[System]
Species : Elf
Gender : Female
Age : 54
Height : 175

Jazdia is a tall elven woman with a pale complexion, blue eyes, and long, waist-length platinum blonde hair that she often let untied. Elves are all born beautiful and Jazdia was no exception. Her attractiveness is often described as an eternal winter barely touched by the sun's embrace. But that's just another way for the gentlemen to adore her face that seemed to always sport a perpetual frown. At least that's original.

Former leader of a peacekeeping organization, Jazdia understands it would be in her best interest to omit such details from her MO. Not that she is a wanted criminal or anything; she ended her tenure on a relatively high note actually. The thing about working as law enforcement is you will have no shortage of old enemies who would persistently try to even the scales with you even after retirement, and Jazdia does not wish to be tangled with such... nuisances.

So now, she is just Jazdia. An adventurer, restaurateur, and tea connoisseur. Yeah, just put that in her business card.

Traits and spells:

-Blood Phobia (passive)
Taking damage would result in lower combat efficiency. Jazdia will start sweating, having a shaky aim and blurred vision. At a certain threshold, her Ultravision cannot be activated.
-Curse of the crimson flame (passive)
Resting near any fire or under the sun would slowly regenerate her power and heal her wounds. However, any healing magic cast on her would instead deal damage.

-Arrow Enchantment.
Channels magic into her arrow. Can only use one type of arrow in a single turn. Has three flavors:
A. Crystal Arrows.
Glorified fireworks with an equally destructive explosion contained inside. Can be programmed to either explode upon impact, delayed, or remote detonation.
B. Crystal Arrows
Non Explosive variants, but hot as hell it pierces through plates and mails like a hot knife through butter. Armor Piercing, nuff said.

-Counter
Any close-range attack will be answered with heavy retribution. Figuratively speaking, sometimes this extended to the non-combat situation. Proceed with caution.

-Ultravision
Channeling magic to enhance her vision, Jazdia can see pass through solid objects and magical manipulation such as illusion and darkness. Imposes varying degrees of strain on her body depending on the area covered and elapsed duration. Prolonged abuse of this skill might result in myopia and gradual blindness.

-Vengeance
At this point, taking heavy damage would no longer weaken her. Now she is faster and deadlier and angrier. The third flavor of her enchanted arrows unlocked:
C. Poison arrows. Deals heavy damage over time. The enemy killed by this arrow will have their body burst into a swarm of black lepidopteran that attacks nearby hostiles until either they or the caster died, or the effect expires. At the end of its fleeting lifespan, the insect will return to the caster and heals her wounds. Has 3 days of cooldown.

Equipment
-Lurea
A recurve black bow adorned with gold and silver linings on its limbs. Has an absurdly light draw weight of 44 pounds.
-Maugrim
A long knife with ivory handle and elven runes inscribed on its blade.
-Medium-sized satchel bag
A plain-looking bag that doesn't seem too out of fashion despite being designed with function in mind.
-Pocket watch
A momento from her father. Well maintained and functioning properly.
-Medikit
Generic first aid kit.

[User]
@A5G @Grade

Matilda was glad that her helmet was blocking out the smell of horse dung and mold. Scanning the area where she should go next, heading towards the middle door. Treading carefully as she made her way further into the fortress. The sounds of water drops and other strange sounds did not help with her paranoia. But she assumed that she could be heard, because of her heavy armour. Stopping to check her surroundings, making sure there was no one waiting to ambush her. After a few silent moments, she could see the mark on her shoulder plate starting to glow red hot. Signifying that the others had arrived, walking further out towards what she presumed was the commander's office.

The large orc was searching everywhere for any kind of clue, it didn't matter if it was some sort of paperwork. What would be even better if she could find one of the kidnappers to interrogate. She hoped that the culprits were here, just so she could give them a well deserved beating.

[Assistant]
Shaking off the last bits of muck before heading through the widened wall opening, cedar wished he hadn't. The interior was rank with the stink of horse manure and urine. In the foul deposits on the floor, he spotted the recent footprints of who was most certainly Matilda, if Henri's report was accurate.

He traced them deeper into the compound and found his mark.

She was quite edgy, and rounded on him before scowling and hissing under her breath not to sneak up on her like that. He just dropped his ears a little and frowned at her, but got the hint about staying quiet for the moment, instead just shadowing her discretely. If there WERE any assholes in here, he would back her up with the little surprises he had sewn all over outside.

In fact, he paused a moment to help grow the root system deeper inside, through the gap in the wall, just to be on the safe side.

So far though, the search had turned up no sign of recent habitation besides their own presence there.

[User]
[GM Post]

Beyond the barren hall-turned-stables was the two sets of staircase, as well as what must've been the lavatory. The path down was filled with water after the third step, but the way up remained open with some bats scattering away upon sensing movement nearby. If one were to investigate the lavatory, they'd find a recent trace of use - all dried by now, but the stench was still present.

In the current floor the only trace of metal was the band around the barrel and Matilda's equipment. There's various presence above, small things roughly gathered on one side of the room. So far nothing moved beside the orc knight.

[Assistant]
"Am I the only one who can explore this...?" Henri stared at the water-logged stairs to the lower floors. There's probably nothing to explore in there, unless the kidnappers were a certain breed of mermen... It wouldn't hurt to explore later.

 He sees Cedar and Matilda convene, and chooses to merely pass by the room they were in silently. It's good that Cedar's boots don't make even a quarter of the sound that Henri's shoes with bronze soles would be making.

 Right now, he'd rather climb the stairs above. He chose the closest one where he could sense the most metal objects.

[User]
They reconvened at... well, the name sounds like a brothel, the decoration looked like a brothel, and the way it's all closed up kinda feels like a brothel, but Sparky said it's an inn. The elf ignored the closed sign and went in, true to her words it was actually an inn in there. Hmm. Quite fancy one, if Yvonne had to say. None of those garishly pompous decor in an attempt to pander to nobility, but it's comfy and quiet and most importantly it's absurdly clean. Cant see a speck of dust or a drop of stain anywhere. As a frequent visitor to inns, the mercenary can confidently say that if the owner somehow managed to keep the common room spotless it's definitely a pleasant place to stay at.

"Food and cold drink, for starter. What you got?" Yvonne glanced around the room, considering potential defensible point and escape path should Delving try something stupid. For a moment her eyes stopped at a particular calendar, before she turned around to Sparky nearby and back at the calendar. This time she didn't hold back from cackling as she took a seat by the table, right feet almost naturally raised to rest on her left knee. "Why, I never took you for a daring sort there Sparky."

[Assistant]
[GM Post]

The upper level was somewhat more intact. The yawning hole in the wall from below continued up here, but the collapsed section was decidedly smaller. They layout was roughly the same with the stairs continuing upward toward the battlement and there's better lighting with several holes on the ceiling. A marked difference, however, was the fact that this place showed sign of being lived on. Bedrolls were strewn on one side while several rolls of tools and backpacks sat against the wall next to it. One of the backpacks was on the floor, right next to what seemed to be the spot dedicated for cooking, with its content strewn all over the place. The cookpot had also been summarily kicked aside, where a pile of ashes mixed with tiny scraps of miraculously unburnt paper now sat.

None of the above was the most notable thing in the room, though. A stiff corpse laid face-down in the center amidst a dark pool of dried blood, a feast for flies and several crows. The clothing looked to be some leather tunic, a very common outfit among the peasants, an unstrung bow abandoned not far from the body.

[User]
[NPC Post]

"What the- ah, Ser Cedrick. You're here very early." Anderson reacted just as a normal person would when a bear stampeded straight into their direction, though he remembered soon enough that he did in fact had a bear-man investigator. The squire wasn't sure why Cedrick was naked, but he's disinclined to comment on it. "Your lead brought you to this general area, I assume. Is there any new discovery?"

He spared a glance at the ancient architechture, still steadfast despite gradually losing ground against nature itself.

"I have no idea this place existed."

[Assistant]
A dead person...

 Well. He won't need his stuff anymore. Henri willed the corpse's pockets to unfurl, revealing some spoiled berries that contaminated the hardtack in the same pocket, a few copper coins, and a spool of bowstring. Additionally, on his belt, a small dirk. Partially rusted. He dropped it with a metallic clang. There's nothing good.
 The unstrung hunting bow looks decent. He could probably fix the bow with that string, but bringing arrows is a hassle.

 Arrows.
 This must be one of the kidnappers... Then, the blood on the tracks... He must've offered to stay, then died after the kidnappers were long gone. No, he wouldn't be face-down if that was the case. Was he betrayed, stabbed in the back?

 Henri walked towards the center of the room, willing the backpacks to release everything they held inside them, all neatly sorted on the floor. Then, he yanked upward gently at Matilda's shoulderplate with his Telekinesis. The cyan marking on it faded entirely.

[User]
[GM Post]

The backpack vomited numerous clothing article of varying stench, from shirt to pants and extra socks and underwears. Alongside was a few more personal articles, notably soaps, towels, a few razor, some water canteen, a compass, two deck of cards, a nail clipper, and small bottle of bug repellant. One bag was particularly loud as it disgorged a number of tin pots, pans, plates and cups alongside the cutlery and two wooden spatula. There's a sack of preserved food, enough to feed half a dozen men for at least two weeks.

The rolls of tools, meanwhile, was categorized by purpose. One looked to be a mix of outdoor tools and horse maintenance. Another was filled with medical kit. Finally, the last seemed to be nothing but torture tools.

[Assistant]
"Food and cold drink, for starter. What you got?"

The bartender eyed one of the thermoses on the counter and smiled with subtle pride. "That will be our specialty, fresh iced lemon te--"

The noblewoman's nose wrinkled. "Do I look like a waif to you? None of those pompous leaf juice! I'm talking alcohol, yeah? What's in those kegs, huh?"

The bartender sighed. Already two people rejected his carefully blended iced tea today, and one of the rejections came from a tea drinker herself. In resignation, he just shrugged. If this lady didn't like tea, that wasn't his's lookout.

"That would be corn whiskey—-fresh batch made last month. For the food, we have deep-fried chicken in batter."

"Sold!" The noblewoman smacked her hand on the wooden surface, disturbing Jazdia who sat on the other side of the table.

As the bartender skipped to fetch the order, Jazdia beckoned Kaito and Chounan to sit at the same table. She had finished one letter and had it compactly rolled into a small tube. Leaving them for a while, she saddled that tiny burden on a pigeon's back and walked toward the door.

"Rata forod meglin pad óurqu, noro lim meldë!"

Just to make sure, she had shown the bird the mug sketches of Cedar before letting the flying critter fly to the northern horizon.
Then she returned to the table. Might sound presumptuous, but the elf looked far more relaxed now. Maybe because of the tea.

Without preamble, she began. "Before I... my company took over this establishment, we conducted some research regarding potential competitors and other disruptive entities. One of these entities is The Black Serpent Guild. But our intel on them was sufficient for business purposes only."

There was a long pause.

"All we know about them is they are a prominent spices importer on the black market. Keito, Mr. Chounan, as someone who understands the street of Rascade, I would like to hear your input on this matter."


[System]
Age: Over 30,000 but he's forgotten the precise amount

Fandom (If anything): Mostly original, but very loosely based on The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

Skills: All styles of Combat. He is a master warrior in every sense of the word. An expert with swords, spears, bows, axes, rifles, pistols, rocket launchers, you name it he's wielded it before in combat with high effectiveness.

He's also a master mechanic and tinkerer. He's no scientist however, he can build any machine, but is lousy with computers or some more advanced tech.

He's enormously strong, capable if lifting nearly 10 tons, and is surprisingly fast for his size. He is a master of virtually all martial arts from Earth as well as boxing and kickboxing. Basically he could kick your butt 7 ways to Sunday without breaking a sweat.

Limited Magic. His species has powerful magical abilities derived from their Aura. A electrical field surrounding the body. Harnessing this field his race can cast powerful magicks. Horus however has focused entirely on his physical prowess and has very little talent at magic

Fears: Losing his lover Iris. Not being able to protect those he cares about.

Likes: Combat. Tinkering. Exercising. Booze. Wrestling on TV. MMA. Disney Films (Mostly because Iris likes them). Cars. Working on Cars. Car magazines. And of course, his lover Iris and the fun times they have together.

Hates: Combat. Monsters in general. Warlords. Slavery. Arrogance. Beings who think little of humans and hurt them. Superhero movies. VW Beetles. Stand up comedy.
Description: Horus is a giant of a being. Over 9 feet tall and weighing over 1000 pounds he is built of solid muscle. His body otherwise looks pretty much human, except that his head is that of a hawk with white and black plumage and a yellow beak.
He dresses a lot like a lumberjack. Heavy working boots, jeans and usual a checkered flannel with the sleeves rolled to his elbows
His entire body is covered in old scars and wounds. There is barely a patch of skin unmarked by them

Background: Horus was born long ago in the city of Danu Talis, more commonly remembered as Atlantis. His lived among his kin, a race known as Elders. They were not all like him however as Elders starts their life looking more or less human, then become affected by something called 'The Change' as they grow older. An Elders body will change and malform seemingly at random. Horus's change gave him his massive strength, size and bird's head.

He lived on Danu Talis for many thousands of years with his parents, Isis and Osiris, and his sister, Nepthys. It was there he met his sister's best friend Iris, and fell in love. They courted for centuries when the shattering happened. Danu Talis was torn apart by dozens of natural disasters, seemingly having come out of nowhere. As a result he lost it all. His sister murdered, and his lover taken by his own parents, for they had been behind the destruction of the city.

He spent the next 10,000 years trying to find and kill his own parents for their horrible crimes, not only for the death of his sister, but for the millions of deaths they had caused by destroying Danu Talis. Finally, with the aide of a powerful Elf warlock, he managed to recover his lover and put an end to Isis and Osiris. That was over 5,000 years ago. Since then he has helped humanity from the shadows, slaying monsters and others who posed a threat to humankind.

He founds himself at the room under mysterious circumstances, having been on the run with his lover and their adopted daughter Hanna after rescuing the girl from a evil science lab

Items: Nothing of note

Other: Nothing of note

[User]
*The leviathan makes a massive roar in response to Vaseraga's change, and does a bullcharge towards him using his crystal mauls as a battering ram. Purple energy crackles around the crystal mauls, similar to what happened with the praetorian Horus faced. It's also worth noting that the creatures is heavily damaged, even with it's recent mutations, and Eustace constant precision fire starts to take a heavy toil (Like I doubt this thing has much of a face.)*

*The lesser red creatures may get wounded by Beatrix, but John makes sure to spend the time to blast the them down. The last of them fall pretty quickly from the duo's attacks.*

[Assistant]
*Vaseraga gets thumped in the centre of the chest by the massive maul, crushing the majority of his ribs and sending him hurtling back towards Eustace, who drops his gun and attempts to catch or lessen Vaseraga's fall, which results in him getting totalled by the flying Draph warrior. They both lay on the ground, before Vaseraga gets up and leaves the dazed and battered Eustace on the ground. Vaseraga starts running back, and throws his scythe horizontally towards the leviathan, likely splitting anything else that is in the way in half. Although Eustace is completely fucked physically cause he just took a half tonne Draph to the face, he still manages to pick up his gun and shoot through Vaseraga's legs at the leviathan, though he can't headshot it anymore cause Vaseraga is in the way.*

---

*Beatrix wipes the blood off of her sword in the nearest corpse, and turns to John.*
Beatrix: You managed to not hit me while I was in there. Nice shooting, dude.
*She giggles and winks at him, before moving towards Horus so she can keep him safe while he's out, cause she has to assume he's sleeping and not dead.*

---

*Also Zeta wakes up cause she's been sleeping a long time.*
Zeta: Whuzzawhere?
*She groggily wipes her eyes of sleep, and looks around through squinted eyes.*
Zeta: Anybody alive?

[User]
*Lecter grunts as his body begins to heal, but it'll be awhile for broken bones. The Devil Hunter rolls away from the Praetorian and gets back to his feet*
Lecter: Time's up.
*He moves to re-engage the Praetorian, but waits for it to make the first move. He also doesn't want to be close to it when it dies, after seeing what happened to Horus*

*Finnick nods*
Finnick: Only bigger cities have this kinda stuff. Otherwise you gotta go straight to the makers.

*Elewynn nods and goes about trying to learn how to work the kitchen, cause she doesn't like Merg's attitude*
*She hears Zeta, and pauses*
Elewynn: How many people are here?

[Assistant]
*Xan dozes sleepily but stirs slightly at the sound of Zeta's voice nearby*
Xan: Mmmm...
*She yawns and stretches in a catlike fashion before opening her eyes and looking around*
Xan: Oh... I sleep longatime. What time is it?
*She sits up against the wall and looks around*

*Zeta waking up draws Mergoux's attention to them, and though she doesn't smile, the corner of her mouth twitches when she recognizes Xan, as she's extremely glad someone else managed to escape Tiaz's dungeons and make it to relative safety*
Mergoux: Yes, there are plenty of people alive. Who are you? And why are you sleeping on the floor? There are plenty of rooms available.
*She looks at Elewynn*
Mergoux: Last I knew? At least 8, but this bumps it up to 11 with you here.

*Jilial flies desperately towards the storm, looking for any sign of battle*

*Taboo nods dazedly*
Taboo: Big cities... We try to avoid those... too many guards...
*She's too high/drunk to lie anymore and just absently talks*
Taboo: Oog... More drink!
*She downs her 8th glass of wine and giggles again*

[User]
*The praetorian verses Lecter pulls out Karma, and casts it to the side in anger. It then throws one of it's crystal spears at Lecter, and follows the throw with a charge.*

John: Thanks crazy chick.
*He turns towards the leviathan, and blasts a chunk out of it's arm causing it to roar in rage, before getting hit in the gut with the scythe. It makes a long winded howl of pain, and strange purple ash burns up from it's gullet. Soon the whole creature is a flame, and collapses into a pile of blackened bones.*

*The ground begins to rumble a few yards away from where the gate is.*

---
*Jillian eats, and watches Hanna cause Iris ain't here. (lol)*

---
*Sasha manages to get up, and limps her way to the bar. She silently grabs a glass, and fills it with water. After drinking the water she sits, and eavesdrops.*
*The nanites eventually repaired her white body glove, so she doesn't show any outward signs of damage besides her limp.*

[Assistant]
*Lecter leans to the side to let the spear fly towards a mess vital area of him, and tries to use his arm blades to deflect it further*
*He's too busy with the spear to prepare with the charge, but at least notices it moving in*

*Elewynn nods*
Elewynn: Not too many. Are they all human? Amy dwarves, or Qunari?

*Finnick shrugs*
Finnick: Hide in plain sight. And if any guard comes knocking, I can just do some illusion magic and convince them to look the other way. Or make sure that there will be consequences if they come for me.

[User]
*Mergoux frowns at Elewynn*
Mergoux: What the hell is a Qunari?

*Taboo shakes her head, her speech slurred and her eyes unfocused*
Taboo: Not so easy as that... Father, he's big... To big to hide, and no illusionist magic either... No guard would take a bribe or a threat either, not from my kin... We jus' (Hic) stick with small towns... villages... Easy targets...

*Iris keeps flying*

*Horus keeps dying, one of his lungs punctured by two ribs*

[Assistant]
*Elewynn returns the frown*
Elewynn: Tall, horned warriors and prophets to their belief system. You would know them when you see them, no one else looks like they do. I'll have to admit, I am glad that there isn't one here. They are often too fanatic for my liking.

*Finnick frowns*
Finnick: Your kin? Does your family have some sort of blood feud?

[User]
*Mergoux snorts*
Mergoux: Prophets? Sounds like Harelords all over again... Well obviously no, I haven't seen any, nor any Dwarves for that matter, though there's been some... stranger people here.

*Xan rubs her eyes blearily, not really paying attention to the conversation nearby*

*Taboo shrugs drunkenly*
Taboo: Sort of... Bad reputation in most lands...

[Assistant]
*The praetorian tries to rake it's claws across Lecters chest as it does it's bullcharge. Black tar is fountains out of the wound it sustained from Karma, but doesn't seem to slowed by it.*

*Suddenly the ground splits open, and a massive worm erupts from the ground maybe 10 yards away from the praetorian gate.*
*It's a massive red scaled beast, with small little spike arms designed to help it pulling it along when it submerges into the earth. A huge maw splits open like a blooming orchid, displaying thousands of black needle like teeth. It makes a debilitating roar, that is at such a high dismal level that glass would shatter.*

*John staggers from the scream, even with his noise dampeners it is almost too much. Small strings of blood leak from his ears, yet he still manages to fire at the worm.*

---
*Sasha sits drinking her water, and frowning at the conversations around her.*

[User]
*Lecter tries to twirl away from the Praetorian again, but still gets raked in the chest, and then reels from the scream, cause his heightened senses can't take it*
*He does have a high pain tolerance, so he doesn't pass out, but he's still heavily distracted from the fight, where he tries to raise his blades to defend himself as best he can*

*Finnick nods*
Finnick: That's why I don't like prisoners. Either kill your enemies, or make a deal with them. No loose ends.

*Elewynn raises an eyebrow*
Elewynn: Interesting? How so? Mages, or perhaps a travelling group?

[Assistant]
*Mergoux takes several moments to think on how to describe Horus and Iris, as that's who she's mainly talking about*
Mergoux:...Erm... A giant, with the head of a Hawk... and a large woman with blue skin...

*Taboo shakes her head vehemently then nearly topples of her stool again as her vision swims*
Taboo: N-no! No! Prisoners are profit! Ransoms! Besides, I wouldn't trust most humans as far as Togan could throw them...

*Jilial clumsily flies towards the sound of the scream in the distance. As she flies she mutters under her breath, speaking many prayers for Horus's survival*

*Horus doesn't react*

[User]
*The praetorian takes advantage of Lecters discombobulation, and sends a flurry of attacks at him luckily only one hits grazing his shoulder.*
*John keeps firing at the worm, who howls with rage, it raises it's huge bulk out of the ground, and slithers towards John.*
*John then breaks for where Sasha's lance is lying, while the worm chases after him.*

---

[Assistant]
*A dark shape appears in the sky as Jilial flies over the battle. Her draconic eyes scan the ground for any sign of Horus and finally spot him, lying limp and among a vast number of slain foes. She screams in horror*
Jilial: HORUS! NOOO!!!
*A bolt of lightning flies from her mouth and hits the tallest thing nearby, that being the worm. She then does a clumsy dive for Horus. She's strong, as flying that distance gave her a long time to involuntarily sunbathe*


[System]
Age: nine years old.

Appearance: ] definitely the appearance of a reliable supernatural detective!

Personality: Jun can at times be incredibly focused, serious, and mature, which is only natural for someone who has worked hard enough to nearly master certain areas of Onmyoudo at such a young age. On the other hand the fact remains that he's still a child despite his high level of skill and his tendency towards hyperactivity is made worse by an overactive imagination fed by a combination of living in a magical world and ready access to media.

Abilities: Possess a high degree of skill with Onmyoudo, his affinity being the number 9. This allows him to use a variety of spells and techniques with his ofuda so long as they ultimately have something to do with the number nine either conceptually or concretely. He also has a surprising amount of martial arts expertise for someone his age, due to being raised to fight yokai.

Weapons/Equipment: Has his trusty detective's trenchcoat, though the only thing unique about it is that its pockets have ofuda on them that allow them nine times as much storage space. mainly used for carrying ofuda.

Brief Backstory:
Jun was a son of a powerful family of onmyouji who primarily made their living combating rogue yokai and other supernatural creatures. Toshiko knew his family from the time when she was in training and owed them a few favours for reasons she'd rather not mention. Because of his family's work, Jun was strictly trained in onmyoudo and related lore before he even started primary school, even to the extent of being given the Gazu Hyakki Yagyo in place of ordinary picture books. However his entire family died under mysterious circumstances. Under previous instructions his father had given him just in case anything ever happened that left him on his own, Jun sought out the Fu Sonzai no Gensō Detective Agency and has been living and occasionally working there part-time ever since, hoping to become a real detective some day and solve his family's case.

[User]
Tōnan Gyakuten

---

It was a somewhat dreary afternoon. It wasn't raining, but the weather hadn't been predicted to be particularly pleasant. It didn't take some trained professional to be able to tell that there was going to be rain today. The dark clouds, the heavy air, even that strange smell that permeated the atmosphere, it all spoke of a storm.

Toshiko lit a cigarette, and inhaled. The smoke rushed in, and she took the cigarette from her mouth and blew it out. She raised an eyebrow at the paper before her. She'd received the phone call, and then a fax. The family seemed quite desperate to retrieve what had been taken...

To say nothing of what had been stolen, the circumstances were curious. The room wasn't so much a room as a heavily-protected vault, yet nothing had been destroyed. The walls were intact, so was the door... and it was tightly locked. The spells in place to protect the item were still intact, or at least that's what the family believed. There was no sign of... well, anything, really, as far as the family had been able to tell. The only difference in the entire house was that the stolen item was missing. Toshiko took another drag on her cigarette, and blew the smoke out. This... this was, to begin with, an undeniably supernatural case. And the family was quite willing to pay very well...

To be honest, Toshiko currently found herself utterly without any spending money. A well-paying case, a curious case like this...

Her employees would be downstairs by now, or at least on their way to the agency. It was time to speak to them about this case. Getting to her feet, Toshiko walked through her dimly-lit office, passing stacks of paper and the single old television. She walked to the door and pulled it open, before beginning to head downstairs.

It was time to solve a theft.

[Assistant]
One of the 'employees' was doing a good job downstairs of taking up a vast amount of the rather battered couch, though there was no real intent to do so: Akemi's hair simply managed to take up the half that the maid-attired homunculus herself wasn't. In every other respect, however, the nearly emotionless girl seemed to be the picture of perfect elegance as she slowly read a book.

Of course, one look at the book itself ruined the illusion of a mature, elegant maid: the cartoonish image on the front was of a rather large pig sat in a comfy chair. Anyone fluent in English would be able to tell--both from the way the text was spaced inside, and reading the back cover--that the bodyguard was quite happily reading a children's book. On the table in front of her was another by the same author, resting atop the newest piece of clutter: today's newspaper.

Someone had taken the time to underline the weather forecast in red pen. Particularly the bit that mentioned a storm.

[User]
Ryo walked in to the dimly lit, slightly run down room and took a deep breath of his new work place. He then immediately regretted that decision as he remembered a bit too late that Toshiko quite enjoyed her cigarettes, so whatever the room may have smelled like was covered up by that tobacco/nicotine smell. Walking further in he saw his favourite homunculus, also the only one he had ever seen, "hello Akemi, nice to see you again." Between her hair and her body, the couch was out of the question as a place to sit. Instead he decided to grab the paper and sit on one of the chairs.

He didn't really want to read the paper but he figured Toshiko would be down in a minute and he wanted something to do in the meantime. Akemi was reading something herself, which Ryo didn't notice at first. Taking a bit more notice, he saw the book was in english, and the picture on the cover was somewhat childish. He wasn't going to say anything about it, if that was what she wanted to read then why mention it at all, it didn't affect him. Ryo was wondering where the other employees were, maybe in the bathroom or something? At any rate, he was sure others would be here soon, it wouldn't just be the three of them working here. At any rate, Ryo just sat quietly looking through the paper, apparently there was going to be a storm today. He smiled a bit when he read that, he loved storms.

[Assistant]
It was still afternoon when Zeke arrived at the office, his motorcycle announcing his arrival. Zeke was usually only able to get to the office come sundown due to his condition, but the hints of a storm had allowed him to leave early. Breathing in deeply Zeke could almost feel the rain ready to burst out of the clouds... and smelt his bosses cigarettes. That's nostalgic... maybe I'll have a quick light up before I go in. Closing his eyes Zeke took out a cigarette before remembering he left his lighter at home. Bugger. What now?
Sticking the unlit cigarette behind his ear Zeke stood silently for a moment, hoping that some divine intervention would give him a source of fire, but to his dismay there was none. Maybe if the boss is in a giving mood she'll indulge me. I don't even look hungry today!

Silently praising himself for having a full meal before coming to work Zeke took out his comb and narcissistically brushed his hair before entering the office. Closing the door behind him Zeke looked around, his head tilting when he saw the young-blood Akemi on the couch reading a picture book. Scanning the rest of the room he saw that there was only the young man reading the newspaper with a smile Must be good news I suppose.

"Good afternoon everyone... What are you reading young-blood?" Zeke made his way behind the couch to read over Akemi's shoulder. Zeke had little experience with children's books so he was almost as enthralled as the homunculus.

[User]
The homunculus didn't look up as the others entered; their immediately speaking was more than enough to identify them... and it meant that she didn't have to look away from the story that held her attention so much. That was, until the vampire asked what she was reading. Hypocritical as it was for someone who chose to wear a maid outfit criticising another person's appearance, she found the walking 50's stereotype a bizarre fashion choice.

"Ace," the girl stated, quiet and almost unreadable, "A story about a very intelligent pig."

[Assistant]
"It was a bleak day, the kind of day where storm clouds hang over your head and mix together with an air of unease and boredom so thick that the downpour comes as a relief. As usual the office reeked like old cigarette smoke, the only thing distracting me from the fact that I'm once again flat broke and worse yet, running criminally low on candy..."

Nine year old Iwajima Jun lay sprawled on the floor with his child-sized 'detective' trenchcoat spread out under him, staring at the slowly spinning ceiling fan as he launched into another one of his patented 'hardboiled monologues'. He was incredibly easy to overlook from that position, especially given the fact that sheer boredom had reduced him to an uncharacteristically near-catatonic state and he had previously been partially buried under some old papers and bills.

"The few of my employees gathered here are probably as strapped for cash as I am, and even my own boss, cruel woman that she is, cut me off from the only precious, sugary thing that keeps me sane in this cockamamie town with some excuse about funds. So here I am, a washed-up P.I. three days into a sugar-crash with no money, no cases and no respect."

Jun was half-aware of the conversation going on above the level of the floor, but he was too caught up in entertaining himself with his narration to really notice. Besides, he had trouble maintaining interest in books considering the only ones he'd read before coming to live at Fu Sonzai were either instructional texts on onmyoudo or stories profiling various youkai. Now TV, that was great entertainment. Unfortunately, Toshiko's old TV barely worked when magic wasn't being used to make it function, and she set strict rationing on the amount of time he was allowed to watch regardless. He also occasionally wondered why Akemi bothered to dress like a maid, but chalked it down to the same reasons he dressed like a detective.

"Will someone please tell me we have a new case already?"


[System]
Appearance:

Catarina is often dressed in full plate armor, and despite it's silly appearance, is nonetheless a masterwork set of armor that actually allows Catarina to tumble and parry blows much easier thanks to it's curvy design. Catarina isn't nearly as thick as her armor would imply, though underneath the leather and metal she is certainly a very well muscular and healthy young woman. She has very few cuts or scars despite her experience in battle, though her hands and feet certainly show callouses of swordsmanship. Outside of her armor Catarina doesn't mind feminine dresses and the like, though she typically wears trousers and tunics since they don't get in the way of her armor, should she need to don it quickly. Catarina does like to keep her hair somewhat long (at least shoulder length), though she wraps it up into a bun when she gets into her armor. She generally eschews make up and jewelry even during casual outings, though she may dress up for formal events.
Age: 23

Race: Human

Class: Fighter

Biography: Catarina is the daughter of a mercenary, her mother being an armorer. Instead of being raised as a "proper" lady as her mother wanted, Catarina was more interested in the romanticized adventure and warfare her father would tell her at bedtime. She grew up learning how to handle the blade instead of courtly things, though she did at least learn how to take care of herself, cooking and living off the land. She joined her father in battle when she was only thirteen years old, at first merely standing by his side and reloading his crossbow, but by the time she was fifteen she took up the sword and killed her first man. It was shocking at first, taking someone's life, but soon she grew to actually like the heat of battle, despite the monumental risk of death and worse. Around the same time Catarina's mother gave brith to a baby boy, her little brother. By the time Catarina was eighteen years old, her father was grievously wounded in a battle and no longer fit to fight. But with the earnings he and Catarina made as mercenaries, they were able to afford a home to settle down in. With a young child to raise, Catarina's mother and father retired as a small smithy to raise the young boy. Catarina however wasn't finished with her life of adventure yet, and set off to earn fame and fortune, making sure to send some of it back home to take care of her mother and father.

Skills: Catarina is a very skilled fighter, specializing in the bastard sword. She's also a highly-trained duelist and knows how to handle a weapon in each hand, though she often prefers the use of sword and shield. Catarina's personal sword is called Domina, a blessed Mythril Bastard Sword. She's capable of a variety of combat maneuvers, such as tripping or disarming her foe. She also has a light spiked shield which she knows how to use well, and often uses both her sword and shield in tandem while in battle. She's strong enough that her blows often cleave through one enemy and into another, allowing her to clear opponents who thought to surround her. Lastly she's proficient with other weapons aside her sword, though she's carries a crossbow and a dagger made of cold iron. Catarina is no monk, but she's also a capable hand-to-hand fighter, though of course she prefers a weapon.

[User]
"My name is Corinth, and do not worry I am a copper dragon. Like most of my metallic brethren I do represent the good." He then spotted some sort of blue light as if a spell was about to be cast. It was that of a sorcerer. A obviously young sorcerer. The dragon sighed at the sight. He then looked back to Catarina. "Well Cat,... can I call you Cat. These deserts are my home and after discovering your little group, a bit jumpy a few of them, I could not help but wonder as to why. Then the next meeting puts me in view of the cursed temple." He voiced. He then lowered himself just so that she wouldn't strain her neck from looking up at him. " Do you by chance know any good riddles or by chance a funny joke?" He asked.

 The Raven Bernard saw the sorcerer Xavio nearly freaking out. He could possibly wet himself at this point. Which made the bird wonder why this man is even here. The man must have understood that there are certain things in the world that are incredibly dangerous. Dragons being one of the things, this temple being another. "Go back to bed fool,... don't you know anything about dragons? This one is a Copper dragon. The only thing that can get bad in this situation is if he tells a horrible joke. Or you can blast it with a lightning bolt and kill us all in the process."

[Assistant]
Too focused on the conversation between the dragon and Cat, Xavio didn't even take notice to the raven approaching when he heard it whisper-"Go back to bed fool,... don't you know anything about dragons? This one is a Copper dragon. The only thing that can get bad in this situation is if he tells a horrible joke. Or you can blast it with a lightning bolt and kill us all in the process."

First of all Xavio was only planning to hit the dragon if he showed signs of starting an attack. He was hoping to get a shot at its eyes...
In any case the bird was right. There was a very slim chance that he might hit the dragon straight in the eye and even then their safety was not guaranteed.

Turning to the bird he said:"Calm your feathers, I wasn't planning to hit him without a strong sign of HIM starting an attack first. And I believe your master is awake? If not, you better hurry over to her."

So Xavio dispelled the faint electricity coming from his hands and started playing possum while at the same time keeping a close ear to the conversation.

[User]
"Uh huh..." Catarina didn't know enough about dragons to say for certain if what he was saying was true, but since he hasn't tried to kill her yet she'd take his word for it. She still held onto her sword however; it helped her calm her nerves. The dragon calls himself Corinth and asked if it was okay to call her Cat. Not exactly a name she'd let strangers call her, but she'd let it slide for her own sake. Then he wanted to know what the group was doing out here, though she felt it was pretty obvious. They're adventurers, and they're going to go through this ancient temple for their quest and loot. Fairly cut-and-dry. But Catarina explained anyways. "We're here to explore this temple and search for a magical artifact. But you said cursed? What sort of curse does this temple have?"

When Cornith lowered his head Catarina took a step back. While she doesn't have to strain her neck looking up at him anymore, it did her very little comfort being right in front of his face. His snout was only a little bit shorter than Catarina was. She was certain that if he actually wanted to swallow her whole, he'd have no trouble doing so. Then he asked Catarina for a joke. "What?" A joke? She found this whole thing very funny, but she doubts that's what he wants. Catarina did know a few jokes, but most of them were racist. Would he like that? She had no idea what sort of humor dragons have. The fact they have a sense of humor was strange to Catarina. She didn't want to disappoint him however, so she tried to think of a joke.

"Hmm... Ah, here, listen to this one: An orc, an elf, and a dwarf find themselves being granted wishes by an Efreeti.

The orc says, 'We orcs need to return to power. I wish all the orcs and half-orcs were returned to their ancient lands.' The Efreeti nods his head, and the orc vanishes.

The elf says, 'The elves need to get back to their roots. I wish all the elves and half-elves were returned to their ancestral home.' The Efreeti nods his head, and the elf vanishes.

The dwarf looks around. 'Let me get this straight," the dwarf says, "the orc wished for all the orcs to be gone, and the elf wished for all the elves to be gone?' The Efreeti nods. 'Very well, then,' said the dwarf, 'I'll have an ale.'"

[Assistant]
Alyssa stirred in her bed roll. Her eyes fluttered open as she heard two voices speaking, one she recognized as Catarina's, the other was low and rumbly almost like a...

"Dragon!" She quickly clamored out of her bed roll and barely managed to get decent before stumbling into the camp proper. She gazed upon the dragon's enormous bulk. She wasn't exactly an expert on dragons, but this one was either copper or bronze. Both of which were said to be relatively friendly. She was hoping for copper, they were said to be the jokers and riddlers of their kin.

"Awesome! I'm Alyssa, this is Catarina, and you're a dragon!" Alyssa did a little spin. "What do you want? A story? A joke? Maybe to offer us some of your age old wisdom?"

[User]
Corinth smirked at the little joke. It was surely a good one, one becoming of dwarves. He was certain the dwarf would have said something else knowing their hatred for both races. The joke was good either way though. He then traced back to her question about the temple. He looked over at it and then back to her. "Have you ever thought certain places were best left buried underneath the sands, that temple is one of those places. You and your company can still go within it, I won't stop you. Just be careful,...." He had no clue as to what this item was she was talking about but he knew one thing and that was when adventures entered it they didn't come back out.... not whole anyways. They were then disturbed by the joining of some sort of dancer woman. She was the hooded fellow he saw with the drow. She was a interesting sort who seemed to be very interested in his presence. Even asking if he wanted to hear a joke. He already heard Catarina's joke and was not interested in hearing another. However, he was interested in giving the two a riddle.

 "I have a riddle for the two of you,....." He said.

"What is it
That we love more than life,
Fear more than death,
The rich want it,
The poor have it,
The miser spends it,
And the spend-rift saves it?"

---------------------------

 Bernard looked to the man once more and then over at his sleeping master. He then looked back to him and snorted. "Oh yes she is totally awake,... by the way I don't need to go to her or anything. Again that is a copper dragon. They are not evil, further more the only violence that will be caused between this interaction will be the one that attacks it." The raven said. He shook his head at the man. This guy sure was full of it. He then noticed Alyssa jumping up from her sleep and seeing the dragon. She seemed full of bliss and enjoyment at the sight of the huge creature. He took flight to join the two girls, fearing if he stayed by Xavio he might lose some brain cells. How the man became a mage he didn't know. He heard the dragon's riddle and he quickly knew the answer, he wondered if the two girls did though.

[Assistant]
Alyssa jumps up and down excitedly "Nothing!"

Her face was flush with child-like wonder. "Are you a copper dragon? They're my favorite!"

She dashed back to her tent and began rummaging around her belongings, she returned with a small battered book. "I have a book of riddles here if you want to play?"

She flopped down in front of the dragon, far too close to be an entirely sane move, and began paging through the book. She cast a light spell after a moment, when she realized it was still night, and that was probably why she was having difficulty reading it.

"What has a face, but no eyes. Hands but no fingers. And is always running but doesn't have legs?" She looked back up grinning.

[User]
Corinth smiled at the girl, "I am Corinth, and you are?" He asked. "And the answer to your riddle is Clock." He answered. The riddle wasn't all that hard. Well not for him anyways. He closely examined her as well and was piecing the puzzle together. She was some sort of assassin like character. However, she was way to giddy and free spirited to be a assassin. A thief by chance. He couldn't really judge her fully.

-------

 Bernard flew over and landed on the shoulder of Alyssa. "Not every day you see a dragon is it, Miss Alyssa." He sighed and shrugged. "Me and Vivian didn't really see much of them. We have had to dodge and hide from Basilisks but that was it. Not many of them live deep underground"

[Assistant]
"Alyssa! You're awake?!" Catarina semi-shouted in a hushed tone. Of course Alyssa didn't bother to keep her voice down, so Catarina wouldn't be surprised if everyone else in the camp was awake now. Sighing, Catarina was going to try to get Alyssa to go back to sleep when she practically rushed at the dragon after she awakes ked his riddle. At this point Catarina just sigjed. She removed the bill from her crossbow, putting it away awakes ked her tent before walking back to Alyssa and Corinth.

"Alyssa, I know you're excited to see a dragon and all, but you need your rest for tomorrow. We can't have you exhausted during the dungeon crawl." Of course Catarina needed sleep too, and if she didn't have tomorrow worry about a dragon in their camp she'd may have just woken up Alyssa to watch the camp in her stead.

Catarina still couldn't shake the bad feeling about Corinth, even if he says he's about good dragon. Dragons are magical creatures, and it wouldn't surprise Catarina if the dragon is using some sort of spell to obscure his scale colors. Maybe he's actually a red dragon but with some brownish tint so he looks like a copper dragon. Would red dragons even live in a desert? Catarina didn't know, but she didn't want to leave Alyssa out here alone. So she sat down next to the girl, ready to protect the girl of she does anything else crazy.


[System]
NICKNAME: Lila, DC

AGE(19-25): 22

GENDER: Female

EX: Jareth Wells

FAVORITE MUSIC: Indie Rock, Rock, Pop, a little Hip-Hop. Dislikes Classical, any type of Metal, Country, Rap and R&B

FAVORITE COLOR: Turquoise, Silver, Bronze, Gold, Blood Red, Navy Blue, Hot Pink

HOBBY(s): Reading, Shopping, Going out with friends, Walks on the beach, Netflix, Traveling

ANIMALS:
PERSONALITY: Friendly, Passionate, Intense, Jealous, Loyal, Outgoing, Vengeful, Stubborn, Flirtatious.

TATTOOS/PIERCINGS/OTHER: One piercing on each ear. One tattoo of five black stars in form of an S in her left forearm.

MAJOR IN COLLEGE: Chemistry Senior

OTHER: Comes from a privileged family and is the type of girl that never forgives or forgets. Enjoys swearing. Only her ex knows what a freak she is in bed.

[User]
There were no warnings for that, no proper responses for when someone dumps a pile of bricks on you. He thought he might drown right there. Pregnant? How was that even possible? They were usually so careful. She was on the pill and everything. But, a miracle happened, and then the Gods saw it fit to take away their precious gift. Maybe... maybe that was for the better? Jareth had no parental love growing up, he would have made a shit father.

Shit father, shit boyfriend, shit person.

But if he really felt that way, then why did her words of hurt him so, was it the empathetic pain of seeing her hurting? Or was it pain of losing a future that he didn't even realise he wanted? He wasn't sure if his knees gave out, or if the news had physically punched him back, but he was suddenly seated on the bed. He had no words, he simply sat and stared at the wall, as if trapped in some awful silent movie.

Surely the director would step from behind the camera and clack his clapperboard now. "Great scene, very moving, time for a lunch break!" he would say. But no, Jareth was a musician, not an actor, and for once... the poet was at a loss for words.

Delilah collapsed into a sobbing mess beside him. She told him her story, pouring her heart out to him. But he didn't deserve her honesty, not when he was the biggest cause of all her pain. Jareth reached his arm around her, trying to comfort her in any way. It was probably the wrong thing to do, but he had to stop the sobbing. He had to fix the mess he made, he never thought he could fuck something up so royally. And then her final word pierced his heart like a splintered stake.

Worthless.

That troublesome, devil of a feeling. Jareth had danced with that particular devil for many years. That internal nagging that pushed many to drugs, self harm... suicide... He hoped she didn't mean it, oh gods, please don't let her mean it.

"No." it was the first word that he had managed to croak out the entire time. Jareth used his right hand to guide her face to look at him. With both hands, he softly held her face, making eye contact unavoidable. He wanted it that way, so the conviction would ring loud and clear when he said "You are not worthless."

The rest of the sentiment finished in his head alone: "I am. I was. I always will be."

[Assistant]
Adelisa sat up and decided to go looking for Grant. They needed to talk, whether it was a good idea or not; because Adelisa could not feel this way anymore. It was a horrible feeling and she didn't want to it to continue. She got up and left her room, walking to the hallway with a sigh. She was nervous, but who wouldn't be in her situation? She opened the door and popped her head out, looking around.

She wondered where he would be, so she took her phone out and texted him hey, it's Adelisa… can we talk?  She quickly made her way back to her room and threw her make up out onto the bed. Even if Grant said no, she wanted to look good in case she bumped into him. Of course she needed to look good for the possibility of bumping into an ex. That's just a girl thing.

[User]
As Grant headed back to his room, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Taking it out to look at the message, his heart started racing. The first thing he saw was Addie's name at the top of the message, and he didn't even read the rest. Just stared at her name for a while, before finally reading the text. It was short. She wanted to talk. Grant froze, excited and paralyzed with fear all at once. He wanted to say so many things to her- she was beautiful, she was perfect, he didn't deserve her- but most of all, he wanted to say he was sorry for not treating her like the goddess she was.

He considered his next course of action. He was sweaty from his intense exercise, but he couldn't wait to talk to her and she'd seen him like that countless times. He was nearly at his door, so he just walked across to the girls' condo and knocked loudly. His heart was pounding, and his throat felt so constricted he doubted he could get the words he wanted out. Grant just hoped it was Adelisa that answered and not any of her friends.

[Assistant]
The gentle touch of his hand wiping the tears from her face made Amelia lean into his touch- longing for more. Longing for him to hold her close, to kiss her neck, and whisper how much he loved her with his soft lips against her skin- just once more she longed for that feeling. Amelia looked away, because she knew what was coming next. She knew this could never go back to normal with Hunter possibly becoming a father soon. The thought made anger flash through her eyes. That night hurt her worse than any physical pain she had ever felt. To have that girl show up at her work and confess that she was pregnant with Hunter's child? It took her breath away- she thought she was going to have to catch the pieces of her broken heart as it fell into her stomach. And when she told Hunter that she knew about his one night stand- that look in his eyes. It made her want to forgive him, to just kiss him passionately and pretend they were in their own little world. But it wasn't just a one night stand, she was pregnant. The girl was going to have Hunter's baby. It killed Amelia, she would have rather been slapped in the face. How could he have let that happen! Amelia furrowed her eyebrows and startled to ball her hands into tight fists. But the anger washed away when his arms wrapped around her. She closed her eyes and slowly her head laid on his shoulder as her arms wrapped around his torso in a tight embrace.

The words stung like ice to her already frozen heart. Hunter was ready and prepared to move on, while Amelia clung to the wish that he still loved her and they could make this work. As much as Amelia knew that was a ridiculous wish, she held onto the false hope because that was all she had left. But as he pulled away and opened that door, Anelia felt the coldness overwhelm her once again. She had fought so hard not to turn into a cold-hearted bitch. After all, it was so much easier to be angry then to cry yourself to sleep every night.

Amelia watched him disappear into the hotel room, standing alone in the hallway of a multi million dollar condo. She grasped the locket around her neck, and with no more tears left to cry she walked away. She left the condo and walked onto the now sunset lit beach. It was already time for the sun to go down? Amelia sighed and pulled off her cover up, pushing her shorts off, and throwing her sunglasses off he head into the pile of clothes she just shed. Amelia walked toward the water in her tight deep purple bikini, watching the seagulls fly overhead. The water was getting colder as the sun went down over the horizon, but not as cold as her heart felt. With a leap into a wave she was off, swimming through the cold salty water with all the strength she had left.

[User] Adelisa walked up to the door and opened it to see Grant sweating intensely. He looked like he worked out and was honestly drool-worthy. She opened the door wider to invite him in. She said softly "I think we should talk about… this." She walked over to the couch and sat down, hoping Grant would follow suit. She looked at him, hoping her eyeliner covered her reddened gaze. She had been crying, but showing that to someone else? Especially Grant? That would make the entire situation worse.

[Assistant]
Grant followed Adelisa to the couch and sat down beside her, looking at her closely. She looked beautiful like she always did, but two years of dating meant that he knew when she'd been crying. He decided to pretend she hadn't been, just to prevent her feeling worse. "Addie..." He started softly, looking at her. He wanted to hold her so badly before he apologized, but kept his hands down at his side. "I'm sorry. That's mostly it. I know you hate it when I sound like a lawyer," his lips quirked up a little in a weak smile at the memories, "so I'm not going to use any pretty words. I just want to say I'm sorry. I... I treated you like less than you are. You're a beautiful, amazing girl that anyone would want to have as their girlfriend, and I've been so caught up in projecting my idea of perfection that I forgot to make you feel perfect, too." He looked down at his lap, then back up at her.

"I'm not going to lie, I miss you like crazy. I'm pretty boring without you, huh?" He offered her a weak smile before continuing. "But I know you've probably moved on," he said, thinking of the tattooed guy on the beach. "I just wanted to apologize. And if you can stand having my gorgeous self around, I'd still like us to be friends." Grant joked, trying to lighten the mood. He hated serious and emotional conversations. He knew they were necessary, but it was force of habit that made him try to lighten them however he could.

[User]
Adelisa smiled at him, but frowned in confusion at the moved on part of his apology. She shook her head and said "I'm not sure what you mean. I haven't even had a date since we broke up." She looked down at her hands and said "I miss you too, but it really hurt. Feeling like I'm not good enough for someone? It tore me up." She clutched her hands into fists and she said "I almost committed suicide, but Delilah and Amelia caught me and stopped me before I could. I was in the hospital for a week and… all I thought about was you."

She looked up at him, her eyes glazed over, but a soft smile on her face. "I thought about all the fun we had. That was what has been keeping me afloat." She reached out to softly place her hand on his cheek. "In a way, you were kinda a blessing and a curse, huh?" She smiled crookedly.

[Assistant]
Jareth reached his arm around her, trying to comfort her. Lila rested her head into his shoulder, now crying silently, salty tears like dew rolling down her pink cheeks.

"No." Lila heard Jareth croak out a while after she'd declared herself worthless, putting and end on the painful silence. Jareth used his right hand to guide her face to look at him, then he softly held her face with both hands. making eye contact unavoidable. He wanted it that way, so the conviction would ring loud and clear when he said "You are not worthless."

Lila's eyes filled with tears again. "But I couldn't make you happy. I couldn't even keep our baby safe.

Lila lied her head on Jareth's lap until there were no more tears left in her. After what seemed like hours, she wiped her tears with the back of her hand and sniffed, finally gaining control over herself. She was quiet for a few minutes, thinking about what she could do to ease the pain. Her wandering eyes fell onto the prescription bottle, then turned to Jar. "Let's just get high and wasted and make lots of love, baby. I want us forget to all the pain we've been through." It was a fucked-up idea, but she'd do anything to stop their torture.

Her sudden desire to try drugs was proof of how emotionally distressed she was. Delilah had been raised as a goody two shoes by her well-to-do family; her parents were on a somewhat prominent position in their town, and so they were constantly worried about appearances, portraying their family as the example of perfection, and expecting and demanding that their only daughter be on par with that image. So, imagine their surprise when their daughter brought home a 'satanist, druggie, overly-tattooed, washed-up loser that seems like a real bum' (her parent's words) for Christmas. Her mother had nearly fainted, her father had treated them coolly all throughout their stay, and they'd warned Delilah that she'd lose their financial support if she remained with Jareth. In her first act of defiance, Lila had stayed with Jar, making her relationship with her parents strained and risking losing everything except him. And for what? To have been dumped on Valentine's Day Eve. Her parents had nearly cried with joy at the news.

Lila had remained a faithful believer that drugs were 'bad and harmful and something she'd never try in her life'; even when she'd gotten to know her beloved Jar's dirty little secret, and even when she'd had the substances at arm's reached, she'd remained firm on her word. Hell, she'd even tried to get Jar into rehab. His use had also been a cause of their many arguments near the end, given the fact that Lila had found out by accident instead of her then boyfriend having told her.

Another reason to stay away, but she simply couldn't bear to part with her bittersweet love.

Lila got up from Jareth's lap, grabbed the Xanax bottle, opened it and shook two pills onto her open palm. She offered them to Jareth, locking her eyes onto his, full of determination. "Here you go, JarBear. You give me mine and I give you yours. I promise it won't hurt us. We're both too screwed up anyway."


[System]
Gender: female

Age: 15

Appearance:
Sophia is shorter than average, in fact she has never met anyone who could look her in the eye without looking down or bending their legs. Her face is very expressive, particularly her grey eyes, due to it being one of her primary ways of communicating. She has a very lithe, slightly muscular build from all the running and climbing she does. Because of her active lifestyle, she prefers to wear t-shirts, shorts, and running shoes or hiking boots. She also wears a shark-tooth necklace.

Personality: Sophia doesn't speak. Period. She has not spoken so much as a single word her entire life, and it is not known whether this is due to some unknown brain condition, or if she simply chooses not to. Regardless, this does not seem to hamper her much, as she always finds some other way to communicate what she wants to others. She's also very active and athletic, usually going on a run before school, participating in her school's track team, as well as being a parkour expert; if she doesn't want to be caught, then no one can catch her short of flying. She's also recently started teaching herself MMA, mostly by watching videos on the interwebs.

Because of her apparent "disability", she is subject to a fair degree of ridicule and teasing, particularly from those who believe that she just chooses not to speak (her most common nickname is "Silent Sophy"). Her typical responses to this are scathing looks, sarcastic comments delivered via a text-to-speech app on her phone that she had downloaded, and rude gestures delivered at point blank range. In fact, Sophia doesn't seem to place much, if any great importance on personal space; she loves to communicate through physical contact, particularly with hugs, slight caresses, or drawing on someone's skin. However, she will give space if she sees that her actions are making the recipient particularly uncomfortable. Those who know her know that this is just her way of demonstrating affection.

Background: At the tender age of 18, Madeline Callahan left her small town roots and made her way to the sunny shores of California, in pursuit of great dreams, good friends and a bright future. Upon arrival, she promptly shirked those dreams and indulged in every pleasure possible. She was a party girl, living the good life without a care in the world…
Until reality came knocking, and she found herself pregnant. Abandoned by most of her friends, Madeline was still determined to live her life her own way. She decided to keep the baby, more or less cleaned up, and managed to support herself and her daughter, whom she named Sophia, as a waitress. It was not an easy life, but with the help of a couple remaining friends, it was a more or less good one for the first couple years.

However, Madeline became troubled. Even up to the age of four, Sophia had still not spoken a single word. There didn't seem to be any apparent medical reason preventing her from doing so, and she seemed to understand others perfectly; she just didn't speak herself. Madeline attempted to get a speech therapist to help her daughter, however she was unable to continue paying for them. Additionally, Sophia had seemed to have inherited some of her mother's wilful attitude, since she didn't pay the slightest attention during the few sessions that she did have.

Out of both options and money, Madeline made the grudging decision to move back home, where she has lived with her brother and sister-in-law ever since.

Relationships: Richard Calhoun has been Sophia's best friend almost since the day she and her mother moved in with her uncle. People love to tease about them being an "item", and while Sophia has never said yes, she's never said no either.

Powers:

[User]
Thursday March 21st, 2016

Mina actually considered following The Boy With the Book to the nurse's room. What's wrong with me?

She tried to ignore his smirk, and headed towards the cafeteria. There was a seat that she always sat in, and she hoped no one had taken it. When she walked into the room, loud music and chatter filled her ears. She tried to act like she didn't care that her ears were being blasted off, and walked to the chair in the corner. Once there, she took out her lunch, a ham and cheese sandwich, and also her book.

Halfway through lunch, she noticed people muttering and staring at her while passing by. Although she was used to being stared at, she wasn't exactly sure why they were talking about her in her face. Mina ignored it, like she always does, and kept on reading the book.

"Please God, please God, can you please tell me why? I ask this of you, yet in my heart, I know,"  she read. I do know. I do know why people are talking about me. Mina sighed. I shouldn't have talked so much to The Boy With the Book.

[Assistant]
When Ricky picked her up and hauled her away, Sophia pouted and proceeded to kick his butt with her heels until he finally put her down. Of course, this only gave her the opportunity to turn around and jump right back on, this time clinging with her arms hugging his shoulders and legs wrapped around his waist, her head cheerfully perched on his shoulder. As they walked away, she glanced behind them, frowning thoughtfully. Awe, I wanted to watch her draw more. A crafty smile formed on her face. I'll just have to catch her again.

---

Naturally, things simply had to go downhill from there. Third period math was boring, as per usual, and by the time lunch rolled around, Sophia's head was pounding and she was ready eat just about anything, even the cafeteria's "stew surprise", or rather "whatever leftovers they couldn't pawn off to the kids thrown into a pot and boiled overnight". Sometimes detention really sucked when you had to spend it helping out the lunch ladies.

Everything went from bad to worse, once they got to the cafeteria, and Ricky ran into Lardo. Literally. The collision left both of them on the floor, and Lardo's lunch making some rather nice looking art on his shirt. In an instant, Sophia crouched and started running her hands over Ricky, checking him over while neatly interposing herself between the two. The last thing she wanted was a fight before she had something to eat.

[User]
Micky made his way to his third class, Math. There wasn't anything interesting going on in math, at least, nothing Micky found interesting. It was your average class routine; Review the homework, complete a work sheet out of the text book, than finish off with more assigned homework. Nothing special. Micky didn't realize how quickly the day was going now that his hardest class, Phys. Ed, was now over. Math flew by and the bell eventually rang, indicating it was lunch.

Micky wlked down the halls and made his way to his locker where he would grab the few dollars he had for lunch. I't would be a strong argument to say that the lunch food wasn't worth paying for, but Micky had no other choice. Other than the Roof over his head and food on the table, Micky was quite independent. Micky didn't make his own lunch, not for any specific reason. The change jingled in his pocket as he walked through the halls and into the cafeteria. He got a bit nervous when he realized how much noise his money was making. In the past, he had numerous incidents where bullies would hassle him for his money. It happened only once at this school by a boy named Largent.

Of course, the amount of money he had wasn't a big enough pot for Largent to want it, but the thought still remained. Realistically, that incident with Largent might never happen again, but with a past like Micky's you can never be to paranoid. Micky walked into the cafeteria and saw the scene that was unraveling.

"Speak of the devil..." Micky whispered to himself.

He joined the crowed of gawking students, shuffling his way to the front of the crowed. He recognized the boy opposite of Largent, although his name was a mystery to Micky. Regardless, of who the boy was, this was a scenario you wouldn't wish on your enemy.

"The boy's a dead man" Micky said, His words getting mixed in with those of all the other students.

[Assistant]
Thursday march 21st, 2016

This is going to really suck Richard thought as, behind Sophia, Largent surged to his feet, like the leviathan rising up from the infinite depths. Spaghetti fell from his shirt, landing on the linoleum underfoot with a squelching sound. His face was red, eyes wide and teeth bared in a feral snarl of rage. Largent stepped forward, shoving Sophia bodily to the side and he reached down and grabbed a double fistful of Richards shirt, hauling the smaller boy to his feet, and then up, onto his tip toes.

"Do you want to die?" he snarled, face inches away from Richard. "Is that what this is about? I'd be happy to help, really, but I'm sure you could have found a les painful way to go about it." He let go with one hand, pulled his arm back, and slammed his fist forward into Richards gut. If he'd been standing on his own Richard would have folded completely around the blow as the air rushed out of his lungs and he was left with barely the strength in his legs needed to stand on his own.

Richard flailed and squirmed, trying to pull away from Largents grip to no avail. The other boy was simply too strong. Richards head was leaned back, doing his best to avoid the stench of stale cigarettes on Largent's breath and as he looked up at the ceiling a brilliant thought popped into his head. He didn't give himself time to think about it, because if he did, he was reasonably certain that he would talk himself out of it. With his head tilted back he screwed his eyes shut, body tensing in preparation, and suddenly jerked forward as hard as he could. The crown of Richards head met with Largent's protruding nose with a sickening crunching sound. There was a gush of warm blood and Largent bellowed suddenly, letting Richard fall, dazed, to the floor. Stars bloomed behind Richards closed eyelids and he slowly sat up, his head pounding and elbows stinging from attempting to catch himself in his fall.

Did I really just head-butt Largent? he thought and looked up. Largent had both hands clasped to his face, blood leaking from between his fingers and a murderous look in his eyes that sent a series of cold shivers down Richards spine.

"That didn't make things any better," he muttered. "Come on, Soph, we gotta get out of here before he kills me." He croaked, still barely able to draw in any breath.

[User]
Hal stood there in the crowd, frozen. He hadn't expected Richard to fight back. He couldn't remember a single time anyone wanted to fight back against Largent. And suddenly, the kid who was friends with the mute just broke the brute's nose. Hal dropped the tray in his hand. Maybe Stuck Up was right. Live to fight another day.

Hal slunk deeper into the crowd, leaving the tray on the ground. Trying to use the crowd as cover, he nudged his way out from behind Largent closer to the front, where Richard and Sophie were trying to escape. At the very least, Hal could make sure that they were okay.

Somebody had to.

[Assistant]
Hal would find that someone was already filling in for the position he was trying to take. Blake had pushed through the crowd a bit too late to stop the initial swinging, but he was definitely there in time to cover Richard and Sophia's escape. "Holy geez man, it sounded like you broke his nose!" he remarked as he tried helping him up. "But seriously," he lowered his voice, "Get the heeeeeeeck out of here while you can. I'll meatshield you!" He seemed earnest about his intentions and gestured for them to get going, taking a moment to look back at Largent to see if he'd gotten back up.

Blake had plenty of pluck to square off with Largent if need be, but there was just something... very imposing about him in general. Breaking up fights had been scary at first, but he eventually toughened up to be able to handle a few swings and return a few if need be. But with Largent... Geez, the guy just seemed a lot more intimidating than any of the other guys he's had to deal with up to now. It made him feel uneasy about intervening, but his moral code wouldn't abide by him backing out now.

[User]
Sometimes, the oddest things can go through a person's mind at the strangest times. For Sophia, it was Getting pushed to the ground hurts. She had landed heavily on her shoulder, and had her arm not come up, she would have cracked her head on the floor as well. Both facts came to together to demonstrate her error in judgement: it was obvious that Largent did not care about who he hurt.

She looked up just in time to see Largent punch Richard in the stomach, nearly lifting him clear off the floor by his shirt, and she was in the process of standing up when Richard rammed his head into Largent's nose. Sophia was mildly impressed; she hadn't ever seen him hit someone before. Unfortunately, while his attempt at self-defense did succeed in gaining him freedom, it also had the unfortunate side effect of making Largent even angrier. "Ou biddle shid!"

Largent stood well over a foot taller than Sophia, and probably had a good 20 - 30 pounds on her. For such a big person, he could move awfully quickly when he wanted to. Unfortunately for him, Sophia was faster, and she was quite a bit angrier.

As the bigger boy swung his fist towards Richard's face, Sophia once again interposed herself between them, catching Largent's wrist with her forearm and batting aside his attack. Before he had a chance to react, she struck, jabbing her hand up and catching his throat in the V between her thumb and forefinger. His angry snarl gave way to a choking gurgle, and his eyes bulged as he found his airway temporarily blocked. Not giving his a chance to recover, Sophia seized his shirt and drove her knee straight into his crotch, sending Largent doubling over. Still not finished, she clapped her hands on his ears and yanked down, bringing her knee up to meet his forehead. As Largent stumbled backwards, Sophia spun and drove her foot into his stomach, driving the air from his lungs and toppling him onto his back. Standing over the fallen boy, Sophia waggled her finger at him, as though she was looking at an errant child throwing a tantrum.

Ignoring the stunned silence of the crowd, she turned and helped Richard to his feet, leading him through the parting crowd of bodies. As they put some distance behind them, the weight balance between the pair slowly shifted, until she wasn't so much supporting him as he was supporting her. When they reached a semi-secluded spot, Sophia pulled away and leaned against the wall, clutching at her knee and whimpering as tears pooled in her eyes.


[System]
UserName: Sep, cause Fallen is boring.
Age: Unknown

Mageblood type: Lues

Favoured Magic Class: Runework

Previous Magic training: Studied at the college of Aerta,

Race: Originally? Human. Now, he's missing everything that makes a human human. He's just a Skeleton.

Appearance:

6"1

Short Bio: Arcadius, who cannot remember his family crest. He fought in the Dark Wars, however he can't remember what side he fought for completely. He only recalls how he fought and used runic objects to bring death to other people under orders. Before the war broke out he had been a detective and he remembered more of that than he did off anything else, he remembers being trusted with information and secrets and trying to find solutions to things, and he remembers the fight and losing.

He doesn't remember how he lost he just remembers the pain. Something stabbing through his chest, held by someone he knew and that was the annoying thing. He didn't even know who this person was let alone how he knew them. They had been important, and he had trusted them. That was all he remembered. The next thing he had woken up in a coffin hearing the sound of dirt being piled on top of him. Above him were strange runes which he had cursed himself for not knowing them even though they were his art. Despite this the coffin must have been bound, meaning that no magic could be used on it or inside of it which was bad for him. He tried shouting, the person on the outside either did not hear him or did not care.

Searching his surroundings he found a cane, touching it had been the biggest mistake he had ever made. The power of the cane infused him with Arcanite and infused his bones with everlasting life, however sadly the power of Duuri didn't mention the life including his flesh and blood. It was excruciatingly painful for him as his flesh and organs began to burn away from him, like being dipped in acid or being burned slowly. When it passed he could see as if it was light, it was one of the bonuses of not being flesh and bone and not having actual eyes.

Then began his torture, years passed. Or days, or eons. He didn't know. He just lay there. Occasionally testing out his body. He appeared to always retain his strength despite his lack of muscle or lack of activity for years at a time. What did pain him though was the fact his bones broke easily. Something he had to keep in mind with all the times he became frustrated and tried to assault the coffin, fruitlessly of course. As it was bound it could only be opened from the outside. All he had was the cane. He held it for years at a time, tapping it off the coffin as if pretending to walk, not even weathering the cane down. Though the top decoration began to form a groove in it till it have a grove that perfectly fit his right hand.

Eventually, he didn't know when he was dug up. Of course no point in shouting if they even spoke the same language as him. He was moved around a lot, he didn't know why and he got quite cross at none of them for being curious enough to open the lid of the Coffin. It would have been a simple task that enslaved him.

This went on, and on, and on. He merely resided himself to his torture for eternity spent in this box with himself.

Good Attributes:
- Keen detectives eyes.
- Has no muscles - so doesn't get tired from running etc.
- No lungs so does not run out of breathe from physical activities/being underwater.
- Versed in Martial Arts.
- Good historical knowledge.
- Light does not affect his sight, he can see just as well in the dark as he can in the light.
- Due to nothing present to cushion the impact even though he can't hit too hard without breaking himself he also does not need to hit as hard to cause pain.

Bad Attributes: - Wise Crack, likes to talk and crack jokes that can seem an annoyance to people.
- Despite his condition he still feels pain as if he had flesh. Set on fire? It'll burn etc.
- Due to his extended… isolation it is likely he will have issues getting to grips with interaction again.
- He can be quick to anger, and if he becomes truly angry he will enter a state where he cannot use magic and has to resort to physical violence.
- He can't die by normal means(Which is a curse believe it or not).
- He is hard to hide in a crowd.
- He isn't very stealthy…
- He isn't up to date on current history since before the war that lead to his death.
- His bones are slightly weakened meaning they can be broken easier than normal.
- In cold weather his bones become more brittle, meaning they break easier.
- Dislocating a bone is just the equivalent of taking it off. Causing extreme pain in the process.

Secret Word: Rebirth, ironic, huh?

The Curse/Blessing:

Basically what it did was preserve his mind and his body, however it didn't preserve his body properly. Part of the cane that resurrected him was missing, the decorative end had been replaced with something new. Whoever killed him basically didn't like him very much. Wanting to kill him but also wanting to make him suffer, binding the coffin he placed the cane inside knowing at some point he would touch it. The canes decorative jewel on the top which gave it additional power (It had enough residual power for one use after it was removed) was replaced with a new decorative top. This top had runes engraved on it(That he couldn't see and didn't have the ability to read anyway) these runes were designed to rot flesh.

So at the same time the cane tried to revive him it also decayed all off his flesh. The magic bounded him together so it was as if his muscles, voice box and everything else still existed. It is why he can still feel pain. However the fact it does not exist is what gives him the whole "undead" and "dead" aspect. If you stab his heart it will hurt, however it won't actually kill him. Breaking bones are the most damaging you can go, break all of them and he'll die as he will be nothing.

While the Cane was designed to bring everlasting natural life however for him it brought him back, it was also designed to make a more powerful mage by infusing the mages bone with arcanite. Naturally for Arcadius all it did was allow him to retain some magical control, rather than making him more powerful. He is a living Paradox, the more powerful magic of Duuri kept his soul alive infused within his very bones (technically) while the runes by his enemy rotted everything else away.

He retains magic through the field that holds him together and also through the Arcanite in himself. If he uses to much magic he begins drawing it from the field that holds him together and is the very reason he exists and the bonds that hold everything he is starts to fall apart, and he begins to turn to dust. This dust turning into cannot be reversed, he very slowlyregrows as the magic field has to re-expand to do so. Broken bones heal at a normal rate however. If someone somehow has a way to regrow their own bones it occurs slightly faster at whatever rate they can do it but then his magic tolerance is lower as the field holding him together has to hold everything together but with less available until it manages to replenish itself through him. Of course during this time he cannot cast any magic without risking losing more of himself.

He keeps the cane as a link to his former self however without the power source it cannot be used again to revive anybody and as it was the only object he had he has worn the runes from the top of the cane into a hand groove that fits his skeletal hand perfectly.

[User]
Alaira Taenn

When Alaira rushed the man, he seemed to somehow miraculously avoid the attack. Even though he saw her coming, her speed was such that to avoid the attack without throwing yourself to the ground was an impressive feat, but not impressive enough. She skid to a halt just after, using her forward momentum to whip around and aim another blow at his skull... And nothing, it didn't connect. She continued this pattern, desperately trying to kill the man before her mind gave out and she was at his mercy.

Finally, she managed to land a blow on his midsection... or did she? He had just... vanished without a trace as soon as she struck. The screaming in her head had finally stopped as she stood there, huffing and puffing. She fell to her knees, her mace clattering to the ground as she fell a little ways forward, managing to stop herself from hitting her head on the cold stones as she caught her breath...

[Assistant]
Collab-Luna and Lucius

A shout echoed through the forest. It was muffled due to the distance and the forest, but sure enough it was from Annabeth. This shout was heard all the way to Colette at the wagon.

Colette jumped and tensed looking in the direction of the shout. "Annabeth!" she shouted as she took off to save her only friend. Her blood rushing through her veins and arteries as it was responding the adrenaline that was pumping through, her blocking the pain as the branches of trees that she pasted cut into her exposed skin drawing blood which healed up instantly. "ANNABETH WHERE ARE YOU!?" She shouted trying to find her with her nose but it wasn't working with her mind full of panic. She strained to hear around her hoping she would call out to her. She continued to run in the direction she was going when she finally got to where her friend was. "ANNABETH!" she shouted so much that if she was human, her throat would be sore from it.

Annabeth turned to the sound of shouting. She couldn't make it out at first, and worried that it was an enemy she drew her sword. But soon Colette crashed into the forest, her clothes torn and her skin a bit bloodied. "Colette? What happened?" Annabeth forgot about Arcadius and went to see to her friend. She sheathed her sword as she made her way to Colette. "What's wrong? Did something happen at the wagon?"

"I...I hear you scream and I got scared." she said her body trembling and now glisening with sweat and blood that mixed together as she tried to catch her breath, her maroon red eyes relaxing when she saw no danger. "Why did you scream?" she asked looking at her friend.

Annabeth couldn't believe it at first, but then she smiled. Mainly because she was a bit glad that Colette would worry about her so much, though at the same time she was a bit sorry for making her worry. Taking out a cloth Annabeth wiped away some blood on Colette's cheek. She must have gotten cut while she ran here. "Well, you see I was just startled. The skull we found a while back is magical and can talk! He says he'll be able to help us though."

She nodded in understanding as she flushed a little embarrassed but managed to shake it off. "I am glad you are ok, I don't want to lose you if I would have handled it if I lost my only friend." she said sincerely her eyes flashing with sadness as her past filled her head before she mentally shook it off. 'Its in the past, they are gone and there is no way of changing that.' she thought before turning her attention back to her.

Annabeth could tell there was some sadness in Colette. Annabeth made a mental note to talk to her about it some more later. Turning back to Liam and Arcadius Annabeth decided to advance their plans a bit. "Well with you here I suppose we can just get our work done even faster." Walking over to Arcadius, Annabeth picked him up and tied him to a piece of rope. This time let rested him against her chest so he could see what Annabeth could, sort of.

"Now that we're all here, let's hurry this along. It's getting dark and I don't want us to be out here when night falls. Colette, keep an eye out for any long logs and such. And collect any vines and plant fibers you find that aren't poisonous. If you don't know what is and isn't, don't worry about it. Now let's hurry before the sun goes down. We need to act quickly once the moon is out."

Colette nodded and went to do so sniffing at each vine picking everything that wasn't poisonous humming an old lullaby to herself as she felt her body calming down from the earlier panic. She looked up at the colorful sky holding onto the plants and other things she found close to her chest. She smiled a little after a while of standing there looking up at sky, her thoughts around how much her life has changed ever since she was found and was taken to a better place where she finally had a friend she had been longing for ever since her parents mysteriously vanished and all the servants left her behind in fear she would kill them. She looked back towards where the others were and she smiled feeling really blessed and went back to doing what she was doing.

[User]
Arcadius would have shrugged if he had been able, he would have waved his hands. He would have pulled several fingers! HE would have done a variety of things the fact is that he couldn't. "I have a simple request, I am sure it is entirely within reason. I tdoes not include theft, debauchery, murder, pain or anything like that. Which is rather surprising when you think about it technically I've not slept with a woman in well over... a very long time. Though I'm not exactly sure that's entirely possible anymore." He stopped for a minute, seeming to be thinking. "I suppose you could do it to a certain degree. It'd be a bit pointy and I don't think I could get much fun out of it. Though I suppose theres a certain appeal for someone who doesn't tyre out."

He stopped again. "Gives a whole new meaning to boning someone." Arcadius chuckled, shaking as he did so. "Oh what were we talking about? Oh yes. REWARDS. I want my body back, and some nice clothes. Preferably a hat. Do you have hats here in the future? Or are they out of fashion? Antiques possibly? If so I still want one. My head feels naked, though technically I'm naked all over me. Wherever the rest of me is..."

"What do I have to do again?"