the least bit bothered, perhaps a bit disappointed that Ember couldn't keep it going. Long distance with lords seemed like an awful idea, given how quickly and often they'd be moving along. She'd need someone in their little mercenary group to get with. "Heyyyyy, you're way worse than I am when you're drink... Speaking of, looks like we've got a few faces getting warmed up. Heyyyy~! Miria!" It was Amera's turn to drag, yanking Seila, and thus Ember, towards the usually golden girl, and her funny white haired friend...? "Getting worked up, are ya? Buddy here got good wine? Maybe some ale? Mead? I could use something sweet to get drunk on..." "Ahhh, ahah, I-I guess that was a bit weird to suggest, uhm... S, Sorry." She apologized and threw the idea away swiftly, but only because of Laniva's reaction... it was still on her mind, Syta unable to fully repress the idea of getting so effortlessly handled by the cat. Pervert~ Shut up, like you aren't. So you admit it, Syta? Yes... I can't help how being around Laniva makes me feel. She's just... so cool. So strong. I wanna get thrown around by her... Hahhh, if that makes me a pervert, so be it~ My, my... It seems it's terminal. Maybe you should go ahead with the fighting anyway? Syta didn't amuse Kisara further, giving Cin a small wave. "Hey, Cin. You did great too, but, looks like you got unlucky a few times... I think it just goes to show how tough folks are in the Tigers, though! I mean, and those two new folks, whoever they are... Still, it's good to know that we've all got such strong allies to rely on, yeah? Makes you feel safe. Lani's really good at that." "Ahhh, chirp more... My beautiful little runt... You're so weak but you're real. You're real...! I can't believe it... Hahhnnn~" Kise melted into her embrace of Thalia, slowly petting her and nuzzling against her further, eyes finally turning up towards Coral and reality. "What? I thought the rest of my kind was dead. I will not apologize for being this overjoyed upon finding one... What's your name, little one?" "It's Thalia, and can you let her go alrea--" "Silence, elf. Thalia... Beautiful. Where are you from? Where have you been hiding all these years...? Lufiria? You must've been. I've been everywhere else, but I've never... I can't have been that unlucky. That's impossible, ahah... Ahahah... I truly can't believe you're real, even holding you in my arms, it's... It's all so much," she hiccuped, and there went the tears, holding Thalia even tighter, hopefully not enough to hurt her. "You're not all gooooone...! Ahhghnnhn... Three centuries, for revenge, when all I had to do was l-look harderrrhn, hhhnn..." She did her best not to sob fully, but it was an overwhelming emotion, this feeling of family, of peace, of home. Truly an impossible moment, so many things swirling within her. "I'm going to brush your hair, and help you with your magic, and fix up your tails, and take care of you. You're so weak. So weak... You have to be kept safe." Coral huffed, rather offended by this woman, but... even they could tell, they weren't someone to be messed with, despite the mess she currently was. "I guess you belong to her now, Thalia. Better speak up if you want otherwise." "Uhhh, honestly, I don't have any idea where they're going? Something about going after some envoy to the west of here? I dunno. I'll just do my job and stay out of the spotlight. Not really an 'all eyes on me', kinda gal, and the less work I have to do, the better-- Except for this, Sara is lovely-- Dwiiiiiiight~" Krystal sang his name out, brushing Sara really hard before nodding, leaning on the lizard. "Of course she is! She's the best behaved little beastie around, isn't she, aren't you Sara, good girl, good girl~" She furnished her compliments with scritches and rubs, the wyvern continuing its low purr. "You not gonna go enjoy the festivities, Dwight? Plenty of food, drink and cheer... Maybe you feel awkward and all, given everything, but you chose right in the end and no one's going to burn you at the stake. Live a little~ And before you ask me why I'm not, it's wayyyyyy too much effort. Someone should just bring the festival food to me while I relax on a lovely couch... I should go find a lovely couch~" "Hwhat?" Sylm stared at Miria for a moment before scrunching her brows, confused. "Wha'd'you mean poorly? Huh?" She wasn't sure what Miria was going on about, downing the third glass of wine and elbowing the girl, finally putting her claws on her hips. "You were doing great, weren't you? What's up? Why're you saying that? And you're alive, right? Anyone 'at did poorly's in the ground right now... Don't, go sayin' that, geez. Stupid." She huffed, realizing that the woozy had gotten worse, taking a second to breathe and stabilize herself so she didn't fall over... And, the wine was gone. "Ohhhwhoa... It's all gone... When did... Huhwhaaa..." She didn't realize they'd drank it that fast, blinking several times as she stared at it. "Shoul' we ask him for more...?" She wasn't sure how this stuff worked, or how much was meant to be had at once... "You should ask him, if we, should-- hic-- ask him, whoa, what the fuck was that...? Uhhhnn, anyway, if you just wanna, watch that's, f-fine. I'll give 'em a show of my magic and they'll get what's comin' to 'em~" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldsbroTSG Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 (edited) Miria wasn't ready for the elbow, and she would've fallen over, if she hadn't the slimmest amount of control of her body left. She wasn't expecting the Sylmaria to respond the way she did. "Huhwha--" The cub didn't even mean to say something like that about herself anyway. Things started to feel like they were in a daze, but the loopy little tiger took the dragon by the shoulders, and despite the potential hold, she already felt like she couldn't keep a hold of her friend, "I-If I can't sss-shay mean things about me, you cand say mean things about you." Despite the effects of the alcohol clearly taking a hold there was still a firmness in the girl's tone. "You're working, hic, very hard to fix you, you gotta- you gotta- wait." Miria held her finger up. Then, it went back to holding Sylm's shoulder, "You g-gotta give yourself credit, cut you s-some slack. Okay? Pl-pl- pretty please?" That lightheadedness suddenly turned into like her head wasn't there at all. She took a deep breath, as she looked over to the bottle of empty wine. She took a moment, blinking a few times and tilting her head. When she looked back to Sylm, who asked if they should ask the man for more, she responded, "I-I don't know? I just... I think I need to sit down. I'm... I don't think we should go to the arena, if--- if we're like this. I don't want you to get... h-hurt. Or do something, hic, stupid." She tried shaking her head, but that only made her feel worse. Miria accidentally tumbled into the dragon, but she caught herself before they both began stumbling onto the floor. What actually got her to yelp, was a surprise call from behind her. She stood up the best she could, and turned to see the gal trio who joined them when they first came to Esclas. Miria gave a shaky salute, "Hi Amera!" There was a warm flush around her face. It was clear to anyone she was already deep in the trenches of the war on alcohol. "They had this wine, was hic, real good~ I'd offer, but..." She looked at the bottle, then back at the trio. "Gahd a lil carried away. But is pr' good, I think he said he gots more." Despite her intoxication, she was still maintaining her energetic self. Edited August 22 by GoldsbroTSG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy12510 Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 (edited) Syndra was content to just let Eva bark and try to be intimidating. Considering she hadn't said anything Syndra hadn't heard before and the fact she'd already beaten her in single combat though, it wasn't going to faze her. It was what Lumina had said that puzzled Syndra a little. Well, if she didn't know, it was only right to tell her. "Even if the only thing Dame Pashmina did was tell off Jalen the way she had that would've been enough, but you're right there's another reason. It wasn't long after that happened I came to her, asking for her help to get into a Glacian magic academy, which she obliged. That's where I met Commander Natalya and became one of the Iron Tigers, and I've been working with them ever since. My steady employment, my new friends, my increasing magical acumen, none of that would've happened had I stayed here being a pawn on Nicolas Belrose's chessboard, and it was all thanks to your sister I could move off of it, so that's the debt I need to repay her for. I am a bit confused though Lumina, did she never mention this to you?" Edited August 22 by Billy12510 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercenary on the Winds Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 Dwight smiled at Krystal making Sara purr--it was always so odd how easily she seemed to have Sara on her best behavior. The other woman was odd though, the lavender hair and the mask were new... but there was something about the woman that was incredibly familiar. It felt like he had seen her before, but such a striking appearance would have held in his mind... It wasn't coming to him though, and instead of linger on the woman's hips, it was best to introduce himself. "Apologies. Dwight Starir, and the wyvern back there is mine, Sara. It's nice to meet you, miss...?" Dwight looked at Krystal to see if he could get any assistance from her on the woman's name. The bit was well over his head. Then he scratched his head, "Aha, maybe... I can't exactly say that I wasn't involved in why everyone here is celebrating." He chucked at Krystal's explanation--she never was one for the limelight, unless it was intentionally to make sure that she didn't have to do more work. That part of her was interesting--her instincts on when and where to play into whatever was needed was impressive. "I guess... I do kind of owe you for not killing me, Krystal, so if you give me an idea, maybe I'll see if I can find something." Probably not enough of a favor for that, but it was a start--chipping away at that block was always a good start, and it would give him more time to think. He'd overheard Krystal about heading off with the mercenaries, while an option, it certainly wasn't one that he was prepared for. Karin's, and now Krystal's efforts had done quite a bit, but roots were still tangled. It didn't help that Rika's broken neck still haunted his nightmares. No, it wasn't the right time for that, for him. He glanced at the newcomer again, unable to shake the familiarity, "...Have we... met before? Apologies, but I can't help but shake that I know you from somewhere." "Hey, you're the one dragging me down here. I was pretty content where I was." It was a solid attempt at a lie, but said stoically enough, anything could be reality. "I called out for you because I wanted to chat, but it seemed like you had other ideas, so I figured it was best to let you take the lead. We'll be walking a long ass time if you're going to walk me until my legs are sore, you remember that I delivered messages for a long time, don't you? Ain't strong, but at least I can walk without getting tired." Kieran put one arm behind his head as Marigold tugged him along, admittedly, this was far nicer than just sitting up on the wall watching the festivities. Walking through the streets, seeing the joy up close, the sounds and smells being so much closer... It really did paint a picture of what a better Islexia could be, clouded, and humans both sharing the same streets, the same food, the same sky. Why was this always so difficult to see...? Was it just being blind? Or maybe... just thinking it impossible? Yeah, that's probably it... Don't wanna admit that you didn't think it was possible. Always gave up when it wasn't possible. Never pushed because it pushed back. The Tigers were everything that you wanted to be but were too scared to be... Ha... jealousy and a coward, huh? Pathetic. At least you know now... At least you know you can do better... He hadn't realized that Marigold had let him go, and he was now just following her of his own volition, "Fish? Well, you know where to head then, you know Lezard is whipping up the best fish around. Fine by me." Kieran then stepped up alongside her, and started leading the way. Lumina twitched slightly at Syndra's response, "...She did what? She helped you get out of Islexia??" Lumina blinked, any hostility suddenly excised for genuine surprise. Then the surprise faded into a crestfallen smile for a long moment. Of course Pashmina would have done that, especially knowing that she too was a pawn in their parents' games. She quickly righted herself, not wanting to give anything to press, "No, she never mentioned it to me, as I had been gone for five years, so I would have been gone by the time she performed this, and... we haven't been on writing terms. But it is exactly something she would do. No wonder that your family had been nipping at her heels, first turning your hound of a brother down, and then helping you to Glacies... ha, she never did know when to stop standing out." There was a bitter edge to Lumina's words, "Nevertheless. If you fight like you did earlier, then perhaps you'll get to repay that debt." A bespectacled man looked up from the glass that he was washing, over at Ullr and Iris, and cocked an eyebrow. The request wasn't a problem, that was simple enough to contend with, but the wolf clouded with the... white lizard around his shoulders was an unusual sight. I guess they weren't kidding... "A table, and salmon, huh?" He stood up, and pointed to one of the nearby tables. "That's a sure thing, we'll need some time to get your Salmon cooking, so can I get you two anything on that front?" The man stretched, his lightly bronzed hair bouncing as he stood to his full height. "You guys a part of the mercenary group who brought the lordings back home safe? I imagine you gotta be, ain't not seen a wolf clouded around here in a while, and... you're a mystery, little one." He shrugged, "Either way, take your seat, and if you need a drink just shout--most people are out in the streets, so not a lot of people frequenting right now." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursali Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 (edited) She watched him carefully as he spoke, ready to find any bit of deceit in his words and hold it over his head like a proverbial guillotine. She glared and growled as he justified his stare, yet another thing taken from her, but found nothing worth acting on. She was left staring at him, claws clenched, with no proof of her claim but still unwilling to be swayed so easily. "I'm not going anywhere until you give me proof." This was where she would catch him, her trap perfectly laid. "You said it yourself. 'Actions are worth more than words'. So, show me that you're not all just talk, Versaris." What she wanted from him she didn't even know, but she was confident that he wouldn't be able to give her anything satisfactory. "Oi', you don't have to rub it in, Seila..." Ember whined and pouted, her spare claw moving to the mage's head to mess up her hair only to stop as Seila pulled the cat in close as well. Which only created another problem. The hellhound fought the growing flames of embarrassment as Amera shouted for all the nearby peasantry to hear that she had slept with their lord. Not of any real shame of the act, she was proud of that lay, but she never was one for sudden attention from a crowd strangers and the speed at which their heads turned was near dangerous. All Ember could do was shake her head. They hadn't even started drinking and these two were already up to their usual antics, maybe even more rambunctious than usual. Amera dragged them onwards, thankfully, until they ran into one of the Tigers and the dragon that had at one point tried to kill Owen. Both of them were already drunk, the human of the pair already beginning to slur her words. I swear to god if I end up having to carry four people back I'm gonna just go jump Owen for stress relief... "We'll have whatever they had, assuming you still got it," the hellhound called out to the stand's owner. Edited August 23 by Ursali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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