[System]
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Weapon: Hand axe [similar to hatchet, but more specialized in beating the crap out of something than chopping firewood]
Specialty: Party Tank [Boxing, Wrestling]
Semblance: What Is Hype May Never Die - Grows stronger and more durable in the presence of positive, giddy, or nervous energy. It's not like she turns into the Hulk in a social setting, but if she's with a friend or two cheering her on in a fight, she'll find that her blows come easier and the blows that hit her back seem like more of a dull ache than anything else.
Personality: A hot-blooded young girl with a zest for life, nights out, and a good scrap, Lauren is the epitome of a born leader with no resources to actually do anything. Growing up in a poor (poor poor) family taught her to make due with whatever help friends could offer, but in the end, only she could make what she deserved in life. Thus, a young girl who was more than happy to get loud in her parents ears grew into a bold, determined young woman who could feed off the energy of people around her and settle a situation as quickly as she could escalate it.

Quick to laugh, quick to zone out, quick to get riled up, and quick to forgive, Lauren naturally tends to be fidgety and addicted to energy. This makes her an exceedingly average and dreamy student until a team exercise rolls around.
Color: Hot white [effervescent, glossy white]
Emblem: A stick figure young woman with devil horns, twirling an axe between her stick hands.
Appearance:

When outside her uniform, Lauren gives the illusion of being an inch or two taller than her natural five foot eight, with a perpetual pep in her step and a brash loudness that seems to slightly puff her up.

Naturally dark-complected and built like a fighter, her favorite casual jacket emphasizes her build - long-sleeved, smooth white leather with a supportive gold-trimmed collar, cutting off just south of her diaphragm and exposing her (usually topless) rib cage and waist. On the back of the jacket, printed in similar burnished gold, is the word "WALLAHI" in jersey-block text. The word "BRUH" is written in the same text underneath it, where the number on a jersey would usually go.

Occasionally, when she wears it around her waist, she'll sport a black tank top in its stead.

Otherwise, her accessories are limited to half a dozen hemp bracelets up her right arm, a hair band worn around her left wrist, and an amethyst ring on her right ring finger.

[User]
Jack Orpheus
@Lucius Cypher

"I dunno, maybe. It seems to have some purpose", at this point he was following out of curiosity, plus... Either he was hearing things, or it actually did talk to him. The way it moved was not like any animal just blindly running around, it was focused. Jack's mind was just blank for now, but maybe occupying himself with something might help for the time being. Though the idea of getting something to eat didn't sound bad to him, in fact he'd forgotten he didn't get a proper lunch yet, just a drink or two here and there, nothing substantial.

This ferret seemed to have some idea of what it wanted, which was food. Wait... Were they going to let it order from a menu? Well in any case, they'll just have to see.

[Assistant]
Kuhaku Shiro

Shiro's head and eyes followed after Gren as he took off through the roof, quite literally. "Ohhh...." he said in awe. Shielding his eyes with a gloved hand, he grinned widely. Laughing as he was more than mildly impressed by his friend's rather dramatic exit. That was Gren for you, go big or go home. As far as people he knew went, Gren was far from subtle in every aspect of his life. Shiro even softly clapped a few times, though his applause would go probably go unheard. Wherever Gren went, explosions typically followed.

"Witnessed."
Shiro said quietly, for some inexplicable reason.

Turning back to his work, messing with his Scroll, Shiro's perception alerted him to his cherished team leader approaching him from behind. His ears twitching and swiveling, he kept his back turned to her and focused himself rather easily. Tapping away at the screen of his Scroll's tablet function. He listened to what Sapphire had to say, but he gave her a short and curt reply.

"Okay. I'm sure we'll be fine without you."
And left it at that.

Once she left too, Shiro figured it was time for him to do the same. He would need to check out his weaponry and some Dust ammunition while he was at it. No telling what they would find down there in those mines. Like, giant armored centipede Grimm or something. Looking up at the CNC machine in front of him, he was sure that it would continue to work just fine without his oversight or guidance. He was sure no one would be so petty to steal what it was he was working on as well, so walking away from it he passed by Sangue.

Flashing her a smile and with a wave of his hand, he continued to stroll right past her.
Scroll in hand.
"I'm gonna go now, Sang. See you at the air docks! I'm sure this'll be fun!"

Then, exiting the Armory, not aware that he was leaving the very place he needed to stay at to check out his gear, Shiro traipsed along. Eyes glued to his Scroll, Shiro was victim to his own tunnel vision. Concentrating on every little detail and part of Sangue's feature arm that he still needed to work on. Deciding which would be best left up to Sangue's decisions and Gren's areas of expertise.

Muttering to himself, he stared down at the 3D rendering of Sangue's conceptualized arm.
"There needs to be connection points here, here, annnnd here! Something to feed the 'tendons' through to be controlled by a small motor or gearbox on the upper arm. These need to be segmented. Joints mimicking the human skeleton. Easy 'nuff! But...what about the armor and coverings? Hmm, might as well keep it simple...Although...what to secure the separate pieces together with? Some sort of latch or lock. It has to withstand the rigors of combat without failing and exposing the more delicate internals. That would be life-threatening and problematic to say the least..."
Walking further and further away from the Armory, he continued to talk to himself.
Head down and low.
Tapping and swiping away at his Tablet while he brainstormed...

Cypher, @NarayanK, @Prince of Seraphs, @SevenStormStyle

[User]
At the sight of Sapphire formally bowing to her, Sangue promptly bowed yet again. Although Sapphire seemed to be a serious person, if she didn't have a heart, she wouldn't have spoken to someone as unimpressively outdated as Sangue.

"Thank you," Sangue responded quietly as the blue-haired huntress departed.

And with that, she was left alone with Shiro. She felt it; the unfamiliar, yet familiar feeling of contempt behind the Faunus' words when he spoke with Sapphire. Something was sour in the tone Shiro had when he spoke with Sapphire...

Yet, all Sangue could hope for was the white-haired boy and the blue-haired girl to get along sometime. Nothing further than that- for anything further would simply be Sangue trying to butt into other people's relationships.

When Shiro returned to his cheerful demeanor and waved her goodbye, however, Sangue blinked.

Unlike the absolutely armed-and-ready Sapphire, Shiro looked like he was just going out on a walk. Why was that the case...? The red snake watched Shiro leave as she wondered what felt off about the student.

It wasn't like he didn't pack up his gear, right?

Putting down her blade with its sheath attached on top of a crate, the long-haired woman observed the weapon as she put her Claw next to it. She tried to think up of more ways to make her incoming upgrade better, but truthfully, Gren and Shiro probably knew more on what makes technologically advanced weapons actually effective. As these thoughts flowed down her mind, her stomach rumbled.

...

Looking around the armory for a bit, Sangue crept out of it...

...before heading to the cafeteria.

Much to her horror, a certain realization dawned upon her as soon as she arrived at the very entrance of the cafeteria.

I-...I forgot... to bring my sword.

If she went to pick up her sword, then she would have to sacrifice the food she wanted to eat earlier. On the other hand, if she ate the food, there was the chance of someone unknowingly taking her most important weapon.

And she wasn't going to be throwing food at Grimm and the like in potential upcoming missions, so the decision she had to make was obvious.

I'll... have food for a later time, she noted solemnly as she turned back.

Instead of eating, she decided to retrieve her weapon and head immediately to the docks. She was not good with directions anyway, so going earlier than she originally planned would be a good idea for someone like her.

Cypher@harinezumikouken@Prince of Seraphs

[Assistant]
W H I T E D E V I L

Look at how thoroughly Ben had bewitched that bouncer with his fast tongue and evil grin! It was a completely different brand of seduction than picking up girls at a club or fencing stolen shit; her beloved Cap, with his innocent face, scruffy hair, tight little clothes, and probably even his laminated v-card, could seduce authority figures!

It was an unholy skill, born of dark magicks and privileges that Lauren could never tap into. Ben could talk them into a club without even having to hit somebody with an ax or digging a tunnel up into the bathroom. Ben could probably get away with going ten or fifteen miles over the speed limit - and if he couldn't, he could probably at least get the cops to leave him alone! And they wouldn't care about the small shotguns he kept in the glove box!

That's...

That's...

This is fucking racist!

Now she didn't even feel bad for molesting him.

Nonetheless, Bastille's Black Panther burrowed herself into Ben's one-armed grip, notching their hips together like conjoined twins as they found their way to a table and each kicked their feet up irreverently along a different half of the semicircular seat. Lauren pulled out her Scroll and began plugging variables into the screen, setting it down on the table between them so that they could both see what she was doing.

Plugging vodka flavors into a wheel.

"All praise to the Most High. The young God Lauren begs you to hear her call," she intoned over the alcoholic smorgasbord. "It's been a long week for I and I on Team Bastille. Today I had to ignore my black people programming and go into a spooky factory to fix the fuckery of white people yet again, God. I beg your forgiveness for this act of trespass. You may see that I have invited the White Devil into my heart and my entourage. I beg your forgiveness for this act of trespass, and ask only that you accept him as blood of my blood. His name is Benjamin Lloyd, and I love him with all my heart. He may even have a little mulatto in his blood. If you...turn your head and squint a lil. And then close your eyes completely. Dear Heavenly Lord, the Most High, we ask that after this long and trying day of fixing the fuckery of white people, you bless this spin of the wheel and give us a real-ass flavor of vodka like snap frost or red berry. Or even apple. Please do not hex us with no shit like coconut or pineapple, Most High, for these are the bullshit flavors of the Mistralians and lead only down the thorny path of simpdom. I love you, God, wallahi."

Clearly, she took this seriously as she spun.

And shrieked.

"Son of a bitch!"

Ben bit the bullet and ordered the bottle for them. While Lauren sulked, feet crossed at the ankle and head sullenly bobbing to the trap beat playing over the recently-reopened club's speakers, her gaze was wandering the bar and landed on a girl whose white hair and chic look made her stick out from the rest of the Vale party scene. Her gaze tilted over and turned back to Cap lazily.

"Hey, who was the broad who you pretended to know to get us in, anyway?"


[System]
Age
22

Gender
Female

Race
Elf

Personality
Allisa seems to be the very definition of cheerfulness and friendliness. She is usually seen with a smile on her face, and doesn't hesitate to strike up a friendly conversation with people. She is also a very honest person, sometimes to the point of being brutal about it, and she is not a very good secret keeper either.

Abilities
Allisa is quite a skilled huntress. Having lived in the woods for much of her childhood, she is fully capable of using a bow and arrow to fell targets at long range. Allisa is also skilled with a dagger or two in hand to repel someone at close range.
Allisa is fully capable of stealthily hunting down targets in a forest, whether it be for food like deer and rabbits or for kill quests of dangerous beasts. She also feels most at home in a forest and will usually seek out a tree to sleep in, which certainly helps with money as there's not much need to find an inn.

Notable Equipment, Traits, etc
-Longbow and arrows: pretty standard stuff. The bow is nicely crafted, but made out of wood from the common trees, while the arrows can be bought in plenty of common weapon shops.
-Pair of daggers: Even a long range combatant may find themselves having to face an enemy in close combat, which is why these are here. Nothing really special about them, though.
-Obedient: Allisa will gladly follow any order given to her by someone she trusts, as long as the order is acceptable to her moral standards. Better be specific, though, because she tends to go above and beyond for these orders. Get some food? An entire day spent hunting down rabbits and bringing their skinned carcasses back to the person who issued the order. Make sure someone's not bothered? Drive away all people by threatening them with her bow and arrow should they get too close.

History
Allisa was born in a forest village, where she spent her entire life learning how to fend for herself. She learned much about the forest and its bounty of hidden goods, as well as the means of acquiring these goods. The migration patterns of certain animals, the edible fruits and vegetables, how to string a bow and hunt down animals, etc. Allisa was also told that she should have the ability to perform magic. However, she never really understood magic and its ways, so she quickly gave up on that idea.
As Allisa became of age, she decided to leave home. According to her parents, she was to be able to fend for herself now and earn a living for herself. After a day had passed, though, she realized that she felt... lost. She was so used to having people tell her what to do that she didnt really know what to do for herself. So, she wandered. She walked for days, stopping to rest for food and sleep, until she finally made her way to a city.
It was her first time entering a city, so all the sights and sounds were completely new to her. An adventurer found her and helped guide her through the city, making their way to the Adventurer's Guild. From there, she became an adventurer, and did her best to complete the quests she found.

Other
Most quests she does tend to be beginner quests, like find a lost pet or killing 5 or so troublesome creatures.

[User]
Over the past few months, Smith had been aimlessly wandering across the lands searching for a town. Of course, all she found were farms and bandits. Though, a few weeks ago, she had gotten directions to Lerot from some disgusting old fool. She thanked the man by only stealing his sword, and leaving the rest of his possessions in place.

She did eventually reach Lerot, convincing a nice young man to let her stay at his house for a few days, which may or may not have included threatening to steal away his wife. Of course, Smith couldn't resist secretly having her way with the man's wife at least once. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?

Well, once Smith had done enough dicking around, she left the couple to their own devices, and headed down to the adventurer's guild.

Smith made her way through the hustle and bustle of Lerot, eventually finding the building she was looking for. Before she could make her way to the door, she was forced to stop by some sort of an egotistical moron, who was yelling about his "grand entrance" as he charged through the guild's doors.

"I didn't think humans could be this stupid." She muttered to herself as her hand found its way to her forehead. Her right hand eventually gave up it's place on Smith's face, resigning itself to the handle of the sword that hung from her waist. The demon returned her focus to the adventurer's guild, which she walked through the doors of as she began to notice the strange, yet ever so familiar looks, of the people around her.

It was pretty obvious to tell that Smith had some sort of connection to demons, given the horns on her head, so the reaction of some of these morons was expected. Some of the fools started to raise their weapons, but many more fools had something else raised. How could a bunch of fools resist a charming young succubus, anyway?

Smith paid them no heed, and moved towards the receptionist.

"Ca...Can I help you with something, miss?"

"I would like to register as an adventurer." The receptionist's face took on a look that was somewhere inbetween suprise and relief for a second before reverting to her previous calm expression.

"Oh, alright. Here, please fill out this paperwork and return it to me, and we will have your guild card soon after." Smith was handed a pile of papers, as well as ink and a quill pen. Smith took the pile to a nearby table, which happened to be next to where the idiot who slammed open the guild doors was sitting. The idiot had seemed to gather a reasonable crowd, which included a catboy, a walking green bean, and a rather cute looking girl. Smith hadn't had any fun in at least 8 hours, and this girl seemed like a nice catch, so Smith decided to go after her. The problem was the 3 amigos next to her.

The 4 of them seemed to be talking about partying up. This was good, Smith could ask to join in as well, but then she would be in a party with a bunch of dicks. She was left no choice but to steal away the cute girl. Smith, from her seat at the table, turned towards the girl, leaned forward slightly, and spoke as if she was the embodiment of friendship.

"Hey, I'm probably going to be needing a few party members, and you seem pretty capable. Why don't you party with me instead?" She kept her focus pointed at the girl, completely ignoring the triad of meat-heads around her.

[Assistant]
Ah, good, a customer so soon. Always an excellent forecast for the day's profits! Felicia flashed her most charming smile at the young lady gracing her... well, 'shop' may be too generous a word, but regardless, the honest merchant welcomed her happily.
Unfortunately, this customer did not seem happy with one of the items on sale. The girl regarded an artefact with sheer disapproval, and had somehow mistaken it for a lump of charcoal. Sadly, this was not an uncommon occurrence.

"I assure you, madam, this is no mere charcoal on a string," Felicia spoke with confidence, lightly gripping the dangling artefact, "granted, the appearance would say otherwise, but I have it on very good authority that this is actually a device used to manipulate time."

Felicia was a firm believer in not doubting the words of all of her business partners. How were you supposed to make any sales if you nitpicked one or two details about the item in question? The finely-dressed seller could accept that such a rare and powerful treasure was unlikely to end up in the possession of a shopless trader... but who would go to the effort of lying about it in the first place?

"From what I have been told, each swing of the Chrono Pendulum advances time by one second," Felicia advised, "as such, it may be wise not to swing it around carelessly. I heard that if the Strand of Time were to break, bad things could happen."

The strand, of course, being the perfectly normal string that was cursed to support the useless charcoal for all eternity.

"Of course, after you buy it, whatever you wish to use it for is entirely not my business!" Felicia chirped, all too ready to make a sale.

[User]
Maria stared blankly at the merchant girl who was trying to pitch what was, once more, literally a lump of coal on a string. As some kind of time manipulating pendulum. That... was not how anything worked. At all. Oh, she could buy that a magical artifact could seem unimpressive, but this was just ridiculous. 'Advancing time by one second'? 'Something bad would happen if the string were to break'? That was one of the most nonsense things she had ever heard. Who even did this? What kind of desperate con artist woke up one morning and thought this was a great plan?

She swung it back and fourth, faster then the seconds past, staring blankly at the tophat-wearing girl. She had a feeling that wasn't going to prove anything, though.

And so, instead of attempting to display how stupid what the girl said was with that method, she carefully took the charcoal, untied the string(it was barely even tied at all, it was like a four-year-old had done it) and laid both pieces of the... 'pendulum' down.

"It's a lump of charcoal and some string. You are trying to sell a lump of charcoal and some string."

[Assistant]
Koji held up his left hand as someone came up next to him out shouted in his face, his attempts to complete the documentation after reading it over temporarily stifled by such a loud noise. With a dramatic stroke to finish his signature, Koji placed the pen and ink to the side before turning to the girl, bringing his right hand in front of his face with a pose as he looked at her. Good, good! Even before he was bound to this place, people were already seeking his aid!

"Haha, so it begins! Very well! I sh-" he began to say before being interrupted by a animal-eared boy around his own age. Okay. Well. That was rude. But more people meant that people were already flocking to him! Yes! Success!

"Ahem. As I was saying, I sh-"

This time, a rather large green-haired man came to interrupt him. Gods damn it all, did these people have NO way of reading the mood? Not that he as complaining about the rather spontaneous formation of the party, but still!

"...Anyways... I s-"

And before he could get the next set of words out his mouth, the young archer was interrupted once more, this time by a woman with horbns who seemed to be trying to steal away the first person to request his help. In front him, no less!

"...Okay. Fine. Guess I'm doing this the hard way. You, who insulted my skill with my weapons: gaze in awe! And you, creature of the night who tries to spirit away those who seek my aid: let this be a warning to you!"

Very clearly irate at this point, Koji stood up and, in one swift motion, pulled out a few small coins and tossed them into the air, high above the (probably demonic) girl trying to pull the one with the squirrel away. Drawing his bows and spinning them theatrically for good measure, Koji shot each of the coins out of the air, the bolts eventually colliding with one another to land headfirst onto the ground right behind the two in question, the coins falling on top of their heads. With a wide smile and his confidence regained, Koji struck a pose and shouted with renewed vigor.

"Sear this moment into your memory, for I have given you ample warning! If you wish to be so rude in front of one such as me, then be sure to have a good reason for doing so!"

While he seemed to be confident as could be, however, Koji was shaking a bit inside. Those last shots were one in a million, and the recoil from the guns made his shots land perfectly like that. Everything ended up going perfectly right, which meant that if he was going to boast again, he'd probably have to try for... A bigger target. Hopefully.

[User]
Allisa was humming a cheerful little tune as she walked along a path. The day had been good so far. She had a nice rabbit seasoned with herbs and other plants for breakfast, and she had completed a kill quest for a troublesome animal that had been killing livestock. Now she was on her way to the Adventurers' Guild to claim her reward. As she walked, she wondered what she would spend her money on. Probably more arrows, to be honest. She felt like she was running low on them. She really wanted to save up for that bow she had been eyeing in one of the weapon shops too.

As Allisa walked up to the entrance to the Adventurers' Guild, she noticed a small shop set up nearby. There was a person wearing a rather impressive outfit, who appeared to be the shopkeeper, and there was already another adventurer checking out the goods. Curious, Allisa walked over to the table to see what was for sale. "What's going on here?" Allisa asked as she examined the wares. The items for sale, however, were... not very appealing to the eye. If Allisa didn't know any better, she'd think that it was just a pile of trash and knick-knacks. The other adventurer was calling it just that as well and was attempting to prove it as well, messing around with a string and a piece of charcoal.

Still, Allisa chose to give the poor shopkeeper the benefit of the doubt. "Now now, let's not be so quick to judge. Maybe there really is some good stuff here, like... uh..." Allisa said as she continued scanning the items for anything of value. Her gaze soon landed upon a knife, and she reached over to pick it up. "Like this knife!" Allisa said, holding it up, then swung it around a couple times. The blade, however, soon separated itself into two pieces, the tip flying off into space. Allisa looked at the now-clearly broken blade, noting the remnants of what looked like honey or tree sap on the inside of the blade to try to make it look like it was never broken. Allisa blinked a few times, still staring silently at the broken knife in her hand.


[System]
I'm sure Makoto would be fine with anyone on her team.

"Your decision, your outcome."

---

---
Title: Lantern

Gender: Female

Race: A measly little human

Age: 16

Height: 5'9

Weight: 143 lbs

Appearance: Makoto is a tall girl of Japanese descent with a slender and athletic build. Her most prominent features are her unusual golden eyes and thick, waist length black hair. Her pale skin, towering height and ghostly appearance seem to intimidate most people, and her looks have even been compared to the famous Yuki-onna on multiple occasions. For personal reasons, Makoto quotes that she hates the colour of her eyes.

Makoto isn't a very colourful person when it comes to clothing. She's mostly seen in a grey leather jacket and combat boots, and a black turtleneck top and leggings. She also wears a special belt to hold her sword by her side and black fingerless gloves to increase the grip she has on her sword. During battle, Makoto will most likely tie her hair up into a single high ponytail.

Personality:

People say appearances can be deceiving – Makoto is one of those people who fit into that category perfectly. Although, not in the 'negative' sense others think of it to be.

Unlike what her ghastly appearance says, Makoto is actually a very talkative person, and enjoys socialising with others. However, some may see her as quite rude and harsh, as she is very honest and true to her own feelings and opinions. Because of this she has very few close friends, though Makoto is usually the one people will we seek for advice. She's also very observant and perceptive, and is a good listener.

Makoto is quite strong minded and hard to knock down, and will always do what she thinks is best. If she thinks its fair, she'll go with it. She hates people forcing others to do things when they don't want to, as she believes people should be able to make decisions for themselves rather than having others decide their futures for them. She strongly disagrees with things such as and related to 'fate', again relating to her opinion how people decide their own futures. This also means she dislikes fortune telling, star signs etc.

Short Bio:
Golden eyes. That was the first thing her mother ever acknowledged about her. Not the fact that she was now truly alive and breathing; she had golden eyes. Once the newborn Makoto had first opened them, her mother was delighted.

Delighted in the wrong way.

She knew her daughter was going to succeed. She knew she was destined for greatness from the very start. That must be a good thing then, right?

Not necessarily.

As Makoto started to grow, her mother loved and cared for her, teaching her many valuable things and filling her with her own ideals, hoping her daughter would become a 'strong woman' like herself. 'Fight for the city and you will be rewarded with praise.' As a young child, Makoto went on accordingly with her mother's teachings, and was beginning to be taught how to wield a sword. Makoto's undying loyalty towards her mother seemed unbreakable, and it looked like she wasn't ever going to leave the woman's side.

However, all things changed when her little sister Michiko was born. Makoto, now six years of age, was delighted to learn of Michiko's birth. But the mother? She was not at all pleased. Instead of the expected golden, Michiko's eyes were a dull brown.

She knew her daughter wasn't going to succeed. She knew she was destined for nothing from the very start. That was a very bad thing.

Very bad.

As she had predicted, Michiko wasn't anything special. She was useless at studies and iaijutsu, and was beaten down countless times for it. Makoto, horrified by this inhumane visage, did her best to protect Michiko. Unlike her little sister, Makoto was always loved and cared for, so why not Michiko as well? They had the same blood rushing through their veins, so why was it Michiko that always got hell and not Makoto? It just wasn't fair in her eyes.

So, as soon as she discovered the real reason behind this discrimination, Makoto became engulfed by rage.

It was when Makoto was around thirteen when she decided to face her mother head on. She thought it was absolutely ridiculous that her little sister was being treated differently because of the colour of her eyes. It even got so extreme that Makoto even threatened to gouge her own eyes out, until her father stepped into the scene to break the two up. Enough was enough, and so, a few weeks later Makoto moved out along with Michiko and her father. There was no way she would tolerate her mother's cruel actions any longer.
Manifestation: Sacred Touch - Makoto's manifestation is something called 'Ductility Manipulation'; the ability to manipulate the toughness, softness and resilience of any solid, nonliving material. This allows her to make her sheathed sword strong enough to dent steel, sharp enough to slice through brick or flexible enough to bend at a 90° angle. Many Kanemaru Chasers in the past preferred to 'toughen' their swords with this ability to create devastating blows.

This ability does have its flaws, though. First of all, this ability cannot affect gas, liquids or living things, such as trees or water. Secondly, this ability takes about a minute to charge up, so in that time the user must wait to be able to use it. Thirdly, only materials in a one metre radius can be affected by Sacred Touch, which is why it is recommended to incorporate it with fighting styles that use weapons. Finally, the user must have their hands on the material to be able to use Sacred Touch. If they are to let go or lose their grip, then the manifestation will lose its effects (this is also why Sacred Touch doesn't go well with archers). Makoto is also only able to manipulate one property at a time, so it is impossible for her to strengthen and sharpen her sword at the same time.

One of the most notable flaws to this manifestation is its unusual 'time limit'. A person may only use Sacred Touch for as long as ten minutes each day. If Makoto were to use Sacred Touch for four minutes, then she is only able to use it for six more minutes if she plans on fighting with it later on. If she were to use it for ten minutes straight then she will not be able to use it for another five hours. After five hours, any minutes that have been used up will be replenished.

Weapons: Kanemaru – A shinken sword that has been passed down the Kanemaru line for many years. Its most striking feature is its golden blade, which, although often mistaken to be forged out of gold, is actually a special metal that gives off a very bright golden light when Zetsu is channelled through it. This light can be used to distract opponents by revealing only a 1/3 of the blade from its sheath and flashing it in the enemy's eyes.

Weirdly enough, those that have used this sword rarely fight with it unsheathed. They instead use the sword sheathed to deal fatal internal damage as well as outward, using the manifestation Sacred Touch that is usually passed down to make for some frightening blows. According to Makoto's mother, no youkai has ever survived to see the entire blade of this sword.

Equipment: Nothing special, maybe just a shoulder bag to carry money, food and small essentials.

Other:
Lantern
"I will win this fight; it's the truth."

Glare
"So… Finally gonna get serious now, huh?"

Crack
"Bastard..."

[User]
Gaz

For the first time Gaz listened to Reiko completely without ignoring whatever she was trying to say, he pushed himself past Juniper and Gyuuki, he looked livid." Yo sage bitch ! That test was a crock of shit and you fucking knew it !" Gaz insulted the woman not caring what she'd do to him." Who fucking sends their fucking students into a fucking forest to find cards, then fucking just blocks the fucking exit with a war machine and say get by it ?! I don't care if 9 people got by the god damned mecha and passed the finish line on a time limit, the test was against us from the start and nobody was gonna pass because one mother fucker got lucky ! Fuck you, your test sage bitch !" Gaz yelled at her.

Gaz turned around and was about to just leave but kept his guard up in case he actually pissed off the second or third in command of this weird ass academy, suddenly when he got a look at Juniper and heard her say she wasn't going to go with the others, it seemed to piss him off to another level." What the hell did you just say ?" He asked her as she began gathering her things and started walking towards the exit." Oh hell no you don't, you were way to fucking hyped up and ready to fight to be in this school then you just say fuck it when some dumb bitch in head of the academy your going to calls you a failure, You better be screwing around with me because if I were you, I'd be ready to show that sage dike bitch that I was the best there was, or be ready to punch her in the ovaries." Gaz tried to tell her hoping she listened to him even though she seemed deep in her own thoughts.

When she turned back to the stone courtyard and was talking to herself, Gaz sighed." Fuck this your coming with me, call yourself whatever you want, but your Juniper those two need teammates and I don't feel like letting that four eyed bitch in charge be right." Gaz grabbed Juniper and put the girl on his shoulder." Let's show her what a failure can do, also I really want to punch that bitch in the ovaries no jokes." Gaz told her as he caught up with Gyuuki and answered for Juniper." Yeah we're here, and personally if being a Chaser means I get to punch monsters in the face with fire gloves then I really don't give two fucks what a Chaser is." He told Aria

@TheWindel@KoL

---

Eiko XXVII

Eiko made a fist with one of her hands and wondered who actually made it, she turned away from the scarlet sage as she berated them, she didn't like being called a failure, it reminded her of the old days in training, the clone girl crossed her arms and noticed that the sage kind of contradicted herself when she said that a Chaser wasn't a hero, but someone who stood up for others. Eiko glared at the woman feeling that the sage was wrong about what called them and what she said, suddenly the smaller one, the vampire turned up to speak with them, she told them that being a Chaser is to have their voice heard, the door was opened for them to go inside of the school and still attend the school.

Eiko put one of her gloved hands up to her chin before saying." I starting to get impression that people know not of what Chasers are, even staff and teachers." Eiko said aloud, she looked around seeing some students leave; she noticed that one girl seemed like she was going through something internally, she didn't bother the girl as the boisterous boy began trying to give her a pep talk then threw her onto his shoulder." So the others are gathering." the clone girl turned around to her partner that was with her during the test." Erys, what is it you think about this ? We are branded as fails here, what are you going to do ?"

Eiko wondered if they should team up with other people in a group like how Gaz and Juniper were doing, she wasn't sure if her and Erys would have people join them or would be able to join others." This teaming up, it reminds me of being home, with the first generation, even this part being called a fail again." Eiko said to herself not really knowing if someone was listening.

@Vocab

[Assistant]
Marith Umakoua

"Ugh, that test was pretty tough too bad I didn't get through it in time" Marith said as she entered the courtyard of the school her clothes were a wrinkled and statically charged mess. As she passed by a few students her hands brushed against them which caused them to jump from the static shock, though some reactions would be more extreme than others. After the fifth time of accidentally shocking another student She began to keep her tails down and close behind her because of the fact that most of the charge was stored in her fur at the moment. When the speech had started Marith basically zoned out and had begun comb her hair in an attempt to get rid of the rest of the static though did catch some key words throughout the spiel.

 After the speech Marith ears drooped a little because of the lack of confidence that Ms. Reiko had in the student body, but she just put her comb back into her dufflebag that she had hidden up a tree in the courtyard and didn't let it bother her as much just like Ms. Aria said. When someone shouted to run Marith's first reaction was to duck deeper into the fairly sparse tree with her bag but after she realized it was not a massive threat but just a tall girl lifting a shorter one off the ground. "It's not my problem" Marith said to herself and climbed from the tree, She began to walk to the newly uncovered entrance to the academy.

[User]
Everything seemed to flash by Makoto's eyes in an instant. First she was shoving a card in her new friend's face, then an even larger clump of metal made its extravagant entrance, along with someone's extravagant speech.

And now she was in the courtyard, listening to one of the most frightening lectures she had ever heard during her sixteen years on this earth.

"Even the ones who displayed some measure of actual skills failed in some basic assessments that would have got you killed, were that a real mission."

Maybe I smashed down too many robots. Plus, I did run into that massive swarm in the first place... Distracted or not, that situation could've easily been avoided!

Well, there wasn't anything she could do about it now. What happened in the past can't be changed. It was a sad, but simple truth.

Note to self: Don't get distracted and don't make the Senior Instructor mad. Like, ever.

"The doors to the inner hall are open as well, if you choose to cross them, know that your lives will be mine to do as I please, until I have molded you all into what a true Chaser is."

With that said, the rose vines revealed the academy doors underneath. One more chance. One more chance for Makoto to make up for her mistakes.

One more chance to possibly make even more mistakes.

If she chose to stay or not, there would still be many, many outcomes, good and/or bad. Makoto didn't want to hold anyone down, nor lead herself to her own downfall either. If she crossed into Akatsuki Academy territory, who knows what would happen next?

"Being a Chaser is not about justice, nor heroism, or any other of those romantic lies. It's a job to keep those who can't fight safe, just that."

A job to keep those who can't fight safe.

'You'll fight all those baddies for us, right sis?'

Tilting her head down from everyone's sight, a smile crossed Makoto's face. Then, looking up, she walked towards the main hall, following the other soon-to-be Chasers brave enough to give this another shot.

'Mm. I will, Michiko.'

Makoto had strength. But not enough. Not yet. However, if she had the ability to change the world and protect everyone else in it, then she would fight for it no matter how harsh the conditions would be.


[System]
Age: 28

Species: Turian

Gender: Female

Appearance: Standing at 5'10"(1.778m) and weighing in at 160lbs.(72.6kg) Sicari is just a little under the average height for the Turian race. She's a bareface with cold, ice blue eyes and a curvy figure, rivalling the attractiveness of a moderately arresting Asari. She has approximately thirteen scars on her body in various places, and has a pale green carapace with a slight bluish hue.

Occupation: Information Broker, ex-Blue Suns operative

Class: Infiltrator

Powers: Tactical Cloak, Sabotage, Overload, Decoy, Incinerate, Cryo Blast

Weapons: M-11 Suppressor, M-22 Eviscerator

Armor: Light Onyx Armor

Apparel: Charcoal-colored, form-hugging outfit, loose near the hips and underarms to conceal small arms and packages.

Equipment: Chameleon Omni-Tool, Prototype Venom Gauntlets

Personality: Very quiet with a soft spot for a good bottle of alcohol. Sicari's made more than one sloppy mistake due to either a hangover or a fit of drunkenness, though it is a rare occurrence. She does, however, have amazing attention to detail and spares no expense to cover each and every one of her tracks. She has an adept understanding of psychologies from various races, excluding Elcor and Human, as she, like most Turians, has difficulty reading the expressions, or lack thereof, of these two races. She also has a weakness for a select few drugs, such has Free Will (In reference to Leodiensian's Davo'Sallar) and cocaine, though often buys and disposes of very dangerous substances, such as heroin and meth, to help fulfill a dealer's quota. She's also a decent cook… if you're dextro-based, that is.

Biography: Born and raised to a militaristic Asari mother and an enigma of a father in the middle of an FTL jump in the Attican Tranverse, Sicari Velinian was forced to fend for herself from an early age. She constantly moved with her mother's fleet, being taught and trained among the Asari and the many other children in the flotilla. She was very much alone, since she didn't even have a quarter of the lifespan of an Asari, and had to have private mentors for an accelerated education. Thus, she was doing algebra by age ten, basic trigonometry at age thirteen, and learning physics since she could first speak. She came out a smart girl, and an even smarter adversary.

 Fast-forward to age sixteen, Sicari's mother was pronounced MIA after a botched mission on Virmire, and KIA after the bodies from the squadron were recovered, the mother's corpse among them. Sicari promptly made the decision to avenge the only family she had and left the fleet after they stopped at the Citadel, burning all her bridges in the process. She booked passage to Omega on a small transport owned by the Blue Suns, and made friends with one of the officers on the ship. She was offered a job as a drug distributor and readily accepted, leading to her cocaine addiction in the later years. She moved through the ranks quickly, proving herself as an asset time and time again, and was on good terms with much of the gang, though still alienated by many of Omega's Turians.

 At 25, Sicari earned her nickname in a border dispute with the Eclipse, where she was kicked off the balcony of a high-end apartment and landed on top of a passing Krogan, who decidedly shrugged off the Turian that was just forcibly evicted by a biotic blast from three stories up, and carried her to the nearest medi-gel dispenser. She spent several days unconscious, and around thirty seconds dead, in Mordin Solus' clinic, where one of the human physicians referred to her as "Icarus" until she woke, and then had to explain who Icarus was. Sicari liked the story behind the name, and decided to keep it as an alias. Upon her full recovery, she left the Blue Suns, but is still under their protection, for a fee. Given their history, it's at least a reduced fee, 40% off the usual amount.

 Soon enough, Sicari fell back into her old habits and started crawling around in vents, listening in to conversations and writing down what she hears. Like any information broker, she remains hidden with several operatives distributing the secrets and collecting payment. If payment isn't received, it's taken. It's a cut and dry business, and Icarus prefers to remain out of the limelight. "Let the Shadow Broker have the enemies," She'd tell a loyal client, "I'm content as long as I'm breathing and getting paid." She's recently relocated to the Citadel's Zakera Ward to find a newer clientele and up the ante, as law enforcement ranges from zero to nil on Omega, and she likes a challenge.

[User]
Most of the time, his officer duties were never easy. Yet, that mission had just gotten a lot more complicated. Aaron ducked behind a cargo container as soon as the shooting begun, trying to appear as harmless as possible accordingly to his superior's orders.

"Good grief" he found himself thinking, changing ammo to the only weapon he had. "At least they've got suits to protect them. This ain't easy." Take down a small smuggling team: the report never talked about experienced biotics and marksmen. Just because that wasn't enough, he had to cope with all that while trying to keep at ease that hot-head he had for a sister through short and evasive messages on his datapad.

He had already arrived at the designed location fifteen minutes before his fellow officers, had the time to scout the zone, and even take a close look at the mercenaries and the ship they were trying to stop. Hell! He was hiding just beside it: he was checking on the outer hull conditions when the C-Sec stormed in. Those unrelated with the matter had fled, or hid behind what nearer cover they could find, exactly like he did.

He took a rapid glance at the enemy line of defense. Barricaded over the dock. An asari, an human, a krogan and a turian. It almost felt like one of those old-human stereotyped puns. "... they each enter the same bar, one after another." reminded himself absent-mindedly. "The krogan beats the crap out of everyone, yet falls victim of the same alcohol which allowed him to survive the free-for all. Thus the winner is the salarian bartender and..." he stopped, noticing two things. Firstly, how bad he was at telling jokes, but that was public knowledge already; second, someone was missing to the count. Could it be-

A wild bullet hit his hiding spot, interrupting his thread of thought. He snapped back behind the box, utterly shocked by the close shot. Near a mercenary ship, the containers could contain all sorts of trinkets, some of which extremely dangerous and inflammable. No hissing sounds. He was greatly relieved to note he hadn't yet blown up, and that the cargo was most likely not hazardous. "Still" he thought "better take a cover closer to the squad". If he happened to find himself in trouble, he preferred to have the guns of his comrades close by, and not those of the mercenaries. Aaron quietly moved backwards from his position, sneaking a peek at the battle ground from time to time as he quietly reached the secondary access point to the walkway. It was then that he saw the drell fumbling over the magnetic locks of the cruise.

[Assistant]
Ekrom noted the movement to the side, after one of his merc's shot hit near the top. It seemed someone had gotten closer to the airlock than any of the other C-sec operatives. The others were stuck behind the suppresive fire of two more of his men, arriving in response to the heavy squad of officers. Pretty soon Sicar's standing condition was going to be more of a hindrance than just a minor inconvenience. Didn't C-sec realize they were outclassed? Adding more firepower to the situation just meant that more would be sent in retaliation! Ekrom had just blasted through the last firewall and was using a brute-force software program to plug in the access codes to the locks. The hard part was over, now he just had to hold out against the cops.

"Clear a path!" he shouted to his subordinates, who quickly yielded to their now glowing boss. His barrier ability had soaked up a many number of bullets, which would force Ekrom to reactivate the biotic armor. Perhaps there was another way, he thought. He threw out an arm, a long and powerful string of biotic force blasting away, but not killing, the C-sec task force. They were bashed against surrounding walls, not leaving a mark on the white walls, but more than likely knocked unconscious. Sicari was lucky Ekrom didn't just shoot her and take the contract on himself. It would make this entire expedition all the easier, not having red tape on a wetwork contract! "Who does she think is?" Ekrom wondered aloud, barely above a murmur and unable to be heard over the biotic detonations.

She'd be reminded that it was only Ekrom's quick actions and decisions that had allowed her such quick departure. Who the hell cared about the Citadel and her officers? Ekrom shook his head at his thoughts, not wanting them to allow his focus to wander. He'd given her free reign of decisions involving the squad while on the ground, but Ekrom would have to talk to her privately. Sicari needed to be reminded that he was a mercenary leader first and an accomplice second. And that orders could only go as far as the paycheck... She had another thing coming if she thought that her words were absolute.

Even as he waited for the program to finish its work, Ekrom drew his pistol. He quickly went over the last few moments in his perfect memory, realizing that he'd been right about the movement on their flank. His waking dreams refocused until Ekrom could easily see that a Turian had snuck from the recently shot cargo box, back around a wall not too far away. A beep brought his eyes back to the present, and the screen showing him green lights. Punching in a couple of commands, his nerves settled as the magnetic clamps released and raised away from Shadow Sword's wings.

Aaron watched in disbelief as the drell wiped out almost all of his companions with a single gesture. Could it be possible for them to be knocked out so easily? For just an instant, he was about to run to his companions and aid them, but he eventually realized what were the alien's real intentions. "Not on my watch" whispered between himself, drawing himself closer to him. Analyzing carefully the distance between him an the mercenary, Aaron pulled the sums of what do do. Well, there wasn't much actually: the passageway was quite open, without any decent cover from which he could get a clear shot. Sneaking up on him was definitely insane, and many other plans were either impracticable or deadly. Then, he simply tired of sitting idly.

Without much noise, he exited from his cover, standing in a straight line towards him. If madness was required to stop the ship from departing, then he might as well go with the worst option of all. He remembered fairly well his high-school years from Earth: especially the rugby PE sessions. Now that would have been funny. He smirked, nervously glancing both the fallen officers and his target. Firstly hopping back and forth on his flexible feet, he touched the ground with his left hand. The screen suddently emitted a green glow.
Now! He fixed his gaze upon him, determination filling his eyes, and then sprinted towards the drell. "Eat this, Northampton Saints!"

The heavy slap of the Turian that had been hiding made itself apparent rather quickly. With not much time to react, Ekrom did the only thing logical, activating his Charge and coming up behind the stranger as he blew past where he'd been moments before. Who the hell was this asshole with the hero complex?! Gritting his teeth, he spun on his heel, throwing his arm high and wide, bringing it down with his impressive augmented strength. The butt of his heavy pistol cracked down sickeningly on the Turian's head, in the hollow where plates met scales. The male Turian's body was like water, just falling as he fell into unconsciousness. "Valkyr! Get this bilge-rat on the ship!" Ekrom shouted to his own merc, the Turian that Jason had been antogonizing earlier. Glad to be rid of the human, he holstered his rifle and lifted his kin onto a shoulder. The krogan had become a barrier protected meat shield for the two as the Turian merc struggled into the airlock.

"Boss! We gotta go!" the krogan roared, noting the trio of C-sec fighters taking positions around the ship. Ekrom's nasal slits flared in frustration.

"Goddamn these interfering assholes!" Ekrom growled, before turning to Lysia and Jason. "You two, on the ship! We're clear to take off and time is of the essence!" Firing up his omnitool, he issued clipped and brisque commands to Urg. "Forget the goddamn cannon!" Urg's face twisted in anger and disappointment and he opened his mouth to argue. "I know what I said, fine, stay there, but only aim at the engine thrusters! We want them crippled, not dead. At least, this time." Urg settled into a satisfied smile. "Get Valkyr to start up the ship and get her moving, I'll take over piloting once I'm on board!"

He grabbed at Jason, noting that his shots unnerringly always hit just shy of the police. "This human is soft and not just because of his hide!" Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the back of Jason's armor and pulled him, then shoved him towards the airlock. Letting off another shockwave, leaving the officers suspended in the air, Ekrom turned to Lysia. "Thanks for the support, but you need to get on, now!" Ekrom didn't want to overstep his bounds with the asari woman, Lysia, however. Her stance said she was a professional, one of those mind-flayers they called commandos. Not one to be trifled with.

[User]
Sicari had decided it was best to stay out of the line of fire during this, working up a valid argument as to why it's a bad idea to be on C-Sec's most wanted list. Besides, she was an infiltrator. Quiet and quick was more her speed, not loud and inaccurate. The perfect argument hit her as she saw Jason pulled into the airlock, then stood from her cover as Ekrom came in with the cop slumped over his shoulder.

 "Cleaner costs. For each law enforcer we kill, we can expect to expend upwards of five-thousand credits on bribing friends and family. We'll get more pay if we're careful." She started to walk with the man, her hand on her hip. Pistol at the ready in case a mutiny was necessary before they even left Council Space.


[System]
Age: 26

Appearance: Approximately 6 foot tall with classic Italian features, black hair, olive skin, and brown eyes. He also has the aquiline nose of the Romans. Val is in the prime of his life so with the combination of his shady lifestyle and genetics he is in rather good shape.

Occupation: Bootlegger

Interests: Fast cars, baseball, reading

Fears and Phobias: Drowning never sat well with Valentino, despite the fact he has on the giving end of that situation a handful of times. The first time Valentino killed a man he was forced to hold the man's soon-to-be-deceased head under water. Just the struggling before finally collapsing still sent shivers down his spine.

Superstitions: Val will knock on wood to prevent bad luck, as well as the occasional sign of the cross for more dire situations. The quick hand of his mamma also instilled an unhealthy fear to not spill olive oil.

Skills: Pistols, amateur fighting, Italian, driving, charisma

Intelligence and Sanity: Val never did make his way Chicago university, not that he doesn't have the brains, he just never was cut out for school. The lack of book smarts is made up by street smarts. Val is not the kind of man to break under pressure, however some of his past deeds are pushed down deep, searching for a way out.

Back Story: Chicago born and bred Valentino was the only son of Salvatore Ricci, one of the Caporegime, the captains, of the Chicago mob. He was a strict man and a loving father, however when it came time to choose Salvatore put his other family first.Despite many broken promises Val still loved his father and from a young age to the current day he would do anything just to gain approval. This pushed Valentino into a life on the other end of the law. It really started with the trouble in school, which slowly increased to petty vandalism and finally to a full time job running bootleg alcohol from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Bootlegging is something near and dear to Val. The thrill of it all, pumped by each beat of heart gives him something he can't find anywhere else and its lucrative. Being in your 20's with a pocket full of cash makes you spend money like a fool and for the right car Val would spend a fortune. Luckily, one of the perks of being associated with gangsters was that they might be able to pick one up off the docks for a fraction of the price. However this lifestyle does have drawbacks. It was years ago, but Val can still remember it clearly.O ne of his father's men was seen talking to the police and any form of crime, organized or not generally does not look kindly on rats. Val still doesn't know why his father chose him to do it, maybe he needed to show dedication or possibly just prove he was a man, yet he still had to do it. It shook him to the core, but he soldiered on. Val has killed many men, but nothing was as haunting as the first.

As the years went on Val continued to make himself useful to his father and those above him. Things were good in his life until his father came down with tuberculosis. It started with blood on his handkerchief and quickly progressed. As of this year he has been confined to his bed and stays wracked by red viscous coughs. It was not too long back when a letter crawled in speaking of the an old debt that needed to be repaid. In his father's place Valentino Ricci is sent out and dispatched to settle matters of a time past.

[User]
Val looked on this possibly bungling gang of 'cotectives,' after that James fella ran on in. As one of the first men in the house Val felt it was appropriate to offer out some of those fancy new Camels, after all "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarrete," well acording to the ad. Val handed out a smoke to everybody who wanted one before lighting up his own and took a drag.

" I'm Val, nice to make your acquaintance." He looked at him up and down, James definitely seemed the meek type. The bible says the meek will inherit the Earth, but Val was sure that was a typo. James seemed about the same age, but they seemed to have taken two very different streets in life. Ferd seemed very preoccupied with the kitchen window again. He gave Ferd a soft thump on the shoulder,

"Hey pal everything alright?"

[Assistant]
Ferd Smith

 As Richard walked up the stairs Ferd responded, "Ferd or Fred are both fine with me, I've been called worse things." He smiled at his own joke. He furrowed his brow at Richards comment about the house not looking very good a few years back. True the first floor had always been a bit messy, but was the man blind? Rot and decay covered nearly every inch of the place, save for the outside. Ferd felt the corner of his mouth tugging down into a concerned frown. Hopefully Richard wasn't one of those detectives that only accepted the cold hard reality they were used to. That would be a bit uncomfortable.

 "You mentioned a connection in Boston? What's the name, I'm from those parts myself, maybe I know him." Ferd commented distractedly. He'd been hired to find a book huh? Didn't sound very outside of Jeremy's realm of interest, but why in the world hadn't he just gone and done it himself? At the mention of North Africa Ferd's ears perked up. Really? Was Richard saying that because Jeremy had told him about the cave he was looking for, or had the book Richard had recovered mentioned Africa? Was it possible Jeremy had gotten ahold of one of those journals he'd been so interested in a few years ago?

 Ferd had to admit being here with out permission didn't exactly look good. They should probably make their presence known to the local authorities sooner rather than later. Ferd thought he remembered Richard mention something about some peeper hanging around nearby. One of them should probably go check that out.

 Val's hand on Ferd's shoulder was a surprise. Ferd looked at the slightly shorter man. Interesting bloke this one, not the callous sort of criminal, then again he might merely be checking in on Ferd out of self preservation. It didn't pay to have jumpy unreliable along on a heist.

 Ferd gave Val a half smile, "Yeah everythings fine Val. Thanks for going along with me just now." Ferd nodded at the door, "I think I'm gonna take a quick ankle outside, Richard mentioned something about something about some dewdropper kickin around outside. I'm hopin it's just some Jack out on a bender, but you never know. After than I think I'll head down to the local bull pen." Ferd jermed a thumb towards the stairs Richard had just waltzed up. "Ole Rich makes a point, we don't need the coppers comin in and gettin the wrong idea." Ferd stood up from the wall strolled towards the door.

 Almost on a whim he turned back to Val and said, "Wanna come along? Thought I'd try and find me a quilt along the way, might not be a bad idea to have us a chin." With another nod at the stairs Ferd went on, "Rich like as not can handle the snoopin here for now, to many bodies ed just get in the way." Ferd turned to the other two men and said, "One of ya's is welcome to come along as well, but we'd best at least make sure there's two of us together at all times. Oh and if the two that stay end up blowin outa here before me an whoever gets back they outa leave a note. Least that's what I'd say we should do." Ferd stopped waiting for an answer, still working through what little information he'd gotten his hands on at this point. He had some general leads at this point, but as usual nothing concrete.

[User]
Val took a drag of his smoke as Ferd said everything was fine. It really didn't make much sense as he did run out into the street yelling about some mark on the window. Either Ferd was really losing his beans or some wild shit is really going down.

"I'm down for a quick hoofin' I'm pretty sure breathing in all this stuff isn't the best for the old lungs." He took another hit of his cigarette, "Besides my nonna taught me how to quilt so I got you covered." Val chuckled to his own joke and walked out onto the porch, the gang's little peeping Tom was still living up to his name.

"Good news Ferd, our pal looks to be keeping an eye on this shit hole for us."

[Assistant]
Richard Barker

 As Richard ascended the moudly stairs of what both looked and smelled more and more like an abandonded shithole of a house, he was pleasently surprised to have none of the fellow occupatents attempt to stop him. Clearly they approved of his snooping tendencies more than any well-minded client would have if they only knew how he aquired informaton. Either that, or they were too busy with taking care of themselves down at the ground floor. Yeah, like normal people would do.

 At least something seemed off with Ferd again, a certain look of concern washing over his face as he replied back to Richard and telling him to call him whatever he wanted. Well that was a start, Fred was easier to say than Ferd. Then it was the matter of Richard's connection down in Boston. That part Richard chose to ignore, better to open that can of worms later when he didn't have so many balls to juggle. Also, he did not like the nickname Ferd gave him. Peaping over the railing of the stairs, Richard gave Fred one last look before he escaped their company in favour of the upper floor. "I heard that, Fred. Don't call me Rich, never been that my whole life."

 The upper floor looked almost as shitty as the lower one, save from the doors themselves not having massive holes in them. Richard made it upstairs, his eyes pearing over the landscape of rotting wood, carpet and furniture before him with his scanning eyes, noticing the disturbances on the floor. Clearly someone had been here recently, obviously Val or Fred who'd checked what looked like a study. That ruled out him checking that. Bedroom it was then.

 The door to what had been Jeremy's bedroom was weathered, but standing strong, and more importantly it stood locked. Richard grabbed the door handle with the end of his coat, feeling the door rattle by the lock still in the wall. Not to worry, the private dick knew what to do. Out of the few tools he kept hidded under his clothes, were a set of picks and wires. Lockpicks. Hey, you never knew when you'd need an extra set of universal 'keys', right? Soon enough Richard had picked the locked with an audible [b]click[/], pushing the door open and looking inside.

 "Jesus Christ, Jeremy wasn't just a pen-pal now was he…"

 Richard tried to take in the room as he slowly entered, though so many clues and strange bits stuck out to him and his police gut feeling. Firstly it was the fact that someone had upped and left in a hurry, packing their neccecities and gotten the hell out of dodge? That Harry fellow who was meant to keep the house under wraps? He shouldn't have had access to the room, but who else?

 Clothes rotted strewn around the room, the only pieces of junk resembling any kind of orderly mess the pieces of paper and photographs around the room - either neatly lain down on Jeremy's desk or hung up on the wall, strings running from one photograph and another. String, red string, a colour of warning. "Jeremy, you're a bit of a coockoo, ain't ya?" Richard asked himself, taking a deep drag of his cigarette before continuing his snooping.

 Which was only getting weirder and weirder.

 In one moment none of this mady any sense to the New York detective, only the left-overs of a rambling looney now half-way across the world chasing three-headed giraffes on the African savannah…but in another moment Richard saw something shine from the pictures, notes and red string - Logic, coherent thoughts, clues. Missing people's reports, coordinates, photographs of random objects and locations tied to the former…and all of them leading back to that Dark Continent to the white man.

 "Now this is a Chinese angle if I've ever been thrown ass first into one…"

 Richard stood by himself in the bedroom, smoking the cigarette and simply taking in all the clues around him, touching nothing and leaving all where he found it. He took some notes on the way, though the bizarre nature of the room would hardly leave a clean mark on his mind. For a moment Richard leaned out of doorway, shouting down to the others. "Hey fellas, how your looking going? You find anything yet?"

[User]
Ferd glanced over his shoulder at Richards shouted request. He stifled a smile and turned to holler up the stairs in reply, cupping one hand around his mouth.

"Sure thing Richard. No offense meant." He said. Ferd's ears pricked up at Val's word play. He chuckled out loud and smiled. He was starting to like Val.

It looked like neither James or Ambrose wanted to come along, so Ferd waved a quick goodbye and joined Val on the porch.

The rain hadn't let up, though Ferd knew it was wishful thinking to hope that it would have in the short amount of time since they'd all walked into the house.

He turned to look for the man Richard claimed he had seen standing out in the street. When Val spoke up again Ferd was surprised. How on earth had he found the man? He couldn't see as much as a silhouette in this fog. He followed Val's gaze and squinted as hard as he could. There? Maybe that was the man? He could just make out what looked like an arm holding what he assumed was a lit smoke of some kind. As the point of blurry red light moved up to where a man's head might be Ferd felt safe assuming that was the man he was looking for.

"Well shall we?" Ferd asked Val, waving an arm in front of himself as he walked off the porch. "Onward Chauncey!" Ferd called into the fog as he strolled toward the fellow in the fog. He wasn't to concerned about the man, after all if he was dangerous he probably would have done something by now. Still it would pay to be careful. Ferd made sure to keep in step with Val, thinking that the buddy system might be the only defense available to him at the moment. He'd have to get his hands on a pistol soon. He still had a bad feeling about this case.

[Assistant]
The fog seemed to swell up around the two as they left the safety of the porch. Val's hand was securely around his gun, slowly becoming a common occurrence in the city of Arkham. They walked side by side slowly approaching the red glare that symbolized the group's constant onlooker.

"Hey pal, what are you looking at? Got something to say?" Val let off in his angry Chicago inflection. However this man was none to impressed by his bravado and continued smoking. Val looked back at Ferd, almost saying "your turn" with his body language. For Val people generally responded to these aggressive tactics, so maybe it was just some Yankee thing to ignore an inquiry, but hey maybe Ferd can crack this nut. If not most people do respond to quick knee capping.


[System]
Gender: Male

Age: 17

Appearance - Nettaiya generally disobeys the dress-code in school, wearing his signature black jacket adorned with a myriad of bright badges and logos. He has sharp, short brown hair and brown eyes to match. He is quite short for his age and lacks any muscle - in his eyes, exercise is an action of futility.

Occupation: Student

Personality: Nettaiya is loud and abrasive - a self-centred boy who thinks the world of himself and little of his peers. He is a notorious loudmouth, though he rarely backs up the general big-talk that he spouts. He believes himself to be a genius, a poet, and the most important person ever to have graced the earth.

Power: The ability to attract and repel objects in the space around him. Nettaiya can pull any loose objects towards himself and fire them away from himself at will. Unfortunately, Nettaiya is damned if he's ever going to train his powers - he can only move extremely light objects, and with negligible velocity.

Color: Scarlet

Bio: Born to progressive and un-inhibitive parents, Nettaiya was generally allowed to do whatever he wanted to for the duration of his school-career. This freedom and sense of self-importance gradually blossomed into an almighty ego - an ego fuelled further by the bizarrely high scores that Nettaiya received in school tests and exams. Determined that he was a genius, Nettaiya continued to belittle the people around him until he was gradually shunned, though this social exile had little impact on him as he had scarcely noticed anyone else to begin with.

Naturally, the bizarre text-message that accompanied his new powers came as a great shock to Nettaiya; it was a hassle that he wanted no part of. Instead, he decided to keep his powers hushed up, watching keenly for any other 'gifted' students to observe and manipulate.

[User]
Takeshi Kiski was having an odd day. This was in part, due to the complete lack of sleep he got. The room spinning every now and then when he blinked or closed his eyes did nothing to help how he was feeling that day. And having school just made trying to keep himself awake just that much worse. He was lucky though, they had some more interesting material today in several classes, which allowed him to zone out of his current state and go into his realm of focus, leaving behind the world around him, just as it did him.

He also thought back on *why* he was up the whole night. The answer being simple: He had recieved a strange ass text last night that spoke of a war basically, super powers, and a whole lot of contestents- and he apperently had become one unknowingly. But the main reason was simpler than that- He could move shadows. He could bend, shape, mold, and he thought he might even be able to craft with them. He found this out last night. He just moved a few shadows, but suddenly, he knew he could move more. After all, if he couldn't, why would he get the creepy text? So he tried. And then he got sucked into a combination or reading, pondering, and testing out his newfound "ability." He wasn't doing all **too** bad with it....he thought anyway. But this is suppose to be a war, and he just got his materials for fighting in it. He was undoubtably behind. And that didn't bode well for his chances of winning, or surviving. Takeshi didn't like that. So devoted the night to teaching himself some simple tricks and the like that he could use to get himself by for now as protection. He didn't want to be like Emiya Shirou on his first night after all. Every night after didn't seem all that bad though, except for the ending. The endings always seem to suck for Shirou somehow....yeah. Maybe that *wasn't* the best of ideas to think up of or go with....

**"Yo, Kiski-san, could you help explain these problems for us?"** Another group of students asked for his help. Again. For the nth day in a row. He began to wonder why he bothered with the idiots. *No matter. I might as well just get this over with for now. Then I can read for a while instead.* Nodding to himself slighty, Takeshi went over to help the students, and let the most of the school day pass by relatively uninhibited.

[Assistant]
**"Wow..."** Altzer said aloud, looking down from the roof of the apartment complex. **"Where am I?"**

As he looked down, he couldn't recognize any landmarks to tell him where specifically he was in Ikebukuro. And he was sure this wasn't his apartment complex either. He'd spent maybe 2 hours now? Going rooftop to rooftop, searching for a good way to get home.

_I thought high places were the best for this kind of thing._ He thought.

He had been trying to get home quickly using his photon form, but he'd hit a wall maybe, or someone's mirror, or something; he bounced off it, he'd panicked and gone straight up and he'd gone on top of some apartment building.

Naturally, being the genius he was, he'd decided the best course of action was to go from rooftop to rooftop to hopefully find a way to get home without getting seen.

_I still have to get used to this, I suppose._

It reminded him of the day before, and the first time he'd used his powers...

---
_**The Previous day...**_

**"Wow..."** Altzer said aloud, looking down from the roof of his apartment complex. **"Where am I?"**

He was sure he'd been having breakfast just before. He'd sat down after making some instant ramen to enjoy it, when suddenly, he felt his stomach drop and he somehow ended up on the roof?

Suddenly, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out, and he was surprised to see he'd gotten a message? Then he read it.

...He felt that there should've been some X3 in there, or at least some :D.

_I guess there's the XOXO and all,_ He thought, _But still..._

There was also the murder part. But he'd sort of glossed over that because of how unreal the tone of the message had made it sound...

Then he got the other message. This one had a cartoonish face of a girl in it, along with the simple message: <_If you wanna survive, use this!_>.

_I'm sure an XD would've been fine..._ He thought as he looked at the screen. He started to download the 'Colour Tracker' and put his phone away to reassess his situation.

_So, I just got superpowers._ He thought. Several questions arose in his mind, such as: _How do these powers work? What's the limit on these powers? What's the limit on this wish?_ All however, became eclipsed by one other thing. _Wait! My ramen's getting cold and I still have school today don't I!_

With that, Altzer ran for the roof exit as fast as he could and returned to his daily life, or at least for a few more hours...

---
_**Present Day...**_

**"Wow..."** Altzer said aloud, looking down from the roof of another apartment complex. **"Where am I now?"**

As he'd been reminiscing, he'd decided to try his luck and fly around randomly, but he'd just ended up on another apartment complex which looked exactly the same as the one he was just on, and was definitely not his apartment complex.

_Maybe I should try again..._ He thought.

Then he looked down at his watch. _Ahhh! I have to get home already!_ Looking around desperately, he decided to try his luck at ground level.

He looked back down over the side of the apartment complex, and saw that it was home to a deserted alleyway. _Good._ He thought.

Climbing onto the edge, he stood up and jumped off into the air. As he started to fall, he focused and he felt the now familiar feeling of change.

He felt time slow down suddenly, and he saw his vision seemed to disintegrate as his body changed into photon form. He couldn't see while in Photon Form, but he could sense where the Photons that made up his body were going.

When he shifted in and out of his Photon Form, a large amount of his Photons were scattered which he somehow knew made a large flash, but had the added benefit of giving him something similar to echo location.

After school the previous day, he'd spent most of the day practicing controlling his Photon Form. As he did so, he discovered a few curious facts. He could change himself and his clothes into Photon Form as well as what he was holding to a certain extent. How his power judged stuff to be either held or clothing, he didn't know. He could change his bag if he was holding it into Photon Form, but he couldn't change a held item any bigger than a pen.

The feeling of his hypothetical Photon Form Feet touching solid ground snapped him back to reality and he instantly changed back into physical form before he bounced off the ground.

As time returned to normal speed, and his vision reconstructed, he realized he'd made a mistake.

**"Whoops, is this my battle form?"** Looking down, he saw he was wearing his 'battle uniform' which he'd designed and committed to memory the day before. He was wearing some clothes which he though would look cool, and he'd sliced off some extra height to convert the mass into extra muscle for running and climbing.

He'd also made himself look about 12 years old, mainly for cosmetic purposes.

He'd found out the previous day that he could manipulate and change his physical form. He also found that he couldn't do anything more than his mass allowed, as his power clearly followed the laws of physics.

For some reason, he couldn't change the mass of anything that wasn't 'his'. How his power decided ownership he also didn't know.

**"Ahhh, whatever."** He said dismissively. As long as he didn't run into anyone he knew, it would probably be fine to run around in his Battle Form. He did look just like a kid really, and kids didn't get judged too much for wearing weird clothes.

Also, most of the other students were probably at home by now, so he was probably fine unless they were running as late as he was.

Altzer walked to the mouth of the alley he was in, and looked both ways, looking out for anyone who would potentially recognize him.

_Good thing my parents went away for a week._ He thought as he looked. _They'd probably have a lot of questions if I came home like this._

The boy didn't notice, but as he ran into the rushing crowds, a mysterious cloaked figure materialized in the alleyway. The figure raised his hand, and an ornate gothic coffin slowly appeared, as if pulled from the very fabric of reality itself by an invisible hand.

As the coffin materialized, the figure pulled out a modern smartphone, and seemed to study the screen for a few moments.

A few seconds later, the figure put the phone away and proceeded to open the coffin and step inside its dark confines. The coffin closed, and a few seconds it later disappeared the same way it had materialized.

[User]
Despite Nettiaya's best efforts to concentrate in class, he simply could not focus. That strange message last night... Who on earth could have sent it? He'd tried replying - demanding further explanation, or even exemption fell the damn thing, yet he'd gotten nothing. It shouldn't really have bothered him - a joke text like that - yet he couldn't get it out of his head.

It certainly didn't help that, for whatever unfounded reason, he felt somehow... different. Ever since that message had arrived, he'd felt a niggling change in his own body; as though he'd grown some new muscle that he had yet to flex.

How troublesome... Not to mention the fact that, if this entire thing was true, he would shortly be finding himself faced with a violent crop of jumped-up teens, all hell-bent on murdering each other for a wish. How pathetic... It was so typical of his unenlightened peers to ditch their humanity in a quest for power.

If not for that stupid colour-tracker app, Nettaiya could have quite happily hidden for the duration of the 'war', watching with a sigh as the other colours tore themselves apart. As it stood, he was in trouble. The moment someone locked onto him, he would be an easy target. He hadn't even found out his powers yet...

This was all such a mess yet, somehow, Nettaiya didn't feel at all frightened. If push came to shove and he did find himself targeted by another teen, then he'd be able to think of something; some means of escape. There wasn't a single kid out there who could face up to him strategically - he was a genius after all. Nettaiya tapped his phone through his pocket. The first step would be to locate any colours around him. The next step would be to watch them carefully, noting their abilities and likely weaknesses. Most importantly however, was the third step. To hide amongst the crowd - to cling to groups in order to shield himself. His foes would scarcely be able to pick him out as a target if he hid in a crowded room. Grinning, Nettaiya began to scheme - drawing up plans in his head. Perhaps all this would be fun after all... Provided it was someone else on the front-line, and Nettaiya could watch.


[System]
**Class**: Cavalier (Red)

**Age**: 24

**Sex**: Male

**Appearance**: As the Class section briefly mentioned, Marius falls under the 'Red-Cavalier' archetype and therefore dons a suit of red armor (I personally prefer the FE7 armor, but if I need to use the Awakening armor, so be it). His physical build is similar to Sain and Kent (from FE7), although his hair and eyes do not match his armor, like the previously mentioned cavalier-pair. Instead, they are dark brown and blue, respectfully. Furthermore, unlike the previously mentioned cavaliers, Marius has trimmed facial hair, which has a slight reddish tint.

**Equipment**: Iron Lance (40/40), Bronze Sword (50/50), Javelin (25/25), Vulnerary (3 uses)

**Personality**: Marius is a serious and dedicated knight of Ylisse. While he does possess a softer side of his personality, he usually masks it with his seriousness and dedication, which sometimes makes himself seem cold to others, even though he has the best attentions in mind. In war, one's mind must be focused on the task at hand and Marius follows that philosophy to the dot of an 'i'.

Marius is also a pious follower of Naga. It sickens this knight of Ylisse to fight is fight against fellow worshippers of Naga, but he also cannot stand by and watch the will of Naga be bent to the whim of mortal leaders. With more and more blood of the followers being shed, Marius must console himself that such violence shall prevent an even greater evil.

Beyond this, Marius is a loyal friend and ally, even if his serious and focused nature might make it seem otherwise.

**Biography**: Marius was from a long line of lesser commanders of Ylisse and he chose to follow in his ancestors footsteps. Once, when Marius was still young, the knights of Ylisse had in their stables a great horse that would not allow any mortal man to mount it. However, one day, the men found Marius with that great horse and they were surprised at how calm the horse was. They were even more surprised when it allowed Marius to climb onto its back. From that day on, Marius called the horse Bucephalus.

In the present day, Marius, along with his steed, Bucephalus, served in the knights of Ylisse. With the aid of Bucephalus, Marius proved to have great potential for advancing through the ranks of the knights of Ylisse. Once the news broke out about the crusades declared by the Church of Naga, Marius held distain in his heart against this decision. How could humanity know the whims of the gods? But due to his nature, he hid his distain under his dedication to the state, standing by one phrase: regi patriaeque.

[User] Nephene momentarily halted her... consumption of the apparently quite delicious gruel. "Hmmm i do like a good drink, i'd appreciate that greatly I would." She replied almost mimicking his accent at the end of his sentence. He talked funny, maybe people thought it was heroic, maybe she should try talking funny. She considered this revelation carefully while staring into the glop inside of her bowl. It seemed he was rough around the edges but his good natured tone took the edge of his jibs. He had called her lancelot lassie, maybe she could use that, THE LANCELOT LASSIE COME TO SAVE THE DAY. Hmmmm lassie didn't really fit though. Maybe if she changed it to lady...

[Assistant]
Some time had passed since Marianne had fallen asleep, and it was still night when she found herself blinking awake. Mumbling some mismatched hexes to herself, she gently nudged Jacob away before realizing that she had indeed slept in his arms.

This knowledge alone was enough to emit a dark blush on her cheeks and she instantly sat up to watch her sleeping leader more intensely. Giggling slightly, she spent a good two minutes in deep silence simply…well, er, watching him.

"Hmm…fearless leader is so cute when he's unconscious~ Did he really mean all those things to me….ah, that makes him so…even now, he's still so interesting."

Reaching over, Marianne cradled the eye not covered by his eye-patch and began to fondle the lid tenderly. With delicate fingers, she opened his eye, stared at his pupil directly, and then closed it back up. She continued this for quite some time, humming to herself in a quiet tone.

"Jacob, Jacob, tasty, yummy Jacob….open, close….open, close…open, close…."

[User]
Jacob groaned as he awoke opening his eyes, the uncovered one was greet with the sight of Marianne, how much had he had at dinner? Oh right, she had been creeping in his room and given him a gift then she got scary and fell asleep on him. Well at least he hadn't done anything he would regret, right? He sighed and slowly sat up. "Marianne, I need to work. Why don't you head back your room, I'm going to up most of the night."

He got up slowly patting her head before walking over to his desk small litter with candles and letters. He began to scribble down notes and write to knights and nobles. He would need to get noble's to support the Exalt, these letter would help to make them see reason, each of them would addressed from him. It could only get better, well he hoped maybe the church hadn't sent a assassin out after him.

[Assistant]
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Thalia instinctively sat up straighter, a hint of tension back in her shoulders. Her demeanor, which had been slowly becoming more easy-going, immediately went straight back to that well-practiced respect that she used when speaking to nobles and superiors. "Sir Isacc," She greeted, inclining her head towards him with a smile, "My apologies for having left dinner so abruptly. What brings you here?" Food was unlikely since he had just dined with the Exalt and the Champion, so...just wandering the grounds, perhaps?

She apparently decided to take up the job of introductions, as she gestured towards the man who sat across from her. "This is Sir Lorne. And, um..." Apparently that was the end of that introduction, as she wasn't quite sure what else to say. Thalia realized that she hadn't asked a lot about him herself, so the most she could really offer was his name.

Fortunately, Jerod made his way over to them then, and his greeting caused her to perk up and look around. Realizing that there was another young woman sitting near by--one that she recalled having seen arrive with the rest of the group earlier that day--the pegasus knight spun around on her seat to face her. "Oh, my apologies! We'll be traveling together from now on. My name is Thalia. And, um," Lips curled into a small grin, she shook her head at Jerod's offer, "Thank you, but I'll make do with my water. My alcohol tolerance is rather..." The girl trailed off in embarrassment.

[User]
Isacc noticed Thalia's reaction to him talking he wondered if maybe she just felt a little tense around nobles or just tries to be as polite as possible he knew it was just politeness but he didn't think he should be treated differently beacuse of his upbringing but he may aswell just accept it for now but maybe comment on it. He also noticed she said the barbarians name Lorne it was somewhat weird sounding but a names a name so doesn't matter.

Deciding to be polite to Thalia's question Isacc in his usual calm voice with a smile said. I couldn't fall asleep so I was checking if there was anybody to talk to in here...Oh also Thalia I know I'm a noble but I'd like if you could treat me like you would anybody else I don't want to make you think beacuse I'm a noble I'm special or above anyone else here I'm not I'm your equal.

Isacc then began to look more at the others in the room then looked at Lorne for a second to see if he could get any hints towards what the man may be thinking at the moment. Isacc then decided seeing as their as empty as they are and there is alot of free space he'd practice with his sword a little bit by swinging at the air for awhile.

Isacc unsheathed his Iron sword Meline gave him early that day and began to swing it abit to get better used to the blade he swung in swift yet skilful swings much like you'd expect from someone whose trained using a sword from a young age. Isacc also in a calm voice while practising said.

 "So I'm a little curious what do you all think of our leader and the journey we will all be going on? And a little on why you decided to come along?"

[Assistant]
Lorne did his best to hide his annoyance at how Thalia quickly switched from her more normal posture to an uptight one in the presence of the noble. It always irritated him, how the high born would command such respect to those lower than them, simply because they got squeezed out of a certain hole. It didn't help that he wouldn't get to know the girl very well when she was in 'knight' mode, thanks to her overwhelming sense of duty. Having earned his ire, it was probably for the best she introduced him to this 'Issac' fellow, lest he insult the high born boy with his attitude. Instead he took another long drink of the ale in his tankard.

The fact another distraction came stumbling along was probably for the best, a drunken fellow with a beard who seemed familiar enough with everyone present but himself. His little remark about the frozen north earned an annoyed grunt from Lorne. "Same reason you dragged your drunken ass out of whatever hole you came from, no doubt." He answered casually, making no efforts to hide his hostility. Another lady came along, but he bothered not introducing himself to her, seeing as though so many others had already begun conversing. He'd rather bury his face in the booze than try to strike up conversation with a bunch of people he didn't know, or care to know in some cases.

He did decide to answer the noble's question as to why he was following their 'chosen one' into battle, though. Even if the guy was haphazardly swinging a sword about as a means of showing off, he assumed. "Gold's all the reason I need to fight here. Doesn't much matter what I think of him if he's paying the bill."

______

"You're more useful to me alive than dead. I'd like it if you got into less life threatening situations in the future." Fyra responded in a matter-of-factly tone as she turned her back towards the merchant whose company she had come into. "For your information, I do smile around our customers. It's the reason we have all that gold you like to slobber over. The dragoness quickly tacked on. She rolled her eyes at his attempts to bribe her off with frozen confections, instead focusing on a quick jog towards their run away cart. Picking up just enough speed to catch it, the Manakete hooked a hand around the back and hoisted herself up into the back of it, resting comfortably as the vehicle continued to rush out of control away from Adam.

[User]
Marianne turned towards the desk, watching Jacob work in silence. How could he turn her away so easily? After all that had occurred a few hours before…she resolved then and there to ignore his orders.

Huffing, she crawled deeper into his bed and placed her head on his pillow. He could spend the rest of the night plotting battle strategies, but frankly, she was getting some much needed sleep.

"Fearless leader is so busy," she muttered. "Always looking after the others. How interesting he is. So very interesting. I'm staying in here tonight," she said with finality, already closing her visible eye to reinforce that statement.

[Assistant]
"You're more useful to me alive than dead. I'd like it if you got into less life threatening situations in the future." She spouted with a fiery attitude. Fit for someone of dragon-kin as he thought while she passed beside Adam. He turned his boy around towards the direction of which the runaway-cart had fled to. "For your information, I do smile around our customers. It's the reason we have all that gold you like to slobber over." Adam could only laugh, for it is the truth.

"Ha ha ha! And keep doing that I might start liking you more than gold." His cackles came to a stop once he realised that Fyra was nowhere in sight. It took him awhile until he decided; "Pah. My goods!" He followed the trail down by a quick burst of running until he could see it in the distance. He just imagined that she would give him the tongue as he struggled to catch the crazed cart move farther away...

(Presumably, we've arrived at Longfort by some time later)

The cart came to a complete stop once the brick walls of Longfort welcomed them with guards and archers sharply looking to the small party that was arriving soon and the border officer soon attended to the cart driver where he told everything that had happened in a quick and rushed babbles. A few minutes fly by and Adam arrives at the scene, harshly exhausted from all of the running he had been doing trying to make the cart slowdown so he could catch up, and soon keeled over to hug the earth. "Not... Enough... Energy... To sell..." He yelped out.

"Hmm? Secret Seller? What are you doing here?" The border officer questioned.

"Umm... He the y'ung 'un I b' t'lkin' sir!" The cart driver pointed toward Adam and the officer eyed at the girl behind them.

"Then who's she?" Adam wanted to say something, but he was still trying to catch his breath.

[User]
MariusAfter the squires had begun finishing up the inventory, Marius left the young men busy at work. The Ylissean knight was disappointed at how many of his companions, or the lack there of, showed up for inventory duty. If Marius could not count on them to do the simplest of all tasks, just showing up for inventory, how could he ever begin to trust that they would fulfill his or her own part on the battlefield? If he needed help on the battlefield, would they simply not show up?

Marius was tired from the events of that evening, so he headed off for his bedchamber. On his way there, he had passed the entrance to the mess hall. While he could have decided to join some of his companions as they ate, Marius just kept walking down the hallway. If his memory served him correctly, the only individual who bothered to show up was that Jerod character. When he first caught sight of this mercenary, Marius assumed that he might be a man of less than noble character. However, seeing that Jerod was one of the few Shepherds to have come down and help with the inventory, either Marius was wrong about that warrior's character, or the character of the rest of this colorful crew were even worse. Anyways, there was not a need to be drinking any alcohol at this time. They were going to be marching northward the following day. While he could not speak for the others, Marius knee he could not be hung over on that journey.

Once Marius had arrived at his bedchamber and had finished preparing himself for bed, he climbed under the covers of his bed and rested his head on his pillow, allowing sweet sleep relax his mind so that he would be all refreshed for the coming day's march.