[System]
Age: 13.
Height: 5'3.
Weight: 120 lb.
Path: Hikari.

Weapon: Studded gauntlets, used for forearm protection and offensive purposes (not always in use).

Appearance:

Personality: Yoshito is the sort of sarcastic, unenthusiastic child that didn't get along with others his age. He enjoys having a good laugh at minor things, which may cause him to come off as easily distracted, but Yoshito maintains a correct focus. Despite him being so young, his intellect is far above what most would regard it to be. He most often has a strong will and moral compass, but also spends perhaps too much time laid back, causing the severity of most situations to bring him little, if not any fear. Overall Yoshito is an independent person that prefers getting most things done on his own, or not at all.

Biography: Growing up even younger than Yoshito is before was very troubled. Not financially, but Yoshito himself was a born a youngling with zero discipline. At school he was neither a bully, nor one picked upon, though his grades were an obvious failure. Only for a short while was it tolerable until both Yoshito's parents figured they couldn't handle a child much longer, especially one of this audacity. At the age of 7, Yoshito had been sent to be raised and trained at a temple of martial artists a few miles outside of his home village. There he obtained new power, and learned techniques that gave him a new mindset, and something more to do. Here he didn't have to be bored by those around him at school, and his foolhardy ways were taken care of. Only recently did Yoshito move to Asheville where he recruited himself, making him something of a "new kid".

Martial Art Style -

1.) Togakure-ryū: A traditional ninpō (Ninjutsu) that focuses on analyzing your opponent through combat in order to gain additional information on said opponents fighting patterns. This knowledge may be used in physical escapes and often evasion techniques in order to counter attack when an opening is exposed.

2.) Ng Ga Kuen/Ng Gar King: A Chinese style of martial arts that incorporates techniques from the five Shaolin animals: the tiger, the dragon, the leopard, the snake and the crane. Ng Ga Kuen brings together a multitude of fighting styles that are used for various situations and scenarios such as speed (Leopard), strength (Tiger), evasion (Snake), equilibrium (Crane), and intellect or the ability to smoothly preform in combat (Dragon). Most techniques are seen utilizing open palm thrusts, parries, and boxing combat.

Magic Abilities -
1.) Photokinetic Combat: The ability to fuse light energy within your body to greatly increase your speed tenfold, which also amplifies hitting power, allowing for much faster attacks, and a much quicker evasion. Yoshito cannot literally move at light speed.

2.) Energy Beam Emission: A beam of pure light and energy usually ejected from the palm of fingertips that can be thinned out for accurate shooting, or widened for large destruction. Not only is the beam used to project damage, but can smite dark energy and absorb life-force to make an opponent feel weaker. Almost predictable if used too often.

3.) Photon Healing: Yoshito may heal himself or others using a photogenic regenerative process. Larger wounds may take longer, and this ability will run out if a light source is not current.

Character Rank: D.
Missions Completed: 0.

[User] Hanzõ entered the schoolgrounds. They were by now familiar to him, he had been walking around there in the nighttime for the past few days, hiding from curious eyes. But now it was daytime and there were others. He was walking towards the homeroom, taking mental notes about others and pushing past them when they were walking too slow for his taste. But he did not shove or move anyone, he just sort of slid past them in all peace, avoiding conflict for now. He was already wearing his Karate Gi for the school and the chain around his waist rests there without a sound as he steps inside just as quietly, his bare feet causing little to no sound at all. There were already people inside, and the headmaster, a the board said, was addressing a student already. That was fast. He took a seat and sat in place completely still with that small smile on his lips, waiting and listening for the sounds of living around him, now this is more what felt like home so far.

[Assistant]
The morning was nice. A little too nice, unfortunately. Kaori had woken up early to get ready and wander around for a bit, get a feel for the grounds. She wore her normal clothes rather than a gi, for comfort's sake, and for the a fact that the first day was home room and she doubted that there'd be any fighting or actual training ons the first day, and even if there were, she could move as easily in these as she could in a gi. But back to before. It was an unfortunately nice morning because the girl thought it would be nice to sit under the shade of a tree for a few moments to relax, and ended up falling back to sleep.

The reason she woke up is a mystery, all she knows is that her legs jerked in a. Motion like she was jumping, startling herself awake. Color rose to her cheeks and she glanced around to make sure that no one had seen, then got to her feet, pursed off her pants, and began hurrying towards the building. She was probably late, but hey, what would the teacher do? She entered just after that Hanzõ character did, looking tired and confused, then flopped down at a seat further away from the rest, folding her arms into the desk and resting her chin on them, barely holding her eyes open. Still in a tired daze, she hadn't noticed that the man at the head of the class was the headmaster, and so she showed little respect or reverence when she turned her gaze onto him and gave a slow "Hello." It was gonna be a long day.

[User]
[Day 1 - Monday - 9:45 am]

When Sin'chi asked for Amy's name that was when a few others had entered the classroom. The first fresh face gave Hajime a slight suspense; he was quiet…and didn't say anything at all. Then again waking up early in the morning to attend school wasn't necessarily a wonderful thing to young faces. He decided to shake off the thoughts and acknowledged the presence of another face as well, Kaori. She wore some unusual attire but Hajime knows that everyone has their own style in clothing. He turned back around to the window and waited for Amy's answer. But then suddenly something clicked in his mind. As he stared at the monument that was partially covered by the top of a tree from his point of view, a few dark images appeared in his mind; as if he got pulled into an instant nightmare. But that was Hajime in a nutshell. He has always had a look on his face as if he became disturbed or haunted by something. While working at the bakery a while back, the ones he worked with were intimidated by his focused expressions for they knew that something was wrong with him when they saw him. However, Hajime was the first to deny any rumor of him. He did not mention to anyone what exactly was wrong with him but before attending school he could remember his father speaking.

"As a carrier of the Kinji Raremashita Superu (Japanese for 'Forbidden Spell') it would be apparent to have constant prophecies…which were the only negative drawback the carrier would have. You are known as the Vanguard and with every new vanguard come an entire new set of challenges." His father once said.

Ah…so that was why he kept having constant visions. Momentarily, he thought about what could happen. Suddenly, the school was transformed into a dark cathedral filled with ancient dead spirits fighting out in the courtyard. This was the look of the old school when ancient Kurai master, Akihiko Hisashi ruled. He visualized himself, Hanzo, Amy, and Kaori standing in the middle under the dark purple skies. Akihiko stepped down from the steps and raised his katana, wearing his armor and helmet.

"The return is inevitable, Vanguard. You and your students will bow before the darkness!" he heard Akihiko yell.

Suddenly, he snapped out of it and took a gasp before taking a few steps back placing his hand on his desk to recover himself. He panted a bit but tried to hide it from the class. He cleared his throat.

After taking the time to clear his head, he looked up at the class.

"I see we have…new faces…" he said a bit shaken up. "Give me your names while we wait for the others to arrive…" he finished and took a breath before sitting down in his desk.

[Assistant]
Hitomi strode toward the school, appearing as if she were in a dream. Her eyes were closed as there was no point in her using them anyway, and her mouth was curled into a slight, seemingly content, smile. She weaved her way through the mass of people outside, and stepped into the hallway that would lead to her homeroom. She had rehearsed the steps in her head dozens of times, and with the help of her shadows to 'feel' the way for her, she made it into the room without any issues. When she got to the doorway, she stopped, as she could almost feel the energy coming form the inhabitants of the room. There were quite a few, Hikari and Kurai...and there was one especially powerful one toward what she assumed to be the front of the room. She inhaled sharply; she realized that she was in the presence of the headmaster himself! A powerful aura surrounded the figure, it could be no one else. She bowed her head toward him, not even sure that he'd seen her, then she took a seat near the front of the classroom.

She had heard much about the headmaster from her father, who had once studied at the academy. The headmaster was young, younger than Hitomi's father by a great deal. He was handsome, slow to anger, and quite skilled. She put her hands on the desk, and held them as she faced straight forward. Inside, she was almost giddy; she couldn't believe that she was in the presence of the headmaster. Would he be teaching them? That would be amazing, to learn from the very best!

Then, she heard him speak: "Give me your names while we wait for the others to arrive…"

This being the first time she ever heard him, she made absolutely certain that she would be able to recognize his voice at any given time. She let the words float in her mind for a good, long time. His voice was a bit shaky, which she thought was unusual for someone who, as her father put it, 'annihilated everyone in his path', but there was also some authority behind his words. Perhaps he just wasn't used to speaking in public?

She then heard him exhale, and the sound of a chair sliding on the floor, and a slight creak telling her that he had seated himself. It was at this point that she finally decided to speak:

"Headmaster. I am Hitomi Matsumoto. It is my sincerest pleasure to be in your presence."

[User]
The pathway had led towards the school and Yoshito Nambu stood outside the academy, still as could be with one solid form as his eyes gazed upon the exterior. A breeze rolled by and he curled his toes within the sandals he had on as it ruffled his shirt and past. He had slept early that night, although he still almost felt as if he was tired. Restless, but in the kind of way that made him feel bored, not fatigued. With little hesitation he strode forth, and proceeded into the building with a satchel that slung over his shoulder and rode down across his torso; steady to his side as he walked. It did not waver, and neither did he. It seemed odd. The closest thing he had been to an academy centered around what he assumed merciless combat was the same temple he spent six years of training at. Even then, he was alone. Who would he see? It didn't make Yoshito nervous not to know. It could be anybody. Perhaps he would find them alike those who he had went to school with. He could even make a friend or two. Pfft. The idea made Yoshito laugh a little bit. It was only until after he had realized that the chuckle released was out loud, though it wasn't like he cared.

By this time Yoshito had made his way into the same corridor that homeroom was placed. He did not think, but only moved towards the doorway at around 9:45 when he passed through the entrance. Immediately the instructor had caught his eye. Yoshito took a moment to inspect this older figure and realized his attire had displayed something of a higher individual. This must have been the headmaster. He's heard of him before, and how much of an important person he was supposed to be. It seemed strange that he was in a classroom about this manner, so Yoshito only assumed it had been temporary. Yoshito made the first move to bow to the headmaster, as many times as he had done it before, it was routine.

"Good evening." Yoshito's voice dragged on. It was deeper for his age, and you could spot a hint of laziness in his tone if you listened close enough, though he did not mean anything else but the utmost respect. With this, he turned towards the rest of the class from the corner of the room and scanned over the rest of his classmates quickly. Yoshito stuck out like a pimple on a pubescent teenagers forehead. Most of the fellow students within the room looked to be much older than he was, as mild of a shock as it was, this didn't cause him to fear in the least. There he walked to the middle row of desks amongst the classroom, all 5'3" of his thirteen year old stature. Perhaps one of the youngest in the room pulled out his seat from the desk and planted himself towards it. Yoshito's bag was brought down off his side, and a book was removed from within the leather package. With this, he let out a sigh and began to balance his head on the palm of his hand, rolling the flesh along his face upwards as his eyes glued themselves onto each line of the book before him.


[System]
Cody stands at about 6 feet, and has a lean, athletic build.

Age: 31

Personality: Cody is calm and collected, he prefers analyzing and planning out a battle beforehand rather than rushing in. He believes that battles should always be fought with a plan in mind, and abhors those who rush into battle blindly. Although he usually works alone, he is more than capable of working well and communicating with a team. However, he can still commit some mistakes and misunderstandings when working with others. He is always seen wearing his full armor in public, as he feels uncomfortable taking it off unless he's around people he trusts.

Backstory: Born in the city of Hong Kong, Cody Liu had been fascinated by NC's ever since he first laid eyes on them. He grew up studying and learning about them, and when he was old enough, joined the Red Star NC academy in Beijing. Finding himself with a fair sync ratio of 75%, he passed pilot training with flying colors and was assigned the pilot of an unknown NC that Red Star had salvaged with its body intact. Proving himself to be a valuable pilot, Cody was soon promoted to lieutenant and fought across many fronts for Red Star. But during a mission defending a border city from a Volkov Industries attack, the population of the city, along with several Red Star NCs and one of his close friends were killed by a massive airstrike that was authorized by his superior officer despite his objections. He ultimately deserted the army and forged a reputation as a mercenary. Recently, he had heard news of a large-scale Red-star attack on the city of Darwin. Cody felt something inside him, despite not receiving any noticeable rewards it benefits from defending Darwin, he volunteered. Perhaps it was his hidden feelings of anger towards Red Star, or maybe a sense of justice in defending the innocent inhabitants of the city. Nevertheless, he's there now, ready to fight for the defense of Darwin and Haven as a whole.

Tactical Preferences and Skills: Cody prefers staying in his mech, blasting away at foes from a safe distance due to the nature of his NC. His speciality is taking down targets as artillery, but performs equally as well at mid-range. He very rarely engages in melee combat, but knows how to reposition himself and keep the enemy away long enough for him to regain an advantage. Outside of his NC, he is adept in marksmanship, with his favourite firearms being assault rifles and heavy weapons such as rocket launchers and miniguns.

Notes: Cody really appreciates food, and eats rice with nearly every meal.

---

Codename: Halberd

Body-type: Bipedal

Type of NC: Light Artillery/Minor anti-air/Long-range

Equipment and armaments:

Heavy plasma cannons: The Halberd posseses 4 Heavy plasma cannons, 2 mounted on each arm. Used primarily for mid-range and close-range combat, the cannons pack quite a punch and have a decent fire rate as well. The only problem they face is that they are relatively quick to overheat, and thus, must be carefully managed.

Ripper missile launchers: Two ripper missile launchers surround the cockpit of the mech. They possess 4 tubes each, and can fire a salvo of guided ripper missiles, which can be used against ground targets, but are more effective against aircraft. Alternatively, the ripper missiles can be replaced with lancer missiles instead, which function more like anti-ground artillery.

Mass driver cannons: The Halberd's most powerful weapons are its dual mass driver cannons, located on its back. They function best as long-range anti-mech weapons, and can fire armor-piercing rounds at incredible speeds. Although they possess immensely long range, they fire slowly. It is usually loaded with armor-piercing rounds, but can be loaded with different types of rounds as well, such as incendiary rounds.

Shield generators: It is also equipped with energy shield generators to protect it from enemy fire. The generators produce a slightly more durable shield as compared to other NCs.

Rocket boosters: Should the Halberd ever need to escape, it is equipped with 4 rocket boosters located on the back of the vehicle to boost its speed by a large margin. The boosters are quite powerful and can move the Halberd fast enough to outrun interceptor type NCs. However, the boosters guzzle down large amounts of fuel, and thus must be carefully used to ensure the Halberd does not run out.

Notes: The Halberd stands at about 7 meters high. It possesses moderate armor and a moderately fast walking speed. Its primary weakness is its lack of powerful close-range options, as it functions as a light artillery and anti-air unit. The heavy plasma cannons are deadly at close-range but have difficulty in aiming at closer targets as well. The Halberd's only option is to use its boosters to quickly enlarge the gap between it and its attacker, but once it runs out of fuel, it is incredibly vulnerable.

[User]
Alexei d' Vexille
Alexei had just finished having a shower when the intercom blared, summoning all NC pilots to Ops. He dried his hair with the towel thoroughly, ruffling his tousled locks. He then looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, towel slung over his shoulders. He pulled a cheesy grin, and then slipped on his jockstrap. He then grabbed his pilot suit, the same one his father wore, and d'Vexilles before him. Family heirloom, if anything, just like Vectis. The thought of both wearing and piloting tradition centuries older than he was sometimes crossed Alexei's mind when he slipped into the yellow trimmed black and red suit.

He zipped up and then picked up his helmet, catching himself in the mirror again. No cheesy grin this time. The memory of his father was like a cloud that hung over Alexei when he put on the suit. He sighed, but knew even if the other pilots weren't suited up yet, it didn't do for a son of d'Vexille to be unprepared. He slipped a pellet of gum in his mouth and then walked out, leaving his room and headed down the corridors to get to Ops. When he arrived, he was one of the last pilots filing inside. He didn't greet anyone unless spoken too, and just hung on the outskirts of the briefing, leaning against the wall and listening to General Commander Narra. As he paid attention, he noted his comrades around the room and assessed their reactions-- Nothing seriously analytical, just to get an idea of their personalities.

When Narra described the primary asset of Red Star; Osamu Akiyama, Alexei's brow furrowed. He didn't at all like the thought of control over Vectis being wrested from him. That alone just made the strategy-- if it can be called that, of pre-emptively assaulting the enemy and closing the distance swiftly seem less insane. At least then, if Vectis is taken over, he would be at too far a distance to injure comrades. Sure, Vectis had combat sniping capability, but that was for on the move medium distances. And there surely was an NC that actually specialised in long range engagement. He just hoped they won't kill him.

Then again; would dying really be worse than being a Red Star captive?

Alexei then pursed his lips when Narra described the Chainbringer Team. More so when he ordered everyone to try and capture them. Well, he only said 'if they can be captured'. Anyone will understand if we kill them so we don't get killed. That's just war, baby. Alexei thought, blowing a bubble and popping it back into his mouth. He folded his arms and then thought it over. But I guess, if we have to use disabling force on each other in the event of a takeover, it would be some practice... What a fucked up situation.

Then amidst all that, Alexei couldn't believe what he was hearing. Time to relax and hang out? He shrugged internally, whilst watching everyone's reactions and hearing what they said. Most of them opted for the coffeehouse, one of them who introduced himself as Caz-- 'the resident drunk' more like, opted for the bar. Thankfully, nobody opted for the bathhouse. It didn't really make sense anyways. Imagine if Red Star took down the shields early and caught them with their pants down-- Literally. Alexei smirked at the thought, however silly and awkward that outcome would be. After all, humour was hard enough to come by without making it yourself.

Alexei didn't really care to vocalise his opinion, since everyone else had made up their minds. The coffeehouse was the popular choice, and he'd just be stacking on top of that. Pointless. However, as hard as it was to believe they had this ample amount of time to prepare by socialising, Alexei was sort of grateful. He actively focused on getting something decent to eat and drink while finding someone to watch his back while he possibly charges headfirst into danger. This distraction what he needed to avoid thinking about what a waste of time the situation was-- That's not what he thought. It's what my father would have thought. He said to himself with a tang of annoyance.

[Assistant]
Por Dios, La Patria, El Rey!

Spain remains alive in the hearts of all men and women, even those who do not have the blood of the peninsula, there are those who were adopted by our empire from before. And even as an empire fell and a corporation took over, we are still Spanish. And we will not let greed rule.

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

Encarnación ignored all things around her, strapping the armor on her suit. With one foot on the top of her foot locker and another providing her balance, she could hear Covenant speak to her easily as she adjusted some of the armored plates on her thighs

"My lady, do you wish for some advice from the Holy Book?"

The lady grunted as she made one final adjustment to her armor. She patted it well and said, straightening her back

"Yes. Could you please recite the passages that shall make us both ready for war…"

"Very well, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Covenant."

After giving her armor one last inspection and a quick look around as well, she sighed as she started to listen to the scriptures, the lady making her way out of her room.

"Put on yourself the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's scheme."

She passed by some of her soldiers and officers from the war for Spain. They saluted her swiftly as she returned it with the nod of her head

"You are my war club, my weapon for battle - with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms."

Kingdoms. Will I ever be a queen with a kingdom? Will there ever be a chance that these corporations shall go away as the tides do, as they ever do on the shores of Andalusia? Of Valencia? Catalonia? The places her people came from?

"Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all fighting men draw near and attack."

She finally made it to the Operations Room. There she would receive her orders and speak with other pilots. She winced at that and felt a set of jaws come around her heartstrings. Was she truly a hero or a traitor? Perhaps something like the man with the mask from the ancient Watchmen comics?

"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

And finally she spoke, keeping her voice down so she could hear her words alone before finally bringing herself forward to participate in the calm before the storm.

"I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city."

She paused for a little while. Then she looked to the rosary she wore around her neck as well as the Sacred Heart of Jesus painted on the armor that shielded her breast. She spoke to them

"Beat easy and let me stand firm. Bless me with bravery, with might and with honor. My duty on this Earth is not over yet and allow me, oh God, to be victorious and glad. Bless my hands, my mind and my weapons. Let go of nothing that will protect me and grant me the righteousness I need to be a good soldier. Firmly take my hands and grant them the power to end life that may stand against me and my people.

Save me and all that I hold dear. And in return, oh God, I devote my heart, my mind and my liberty to you. Amen."

She crossed herself and joined the squad, entering silently with a smile as her Covenant told her, a whisper in her ear

"Por sus crímenes contra su gente y por mi deseo de servirle, Mi Señora, deje que mis armas rugen y mi armadura proteja."

[User]
Cody's head jerked up as the alarm sounded. He was sitting down, head slumped down on a desk with his arms shielding his face in a light state of sleep before being awoken by said alarm. As he slowly got up from his seat, he performed a mental check of everything he had on him, making sure that he was prepared for anything. He grabbed his helmet and slipped it onto his head before locking it with his armor. His vision was now occupied by his helmet's HUD, showing the status of his surroundings and his own armor. He walked over to the door and looked back at the room one last time before opening the door and leaving.

A few minutes later he had made it into the Operations room, where the General Commander was waiting for them, along with two other female pilots who had made it there before him. He stopped beside the taller of the two female pilots, and proceeded to listen to the briefing. As Narra briefed them on the Red-star attack force, he was actually worried. A force that size could easily decimate the entire city had the shields not been there. But even with the shields it would be only so long until they fell. Fortunately, Haven did have reinforcements, in the form of a ground battalion and a fleet of carriers of support ships. Although they were outgunned and outnumbered by Red-star, they could manage to hold out if they play their cards right. However, what really caught his attention was the three Red-star operatives, specifically Osamu Akiyama.

If he captures one of our NCs, it could turn the tide of the whole battle against us... Cody thought to himself.

To the others in the room, it would perhaps appear that he was not paying attention to the briefing, crossing his arms and bowing his head slightly while staying dead silent. But in reality, he was absorbing all of the information that Narra was giving, thinking about potential scenarios and strategies. Suddenly, Cody snapped back into reality as the General Commander offered them choices for "pre-battle team building". He was surprised at Narra's odd, to say the least, decision for what to do before the incoming battle. They should be spending what valuable time they have for preparation, not for unimportant social meetings. It appears that his concern was not only limited to himself, as the girl beside him also voiced her concern. After she finished, he spoke for the first time since the start of the meeting.

Cody: I agree with her. Shouldn't preparations for the battle be our primary concern at this moment?

He paused for a moment before approaching Narra and producing an electronic tablet from his person and offering it to Narra.

Cody: However, if you insist that we participate instead in social activities, may I request that you give me a copy of the battle plans so that I may study and analyze it further?


[System]
gender: male
godly parents: Ceridwen, Cernunnos
sphere of control: Magic, The Wilderness, Wisdom
personality: David Ron Shepherd is a powerful deity focused on magic and knowledge. The Wilderness is no stranger to this deity. Thus he is constantly studying his books, practicing magical spells, forming alchemy recipes, or spending time with animals. He speaks with animals, or even plants and the wind, if not the earth. However he is not a social pariah, even though he loves the wilderness. David is very young, in fact, only eighteen years old. He is constantly reading books, if not reciting or learning poetry, he is learning something from somewhere.
Although he can be very emotional, he can and has throttled bullies and trouble makers to death with his bare hands, sometimes in defense of others, or sometimes if they try to murder, or kill him.
sacred animal: The Stag, The Owl
powers: David is an extremely strong and intelligent wizardly teenager. He's eighteen, but he is immortal and enormously powerful beyond the scope of Humans to understand his powers. He is not as good at illusions as Anatole but he is better at reproducing potions which offer one shot spells. He isn't as strong either but his ability to supernaturally sense certain things in knowledge is even better.
weapon(s):
The Cauldron of Ceridwen. . .
Due to possession of the Cauldron, David's supernaturally good alchemy and potion making is better than any other deity's.
History:
David was born eighteen years ago. He was a peaceful child who became quite strong at a very early age. In fighting back mildly against some bullies at thirteen, he accidentally killed three boys who were taunting him. Sent to juvenile hall, he was released three years later and learned how to be in society as a gentle soul. However, he eventually went insane with being unable to fight back and ran from home, living as a hermit in the modern world, wandering from place to place. He visited many "parents" bringing happiness to people after staying for three months with each pair, such as curing infertility, extending life spans, curing diseases, or even sharing magical secrets from his talents. Finally, at the age of eighteen he has considered himself independent enough to live his life without parents.
other:

[User]
of flames01
Alec blinks at her his whole form seeming to calm down as she speaks. His head tilts and he looks surprised at having been talked about. That in and of itself surprises him to calmness...and speechlessness. He focuses on Cia as they speak. His head tilts again and relaxes the rest of the way his tail waves back and forth once as of shaking off the rest of his frustration. "A cure...good. Now, since the doctor came up with the cure someone should turn him back...and someone should do something about David. Turning people into animals generally does not get them to like us." He shrugs and looks back at rhona. "It is an honor to meet you. It's not very often that I meet someone that can talk me out of anger" his jackal face seems to be smiling. It's somewhat hard to tell. With a sighs he becomes his human form clad in jeans and a heather grey t shirt. "I hope I did not scare you" his voice sounds a lot better as a human and right now it seems hushed as if he is talking only to her. Then his attention goes back to the others as he waits for them to come up with something.

[Assistant]
Scott mentally cheered, a wide grin stretching across his face. Victory! The Book! It was massive, and it was here! He knew witches who would... well, they would sell their souls if they hadn't already done so. This was fantastic! Finally a plan that didn't blow up on his face! Immediately after thinking that his head snapped around the room, checking all the dried herbs just in case something had caught fire. Everything seemed okay, but he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the candles around the room. Hmm, maybe I should put those out soon? He waved his hand in their direction, extinguishing the flames.

Which then immediately relit themselves.

Scott pretended not to notice.

Something strange was happening in his circle, there was... more than there appeared. The man was talking though, he must be Belle, and to think Scott was expecting a beautiful woman! Clearly that was not the case. The man flipped from excited to threatening in a very short span of time. Why was he threatening Scott again? Oh, of course, Scott had just kidnapped this man from wherever he was.

I really hope there were no humans present, that could be bad... Scott muttered a small prayer, not focused to anyone in particular, that he wouldn't get in trouble for snatching a man from thin air out of a big metropolis with cameras all over the place or something.

Deciding not to offend the man by turning him into a toad so Scott could read the book in peace, he tried the diplomatic approach. "I've spent ages looking for that," he pointed to the book in the man's hands, and then continued in what was definitely not a pathetic-pleading-child-wants-another-bedtime-story voice, "I was hoping to maybe take a quick peak at it?"

He paused.

"Please?" He added hopefully. "I wont break it and I'll totally pay you in like demon's blood or something!" He said in a rush, he was now committing to the diplomatic route. Of course demon blood was valuable to a practitioner like Scott, but unless Belle was planning to change colors or grow horns anytime soon then the stuff was useless to him. Realizing this, Scott added, "And-... and- Well I don't know, what do you want?" He couldn't think of anything that was valuable that he was both willing to part with and worth something.

Finally that niggling itch in the back of his mind that something was not right here snapped into focus. Immortals were present. As soon as he realized this Scott focused his magic, it was peculiar seeing the two spirits seem to suddenly glow into existence. Their malevolence made him pause his immediate response of 'Can I help you?' to silent consideration. "You are aware of your parasitic tag-a-longs, yes?" He asked after a moment. He was eyeing them appreciatively. They would make excellent fuel for a healing spell. Their deaths would be such a shock of light energy he could probably even resurrect something. Just the possibility was telling, Scott was many things, but a talented healer did not make that list.

[User]
Landon was rather in shock at all of the events taking place in front of him now. The mortals weren't even a blip on his radar now. Rhona's description of light and dark were true in a basic sense. I guess maybe even she has more to learn about the powers behind the light and dark. He thought to himself. He was also surprised as she mentioned his parents. They gave allegiance to the Merged, but weren't completely active with them. I guess that's where the great stories come from. The gods did a lot before the Merged and even know some continue their roles thankless, losing more and more believers to the idea of science. This was something he wouldn't agree with his father on. Landon planned on making his name known. He wouldn't be a god who would be called on a whim to solve every problem or continue tirelessly performing a role in the world. He would demand to be known or chaos would ensue. Although he still had a long way to go and he knew that being a relatively new god.

After Cia's explanation of the events that took place upstairs, Landon had quite a few questions. One was the mortal with spirits that showed up and then disappeared in a flash again, but that wasn't pertinent to anyone here so that would have to wait for later. He wasn't even sure where to begin here. After a few moments of thinking and incredulously watching Rhona calm Alec down so easily, he figured what his first question should be. "So does this cure actually bring those infected back, because I thought they were actually dead? Or is it just a preventative measure that needs to be spread to the rest of the worlds population?"

As all of this happened Landon couldn't help but feel he thought he heard someone call for help. It was faint and would come and go and was hard to discern amongst all of the chatter and the protesters outside, but it stuck out to him. Mostly because he would hear it coming from the wrong direction. It always seemed to come from the darkest part of the room.

@Ace of flames01@Zelosse@Slendy

[Assistant]
An error. Rather than some profound truth about humanity delivered by an individual losing it, Aforgomon received only a dull and unremarkable vision halfway between a human's despair and a zombie's hunger. Really, though, this revelation should not have surprised it. Rumbling with guttural utterances, Aforgomon pushed the wriggling corpse through a tear of light to a dying realm. With its other hand, it reached imploringly across the gaps between worlds to a place where the woman had lived but her family had died. Its invisible digits curled around the woman and pulled her through, producing from empty air a still-breathing but otherwise exact replica of the human whose death it caused.

Blinking, the woman gained her senses back slowly. From her hopeless and horrible fate she'd been rendered unconscious by the power of some unseen savior and pulled away from the mobs of indefatigable undead. She discerned herself to be in the same village, though in a better state, and mercifully free of zombies in the immediate area. When she heard, "Mama?" she froze. From their hiding places in the partially-ruined house emerged her two children, her husband, and her brother, who only moments ago imagined their loved one snatched away by an incomprehensible force. Tears ran down the woman's cheeks to see her family alive; she did not understand anything about what happened, but she knew she was grateful. "Thanks be to God, " she said before fainting from exhaustion into her family's arms.

One of her tears never reached the ground. Aforgomon wiped it away like a mother for her child and placed it on its tongue. A dream restored from hopelessness to happiness soothed—a kind of delectable rapture that no bloody art could replicate. Then Aforgomon sensed something else, and disappeared.

In the shadowed halls of Mount Olympus, it manifested from brilliant light, in doing so scaring the wits out of some minor deity goddess, a little more than a spirit of music. With its eyeless skull the Great One regarded the girl while her fear paralyzed her limbs, recalling her dreams. This gentle soul had sided with the old gods when conflict first arose, for she loved her parents, but after the revolution of the powerful but irresponsible Merged this music spirit had been deprived of her heart and made a janitor as punishment. Aforgomon left her behind, trekking with lethargic movements toward the source of the blasphemous signal that washed across its mind.

At length it pushed open the door of a shadowed room and entered. Though unlit, this chamber held no secrets for Aforgomon. It could tell how the room's objects and furniture lay in disarray, and the writhing figure at its center. Unseen to any other god's eye, the place exhibited a thorough saturation of rainbow-hued dream fluid, enough to make the Great One titter in anticipation. Wading through the enticing, many-colored molasses, Aforgomon knelt by the twisting body of Thalios. By the handful it scooped its syrupy food into its mouth, relishing the knowledge and imagination of a god, though it grew increasingly disturbed by an offsetting twinge in the flavor. After a few moments, it slowed and then ceased its consumption. Something about the nightmare of a nightmare god rubbed Aforgomon the wrong way. Intrigued by this idea, the Great One laid its fingers across Thalios' forehead, as if taking a sickly child's temperature. The next moment, it vanished, traveling through parts unknown to the place where Thalios dreamed.

Aforgomon appeared in the dark room of Thalios' mind, waiting and watching.

[User]
Rhona watched in awe as Alec's body morphed into a human form. His voice was hushed but she could tell that it was kind and gentle. "I-I was a little scared but I could tell that you are not a bad person... You were just angry and confused... It's perfectly understandable. Everyone, even gods, get frustrated. I am just glad to have been of some help." She replied with a warm smile, her voice matched Alec's in volume. It was then that Rhona had noticed that she was still holding Alec's hand. Embarrassed, she quickly released his hand and yanked back her own. "I-I'm sorry...!!" She squeaked, reverting back to her shy nature.

Today had been an interesting one. She went to Olympus, went to the human world for the first time, met some new gods, and perhaps even made a few friends. However, all of this excitement was bound to have a negative impact on her body later. In fact, she was not even supposed to come to the meeting, but she had snuck out anyway. However, Rhona didn't want to leave quite yet, she wanted to stay and talk more with the gods with her.

Through all of this, Rhona could hear a faint plea for help in the back of her mind, getting louder as every second passed. "H-hello...? C-can you hear me...? W-who are you...? A-and how can I hear you inside my head...?! Where are you?" She wanted to help the voice but at this point could only hope that her thoughts could some how reach the voice... Where ever it was.

[Assistant] Days had passed. As the time passed, David felt regret for what he had done. A ghostly form appeared before David, on one of the few days he had slept. "It is I. I have decided to restore you into your Human form. Because your transformation has already been shown throughout the world." The young teenage man wondered what he was supposed to do. "Well, I had thought to punish you, but perhaps I should have done something else. Nevertheless, I believe that I can lend you aid, rather than punishment."


[System]
*In addition to black iridescent scales on her body, horns, and a tail, she also has wings.
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Bisexual
Race: Half-human/Half-dragon (shadow)
Occupation: Thief, spy, sellsword.
Talents: Lockpicking, traps, most martial weapons, rope-climbing, translating.
Supernatural Abilies: Darkvision, Shadow-weaving

Brief Personality: Serendi is, out of an instinct for self-preservation, secretive and aloof. Friendship and camaraderie has never been her strong suite, primarily because being a half-breed has not lent itself well to being social. Her chosen occupation has further instilled a need for caution about who she trusts. She has learned to suspect that kindness is only a form of manipulation and that there is no such thing as a free meal. However, there exists within her the capacity for love and affection if one has the patience it takes to earn her trust. Unfortunately, she is the kind of person who will test every offer with potentially abrasive and cruel doubt.

Brief History: Serendi is the cast-off offspring of a human whore and an impulsive shadow dragon named Glimmershade, who enjoyed the shameless use of shape-shifting to lurk among the lesser races. Growing up in the streets with obvious non-human features taught her to be quick, quiet, secretive. With the help of her adopted sister, a powerful half-dragon sorceress named Drachiathoryx, Serendi discovered her talent for shadow-weaving, which made it easier to sneak and spy. It was not long before her talents earned the notice of those who dwell in the dark underbelly of society. The jobs were small at first. Pick this pocket. Copy what is written on that letter. Listen in on the secret meeting tomorrow night. Disable that Watchman at the third toll of the city bells. The money was good, and since she was beholden to no one, the money was all that mattered. Recently, she has been hired to travel to a distant land to recover an ancient book from a royal tomb. Unlike any job before, she is having misgivings about the task and fears the repercussions if she should fail.

[User]
An attempt to touch or speak to Eva was not forth-coming. The half-dragon's attention flicked back and forth between the sailors who were too busy securing cargo and readying the Sapphire for her voyage. As the lean, reclusive woman leaned her hip against the railing, she began to play a mental game that helped pass the time. In her line of work there was a lot of waiting. Waiting for guards to pass, waiting for a mark to arrive, waiting for the delivery of her money. The game was simple. She would look at a person and try to guess to the best of her ability how she would strike if they were a mark. What valuables could she see, and what might they be concealing in their clothes? How would she escape them? How would she fight them? It was a grim or even morbid contemplation, but she liked to think that it kept her sharp, helped her avoid attachments.

Serendi was in the process of wondering if an angular bulge in the back pocket of a particularly rude-looking sailor was a cigar case or a shard-powered pistol when a flash of something bright red caught her attention. Tilting her horned head slowly, she watched Eva scribble something down in a book, a journal more likely, and then tuck it away again. It was curious that Serendi hadn't noticed the hidden object before. The Game still on her mind, she couldn't help turn those thoughts on Eva. She suspected that apart from the arrogant boatswain, the human girl was likely the only other person on deck carrying an unwise amount of money. She looked like a girl from a wealthy family. Perhaps she would find jewelry on her. She suspected the girl would be easy to rob, likely too shocked by the act to put up much of a fight, too demure of personality to make much fuss, and she didn't look like she had any kind of martial skill. It was all guesswork, and as usual the shadow-weaver didn't expect to ever have a chance to discover if her assumptions were correct.

Not that she actually intended to do any such thing, though the callous mindset was reflected in her silver eyes. Her black eyebrow twitched up as Eva passed her by, but she did not follow her or comment. A few moments later there was a barely perceptible whine and the constant thrum of energy from belowdecks tripled.

They were under way at last, drifting out on the salty waves until they were clear of the docks. The blue and silver sails stretched tautly above filled with wind and the deck gave a forward lurch, a shift that was repeated a moment later as the vessel began to rise. Water glittered and streamed from the hull back down to the surface of the sea as the Sapphire took to the skies, a marvel of wind-power and the combined might of magic and clockwork engineering.

Serendi reached up to curl her fingers around a single rope of the rigging, looking out across the horizon as it sank below the railings, replaced by fluffy white clouds.

Down in the stuffy darkness, hot and full of the repetitive clunks and whirrs and steamy blastings of the ship's workings, Eva had yet to be discovered. Voices muttured secretively through a vent into a neighbouring room, partially obscurred by the noise of the engines.

"...dangerous this time of year."

"The Kingfisher never made it to port. I hard it was pirates..."

"...it was a bad idea to take on so much cargo. And two women...that's bad luck!"

"Well, only one woman. The other one is nothing but a dragon-bitch..."

There was a reason that the engines were not being watched during the launch. The crew in charge with such a task were loitering, gossiping like fish-wives at a market.

[Assistant]
The princess' ears perked at the voices she heard, tilting her head sideways to better make them out, though the comments made her scoffed slightly. Women, being bad luck? Sure, Eva wasn't exactly armed or really good with weapons or guns, but that didn't exactly make her helpless or some damsel in distress. Not to mention, it didn't matter who the other woman was - she didn't deserve that sort of disrespect, that was, unless she was actually a bitch - someone who was mean and spiteful, then maybe. Eva didn't know her well enough to condone her being called such names though and huffed.

Biting her lip, she quickly opened the door to the engine room and slipped inside, her mind now dividing between two possibilities; exploring the system laid out before her and trying to figure out the realistic probability of running into pirates. The majestic view of engines themselves gave her pause though. Honestly, it had never been a complicated system, though the safeties in place were probably the hardest to really follow. Still, it was simple; throw mana-infused coal into a furnace which then heated a steam boiler, then wait for the steam pressure to build and begin turning the turbines, which in turn rotated a magical lined silver ring around the engine crystals. With the conduction of the metal spinning around them, the crystals would begin to pulse, giving the real life and energy to the rest of the ship in the form of mana, letting lights light up, stoves get hot, and propelling the entire ship upwards into the sky. It was taking mechanical energy and converting it into magical, the ratio being roughly one joule to a ten joules.

Besides all the theory behind it all, there was another reason she enjoyed magitech so much - it wasn't messy. It might have seemed like a girly thing to be worried about, especially for someone who wanted to get into this type of engineering, but it was just one of Eva's pet peves. It was strange to realize how clean and neat magically infused items were though, given that mana was drawn from the air and magically-attuned minerals were as natural (though perhaps not common) as a bush or a tomato plant. She walked over to the pile of mana-infused coal and grabbed one, looking over how the mana shell kept all of it in place - even the coal dust to maximize the efficiency of the fuel. Infusing anything, even coal, was tricky and often expensive so it was good that once the crystals started pulsing, you didn't need the steam turbine anymore as they drew mana for additional fuel after the initial jump start.

Eva spun around on her heels for a moment and sighed. Should she really be worried about pirates though? Realistically? It was always a possibility, but she wasn't sure what she could do besides perhaps booby-trap rooms. She didn't exactly feel comfortable doing that because if she did, what happened if a crew member came by and triggered it all? Biting her lip again, she took a seat on one of the chairs surrounding a table - probably there for when members had to watch the engines but also wanted to play cards. She supposed she could start building some easy to setup trap with a shard-powered pistol or something, but didn't really have the materials handy. Eva had only packed away her notebook, some fair amount of money, and a wardrobe. She looked down to fiddle with her magitech ring, housing four compartments of mini pocket dimensions, much like bags of holding - her own idea though she needed to commission it's construction. Her thoughts suddenly soured though, sighing as she hoped she really didn't have to deal with pirates. There was no telling what they'd do to her... maybe she should've been smarter about the ship she chose to board.

Some time passed before Eva drew in a large breath and lifted herself back up. She couldn't stay in here forever and had gotten her fill of actually seeing the equipment up close. Perhaps later she would really climb up close and examine the machinery to see how it was specifically designed. However for now, she wanted to go back to her room and start settling down. It only took her a few minutes before she was in the hallway that lead to all the guest rooms and she gave pause as she noticed someone coming from the opposite stairway...

[User]
The expansive view of the greenish water of the inland sea was a delight. Serendi hadn't journeyed by airship much in the past, and never to such a distant destination. Generally the trips were only a few days from one large city in the empire to another, and most of the time she had smuggled herself aboard and didn't have the luxury of lingering on the deck to feel the wind in her long black hair. It was a slightly different experience, flying through the air with her boots firm on the wooden deck rather than powering herself through the skies on her own two wings.

Even so, she had her fill of the sight of the distant ground as soon as it became obscurred by a layer of fluffy clouds. The sun was only climbing higher, and the brilliant whiteness was a bit too much. Turning her mind to the job she had been hired to do, she decided that it would be prudent to make the best of the long weeks on the ship and do some planning.

Turning from the railing, her black boots and innately soft steps carried her through a hatch-way into the relative dimness belowdecks. The narrow corridor was lit by the soft glow of evenly-spaced lamps on the wall closest to the center of the ship. On the opposite wall, and slightly more rarely spaced were round portholes offering that same view of white and blue.

Serendi turned a corner towards the section of the ship that housed the cabins. Knowing her room was only a few doors down, she shrugged her cloak off her shoulders, her black wings springing free from the confines to stretch as much as they could in the cramped space. The long bones were thin and as black as her hair, though the membranes hanging loosely between them were a transluscent grey-purple. Her long tail had a short frill of the same soft, thin web traveling down its length. She gave it a flick as she reached her door, producing a key from one of the many secret pockets of her clothes, but just before she let it slide into the keyhole, she paused, sensing someone near.

She glanced up sharply and saw that Eva was coming towards her from the other end of the hall. The half-dragon assumed that the human was going to her own cabin, but she recalled how her expression had been more curious than disgustedly shocked when they had first come face to face, and gave a somewhat uncharacteristic nod. "Hello."

[Assistant]
Eva slowly walked towards her room as the dragoness made her way down towards her own, though she kept an interested gaze on the black woman. Noting how tall she was, the shape of her tail and wings, the way she walked and fiddled gracefully with her fingers as she approached the door. She was quite fascinated and focused, so when she saw Serendi snap her attention to her, she almost jumped. She didn't expect the half-breed to even notice her, but now she was pausing at her door saying hello. At first Eva just stared at her then after a moment, she shook herself from the surprise and replied with a shy, "hello." She could feel her cheeks suddenly growing warm, sure she was blushing as she nervously turned to her own door and fumbled for her key.

Finally with a steady hand, she slipped the key inside the lock and looked over at Serendi again, unable to stop her curiousity. The dragoness was still watching her, causing her to smile bashfully before biting her lip softly. She wasn't entirely sure where the courage had come from, but she had felt a sudden need to introduce herself and say something, as if not would mean she'd never get the chance again. "Um.. I'm Eva.. I guess we're the only two women on here, huh?" Again, she paused, wondering what had gotten into herself, but it was too late to turn back now.

She slowly turned the key and let the door crack up slightly before letting her hand find her other wrist as she tried to find more words. "I, uh.. heard some of the men.. talking about pirate attacks, so.." She shrugged, sighing slightly. "Just.. so you know. I know it's not the best introduction..." Rubbing her wrist nervously, she half-turned towards her room and gave another sweet smile. "Sorry - I'm probably keeping you. So, I'll just.." she finished saying, nodding slightly to her own room. She stood for a moment longer, curious and somehow wanting the half-dragon to respond in some way - hopefully in a friendly way.

[User]
Serendi watched Eva stammer and ramble on with an impassive stare, one of her dark eyebrows creeping up towards her horns as the shorter woman continued to talk. There was a barely-perceptible swish as her thin, dark tail gave a flick in the air behind her legs.

"...yes. We are the only two passengers and I don't think any of the crew is female." It seemed somewhat callous to leave it at that, especially in the face of Eva's seeming desperation to fill time with words. "...I suppose it's pretty standard for airship crews to be mostly men."

Somewhere in the midst of their awkward conversation Serendi eased her door open silently and tossed her cloak across onto the narrow bunk. She was eager to enjoy to solitude of the itty bitty cabin, and gave a slight snort at the talk of pirates. "Any ship sailing across the wildlands is at risk for pirates, but they tend to go for larger ships with more cargo." She didn't seem concerned, though that was because she knew that if she came up against a buccaneer crew she would have a few surprises in store for them if they tried to bother her.

With a shrug of her wings she disappeared into her bunk and shut the door with a neat 'snick' as the lock latched in place.


[System]
Race: awoken
Class/subclass: Striker Titan
Appearance:

^chroma is red

Loadout:

^Corrective Measure

Bio: Akaan was just a boy when he met lord Saladin. He was living in the tower as an orphan, cleaning and running errands for his caretaker, Commander Zavala. He decided he wanted to be an iron lord someday, and chased this dream, training all he life until the ghost that had brought him to the tower made him a suit of armor and unlocked his light. That day, he became a Titan. Being a guardian and fighting the darkness was all he knew until he fell in love with a warlock woman named Pira. She was a purple-haired beauty who obsessed over the taken. They dated and fought together for a few years until the repeated exposure to taken blights began to take its toll on her. He found her dead in her room with her own gun in her hand. After that, he slipped out of the spotlight of the iron banner and into the dark halls of the Dreadnaught. He fought down there and killed thousands of hive. When he came back, he was different. Now he hears that there are new guardians to come to the tower, so he has decided to be a mentor.

Personality: Akaan was once a paladin of he light and the traveler, but now he is not so sure. He is strong and proud, but there is pain in his heart. He does his best to take care of his friends, and would die for them if needed.

@Lunar

[User]
The day was like any other day. The sun was coming up, it's light prisming across the sky behind the Traveler. The great, sleeping deity was still as dormant and scarred as ever. It seemed like even with the defeat of Crota and his father, Oryx, they were no closer to restoring the world to a Golden Age. Akaan considered himself foolish to think that he would see that Golden age in his lifetime. There was too much darkness in the solar system still. He wondered if they would ever push it back.

He was just standing there, gazing at the Traveler with a furrowed brow when a voice brought him out of his trance.

"You just gonna stare at it until it wakes up?" A sarcastic female voice said. It was Nora, the gunslinger who had gone with Akaan on many scout missions over the years. She had been checking up on him a lot ever since Pira was lost.

"I was just wondering if it ever will." He said with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yeah, well, while your staring at your god, there's some newer guardians coming in. They said something about capturing a Fallen ketch." Nora replied.

"They captured one?"

"I'm not sure if they already got it, or if they're planning to. Either way, they're going to need a high-ranking Vanguard, and you're it." Nora told him. She had a slight twang in her speech when she talked about missions. Akaan suspected it was too much time with the hunters under Samuel's command, but he enjoyed it.

"Alright, take me there."

[Assistant]
Standing on the bridge of the newly captured ketch Jane sat in the captains chair.

"the fallen must have really sore butt's... this chair so un comfortable" Julie complained to Jane in a sour tone.

"Please stop complaining Julie"Jane said quietly.

Then with a few beeps of the radar Jane hopped out of the chair and made her way over to the control center where she saw the radar was picking up something. She immediately turned to leave the room.

"You two follow me" she said pointing to two Titans guarding the entrance of the control bridge.

"There here" after a few minutes of walking they entered the rear docking room where Jane activated the transmitter and connecting to the ships that were moving closer to the ketch. She brought the microphone to her mouth.

"the situation is taken care of aboard the ship. Preparing docking procedure" then pulling out her ghost Jane opened the blast doors and turned on the artificial atmosphere to allow the ships in. After the ships had landed Jane sat starring at the large red ship and put her ghost away.

[User]
Akaan and Nora materialized on the hangar catwalk of the captured ketch. There were a few other guardians, likely under Jane's command, scurrying about their tasks. On the far side, the Hunter was sitting in anticipation of their arrival.

"Traveler's light, Jane! How did you take a whole ketch?!" Nora exclaimed, striding across to her fellow Hunter. Akaan slowly followed, blue-white jets of light ever burning from his helmet as he looked around. He knew there was atmosphere, but this was a Fallen ketch. There could still be enemies in hiding, so he didn't trust it. His boots thumped on the thick alien metal as he walked with much heavier stride than his counterpart.

"How many Guardians do you have here?" He asked, cutting into the small talk with business. He was more concerned with the matter at hand than the stories of hunters. "I need a head count if we're going to start operating from here. And I want to do a sweep of the whole ketch. Can you take some hunters and do that? I know you'll be able to do a better search than I."

Akaan had the utmost respect for hunters. His oldest friend, and Nora's mentor, was a hunter. He hoped he wasn't overstepping a boundary by exercising his Titan nature and taking charge, but his concerns were genuine. He was only there to help.

[Assistant]
After talking with Nora she turned to speak to the Titan who appeared to be taking control of the situation.

"I brought my fire team of ten with me aboard the ship. Don't bother counting them, I already made sure everyone was alive and well. And as for how I captured this vessel my team and I found a container of scorch cannons after fighting ourselves aboard the ketch and thought ourselves fortunate because we blasted away the competition and the captain, that good enough for ya? And as a matter of fact I was just about to send a party to flush out any stragglers that might be left aboard." Jane said with a polite tone.

"Hey Jane guess what... It's My turn!" June yelled in her head

Jane spun around and walked a few steps away from the group.

"Not right now" Jane said with her teeth clenched.

"But you said I could have a turn later." June said in a disappointed way.

"Later as in when we pick our new quarters" Jane said quietly.

"We can look for our quarters when we look for stragglers." June said trying to haggle with Jane.

Fine. She said a little louder this time.

Then walking back to the two she smiled at them both and turned to Nora and said.

"Sorry... she can get annoying sometimes." Turning back to the Titan she looked him up and down.

"How about you two come with me while I sweep the ship. Looks like your expecting a fight." She said pointing at him.

[User]
"Just try to keep it together." Nora insisted back to her packmate, "Akaan can be kinda hardcore."

The Titan didn't hear the Hunter charter though, he didn't even realize it had happened. He was a Titan after all. He reached back and retrieved his assault rifle in response to Jane's suggestion. "Lead the way then." He prompted, shouldering toward the inner part of the ketch.

****

Viktoria stood, silent and unmoving at the edge of the hull breach of the Dreadnaught. The Taken King was dead. But she could still feel the mark he had left on her light. She shuddered, convulsing into an awkward position with her arms both contracting and trying to extend at the same time, only to snap back to standing straight a split second later. Her armor glowed as the taken did, especially a singular point of light emanating from her visor. Normal plating and fabric mad her uncomfortable and nervous. She was about to radio in with Akaan when a Cabal shell detonated at her feet. It threw her up and to the side, landing her in a mound of bone and ash. There was a roar that resonated metallically as the legionary celebrated, but it was cut short as she snapped upward, shuddered, and drew her dreadfang nice and slow. @Lunar

[Assistant]
Walking back to the entry way she hare come from she beaconed the guardians come over. Entering the lift she waited for them to get on before closing the gate behind them and activated the lift to go to the fifth floor.

"This os the floor where the fallen live amongst the ship. Seemed like the best place to check" then suddenly she collapsed to the ground without warning. After a few seconds she jolted then slowly stood up holder her head.

"Owww... I gotta stop doing that." Looking around she saw Nora and waved her hand.

"Hey Nora It's June! Long time no see." She said happily pointing at her helmet.

Then with the slowing of the lift it made its way to the designated floor before the gate slid up and revealed the large hallway.

"Well looks like we're gonna have some fun. It's time to go house hunting" June said with a grin under her helmet.

"Just keep your cool" Jane said in her head.

"Of course little sis" June said with hand crossed.

"Don't call me that" Jane said loudly in her head.

"Make me" kind said in a snooty tone before turning to the group.

"Let's do this thing mr Titan man" she said turning around and pulling out her dual hand cannons and spun them on her fingers while walking down the hallway.

[User]
The striker just solemnly watched as she collapsed and got back up, now acting as if she were a completely different person. He shot a glance at Nora, who should have told him about things like this. She shied back a little and shrugged. Even through his helmet, he knew she could sense his berating look. He was broken from his moment of of annoyance by the way she addressed him. He couldn't help but crack a small smile.

He looked back ahead and leveled his rifle. Nora followed, an Eyasluna in one hand, and her knife in the other. They began down the hallway on the hunt for Fallen.@Lunar

[Assistant]
It had taken all day but they finally cleansed the ship of any fallen still aboard the ketch. The sisters had found a moderately sized room next to the captains quarters that they both liked and agreed to make it their's. The room was obviously meant for a fallen of higher stature, perhaps the co-pilot or first mate of sorts. June woke up at around 10:00 since she had stayed up all night shaping and moving around their room to her liking. after fixing her hair she materialized the lower half of her armor on and put on a small grey T-shirt along with the other necessities. when entering the hall she couldn't help but notice the towering door that led to the captains quarters was slightly open.

"Just one look." June thought as she crept toward the door and looked around to make sure no one would see her enter. once inside her jaw dropped at the sight of the colossal bed. "Imagine the pillow fights people could have on that bed Jane"

"This is no time for jokes June, we need to leave before were caught." Jane said while June examined the room. then with the tap of boots the door swinging open and June quickly dove under the bed and waited, noticing it was surprisingly clean in the open space.

[User]
The day was gone, and Akaan was satisfied with the state of the Ketch. He found his way to a modest room in an evident barracks, and went to sleep. But a striker sleeps lightly. He heard the footsteps, and was up in a flash, his Jabberhäkke leveled as he moved toward the door. It was footsteps, light ones. It could have been anything. A drug maybe? Perhaps there were shafts or corridors they had missed. He moved out of the room, wearing only compression shorts, with his pistol ready.

Following sounds and shadows with a reasonable distance, he came to a rather impressive living quarters he was about to go in, when he heard a pair of boots hitting the floor. He ducked behind a salvage bin and waited for the sound to draw nearer.

****

Nora lay on her side, gazing at the wall in front of her. She was thinking about Akaan. He was everything to her. She couldn't help it. He was strong and confident, yet caring and delicate in his own Titan kind of way. She had always been jealous of Pira, even in death, that warlock was the love of Akaan's life. That made Nora feel like just the background of his life. She was a blur, where Pira had been like crystal.

With a heavy sigh, Nora pulled up the thick banner she was using as a blanket and gripped the knife under her pillow as she tried to calm her mind enough to sleep.


[System]
Game Origin: Grand Theft Auto 5
Appearance:

Personality: Michael is a man of many contradictions. He is egotistical and narcissistic, and goes after material things, even though they don't bring him any happiness. He has a hard time coming to term with his mistakes, and has a great deal of self-hatred as a result. This gives him a short temper, and when he gets angry, he often makes poor and irrational decisions. He has a rather cynical outlook on the world, and is very sarcastic. He also has a hard time dealing with criticism, and displays a great amount of hypocrisy. Despite all this, he cares deeply for his friends and family, and during his robberies, tries to limit civilian casualties as much as possible. Recently, he has started to acknowledge his flaws and past mistakes, and has been trying to improve himself as a person.

Background: Born as Michael Townley, he grew up in a poor family, with an abusive and alcoholic father, who left him and his mother at a young age. During high school, he was a star quarterback on the football team, but he wasn't able to make a career out of it. After high school, his troubles with the law began. He began to commit robberies to make money, and as time went on, his skills improved, becoming an excellent marksman and learning to lead a crew during heists. In 1993, he met Trevor Phillips, and the two went on to commit a number of heists and other criminal acts. Later, he met his future wife Amanda while she was working as a stripper, and they had two children together. Because of this, he wanted to find a way to escape his criminal lifestyle. An opportunity came in 2004, when the FIB agent Dave Norton offered him a deal- fake his death at the hands of Norton, in exchange for payments and a mansion, while Norton gets to rise to fame for killing the infamous robber.

He took the deal, and got to start over, changing his last name from Townley to De Santa, while him and his family moved to a mansion in Los Santos. However, he began to have regrets about abandoning his past lifestyle. He found his new life to be empty and pointless, and he spent most of his days getting drunk or lounging around. His relationship with his family became strained, and he became very narcissistic.

Later, due to a chain of events caused by an anger-induced lapse of judgement, he owed millions of dollars in debt. In order to pay it off, he had to go back into his old business, with his new associate Franklin Clinton. After many events (a.k.a. the plot of GTA 5, a lot of stuff happens in that game and if I tried to summarize all of it we'd be here forever), Michael was rich, and was able to reconnect with his family, and begin improving himself as a person, retiring to a much happier life than the one before.

At least, he would have, but someone (cough cough, Galeem) had to fuck everything up.

Specialty: Sniper
Level: 4
Experience: 0/40
Powers:
* Bullet Time: For a short amount of time, Michael can enter a trance-like state, slowing down time and greatly improving his accuracy with ranged weapons. He can use this to make very precise shots, or take shots at several enemies at once.
* Partial Regeneration: When badly wounded, Michael can partially regenerate. The most grievous wounds will slowly heal, saving him from dying of blood loss, but not fully healing him. This process is slow, especially during battle.
* Explosive Bullets: When this ability is activated, all of Michael's ranged attacks will cause a small explosion on impact. This lasts for one post, and has a recharge time of four posts.

Strengths: (Things your character's always good at, or always can do; essentially, passive abilities or bonuses. You start with three, but you can add more in place of powers when you level up)
* Expert Marksman: Michael is deadly accurate with firearms. He has a great deal of experience with almost every type of firearm, and he knows how to hit targets accurately and consistently.
* Thorough Planner: Michael has made a living out of his well-planned heists. While planning out a bank robbery might not perfectly translate to planning an attack on enemy forces, the prior experience still helps.
* Vehicle Operator: Michael can operate planes, helicopters, and boats. He's also a skilled driver, due to the many times he's had to escape the cops in a car.

Weaknesses:
* Out of Shape: Due to his age, abuse of alcohol and cigarettes, fondness of fast food, and his preferred daily routine of either watching TV or sitting by the pool all day, Michael is not in the best physical shape. He has low stamina, and will get exhausted faster than most.
* Only Human: In the end, Michael is just a guy in a suit, with no special abilities to protect him. A single well-placed shot could end his life.

Spirits:
*

Kindred Spirits:
* Trevor Phillips: Michael's old partner in crime. While they were at odds when they met each other again, they've been able to mostly forgive each other.
* Franklin Clinton: Michael's newest business partner. Together, they took on several dangerous heists, and made fortunes.

Inventory:

Custom Barret M82: The Barret M82 is a large, semi-automatic, .50 caliber sniper rifle. This specific rifle was custom built to Michael's specifications. Some notable customizations are: a lightweight yet durable alloy frame, a variable zoom scope with both thermal and night-vision modules, and an advanced recoil system that makes your shoulders hurt less when you fire it. However, even with these customizations, the M82 is still most effective when fired from a prone position, a good distance away from the target. Given its large size and heavy recoil, it's almost impossible to use the weapon effectively in close quarters.

Custom Mini Uzi: The Mini Uzi is a smaller version of the 9mm Uzi submachine gun. This one has been customized with the addition of a suppressor and a red dot sight. It also uses high-capacity 30-round magazines. It's a highly effective close range weapon, and its small size makes it easy to conceal. However, it isn't very effective at longer ranges.

Rifle Case: A carrying case for the Barret. It protects it from dust and dirt when not in use, and has a strap that allows the case to be carried like a backpack. It also contains a cleaning kit for the rifle.

Earplugs: A simple, but very important piece of gear. Wearing these prevents Michael from going deaf each time he fires the Barret.

Suit: A stylish gray suit. It has special pouches sewn in to carry the Uzi and ammo for it and the Barret.

Gold-Rimmed Aviators: A pair of designer aviator shades, rimmed with 24 karat gold. Besides being very fashionable, they keep the glare out of Michael's eyes.

Phone: A smartphone. No signal, but it has all of Michael's music on it. Who knows, maybe it will be useful somehow? Comes with a charging cable and earbuds.

Wallet: Michael's wallet. Contains credit card, driver's license, pictures of his family, and $100 dollars in cash.

[User]
Courier 6
Level 3 - (6/30) EXP
Location: Scrapyard - Start
Word Count: 639

Huff. Huff. Huff. The Courier ran as fast as his fleet feet could take up, heading back up the original hill they had started on. How had his shots landed? He honestly didn't know. If the sniper was in trouble, then the rest of the group that had been guarding Michael was surely in trouble too, allies he couldn't see much less protect from his vantage point down lower. He just had to hope things would be alright once he got up there, and that the spirits he had crushed would turn into something more useful for the situation.

The two objects solidified in his hands: some sort of purple box that didn't appear to be immediately threatening or useful (and thus would need a bit of observation later, when no longer in the heat of the moment) and a pickaxe of all things. A pickaxe? Really? Really? That soldier robot turned into a god damn pickaxe?! Not a rifle or a machine gun or kevlar armor or Hell, even a combat knife,but a friggin' pickaxe?! What, was that a repurposed mining robot?!

The Courier didn't have the opportunity to muse on his apparent misfortune anymore, as just as his vision rose above the crest of the hill, the sight of the Master of Masters, the centurion, the dancer, and Michael came into full view. His shots had apparently done enough damage to that Omnic that Michael was able to recover, and finished the job himself. A large number of the robots were being handily defeated and frozen over by Din (did that rod of hers have a miniature cryolator installed?), and the Master… Well, he was having a grand ol' time defying the laws of gravity, as 6 saw it. The centurion, however, had things in a much more difficult situation.

That's when the party was crashed by none other than Zer0 and… Hey, did he look different? A sniper round tore through a bunch of downed robots, then the assassin vanished from sight, but his presence could still be seen by the sudden large gashes appearing in the robots clumped together by the Master's power. Once Zer0 reappeared, spouting off one of his weird ass poems, the Courier couldn't help but notice that his visor was a different color. And his legs, were they more mechanical now? "What in tarnation happened to you?" he asked, almost completely forgetting about the centurion.

"Oh. Right. YEEHAW!" The Mojave courier moved in, pickaxe in hand, and took a wild swing at the Omnic that had pinned down the Roman legionnaire, hoping this weapon carried with it some sort of bonus effect or special traits. Alas, that did not seem to be the case as the metal slammed into the robot and pierced its hull with only minor effect. The Courier had more skill in hand to hand weapons like knuckle dusters and the power fist than he had with melee weapons. Factor in the odd shape of the pick and he wasn't able to swing it with full strength, creating a rather sloppy technique with sloppy results. Still, it had at the very least the effect of knocking the robot off of Magnumus Agoston, even if it was still in perfect working order.

"Aw fuck this," he sighed, pulling off his best Indiana Jones impression as he simply drew his magnum and placed a round straight into the Omnic's processing center. "Y'all owe me," he commented to the Roman and Michael, before focusing his gaze on Michael specifically. "And you owe me double for fucking up and shooting those rabbits when I convinced them to help us. I ought to feed you brahmin pie for that."

[Assistant]
Blazermate

Level 2 - (15/20) EXP
Location: Scrapyard
Word Count: 452

Blazermate wasn't too far behind the Courier, who had let off a few shots. Although she noticed when she was in healing range that Din and the MoM were more control fighters, as they had either thrown robots in the air and crippled them, or froze whatever was nearby with ice. It was around this time that those spirits she had crushed coalesced into weapons for her. One was fairly simple, a taser sort of thing that looked like she had to fit onto her arm for it to work, with how wonky its trigger mechanism was. The other she felt like she'd just use and get rid of, a giant minigun. With it being very big and, frankly, heavier than herself, she had to hold it with both hands in an awkward fashion. And with it in her hands, there was no way she could heal anyone.

Zer0 had dashed up behind Blazermate and the Courier, taking out the robots the MoM had dealt with but with odd... robot legs? Well he was already a robot right? Although these legs looked a lot less sleek than what he had before. Either way, he had taken out the robots that were on fire, so Blazermate decided to use this minigun a bit to at least have some fun before she handed it off to someone else. Holding it akwardly, she pointed it at all the frozen bots around Din and opened fire. It took a second to spin up and actaully shoot, but it made scrap out of all the frozen robots as it fired. It didn't take much time at all to rip all the robots Din had frozen into scrap metal, and with the Courier dealing with the robot that had tackled the Centurion, Blazermate dropped her minigun and began to heal the downed man. "Hey, when you guys have had your fun back here, we should all get going forward. There was some massive firepower ahead of us, and I don't think I can heal Bowser through all that damage if we go at it head on." She said, making sure to get everyone up and going with all the omnics in the area dealt with.

[User]
Michael
Level 2- (5/20) EXP
Location: Scrapyard
Wordcount: 249

---

While the omnics had caught the group by surprise, that surprise was soon lost as others moved in, and one by one, the robots fell. The robot that charged Michael fell to his bullets, and he took no time to finish off the robots that the Master of Masters had knocked to the ground. Zer0 showed up and killed a good portion of the downed omnics, and soon enough, almost all of the enemies had been dealt with, so Michael took a moment to catch his breath.

After taking said moment, he moved up, intent on helping out the Centurion with his omnic problem, where the courier was trying, and failing, to use a pickaxe of all things to kill the robot. Evidently, it wasn't very effective, and he took out his revolver and shot the thing instead. Soon after, he turned to face Michael, and addressed him. He frowned as he heard what he was saying to him.

"Well, if I fucked up, then why'd we win, huh?" He crossed his arms. "The way I see it, my plan worked perfectly. You distracted them long enough for me to take out the important targets, and get Kirby back before they inevitably betrayed us. So, thank you, and you're welcome." With that, he holstered his Uzi, and walked back to where his sniper was set up, taking a minute to fold up the bipod and put it back in its case, before slinging the case over his back again.


[System]
Nickname(Optional): Pfft, no.
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Physical Appearance: Of Average build with short dark hair, Neil isn't exactly the most unique specimen. He is fit but not noticeably so. He isn't big at all, but he is also not small. He has a face girls can find cute, but not exactly dreamy. Tanned skin and a ruddy complexion from all of the machine's he's worked on, coupled with the calluses on his hands gives him an experienced look despite the very youthful appearance he has. All in all, other than the twinkling of his eyes and the trademark grin, he is essentially average. He has dark eyes and very dark brown hair, enough to be considered black under most light. He's about 5'10 and 165 pounds.
Clothing: He often wears baggy pants, mostly military cargo. He likes to wear single colored T-Shirts. Usually he wears red.
Personality: Oh, now that is a question. To say Neil is eccentric is...well, that hits the nail on the head. Very good with hand-eye coordination, competent combatant, good engineer, and a daring pilot. But prone to sarcasm, snide remarks, unorthodox behavior, and just good old fashioned explosions. He's a born jokester, though behind his charming yet insufferable demeanor belies a certain intelligence, and to those he enjoys, he does tend to have a big heart.

[User]
"Isn't it wonderful?" Junebug asked, her face plastered with a smile that could only fool those bewildered like Taya, who honestly didn't know what to think. She had always pushed for Neil and Junebug to stop running circles around each other, but...if he was getting married.

Before 'business' could begin, Indra grabbed Neil and kissed him full on the lips in celebration, much how Neil had kissed Junebug not two weeks ago when they had managed to get off of Hahn. Neil flailed, not entirely knowing where to put his hands or what to do at all, being kissed in public and in front of Junebug, and also before their was even an agreement!

"So, what we offer Neil is obvious." Indra's mother said without even looking. "What we offer you is a very prized, highly sought after plasma weapon. A new rifle we are developing. My husband can give you the details." She said, and gaudily sipped her wine glass. Meanwhile, Saxon had begun to dig a very large hole in the sand a few paces off to the west for some unknown xenos purpose. It almost looked like a hole that a terran sea turtle would dig to lay eggs, but Neil knew that even with his alien biology, the Hexanagallion males didn't lay eggs.

Junebug's vision of Indra kissing Neil would be replaced by a portable vidcaster Gredorius placed in front of her face. It was a triple action, burst fire carbone. Triple action meaning the third action was DNA specific, and only she would be allowed to fire it. It also didn't necessarily fire plasma rounds. It was plasma fueled. The rounds were displacer rounds, that tore the targets apart atom by atom. It was a weapon, junebug knew, that most military's had laws against their usage within the branches.

"So, will you do it?"

"What about Saxon and Taya?" The Captain asked.

"I have an agreement with the Hexan. I could always use top enforcers in my line of work. Taya and I will discuss her employment, but I can only get to each of you so fast, and there is the reward for my daughter's safe return to consider. You will have it, and be ready to go on your assignment in three days time. Is this acceptable for you?"

[Assistant]
"We can work with that. Can you give us any more details about this assignment?" Sayeeda asked. Gregorious smiled an avuncular smile.

"Your eagerness does you credit Captain, but today is for celebrating my daughter's betrothal. A toast to the happy couple!"

It was nearly noon by the time Junebug was able to make her excuses and slip away from the gathering. Mostly to irritate Neil she invited Saxon to join her. The Hex agreed with what Sayeeda thought was enthusiasm but she was still having difficulty reading the alien's moods and emotions. They made their way down to the shipyard where the Highlander had been moved from its landing pad.

The slip the Highlander was moored in was a dry dock, evidently used to repair the ocean going warships of this world. Dozens of armored plates had been removed by hydraulic derricks and technicians swarmed over the ship, replacing wiring and refitting the components damaged in the blind RIP jump from the Terran Cruiser.

"It looks like a partially stripped kill," Saxon observed. Sayeeda shook her head.

"No, she is strong, she lives," Sayeeda disagreed as she walked down into drydock, ignoring the iodine smell of old seawater and the acrid byproducts of welders and soldering irons. It felt somewhat sacrilegious to have other people working on the ship, but the damage had been severe for the four of them to put right. She wondered how Neil would find it, living on Chalcedon with Indra, perhaps Taya would stay too make some kind of life for herself. A world with such a porous nobility would suit her. Junebug lay a hand on the hull of the Highlander feeling the cold metal under her finger tips.

"She is your X'anada," Saxon hissed behind her.

"My what?" Junebug asked.

"A steed for a warrior," the Hex hissed. Junebug trailed her fingers along the ship's armored plate.

"Something like," Junebug agreed. Whatever Neil decided to do this was no place for her. She didn't know that there was any place for her. Once this job was settled and the Highlander was repaired she would leave, although how she would do that without her pilot she had no idea.

[User]
Neil was lucky the hallway wasn't overly wide, or he would never have been able to pull off such a maneuver. He used to do this back in school often, when the teaching officials looked for him to mete out punishment. Now he found himself doing this to avoid Indra and the guards that she had ordered to find him as to invite him to some frivilious activity he had no idea of. It was a simple one, where he placed both arms out, along with both legs out, keeping the pressure on both sides to keep himself elevated above a normal human's field of vision within the hallway.

His rump touched the ceiling, he was so far up there. About a dozen feet or so, and as the multitudes of guards hustled past him and out of his chambers, he breathed a sigh of relief and still waited for a minute or two, just to be certain. Sure enough, two guardsmen hustled back in to see if he had been in there and had come out of hiding, but when they found nothing, they left. He'd been in too many hairy situations to not know how to get out of one.

"Goddamn..." he growled to himself, unable to even speak more than the single word, but he wanted to add 'Sayeeda' after it. She was making him jealous, and what's more he couldn't even blame her. She had bared her heart and soul and he had been too stupid to realize she had wanted him to tell her she was wrong. Granted, if she had talked to him about it back on Hahn this wouldn't be happening, but it had been a quick confession and-

"Shut up" he told himself, and dropped down to the floor. "Just stay out of sight and do what you need to do."

And so he did. He had to scale the outer walls of the palace, raking in more sweat than he cared to admit and nearly falling twice, but he made it to where he intended to go. It would be just at the cusp of evening when Sayeeda would make it back to her chambers, and she decided she needed to shower. She would have heard some small talk of him being missing, but nothing too serious. Once she was done with her shower, wrapped within her towel, she found the pilot sitting at the edge of her bed.

"You're wrong." He said to her before she could even give a question to why he was there. He looked up at her. "You are worth it. I'm just too stupid to realize that I should have said it yesterday." Rubbing his temples, he stood up. "Fuck all this. Fuck marrying her, fuck any of this. I'm sorry I'm braindead, but you mean a lot to me. More than any woman. So tell me off or order me to leave, but don't look at me like that. You said the same thing to me yesterday. I'm tired of doing this dance, and I'm tired of my part in it. So..."

He crossed his arms, looking at her. "What do you say?"

Not exactly romantic, but she was definitely a conundrum when it came to traditional romance.

[Assistant]
Sayeeda froze in shock for an instant as she emerged from the luxurious bathroom to find Neil sitting on her bed. She recovered almost instantly with the cavalry of charging forward when things got hairy. The afternoon had been spent looking over the work on the Highlander, which, given the budget of Indra's family and the workforce they had at their disposal, was proceeding at a more rapid pace than she could have hoped for. After that she had spent the afternoon with Saxon, she had been drinking and he had been chewing the odd herb which seemed to fill the role for his people that alcohol did for humans. He had taught her several words in Hex, mostly curses, which she could pronounce only with a great deal of hissing and spitting. It had been a pleasant way to pass the afternoon, distracting herself from the prospect of the upcoming wedding and the fact that she would be leaving Neil and probably Taya once the job here was done.

After that things had gotten complicated, though not, unfortunately, as complicated as they were likely to become in the next few minutes.

"You were all set to marry Indra yesterday," she said her voice steady despite the alcohol and the sense of spiralling disaster.

"You don't like the in-laws and are looking for a consolation prize?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

The smart move would have been to order him to leave but despite her best efforts she was unable to do so. Steam rose from her skin as the vapors of the hot bath she had been taking cooled in the sub tropical air.

[User]
At first he was somewhat surprised. He had expected her to be furious, not shocked he was there. He didn't quite know what to make of it, and decided to pay no heed to it at the current time. He needed to breathe easier though. She wasn't going at him like a Ranaak serpent from Zolas. "I wasn't set to her marry her, I thought that's what you wanted. I know, I know, I am an idiot." he said, holding his hands up.

"Just..." he didn't rightly know what to say, honestly. Though the consolation prize insult did get his blood boiling a bit. He'd been with multiple women but only because she had kept rejecting him!

"Hey!" he barked, stepping forward. "You're not a fucking prize. And I couldn't care less about these people. They could be thrown into a vat of boiling iron, I don't give a fuck." Briefly he wondered how smart it was to throw caution to the wind and speak like that aloud, but he realized if they had cameras or had the room bugged, they would have confronted him yesterday. "I'm throwing all the shit they want to give me away for you, does that sound like you're just some prize on my belt?"

He was very close at the moment. He could feel the heat from the shower emanating off of her, but he only looked her straight in the eyes.

[Assistant]
"So you have slept with every other convenient woman and you are finally working your way around to me?" Junebug snapped, unwilling to be reasonable in the heat of the moment.

"That's not what..." Neil protested, anger on his own face as he faced her down. Both of them were too hot under the collar for this conversation to be a good idea, and certainly not in the home of Neil's would be inlaws. Sayeeda held up a hand in warning to cut Neil off.

"Look all I want, all I've ever wanted is..."

It was perhaps bad timing that Saxon chose that moment to emerge from the bathroom where he and Sayeeda had been sharing the tub. Steam wreathed his reptilian form like smoke and his throat sacks were fully engorged and colored a vibrant red. His reptillian eyes narrowed as he beheld that Neil was in the room.

[User]
Neil looked both horrified and disgusted, eyes wide and lips have involuntarily parted. He should have expected the one thing to go wrong in this situation would, and now that it was here he didn't know what to do or say. He started to say 'what the fuck' to Junebug, and she could see the beginning of the W on his lips, before he stopped and shook his head.

Saxon grumbled irritably. "What are you doing-"

Neil casually pulled out his revolver and pointed it at Saxon's head. "You're not going to speak. I don't want to hear one word out of you. If I hear you talk again, I'll kill you." He said, having never spoken so seriously in his life. "One more word. I don't care if you kill me. I will find a way to drag you to hell."

The Hexanagallion wasn't necessarily frightened, but in all of his long years chasing Neil, he had never heard him like this. It surprised him enough to where he didn't immediately respond, and Neil holstered his revolver and looked to Junebug. Neil could feel the rage inside of him, broiling in the pit of his stomach. But something happened. There was a layer of apathy above it, and Junebug could see that he had been broken in a way. He had none of his heart, silliness, or even the hysterical anger that he should have been feeling out.

He shook his head. "Is this what you want?" He asked her. "I won't stop you. But I aint taking this." The pilot seemed very far away. "I don't want any of it. I don't want Indra, the reward, the highlander." He backed up, breathing through flared nostrils. "I'm going to steal a ship and go back to ripping off mobs and fixing ventilation shafts on Ryloc. I can't! I CAN'T!" he made his way to the door, not caring if anyone outside questioned why he was in her chambers. But the door was sealed shut, and needing Junebug's voice command to open it. Likely because she didn't want anyone barging in on her and Saxon.

There was likely no guards out, as it was their feasting time. But still, it was alarming that Neil punched and kicked the door impressively loudly. "Fucking open!"

He still sounded done, but the door being closed made his actual rage surface. Maybe there was still some of him in there after all.