[System]
* Age: 16
* Gender: Female
* Race: Human
* Appearance: Armored, Unarmored. She is 5'1, with pale skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Her armor is silver with gold decorations. Her sword has a golden hilt.
* Personality: Fanilly is one to take her duty seriously. This is both due to a belief in the cause of the Iron Rose Knights, and a severe insecurity and self-consciousness about her position. She is well aware that she is young and comparatively inexperienced. She knows that she is only in the position she is because of her birth, as she was born under a full moon. This only makes her feel worse about it. For Fanilly Danbalion, captain of the Iron Rose Knights, she can't help but feel that they have a point. She's young. And even though the founder was the same age, she was viewed as something miraculous, almost a saint. Should Fanilly truly be leading them? This weighs heavily on her mind, and thus one of her biggest desires is to prove that she is. In spite of her young age, in spite of how this tradition has worn thin for some, Fanilly wants to prove that she is a worthy captain of the Iron Rose Knights above all else. Aside from this desire, the girl is somewhat socially awkard, sometimes unprepared for conversation. However, she is not really shy and can generally deal with attending various functions in the capital, as is expected of the Iron Rose Knights. She is dedicated to the purpose of the order, to defend the innocent and protect the land of Thaln. However, the doubts surrounding her have lead to a lack of confidence in herself. Fanilly has a younger sister and as a result has a somewhat stronger affinity for children and desire to keep the safe, but as someone dedicated to the Iron Rose Knights' cause she wishes to protect all those in need. While she has a lacking in confidence, she retains some pride in her training, as she has proven to be skilled at swordplay in spite of her youth.
* Brief Backstory: Fanilly was a daughter of the Danbalion family, a noble family already. While they had never been knights, her birth on a full moon immediately made her a potential future candidate for the Iron Rose Knights' captain. She was simply needed sooner then many expected. And so she experienced training for several years leading up to her instatement as the Captain of the Iron Rose Knights. Initially she was confident in herself, but it quickly became clear that even some within the Knights had grown tired of the tradition of selecting a maiden born on a full moon to be the captain. This wore on her quickly, and has lead to her desperation to prove herself.
* Equipment: Fanilly wears a well-made set of somewhat ornate armor. She wields a fine longsword in her right hand and a dagger with a curved hilt for trapping weapons in her left.
* Skills: Fanilly has experienced extensive training in swordplay, specifically in the use of a longsword in both hands, or paired with a unique parrying dagger.

[User]
Initially, Tanda had meant to stay out of the way of the the business with the nobleman and his retinue. Really, she had. Even backward peasants like her had seen the way a nobleman- any nobleman- would act when they felt they needed something taken care of immediately. The High Patriarch relied on his religious dictates to seize sheep and goats for sacrifice to the Green God. And Tanda still remembered the time long ago when their current Lord's father came and demanded a tithe of crops for his men-at-arms in another of Taln's wars. All those times, the Hillfolk had bowed and offered up what they had in the name of the Green God.

Seeing a nobleman grabbed by his collar and carried about like a ragdoll in the hands of a giantess?

That had never happened before in the Holds.

So of course she stared like a dumbfounded idiot at the scene in front of her, subconsciously shuffling behind the shield offered by the man- Markus. She'd already reached into her bag for a stone to slip into her sling if things escalated, though she wasn't sure how much good it might do here. She'd only ever tossed stones at unarmored brigands and wild wolves. Everyone here seemed to be in a state of armament- any fight that broke out between the Knights and the Nobleman, Sunfield, would be short and bloody.

"Ah, Tanda," she said as the Nobleman continued to receive a verbal and physical thrashing at the hands of the Knights. "M'name's Tanda, m'lord. Just Tanda. The Priestess of Mayon told me I've no surname by the laws of Taln. I've come in from the Green Hills up north. Looking to reclaim some things of my family's here, and maybe squire for one of the Knights if ye'll take me." She paused, blinking as the nobleman was still being berated by yet ANOTHER Rose Knight and the Giantess dangling the Sunfield by one hand. "Does this... often happen here?"

Thief

[Assistant]
— Candaeln —
"Ummmm... I thank you?"

She lowered Livius carefully to the floor before removing her helmet and facing down at Liliana.

"I am Salz, deposed princess of the Amarr kingdom come to follow in the footsteps of my lords youngest son and pledge myself to the service of the Iron Roses. I feel a great debt to the kingdom of Thaln for being a new home to my siblings."

The giantess thought that should easilly sum up who she was and why she was there. Salz then turned to Vizer, who seemed much more adept at dealing with other people.

"Is this a matter that requires the attention of the captain herself? Or is it that your master is the one that requires the captain?"

with:
Thief@Raineh Daze@ghastlyInc@Feisty-Pants@Aleranicus

[User]
Livius

"Ah. Finally." Livius huffs as Slav drops him, addressing Belwiss. "Someone of a house worth speaking to. Though I am going to elect to ignore the comment about my family's level of sense." He says, dusting himself off. Vizer just rubs his eyes and takes out a rolled map, gently pinning it to a clear spot on the table. "Mi'lord..." He begins

"oh. Right. Well, I've no intention of leaving until I'm certain the captain will address this personally, Belwiss is reliable enough." He says, walking over to the map, pushing pasted the cloaked trio. The map shows the boarders along Thaln's northern side, he points to the middle of Ithillin.

"Approximately four months ago I received a message from a long term trading partner that a shipment of materials I use for my research would be delayed a month or so due to what, at the time, was presumed a bandit raid on a village under her care." He says, gently placing a pin into the location of the village in question. "The damage according to her report, was extensive. The village itself was naught but ash by the time her forces arrived, and the...what? Two? Three?"

Vizer sighs. "Two sir." Livius waves a hand dismissively. "Right right. Two. Two survivors reported...lacking any polite way to put this. Ritualized mutilation, murder and sexual assault of almost all residents." He adds bluntly.

"Two weeks later, a similar incident takes places in a larger township, under a neighboring lord lands. This one with a fortified barracks and a decently sized contingency of some of Ithillin's finest, seemingly decimated over night." He says, placing another pin on the map.

"This pattern has continued along several villages and towns in the region, each increasingly skirting the Thaln boarder." He adds five more pins to the map. "Given their trajectory, its likely this organization will move on to Thaln territory sooner rather than later."

He pauses, looking at the grey haired knight, waiting to see if she or the others want to ask questions before he continues on.

[Assistant]
Lilianna Belwiss

As Livius continued explaining, the knight's expression grew more and more clouded, fists clenched as she impatiently waited for an opportunity to extricate herself from the conversation: one that, fortunately, presented itself sooner rather than later. "Please, wait a moment before continuing."

Lilianna made an about turn, crossing to the tables at a measured pace and saying something to one of the knights seated there, a message that rippled through the hall as the fencer returned to the Sunfield. The tightness in her fists was gone, though not the frown. "I have asked those stationed here to prepare to move out. If there is trouble as you say, then we cannot afford to wait on the captain's return to protect our borders. Nor can we reject assistance, though formally joining must be put off until this matter is resolved."

There was a reason for half the knights' staying behind even when there was a fort under imminent attack, and it wasn't because of laziness. This way, unless too many resisted the idea, it would be easy for them to respond to suitable threats even in the absence of a clear chain of command... and ritual murder on Thaeln's border was a better cause for immediate reaction than most.

[User]
"....while your enthusiasm is commendable, charging broadsword first has already been tried. To no good results." Livius says, cleaning the underside of a nail while the grey knight moves through the hall. "That and I would not waste your or my valuable time by coming here to throw you at an enemy without a plan. Vizer, if you please." He says, giving the other man the floor.

"Yes mi'lord. Thanks to the efforts of the Royal Scouting Guild we've been able to determine the purposes behind these attacks." He produces a small booklet, the image of a nude goblin like creature with a large...uh....sword emblazoned on the front. "They call themselves the Branches of B'vitol, some old local god of fertility and the harvest. Long since relegated to a piece of local color to be honest with you."

He continues. "These men and women seem to think their leader, who've we've yet to identify, is the reincarnation of their god, one with a particular hard on for destroying all known varieties of mage craft. See's it as an abomination against nature or the like. The manifesto is theirs, recovered from the third site."

"They also have some rather unflattering predictions on Reon and Mayon which I wont go into." He continues. "We estimate their numbers to be around ten or so cells totaling 100 individuals, operating semi-independently across the wilds of Ithillin, only coming together for raiding. We also strongly suspect they've received some degree of military training, as their grasp of guerrilla tactics is well beyond your average bandit group."

"If we were to go in, we'd be fighting a highly distributed group on their own territory. And given the lack of success on Ithillin's part, I doubt you'd fair much better. Thus, in conjunction with a few select members of foreign nobles in Velt and Thaln, we've devised a strategy that should hopefully allow you to slaughter them in one stroke."

He places a new pin on the map, as well as drawing three lines forming a tight triangle between the three boarders. "We've taken the liberty of evacuating a near by village predicted to be along their path to a lords strong hold. After some length negotiations, the inhabitants have agree to resettle in Velt territory provided that Thaln will provide protection as they move through our lands."

"Officially speaking, the only members of the Iron Roses expected to participate is the good Captain as a sign of good faith. The rest of the provided guard will be..." he pauses to provide air quotes. " 'mercenaries generously provided by the houses of Thaln'."

"The hope is that given their recent strings of victories combined with the prospect of killing mages and a figure head of a rival religion will draw them out. As they cross the border to engage your forces, who they will believe to be an easy target, both Ithillin and Velt will heavily fortify their boarders, trapping them between yourselves and our allies. If all goes well, the lot of them will be dealt with with only one operation. After they've been dealt with, the remaining villagers are to be transported across the Velt boarder as planned."

[Assistant]
There was rather a lot that happened immediately after the arrival at the shrine. Umbra had to leave... due to the death of her father. She could hardly protest that, and now was quite simply not the time to. What could have killed an elven lord like that? Fanilly took a deep breath. For the moment, now was the time to investigate the shrine itself. While any death such as that was sad news, she had never met the elf. Perhaps, at the very least, they could discover some sign of what had occurred here. The small blonde gave a short prayer as she circled the shrine, slowly. She had been to the shrine three times prior, once on her first birthday, once again on her sister's first birthday, and finally when it was decided she would be the next Captain of the Iron Roses. Largely, it was a place of pleasant memories. And yet, the thieves and those who were using the symbol of Phoran Cal's Rebellion had met here?

"Search the area for any signs of what may have occurred here, anything at all," she began, as she strode forward... and stopped dead in her tracks.

Bones. Pure white bones. They had not, it seemed, been here for long. There was no sign of weathering, and yet they were picked clean. The skeleton grin of a skull stared up at her.

A skeleton with not a scrap of flesh on it lay on the ground, near the shrine.

"... Th... that's..."

Someone had died here? Surely, someone would have seen a body rotting away, it wasn't as if this shrine was an unknown location that no-one had visited... and there was no weathering to that skeleton. Those bones were pure white.

"... How..."

Fanilly approached the remains. There wasn't even a fracture, no signs of violence on the body... Fanilly couldn't say she was an expert, but she could at least recognize broken or shattered bone.

Meanwhile, Veileena Cal simply stood beside Haelstadt, looking rather annoyed at having to come along.


[System]
Race: Unicorn - Disguised as human
Apparent Age: Early 20's
Actual Age: Cannot remember
Appearance:
Profession: Lady of King Hagards Court
Possessions: None but her clothing
Skills/Magic/Talents: Healing, fearlessness when in danger, agility, elemental manipulation
Demeanour: The Lady Amalthea is a quiet and soft spoken woman wise beyond her years. She will be reserved and seemingly timid but more oft than not she is just being reserved and stand offish.
History: Amalthea remembers nothing of her life as a unicorn for she went into hiding long ago. She is plagued by dreams of her years before she touched by humanity that wake her in the night. Over the last year she has been a member of King Hagards court and though not a prisoner there she does not know where else to go other than wandering the near by village at the base of the castles standing upon the high cliff above the ocean below.

[User]
Niceties of company aside, there was always one simple request that always come too late for those that the Knight affiliated themselves with. The cautious sort that the girl claimed to be had made numerous flaws that wouldn't dissuade the least violent idiot, her demeanor was so pleasant and welcoming that the sarcasm danced in tandem with Kaite's demons. It was nothing to lose her grip over, although the 'innocent and coy' act was glaring in ways that made the Black Knight hesitate a step to regain distance so they wouldn't be tempted to do something silly like attack an unarmed girl for being unable to make up her mind.

Kaitra reached a hand under her helmet to do her best to rub her temples, "A fair point" she sighed, making judgments and deductions about the woman with the passing moments. If Kaitra had been wrong and the girl simply lived in the middle of nowhere, of course they'd have no clue who she was. The knight's heart sunk slightly, pushed back up with a dark force which time and time again had put her back on her feet when she thought the next step couldn't bear her weight.

I mean, it's not like I could go to town to get provisions if I needed to. If everyone knew the rules, then I'd surely starve...The curiousness was in how many lives such a fate could potentially save-hhhrrn...Or harm? I mean, it's not like I've done so much more good than harm. The merchants with their asking what I want. It was always so close. Technicalities kept me from speaking once the hunt was on and...I guess call me weird, but I knew what I was doing as long as there was no reason to feel threatened. I would rather weird-it-up on the first unguarded stranger in weeks that didn't try something than dick around in a thicket, trancing over the faces of people who didn't deserve my steel.

She blinked out of her thoughts at the mention of stew. "I haf fresh provisions if you vould allow me to...hrm..." her sentence halted, convinced that helping wasn't worth pushing for. In truth, it was difficult for Kaite to read the girl beyond the nonsense they were fed with being led on a winding path to nothing in Kaite's forest. As far as the knight knew, the girl thought she was a dunce with no experience in these parts...but that was hopefully the paranoia talking. Her voice began again after a moment of silence, accompanied by the jingling of coins as Kaite counter her gains. "I cannot go into town, alone...iz suspicious" she spoke in a serious tone, doing their best to drop their visor to hide their expressions, "Ehn I can pay you quite vell to let me stay for even just ze night. Zeh dirt unt stones pale to the simplest of roofs over mein head. Ehn...hrm...no, zeht vould be enough."
She hummed a soft sigh as she finished counting. Kaite's disappointment wasn't in her inability to carry her word with gold, but quite the opposite. The coins weighed heavily on her soul and she wanted to be rid of as much of the small fortune as she could. It was by choice that she didn't know how much she had, exactly, since every cent belonged to corpses left to rot by her hand. The murders were like a bad addiction she couldn't control. It was such a slippery slope that sometimes all it took was a passing glance of disgust to set her off. In this, the pleasantness of the girl was refreshing. Again, it wasn't so much that Kaite had a problem with sleeping in the woods, however tempting a weekend stay in a VIP suite worth of gold was to butter up her intended host to ask if she could fix herself a bath at the very least, but that the money wasn't worth its weight and the idea of sharing a meal with someone who wasn't being held at knife-point...

Fortune smiles on those who do not recognize the ebony glint. Kaitra simply wished to be a 'gentlemanly' guest somewhere away from accusing eyes.

[Assistant]
The guards turned and watched the exchange between the new comers and Molly. One of them arching a brow deeply. They had not had anyone dare come towards the castle in sometime and now there were two right there following the Lady Amalthea and she even seemed to welcome them in some distant manner.

 One guard glanced over towards the other before he spoke in a hushed voice that would ensure that his words would only be heard by his comrade in arms.

 "Stupid or ignorant?" the one guard asked.

 "Ignorant, they are not from these lands, they will learn soon enough," the other replied. "Arrogance or a naive heart will be their downfall."

 "And what of the smile on our Ladys lips?"

 "Have not seen such since Prince Leer, May he rest in peace," he said before lowering his head in respect.

 Their exchange had given Wally an opportunity to be able to sneak passed them unnoticed but some loose rock that fell quickly brought them back to attention even though they played it off as just the crumbling of an old castle.

[User]
Carver scratched the back of his head in confusion as he led August in the direction of the stables. "Train them... I hadn't thought of that sort of thing..." The idea seemed alien to Carver. As Amon put it, it was the sort of noble thing he should be doing - helping people help themselves. Perhaps it would be worth considering. "We shall see."

Taking August to the stables took but a moment, and he returned to the warning of Molly about the king. This caused him some amount of concern - he'd heard nothing good about this man so far. The knight would have to judge for himself, but so far he sounded like a tyrant; the sort to be removed from power rather than obeyed.

Amon had offered to speak for him, and discuss the audience over the meal. "This is a fine offer, friend. You seem to have the advantage of me in the application of your speech, and I would be glad to have you present my case in my stead." The knight leaned in closer, so his words would be audible only to his companion."Though... perhaps we should have this meal, and this discussion, sooner rather than later? I confess, I am ill at ease with things."

[Assistant]
Molly looked at them and nodded slightly before she placed the Lady Amaltheas cloak up to hang off a sharp jutting of stone from the wall. Pushing her hair back she glanced towards the top of the stairs and wondered to herself for a time before turning back to Amon and Ser Carver.

 "Yes, let me finish preparing the evening meal. You should be able to speak with the king come morning. He will be occupied this evening," she remarked as she wiped her hands on the tattered apron which hung around her waist.

 "You will forgive me, but we have no dining hall for guests, you are welcome to eat in the kitchen," she said in a remorseful voice. "After which I can show you to some quarters for the evening unless you would rather return to the village to dine and rest there."

[User]
Amon looked to his friend, his unease was not unfounded though Amon seemed more capable of hiding his discomfort. 'A wise plan Carver' Amon began but then Molly returned inviting them through to the kitchen for supper.

Amon followed after Molly, letting Carver walk behind him. Amon felt safer with the knight at his back, it was always better to have friends he had found. Amon took a seat with Ser Carver whilst they waited for Molly to finish cooking, not wanting to do discuss secret matters with strangers present, Amon decided to strike up the conversation they'd been having before entering the castle. 'So my friend I believe I was telling you about that fine armour you're wearing was I not? 'Tis an ancient thing to be sure, especially if it is from the Paladin Orders as I suspect. They were an ancient order of warrior knights bound to the service of Kallen's people, who were by their nature a peaceful people. Being so peaceful however, they soon became the target of less savoury types. But as they were beset, a warrior in white armour appeared in their midst. He held a flaming sword in one hand and smote the various enemies around him, or that's how the myth goes.' Amon smiled and chuckled slightly 'personally I don't think that part to be too ridiculous, the account only mentions fighting brigands hardly a challenge for a knight. Things get strange though, when they start mentioning an angelic host that accompanied the warrior. Anyway the story then says that he stayed amongst them for a few short years and taught those who were the most pious, brave and resourceful the ways of chivalry. From these initiates sprung the first Paladin order, who forged armour and weapons in the image of their saviour. Your armour bears a striking resemblance to the images of seen of the saviour of Kellen, so it is more than likely wrought by the hands of the Paladins of long ago. You should be honoured, it was said that such armour would only shield the virtuous, and that whilst the wearer trod the path of the righteous light he would not come to any harm.' Amon paused in his tale and smiled at Carver and Molly who had both been listening to the tale.

[Assistant]
Wally looked up as he heard the guards talking about something important. Something about a Prince and outsiders. Usually he would have listened to them but he needed a distraction. He ran across the wall as the rocks fell from where he went. Wally quickly dove in away from the guards line of sight. He stood there looking at the great hall looking building. Most of the guards were looking away from that area, so Wally ran towards the building as he climbed in through one of the windows near the top.

He looked down from one of the beams as he tried to listen in. Before he could do anything, he lost his footing and fell. The only reason that there was not a Wally shaped hole in the ground was that he grabbed one of the tapestries on the wall. It managed to hold his weight as he slid down to the ground. Wally looked up at the collected group before him.

"Well that could have gone better." He said looking over at them. "Uhh... Name's Fletcher." He said sounding unsure. This was not what he had wanted to do. It could have gone better.

[User]
Amon turned to the man who had rather artfully just fallen from the ceiling. He turned to Molly and Carver momentarily before wheeling back around to face the individual who had just joined them in such an unorthodox manner.

The figure introduced himself "Well that could have gone better." He said looking over at them. "Uhh... Name's Fletcher." He said sounding unsure. This was not what he had wanted to do. It could have gone better.

Amon stepped towards the figure and drew his sword from its sheath not sure what to make of this figure. Then he suddenly recognised him, his scrying glass seemed to burn within its case. The man who was out of place! He was certain of it, Amon said nothing, but continued to level his sword at the figure not daring to take his eyes from him. 'I've no idea who you are Fletcher' he began, addressing the figure 'But I am inclined to accost you for trying to enter a lord's home in such a manner, 'tis most unbecoming of a gentlemen to resort to such measures.'

[Assistant]
Carver had his blade in his hand the second he heard the crash behind him. He strode towards the prone man, his face impassive as he listened to the man's introduction.

Whatever reason this 'Fletcher' had for skulking about a castle, it couldn't have been a good one. To say it was 'unbecoming of a gentleman' as Amon had was quite an understatement. The knight pointed the blade at him and spoke with a tone of certainty and command that he had not known he possessed, "Arise then, Master Fletcher. State your purpose for being here tonight, creeping across the ceilings of your lord. Know that though I am a stern judge, I am merciful to those I deem deserving of it."

He glanced over to his new compatriot, who had adopted a similar stance. "I cannot speak for this one, however, so be mindful of your words."

[User]
Molly took a step back when the crash happened and looked at the man known as Fletcher oddly before shaking her head and placing her hands on her hips.

 "You are lucky the Lady Amalthea is already in her quarters," she quipped. Two men at arms came rushing into the great hall from the back stair case that led into the depths of the castles lower floors. Molly held up a hand and they came to a halt.

 "Just a bumbling thief from the looks of it, I believe Amon and Ser Carver have the situation under control," she said before waiving them off. They turned quickly and headed back from where they came.

 "Seems you two gentlemen will be earning you keep this evening, bring him with you and follow me," she said as she motioned with a single finger and began walking.

 The castle seemed to be set up with no direct route to any place in particular; winding stair cases cut short to floors and landings that went this way and that until eventually they ended up in a moderate sized room that seemed to be the kitchen.

 It was nothing grand and seemed more fitting for a small cottage than a castle. In the center was a table that took up much of the room with several stools and benches surrounding it. A small wood stove and buckets of water lined up on a shelf against the wall separated by cracked dishes.

 An odd looking black and white cat with a peg leg and a patch over one eye purred as it lay on the table. Molly scratched the cat behind the ear for a moment before she began to tend to what seemed like a stew bubbling in the cauldron hanging over the back wall hearth.

 "Just sit him down there," she said to those that had bothered to follow her.


[System]
Gender: Female

Age: 21

Career/Class: Courtesan/Duelist

Physical Description: Camilla is a medium sized woman around 5'5. She possess the slightly bronzed skin, angular features and dark hair common among Tileans. She has the smooth clean lines of a classical statue and the lean musculature of a dancer. Every part of her seems artfully contrived, as though she stepped from the canvas of a master painter. Camilla moves with deliberate grace which is appropriate to her profession.

Mental Description/Personality: Camilla is a fiery impetuous young woman. As a child she was selected from among orphan's for her physical beauty and raised to fill the role of Courtesan in the decadent courts of her native Tilea. Among her studies were poetry, dance, repartee, song, politics, literature, art and sword play.

Camilla is out of place in rough and dangerous situations, and although naturally adventurous and curious about the world she is no heroine. She has a fiery temper and has a tendency to act rather than to wait if given the chance. While technically trained with the sword, Camilla's education is that of the stylized art of the sword rather than the rough and brutal style of real combat, while she is perfectly comfortable fighting a duel to the tough for the entertainment of a crowd, she had little experience with real killing.

Camilla has a passing devotion to Randald and Shyalla, although she tends to focus on the world in front of her rather than the world beyond.

[User]
This coastline was unlike anything Amal had seen on the myriad of maps shown in the bazaars. Or was it? He vaguely recalled something akin to this place, roughly, but he was so battle fueled and blue balled that he couldn't think straight. He took deep breathes and calmed himself, but still it didn't come to him. "If there are not, at least there will be shelter," He said. Most people might think that questionable, but three walls and a roof was a luxury for him back in Araby.

He memorized the closest pyramid-settlement, and where they likely were roughly considering the lines that indicated from the ship not half a mile away. "There could be more ratmen between us and the city, not to mention in the city. But it's worth a look." Briefly he wondered about going in alone, since he was used to moving silently. But the jungle was new terrain for him, and he couldn't risk leaving Emmaline here alone. Feelings were so very limiting sometimes, but he found he wouldn't have it another way.

He found her looking flustered and understandably scared at the notion. She had many strengths he wish he had, but when it came to dangerous situations like this, peril was an old friend to Amal. The thief took her hand in his and rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand, lifting it up to kiss it. "You will be safe." He told her, and she calmed with an uneasy smile. "Very soon, we'll make it back to where we came from. We'll have food, wine, riches, and I'll fuck you on silk sheets."

The pleasant thoughts coupled with her serpent coiling about her arm and solidifying in a golden arm ring gave her new strength. The carpet now rolled within the rucksack, the two rogues entered the jungle proper. Less than a minute of bumbling through leaves passed, and Amal asked for the short sword so he could better chop through the vines. Even at the edge of it, the jungle was impossibly thick and teeming with noises from all around. Chirps and chitters were backdrop noises to hisses and ribbits all around them. It was so dark in there it felt like they had been thrown underwater again, but their eyes adjusted just well enough to see without bumping into most roots and critters.

The trees were strange in texture and differed every few feet, from palm trees to jungled trees with strange leaves of all different sizes. The humidity was still a new experience for the Arabyan, and he could only imagine it in the daytime. Something sinuous and snake-like but furred slid passed his foot, scuttling away as soon as he touched it. He cursed in Arabyan and chopped through another collection of vines, causing a bird to screech like a dying woman and fly away.

Amal held his hand back, bumping Emmaline's breasts. He steeled his mind from the thought of them and whispered. "Hold." to her, and both stopped for a moment, having realized the jungle's noises had died down save for a familiar noise that began to spread to all around them. A rat-like tittering that filled the jungle, and the smell returned ten fold. Immediately Amal looked for a tree to climb, grabbing Emmaline's waist only for another noise to sound in the jungle. It was a guttural and brutish `rup-rup-rup-rup` followed by an increasing amount of growls and roars. The trees around them seemed a flimsy wall from the noises that erupted just meters away from them, roars and terrified squeaks and cries of near human-like terror. Amal couldn't see anything, but he could smell blood in the air and he knew even without that terrible violence was being wrought for an agonizing amount of time.

After one last screech, the noises ceased utterly. Amal held Emmaline close, not daring to breath. Suddenly, a light materialized before their eyes, shadows dancing off the face that held it in its massive jaws. Even Amal was frightened when he saw the hulking creature, nearly twice the height of a man with a crocidilian head that could snap a tree in half, with thick limbs that could break stone walls with ease. Soon smaller reptilian's appeared, though they were still head and shoulders taller than men, deadly in appearance and baring fangs and claws that could rend stone and pierce mail. They held strange bronze and black steeled weapons, coated with blood and matted fur from slaying ratmen. Finally, a multitude of smaller lizardmen stood between and beside them, the size of the ratmen with large eyes and frills along their arms and heads. There had to have been three dozen of them, the majority comprised of the smaller creatures.

"Do you have a plan?" Amal and Emmaline asked one another simultaneously.

A diminutive smaller lizardman, with a headdress that looked just as extravagant as Emmaline's pocketed plumed tricone, only with even more feathers strode forth. It opened its mouth and hissed, splaying its arms as wide as it could. In the darkness it would hard to see its tiny teeth were it not for the light right upon him. It tilted its head and regarded Emmaline, before pointing at her.

"Sotek." Was all it said.

[Assistant]
Awkward silence hung for a moment, punctuated only by the chittering and cautious calls of jungle creatures returning now the violence had abated. The lizard creature regarded them steadily, motionless save for the rhythmic contractions of the gill like slits behind its ears. It was obvious the creatures didn't mean instant violence but there was no way of knowing that the choice wouldn't be made soon. Emmaline stepped forward and took the creatures hand and shook it firmly the way Altdorf merchants did.

"Sotek" she told the creature, whose eyes blinked with two seperate sets of eyelids in what might have been confusion. It's hand was cool and dry like a lizards, though it pulsed with vitality in manner more remeniscient of more energetic creatures like frogs. Emmaline stepped past the creature and took the hand of the next creature shaking its hand also and repeating the word. One by one she greeted each of the warband in the same fashion, having no idea what she was doing but unwilling to stop a course of action that so far hadn't resulted in her being disemboweled.

"Sotek to you as well," she said to the last crocodilian of the group and then returned to Amal who was staring at her in shocked horror.

"What was that?!" he demanded in a hoarse whipser. Emmaline brushed her hand on her tunic and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well I didn't see you coming up with anything," she whispered back. The lizards continued to stand motionless though they looked a trifle less tense now. Perhaps they were just confused. Emmaline reached into Amal's purse and took out the map and walked over to the lizard with the headdress.

"Ummm... I don't suppose you could give us directions?" she asked, pointing to what she took to be the nearest of the pyramid cities. The lizard tilted its head at her in astonishment and then took the map from her hands, turning to face the other members of its warband. It held the map aloft hissed and clicked in its own language, waving the piece of parchment above its head like a battle flag.

"Sotek!" it thundered in conclusion.

"Horray for Sotek!" Emmaline echoed fighting the urge to giggle with suppressed terror.

[User]
The massive lizardman who held the lantern in its jaws bent down and picked up Emmaline to rest on his huge shoulder, the ridges of his armor-like skin poking her uncomfortably but moving or wriggling would send her falling nine feet into the root covered ground. Amal had been ready to stab the thing in the back, but once he realized he was merely carrying her he held his weapon back from striking. What he did not expect was the entire contingent turning face and walking back into the jungle with Emmaline, the lead lizard in the headdress leading the way.

"HEY!" Amal cried and followed them, annoyed they ignored him and worried they were going to sacrifice Emmaline to some forsaken god. It was lucky that they paid him no mind in an aggressive manner, either. They simply ignored his existence, even when he came close enough to brush one of the warrior Lizardmen's serpent-like tail, the skin dried and cold along his lower leg. It simply looked back and bared its fangs in a warning, but didn't turn to try and rip him open.

What seemed like hours passed as the group of man-lizards trekked and waded expertly, moving as an inexorable force. Amal marveled at their stamina, as through the night they neither slowed or showed any discomfort to the jungle around them. Amal felt like the prime meal for the large bugs that landed and bit onto his skin. Even the little ones leaped and hopped above the larger roots, only pausing to flit their eyes and heads in an alien fashion before continuing on. Soon they found the jungle receding and the ground was now simply filled with weeds and low reeds, the group now coming upon a moderately sized pool of water, collected by a waterfall from a strange, carved cliff. In the light of the rising sun, Amal could see the faintest outlines of strange statues and heiroglyphs behind the moss and water above them.

Gathered around, the lizardmen formed a huddle and discussed in grunts and roars that seemed almost intelligible. As if it was a theatrical performance, the priest-like lizard stepped out of the group and began waving his gecko-like arms, thrusting its hips this way and that in a strange and unabashedly suggestive dance as the others cried. "Sotek! Sotek! Sotek! Sotek!" In its hand was a staff with a frog-like figure head at the top, and he shook it with delight as it began to glow like a small star.

The waterfall almost imperceptibly began to recede in its flow, slowing to smaller trickles that unveiled an ancient stone tunnel in the shape of a vast serpent's mouth, complete with stone fangs framing the entryway. It was chasmic enough so that Emmaline and her 'steed' could walk in without needing to duck.

The lead lizard began to shake its butt and strut towards the entrance, the others beginning to follow. Amal's eyes locked on Emmaline who looked frazzled but otherwise unharmed. The Arabyan took a few steps further, the Lizards all stopped as if he had personally stomped upon each of their tails, and they turned to look at him in unison. It was difficult to see any emotion on their faces, but judging by the looks of things, he was finally not welcome to follow them within.

"If you think you can skip hop in there with her and leave me out here, you've got large imaginations for walking crocodiles." He said haughtily, crossing his arms. To his displeasure, they made no sound or movement at all. They simply watched him, which was unnerving after a few moments. Ever the rebel, he decided to suddenly jerk to the left and right, and still they didn't move. "Hmmm..." He whispered, and decided to take a step forward.

Immediately the lizard's weapons were bared and ready, Amal mirroring the movement lightning quick with the short sword and a dagger in his offhand.

"Zalleench." The gecko-like leader squawked, looking at Emmaline before bobbing its head to the others. "Zalleench!" Somehow, Emmaline could understand it's meaning: Challenge.

"Zaaalleench! Zaaalleench! Zaaalleench! Zaaalleench!" During the chanting, one of the warrior lizards stepped forward. In the light of the sun, it looked less ominous but even more formidable. A powerfully built warrior organism, cold intelligence in its eyes. It was a pure predator of unrelenting energy. In the march the things had moved deceptively sluggishly, but here it's leap forward was lightning quick. As its tail lashed like a whip, Amal saw it armed with an obsidian headed axe and a shield made of the hide of a mighty beast.

[Assistant]
Emmaline had been listening closely to the sounds and ululations of the lizardmen since they had lifted her onto their shoulders. There was something familiar about their speech though from where she couldn't rightly say. Perhaps it was from the old spell books she had seen back at the Colleges of magic, written in the old arcane tongue, this seemed to have some similarites though modified by necessity to pass through their reptillian vocal cords. The leader, the headress wearing lizard, appeared to be known as T'krit and she thought that she picked up the words for time, or maybe dawn and an interrogative that might be 'how far'. The word challenge however stood out both in word and intention.

"I ahh.. I think they want you to fight that thing," Emmaline called to Amal concern evident in her voice.

"T'krit, must my mate fight," she said in the odd arcane langauge that was ordinarily reserved for spell casting and the tedious debates on the nature of magic that the master wasted their time with. The lizard turned in surprise at the sound of its name and then cocked its head at her words.

"Tlaloc inacta Zalleench kastata Sotek!" it replied. Inacta maybe meant worthy and tlaloc probably meant doorway or entry point or maybe beginning.

"Uhhh, I think you are supposed to prove your worth by fighting the lizard thingy," Emmaline called, encouraged that some communication was possible but frustrated with how difficult and imprecise it was. T'krit expanded with a stream of almost unintelligable words that did nothing to improve her grasp of the situation.

"Zalleench!" he concluded with a final stomp of his foot.


[System]
Age: 38

Race: Farghul

Brief Bio: Tasaia remembers very little from her childhood and early teens as it was all a haze of sedative induced docileness. Slavers stole her from the Farrfin city of Jahhnu after her parents stung the slavers with a sabacc scam. The slavers were penniless and took their daughter to repay the losses. Her parents, being unarmed and unable to compete with blasters, had to let them go. Tasaia was kept sedated as she grew to prevent any sort of attacks on anyone owning her. Until she turned fourteen, owners of her used her for two things: house duties and eye candy. She was cute and soft, so she would be on a couch by her owner at events to put visitors at ease and give her owner something to pet.

She was not a slave long enough to become involved in dancing or prostitution. Her owner, a human of Susevfi, attracted the attention of the Jensaarai after a small incident of Tasaia inadvertently Force Pushing a visitor that was petting her too hard. The Jensaarai, a human woman named Kiara Straka, found the sedated slave and decided to take her in for training. As expected, her owner was frothing, but attempting to combat Kiara led to him bisected from her lightsaber. Tasaia's first memories were of three days after that, waking up in a Jensaarai medical bed with Kiara asleep across her lap.

The two grew close, Kiara treating the young Farghul much like her daughter, even going so far as to name her and share a surname. Tasaia took to the training well, her predatory nature and independant mindset leading her to learn and perfect techniques easily. By the age of sixteen, she had reached her first milestone of mastering the basics. By eighteen, she made her lightsaber, an unusual combination of dual phase and saberstaff. The saber, when only using one side, could be extended up to three meters in length, functioning much as a two-handed sword. Unlike her peers, she did not gather her own crystal due to the short time of her training. Instead, she intentionally made four compressed synth crystals that made her saber midnight blue with an indigo core. The compressed crystals made the blade thinner and small energy oscillations run up the blade every three seconds. This afforded greater precision and control, thus making the extremely long blade of the dual phase much easier to control. Following her creation, Tasaia resumed her training, taking it at an accelerated pace.

She managed to fully catch up to her peers and began crafting her armor within one year. While she was busy crafting and imbuing her armor, the isolation of her meditation and forging insulated her from the sudden partial purge of her people. Her mother was one of the casualties. Following the mediation and crafting in the isolated base, she was informed of her loss and the events as she was elevated to the status of defender. Feeling alone for the first time in her life, Tasaia went into self-imposed seclusion, training and working alone as she grieved Kiara's death at the hands of Palpatine. After a year, she decided to leave the planet and the Jensaarai behind. She felt no more kinship with them nor did she continue sharing their isolationist ideas. Tasaia, through a combination of her Force powers to mask her appearance and the help of a smuggler, managed to get offworld without incident.

Once offworld, she discovered that the smuggler was also Force sensitive and was actually a part of a lesser known tradition. The Disciples of Twilight, as the man explained, worked quietly from within a society to protect and help the citizens. They particularly opposed tyranny and abuse of power. The smuller, actually a Disciple, let the young ex-Jensaarai know that he sensed her power and sought to potentially bring her into the fold. Luckily, Tasaia was drawn naturally to the Disciple mindset and decided to join him. From there, she traveled to Dyspeth and trained. Her already considerable ability with Force Illusion made her learn the unique powers of the Disciples within short order. Her mastery of the new powers came a year later. In 2 BBY, she finally left Dyspeth and began travelling the galaxy, protecting people as she went. This was a direct continuation of her training.

She observed the infancy and development of the rebellion into a full-feldged military power. She saw the Empire cracking down on civilians. The war was not overly interesting to her as she had her hands full preventing the corruption and mistreatment of citizens, especially non-humans, among Empire territories. Her travels ended temporarily when she had to make a crash landing on Yavin IV following a pirate attack. On Yavin, she found the remnants of the Rebel base and some leftover ship parts and items. Using her technical ability and trial and error, Tasaia developed enough expertise in her ship model to repair and modify it using the parts she could find and salvage. She found a servant droid and astromech droid powered down but still intact. Upon reactivation, the droids became mainstays in her life for the 3 years she was alone, affording her some proficiency in binary.

Once the modification and settling was finished, it was a scant few days before Luke arrived on the moon. Seeing them on some long range scanners that she managed to mostly reactivate, Tasaia managed to hide herself and ship in a nearby jungle. The Jedi landed and began whatever he had intended. Thus, since then, Tasaia has kept herself and her ship cloaked, making ventures to observe Luke's plans and actions while sensing no Dark Side in the group.

Faction:
Disciples of Twilight: Defected from Jensaarai after Disciples helped her learn of the galaxy, and she agreed with their worldview.

Personality: Possessed of a highly independant streak and focus, Tasaia is an autodidact more often than a student. She will find materials or processes and learn them on her own rather than relying upon a group. However, she is very used to directed learning as she spent years under the guidance of Kiara. These traits make her highly knowledgeable and well-rounded in a variety of topics as well as granting her at least a passable skill in many procedures. Her self-education focused primarily upon medical and mechanical fields. Her mechanical expertise is mostly restricted to blasters, weapons, and armor for sentients.

Outside of her education, she tends towards being witty and gregarious, often accidentally invading someone's personal space. What transpires next is very much feline. If she has been enjoying the company or meets a friend, she will then generally rub up against them a little. If not, she will normally not even get close. She holds her head high and is far from meek, though her small size and relatively high chance to simply first observe makes her prone to being forgotten. She finds the sudden surprise of when she speaks up quite amusing.

She is virtually aromantic, though it is more a facade than an actual aversion to romance. It is partially a fear of loss and partially a matter of not yet finding someone she could like in that way. In addition, she has absolutely no interest in marriage or children and finds very small children annoying. Adults that tend to act childlike also tend to grate on her nerves.

Tasaia is not prone to conning people, but she uses her innate conning ability to outsmart or con those harmful to the citizens around her. She usually uses this cunning in day to day life to play some pranks or games with friends or interested parties. She is not afraid to use the Force when playing games to increase her chances of winning. Her favorite games are Chatta-ragul and Dejarik, with her preferring the latter.

Despite not being a mechanic, she has developed enough talent to maintain and modify her own ship. She could do some basic repairs and maintenance on other models of ship, but she is only particularly familiar with XS freighters and the modifications she made to her own. She does have a technical aptitude for crafting items and can function as an armorer and weaponsmith as well as being able to craft and modify blasters.

She is multilingual, being fluent in Basic, Huttese, and Farghul. She, while not completely fluent in it, is able to understand droidspeak enough to communicate with her astromech droid. Both droids are precious to her and maintained meticulously. She intentionally will not memory wipe them and allowed them to develop their own personalities, finding it comforting to have almost biological company. She learned Farghul during her Disciple training as a way to reclaim at least a little bit of her ethnic heritage.

Physical description: Straka stands at an impressively short, for a Farghul, 5'1". Her short height is made up for with her enhanced strength and speed, courtesy of her species and her felinoid status giving her leaner muscle for the same strength. Her seemingly curvy and soft exterior is quickly shattered for anyone touching her. Each movement felt betrays her densely packed muscles. Her fur is of an uncommonly dark variant and is kept well groomed. For some reason, much to her own comfort and the delight of others, she never lost the softness of her kitten fur, essentially staying adorably soft and warm to the touch. Her hair shares this softness, though it is much thicker than her body fur. Her golden eyes are obviously feline in nature and even have the tapem lucidum, granting her strong night vision and the trademark glowing eyes at night shared by many mammals. Her claws are kept clean and sharp, always ready to bite into a foe that manages to catch her unarmored. This overall grants her an attractive and seemingly inoffensive look with only her claws and sharp canines granting any hint of her predatory ability.

Ship (Optional): Modified XS Freighter called Kitten's Ire

Modifications:
1. Addition of 1 Astromech Droid and 1 Servant Droid after crash. It had 4 astromechs and 2 servant droids already. (They are models that have inherent limitations and thus cannot develop personalities)
2. 6 sets of passenger sleeping rooms, able to house two passengers per room. (12 total passengers)
3. Conversion of excess space into fuel storage and power production (reducing it to 50 tons of cargo space from its original 300)
4. Hyperdrives upgraded to Class 1
5. Part of the inside is converted to a captain living quarters, another part has a crafting area, and there is a small medbay. A full sized galley sits by the captain quarters.The central area of the ship is a large living area.
6. Hull has been updated with lighter, stronger materials, allowing for the same strength with reduced weight and bulk on the inside. (20% reduced internal bulk for the same RU)
7. Deflector shields have been modernized and rebuilt for both ray and particle shields.
8. Addition of two ion cannons, one on the bottom of each wing tip.
9. Addition of additional "wing" to produce symmetry and allow one more laser cannon hardpoint.
10. Replacement of laser cannons with stronger, 1000 terrawatt versions and making all three turreted.

[User]
"My name is Dremmick, and this is Eira. We appreciate the hospitality, Krayt. If you don't mind, I'd like to make a military landing, see what we can do about joining. I have a bone to pick with the Zann Consortium, but progress is slow on my own, want to hit them harder. The Nexu isn't the hardest hitting vessel, but you won't find many that can outrun her. If you could use a ship like that and two extra members, I'd gladly like to offer my capabilities to the Republic," Dremmick finished, hoping his answer was satisfactory.

 Eira on the other hand was a bit offended at the man's critique of her piloting. "I wouldn't have run us into anyone, he's just surprised his radar couldn't pick us up till I turned off the sonar dampeners," she mumbled.

 "Not now Eira, you can show off the ship after we land. I'm starting to feel cramped in here," Dremmick said, waving a hand and trying to get her not to interrupt.

[Assistant]
Yavin IV

Kale and Lahana had landed on the moon minutes ago, choosing to come back to the temple for a number of reasons. Before searching for Aren in earnest, Kale needed to have maintenance done on his ship. The last thing they needed in an emergency was engine failure. While Kale spoke to a mechanic Lahana walked through the temple. She stopped by a training room and saw the droid she'd broken had been fixed.

Her hands clenched, and her breathing quickened. It reminded her of Alara, and Alara reminded her of... She let out a sharp breath and walked off. The other reason they were here was because of something her Master had felt. A disturbance in the force, and an ominous presence that called for his attention. She hadn't felt a thing, like always. Some Jedi she was.

So here they were, ready to defend the temple if need be, or go off moon to battle whatever force they needed to. She stopped to sit on a bench overlooking a fountain, hoping the shaking in her hands would cease soon.

Kale meanwhile called Luke's com-link. "Do you mind if the two of us talk, alone?"

[User]
With Mara coming so close and basically hanging off the Farghul, Tasaia responded surprisingly well. She bumped her hip lightly to Jade's and rested her clawed gauntlet on the opposite hip as they walked. "Mmmm, yes, well let's not empty the Order's coffers or clothing inventory. We could find a few political fatcats to get some...donations to our cause if that's how you want to play it." She let out a surprisingly girly giggle, throwing a few nearby people for a loop given her imposing armor and stance.

As the three others began to discuss some more important matters, Mara could feel Tasaia's fingers press into her hip some as the woman thought deeply about the situation. Once they spoke of it all and their concerns, the Farghul felt she had the floor enough to speak. "Yes, well, some grounding in traditions will help us gain a foothold to become better than our predecessors. However, the more pressing concern is that presence in the Force. Regardless of these larger forces at work, we need to figure out our local issue before it consumes us. One cannot deal with outside interference before internal issues are resolved, after all. The surge was not natural. It sent some of the local animals into a frenzy and made others spooked to the point of hiding for days, even the predators. There have been a few more minor pulses over the years I have been here, but the one last week strikes me as the harbinger of more powerful aftershocks."

Tasaia took a pause to sigh heavily and close her eyes, feeling the Force again. The presence was growing ever more oppressive. She opened her eyes, a grim expression on her face. "We should be wary and ready for a fight on our hands. This arrogance is destructive, pride driven beyond human limits. I want at least some focus upon this before we begin training in earnest. Young Force users training in an atmosphere such as this are far more likely to accidentally delve into powers that corrupt, whether they intend to or not. I would rather not risk our fledgling group for the sake of showing off to the bureaucrats that we can begin training right now."


[System]
Age: 14

Gender: Female

Nationality/Birthplace: ?

Current Residence: Republic City

Appearance:

Occupation: Student/Babysitter

Elemental Affinity: Air

Theme: Fireflies - Owl City

Background: Asha is a young girl with a talent for air bending. She resides on Air Temple Island with the other air benders, spending her days learning of skills and techniques to come ever closer to becoming a master. Not much is known of her parents, other than they arrived in Republic City with their infant daughter to try and start a new life; they were not seen since dropping Asha off on the island. She often wonders where they are, or if they are even alive, but tries not to focus too hard on the issue.

Asha is fairly young to be roaming the streets of Republic City, but likes to earn a little bit of income from babysitting jobs. She is good with children, probably because she is still a child herself. Despite this, she shows maturity and responsibility when looking after kids. She is often employed by the Tsukiko family, as they are busy people with hectic schedules and need someone to watch out for their youngest, Sesi.

The brunette is a bit awkward and awfully innocent to the point that she seems oblivious to what is happening around her. Asha is sweet and honest, wanting nothing more than peace within the world. True to the air bending culture, Asha does not have many worldly possessions. The items most precious to her are her ancient but useful glider, a lemur plush, and a necklace with the air bending symbol.

Asha hopes to explore the world someday. With so much out there, she feels she is missing out on the wonders of the world.

[User]
Asha smiled at the sisters. They got along so well, it was nice to see. Not too many siblings get along that well from what she observed on Air temple island. Fighting seemed natural for siblings...but she couldn't say from experience. The brunette focused her attention on Siku who had just greeted her. "Hey!" She said cheerfully, looking over at Sesi who looked a bit disappointed at the fact that she would be stuck at home; or so she thought. Just then, Siku whipped out three box seat tickets to the match today, and Sesi was ecstatic. Asha glanced down at the tickets, then back up at Siku with a huge smile. She was surprised but at the same time, she knew the other girl to be a bit rebellious at times. Sesi was still excited, bouncing up and down and begging Asha to go.

"Yeah, definitely! Let's get going~!" The air bender said with a giggle, taking Sesi's hand as the group made their way to the arena. This was going to be a fun day; it wasn't often that Asha got to go to pro-bending matches and since Siku was participating in this one it made it all the more interesting.

They made it to their seats up top and Asha gazed out from the balcony, admiring the view. She'd love to be able to glide around in here! Getting a huge head start from the height would be amazing; Asha felt a jolt of adrenaline rush through her as she thought about it. She sat down next to Sesi on the other side from Hiresh, so that the young girl was in the middle. Asha raised her eyebrows together in amusement when Hiresh ordered a beverage that wasn't non-alcoholic.

Soon, the matches were about to begin so everyone got settled in for the games. The brunette wondered when the Ice Wolves would be playing and was a bit ansty, but she managed to enjoy the other teams. For a brief moment she gazed up along the rafters high above the arena, and thought she had seen something akin to a figure. Asha blinked, focusing her sight on that same area. "Huh..." she muttered to herself. It looked an awful lot like the figure of a person. Asha brushed it off completely when she heard Siku's team was up next, and all three of them were solely focused on the arena. It was an intense match and the air bender had clasped her hands together in anticipation, wondering just how this match would end. Unfortunately, the Ice Wolves ended up losing, but it was still a great match. She turned her head to look at Hiresh, who had mentioned something about cheating. Asha quirked her lips to the side in thought; that fire bender did seem like he held that one attack a bit too long. The trio made their way to meet Siku, who had just gotten out of the changing room. Asha smiled at her and nodded. "It was great, I enjoyed watching you play." She knew Siku had to be a bit disappointed at losing, but she had a strong will. She'd come back next year tougher than ever.

"Thank you so much for bringing us today," Asha added and bowed politely to Siku. The tickets couldn't have been cheap, but even if the girl had gotten them for free since she is apart of the tournament, she still gave one of those to her. She was grateful and honored to be thought of in such a way.

[Assistant]
Well that was... Disappointing. Katsu had figured Siku was a sure win and yet somehow she'd managed to blow it. He placed the blame on the shoulders of her teammates though, they were definitely dragging her down. He'd even tried to influence the match a bit by bending the discs and even that hadn't been enough to help them. Clearly her team had been outclassed from the start but he'd hoped to get a big better of a show from her. Ah well, good thing he hadn't paid for tickets! With the match over and the teams retreating to their locker rooms Katsu decided he should go and meet Siku once she was out, if only to tease her a little. She would probably have his spine if she could after last night but they were in public, and while being out in the open was risky due to his... Extra-curricular activities it also meant she wouldn't attack him. Hopefully. He really didn't feel like fighting right now, he was hungry!

Scaling down a nearby service ladder Katsu waited until most of the crowd was in the hallway before exiting the maintenance tunnel, using the swathes of people for cover from the security posted around the building. Sneaking past these idiots was child's play and with no trouble he was in the arena itself, scanning the few lingering audience members for traces of Siku and her little gang. It wasn't too hard to spot her thanks to that idiot Hiresh, even out of uniform the guy looked like he had a stick up his ass. Seriously did he have to follow her everywhere she went? What was going to the bathroom like for them? Getting closer to them he noticed there was a young girl with them too, Cecily or something like that, Siku's younger sister. The other girl he didn't recognize at all but she was kind of cute, that was a win in his book!

"Well if it isn't the champions! Oh wait..." Katsu chuckled as he stopped a few feet away for his own safety, grinning as he held his hands up, "You lost, so sorry about that. But hey you gave it your best right! Maybe you just needed a lucky charm today." He accentuated the 'lucky charm' with a wink and he was certain Siku knew exactly what he was implying. Was she wearing them today? He hoped not because otherwise he wasn't going to be able to steal them. Not easily anyways. Since half of the group didn't quite know him Katsu felt certain he could act without impunity, and with dear little sister present and a friend he was positive Siku wouldn't lash out at him. Nope, she'd be the preppy, well-behaved little daughter she was supposed to be.

"Really though tough break Siku, those guys were a joke! You should have beat them hands down. I mean did you see the Earth Bender's form? And the Fire Bender couldn't light a match if he tried, plus I'm pretty sure some of the crap he was pulling was illegal." As if he knew whether it was or not, the only rule Katsu was even positive of was no killing each other. And hell he'd seen some matches where even that was nearly breached, some Pro Benders could be real assholes! "Who is this young lady by the way? I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of meeting you before," Katsu said with a sweet smile as he reached out and took Asha's hand, "What's your name, my beauty? And why are you only now falling into my life?" Heh, Siku was going to absolutely murder him later but he just wanted to get under her skin right now. Payback for last night.

[User]
"You're welcome, Asha. I felt better having a few watchers in the stands," Siku responded with a smile. "I don't think we would've done so well if we didn't have so much support. We're ashooin' for a spot in the qualifiers next year." The girl was rather optimistic about their chances, but they were definitely a good team. Like nails on a chalkboard, Siku heard a voice coming from nearby, causing her to physically cringe. The previous night came rushing back and her fist clenched tightly by her side as he began to ramble on and she couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or sincere. What did he mean by 'lucky charm,' anyway? If he was talking about what she thought he was talking about... Ooh, her face burned softly with redness, but upon remembering the presence of her friend and sister, she just let out a slow, deep breath.

"To be fair, Katsu... I don't know where you were sitting or how well you could see, but you wouldn't be able to tell that from so far away. They were good, don't try to patronize me just because you don't know a talented bender when you see one," Siku snapped, crossing her arms over her chest with a sneer. It was now that Sesi looked up at her and frowned.

"Siku, that's not nice... He was just trying to make you feel better," The small girl, who was almost a carbon copy of her older sister, "You shouldn't be so mean!"

Siku was visibly shocked by her younger sister, at a loss for words for a moment. "Yeah, but... Sesi, you do- He's so... It's not what y-..." She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose before shaking her head, "You're right, Sesi... I'll be kinder," The girl finally ceded and gave her little sister a smile, still glancing at Katsu with a scowl afterward. "Watch yourself," she warned as he tried hitting on her younger friend.

Hiresh clearly looked irritated by Katsu's appearance. The boy had been a thorn in his side for a while and the force struggled to catch him concretely on anything illegal. He sighed, "What's your game, Katsu? What're you doing here?" He asked, trying to take the boy's attention away from the young airbender. As he tried to divert Katsu, the young man also began working on herding his small flock back to the house they had come from. However, something caused the hairs on the back of his neck to prickle. Something was wrong. Hiresh furrowed his brow, "C'mon, let's just go... something feels off." As he looked around, he felt a few pairs of eyes on all of them - standing in the crowd of moving people, by the entrance to the arena... Some seemed to be alone and others still were in pairs or threes. Why did they keep glancing this way?

[Assistant]
Asha couldn't control the small giggle that escaped her lips when this boy (who obviously knew Siku) took her hand in his. He was an interesting fellow, to say the least. His eyes held this sort of fire within them, dangerous yet strangely comforting. The brunette smiled politely at the boy before letting their hands fall back to their sides, "My name's Asha, it's nice to meet you." She would have inquired about his name as well, but Siku didn't appreciate his presence and with her growing frustration had called him by his name, effectively giving Asha the information.

Katsu appeared to be irritating Siku on purpose, a sort of playful flirting, perhaps? It was pretty entertaining to observe. Asha had a small feeling that the boy had only focused on her to get on Siku's nerve, but it felt nice to have the water bender try to 'protect' her from this guy; it felt like having an older sister. Hiresh even joined in the conversation, trying to derail whatever tactic Katsu was trying to use to get what he wanted. Asha had a pleasant smile on her face before the earth bender's expression turned a bit more serious, and her's followed suit. The air bender was now hyper sensitive to her surroundings, looking and feeling for any sort of hidden danger. She wasn't exactly trained for this sort of thing, but she was going to try her hardest to protect her friends from any danger...Even the new guy.

Asha tightened her hold on her glider, trying to scope out the area without looking too obvious. She slowly reached out for Sesi's hand, grabbing it and giving it a small squeeze. The brunette wanted to bring comfort to the young girl, but also make sure it wasn't easy for Sesi to get lost...or if someone tried to grab her. Asha was still her baby sitter after all, so it was her duty to make sure she got home safe!


[System]
Rin's Voice(and theme)
Sakuya's Voice(ignore the story going on >.>)
Appearance: Asides from her dress, she wears a black cloak with a hood to hide her appearance.
Nicknames/Titles:Bladedancer, Quicksilver
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Sexuality: Bi
Personality: Energetic and loves to tease, just about everyone would get along with her. However, just because everyone would like to talk to her, doesn't mean she's easy to be around. Whether you are male or female, she enjoys being flirtatious and teasing them.

However, there are moments when she finds something(or someone) who deserves the label adorable. It's easy to tell when she thinks so, because, without a thought of personal space nor proper time and place, she will attempt to hug it.

In battle, she is someone who you do not want to be anywhere nearby. Almost seemingly dancing with the blade, with bullets firing out sporadically.

One thing to note that, while she enjoys teasing others, even sexually sometimes, she is rather innocent and vulnerable to being teased.
Weapon of Choice: The gunblade, a well-balanced weapon(weight wise here). It's capable of loading and firing five paper cartridge rounds before needing to reload. The rifle's range is rather mediocre however, due to the inability to 'aim down iron sights'.

She does have a back-up weapon, namely several throwing knives strapped to her thigh.
Other:
Appearance: She does wear a black trenchcoat over her clothing, almost consistently.
Name: Eiji
Nicknames/Titles:Bulletstorm, Walking Armory
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Sexuality: Bi
Personality: Rin is more calmer of the twins, although she would still be counted as more active amongst the family. Loves to eat anything sweet, and her usually passive and blank appearance would change to something that can only be called moe extremely cute, especially if you feed her the cake.

Although at first she may seem unemotional, once you get to know her, you would start to understand the slight differences in expressions. She enjoys being doted on, fed anything sugary, using someone as a lap pillow, and even being used as a hug pillow.

Something that she might have picked up from her brother, would be the need for efficiency, at least in battle. That, and collecting guns. Her love knowledge of guns is high enough that she can start deducing the type of weapon used(rifle, shotty, pistol, hand cannon, ship cannon).

Within battle, it really depends on how close her target is, and what her objective is. It can range from the usual aim and snipe methods, to the ridiculous yet more well known method of literally unleashing death everywhere, with bullets flying every which way.
Weapon of Choice:She technically doesn't have a favourite weapon. Ask her to open the jacket, and you will probably hit the floor with your jaw, as the sheer number of different guns can be seen. Sakuya labels her as a walking armory.

Bypassing the need to reload every shot, Rin is know for dual wielding, and firing the guns one at a time, before immediately switching. Think of it as a salvo. However, reloading all those firearms is annoying as hell, trying to make all the paper cartridges by hands.

Pistols and short barrel firearms can be haters anywhere, rifle sized firearms have to be carried at the back, limiting their numbers. She technically can carry guns on the outside of her cloak as well, but that is in plain sight.

The only weapon that she actually HAS to carry outside, is a hand cannon.
Other: If you ever try to carry her coat, you'll find that it is heavy. The reason by the 'why' is easily answered if you felt the coat. There are metal plates seen into it, as well as plenty of places to holster guns all over the inside, and some on the outside as well. However, when worn, the coat doesn't show any noticeable bulges.
Despite how the twins behave, Rin is actually the older twin.

[User]
~JAX~

The young pirate was surprised by the small squirrel climbing up onto her shoulder and squeaking rapidly in her ear. "Hey, hey little guy calm down. Who do ya think you are? The captain. No way" She picked up the little guy by his scruff and placed him gently down. "Scat little man, don't make me show you my wrath..." Nngh, damn it don't be an asshole. "Fine, I'm sorry. Now get going"

A huge grin formed on her face when Aubrey acknowledged her. "I built a cannon, like those on the Leviathan, but it can be held like this..." She showed him the way it would be held, similar to that of a rocket launcher. "I imagine it would have quite a kick to it but boy would it be worth it" She was always excited to talk about her work, especially when someone actually showed an interest. When they arrived in the coffee shop she pulled a handful of coins from her pocket and placed them on the counter. "I'll take it black, with a smidge of milk and sugar." The girl loved her coffee that way, dark and almost without sweetener. "Go ahead and order whatever you like Aubrey, I'll cover you" Not like she needed too, they all had some spending money, but she liked to be nice once and a while.

Jax saw Winston waiting for his coffee, sitting with Levi and she nodded in their direction, seems like everyone was in the mood for coffee today. But this wasn't good enough for her, she'd have to go join Prince and Taran in their joyous trouble spree. "So anyway, I'm not sure if it will correctly fit cannon ammo, and it ought to be extremely heavy, not many will be able to wield it but it shouldn't be heavier than this" She took the wrench from her back and held it in both hands. "Ohh yes, can you hold this thing?" Jax held out the the wrench to Aubrey.

While she was holding the wrench out she noticed Levi's lips moving ever so slightly and felt a little jealous. "Say Levi. how come you won't talk to anyone but Winston?"

[Assistant]
[PRINCE]

Prince stared wide-eyed at Taran and grinned. " I thought you'd never ask," Prince said, taking Taran's hand and pulling himself up. He shrugged and shook his head, "Sucks that everyone left," he paused. "You think that since they're pirates they'd have a little more fun." He sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"So, what's your plan?" Prince asked, scanning the city. He was a relatively messy person but even this was just too much for him. You can barely see the details that were plastered on the buildings. "I don't think anyone knows how glad I am for not wearing white in this city," he said, scrunching his nose in disgust. He's been to a lot of dirty cities but this one takes the cake, even he felt like scrubbing down the whole city until it was spotless. "I have no idea how these people can stand living here."

[User]
Rufus squirmed and chattered before being placed on the ground, at which point he promptly scampered back to Viola, who chuckled, knelt and scooped up the irritated little fluffball. He crawled up her arm, onto her shoulder and then grabbed one of her dreads to pull himself up onto the top of her head. This was a relatively uncommon position for him to take, but she certainly didn't mind.

Now that she was ready to go, she headed off into the thick of this horrible hellhole of a city. She passed a dead cat and looked away, pinching her nose and trying not to get sad. "You feeling ill yet, Rufus?" There was no response. He must have fallen asleep on her head. Viola entered a small produce shop and started to pile some things into a bag, ticking things off as she went. She was the last person anyone would think is a pirate.

[Assistant]
"How's life?" Winston said. "Life's treating me good, I guess. Honestly, still terrified that I'm hundreds of feet in the air and if the ground under me crumbles, I'll fall for a terrifying amount of time. But that's probably 'cause I'm just an old man." Winston had a light laugh at the end. He looked to Levi. She seemed to have a forlorn look to her. Winston closed his eyes for a few moments and took a deep breath. The woman who worked behind the counter walked out and gave Winston a small cup of coffee. "You know... If you have anything you need to tell me, I will gladly listen." His voice was quiet and collected. He took his cup of coffee and pulled his bandage mask down. He only pulled one of the lengths down. He made sure to hide his mouth with his free hand.

Winston saw Jax and Aubrey enter. "Oh, hello!" He said, waving to the two. He, without thinking too much of it, took a large swig from the cup. "Ah! Futhath hawt!" He loudly said, panicking slightly.

[User]
" They are probably born,raised and die here, it really is no different than anywhere else. I bet a bunch would leave given the choice, but there is no choice, so they stay," Taran looked around at the surrounding building. "What do you think, should we go and try to find us some local fun? Or should we try and hunt down one of the Isisorisntit Houses? There are tons here,"Isisorisntit House, places where the fairly well off lived when they didn't, or couldn't, afford hired muscle to guard their extravagant abodes. They would then, instead, buy out entire city blocks and gut the inside and turn them into mansions disguised as low-income housing. They were not particularly well know, Taran only knowing of their existence because of a party that he had once performed at. The inside had peacocks and golden fountains everywhere, while the outside was missing tiles on the roof and a few windows had boards on them.

Making plans was something that Taran didn't do, and when he did, he rarely followed it through till the end. Like, how he ended up on the ship. He was going down to the store to get some milk before a street performance. One thing lead to another and now here he was. "Mind where you put your hands," he said to a little boy who had gotten a little too close to Prince. The boy gave him a disgusted look before taking off back into the crowd. "So, what'll it be? Breaking and entering? Or...other?

[Assistant]
Winter
Seeing that everyone was going their own ways, searching for entertainment in the city, Winter just resigned herself to having a mess to clean up afterwards and left to make the most of her (no doubt limited) time of peace. She had errands to run, hobbies to indulge, and maybe some light shopping to do. When one of the crew inevitably drew unwanted attention or got in trouble, she'd be there in her odd Winter way. She might not be able to clean up the situation per say, but she could at least keep the collateral damage to a minimum.

[User]
Aubrey smiled. "A cannon, huh? Awesome." When he opened the door to the shop, a little bell above the door jingled pleasantly. The joint seemed almost out of place; it was clean and cozy, much different then the mess of a city that was going on outside. He followed Jax to the counter, noticing Levi and Winston and returning Winton's wave cheerfully. The whole atmosphere felt almost too good to be true. He suddenly got a little butterfly in his stomach. How long, realistically, could the pirates stay out of trouble.

Jax offered to pay for him, and he shrugged and accepted politely. "Erm..." He turned to the woman at the counter, who was looking at him expecting. "Ah, anything with lots of sugar." He said. The woman smiled and nodded her head in acknowledgment, going off to get their drinks.

"Hmm?" He turned his attention back to Jax when she asked him to hold her wrench. What could she possibly use that thing for? He took it from her, and a look of surprise immediately crossed his face. "Holy cow, it's heavy! You carry this around all the time?" He asked in awe. He then noticed her looking over at Levi with a slightly annoyed expression. His eyes darted in between the two girls, wondering what he had missed, but not willing to ask.

[Assistant]
As the two sisters made their way through the city, they had consistently received odd looks, mainly at their clothing. The average bystander would only see two cloaked figures, with one carrying a rather large staff wrapped in something like paper. However, the odd looks decreased, the closer they reached their destination.

Sakuya smiled as she looked at the rather rustic appearance of the bar, almost anticipating some sort of chaos to occur. Rin on the other hand, had a harder to read expression, but seemingly displeased with the location. This bar was located in the ore shadier ends of the city, with quite a few troublemakers inside. Every city had a place like this, where the troublemakers congregate.

Brushing open the doors, Sakuya strolled in, seemingly uncaring about the multitude of curious and cautious onlookers. Sitting herself casually in an empty seat at the counter, she dropped her hood before smiling at the bartender. "Can I have the specialty drink~?" Speaking in a tater flirtatious tone, with a graceful wave of her hand to accent her behavior.

Rin only mentally sighed, before following her sister's footsteps, sitting down inconspicuously beside her. Well, as inconspicuous as someone wearing a trenchcoat and a large staff could be.

Of course, it didn't take long, before someone made their move. It wasn't often that a female would ever come into a bar like this, where you could almost taste the damn testosterone in the air. A rather well-built yet greasy man came up and sat beside the two.

"What a surprise! You two fine ladies don't look to be from around here." Such a cheesy icebreaker, at least from Rin's perspective. However, Sakuya only giggled softly, before responding, "Of course! We're new around here. We wouldn't mind for someone to show us around~" with the same flirtatious tone, before suddenly whispering in a rather sultry voice, "Although we wouldn't mind someone strong to lead us around~".

This was definitely the spark that started the small chaos, as many of the other men started trying to move, while restricting each other from getting to the sisters first.

Witnessing such an odd but somewhat familiar scene, Rin sighed, her lamentations lost in the depths of her drink.


[System]
FC: KEIYNAN LONSDALE :P
Age: 16
Gender: M
DNA: Great White Egret (Ardea alba), White Winged Vampire Bat (Diaemus youngi)

Personality:

Dizzy isn't selfish, more so he's simply thoughtless and short sighted with an unhealthy side dish of oblivious. He likes his solitude and space, often resulting in a noticeable rift between him and the rest of the Flock, but he's not heartless or uncaring, and secretly he does enjoy the love and comfort of his peers, he just doesn't like to encourage them lest they get carried away. He has a brave and adventurous streak as well, enjoying exploration and daring to toe the rules.

Appearance:

Dizzy is short for his kind, but average on the whole. He enjoys a rather athletic build, excelling in the fitness trials. He has thick dark hair, warm brown skin, and wide dark eyes. He is hardly ever seen without either his tinted training goggles or his pair of cheap shades, designed to help him function in normal lighting without blinding his sensitive eyes. Smiles are few and far between, hiding his unusually straight teeth due to their less than human appearance, each of them pointedly sharp, making his genuine smiles small and unrevealing, and his wide grins more threatening. His wings are thick with curling soft white feathers, and they have a trim of even brighter white along the wing tips. His clothing choices are not typically form fitting, often consisting of worn, ripped, or faded articles that are too small or too large, but he hordes bright colors and trendy accessories, like earrings and bandanas.

Other:

Dizzy's name is well earned, he was often confused and not quite 'all there' as a kid. "What?" is still his catch phrase even years after he overcame his 'dizzy spells.' Combining this and his easily distracted mind with his uncomfortably precise hearing and tendency to be blinded by even mediocre lighting and Dizzy did indeed spend quite a lot of time being dizzy.

His unusual attributes, the ones outside the norm for the Flock, include weaknesses as well as strengths; such as his supernaturally advanced hearing, and the drawback of being overly sensitive to loud noises and easily distracted by faraway sounds. Similarly his night vision is better than most humans can see in the day, but even average day-time or artificial light levels can blind him. Dizzy also has a not so subtle vampire's bite, with many of his teeth being unusually pointed, specifically his canines and first premolars, and his saliva is full of powerful anticoagulants which make his bite likely to make his opponent bleed out if they aren't careful. Dizzy's fangs aren't the only sharp weapon in his body's repertoire though, he also has a set of mean claws, unassuming at first glance, but subtly hooked and thick, strong and sharp enough to tear skin, if only to make shallow cuts. Of his more relative to the Flock skills, Dizzy has taken to flying and strength with great talent, but flounders when made to apply too much grace or agility, however he does have an impressive sprint, and a positively predatory leap.

History:

At his youngest the scientists neglected Dizzy, leaving him to his own devices apart from the few times they attempted to make him pay attention to lectures or get concrete answers on his tests out of him, but usually he was simply subjected to basic scans and assessments before being left in his cage to amuse himself- which he did, listening to everything going on rooms away and playing with his food and generally avoiding the other children. Finally he was deemed old enough to be given proper medication for his inattention, and after a slew of vomit- and fever-inducing drug trials, they worked out a specially tailored attention-boosting drug just for him. Eventually he outgrew the 'dizzy spells' and no longer needed it, culminating in a nasty bout of withdrawal when they stopped giving it to him, but for the majority of his childhood he needed aids and special treatment the other children didn't- and was constantly reprimanded and made to pay for it.

He was sensitive to light, he could see all the right colors- mostly, sometimes purple was iffy - but his eyes couldn't process the excess brightness and resulted in copious amounts of squinting and shielding his eyes before finally someone bought him a cheap pair of sunglasses from the supermarket, and then eventually a pair of tinted pool goggles from the same place when the glasses kept falling off during physical training. Alarms and too-loud simulations quickly overwhelmed him, causing him such pain as to collapse screaming and clutching at his ears, the persistent ringing staying with him for days afterward, and so the scientists gave him ear plugs, which he constantly lost, resulting in the Flock finding a lone misplaced earbud in their personal space on a regular basis no matter where they went or what they were doing.

About the time puberty struck Dizzy began to make great strides in overcoming his 'disabilities', building up a resistance to louder and louder noises, and maintaining some sense of sight in most well-lit rooms, though both situations left him extremely uncomfortable and often with the dull throb of constant pain behind his eyes and in his ear drums. Other changes came to him, his adult teeth had been coming in oddly shaped for a while then, but the last of them pushed through as a set of questionably unsubtle fangs, and his tests revealed unique properties in his saliva. It was then that he stopped being the failure runt of the litter, setting off to training and exams with something to prove; and for his efforts he began excelling in class and on the mat, mostly on par with the rest of Flock for once, sometimes even managing to edge out the others and make the top score.

Going on seventeen Dizzy has both settled into his skin, and not. He feels awkward and estranged from the others, having taken much longer to tie that familial bond, and then saddled with the need to prove he was just as good as them he'd stepped on more than one set of toes, and fended off more than one kind gesture. He's much less moody these days, not as standoffish, but distant all the same. He's as invested in this gamble for freedom as any of them, but if anyone's most likely to wander off without a word and never be heard from again, it would be Dizzy. An unlikely scenario, he'd be lonely, and for all his eye-rolling and hasty retreats for a moment of solitude, he does care for his kin... he just maybe also cares for going to the cinema by himself, without telling anyone. And the beach. And maybe that flashy distracting concert down the street. Also, those cats are cute and he may spend a few hours following them around town if left unsupervised, and really who needs supervision? Not Dizzy, that's for sure. (Dizzy. Dizzy needs supervision.)

---

[User]
---

---

Crash followed along with the others, apparently, they needed special clothes to be in the city and he was compliant with that plan. They had all been wearing the same torn and dirty clothes for three days and the entire group was getting pretty ripe. Forests, as it turns out, don't have showers or soap, and he was more than happy to change into something that didn't smell like three days' worth of sweat, fear, and panic. In the city clothes were left in boxes on the streets, if they were just left out for people to have he didn't really understand why they put a lock on it but luckily, they had Rook who easily figured out how to open it. Once Rook opened the box, several black bags poured out. He, like the others, began rifling through the bags to find something new to wear.

The clothes in the box were like nothing he'd ever had before; he was always given either scrubs or a uniform at the facility and all the guards there wore uniforms as well. There were pants of various different colors and lengths, but since it was colder outside than he was used to he grabbed a pair of dark blue jeans and best of all clean underwear. Next, he looked for a shirt, several were much too small and had ridiculous colorful characters on them but eventually he found an old faded black shirt and a red flannel shirt to wear. Finding socks was easily, the ones he grabbed wear gray and warm but finding a pair of shoes that fit was a challenge. Many of the shoes were already failing apart, most were too small, but eventually he ended up with a mismatched pair of sneakers; one was mostly red while the other black and blue. Finally, he grabbed a black beanie hat to wear as his ears in particular were very cold.

Mal, who looked a little sick which Crash figured was from a combination of being cold and hungry for three days, asked how she looked.  "Coming from somebody who knows nothing about the city, I'd say you like you'd fit right in." He said with a nod of approval.  "Hey how do I look? Like a normal, non-experiment human?" He asked proud to have picked out his own clothes for the first time in his life. He wondered what was inside all the buildings, there were so many of them and some of them seemed impossibly tall, and he wondered if they ever fell over.

[Assistant]
Flick drug a hand down his face when Mal and Crash decided to strip down right there to change. He'd forgotten that these kids weren't taught any form of modesty. He himself hadn't learned it until the past year. But, luckily, he did. Because this was sure to gain attention. A single car drove by, but didn't stop or slow down. Flick could feel the driver's eyes on them.

"You can't just strip down out in the open," He said with a hint of frustration. "It'll draw attention to us, and I'm pretty sure they have laws against it." Flick bent down and grabbed three of the trash bags, hoping that they would find suitable clothes inside. He glanced around and spotted an alley right across the street, mostly obscured by some dumpsters.
"There," He pointed and began to usher the others across the street towards it.

[User]
Managing to get an eyeful of ass cheeks, Dizzy rolled his eyes and fought a blush. He wasn't shy about skin, and neither were the others, it wasn't their way to be so, but he did happen to be a hormonal teenager with an overactive imagination. The last thing he needed was fuel for his wandering thoughts.

That said, he was feeling particularly vengeful, and after hearing Flick's warning about nudity drawing attention he saw the perfect opportunity for some harmless fun, a petty but satisfying bit of pay back for swiping their hunting idea out from under them. He gave Flick a long, mischievous look, letting the older boy know that Dizzy had been plenty focused enough to hear his words, making his next move all the more insulting. After a quick glance to ensure the street was deserted once again, and the lights of the vehicles were distanced enough to allow a brief illusion of privacy, he - very slowly - began to get changed. Spending handfuls of precious seconds stark to the world as he hesitated and internally debated this or that piece of clothing. He spent a full thirty seconds deciding between boxers or briefs - which, the boxers had an awkward green plaid color, so he chose the black briefs that said 'BOOTY' in bright pink. They were his new favourite thing ever and no one was ever taking them from him. He finally huffed after choosing a pair of worn jeans and rushed quickly through picking a shirt so as not to set Flick off too much, picking a tank top and a loose zipper jacket which he easily and hastily modified with his sharp nails to tear massive holes on either side so they would sit on his unfurled wings without breaking them or the clothes themselves being torn beyond repair.

He smirked, outfit completed by the white top, dark jeans, and simple blue jacket. He spent a few seconds further digging around for a hat like Crash's, forgetting to even think of shoes for his feet. He gave up the search when he found a pack of something that smelled delicious, soon recognized as chewing gum. "Nice!" He celebrated, and quickly escaped with a delighted smirk to the indicated alleyway, a safe distance away from the rest of the group, to enjoy his prize without them in grabbing range.

"First one to score something meaty to eat get's the next piece!" He called back to them, stuffing the first piece into his mouth with a hum of pleasure.