Dante Abigor

I would be up for this, but seeing as I have only one character with a wiki, I would only offer him for now. Dante Abigor-either is fine.

TL;DR: I need help planning multiple Rp events with overlapping and related plot points and converging together, but I need help figuring out the whole thing. Want vague addled details written on the fly? Read below. Want some concrete details or just something specific in general? Message me. ADDLED MADNESS posted from a phone EDIT: What am I trying to do? I am trying to make a series of connected events to get a large amount of Rpers connected to a storyline of sorts connecting them in various ways. While I DO have a default template to follow if no one has any ideas, I am keeping the story in question vague for now to allow for flexibility and changes. The key to keep in mind is that I want events and stories RELATED to each other in one way or another, they don't exactly need to follow a sequence to a set ending, I am trying to keep things as open as possible until I find out who is on board and interested, then adjust everything as we go along. As my character(s) would not/could not be present for all of these events, I would not have direct influence over how everything develops, so I am also looking for people to help guide things along as well so everything doesn't implode. Are these all happening at the same time or in a time bubble? While they COULD happen at the same time in theory, issues with time zones/schedules could easily wreck that. It also causes the problem of people having to choose between events, effectively losing some information they may want/need(For example, if you are ic at another event, and another event you wanted to watch oocly is happening, it can create a conflict, to demonstrate one point). I don't think a time bubble is necessary until delays and such happen, but I am not opposed to them should they be in favor. WHY YU NO POST PLOT? I haven't posted the plot because as I said already I intend for it to be flexible. Once I find anyone interested/get something more organized together, then I will post a full description of the plot itself in the events section of these forums. Right now I seek assistance still, so there is no real point in posting about a story that could still change. B-but....if all these events happen in different places/times, how are people going to be able to keep up/know wtf is going on? Forums would be the most simple answer, but not everyone is going to come to the forums, or even use them. I have an idea to more or less summarize what happened at each event at the end and have it posted on the forums so that people can read them/post a recap for those that need/want it. Im kind of shaky on this one though, so I would really like more ideas concerning this, since this is rather difficult to manage & Im honestly not very experienced with this aspect of events. So....what are the rules going to be for these events? For now the only constant rule for the events is the typical no meta gaming/God mode/being a jerk OOCly. Other than that, the rules would change for each specific event. For example, lets say there is a plot point that involves weavers competing with each other to please a rich person for whatever reason. A rule in place is that no one can have the same color/material outfits presented or something of that nature. Can I come into the plot after it begins? Yes. Not much to say here, but I intend to have everything open enough so that people can come and go from the plot freely. Obviously there would be exceptions to this but for the most part the answer is a definite yes. Quick questions that could be answered here? Yes you can suggest events into the storyline, the details of how can be changed/varied according to where the story is currently headed. Yes, spontaneous things will most likely happen in these events. The reason why I want to split the plotline up into smaller groups is because larger groups see that a massive flood of text litters the chat, making Rping harder and harder to keep in order as everyone begins posting. I don't like giving people "turns" to post, so I thought that spreading them out further would be a better solution. I DO need villains for this plotline of course, so by all means speak up if you want to be a villainous dastardly dandy dandler. OTHER: My brain is all full of cheese and stuff, so Im sure I forgot to list something else. Have a question or are interested? Please post here or send me a message, I would love to get back to you. Think something in my approach is flawed or wont work at all? Please let me know. I realize this is a difficult thing to put together but without getting more input I could miss something, so please by all means assist and criticize.

100 QUESTIONS (I almost lost my soul doing this)

-OOC: If Dante suddenly had everything that he had ever wanted, he would awaken in the corpse of the enemy he had used as shelter for the night, cooking the rest of the meat for breakfast. Stretching out after his delicious meal, he would look over his somewhat safe camp atop a mountain towards the burnt and smoking earth spread out below him in a vast wasteland, covered in the loud and endless ravagings of ongoing war, everyone below fighting for supremacy. Turning his head to the distance, he would see a vision of a completely separated land across the sea, where technology and innovation mixed with peace and harmony, farming and family building clearly the order of the day, all energy given to progress and stability. Sitting to realize that his goals of reaching an absolutely free world rid of the poisonous lies that he saw as its corruption, he would ultimately descend into the battlefield, waiting patiently for either whomever would eventually best him, or his body finally tiring of endless bloodshed in favor of peace.

I want to create a FC with everyone with an open mindset, and I want to build off of that, with the goal of connecting Rp around the server as much as possible. A general breakdown of the concept OOCly: 1. RP Focus: Typically, Roots exists to both help the members of the FC progress their own storylines as well as intermingle with others. The concepts binding us together are vague at best and(intentionally) not everyone has a clear idea of what is going on until they ask(Icly). The focus is mainly on intermingling the FC with other FCs and Rpers around the server and building a more connected community, one that is less closed off and with some existing lore between different groups. 2. Branch system: Roots is not lead by a typical system of leaders and chains of command, but is rather connected through the ideal behind the work itself. Without attempting to strain with my long winded and honestly confusing explanation, Roots is more about individuals connected through their differing goals and desires. Does your character want to do something extravagant or simple? Both perhaps? We aim to create an environment where this can happen easily, without having to conform to a complicated storyline. That is not to say the storylines are not there, only that they do not require participation. If you have more questions on this or want examples please contact me. 3. Focus: It is my intention to help create a place where all kinds of Rp can mix, clash, and/or mingle with each other with as little strain as possible. I want the FC to interact with its members, but I also want to encourage less isolated behaviour. Walk up to strangers and speak to them, Rp with other FCs or their members, share your character with others and expose yourself to different things. 4. About endgame/ooc content: We actively are trying to get any members that want to get through end game, through end game. This includes but is not limited to MSQ(Main story quest) and Binding Coil progression. If you want some kind of help, all one needs do is ask. 5. Moral alignment: Well being that the concept is to connect as many Rpers as possible, and that the original concept is kept vague because of this, the official of the FC itself is True Neutral. It has no moral obligation to be especially good or bad. That is NOT however the same requirement for its members. Everyone is encouraged to act as their character was truly envisioned upon creation. In other words, you do NOT have to be a certain type of character to enter Roots. 6. Do I need any special skills with my character to join?: No, you can be a simple gardener, a bookworm battlemage, a tradesmen, or even a hobo for all we care. We would love to have you. 7. Any OOC requirements?: Just don't be a jerk to others, general decency and all that. 8. Other: WE HAVE A WEBSITE(s) and TS3. Contact me for more details. General breakdown of the concept ICly Roots is a fellowship of men and women who are information seekers and protectors of special intelligence. As an organization, Roots offers impunity and an impartial judgment to its members, welcoming members from a large number of conflicting ideals and backgrounds. The peoples are united in their desire to find answers, and thusly expected to weigh the value of information greater than the value of individual ethics. With some degree of immunity from the scrutiny of disagreeing morals, trade of information can go unimpeded within the Roots network. Though primarily a peer network, there are also those directly in Root’s employ. Roots does not give out its resources freely, but they are not restricted to a privileged few. The Roots estate was established as a means to pool resources and branch out into social circles. Those who offer Roots a specialized skill or join directly into Roots’ employ are allowed access to a wealth of information and resources. In theory, this allows members to correlate amongst one another and find help from walks of life they may not be experienced with. As its numbers bolstered, Roots evolved to be more than just information gathering, but this remains its mission statement. They seem to have a secondary goal which is not explicit to new recruits.

Ye gods...a reply!! \0/ Anyways yes he does indeed grow up lol.

-The Puppet- [ It has been three years since the incident involving the heir to the clan and the cursed child. Suprising everyone with her desire to make the boy her servant, unrest began to spread slowly over the years, causing a slow but very steady strain on the clan as a whole as superstition and fear began to outweigh reason. It wasnt completely unfounded however; Finding the boy almost immediately sparked a streak of disobedience and carelessness by the heir, sneaking off with him to tour the Outer Castle or hide from her tutors. After realizing the boy was unable to understand speech, she began to labor on ways to communicate with him, eventually realizing that he attempted communication through a series of hums, facial expressions, and varied tooth clicks. Eventually taking the time to learn how to speak with him rather than teach him how to speak with her, she became the only person able to do so, even finding that his method of communication was both faster and was more enjoyable. After exploring most of the Outer Castle, Alinore realized that much of their home itself went unused or forgotten, and began travelling through forgotten corridors and lost labs to search for information and places to make her own for her self studies and playtime. ] Twirling about in her usual fashion while the boy dusted off the table for her in an old musty room filled with old notes and strange tubes, Alinore was in an even better mood than usual. Today was the day she was going to test her new magic that she found in this very same room out, and she was quite eager to get started. After he finished dusting the table thoroughly, the boy hopped onto it wordlessly and waited while Alinore walked over to a stack of papers with her own notebook in hand and began reviewing them. Finally satisfied with herself, she walked around the table behind the boy and pulled the collar of his rags down a bit, inspecting his neck. Unable to keep herself contained any longer, she began to focus her aether into her fingertips and pointed them at the boys shoulders, smiling smugly to herself when she saw his limbs immediately become limp. "If you resist at all it will only hurt you, so dont struggle okay?" After conveying that to him she began to intensify the flow of Aether in her hand, watching the changes develop as she went along. According to the notes she found in this room, the occupants had been attempting to develop binding magic that allowed the caster advanced control of their limbs-and possibly even their own flow of aether if perfected properly. The process itself was made extremely complex, involving a multiple layered spell that required fast monitering and shifting, spread in differing degrees over multiple limbs-assuming you wanted to control more than one. The process required syncronizing the casters aether flow with the aether within the target, then forcing their body to move to your will in a process requiring a series of very acute and precise lightning magic within the bind, allowing control. Simply casting that many spells at once required a certain kind of talent with magic, but exerting that much control over so many spells sustained for any extended amount of time was nearly impossible to do properly. Further, the final goal of the spell was to eventually exert control over the targets aether, something that seemed even more impossible when faced with the fact that the caster would already be burdened with the strain of maintaining all of the spells already in place; controlling the flow and manipulation of anothers aether on top of that was deemed completely impossible to mass produce even if mastered, and so the spell was scrapped along with all of the notes with it. Alinore was not interested in mass production however. It did become apparent very quickly however that the spell was going very wrong. The boy immediately began to twist his arms and arch his back in ways undesired. His face immediately contorted into pain as be began to scream and writhe about as Alinore watched with an impatient interest. Adjusting her aether did not fix the issue either, only adding to his screams as the boy began to froth at the mouth, a reaction Alinore took notice of. "I told you not to resist. If you keep trying to escape the pain will only worsen." Increasing the amount of focus she put into the procedure as she gathered her data, the boys eyes began to roll into the back of his head, a faint flash coming from beneath his bangs as they disappeared into the back of his eyelids. Completely entranced in her workings now, she attempted to move his limbs to her will, only to see his contortions increase to extreme degrees, all things she took note of. Taking a moment while he writhed and screamed to write down notes of her own, she was shocked to suddenly have her aether tethers cut-or more accurately ripped-from their hold. Returning her attention to the boy she saw him sitting upward on the table, a strange glow to his eyes beneath his bangs, a low growl escaping his lips. Jumping from the table he approached her and grabbed her arm firmly, then fell limp. The next moment the glow was gone, and the boy began looking about the room with his usual lost stare. The entire sequence of events had caught Alinore off guard. To her knowledge, the boy was supposed to be a reject of the clan, one who could not do any magic at all, which ironically made him a great living body to test new spells on. If he could not create magice however, then what did he just do to cut her tethers? Further, what was that glow just now if he could not manipulate aether? The questions piled in quick succession, but the overall importance of the situation was not lost on her. "...My experiment was a failure. I dont want to learn this magic anymore." Turning to pat the boy on the head, she grabbed her notes and skipped toward the exit, eager to test the next spell. [And so things continued this way for another nine days.] -The Mad Thief and Odd Witch- The man climbed and scrambled up the chains with agile yet crude reflexes, nearly losing his balance here and there, and dropping to a crawl whenever the wind caused the chains to so much as sway. Catching himself as he nearly fell, he kicked himself off of the large chain and grasped onto the corner of a castle wall, staring at the shadow floating above him with a mixture of jealousy and happiness. "You aint gonna help me get up there at all are you?" He asked in the midst of an insane laugh. The shadow didnt reply, only turned to face him with a blank expression. Upon closer inspection, the shadow was a floating woman, cloaked in a deep red robe that made her appear like a badly made scarecrow. "Dan," she started with a monotone voice, "Ive already started the spell. You should stop playing around." Nearly falling off of the edge as he found himself onto a small balcony near her, he found himself laughing at her idea of his nearly dying multiple times in a short span of time him "playing around." Looking up towards his objective, he couldnt help his excitement boiling over. Dan, or "Crazy Dan" as he was often called, was a leader of a small group of mostly likeminded bandits. They enjoyed stealing and plundering and not living in only one place, but above all they enjoyed the challenges associated with them. Before Dans eyes was the challenge of his lifetime; A floating Castle over the perilous desert filled with Sandwyrms and storms and heat, protected by a legion of giant adamantoise below it. The castle was said to be filled with untold riches and unheard of knowledge, but all of which was horded by its inhabitants-a castle of demons. These demons would only come down to the world below at certain times, and even then it was only to add more demons to their ranks more than anything. Such a challenge was perfect for Dan. Getting caught in this abyss of death would surely mean his own, so he had to get in and out quickly and quietly with as many riches as possible. At his wits end as to how to do so after finally managing to catch the damn moving castle, his friend suddenly presented him with a map she earned from a merchant who claimed to have recieved audience with the demons himself once, and made from his memory. In exchange for allowing her to tag along, she would share the map. "Why DID you want to come with me anyway Red?" he asked as he picked a lock, once again recieving no answers in return. Glancing towards her every once in a while as he made his way to his objective, he couldnt help but to think on their relationship. Red appeared before him suddenly one day as he was pillaging a village. Already finding it odd that anyone would choose to cower in a burning alley caught his attention, but upon approaching her she demanded that he gave her food. She then followed him everywhere he went like a hound. Unlike everyone else in his group, she seems to be the only one who shows no interest in anyone else-or anything else, which is why her wanting to come along struck him as so suspicious. Throwing the thought into the back of his mind he found himself inside of a room, oddly decorated and silent. Looking towards his map, he realized that he had made it to his objective. "Now....wheres....the loot?" Looking around the room with his greedy eyes, Dan could hardly see anything of value, taking a moment to scan the room again, he froze in place when he noticed that a thick blanket was moving slowly. Unsheathing his blade immediately he shot a look of irritation at Red. "You bloody idiot that map was WRONG! We are smack dab in a demons room!" Surveying the room calmly, Red spoke quietly as her eyes rested on the blankets. "Dan, the map was to point to the most valuable treasure in the castle. If there isnt treasure in here, but living things, what do you suppose that means?" Dan only blinked in response, his face slowly understanding. "You...want me to kidnap a demon? Kehehehe....youre crazier than I am arent you?" Giving him a slight smile as she looked on, Red's entire expression suddenly shifted into one of pain and panic. "SHIT, the spell was detected already! The scaled one is coming, Dan we have to leave now!" Dan, still in shock from Reds sudden and previously never before seen stream of expression and communication found himself unable to respond properly. "Scaled one? They got dragons now? Whatre you goin on abou--" His words were cut off as Red violently slapped him & grabbed his shirt, bringing her face close to his. "Listen to me you little dipshit, I dont feel like dying today, and we dont have the time to entertain any of your fucking questions. Grab what we came here for and I'll get us out of here before we get turned into ornaments or something. Still in quite a shock from the turn of events, Dan decided that Red clearly knew more about what was going on than he did, and simply grabbed the blankets and balled them up as much as possible, as quickly as possible, then stuffed it into the sack he expected to carry all of his treasure in. With Red suddenly grabbing his arm, he found himself wrapped in her robe, and with a pull and a shift, like a shadow into the night they were gone. -The World Below- [ Alinore awoke from her deep sleep to find herself surrounded by strange dirty tall men and women, all staring and peering at her with a mixture of confusion and amusement. It didnt take long for her to grasp the situation. In the midst of her analysis of the situation, she found herself overcome with a plethora of emotions boiling up inside of her like bubbles in water, all bursting at the same time. At the height of her emotion, she found herself crying, holding on to the slowly waking boy cradled in her arms with all her might, the shrieking and tears earning her the ire of one of the men watching her. ] "Hey there," the tall gray elezen man started with an unfriendly glare glinting in his eyes, his grizzled beard and hair along with his dirty tattered clothes and assortment of blades decorating his sides betraying his wellspoken words and tone, "You dont have anything to be cross about yet, so I suggest you quickly but a plug on those waterworks before I give you a reason to use them in earnest." He finished his statement with a threatening brandish of his blade against a scar on his cheek and a possibly intended to seem threatening ruffling of his hair, but he found himself ignored completely as Alinore continued to cry, much to his chagrin. Refusing to be ignored he roughly picked the girl up by her hair and stuck the point of his dagger against her cheek, trying in vain to gain the girls attention as she continued crying. While he failed to aquire Alinores attention properly, being suddenly dropped onto the ground in the middle of stirring certainly earned the boys attention. At first staring with confused wonder at the absolute shift in surroundings from the night before, and realizing that his arms were bound, he perked his ears and cocked his head around attentively when he heard the sound of crying nearby. Seeing Alinore being held by the hair with a sharp object stuck onto her face was all he needed to see. Suddenly overcome with the memories of his years of being pushed around abused and bullied by those around him, he found he couldnt stand seeing Alinore treated the same. The feeling was confusing to him, alien even. Being bullied by everyone usually filled him with a sense of fear and defeat, and in his constant confusion of the happenings around him, he began to accept them as normal things that were meant to happen to him. Alinore was a different case altogether; She took the time to learn to speak with him, she played with him, and she never bullied him without a reason that she didnt explain before doing it. Seeing Alinore treated that way made something in the pit of his stomach tighten, his fists clench, and a new feeling that scared him began to flare up inside of him like an explosion. He knew he had to do something to stop the man bullying Alinore, but his arms were bound, he had no weapon, and he was much taller. Feeling his thoughts race, the boys frustration began to mount and his frantic racing thoughts began to take over. Refusing to think any further, he lunged at the man with all the strength his little legs could muster, and opened his mouth with an animalistic howl, sinking his sharp teeth deep into the mans forearm, and with everything he could yanked his head around until he felt a rip, coincidentally landing a kick into the mans groin while trying to pull away, seeing to the two of them falling into a heap on the ground, Alinore landing with a look of suprise on her knees nearby. The surrounding bandits began to laugh and jeer at the Elezen crumpled over on the ground in pain, some throwing rocks at him. "Oi Lazarus, you gettin' your arse kicked by a kid?" squealed one half doubled over laughing. "I dunno why he's actin like his jewels are hurt, I dont remember them being much to worry over!" howled a female in the crowd. With the crowds insults getting continually more insulting, Lazarus hopped to his feet in a rage, the boy kicking a small ways away and sitting on his heels. "Im gonna kill you, you insufferable little brat!" He started, "...And my jewels are PLENTY to worry over! LOADS even!" Finishing his statement while the laughter rose higher, he threw the dagger in his hand into the boys shoulder, drawing two thin swords from his hips and lunging in. Feeling the dagger sink into his shoulder hurt the boy a great deal, but his desire to stop the mans bullying seemed to make him forget how to feel pain properly, the feeling almost an afterthought as he lunged forward again, earning a deep stab into his arm. Screaming out in pain as he was repelled, he barely moved out of the way of a second stab, lunging again at the mans now bleeding arm and sinking his teeth back in, ripping the red flesh away with his teeth while the man fell to his knee and clutched it, howling expletives and obsceneties. His rage and embarrassment at their breaking point, Lazarus lunged at the boy and kicked him in the stomach with all his might while the boy lunged blindly at him a third time, slashing the boys exposed back while he fell to the ground. Still unsatisfied with the boy coughing up and gagging in the dirt, he began to stab the boy in his dagger wound, twisting it while his stomped him in frustration. After a few minutes of venting his frustrations, he turned the boy over and pointed the blade at his throat, only to be stopped by a sudden impact to the side of his head, knocking him into a nearby tent while all the laughter ceased. "The Hells you think you doin to my money-I mean-a kid!" Dan asked while resting his rather large sword on his shoulder, his mouth twisted into an annoyed frown. "What am I-ugh I cant bloody believe this!" Lazarus stammered back as he struggled to clamber to his feet, his dizzyness and injured arm proving to make such actions impossible. "I was just trying to shut the little brat over there up and that...that BRAT decided I looked like a decent breakfast!" Lazarus threw a dagger at the boy again and displayed the now hanging bits of flesh and healthy stream of blood seeping from his wound, only to be met with a dagger reflected into his thigh and hearty laugh from Dan at his resulting scream after impact. Turning towards the boy, Dan lifted him off of the ground and brought him extremely close to his face, a glare sparking from his eyes into the boys, along with the stench of bad breath that seemed to be a mixture of warm booze and rotten eggs. "So you thought it'd be a good idea to take a chomp out of my mate there didja? Didnt care one wit about hurtin him?" "Hey Dan," cut in one of the men in the crowd, "Im pretty sure you just hurt Laz'rus way more than the kid did." "Shut up you!" Dan shot back, pointing towards the source of the voice with a filthy looking sword. "Now where was I....Oh yeah! You cant just go hurtin my men like that see? Youre a HOSTAGE, get that? You aint s'posed to do anything but cower on the ground and make my money, understand?" Finishing his statement with the most evil grin he could muster, he was met with absolute silence. Finding himself irritated by the lack of an answer, he clenched a fist and hit the boy across the side of his head. "UNDERSTAND!?" The boy remained silent, spitting the bits of flesh and blood in his mouth into Dans face, prompting him to drop him onto the ground startled. "You..you really want to get chopped into little bits dont you?" Pointing his blade at the boy, Dan was startled to see him immediately lung at it, biting at the ends despite the edge cutting into the sides of his mouth. "He doesnt understand you!" Having observed the situation long enough, Alinore jumped behind the boy and placed her bound wrists over his head and into his neck to restrain him, cradling him into a half hug, half chokehold. "Im the only one who can speak to him, he doesnt understand anyone else. He just wants to protect me is all." Dan took a moment to think, looking first to the adorable girl with tears in her eyes and what looked like a rabbid dog in her arms, then to Lazarus screaming and rolling on the ground. "You sayin he did all that without understandin a word of whats going on?" Looking down at the boy, Alinore nodded slowly. "Huh..." Still thinking the situation over, Dan nearly hopped out of his skin when he felt a familiar cold hand tap the base of his neck. "Gods damn you Red I told you not to do that!" Looking to the children on the ground and ignoring Dan, her eyes rested and lingered on Alinore for a long and awkward silence, Alinore staring back almost as if in a trance. "Dan," Red began, "Im in agreement with your current train of thought." Staring into his confused face for a minute, she continued on, pointing at the children. "You wanted to take the boy for yourself didnt you? After all, if they are treasure then its possible that the longer they are missing the more valuable they will become. Ive taken an interest in the girl, and returning them later is something like an investment. " Dan stared at Red with disbelief and confusion. Something about Red had always felt off to him, but very recently her speech has increased to more than two or three times a day. Rarely she would do what she did just now, and somehow guess exactly what he was thinking, but never has she elaborated on what he was thinking so specifically, usually warning him against or encouraging him to follow through with his thoughts. "Well...the kid has got some guts in him, thats for sure. Anyone who would jump into a situation armed with nothing BUT their teeth is someone Id welcome without too much thinking involved; I like him." Kneeling down to the boys level and staring into his eyes, he addressed Alinore. "You said he cant understand a word we say but you can talk to him right?" Upon seeing Alinores nod, he continued, "Then tell him this: If he doesnt want anything bad to happen to you two then he has to work to make sure we dont hurt you. If he dont work hard enough, then bad things are going to happen to the both of ya." Raising his brow at Alinore's somewhat musical translation, he recieved a glare of understanding from the boy. Hopping to his feet with a chipper grin, Dan turned and began walking off, stopping near the now unconscious Lazarus and lifting him onto his shoulder with relative ease. Handing him off to someone with medical supplies to tend to him, Dan returned to the children and addressed Alinore again. "So...I havent had a chance to get aquainted with you two yet. Im Dan, what should I call you two?" Alinore opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by a wave of Red's hand. "Before we get to that, I want an answer. Why are you letting us keep you restrained?" At this, Alinore tilted her head for a moment, confused. "I dont know what your manners are like here, and I thought it might be rude to just destroy these ropes after you all went through so much trouble to tie them. Its ok if I take them off?" Upon seeing Red's nod, Alinore simply cupped her hands and opened them quickly, the ropes being cut cleanly down the middle as if done by a blade as a result. Taking a moment to stand and dust herself off, Alinore placed her hand on her chest and smiled widely, half ignoring Dans dumbfounded expression. "My name is Alinore Abigor, eight years old. Nice to meet you Red and Dan." Upon hearing her name Reds face glowed into a smile, and she returned with a bow. "My name is Elise Voireparte, but this...man..has bestowed me with the name Red." Snapping back to his senses after seeing hearing Red do something unbelievable yet again, he tried to compose himself. "So...youre telling me the kid is a witch? Gods today is just full of suprises-no mistake that aaaaallll you Red Im not touching that." Half ignoring Alinore's frown he let his gaze drift back towards the boy, jabbing a thumb in his direction. "So whats his name anyway?" he said in an attempt to focus on the things he was interested in. "He doesnt have a name," Alinore replied quickly and as-a-matter-of-factly before continuing, "He is considered a criminal for some reason." Upon hearing this information, Dan practically began dancing with joy. "So he aint afraid to fight, he dont got any name, and he already has criminal status? I think I love this kid-we are gonna get along nicely!" Smiling to the boy while biting his lower lip and putting an arm around the boys shoulder, his actions were rewarded with a chomp to his ear. Instead of smashing the boy like he wished to, he suppressed the overwhelming desire to make the boy a kabob and picked him up high in the air, still smiling. "Well, I think we oughta get your scrapes and cuts looked at too eh? Im looking forward to my time with ya, kid." [The next four months passed in a bit of a blur. Having been given the sole responsibility to keep up their safety, the boy was made to learn to fight-under tutelage of Lazarus no less. Suprisingly to everyone but Dan, the boy proved to have a knack for fighting with swords, and within four months, he was able to fend off the group that initially was simply beating on him for fun and calling it lessons. Alinore was whisked off whenever she wasnt playing translator for the boy by Red, and their activities were mostly kept a secret. What was apparent was that they became quite close rather quickly. After having his time with the children, Dan began to get bored, and decided to take them along with a very specific raid. Using Red as a reference, he aimed to find the merchant that sold her the map and have his "revenge" for the lack of actual loot in his map.] -The Raid- [Dan found the source of his aims, and travelled with his group and after arriving at their village went in personally. Demanding the man by name and stating his intent to kill him, he gave everyone til nightfall. If the man was not produced, then he would return and raze everything to the ground. When nightfall came and the man did not appear, Dan stayed true to his word and sent his horde into the village, watching from the outskirts as chaos and havoc unfolded before him.] The boy had become used to similar sights by this point. In the four months he spent around Dan, he had witnessed his rather random streaks of destruction and thievery both many times already. Standing on the outside looking in as usual, he decided to unsheath his sword and study how the light from the flames danced on his blade rather than listen to the screams. Catching Dans eye, he twitched his ears as he heard him speak towards the men sitting nearby, each turning their eyes towards the boy with grins that made him uncomfortable. Barely catching Alinore speaking worriedly towards Dan he couldnt find the time to react as he was scooped up and carried towards the village. Inside the village was a horror scene. People getting impaled, lit on fire, running and screaming, being dragged or begging on their knees. It was the first time the boy saw it up close, but what bothered him the most was the smell. He didnt realize the scent was blood, he simply believed the scent was something unpleasant and wished to be away from it. Being carried towards a house not yet lit on fire, his uneasiness began to rise. Having been pushed into a nearby closet, the girl and her little brother were told not to move. Feeling uneasy, the lalafell obeyed. Her brother however, had other plans in mind. Running out of the closet into the open room, he was greeted with the sight of his parents in a bloody heap on the floor. Flying into a rage, he lunged at them only to be cut down very much the same way. As the little girl crawled out of the closet onto the scene, she could do little else but cry as they laughed and teased at her. "Oi," Started one, "That ones a girl too aint she?" All eyes centered on her as they observed her. "Yunno what, I think she is. Cint killed the last one--EY, get the kid in here!" While the small crowd around her began to buzz and shift the girls focus was taken when her brother began to stir, coughing up blood and groaning. "Mika!" She squeaked while crawling to him, grasping his hand in some strange attempt to drag him back. "Dona?" he groaned back, half conscious. She was so caught in her current stream of despairing events that she did not even realize that the crew had returned with a small boy in tow, pushing him towards her with a blade in his hand. "Alright kid, do your thing." said one of the men with a crooked smile, prodding the boys back to signal him forward. Instead of moving forward, the boy locked his eyes onto Dona's, pushing the bangs up onto his head to get a clear look at them. To everyone else's eyes, they appeared to be the same, to the boy however, the girl was quite strange to behold. Dona was heterochromatic, her deep pink and purple eyes reflecting into his almost like a plea for help. What was most peculiar to him though, was the fact that her eyes had defined pupils down the center, something he had never before witnessed in his old home. "Whatre ye waitin for!?" screeched in one of the men behind the boy, hitting him aside his head. "Yer a man aincha!? Well git on in there, we dont have all night to burn a village down you know!" "I dunno if 'e understands us," chimed in a bald man with a scar on his head, "Dan said somefin about him singin to talk or summat." Earning a collective groan from the onlookers, one of the men began screaming next to the boys ear and pointing to Dona, instructing him to perform obscenities. Wiggling his ears in response to the loud sounds near him, the boy kept his eyes transfixed on Dona, moving them only slightly to study the boy bleeding on the ground next to her. Having reached the end of his patience, the man screaming at him finally kicked him in the back, forcing him to topple on top of Dona. His face closer to hers now, the boy could feel the terrified shivers vibrating on her every breath. His face hardening, he began to feel the now familiar sensation of something boiling inside of him. Only this time, it felt even hotter, more compelling. Rising to his feet, he turned his back to Dona and began walking away. -The Raid Pt. 2- Dona watched the boy get up wordlessly and walk away, as if not interested. Before she could even allow herself to wonder why, the same man that kicked the boy onto her had already began angrily rapping into the boy, kicking him in the stomach. Or at least thats what Dona thought he did at first. It was apparent a moment later that his intent was not met with success, as his foot had apparently been caught on something-the boy blocked the attack with the sharp edge of his blade. Before anyone could react properly to his resistance, he was already upon them like a storm, cutting through the mans foot and driving his blade into the chest of another to his left, he jumped and descended upon another, biting into his cheek and toppling onto the ground with him. Taking the distracted opportunity to steal the mans sword, he deflected a thrust to his chest and charged in, slashing the aggressors waist before turning and immediately crouching to the ground, receiving a graze across his back from a thrust. Using his lower stance to close the distance, he returned his injury with a series of three thrusts into the mans stomach, only stopping when he received a heavy bash across the head with the broad end of an axe, his lightweight body being knocked into a nearby cabinet, the wood crashing in a pile on top of him. "Gods, that kid was always nuts. Always had a funny feelin about him." A rather burlish man who had been watching the exchange rested his axe into the wooden floor and took a puff of his cigar, turning away. "Didnt think he had it in him to actually kill any of us though...color me impressed. " Still puffing his cigar, he approached Dona shivering on the floor as her last glimmer of hope was smashed into the remains of her home. "He bit me damn cheek!" Moaned one of the men still breathing, "And he stole my sword! I need to kill something small and cuddly now, so let me get the girl." As she stared on almost listlessly as she had given up hope, Dona did not notice the wood in the corner shifting. In fact, by the time anyone noticed, it was already too late. The boy emerged from the wood slowly, grabbing onto a large piece with his free hand. Seeing a chance, he lunged from the pile and drove a wooden stake deep into the mans throat, twisting his body against the dying mans shoulders in a half roll before descending upon his previous attacker, slashing his arm before falling clumsily to the ground, jumping away on all fours to avoid the subsequent swing from the axe. For a few moments Dona forgot that she was in a situation where she would most likely die. She forgot that her brother was in critical condition, and she had forgotten that her parents were lying among a now rising collection of bodies dead. For a few moments her complete attention was on the boy with glowing eyes and smoke billowing from his mouth like a chimney, smiling down an opponent clearly much bigger charging at him as if he had already won. The next moment the boy had run between the mans legs and thrust his blade into the mans groin, effectively downing him. Not yet done with his onslaught, the boy proceeded to run around the room collecting all of the blades, running back to the man each time to thrust one into a different part of his body. Seemingly unconvinced, or perhaps unsatisfied that the fight was over, he began biting the man as hard as he could in various places, ripping off flesh here and there and roaring at the top of his lungs, the smoke still puffing out his mouth in a constant stream giving him the appearance of a monster denied its meal. After what felt like an eternity passed, the boy finally finished his rampage, the smoke billowing from his mouth ceased as if a hallucination. Not saying a word as he stepped off of the remains, he simply looked to Dona and outstretched his hand, now dirtied with mud and blood. Looking to her brother bleeding on the floor, Dona continued to cry. Seeing the object of her stress, the Boy picked up Mika and lifted him onto his shoulder, outstretching his free hand again, this time grabbing Dona's arm, he led them out of the house, back towards the group. -Welcome to the Family- The events of the night before had more or less become a soupy mud in Dona's brain. After the boy had saved her and dragged her out of the house, he plopped Mika in front of a person wearing a red cloak and did something, after which she took him away. After that...Dona was not sure if what she witnessed was actual interaction or a comedy routine. The boy went up to whom she presumed was the leader of the bandits laying waste to her home and pointed at her, hitting his chest and sticking out his bottom lip. After this was a series of grunts and pounds that any onlooker would believe was a cross between wrestling and eating, after which the strange man introduced himself as Dan, and said that the boy had just pledged to take responsibility for her brother and herself, so in essence....they now belonged to him. The shock of losing everything she had known, the uncertainty of her brothers well being, and on top of that being made to become a servant of someone whom she didnt even really know was too much of a shock for the girl, and she began to wonder if she were really awake or not. Her ponderings, however, were brought to a grinding halt as a beautiful lalafell girl walked into the tent, her joyful smile melting something within Dona that should could not identify. "So youre awake huh?" asked Alinore cheerfully, "Im Alinore Abigor. Its nice to meet you." Finishing her statement with a slight bow of her head, she held a silent smile while tilting her head. While the girl seemed nice enough, something about her smile made Dona feel uneasy, and not wanting her already complicated life to get even more confusing, she opted to answer as politely and quickly as possible, her anxiety taking over. "I-Im D-D-Donatella Fontanella." Dona has always been a shy person, and with the current events stacked onto her mind in such a way she couldnt even make heads or tails of things anymore, rocketting her fears to new heights. Blushing as she finished her statement, Dona nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the boy from the night before walk into the tent, half convinced that he was going to eat her or something. To her suprise however, he did not direct a word towards her at all, instead humming towards Alinore while casting short glances at her, Alinore replying with similar sing song like noises. After a few minutes, the boy walked past Dona, prompting her to jump again, and grabbed a blade from the little patch of straws that Dona had been sleeping next to. Watching him leave with a mixture of terror and curiousity, Dona addressed Alinore. "W-who i-i-is that?" she asked bashfully. "Hes the one who saved you yesterday. You dont remember?" Nodding her head intensely as if attempting to shake the events of the night before from her brain, Dona continued. "B-but who is he? I-I havent heard his n-n-n-name yet." At this, Alinore tilted her head as if she had just heard something ridiculous. "He doesnt have a name. Never had one because he did something bad." Confused by her statement, Dona summoned her courage and delved deeper. "T-then what do you call him? How d-do you t-talk to him?" Wiggling her ears at her questions, Alinore turned and stared at Dona a very long time, her smile slowly fading. "He doesnt need a name. He cant understand a word you say to him anyway, Im the only one who can speak to him. You should worry less about him and more about how you can be of use around here. I understand that he brought you back but if he has no reason to keep you safe anymore...." Alinore smiled again, her sharp teeth glinting slightly as she left the tent. "If I really wanted to I could mope about it all day if I wanted," she thought, "Or I can just do whatever it takes right now. I only need to focus on being useful to that boy and keeping my brother safe. I can do this!" Slapping herself on the cheeks, Dona stood up shakily and left the tent, squinting her eyes against the sunlight. To be continued...

[align=left] [/align] [align=center]-Out of Darkness-[/align] [align=center] Out of the pitch black emptiness floated a crumbling throne. [/align] [align=center]Sitting alone, solitary in place, a woman is alone-forever wearing an expression of anguished distaste.[/align] [align=center]Palm on Cheek, eyes downcast, over and over she anguishes and laments...forever.[/align] [align=center]None will witness her burden.[/align] [align=center]None will share her regrets.[/align] [align=center]Sitting alone, in her solitary space, a woman is alone forever wearing an expression of anguished distaste.[/align] -Crime upon birth- Edilta had a number of grand accomplishments and triumphs in her life thus far. At a young and startling age, she had managed to grasp power within her brutal and elitist-drunk clan, displaying not only her capability to produce astounding phenomena with her magic, but the intelligence to utilize her mind in such a way that she was able to grasp power with little issue of notice. In the few years that followed, she had both secured herself as a feared and respected head, and surrounded herself with individuals both powerful and equally loyal, something thus far unheard of. She had protected her home from foolish invaders, natural obstacles, and caused it to prosper through the toughest of times. She had felt the twinge and prick of love, and similar to her success thus far, she had borne a healthy and beautiful baby girl, her heir inherent, and from the divinations of the clan priests, celebrated as a child that would bring prosperity and joy their people. All of these things were her pride, her life, and she was properly prepared for all of them. And yet...nothing prepared her for the pain of her second childbirth. Edilta could do nothing but hold her beloved's hand and scream through the pain, trying to force herself to focus on the task at hand. This day had been a source of much worry for her, and Escor-her chosen mate-for many and more moons now. The pregnancy had come with many stresses, the most concerning of which being the fate of her child. Lack of any activity at all from the child would cause anyone to worry, but a crippling sickness on top of it made things worse. As if that were not enough, the priests divination on the child was less than pleasant. Almost in opposition to its older sister, Edilta's second child was placed to be a scourge on the clan-one who would cause ruin. Apparently not one to disappoint others, on the very day deigned to bring misfortune, the child suddenly began to stir, bringing things to the current situation. "Restrain her dammit!" the priest began barking to the aides running about like bees buzzing in a panic after getting their hive disturbed. "Dammit, I said RESTRAIN her! if she begins casting any magics while otherwise occupied we could all end up minus one head!" The priest continued to bark and scream while Escor looked to his wife with a calm but very real concern, half for his unborn child and mate, and half for not knowing what use he would have for whatever was left of his hand after Edilta was finished squeezing the last of his bones into dust, squishing his veins together like jelly. "Escor," she started, a pained blush spreading across her face, "Im quite ready for this to end already!" Feeling useless, he could not do much more than bear the pain in his palm and nod to her slowly, doing his utmost to keep things under control. Males within their clan had no real power to speak of, which is why they were considered hardly better than workers or cattle unless they were lucky enough to be born into a family of priests and diviners. Escor wasnt exactly an exception to the rule, in fact his aether levels were below average for even the males of his clan. His way of utilizing his magic however was what made him stand out. Unlike the majority of the clan that relied on their magic for everything, Escor had made efforts to train his body alongside his mind, using bursts of what little aether he had combined with his strength and artificial crystal implants to explosive effect, making him a dangerous opponent to cross without a solid plan. He was an amazing strategist, and oddly enough, an inventor of sorts, being responsible for most of the recent improvements to transportation and aether control among the clan. All of this proved useless however, when attempting to think of a way to comfort Edilta through her pain. Feeling his facade of calm coming to a fast halt as he began to see the beginnings of Edilta unconsciously channeling magic, he began to feel the urgency of the situation rise. Edilta using magic without clear intent in mind was dangerous for everyone. Unlike everyone else who are able to have normal childbirths, Edilta is the head of the clan-the Abigor of the clan. The clan heads are all attuned to the clans mother crystal-a large chunk of crystal that was the original medium for their magic, and also the current source of most of the magic supplying their home and keeping it from falling from the sky. While there was no danger of her destroying the crystal, if she were to channel such a large amount of aether alongside her own thats already massive in its own right, then everything within a pretty healthy distance might well get blown to pieces. Before he could open his mouth to comfort her however after having his mental review of the situation, he realized that it was over. In her arms lay a beautiful baby, with aether practically singing off of its skin. "Shes going to be fine then," he breathed out with a relieved sigh, taking a moment to observe the natural crystal poking from her forehead with interest. "So, what are we going to name her?" Edilta raised her eyes slowly, tiredly for a moment, still in a daze from everything that just happened, looking to Escor with a confused expression. "What do you mean?" she sighs slowly, fighting to keep her consciousness. "Its a boy." "Huh?" Those words and a crack of a disbelieving smile were all that he could do, for in the next moments his sons cry would send a shriek through the ward, and simultaneously everything would be erased as if it were never there. [ Fifteen days later, in the hall of judgements ] What a cruel joke. Edilta thought bitterly, sitting in the center of a large podium and surrounded by peers she wanted nothing more than to shatter into pieces. Below her, tied down and bound to the floor with magic, lay her newly born child. The laws of her people were rather unmerciful and strict. Before he was even born, he was assumed to be a child of misfortune because of some priests reading-a crime in itself if confirmed true. Normally such a claim would fall through with the birth of the child proving they were an average citizen; This was not the case today. Fifteen days ago my son was born...a beautiful, shining baby boy. Ive never had such happiness followed by such dread and anguish in my life. Edilta inhaled slowly, taking in the scene from her nightmares made reality. As leader of her people, she was required by custom to preside as the final judge over the fate of her son as dictated by their laws. Despite whatever she may feel, she was bound to emotionlessly pass judgement over all who were tried here. However, Edilta Abigor realized full well what this trial really was. A public display of her first known failure, and an attempt to use emotional reaction to usurp her position as the Abigor. If she were to give an emotional ruling even once, she could be claimed unfit for leadership, as she no longer upheld the standards and interests of her people, but rather herself. The stress caused by the situation was meant to be twofold, and her sons crimes made it impossible for her to help him. If he were simply being accused of being born on the wrong day, she could easily dissuade the ruling to her favor. Her son was not being accused of just one crime however, but five. Him being paraded as a cursed child ironically is what put the final nail in the coffin. His appearance, gender, and display of potential are all directly opposed to what was considered normal by not just herself, but everyone present. A people known for their manipulation of crystals causing their features to shift into hues of blue and green, particularly about their eyes and hair, he has already proven himself an anomaly. But being a male that is able to channel such magic freely-and so soon after being born is what scared everyone the most. Men are known to have little control over aether in her society, and his levels have already appeared to surpass most citizens considered elite. The fact that he was also born with a crystal in his forehead made things worse. It is proof the magic was not simply a one time accident, it was something he would eventually be capable of replicating again and again. Even this would not be a problem per se, had the magic itself simply been powerful. Instead, it had to be something no one had seen before, a type of magic that appears to eradicate everything in its wake. Where once there was a room, with a bed, medical salves, doctors and aides...her mate...there was, quite literally, nothing. As if they were never there at all. Instead what remained were marks and scars that suggested whatever once occupied the space they were in was eaten away, as if by some monster. Only it wasnt a monster at all, but a baby. HER baby no less, the one most associated with the ideals and standards of her society, which is why a trial against an infant is able to be blown to this proportion. By being born the son of an Abigor, he was cursed to be a target of political schemes and used as a device of unrest. Unable to even display emotion during the duration of a trial, Edilta kept herself stoic, digging her fingertips into the back of her clasped hands if she began to feel herself slip. This farce needs to be over soon. I tire of this already. One of the judges finally spoke up enough for Edilta to stop tuning out the hearing. "-And as has been reviewed, the accused has been found guilty of assault of renowned citizens, destruction of property, unauthorized use of high level destructive magicks within enclosed areas, murder, and being a child of misfortune. With these grave offenses already mounted against him, the council believes it best that the criminal in question be sentenced to death-" "Denied," Edilta immediately cut in. "The criminal in question is an infant, and therefore protected from any damages to property upon arrival. Further, under both heritage of birth and recognition of status via aether use, he has already identified himself as a renowned citizen, removing him from any and all consequence of assaulting individuals of the same class under defense of self cause." Edilta knew this game, and how to play it. If her enemies were going to use their laws and policies to push an unfair trial upon an infant, then she would use those same tactics to prevent it. Sadly, her defenses were at an end. All she could do now was offer a satisfying ruling for everyone. In order to end this game, I must give a ruling that neither damns the boy to death, nor saves us both from shame and punishment. Edilta silently allowed herself a moment to anguish over her sorrow under the guise of thinking deeply, knowing all too well the best answer, but wanting in no way to carry it out. Steeling herself for what comes next, she spoke. "However, he has indeed murdered many high class citizens, this fact cannot be ignored. Under our laws he cannot be put to death, but being a child of misfortune he cannot be suffered to his own devices in a prison either. As such, he shall from this moment forth.....be stripped of all rights to be a proper citizen. He will be a servant of the palace servants, and stripped of his right to both learn or practice magic. His face shall be branded with the mark of the accursed, and he will be stripped of his name." Upon hearing the murmurs of satisfied onlookers and judges, Edilta began to stand, before being halted by one of the judges sitting nearby. "Milady Abigor," she started, "Surely such a ruling is worse than a death penalty? It would be far kinder and efficient to just kill off the child of misfortune now and sa-" she found herself cut off by a sudden chilling in the air and a glowing stare of fury from Edilta. "Lili Lilim," she spoke as she turned to face her, the air beginning to crackle with electricity, "Are you questioning my authority? If you would challenge my rule Ive no accepting you right now." Lili's eyes returned the stare with defiant hesitation, but she knew better than to try fighting the clan Abigor directly. She would have to satisfy her need to humiliate her in other ways, later. In actuality, allowing her son to live presented even more chances to do so, his fate now truly being worse than death. "N-no ma'am," she started, immediately popping from her soft seat and dropping onto her knees. "I simply thought death of such a dangerous individual would be a mercy, rather than allowing-" "MY authority does not sustain capacity for mercy." Edilta turned and briskly left the room, leaving an uncomfortable chill in her wake as her son looked on quietly. He hasnt cried since the fourth day.. Leaving that thought with her, she steeled herself for the realization that she would never again be allowed to interact with her son, or hold him, or even observe his growth. Fifteen days was all she had with him, and it was all she would ever have. -The Drowned Years- [ Four years later ] Its suprising how fast time flies when you let yourself go on autopilot. Four years had passed since I stripped my son of his rights and possibilities. It was four years ago, and yet I feel as if that was the day Id died. Nothing else in particular changed, everything afterwards returned to the usual lull of the throne. Except now I had no mate, and my son was branded a criminal. I caught glances of him sometimes, while roaming the halls or resting on a balcony. His treatment was indeed awful. The brands upon his cheeks won him the hostility of any who happened to look upon them, red targets for the high and mighty to aim at. Thanks to being stripped of his name, he was often called useless, and I could only smile bitterly when I noticed one day that he actually reacts to it-he thinks it his own name! Elsewise if not being bombarded with insults he could not hope to understand, he was being beaten and called a mutant, a claim even I myself cannot completely deny with that mane of hair a brown-red sore thumb pointing out to all that he was different, or those burning eyes of his, seemingly challenging all who gaze into them a fiery intensity. While his life seemed to fall ever deeper into the darkness of despair, my daughters life twinkled and sparkled brighter than any other. Her growth leapt and soared forth, a prodigy many found themselves even more pleased with as they hailed her as the child of prosperity. I gave birth to the woman who would supposedly bring the clan great prosperity and happiness, and the man who would supposedly. This however, is impossible; One of them has to be wrong. So that leaves me wondering throughout my days. Am I the mother of salvation, who allowed her son to be damned for the satisfaction of others, or am I the mother of ruin, who damned everyone when she allowed her son to live despite being the harbinger of them all? Alinor is five now, and so far she has shown the most potential of fulfilling her promised purpose, but that in turn leaves me feeling empty. No matter what decision I made, everything ceased to matter after that day. Its shocking how fast time flies when you cease to care. Four years have flown by since I ceased to care about this clan that would destroy my child over a possibility. I am left wondering what I uphold this position for, what I really want. At first, I just focused on the fact that I did not simply have one child, and tried to build off of that. Forget one child, dote on the other. But being a ruler is different. I can try to ignore what is all I want, but I cannot forget when I have to face those responsible for my anguish every day. the priests who divine possible futures, Lili Lilim who had scraped and struggled her way into becoming one of my seven knights, and myself. I could not escape from nor forgive any of them. What an annoying prison. "...I need to take a walk." [ At the same time ] The boy didnt know what he was doing wrong. Not given the luxury to learn proper speech from anyone, he could not understand more than a handful of words that were barked at him; an ignorant toddler who could no more understand what was being said than he could tell the difference between scary insults and scary orders. All he knew was that an older person was screaming words at him and pointing at something on the wall, and when he looked towards where she was pointing, she would hit him over the head. Over and over again she would hit him. "I told you that you were to clean the dust from the bottom of the portrait frames you ignorant cursed ingrate!" The womans name was Vele Vente, a miserly and bitter old woman whom was given the task of caring for the boy until he was able to earn back the kindness she bestowed with service. She was never able to accomplish much in life, having a low enough compatibility with aether to not even be able to sustain a proper connection with an artificial crystal in her forehead. With such disappointing capabilities in a society where magic was almost everything, her families already low standing plummeted into the depths of obscurity, her crowning achievement in life being a good enough servant to serve in the palace in her senior years. As if to stick a nail into her shameful life, she was voluntold to take care of the cursed child of misfortune, and since has felt a sting of shame and frustration that she could not shake. Increasingly bitter by the day, she eventually began to vent on the small boy, finding that her suppressed fear of the child was slightly relieved with each blow. Knowing he had no way to understand her, this was her one vice in her passing days. Continuing to hit him as others passed by & nodded approvingly, she began to strengthen her strikes to his head, her last blow knocking him into the nearby wall, and drawing blood. "When I come back here, that wall had better be scrubbed CLEAN, or Im just gonna have to paint the rest of it with your blood to cover it up, you hear!?" As she turned to walk away in a prideful huff, actually tired out from all her "physical activity", she found herself face to face with one Edilta Abigor, clan head, feared leader, and mother to the child whos head was bleeding onto a wall while he sat in a crumple against it dizzily like a ragdoll. "I see youre very devoted to your work down to your discipline Vele." Contrary to what Vele expected, Edilta's face and inquiries were calm. Thinking that the woman was even colder than she imagined, she bowed her head respectfully before replying. "Of course ma'am, I am quite dedicated and proficient in everything involving service to you, from cleaning to discipline. All is for your honor and the honor of our clan milady." At this string of comments, Edilta raised an eyebrow and began a slow clap. "Quite admirable," she began, "I am very impressed. I am quite famished from my walk just now, so I would have you serve me some tea. Since you are so devoted to your work and me, I trust you would have no issue humoring me for a bit." At this, Edilta begins to calmly walk away, waving slowly for Vele to follow, much to her suprise and happiness, feeling she was finally being given a chance to raise her standing a bit more. After following her to a nearby balcony and being given the necessary items from her usual servers, Vele began happily preparing tea as Edilta looked into the expanse of white beyond, seemingly in a sort of daze. Feeling uncomfortable with the silence, Vele began to speak up. "Its amazing isnt it ma'am? Our ancestors built such a large castle from magic, and the adamantoise below keep us out of reach from all. They must have known how amazing it was, seeing as they made so many balconies so we can take in the view all over the place!" "I am aware of our history Vele, I do not need a refresher lesson." Edilta replied with a mixture of disinterest and irritation, prompting Vele to hasten her work. "W-well anyway milady, the teas ready. Best to drink it while its pipin hot & fresh!" Vele hastily poured the tea into a overly decorated cup and handed it to Edilta, who accepted without shifting her gaze from the expanse beyond and took a sip, tasting it patiently. After a few more sips and moments of awkward silence, Edilta spoke up. "Vele," she started, the air coming down with a slight chill, "You value discipline and quality in your work, yes?" "Of course ma'am, I am quite dedicated and proficient in everything involving service to you, from cleaning to discipline," she repeated her line from before, adding "and I am quite proud of it!" "You have said this twice now. You see, I also value discipline and quality above all else; it is my pride and my joy to be the face of this our most glorious society." Edilta closed her eyes slowly, then overturned the cup in her hand, pouring its contents onto the floor. "So why then, is it that you cannot brew a simple cup of tea properly?" Vele's eyes widened in horror as she felt the chill in the air become a frost, and heard the beginnings of electricity crackle around her. "You are a senior servant within the palace, so it is impossible for you to have not been instructed on how to brew tea properly. I can only assume you are looking down on me, and as ruler I must assume this is a hostile action by one who cannot properly utilize magic." Edilta's eyes began to glow their terrifying ice blue that promised judgement as Vele tried to stammer out a reply. "Of course not milady, I live to serve-" her reply was cut short by Edilta's continually raising voice and chilling magic. "The cup has refuse from the leaves, making the water unpleasantly thick. You failed to stew the leaves long enough before adding the sugar, causing the flavor to be an unpleasant mixture of bitterness and blandness; further, you handed me the cup immediately after pouring, and handed me the cup while you held onto the handle, causing me to recieve a burn." As if to confirm her words, Edilta opened her white hand to display a red line pulsing painfully across her palm. "Clearly, you were trying to poison my palate and assault me with your tea. This insult shall not go unpunished. GUARDS!" In mere moments, Vele was surrounded by robed women pointing heavy looking weapons towards her. "This woman has injured my hand with her carelessness. In exchange, take her right hand, so that she may never again forget to place thoughtfulness into the things she does so carelessly with her extremeties. She has also insulted my palate, so in exchange remove her tongue, so that she may never again enjoy the priveledge of taste. Finally," Edilta paused, the crackling in the chilly air quite loud now, "She has looked into my eyes and lied to me. Remove her left eye so that she never forgets the gravity of lying to someones face." Turning back to viewing the desert beyond once again as she finished her order, Vele spoke up rather quickly, her panicked voice more of a squeak than anything. "M-m-milady Abigor, please reconsider! If I have truly offended you so, then please allow me a chance to-" her words were cut short by a sudden wall of frost enveloping her mouth, sealing it shut. "You must have forgotten who I am," Edilta said as she turned, her icy eyes glowing coldly into Vele's, "I am Abigor. I am the one who leads our clan to greater glory and prosperity, and my position does not sustain any kind of mercy. Live on, repenting your mistake forever." Having finished her rebuttal, she turned back to her view, unresponsive to the further please and squeals of Vele as she was dragged away. As the doors shut behind the guards, a woman holding a rather unreasonably large gourd appeared to be standing behind them, taking a prolonged swig from one of the many smaller gourds tied to the larger one. A faint blush on her face, her dark green hair falling in a messy mop over her face down to her shoulders, she wiped her mouth, raising her seemingly dizzy blue eyes onto Edilta. "Wazzat really necessary?" She began with a burp, wiping her mouth with a soiled and wrinkled sleeve, "I guess ev'ry one oughta watch out for the overprotective mommy!" Chuckling slightly to herself she took another gulp of her drink while offhandedly noting to herself that the chill indicating Edilta was getting irritated returned to the air, albeit without the threatening crackle of electricity. "Ive no idea what you mean." She replied simply, not bothering to turn around. "Oh don' ye though? I mean I don' think anyone else was listenin' thanks to them scary magicks you always pull out whenever youre bein' all majestic, but I heard it clearly." The woman paused to burp, then continued, "You told her to repent her MISTAKE forever, not her mistakes. Someone who knows you well enough might be able to glean what you were really miffed about, but I guess you's got everyone wrapped tightly enough round them fingers of yours that they wont question you out of fear of judgement." Finishing her statement, she returned to slirping & gulping her drink, spilling bits of it here & there. Sparks singing suddenly through the air, Edilta opted to reply, "An impossible conclusion, I in no way acted emotionally, I simply passed judgement on an incompetent individual. Nothing more, nothing less." At this, the woman smiled impishly, then suddenly jumped to Edilta's side, suddenly seizing the cup and inspecting it. "Hmm.....dont feel like its sizzlin my flesh to me! If I didnt know any better, Id have to guess you just burned your own hand to make it seem like you were injured by the cup. After all, if it was that hot, you would have immediately dropped it no? You also took multiple sips of the tea, and last I checked, if something is boilin hot enough to burn your hand like that, you wouldnt be able to taste it soilin yer palate since itd be too busy melting away the flesh in your mouth. But thats if I didnt know any better." Throwing the cup from the balcony into the expanse below, she shrugged it off. "Guess no one'll have the chance to find out now though. My bad milady." Edilta stiffened, but kept her gaze fixed onto the horizon. "Your insinuations insult. I am in no position nor have I the right to be worried about the boy. That task should fall to another individual, not myself; Whomever should care for such an accursed child is no concern of mine, as long as he is able to carry out his sentence of existing as a rankless citizen for the rest of his life without accident. The feelings of either party is irrelivant, as long as these conditions are fulfilled." Upon hearing this the drunken woman frowned a bit before smiling wide & embracing Edilta with a giddy giggle. "Aww, yer so cute when you try to ask people to do favors! I'll do it ta make ya happy you adorable little sweetling you!" In the next moment a bolt of electricity was occupying the space where the drunken woman just was, the woman in question having already jumped backwards with a strange laugh. "I dun 'member givin ya any requests to do nothin you drunken harlot you! And dont go touchin me with that stinkin alchohol breaf on ya, it makes me nauseous!" Edilta shrieked the words out, before a deep blush spread across her face and she coughed into her hand to regain her composure, looking at the tea she had spilled onto the floor earlier in defeat. I can never beat this woman, she thought with a mixture of irritation and maybe a bit of happiness, then continued, "You understand what youre saying dont you? Youre ranked second in command of my knights. I cannot have someone that close to me raising him, it would imply my influence. Adopting him would lower your social standing, and the fools would insult you behind your back. You'd become a target." "I dun recall ever giving two bubbles in a fart what folks thought of me in da first place," the woman replied flatly with a shrug, "If they got enough guts to bring any of that mess to my face I'll just have to make them swim through a steaming fresh pile of adamantoise dung!" Finishing her statement with a thumbsup and another swig, she began to walk away. "No, I still need you for a while yet," the chilly air around Edilta began to fade as she continued, "Besides, he would only need someone to look out for his well being, nothing more." Looking back to the horizon as she finished her sentence, the drunken woman simply shrugged and began taking gulps from her gourd once more, exaggerating her exhales & taking in the view. Distracted by her noisy drinking, Edilta turned to face the woman, wearing a weary but calm expression. "Give me some of that." -Chaos and Order- Scratches, cracks, and general damage began to coat the marble floors and granite walls, breaking hanging ornaments and protruding bits of obsidian as two blurs bounced and jumped and flew about in the castle. To those caught within the typhoon of destruction, the scene had become something of a norm for them. Catching bits of angered howls ands shouts only served to confirm any doubts they might have had about the situation. "The Second and Fourth seated knights are at it again," they would always think or say, already fully aware of whom the blame belonged too. It had become so steady an occurence nowadays that those caught in the middle were hardly even shaken anymore, continuing about their day as the chaos unfolds around them. The blurs continued to clash and sing throughout the castle, until finally they settled within a wide open room filled with boxes and drapes forgotten and dusted over; a storage room that had gone unused or perhaps forgotten for quite a while. While the blurs danced and bounced from the walls in the room, one was repelled in the air and sent crashing down into a pile of boxes, flinging boards and splinters of wood and clouds of dust everywhere. Landing neatly on the ground, a woman wearing a tight fitting halfrobe, her arms and legs covered in various ornaments and gaudy looking jewelry, and carrying an extremely heavy looking double bladed axe. Pointing it at the pile of wood where the other blur just landed, she held her head towards the light, her wide forehead and embedded crystal slightly reflecting it where her gray-green bangs hadnt found themselves fallen from their neatly placed style on her head. "Mui Shiranui, you have defiled the honor of the second seat enough. I am going to beat the weight of your position back into you until you have some semblance of sense returned into your head!" She shouted her proclamation to a silent pile, only the faint rumblings of shifting movement being her one response. After several moments a dark blue haired woman crawled out of the rubble, looking equal parts confused and tired, a tiny gourd grasped in each hand and her face covered in dust. Coughing slightly and scratching her head before turning to her addressor with a yawn, she climbed out a bit silently and sat on her large gourd in the pile, she finally replied with a thoroughly bored tone. "Seriously Lili? What are you so wound up about anyway?" Mui nonchalantly tuned out Lili's unending speech while she busied herself with removing the dust from her body bit by bit, until she raised one of her gourds for a sip of pick-me-up. Realizing that her gulp was far less satisfying than usual, she inspected her suspiciously light gourd to find that the wood around the rounded bottom had been deeply cracked-and therefore most of the contents had leaked into the filthy pile below. Contrary to what most people believed, Mui was very serious about the things she chose to be passionate about. Things at the top of her list involved not being stressed, drinking, and the creation and maintenance of her gourds, which she considered art. Her methods of creation were very intentional and well thought out too. If one were to observe closely they would realize that every gourd was fashioned of a different size and made of a different variation of wood, metal, and stone. With painstaking love and effort she carved and molded them all herself, even going so far as to fill each with varying amounts of liquor and give tie each of them very specifically to her largest main gourd, cutting designs into each and and painting specific designs on each, so that as she walked the gourds tied in varied ways would have the appearance of a dancing painting. She even went so far as to pick out which gourds to drink from and which amount so that when they collided and knocked against each other as she walked they would make different sounds-her attempts to both keep things fresh and provide a different form of music. Now one of them was damaged. This meant hunting for the wood to recreate it, carving new designs into it, and repainting it; During this entire process she would have that much less liquor to drink, so needless to say Mui was continually less happy the more Lili went on. While musing to herself the various ways she could get payback for the trouble Lili just caused, Mui felt a sudden shifting beneath her, as if something was struggling beneath the debris. Digging her now free hand into the pile, she fished around through the wood until catching whatever it was, grabbing a piece of cloth and yanking it out with a curious interest in whatever it was. At the end of her grip was a familiar boy holding a cloth, and seemingly quite intent on running away from whatever it was that just abducted him, his little legs kicking on the air like someone with every intent of getting far away from something-namely this situation. "Oh...its the kid.." Mui sighed with a smile, taking the cloth from his hands to begin dusting off his hair. "They really ought to at least cut yer hair, people are gonna start to thinkin yer a girl at this rate." She wasnt wrong. Having been left to grown untamed, the boys hair was already well past his shoulders, his bangs obscuring most of his face, the uncared for appearance being the only thing left lending to its masculinity. Placing him on the ground when she realized his already tattered rags were ripping under his own weight, the boy immediately bolted off blindly-and straight into Lili's unprepared bosom. Unintentionally wiping his face against her halfrobe in his attempts to escape, her once shimmering robe was quite quickly defiled into a messy shadow of its former self-much to Mui's amusement. Already immediately livid from this turn of events, seeing Mui's smug face was the nail in the coffin, and a moment later the boy found his head had just made best friends with the pointed butt of an axe hilt, while also learning that kissing the floor at hilt blown velocity was a great way to make your sharp teeth grind really badly against all the soft flesh in your mouth and tear it into shreds, while also busting his lip. Her smile disappearing, Mui immediately ran to his side to pick him up off the ground, her eyes flickering at the sight of blood spatters on the floor and a new scratch somewhere on the side of his head bleeding profusely down his neck from somewhere underneath his mop of hair. "What do you think yer doin to a kid!?" she growled while turning to Lili's direction, her mouth twisted into a snarl. "Im doing everything within my rights," Lili spat back cooly. "This abomination on society is the lowest of ranking citizens, and he had the nerve to not only leave your presence without paying proper respect, but to also invade my person and wipe his...*Lili took a moment to make an extremely displeased and disgusted face*...essence all about my person. I am very finely within my rights to punish him accordingly." While she was technically correct, Mui knew that Lili was fully aware like everyone else that the boy had no way of possibly knowing any of this information, seeing as he was left in an abyss of neglect the past four years, and being so young on top of that, him being held accountable for laws he couldnt possibly have knowledge of was many of the loopholes that could be exploited in their laws. He is a low class citizen, so as a high class citizen-and a leading authority no less, she would not be questioned if she were to decide to brutally and unjustly punish a child if that child happened to be the cursed one hated-or feared-by the entire clan. "Perhaps it will learn proper manners if I remove a few of its teeth? Perhaps break the eyesockets so that the eyes are forced open at all times and he will remember to actually look where he is going? OR *Lili clenched her fist until her knuckles cracked* perhaps I'll just break its arms so that it knows never to touch those clearly beyond its league!?" Smirking to herself as she finished her statement, she was thrown off course when she noticed Mui pick the boy up and walk towards the exit, even more shockingly leaving her gourd behind as she did so. At first Lili could only stare in complete and utter shock at the turn of events, but a few moments later her shock formed into a smirk. Digging into her collar and retrieving a small and gaudy looking whistle, she blew into it and sent a loud shrill throughout the halls. At first there was nothing, but moments later the room began to fill with more people-Outer Castle guards that fell directly under Lili's command, three robed magicians forming from glyphs in the ceiling, and curious passerby that heard the shrill-all appearing one after the other until the original three occupants were surrounded and giving Lili the crowd she wanted. "Hear me! The cursed child has defiled my honor as third knight and assaulted my person with his filth. I demand the proper punishment in accordance with our laws, but Mui Shiranui has found herself at odds with my completely lawful judgement. Hence, I call all here as witness to my proclamation: Mui Shiranui, if you do not cease this obstruction of justice, then I will have no choice as head of Outer Castle Order but to utilize my entire force to correct your wrongful path!" Having finished her threat, Lili picked up her large axe and pointed it at Mui, the shean of the thick blade reflecting the increasingly bright light glowing in her eyes-Lili was fully serious and invested in her words. And there it is, Mui thought, finally seeing the pieces come together. Normally whenever Lili chased her she only did so until Mui stopped running, and then would chew her ear off for hours on end about etiquette and proper image. Today however, she not only chased her with more vigor than usual, she only did it in certain areas, as if she were herding her towards an objective of some sort. Finally, she knocked Mui into the pile of old storage-something that she would normally never do without the best of reasons; reasons that now had come together in Mui's head far too late, realizing that she had already lost the game the moment she was made into a cannonball on top of the child. She could only stare into the childs face and curse herself for not noticing sooner while the boy busied himself with removing bits of wood from her clothes, one hand on the side of his head. "There aint no justice in beating on a kid fer yer own jollies," Mui said finally, taking a deep breath. "Im taking the kid to the apothecary. I wont pull rank or nothin here, but ya all know who I am, and that it dont matter how many of ya there are. If you get in my way, then I will break you." At this, the three robed figures floating above them finally stirred, the one in the middle being the one to speak in an obscenely loud and commanding voice. "THIS INCIDENT HAS BEEN WITNESSED AND SHALL BE RECORDED AS AN OFFICIAL CHALLENGE. LET THE RESULT BE WHAT IT MAY, BUT NONE SHALL DISTORT THE TRUTH OF WHAT HAPPENED HERE!" Having finished its statement, the robed figures all similarly disappear into glyphs as they appeared. Not wasting a moment after their departure, Lili charged for Mui, starting yet another chase down the halls and corridors reduced to blurs and the sounds of clashing. -The Spear and the Princess- Alinore looked over the balcony with twinkling eyes as she stared at the white desert below, her usual silent companion looking on without any expression to speak of. This was the first time Alinore had actually had the time to gaze at the world below outside of the inner Palace walls. Having shown her ability to thoroughly excel at her studies, her demand for exploration of the outer castle was allowed, if only for a brief time and with her usual escort to follow her. What she saw was the bone white desert that her home floated and traveled over constantly, until every fourth year when the time comes for the clan to accept applicants into the society, provided they were found worthy. The desert itself was known for its harshness, with constant sandstorms, brutal extreme weather, supposedly home to many fierce monsters, and considered a devoid of any other developed race aside from her clan. What Alinore saw however was not a harsh white wasteland, but Sparkling Jewel that she had yearned to gaze upon for as long as she had known about it. Turning to her companion with a beaming smile, she began her series of questions. "An An, who does the desert belong to?" Anell Garcelle looked to the girl with her usual expression, stoic and emotionless as she surveyed her surroundings. Alinore was a girl that seemed to shine brighter than the sun at times, but the nature of her curiousity had always given Anell pause. To anyone who looked upon her, Alinore was every bit the girl she was foretold to be prior to her birth-a child of prosperity and growth for her people; It was even reflected in her features, which seemed to make her seem divine when compared to the rest of her people. It was a well known superstition that their clans "colors" passed down through the generations reflected a childs potential for magic. A people who have thus far been shades and hues of blue and green, the individuals potential for magic was theorized to be reflected in the quality and color of the individuals eyes and hair. Bright shades of blue and green usually meant the child was suited to healing magic, while the color and brightness of the childs eyes determined the potency of the said individuals ability to channel said magic. Darker shades of blue and green in the hair usually meant that the individuals capacity for destructive magics was higher, and were reflected as such respectively. The only known exception to this "theory" so far had been the current Abigor, Alinore's mother, who is known for having mastered multiple forms of magic without any known disposition to one or the other despite having the appearance of one who would specialize in healing magics. Whereas her mother is an exception to the theory however, Alinore seemingly bypassed it altogether by not falling into either category properly. Her pale snow hair appeared white at first glance, but inspection of the roots revealed very dark blue hair, similar to her father. Continue inspecting the locks all the way to the tips, and you will find the snowy tips painted ever an ever so pale light blue. Look into her eyes and you see your own reflection staring back, pools of blue-green sparkling brilliantly into yours like a mirror. Her proficiency with magic only made her seem all the more divine in the eyes of those entranced-a child of five mastering basic magic was unheard of, even for her mother. To Anell, this girl was clearly a being completely different from her, but she was not sure that she felt like the child she was foretold to be. Something about Alinore made Anell want to submit, to protect her, and do anything she wishes, whatever the cost may be. What she couldnt place, however, was WHY Alinore made her feel this way, which is what made her uneasy. Having taken a moment to indulge in her thoughts, Anell finally opened her mouth to answer as emotionlessly as her face appeared. "It belongs to no one, heir." Alinore pondered her answer for a moment before smiling and moving on to her next question. "If it belongs to no one, that means it can be mine right?" Her concentration broken from the seeming madness of the question, Anell locked her gaze onto the girl breaking her attention. "You would claim the Myym Desert for your own heir?" Taking a moment to consider the question, hand on chin, Anell thought to herself for a proper answer, feeling again that twinging discomforting need to submit to the girl. "It would be very difficult to do so, and it is not a very nice thing to have. Are you sure you want to claim it milady?" Looking to Anell as if she said something preposterous, the chipper girl frowned and put her hands on her hips, still somehow looking like she was happy all the while. "What are you talking about? Of course I want it. Something that pretty, and no one would take it....its just strange. I'll have it." Walking once again to the balcony edge to peer onto the desert below while happily ignoring Anell's insistence that it was dangerous, her eyes caught sight of something most strange-nay, impossible, below her. Bouncing and smashing against each other and the Outer Castle wall were a series of blurs. By all appearances, Alinore was witnessing a conflict happening far below her, but one thing in particular clashed with the logic of such a conclusion: They were doing so without any floor or ground below them to speak of. In fact, the only thing that seemed to be their source of footing was the outer wall of the Castle that so many blurs were bouncing off of and disappearing into the sea of Adamantoise pulling and anchoring the Castle below. Upon continued inspection, Alinore realized that the blurs were getting increasingly closer, and at an extremely fast pace. No sooner had she realized this did she see a stray spell fire off in her direction. Pulled back at the last second by Anell, the duo turned to the entryway of the balcony to see a group of lalafell fighting each other on and up a wall. While Anell simply surveyed the situation with her usual lack of emotion, Alinore found herself bursting with curiousity and questions. How did they manage to move so quickly? How are they running up the wall like its the floor? why are they fighting? What is...that? Finding that she couldnt see what was going on very well, Alinore tried focusing the entirety of her attention on the details of what was going on around her, trying her best to take in every detail of what was going on. After about half a minute of watching the exchange, Alinore had an idea of what was going on. For whatever reason, a group of people was attacking one person. She was doing rather well for it being so many against one, but her movements were awkward, and strange. Forcing her eyes to focus on her more, she realized that the woman was carrying someone, and for whatever reason, it seemed that person was the target of interest. Her strange movements that earned her cuts and strikes were always made whenever the person in her arm was the target, and almost immediately after the aggressor of said attack found themselves reeling downward towards the desert below. The situation was escalating fast, and Alinore found herself interested. "An An, who is that person that woman is protecting? Is it an important person?" Anell hesitated for a moment, then gave yet another emotionless answer. "It is nothing you need concern yourself with, heir." An An is avoiding answering me. She never does that. Deciding that whomever was interesting enough to start a brawl up a castle wall was worth knowing about, Alinore began to ponder about how to bring them to her level. On one hand, every second she wasted the group rose higher and further away. On the other, stopping might not be possible for her. After all, they could run on walls. Young as she was Alinore clearly understood that feats like that were nothing that could be done simply. The women fighting were skilled. Deciding that gambling and failing was better than thinking she would fail and do nothing, regretting it later, Alinore put her impulsive and completely half thought plan into motion. I just need to get them back down here, she thought, concentrating her aether as much as she could in a wide arc above them. Feeling her magic come into focus she released it, causing a large wall of ice to suddenly sprout in the path of the women fighting. Having successfully stopped them, she began firing shards of ice in their direction, forcing them all to separate to dodge them. Having caught them all in her trap as she wanted, she let her aether expand in a cone behind the wall of ice, making everything above it a slick coat of frost above it. Taking the oppurtunity to force them lower even more, Alinore weakened the tethers to her own aether to make the wall of ice brittle, it breaking from the wall and forcing everyone below it to move away in order to dodge. Finishing her display by creating two more walls of ice around the entrance to the balcony, she fell to her knees as the cluster of women landed inbetween them in clumsy scramble, the wall of ice forcing them down onto the balcony coming to a halt with a smash against the other two, sliding down to block the entrance to the balcony in a sloppy pile. Looking around frantically for the source of the attack, everyone present froze when they saw the duo present behind them. Getting up from her knees to address the group, Alinores face lit back up. "So...why are you guys fighting? It must be important if you guys are running up walls and stuff right?" She lowers her stare towards Mui's arm, now covered in cuts, to look at the little girl covered in rags squirming in her arm. "Its because of that kid right? Who is she?" While everyone else stared on frozen in place, Anell turned to Alinore to give her counsel. "Heir, their dispute is of no importance, let us retire back to the study for more-" "An An, this is really interesting. Im want to know whats going on." Having been cut off, Anell falls silent, her expression only briefly cracking into one of worry before forming back into her usual emotionless default. Still caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, Lili was the first to speak up. "H-honored heir, this woman is obstructing lawful justice, and as such we are issuing proper punishment and-" "Aint no proper punishment in torturin a kid you damn lunatic!" Mui growled before she could finish her sentence, her eyes flickering. "So...you couldnt issue out justice on your own?" Alinore asked, gesturing to the crowd surrounding Mui. "O-of course I could honored heir, but this is not a personal dispute, but lawful justice. Therefore-" "So youre going to attack someone who cant fight back and someone trying to protect that person with a group of people for justice? It seems a little mean." Still smiling, Alinore systematically broke down Lili's argument, all the while edging closer to Mui. "I have an idea," she began gleefully, "I'll watch the kid so you two can have a fair fight. That way whoever wins can do what they want right?" Half pulling, half snatching the boy from Mui's still stunned arm, she grabbed him by the hand and led him back to her original position at Anells side, who's face began to crack ever more with each passing moment. "B-but honored heir-" Lili began again, but again she finding herself cut off by Alinores smiling intervention, "So now you can have a fair fight here right? Im looking forward to it...unless you think that you would lose." Upon hearing those words, Lili's face went a deep shade of pink. Turning her burning eyes to Mui in frustration, she dug the blade of her axe into the ground and began a chant that threw everyone present off guard. "I am Lili Lilim." As she continued her words aether began to build in her forehead, her artificial crystal embedded there beginning to glow like her eyes, forming a trinity of sorts. "I am the flow of order. By my oath, all who foster chaos shall be eradicated." Finishing her chant, Lili's body began to lighten and warp, until she was transparent. Closing her eyes, her face began to melt away until she was a oddly shapen body of water. Appearing harmless for a moment, all was proven false as the water began lashing towards Mui, who barely managed to dodge in time by jumping back and bouncing off the ice to clamber back onto the castle wall, immediately being set upon by the strange body of water, a small crater being left behind by the hit in the wall of ice, which eventually began to melt and evaporate, moving towards the body of water that was increasing in size. Within moments, Alinore realized that this battle was one in which Mui was once again at a disadvantage. Whatever the other woman had become, she was clearly not using any magic that was safe for any to come in contact with. If evidence from the wall of ice that she added to her mass was any indication, getting caught once was the end. Then, to Alinores chagrin, the women that were with her before immediately began setting upon Mui again as well, very much making things the same as before. Or so she thought at first. Mui was very clearly capable without her hands tied. As Lili's water mass attacked her, she would fluidly dodge it, while managing to still land attacks on the other women. As they ascended, the mass lashed towards Mui again, only for her to grab one of her attackers and use her as a shield. When the mass moved around the hostage to attack Mui, she would kick off and attack another, forcing the mass to both catch one of its comrades and try to keep up its assault. As time went on, it became clear to Alinore that the increased attackers, actually worked in Mui's favor. Whatever magic Lili was working clearly wasnt infinite, the giant mass of water was getting slower the bigger it became, and the pile of bodies getting bigger on the balcony seemed to imply that everything Mui was doing was quite intentional. Back at the slick frost Alinore created earlier, Lili absorbed it into her mass, while Mui elbowed her last individual attacker towards the pile below them, her final knockout before the last showdown. With the now massive blob of water falling towards them with no clear way for any of them to dodge, Mui simply stared upward and smirked. "Ya know...that magic of yours is pretty scary if you think about it too much. I mean, all the magic that hits ye just gets converted into yer aether and added to yer mass right? But no matter how fancy you make it look, theres no way ye can completely alter your body so quickly and still have all your control, no matter how strong ye are. That means your real body is just being hidden in there. Its an ILLUSION." Still smiling to herself, she jumped into the air just as the mass closed in on her, reaching for "something" in the wall of water. Suddenly, everything dissapates into clouds of Aether, and Mui is charging to the ground with Lili's arms wrapped around Mui's, her face contorted in pain. After landing, Alinore saw that Mui had Lili held in the air incapacitated, her fingers dug into Lili's forehead with her crystal tightly squeezed between her index finger and thumb in what looked to be a very painful affair. "Having an artificial crystal can be such a pain right? If someone manages to get a good enough hold on it, I heard the pain'll be enough to make most wet themselves. Wanna help me test it?" She began to squeeze tighter while Lili squirmed and screamed, only to find herself interrupted with a spear pointed towards the back of her neck-Anell's spear. Alinore hadnt even seen her move, nor had she heard her, which was a cause of much distress in a short amount of time. Finding her too fast to follow with her eyes was not something that Alinore would have been suprised about, but she hadnt even heard a woman fully clad in body armor move from her side, nor had she felt it. It was as if she was always behind Mui with the spear pointed, and the Anell that was next to her all this time was a dream. "That is enough Mui, you have proven yourself victorious. Any further and this will become unsightly behaviour-behaviour that I will not condone in the presence of the heir." Dropping Lili into a heap on the ground, Mui turned to scowl at Anell, seemingly unfazed by the blade of a spear against her throat. "Ye really wanna get in my way right now Nelly? I aint in the mood fer any more annoyances today". Anell blinked slowly and answered in her usual emotionless tone, like a statue given a voice. "If I must fight you to make you obey, I will." Both of their eyes coming to a glow, Alinore began to feel the situation go sour fast. Just as she tried to come up with something to remedy the situation, the boy who had so far become little more than scenery suddenly bolted forward, grabbing one of Anells pauldrons and pounding on it with his tiny hands. Having noticed the childs sudden interruption, Anells cold gaze lowered along with her spear as she addressed the boy. "You would challenge me? Your bravery will be remembered." "OI!" Mui cut in, "Touch the kid and I'll rip yer-" "I HAVE AN IDEA EVERYONE!" Caught off guard by Alinores sudden scream, she skipped to the boys side and snatched him into a half hug, half chokehold. "This kid is the reason for this issue right? Well I decided I like this person. So from now on, this person will be mine." As the two looked on dumbstruck, Alinore simply smiled her happy smile and tilted her head, with the boy simply struggling to get from her hold and back to his pummeling. "What exactly is it you are saying heir?" Anell inquired with a raised brow, her curiosity in the turn of events similarly reflected int Mui's face as well. "Ye tryin to say yer gonna protect the boy or somethin?" started Mui, still trying to understand the situation. "Ah, so the kid is a boy huh? Well....nope, Im not gonna protect him or anything. Im just saying, that from now on, he is mine, so no one else can play with him, ok?" [align=center]And so fell all the hands in place, that would one day bring the woman to her solitary space.[/align] [align=center]Where she would sit palm in cheek, eyes downcast, forever alone in that place.[/align] [align=center]Forever wearing an expression of anguished distaste.[/align] To be continued...

Please delete this moderators, for some reason I cant.

-I see you- So now here we are. At the end of the dreams, at the end of struggles, here we are. This is the moment where everything we have done, everything that I have done, is rewarded; No longer an endless flailing of anxiety and fear of failure, this is the moment where my gambles on selfishness and ambition lead me to the reward I have so desperately coveted for two long and irritable years. But I have had enough of this foreplay in my mind, this self assurance that everything will be alright as long as I say it to myself over and over. I am now ready to literally see for myself the end result. Feeling the excitement come to a boil in my chest and cheeks, I ever so slowly part my eyelids, the shade of my eyelashes dancing against one another as if teasing me with the absence of a clear picture. Savoring the moment as much as possible, I cant help but scream as loud as I can with delight as I am greeted with light-real light! I can finally see the world as it really is...a bright and amazing world full of color and wonders for my eyes to feast on. Realizing that the first test was a success, I could hardly wait to test everything else; Smacking my lips together and actually FEELING them is amazing-the soft flesh of my upper and bottom lip bending and forming around one another is truly a bliss that must be savored! The warmth of my skin against my skin is also a joy I could not hope to deny, the lust for more of my senses welling up inside like an eruption. Even the smells from my surroundings are-urgh..... Suddenly brought back to reality by the horrible stench of sacrifice around me, I manage to calm myself. "That's right. Everything in its place. Every sacrifice must be sealed by keeping my end of the promise." Realizing that the test was not over, I stared upward to gather my thoughts, not even daring once to close my eyes. The test was a complete success. The knowledge that never existed in my mind is there. The muscles in my body have been refined beyond heightened sensitivity & responsiveness, the have been almost completely rebuilt. I could sense the flexibility and strength newly blessed into them. Even my lungs have been restructured; Once a deflating husk of flesh barely circulating air throughout my faltering body, they now were a vast expanse of life swelling beneath my breast. Hearing the subjects of my second test approaching, I lower my gaze to my feet. I am wearing nothing but a flimsy white gown and the chocker from the contract. This was deemed to be sufficient enough wear for a field test. Any damage sustained would be considered a failure. Despite the realization of pressure renewing itself in the pit of my stomach, the knowledge in my mind forces me to remain calm. If this is all I must pay to achieve the full realization of my dreams, then it shall be done. Steeling myself as the door to my reeking room was torn away from its hinges, I prepare to conduct the field test that would earn my freedom. Deciding that waiting for someone who could tear a steel door off of its hinges to act first was a bad idea, I lunged forward with all of my strength, aiming to end this as quickly as possible. -Fossil Hearts- As usual, Dante found himself unable to focus on the person in front of him giving him information. As far as he was concerned, all of the annoying fodder that came from him getting summoned for a job from the Maelstrom all the way to actually getting the details of the job he was intended to perform was extended into a long sequence of words that were completely unnecessary and quite over exaggerated list of his past accomplishments for the Company that has earned him a rather odd mixture of respect fear and suspicion. The overly excited Corporal in front of him continued squeaking out a list of his triumphs like trivia that old people make a habit of knowing because they have nothing better to do in their lives than worry over the events in others. She continued to rant on and on about his tendency to go alone against all odds and somehow complete the mission with an as of yet unbroken success rate, nearly singing a passionate retelling of his latest accomplishment into his ear. If he hadn't known better Dante would have sworn she were trying to lick it or something. Clicking his sharp teeth impatiently beneath his mask, Dante began to wiggle his ears in response to his irritation. Decidedly ignoring the full two minutes the Corporal spent blushing and muttering cute under her breath in response, he began to think of other things until she stopped talking, getting the specifics from the paper she would inevitably hand him saying the same thing anyway. A full thirteen and a half minutes later he received his paper and turned to go about his way. Halfway out of the city he noticed that the same footsteps were directly behind him since his departure from Maelstrom Command. Turning around to face the source of the constant sound, he was greeted with the visage of a rather tall Roegadyn Hellsguard, solid red skin seemingly all the more red in her uniform of the same color. Immediately taking her presence as a sign of more bothersome words, he decided to attempt to cut straight to the point. "What do you want?" he asked with unintended venom, earning him a blank stare of confusion to the recipient of his inquiry. "Er...Im not entirely sure what you mean Storm Sergeant." The woman gave an awkward mixture of a storm salute and a bow, earning her an ear wiggle of curiosity from Dante. "...Who are you? Why are you following me?" Immediately understanding his disposition the woman cleared her throat and represented herself proudly. Saying a name that he still could not be bothered to remember and ranking herself Private First Class, she introduced herself as his new assistant/soldier under his command for missions, Adding briefly their chance encounter that lead her to enlist in the Company in hopes of following him, her work ethic & pestering combined with Dantes obvious dislike for teamwork and large groups earning her current status. Deciding quickly that fighting such an annoying decision before completing his mission was meaningless, he simply continued on his way, making sure to read the report in his hand thoroughly this time to avoid further surprises. -Forced Illusions(I)- A man in a white coat stands near a stack of books on his desk, looking out of a nearby window into one of his "crash" sites filled with odd machinery and glyphs, cackling madly and trying his best to pretend he didn't hear the woman walking quickly towards him from behind to hit him with the backside of her spear in an attempt to snap him out of his gleeful mood and entrancing thoughts. He felt the hard rounded metal jab him hard in his kidney, and nearly rolled his eyes into the back of his head in a mixture of delight and mind reeling pain, only barely able to avoid laughing & vomiting at the same time as he slumped to the ground with another one of his overused greetings. This had become their norm; the motions of which now had evolved into a kind of romance that not even they could understand in full, having made no attempt to dwell on it. The white coated man raised his eyes from the page littered floor to gaze towards the woman with the expression of utter irritation on her face, half wondering how a woman so clearly beautiful could manage to make such an ugly expression. "Ah....Alexee-ow!" his sentence was not even given a chance to form as he was struck again by the woman, this time on his head. "That's Alexandrite to you little bug; I'll suffer none of your despicable nicknames today." Despite her annoyed visage and painful jabs upon his person, she has long since ceased insisting that he refer to her by that absurdly long title inherent in the names of most Garlean natives for whatever reason. Seeing her stony expression crack into one of simple displeasure, the man knew that the foreplay was over, their routine greeting to each other has ended. Still smiling to himself as he stood, he decided it best to get started on matters at hand. "Before you ask Ms. Alexandrite, the report sent was indeed correct. Your little pet project is waltzing his way to this facility as we speak, I was quite thorough in leaving little breadcrumbs to lead him straight here and yes I do intend to use him as a subject for testing my theory. If he is as bad at dying as you seem to believe then I do believe this should pose no problem for you?" Gritting her teeth slightly at the onslaught of information that gently denied her many chances to respond, Alexandrite simply opted to change the subject to the next one on her list of things to keep track of. As she opened her mouth however to begin her next inquiry she was swiftly cut off-much to her chagrin-by the insane man adopting the movements of a ringmaster as he spoke, that maddening smile of his implying that he had already read the course her mind would take long ago. "Ah...yes...my REAL experiment is indeed proceeding rather well, so yes soon you will no longer be blessed with seeing my wonderful face anymore and we can go about living our merry little lives. The magitek you FINALLY opted to provide as requested for about...oh...three bloody years now has sped things along quite a bit as was Ive been insisting this entire time, and with the inclusion of your current fancy of interest getting involved I suspect it may be a complete success soon, assuming that I am of course a genius-and we already know that Im a godsdamned genius right!?" Allowing himself a moment to indulge himself in some unnecessarily evil maniacal laughter, Alexandrite decided to hit the man one last time before leaving the room. "Remember," she said venomously, "This is the last chance you have to show some good results. See to it that you do not disappoint this time." -Into the Black (Dante)- Finally succumbing to his curiosity, Dante decided to descend into the snow covered entrance leading underground, a somewhat fidgety Blossoming Guard behind him. The first thing he noted was the different feel of the metal beneath his boots. It was sleek, smooth, and yet solid. Realizing that this was not a place to explore without being properly prepared, he turned immediately to leave, only to see the entrance quickly slam shut. Wiggling his ears with a mixture of irritation and self curses while trying to think, he mused on his stupidity. Having just completed their assigned mission, Dante wanted nothing more than to go back to Maelstrom Command and relieve himself of his stigma of an assistant attaching herself to his shadow. Then out of nowhere a strange light radiates on the horizon, seemingly calling out to him. Against his better judgment he followed the damn thing, and it lead him to an extremely conspicuous entrance to an underground facility. Having received a secondary order to investigate strange things that did not belong in certain areas, this occurrence certainly did qualify. Instead of calling his friend Aeka to bring him his weapons however, he opted instead to walk into unknown territory, and is now trapped with someone who followed him blindly, most likely soon to be killed by some misfortune or another, and with himself being almost completely devoid of any of his favored gear. He didn't have his prized gauntlets or greaves, he was not wearing any reinforced fabrics, and the only actual weapons on his person consisted of ten throwing knives he kept hidden away and a spare wire he had not yet finished refining. Clicking his teeth irritably, Dante turned his back to the now sealed exit and walked away, adjusting his mask and keeping himself alert for any sudden changes in the scenery, there so far being none aside from the increasing lack of light. In truth, Dante was not at all concerned for his own well being. Having long since decided that he no longer cared if anyone wanted to kill him, the source of his irritation was mainly the fact that his "assistant" had followed him into the dark. Knowing he is not strong enough to keep anyone besides himself alive, he simply preferred being alone. If he died because he was too weak, then its fine. If someone else died because they trusted him to protect them while he fights, then it would feel bad. Losing himself in his thoughts, Dante nearly ran into the door in front of him in the darkness, barely saving himself by noticing the slivers of light peaking from the corners. Halting to feel the door, he realized it would not budge. Stuck in place and not moving an inch, he smelled through the cracks. Detecting hints of death amongst the various smells that reminded him of his dealings with the alchemists guild, he leaned against a wall to think. "We obviously are going to have to go through this door, but Im not sure how we could do it," he said aloud unintentionally, wiggling his ears slowly while trying to think of a way to open the door without falling into some kind of trap, he was not even allowed to finish forming his first thought when sound of steel being ripped apart seered its way through his ears and into his brain, burning any thoughts besides immediate pain into cinders. Looking at Blossoming Guard for an answer, he found that her expression was just as confused as his own. From all appearances, the door was blown off of its hinges from their side; This is of course absurd however as neither of them have moved from their stationary positions. Coming to the conclusion that some mechanism must have caused it, Dante gathered himself quickly and walked through the door, greeted by an unexpected and odd scene. It was like walking into some strange sacrificial ceremony. Everywhere in the room were glowing symbols and lines on the floor and walls of many different colors. Decorating the corners of the room like broken toys and tattered curtains, corpses lay in rows and circles like they were purposefully placed as such, most of them well rotted and decomposing; Rabbits lined up here, a few coerls in a circle there, the legs of various unidentifiable things placed here or there, some imps tacked to a wall, three miqo'te made to kneel next to each other and clasp hands in a far corner, and various other bodies of hyur men and women all lying next to each other, in a large bed, some of them falling from the edges of the bed lifelessly. Near the center of the room and already walking towards them, there was a girl walking towards them wearing nothing but a dirty white gown and a strange choker, her strides full of confidence and purpose in this room of death already putting Dante on edge. Getting a better look at her Dante could see her features better, making out finer details. The girl had grayish paled skin, which made her deep purple eyes all the more eye catching. Her face was decorated with a strange glyph like tattoo a few shades darker than her actual skin but somehow appearing to shift from beneath her skin to radiating off of her face. Beneath that Dante could just barely make out the form of another glyph like tattoo on her face, but her unreasonably long hair obscured the rest of it from view, her pale brown hair flowing well beneath her knees, the ends of which were stained by yet another series of symbols. The thing that kept Dante on edge however was the girls body. Hardly clothed at all and decorated with dimming tattoos here and there, it was like seeing a beast wearing the skin of a young woman. Her body appeared frail, but with each step and movement her muscles seemed to breathe with a sinister flexing & expansion, like a trapped animal that hasn't been allowed to move freely after being trapped in a cage. Looking at her approach them, Dante could feel that a lot of things about her were far more "off" than anything else in the room. Lowering himself to prepare for whatever was next, he inhaled slowly. Then like an explosion it came. -Into the Black(Blossoming Guard)- There were a lot of things that surprised Blossoming Guard the past few days she had spent with Dante. First, Dante never takes off his masks unless he is eating or something similar, and even then he carries around masks and a pair of goggles that he wears instead for such activities. Second, apparently there are purple and red chocobos in the world, and they are fast enough to make kicked up rocks indent in the ground some ways away-and that's with a series of heavy bags saddled onto it. Third, Dante wiggles his ears often which makes him seem childlike and cute, and his singing voice is like that of one sent from above, but his song writing skills are terrible. He also has sharp teeth. Fourth, apparently a small girl can send her flying into a wall with one kick, and fight Dante into a defensive. Thinking these things over one after the other as she allowed herself a moment to recover, she stood and opted to think before acting further, realizing that jumping in blindly into the fight would just likely bring her to the same end. Thinking on her strengths, Blossoming Guard had great endurance and the strength to crush the shell of an adamantoise, but she lacked the speed to dodge most fast attacks-that kick being a prime example. Thinking on the kick, she stared down at her chest where the blow landed. The kick was aimed for her throat, and she had just barely managed to change its course with her arm. The chainmail it landed on had the appearance of something that had been shown a smelters fire, and was considerably warped. "Great, she is using magicks as well," she thought crossly, glancing towards the battle to see if she could obtain any more information. What she received in return was her blood running cold. It had scarcely been more than a minute and a half, and already Dante was completely on the defensive. Her theory having been correct on the girl employing magicks in her attacks, most of Dantes torso was already mostly tattered clothing and flying blood from half covered wounds. He would block an attack from above only to immediately recoil to avoid the after effect of whatever her blows were doing. He would dodge her flurry of attacks only for her to kick off of a wall and move even faster-almost as if she wasn't even breathing. He threw knives at her, only for her to bloody catch them and begin slashing like she had been using them her entire life. Blossoming Guards first reaction was understandably disbelief. She knew how fast and strong Dante is from being a witness to it firsthand. The third night they spent sleeping outdoors they were ambushed by a few unlucky bandits hoping to make a good catch. Dante had finished off his attackers, disabled hers, threw a knife into the necks of two archers a ways off that she hadn't even taken notice of, and proceeded to kill her quarry with some strange wind attack before she had fully gathered her wits and grabbed her axe. She had witnessed even before that a full year before the calamity struck when the village chief went mad and sold her people off to slavers, literally killing most of them with the burning fragments of wood from the stalls burned in markets, setting her on the path to strive for strength as well. Clearly this girl was not an enemy that either of them stood a chance against alone. Deciding to repay the life he saved with one good opening, Blossoming Guard charged into the fray like a frustrated gobbue, charging into them both and grabbing the girl, slamming her into one of the piles of stinking rabbit corpses, wincing both from the smell and the dread of what she was about to receive in return. Placing her full trust in Dante to not waste her attempt at being cool, her dreaded thoughts of heroism were interrupted by maniacal laughter and the sound of metal being ripped apart. Looking around while the girl half thrashed half squealed in pain under her weight and tight hold on her, Blossoming Guards vision finally settled on a man wearing a white coat walking into the room, an extremely unsettling smile on his face that reminded her of animals that eat their young. -Forced Illusions(II)- Smiling gleefully and clapping as if he had just witnessed a great play, the man entered the room through the hole he created, half dancing over the bodies of the deceased while twirling for dramatic effect. "Laaaaaadies and little squirt thing," he started, "Ive gotta hand it to you. That was some godsdamned bloody good entertainment there. I haven't had that much fun watching little girls beat on two supposedly not defenseless since...well....since I made it happen!" Cackling to himself as he edged closer to the pair on the ground, he shifted his necktie and pulled on the ends of his gloves in an unnecessarily dramatic fashion. "Ah yes...miss....uh...Oh I don't care whatever stupid name you clumsy people come up with for the jollies of other races, could you not....er....TOUCH her? Its...kinda gross. You see, your red ass wasn't supposed to BE here, so when you come into my totally awesome lair all uninvited and shite like that, well...its pretty annoying. But when you fucking touch my prized creation with that FILTHY red mass you call flesh, its downright infuriating!" Taking a moment to rub his forehead to animate his emotions as much as possible, he nearly misses his que when Dante lunges at him suddenly, dodging just in time to avoid Dantes fist at his temple, using the opportunity to lash out at any opening, he grabbed Dantes long ponytail and yanked him to the ground, holding him steadfast by the hair and in place underneath his heel. "Woah-ho~, look who has some long flowing locks here! Between you and me though it might get you into some shite someday when an absurbly handsome genius just decides to yank you good and just...well...go to town!" Holding a oddly cloudy blue piece of materia in his hand, he erects a glyph around Dantes hands and knees, binding him to the ground. Taking a moment to glance hatefully at Blossoming Guard, he rights himself with a smile and pulls out a rather large scalpel from one of the inner pockets lining his coat. Kneeling down next to Dante, he continued in a mocking fashion. "Now you jus stay still an git comfy honey, when Im done with you, you gon look fabulous!" Cackling to himself, he slid the blade of the scalpel across Dantes back slowly, relishing the sight of blood staining cloth. After drawing a smiling face into the upper right portion of his back, the man yanked on Dantes ponytail again, raising an eyebrow as Dante suddenly began thrashing at his binding with more vigor than before, his breathing becoming grunts of rising rage. "Here's the thing," the man explained slowly while looking towards the Roegadyn, "The reason that you are still on top of that girl is not because of your superior strength or anything, but rather because of a fault in my design thatwillbetakencareofonceIkillyouboth buuuuut.....only if you get off of her. Because I had a deal to keep with that girl, she has extremely heightened senses. This serves my purpose well actually, as it allowed me to test out whether or not the implants would be rejected by the reformed body and Id be aaaaaaalllllll kinds of screwed. The glaring weakness you just HAD to stumble upon with your giant burly uninvited arse that while in small doses chemical reactions and my sealed section system keep most damage a minimal issue, experiencing continued damage over various areas of the body will cause her heightened sense of pain to slowly put her into something you wouldn't know about called shock. In other words, continued exposure to your fat buttocks crushing my little project is going to kill her, and I cant have that. So if you would kindly get off of her then Id be really pleased." Seeing that the Roegadyn was clearly not about to move, the man narrowed his eyes irritably at her, before shifting his gaze to the girl beneath her, smiling warmly. "Well Hells girl, I daresay you've earned a bit of trust these past two years! Hows about I take this wittle failsafe off and you...oh...I dunno...KILL THE LIFE OUT OF THESE TWO!" Laughing manically at his terrible choice of words, the man dug underneath his necktie to reveal a choker identical to the one the girl was wearing. cutting it off with the scalpel, he struggled to keep his eyes from rolling into the back of his head from how funny he found the entire situation. "...You're annoying.." Dante said finally, his struggling still continuing while the man had a firm grasp on his ponytail. Returning his gaze to Dante as the girl let out a loud scream and slowly but surely began to wrench Blossoming Guard off of her, he raised his scalpel again. "Oh how could I forget about the adorable midget," he teased, "We were just about to give you a DARLING new look weren't we?" Lowering the scalpel to the ponytail, he relished every second of struggle that Dante gave him. Feeling his adrenaline peak, he bashed Dante's face into the hard floor, breaking his mask into fragments. Drawing blood from his nose as Dante clenched his eyes shut in an attempt to hide them, he actions only served to fuel the mans erratic behavior even further. "Oh you're going to hide your eyes now? Boy you really are stubborn about it like the rumors say aren't you Mr. Shortblade? Open your eyes, I want you to watch every single second of what Im doing to you! I have a personal little beef with you midget. Why in the seven Hells are YOU getting attention when you aren't even aware that you're being scouted, eh!? Why did I have to struggle for every gil I got for my glorious project that has you here on your KNEES before me, not even aware of the genius and art you are a part of right this very moment! Im going to make you watch as I take out my frustration, kill this beefy girlfriend of yours, and then youre going to become the fodder for my new experiments. Oh, all the especially painful and dangerous ones of course. I'll make sure to keep all of your little senses in tact too so that you can feel and see and hear and taste every miniscule second of it!" Practically screaming the last sentence with vengeance and hardly suppressed glee, he dragged the scalpel across the ponytail, a tingle going up his spine at the snap and severance of every cuticle. "Uh oh....looks like todays weather is raining midgets hair! Be sure to run away or you may experience sudden and unexplainable feelings of hiding your eyes from the world and being unreasonably boring to talk to!" He laughed, sprinkling the hair onto Dante in a taunting manner. The next few moments were a bit of an unexplainable blur. There was an animalistic scream of rage, then a strange flashing light from Dante's face and an absence of the ground beneath him. The next moment Dante was standing before the man with a look of absolute rage on his face, eyes glowing like jewels with fires lit behind them. -The Beast- Dante faintly recalled a series of memories he couldn't place. Seeing a pale woman removing rubble from on top of his broken body, looking around for things of interest. He didn't know why, but he knew he just had to survive; Taking the chance before him he grabbed her ankle with everything he had, staring at her dead in the eyes with the conviction to never let go. I must live not matter what, he thought. Feeling his memories move forward, he felt a sense of unease. At some point he had definitely wanted to live, and now he dares not to care if he survives or not. Who was I, and who am I now? Feeling his memories settle, they stopped at another point, not knowing but somehow knowing that this was a few months later. "Dante," the pale woman started, roughly licking her lips and pretending that she had little interest in the conversation she was starting, looking towards the sky as a faint pink blush formed on her cheeks as she finished her food, "Don't you think its about time for an uh....I dunno...a change in image or somefin?" she asked, her glance flicking ever so often from him to the sky. "No," he said simply, wiggling his ears and tinkering with a piece of metal. "Oh don't you think you can just do that cute little ear trick and everything is gonna get swept under the sand! That trick aint workin tonight!" Tired of his tricks he knew would get her to drop subjects so he could focus on whatever he was doing, she yanked him by the collar to force his attention. "Look, you've been getting a little strong lately, so I thought Id let you look more like my companion than just some random urchin thing taggin along," she said smiling, clearly proud of her idea. "Sides, all that loose hair flowing all over the place is like to give me a heart attack if you pop out of the bath water like you did last week. I really might kill you next time y'know?" "I haven't really gotten that strong" he said simply, staring at her intently, earning him a deadpan expression from her. "Dante," she started, "Just yesterday you ripped the head off of a Bandersnatch with your hands. You know...the same Bandersnatch we are still eating today cause there was so much meat." Motioning to the lump of raw meat still left over behind her, she started again, grabbing his hair forcefully, her patience at an end. "Look you little punk you're going to change your look and you're going to like it! Now c'mere & get some new looks in your life!" Half fighting, half playing with him, she pulled his hair to and fro until it was tied off in the same fashion her mother showed her. "Now see here Dante, this style is special, see? It is proof of our connection and our pride. As long as you have this here....er..ponytail....you and I are connected. Wear this with pride and care for it like its your very soul, as I have placed a bit of mine in it." She began tugging his ears a little, sighing as the knot in her stomach loosened. "Bleeding Lady," Dante started, earning a hard knuckle to the back of his head. "Ive told you one thousand time over Dante, that is NOT my name, my name is-" The memory fades at the most interesting moment and begins moving forward, much to his irritation. That's right, he thought, That's why I have been taking such good care of it, and got angry whenever it was damaged in any way. Feeling his memories come to a halt again, he focused himself into the visage of the pale woman again. "Dante, I made you something." Pulling out a pair of tinted red goggles, she places them onto his face and adjusts them to his size. "Now listen Dante, you mustn't ever show anyone your eyes unless you trust them with your life alright? I don't have time to explain all of this to you right now since we need to move, but lets just say you did some bad things before we met and if you show people your eyes, no one will like you alright? Night is coming soon, we gotta find somewhere higher up or its going to be really annoying all night." Feeling himself getting pulled from the pit stops of memory Dante felt his rage coming to a boil. Looking in front of him, he saw a man in a white coat sitting and staring at him. As if in a dream sequence his body responded on its own, his rage driving his body to do things he normally cannot. Screaming at the top of his lungs in anger, explosions began shooting bits of steel from the surrounding walls, fire creeping its way into the room. Turning to see Blossoming Guard on the ground unconscious, his rage found a target in the girl that had injured him so but minutes before, charging at her with the full intent to kill radiating from within him, he grunted in frustration as her reacting punch stopped his own. Ignoring the burning sensation in his hands as the flesh began to erode from whatever effect her blows created, he used the clash to call more magic forth. Almost as if returning the favor, the flesh on the girls hand began to bubble and pop away as the poison he made from the surrounding aether began to eat into her hand. Immediately her fear that she had barely been managing to suppress since Dante's outburst of rage boiled over into all out hysteria, immediately withdrawing and running towards the door, screaming with dread as he grabbed her hair and set it on fire from the end, prompting her to immediately sever it below her shoulders. Not sure where to run or what to do at this point, the girl tried in vain to suppress the instinctive fear rising up inside of her, all of the warning alarms in her mind telling her that she must escape, but she cannot turn her back to this foe. Deciding that her best shot was simply to fight and win or die, she charged forth, the muscles in her legs giving her an extra burst of speed and the knowledge in her head giving her a vast array of magic. In the vicinity of the demonic presence in front of her, her heart sank as a strange black substance began forming. She did not know what it was but she was certain it was the same thing she saw him make the seals and the floor around him not there anymore. Trying frantically to think of a way to live within that split second, her thoughts were interrupted by a gloved hand pressing into her and Dante's forehead. Mr. Carmine is going to betray me, she thought, feeling her consciousness fade. "Oh~ boy you two sure can get scary huh!? Imagine my surprise when I saw you synchronize your aether to my precious creation you disgusting little LEECH!" Laughing to himself as he pressed the cracked crystal embedded in Dantes forehead, he ceased his dramatic movements to show a face of genuine surprise. "The Hell is this midget? You've already got a seal in place on your little fireworks show you pulled off just now, so how in the seven Hells did you just pull off that rad little display just now huh!?" Keeping Dante bound in the air as he thought to himself as much as possible, his mad smile returned as he stumbled upon a new discovery. "You must have a really good method of pissing people off, cause not even I have ever seen a magic seal this intricate. Its quite....divine. It is certainly doing its job as well, that means that youre taking in excess and causing a secondary seal to activate..hmhmhm......your body wont be able to take all that. I may not be able to manipulate your seal but-" Carmine pulled out a black substance and smeared it on Dantes crystal, causing a black tattoo to form around it. "WABAM! That's what I like to call taking something to the EXTREEEEEME! Imagine my woefully enraged little nemesis, a seal that's built to hold things IN from an outside source? That's what I did with my twitching little disappointment over there you know, just on a much more beautiful scale. Ah...this is art. Watching your enemy tear himself apart through the simple act of being! Warms my heart! I rather think Ive had enough fun today, so if youll excuse me..." Carmine walks towards the hole in the wall he entered from and turns to give a cinematic bow. "Ladies and midget, have a nice daaaaay-urrrrgh!" Using the fire from earlier, Dante manipulates the flames to engulf Carmine, the flames eating holes into his body. Picking up Blossoming Guard and the girl, Dante walked past the now dying Carmine and walked into the dark hole, dragging the other two behind him. -Wilted Rose- So there we were...at the end of dreams, at the end of struggles. For a few glorious moments my life was fulfilled and I wanted for nothing, but as all things have a price, mine was to have the reward I have so long desired ripped from me as I grasped it into my hands. I didn't cherish things as much back as little kid. People tend not to cherish things until they lose them. I wasn't any different at all; I was outside playing with my friends when my mother called me to dinner. She wasn't a bad cook or anything, but the vegetables were kind of strange this year, and whenever she put them in a soup it tasted like the wooden bowls we ate from. That said, it wasn't all that bad, and it always made me feel all giggly before being sent to the riverside to wash up before sleep. Like any night, I went outside to wash up before sleeping. The cool water splashing across my face was the last thing I felt, the sound of it being the final thing I heard. When youre a kid, you dont care about the little things that dont really make sense in your life. I didn't mind that the sky had grown dark or that everyone around me seemed more tense. It was easier to go through the motions and pay attention to your parents. Suddenly a dragon the size of one of the big city states began flying around and shooting beams of fire everywhere. Somewhere over the pass one of the beams hit. Nowhere near the village mind, and yet the heat still affected things far and wide. The water burned my skin, and falling into the riverside didn't help it get any less burned. I dont know why, but after that and hitting my head, I couldn't feel anything anymore, and hearing things was a distant whispering I could never make out. I couldn't even open my own eyes all the way anymore, struck lame in so many ways it was honestly laughable. It only took a year for my parents to become unable to care for me. I wasn't really angry about it-I didn't even remember what being angry really felt like, and Id known that supporting our family before the incident was already a very stressful and painful thing. One day my mother and father took me on a long trip to somewhere Id never been. In the wide open field they signaled for me to sit and wait, and left me behind, presumably to go do some work; They never returned. A few days later I was still sitting in the same spot, waiting for my parents to come back, and terrified that if I left that spot to go pee or something that they would come back and think I had gone. Like a good girl I had to wait, because I wanted to live. Feeling my vision go these past few weeks, I knew it was only a matter of time before I was completely blind. Pondering what to do and what to think, I saw with my dimming vision the figure of a man in white, smiling down at me as if I were a present that must be opened as soon as possible. It was the face of someone who had gotten exactly what they wanted. It was a strange thing to be wanted in the state I was in, but there was nothing I could do to resist. The only thing I wanted to do was survive. I wanted to live at any cost. Within weeks the man restored most of my sight. I still could not fully open my eyes, but I was not in any danger of going blind any longer. He introduced himself as Carmine, and promised to restore my body and more....for the price of becoming his test subject. If the tests prove successful, then she may leave to live her life as a different person altogether. If they failed...well...the end. And so after two long years there we were. At the end of everything, and it was taken away. Am I going to die now? Is this the reward I wished for? Opening my eyes, I see the sunlight burning behind the small form of a lalafell, a mask covering most of his features. Sitting directly behind him was a rather red woman, thumbing her chin nervously and looking at me. Realizing there was a blade at my throat, I couldn't help but perk up from the admittedly amazing feeling of half sleep. That feeling was completely wiped away by the realization that the owner of the blade was none other than the beast that caused me to run about in a terror. Realizing that I was about to die, I simply allowed myself to savor the feeling of the sun on my skin. "I killed that annoying man, but I dont really have a reason to kill you yet," the beast said, his oddly soft voice ringing disbelief through my head. "If you do not want to die, and do not want to kill me, then I will not kill you." Still caught in my disbelief I could only stare at him with a dumbfounded expression. It was a confusing mixture of feelings. Mr. Carmine restored my body into something amazing but at the cost of many sacrifices and pains I would not like to know again. This beast killed Mr. Carmine, but is offering me the one thing I have become this....thing for. Mr. Carmine betrayed me, but he may have also been trying to save me...this is too much. Almost as if she sensed my turmoil, the Roegadyn woman spoke up. "Do you want to live, or not?" Still gripped by my flux of feelings and thoughts, I could only nod timidly and cry, not sure what to do. Feeling the blade leave my throat, I attempted to use the knowledge I was given to calm down a little. "What is your name?" the lalafell asked in a blunt but oddly soothing voice. My name. That's something I hadn't thought about in a long time. On one hand, the name I had before is that of someone who died. That is no longer me. On the other, I was never given a new one...this is.......actually a little exciting. I'm going to live! Smiling to myself a little, and after a bit of thought, I decided to give my answer: "I'll let you know when I decide." -Twisted Thorns- Having given the report in full, Blossoming Guard and Dante were bombarded with questions and praise. Their mission to find the source of missing peoples an actual success with the true reason being uncovered, both were told to submit the proper paperwork for a promotion. Both decidedly kept the existence of the girl from their report at Dante's request believing it to be unnecessary information. After sitting through another hour or so of praise and recapping of his accomplishments, Dante left Maelstrom Command and the city itself, wanting to spend some time with Aeka. Sitting by the campfire with Aeka, Dante snuggled into her feathers while looking at the night sky, trying his hardest to recall the memories from the incident. Frustratingly he could see the memories in his head, but they were all obscured by a fog. Taking a moment to ruffle his hair sadly, Dante heard the loud footsteps of someone approaching. "Hello," the woman said with an excess of pride and haughtiness, "You would not know me, but I am interested in you Ser Dante." Standing quickly and calming Aeka, Dante stared quietly at the woman, wanting mostly to just enjoy his night without further interruption. "Ugh...my name is...well it should be fine for you to simply call me Alexandrite. Most of your ilk find a proper name too long for your tongues to wag out. Ser Dante, you have not been in contact with us for quite some time, and I have taken the initiative to attempt a reboot of relations, so to speak." Faced with his stoic silence for longer than she liked, she continued on, her motions subconsciously conveying her irritation. "Ser Dante, would you like to be willing to accept work for interests of the Empire again?" -When Everything is Blurry-End

Add me too I love moar friendlies!

Just a small correction. In Passage 2, I meant 1562, not 72. My current situation makes it apparently impossible to do edits, so this is the best I can do yo. Anyways....effort made. Woot.

[A short story outlining the current situations for Dante Abigor & Pheria Darkshines, while lightly touching on some of their past] Part 1-These Were Memories....Right? Pheria took a deep breath and descended into the lower decks of an unremarkable ship, carrying a lamp in one hand, a small neatly fashioned book. Walking into a now lit room, she closed the door behind her and set the lock into place; she somewhat allowed the sway of the ship on the water to carry her weight to an chair of metal make in front of a stong wooden desk. Half noting how cold the metal felt on her exposed back and shoulders, she dropped the lamp and book onto the desk, opening the latter with a sigh of impatience, finding going through the motions themselves annoying and dull. With her cold stare drifting across the pages of her jouirnal, she allowed one last look of caution towards the locked door before dragging herself off into an immersion into a world of her own making. This routine was more annual than anything, yet its significance was never clearly defined for her. As if rediscovering herself all over again, she drifted off into the journal containing pieces of herself, noting with slight amusement how neat yet childish her handwriting seemed, the letters obviously given much care and thought. Passage 1 Once, I was but a normal girl with normal things and a normal life. For the first four and a half years of my life, I either was roused from my sleep by the smell of flowers, or the gentle blowing of a chilled wind. I would always run downstairs from my room to view the light welcoming me from the little hole in the door. My mother was always beautiful and loving, so kind and intelligent; it was hardly a wonder that every time I saw her it felt like I would be swallowed by her radiance, as if her very being threatened to take my everything into her. Then stereotypically as things often do, the world went wrong. Well on my way into my fifth year our tiny settlement was set upon by slavers. After razing their way through every other home in the vicinity they of course broke into ours. My mother attempted to negotiate with the filthy men to spare me. She would go willingly without any resistance if they only allowed me to go free. My kind, loving mothers radiance was so very great that she was unflinchingly and unthinkingly willing to throw her life away for the sake of her child. Afraid, I naturally wanted to go along with her choice. I mean, being a young weak and fearful child, it was natural that my first priority was my own safety beyond that of my own radiant mother. However, something inside of me blackened. That light would snuff itself out and leave me behind, all without asking me in the first place if I would even want that! Even worse, she was doing it on the pretence that leaving her radiant echo of a daughter behind all alone to fend for herself was a better answer? I dont believe that one bit. Perhaps instead of risking having to deal with and care for me as her child and fellow captive, she saw this as her chance to get rid of me altogether. Such a person would no longer be radiant and beautiful. She would just be an ugly mass of lies. Using the things I learned from my book about the body, I grabbed a nearby candle holder and struck her on the pressure point where her skull and spine connected. Remembering the entire time to smile, I used what little wits & courage I could gather to express my desire to accompany them, vowing to serve whatever need they required without complaint or fail. Emphasizing my greater potential as someone younger and weaker, they eventually agreed to take me along provided I could follow my first order: To destroy my home and my mothers(still living) body. Without hesitation I grabbed a candle and traveled into the cellar, lighting fire to the oil we used for lamps and burning wood. Having used the corner furthest from the staircase, the flames would take a little time to find their way to the house. After being bound in chains and bombarded with scary words, I was thrown into a cage on the back of a cart, and given a clear view on my former home as I rode away-clearly their intent being to break my spirit as soon as possible, although such concerns were malms from my mind. Based on how hard I struck her, and the point that was given blunt trauma, she should have a roused with a rather nasty headache not long after we departed. After recovering from her initial groggyness, her senses would have picked up the burning wood below her. Assuming the flames did not somehow overconsume at a rate faster than expected, she would have had plently of time to gain her bearings, move away from the danger, and survive with minimal to no burns. The house was also supported by stones, so there was little risk of a sudden collapse until the flames completely destroyed all wooden supports, a process that would mean the destruction of whoever remained inside anyway. Observing the unfolding chaos on my former home currently, I expected to feel some sadness or pain at the loss of everything I knew being taken in under two hours. There was nothing however. I simply did not care that everything was changing, and I felt absolutely concern for my mother either. I did not care about anything at all. Remember that. Passage 432 I have finally pinpointed the exact time that the sudden change in my perception began. In the year 1572, there was a sudden outbreak of a phenomena known as the echo. The effects varied slightly from person to person, but this is the closest description of the current condition my eyes have been afflicted with since before this incredibly inconvenient Calamity struck. I am able to relive the past events of the lives of others. Unable to control it, I conducted various tests aimed to find the trigger for the echo. After many unfortunate failures I remembered the basic information that it would vary from person to person, and so began to test on myself, finding rather quickly that my trigger happened to be literally how my eyes processed light! Upon extensive research I found that light apparently carries something similar to waves in the water, of course with obvious differences but similar nonetheless, and completely impossible to percieve with the naked eye. Frustrated that I would need to concoct some tool to even begin researching further into the echo, it dawned on me that rather than concocting a new tool to further my research, I simply needed to concoct new EYES. My experience in alchemy however was not at a level that I should attempt to dive into theoretical experiments on myself and expect perfect success. In the end, while my eyes can now percieve the waves of light necessary to trigger the echo, they now also apparently "capture" light. On the positive side, this aids greatly with seeing in areas devoid or lacking light, my eyes now using the waves expelling from my eyes to reflect a clear picture of solid mass back into them. On the negative side, once my eyes capture too much light they overload, apparently unable to process the data any further, rendering sudden blindness for unpredictable amounts of time.Beyond that, my dark blue eyes that my father adored are now..altered. Leaving that issue and its solution aside, I now had all the tools I required to begin researching into the echo. Perhaps this ability could assist me in finding my papa? Allowing these thoughts to eat into my psyche like parasites I began testing vigorously. While initiating the echo was simple enough once mastering the process of manipulating light captured in my eyes, the next challenge presented itself in the application. How to use it? While snooping through the lives of others was surely interesting and useful in its own way, such a boring way of sifting through information was more or less useless in the face of my current system. So the next experiment involved testing stimuli within the echo itself. For instance, if one could experience points in anothers past as if they were actually there, then that means what you are actually viewing is not a memory of something that has transpired, but rather the reflection of a memory adapted to transpire as if you were actually there yourself at the time of occurence, with a set and unchangeable ending set in place. With this theory in mind, I plunged myself into memories with the assumption that the reflections within the memories themselves would almost always react in a way similar to their real world counterpart. Most tests proved successful to the letter. With this new tool at my disposal, it became possible to gauge how others would react to certain stimuli without having to do it in the flesh. Multiple choices attained! That said, the side effects of continued and constant use are rather....undesireable, making this new tool one to be used with both care and....well...caution. Passage 523 I have found another interesting use for my abilities! Similar to the funneling multiple choice method, I discovered that its far less stressful and less time consuming AND dangerous to simply- A loud creak on the door nearby snaps Pheria out of her delightful world of self immersion. Immediately standing and drawing the the custom axe her father made for her, unfolding the deceptively heavy weapon instantly, walking fearlessly towards the source of the creaking. Part 2-Not Lonely Dante could do nothing but blink slowly at the young Miqo'te girl sitting in the tree a small ways away from him, feeling reassured that his troubled expression was hidden behind his mask. Taking but a moment to process everything that she had just said, he weighed his options. On one hand, the girl was clearly inexperienced at her job. Going for the overly dramatic appearance when hiring him wasnt that strange,but dangling such enticing information in front of his face without a clear escape route or having him in some position that would make ambush easier was clearly the mistake of an amateur. Even worse was her location-a lone and brittle looking tree alone in the middle of Thanalan, and having no weapons with range to speak of. If he wanted, he could snap the tree with a well placed punch and be upon her before she met with a painful collision with the ground, using further pain as a means to tell him everything she knows. On the other hand however she may simply be a hireling to hire him. In this case, she would know nothing of import, and the real employer behind this entire scene would leave forever possibly with him being left to stumble in the dark and having no way to get closer to his goals. Further, assuming she is the true informant, harming her may forever seal her lips anyway-some people tend to be strangely spiteful like that. After going over the options in his head quickly Dante allowed himself a nod in the girls direction. "Your name is P'Lami right? I will work for you." Dante truly had no emotion to speak of, instead feeling a wave of skeptiscism and apathy wash over him in its place like a defense against impending disappointment. P'Lami however, was perhaps wearing a face reminiscient of the embodiment of joy itself. Flipping from the tree with suprising agility made even more suprising considering how old and brittle the tree seemed, she landed with relative ease and little sound of impact in front of Dante. Still smiling, she beckoned him to follow her, tail swaying to and fro as she went. Suddenly turning and grabbing Dante in a tight hug, she teleported them both to an unknown destination. The red haired Elezen woman slowly prepared a pitcher of water. Having heard the entire exchange via linkpearl, she knew that the man in question had accepted the job-and around now would be undergoing the "test" to prove that he is indeed the man in question. Her elegant fingers enjoying the cold sensation of the glass on her skin, she idly allowed herself to sit without thinking, drifting with her fingers across the table onto a small pile of papers. Focusing her eyes onto the pile, she raised them to her face, her green eyes reflecting the stark white and black of ink and paper. "Dante the Shortblade.." she said aloud, reading over the uncommonly small profile. Exact date of entrance into the world of assassination unknown. Locations most sighted are Coerthas and Limsa Lominsa, prior to the Calamity. Contracts ranging from miniscule to high Class. Erratic activity record. Commonly known in society as someone who will do anything if payed the proper amount of coin, uncommonly making his willingness to kill rather public to any who ask. age unknown....classification of Dunesfolk or Plainsfolk unknown....Teeth confirmed to be uncommonly sharp, and confirmed use in combat....assassination methods considered increasingly animilistic in reflection to the difficulty of the hit. "Ugh...." Bonslette squirms in place while considering how she was to deal with such a person. Went inactive approximately six years ago, then disappeared altogether from most documentation and majority of populations memories five years ago, very few documentation even remaining crediting his existence...."Gods, this man sounds like a monster that would hide under my bed at night, or at the very least something told to children at night to keep them obedient!" Lost in her nightmarish imaginings, Bonslette finally broke her expression of stoicness, her eyebrows creasing in worry. "I dont wanna meet him~! It isnt fair I dont want to do it I dont want to I dont wanna!!!" Half rolling about on the table, she allowed herself a few minutes to have her freakout, returning to her original position and coughing as if someone had witnessed the act when she finally finished. "At any rate, he likely wont make it here. His test consisted of fighter four of our most accomplished agents at once, followed by another assassin of similarly estimated ability-all fights to the death. If he went soft six years ago, then he wont be lasting long against our test, let alone comple-" Bonslette was not able to finish her audible self reassurance, as suddenly Dante burst through the door himself, having kicked the door in, with a nervous and uncomfortable looking P'Lami following a ways behind him, refusing to look in any set direction for long. His cloak and mask were splattered with blood, and for a second Bonslette thought she saw a flicker of light flash behind the eyeholes of his mask. "This person is a monster.." she thought aloud, covering her mouth and opening her eyes wide with panic as she realized what she had just done. Contrary to her belief, she was not immediately smashed into jelly and forced to bear witness to the gruesome consumption of her flesh in her dying moments. Instead, he sat down next to her on the table and stared quietly at her, ears wiggling slowly as he waited for further instruction. Although still terrified of the man, Bonslette thought that she could feel a semblance of similar longing from him as he sat patiently, awaiting her words. I dislike this woman, he thought, head racing with emotions that burned at his nerves like hot coal on ice. Why am I the one who is always called a monster? What exactly have I done but what they have asked? Arent they the monsters for asking me to kill people as nothing more than a stupid test!? I cant take it. I want to tell them. I want to say it. I want to make them feel what I feel about them! But I cant. They know who has my daughters axe. If it really is Pheria...then I will have a purpose again. I wont be useless. If it is her killer, then.......well I can avenge her. I will make the killer feel every single bit of my hatred for them before I allow them to die in the most painful way possible. And then I will have nothing again. But I'll find something. Im not lonely at all. I'll show her that I will not need her, even if she is dead. That is a contradiction. No it isnt. You seem really crazy when you argue with yourself in your head you know? But Im not crazy. Point made. This is just self reflection, nothing more. Stop reading more into it than necessary, you are simply another side of my personality taking a more conscious but temporary form to assist in self value. Like a duel ego, you are the opposite and antagonizing thoughts racing through my head to hamper proper and rational thought. You will not be successful while my daughter is the subject of the discussion. Your daughter huh? Are you even aware of what a father is? Arent you simply using her to combat that consuming feeling of loneliness and desire for acceptance? "...." Wiping the blood from his cloak with his glove, he awaited the information he so desperately wanted. Part 3-Plastic Life Dantes mind was a torrent of confusion and irritation as he rocked about in the boat off of the coast, mind reeling in desperation to see a definitive end to all of the madness of the day. The night air did little to cool him down, and the small splashes of water here and there did little to alleviate his mood at all. If anything, all the further stimuli was causing even more irritation than reducing, his goal in mind a place that he needed to be at NOW. Unused to this feeling of urgency, Dante did not know how to deal with himself. Expecting his worries to ease as the ship that he intended to board came into view, his desperation only grew. Realizing that it was irrational, yet unable to stop himself, he jumped from the boat to swim to the ship, unsure what was motivating him, but knowing that he had to get there as soon as possible. In his rush, Dante neglected to remember that he was wearing his heavily modified armor. Its weight was enough to make him tired after just a few hours of simply moving, and the density was recently proven thick enough to halt the penetration of a serrated spear. That said, he began to sink like a rock. Realizing his mistake he quickly began to unlatch the armor from his body as quickly as his body could find them. Making his way to the top with only his gauntlets and sword in hand, he threw his cloak into the blue without hesitation when he realized the resistance it was earning from the water. Finally reaching the ship half dead tired already from all the mindless struggling, he clawed his way onto the deck, standing to see a group of men standing on deck, all with swords and axes, and all of them drawn and ready to kill. Realizing that all of them had their attention focused on the lower deck of the ship- or rather the entrance leading to it, Dante moved rather quickly, walking through the crowd while still dripping wet. Upon being touched by the first man to his left, Dante immediately pushed him overboard, the splash earning him the attention of the rest of the crew. Observing carefully he counted out the opposition, assessing the situation. Eight. Eight is the number of people between myself and Pheria. If only they were not here....oh. Thats right. Im going to have to kill them anyway. They are about to attack me. Is it better this way? I dont want to think about it. I only need to reach Pheria. Without her, I will have no real purpose again. No real place. Almost in the most cliche way possible, the man closest to Dante raised his sword into the air and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Lets kill this little squirt first then we can 'andle the bitch down below!" He was the next to die, as Dantes exhaustion gave way to rage, his sword pierced all the way through the mans chest down to the hilt. Feeling his eyes grow hot, he grabbed the dying mans swordarm and lunged it with effort towards an axe wielder. The man managed to block the attack, only to be caught off guard by Dantes heavy punch to his groin, made even more painful by his weighted gauntlets.Pushing him aside, Dante barely managed to move his head to the right in time to dodge a thrust from yet another sword, earning a scratch on his mask in the process. Channeling his rage again, Dante broke the mans arm and kneed the man in the throat, killing him. Not even half way through the men, and already Dantes fatigue had begun to stretch him to his limits. Walking around and fighting in the armor all day had taken its toll, and the struggle in the water before his arrival was the final nail in the coffin of his stamina. Realizing that unless he moved quickly to flee or did something that would allow him to get to Pheria before the other men, then he would die, and he would fail. For some reason that thought made him more frantic than anything. Stuggling to keep his balance, Dante began to use the last of his stamina to compress air into his hands. Intending the blast to be a short burst, he allowed the sphere he usually created from the air currents to expand slightly, causing it to destabalize and propel him forward. Using this momentum, he jumped over an axeman in his way, using the second current to propel himself into the floorboards of the ship. As he expected, the solid impact caused the boat to rock and sway unnaturally with the waves, and caused almost everyone to lose their balance. Uncaring of the final stoic Roegadyn in his way, fully armored as he was, and unsteadily clambered to his feet for the final charge. Opening his mouth to scream words he couldnt hold back at the top of his lungs, he lunged towards the man. "PHE-" Dantes words were cut short by a sudden flash of light, followed by the sound of thunder, followed by the armored man flying painfully into Dante, throwing them both overboard. Struggling to gain his bearings, Dante forced his weary eyes open to take in the view above him. Water. Water as far as the eye could see, and the splintering remains of a ship sinking beneath the waves. Immediately realizing there was an explosion, Dante looked upon the remains of his hope, cindering and sinking into a blue abyss. This means I no longer have a reason to live. I have no purpose. Finding that he was not saddened by this revelation, Dante remembered his earlier feelings of skeptiscism and apathy, the things that felt painful were blocked by a shield of unfeeling nothingness. But even his apathy could not shield him from the emptiness of his own lacking. Realizing he failed, yet still unable to understand himself, he turned away from the ship and began to swim, knowing that his strength was not enough to carry him back to the shore as he was now. Slowly but surely, the biting cold of the water and the numbness of emptiness began to eat at his already dwindling strength, and his world was eventually engulfed in a pit of black. Part4-We are all Dolls Pheria awakened with a smile on her face. Dressing herself in especially elegant robes, she left her room and walked the streets of Limsa Lominsa. Today was especially bright, and with a wealth of people to talk to, her day never once became boring. Deciding that she was done playing for the day, she walked happily and whistleing to the building that her two favorite helpers made their residence-F'Lami and Bonslette. Upon entering she recieved the full story of the events two days prior. Apparently her rising protege had found a lead on the man that she had been searching for for moons beyond counting. Instead of letting her know immediately, they thought it would be more fun for everyone involved if they simply allowed them to meet by suprise, and all would be well. Unfortunately, the ship on which she was boarded was targeted by slavers or some such unsavory group, and Pheria had opted to escape in the flashiest way possible, by igniting all of the explosive barrels she kept below deck with a candle half burnt through over a score of gunpowder. Using her removable window as a flotation device of sorts, she happily swam her way to safety. Unbeknownst to her though, her father just happened to board said ship after the plan had been set into motion, and without even knowing it, she basically subjected to the one person she had spent years searching for to a welcome back conflagration. Keeping her smile in the face of the two teary eyed girls trying to find the words to apologize for their fatal error, she embraced them both in a deep and sincere hug of affection. "Aw, no need to get all hung up on that! Im not someone whos going to get all hung up over something like that anyway. I love you both, and that isnt going to change just because of one little mistake. After all, we are RADIANT people are we not? We shall love all equally, and hate all just as equally. Hmhmhmhm..." Pheria knew how important it was to replicate genuine emotion here, and even managed to do it perfectly, but beneath all of the words and hugs, as she watched lovingly over the two girls as they cried their regrets away into her chest, she felt the overpoweringly powerful urge to kill them both. Like a thorn that refused to be removed, it twisted itself ever deeper into her heart like acid. In that moment, she was faced with the option to move on, or kill her new family on the crime of causing her to kill her old one. Realizing that her body had already made its decision, she released the two weeping girls onto the floor to grab a candle on a nearby table, walking outside onto a balcony, taking in the cold air. Taking a small neat book from a pouch on her waist, she held it above the candle, watching the flames consume the pages and binding. Still holding her wonderful smile, she dropped the book from the balcony into the water below, watching it sink into the water just as the ship had. "Im not sad at all," She said aloud, still holding her wonderful smile. "I wonder what else interesting I can do now? Hmhmhm....this shall be fun" Feeling the emptyness eat away at her stomach like hunger, she could only offer these words of hope for sustenance. Feeling a familiar beak pecking at his head, Dante opened his eyes. Feeling sand packed uncomfortably into all kinds of unsavory places where sand shouldnt be, he knew he was alive, although he could think of no explanation as to how. Looking at the chocobo with purple and red feathers, he noticed that her entire body was soaking wet as well. "I guess I must have swam far enough for you to get me. I know you cant possibly swim...right?" Knowing that he would recieve no answer, he inquired anyway. "Aeka....Im hungry." Upon hearing the mention of food, Aeka perked up immediately and bolted off to most likely find some, just as he wanted. Noticing that she was no longer within range, he allowed the pressure in his eyes to overflow, the tears sticking to his face a bit due to the sand and the mask. Sitting up, he tried to come to terms with his loss. "I am nothing again. I'll just find something else to do, somewhere else to be useful. I....Ive got to work." Clambering weakly to his feet, he was immediately thrown back off by a strong gust of wind, followed by a piece of paper smacking him in his head, knocking him onto his side. Irritably snatching the paper from its place between his ring earrings, he opened it to stare at the contents before ripping it to shreds. "..............Sentinels...Ark?" -Lie to Myself- End

*The folllowing is a short story involving Dante Abigor's adopted daughter Pheria. Please criticize mercilessly so that my soul is rendered incapable of feeling SHAME any further. No seriously honest opinions would be appreciated. & thanks in advance for reading.* The young Elezen girl stared blankly at her reflection in the water. Her features were distorted in the face of the water, but her deep green eyes & red hair being the only things clearly defined. Realizing her body was forming still, she stared towards the ground, trying to form her arms and abdomen. With a bit of difficulty she managed to speed up the process, resting momentarily to glance upward to see the scenery of what she already knew to be there: a settlement gone up in flames. She watched emotionlessly as man woman & child ran about franticallly, some in flames, others confused, a few attempting to save their loved ones. "this dream again.." She thought. Knowing before her legs formed completely that they were already numbed-or perhaps broken-underneath a rather heavy burning log, she set about digging at the ground so that she could make some makeshift handles to pull herself loose rather than clawing blindly this time. After a bit of a struggle and the sound of cracking wood, she managed to pull herself free. The result was the same as the last time however. She found the strength in her arms failing her, and had to struggle with each movement to pull her possibly dying body from the death around her. Again she crawled her way towards any exit from the settlement, and again she succeeded, but only barely. On the outskirts of the chaos from which she escaped, she turned over on her back & allowed a moment to rest & congratulate herself. The girl was not sure why, but she was happy. That settlement had been her entire life, and yet she felt happy that she was finally alone. Finally free of it. Taking the time to search her mind for an answer, but found only another question along with a feeling of disatisfaction. "What do I do now that I am free?" The answer to this question never arrived however, as her rest has allowed the flames to spread further. As they consumed her, she couldnt help but grunt at the outrageously cold sensation that washed over her. "Bonslette you damn lazy wench, wake your arse up afore I come to me' senses & use you for practicin' me' sword arm!" The middle aged Hyur screamed as he threw a bucket of cold water at the young Elezen girls hea, effectively waking her up & drenching her both. "'urry up an get changed ta yer work clothes, we 'ave some o dem e-steemed sorts comin through, & if we are gonna sell your arse for the first time then we ought do it fer high." The man spat on the girls arm as she rose dizzily from both her sleep & having a bucket filled with water thrown directly on her head." "Extra bit o somefin to clean yersef with wench. Gods know anything that comes outta me will be cleaner than anythin that goes in yous from now on hehe.." The man sneered at the girl through flared nostrils & yellowed teeth, walking laughing to himself. Bonslette recovered from her stupor & righted herself as the man walked off, inspecting her arms, sighing in annoyance at what she already knew to be true-the water on the ground she was sleeping on had already begun to stick to her skin. Bonslette despised mud on her skin, as it reminded her of how deathly pale her skin was, and her closet desire to have skin as dark as mud. Deciding that it would be unwise to idle after being awoken in such a tame way as opposed to the norm, she quickly disrobed & used her smallclothes to absorb any major dirt from her skin, moving across the room to grab her "uniform" hanging on the wall. Bonslette was born into the life she lead currently. Her mother was apprently the same, and died a few years after childbirth from a cold. Luckily, or perhaps the lack of, Bonslettes first memory wasnt of her mother choking to death on sick, it was of being forced to tend to vegetables on her hands & knees while the sons of her caretaker kicked and prodded & laughed at her. Oddly, Bonslette has never found the constant mistreatment of herself or the other girls around her a burden. She simply accepted it with a lack of interest. The "uniform" she was to wear was more of the same. When the slave girls become twelve years of age, the attractive or exotic ones are taken to the "Pole", a badly lit bar inside of a cave where dirty men payed for watered down swill & grouped & teased and bothered dirty girls who were forced to serve their drinks in a drafty & extremely uncomfortable outfit. Once the girls grew to be attractive enough, their bodies were sold off to anyone with the coin to afford them. This meant that girls unfortunate enough to have their growth spurts early were immediately given to the wolves around as a toy. Bonslette managed to stay unresponsive enough & unattractive enough to garner the attention of any men, but tonight that luck would change. Deemed to be a girl who did not draw in enough coin, the elezen was chosen as one of the girls who would be auctioned off for tonights event-an event intending to sell the girls off for the night for low prices, or forever if the offer was high enough. Accepting the fact that she was to be far more uncomfortable than she has ever been, Bonslette finishes snapping on her uncomfortably tight skirt & walked from the dirty cabin that she shared with the other girls, intent on enduring whatever horros may await her, pushing any ideas of freedom or mud colored skin from her mind. Pheria walked along the hidden path while whistling happily to herself. Adjusting her hood as it began to block her view more than necessary, she went over the information in her head. There was apparently an underground slaver VILLAGE that had been pleasantly tucked away in a corner of La Noscea. The possibilities of interacting with them were simply thrilling. On one hand, she might find some valuable sources of information here on other places of interest that somehow managed to elude her attention. On another,she might find some interesting people to play around with, slave girls to speak to, and possibly some valuables that she can send others to collect later. AND no matter what happened there, she got to destroy something that annoyed her. This village in particular bothered her on a personal level that few other things could. Besides the fact that it managed to stay hidden from her network for so long, it was a place that lacked something that she valued almost as much as she valued entertainment. "Choice" It was not a settlement of men who cleverly hid their operation for years, snagging women from all of Eorzea to supply their trade, nor was it a post where women simply were stupid or unfortunate enough to be captured & sold off to the whims of men & women with the coin to spend on them. No, it was a place where slavers and slaves were BRED. The men did not choose to become slavers, enjoying the fruits of using women for their own gain, they were BORN & taught nothing else save to be slavers, and aught else be damned. The women did not fall into some terrible scheme, neither were they whisked away in the night or in broad daylight by raiders and misfortune, they were BORN to be nothing more than cattle for coin, knowing nothing else & daring not to question or resist it. It was a place that must, in her opinion, be wiped away so that her comfort would not be disrupted.Finally finding the settlement in question, she was only able to stare in disbelief, mouth open. "How on earth did this avoid my network for so long?" she wondered aloud. She found it more than a little disturbing that a place that was supposed to be so very secret looked exactly as described to her. Stomping around the grounds were loud dirty looking men barking obscenities at young women, forcing them to do all manner of labor, which they fearfully did obediently while the younger boys and girls looked on, learning every bit of that behaviour to recycle later, again & again. Pheria snorted in disgust; her hatred for every single one of them prompting her to trace her finger longingly along the rim of her axe folded into itself & tucked away neatly beneath the pocket on her robe. Her emotion was quickly pacified when she remembered her goals however, & continued on towards her objective, opting to move towards the dark cave adorned with a crude sign labeled "The Pole" nailed into the head. "They might as well have posted 'suspicious operation here, welcome!'" she mused jokingly, stopped mid stride as she bumped into a pale girl with red hair, knocking her onto her bottom. Bonslette landed painfully on her behind, wincing at the impact. Realizing she was not instantly struck for running clumsily into one of her caretakers, the girl glanced upward hesitantly. The person that she had run into was not indeed one of her caretakers as she had feared, but rather a slightly tall woman wearing a ragged looking robe, her eyes obscured by the darkness of the hood. She obviously was not one of the girls from the village, a fact that became more apparent as she studied the womans features. Her hair & hood obscured most of her face, but she could tell from the soft shine & the lack of grains that she was clean. Far more shocking to Bonslette however was not the Hyurs cleanliness, which was admittably rare, but rather her skin. It was a soft but solid brown. A brown that not seem pale when placed next to another. A brown that would not seem pale if smeared with mud. Bonslette could not mask the jealousy welling up in her face, swelling her cheeks. This woman had everything she wanted-cleanliness, dark skin, and freedom. And yet she came here. "She only wants to use us as toys" She thought aloud, covering her mouth in horror as the woman stared back at her with a mixture of confusion & curiosity. Bonslette was snapped out of her reverie however as she heard the withering sobs of a younger girl walking by, attempting to regain her composure as she nursed a bruise forming on her arm. Remembering that she must not react at all times, Bonslette quickly fixed her expression to one of stony indifference, bowing in apology before running off to the Pole. Bonslette quickly realized what a mistake believing she could endure the horrors in store for her was. Shortly after arrival, the girl was put in line on stage and displayed in front of the most terrifying group of patrons she had ever seen. Barely managing to keep her stoic face, she flinched as they threw drink on her to make her skin wet, payed coin to "sample her" some groping her in various places, others placing their mouths on hers, or snaking their filthy tongues across her body, arms chained to a series of poles on stage, the girls on auction could do nothing to resist, though none tried. After hours of bidding and groping and other terrors, the night finally began to settle. Thinking she might have actually survived the worst of it, her beliefs were promptly and neatly annihilated as a snaggle toothed caretaker grabbed her by the arm with a young Miqo'te girl, banging on the poles with a half filled mug to sign that he was to make an announcement. "fiends an honable patrins, we mus be makin a serious announcement. Ye see, these two dont bring in enough o' you gil payers to bother keepin no mo', so we needs to sell em off to a.....desiring 'ome. Theys be pristine & mostly clean, wif minimal lashes an......they be virgins." The man paused to bask in the lustful groans emanating around the room. "Ye see, theys be a great deal, an cause we value yer busniss so much, we's makin it a two fer one deal! Biddin starts at five 'undred gil! All pay upfront if ye please!" Bonslette could only stare in disbelieving confusion as the roars across the room quickly raised the bid for the girls. Even more amazing was how quickly it died back down as the expense became more than men could pocket.Suddenly the room fell quiet as a rather large man announced a large bid for the girls-2000 gil. Accepting that her new fate was to be subjected to the torments of this suspcious looking man, her downcast gaze was interrupted by a small brown hand rising into the air. "2200 gil." the woman said chirpingly, standing on her tiptoes. Annoyed at the renewed opposition, the large man raised his bid. "2700 gil!" he bellowed, adding a bang on a table with his fist for emphasis as men around him soundied off in congratulation. Eyes twinkling from the proposition of so much money, the caretaker in charge immediately screamed "SOLD!" with cries of jubilation thundering throughout the cave as everyone sounded there approval. As the man took to the stage to grab is prize, the woman shurgged her arms and raised her voice again. "5000 gil." she said. At this point there was no applause or sounds of jubilation. No happy jeers or even the sounds of spilled drink hitting the floor. Every head simply turned to stare at the strange hooded woman offering a small fortune on a pair of slaves. She smiled sweetly at the caretaker holding a swollen pouch of medium size, and began walking towards the stage as the large man fumed, turning red from embarrassment & fury. "Bitch, he said that the sale was MADE already!" he screamed, drawing his sword & bringing it downward towards her head. Bonslette deeply envied this woman, but she knew what fate was about to befall he. Finding she did not want to see it, she closed her eyes and waited for the sound of the sickening blow. Instead of hearing the sick contact of sword into skull however, she only heard the clatter of a blade hitting the ground. Opening her eyes she found she couldnt understand what she was seeing. The woman looked exactly the same as before, but the mans sword arm bent into an impossible angle, the fingers curled backwards in a painful ark, popping loudly as he twitched, seemingly unable to voice his pain. Looking to her Miqo'te neighbor for an explanation, all she saw was an expression of bewildered terror at the sight of the woman, forcing Bonslette to feel even more unease than the sight of the man who was about to become her owner made her. "If you dont mind," said the woman sweetly, "Id like to check the merchandise for myself. If they truly be virgins, then I will gladly pay for the both of them, seperately. For the same price. If they are not however, I will only pay half the price, and only once. deal?" The woman smiled sweetly and tilted her head in inquiry while the snaggle tooth caretaker could only nod in response. He too was clearly terrified by whatever it is Bonsette did not see her do. This made her feel as if everything around her were simply just the prelude to the end of her life, every smile & nod the woman gave as she walked happily down the dirty corridor crafted by men ill suited to making them, leading them to the back rooms and leaving them alone at her request, the woman watching as he walked away happily. Pheria was beside herself from the direction that things had gone in for her. Previously disgusted with everyone and everything in the area, she happened upon a very interesting little flower to smell or pluck as she saw fit. As she removed her hood, revealing that she had been wearing black goggles the entire time, she addressed the girls sitting together on the bed, beside herself with giddiness. "Soooo...." she inquired, "How are you two tonight? Are you going to prove interesting?" Immediately quivering in response, the Miqo'te girl began to disrobe shakily, eager not to provoke any undue wrath while the young elezen beside her simply stared back, a mixture of fear & curiousity slightly etched into her face. "Please," said Pheria cheerily, "There will be plenty of time to take off your clothes later. I simply want to talk my dear sweetlings." Upon hearing this the miqo'te cocked her ears backin disbelief & blushed heavily, unsure of what to do. "I simply have a question for you both. Do you have any love for this place? Do you want to stay here?" Pheria studied their reactions, finding the elezen girls subtle reactions to her words as a instrument being plucked lovingly on every chord exhilirating. "Why do you care about us?" questioned the elezen girl bitterly, "We are just slaves that you purchased." At this Pheria cocked her head slightly & dropped the pouch on the floor, which immediately burst open onto the floor, spilling gold & suspicious round balls upon it. "Far be it from me to take anyones choice from them. I cannot buy you with coins, but I can offer it to you, should you want it for what it really is." At this the Miqo'te girl sprang from the dirty matress & ran to Pheria, embracing her as if she were a guardian angel. "W-who are you m-m-miss?" the girl inquired, at which Pheria looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. "My name is Lani." she replied. "My name is P'Lami!" The Miqo'te girl said, grinning. "Ooooh, the snake eh? Im going to like you." Pheria grinned back, ignoring the girls confused expression. "My name is-" The elezen girl started, but was cut off by a raised hand & voice from Pheria. "YOU have not decided what you want yet. If you want the freedom that I can provide, then come with me, and that will be that. If you would grasp it yourself, then simply use those balls strewn about the floor. It would be my tools of course, but I would gladly give them to you to help your cause." The Elezen girl looked thoughtful for but a moment, then opened her mouth to reply. Bonsette opened her eyes, her nose buried in the dirt. Using her arms to prop herself up, she opened opened her eyes wide in suprise. Everywhere around her was fire, like from her dreams. Men women children animals buildings grass-everything seemed to be swallowed in flames. Choking slightly on the smoke, she realized that most of her energy was gone, and that her right leg was throbbing as she had never felt before. As she turned shakily to face it, she clearly saw why. Through her leg was a large amount of splintered wood, and from the knee down it was twisted like the roots of an old tree. Directly across from her right arm lay a familiar man. The hyur caretaker that spat on her this morning. Struggling to remember what lead to this sudden stream of events an enticing thought raced through her mind: Freedom! "Freedom is so close, all I must do is take it!" She thought. Summoning strength from within, Bonsette began a slow & painful crawl through her burning home. Having to continuously force herself to carry on, almost giving in time & again from the intense pain, Bonsette slowly made her way to safety, resorting to patting out fire with mud caked on her hands from dirt & spit-a desperate yet effective tactic. After what seemed like years, she finally made her was to a tree outside of the settlement, finding that because of all the blood she had lost she had no more strength to crawl, using what little strength she had left to roll herself onto her back & stare at the sky, listening intently to the symphony of crackling wood & screams in the distance. Bonsette had finally won her freedom from her world that she so longlingly craved, but even as she realized this, she felt an intense sense of disatisfaction that she couldnt quite place. "Ah, its because even though I am free, I am still going to die..." She said aloud. Just as she realized this, tears began to well in her eyes from frustration, but were interrupted by an apple dangling above her face. Glancing upward she saw the form of P'lami in front of the setting sun, with the strange robed Lani behind her, holding what appeared to be both a jug of water & first aid supplies, as well as a cart. As she wordlessly approached her & kneeled beside her head, she smiled brightly. "So you took your freedom did you?" She said while looking her over. Bonsette found she couldnt reply beyond a groan of pride, a small smile forming at the corners of her mouth. "I see," replied Lani, still smiling while pushing her goggles up, revealing brilliant sapphire colored eyes. "So..." She said, her expression turning serious, "How would you like to become one of mine?" -World Disconnect- End

*The plan is to write small stories about interactions with Dante in random order at random times throughout Eorzea. The main goal here is mostly to entertain, but also to offer perspective into the things that Dante did while on his own. I'll attempt to update this whenever possible but its remarkably hard to do so at the moment so the stories may be released few and far between. Comments will be loved whether they hurt or soothe!* A reasonable wonderful splendiferous reason to wonder

I can join this with MAXIMUM ENTHUSIASM!

I was bored so I figured that I would post some journal entries about Dantes current life and adventures that IC most characters dont see. That said, feel free to comment on/chat about the journal as you please here if you want. Im likely just going to edit it if I feel like adding more entries in the future. It should be kept in mind that these "entries" take place during random stretches of time inbetween them. Dante in no way writes in it every day so the information given from each entry could seem completely unrelated to another. LOG 1 [spoil]I killed 28 today. I just cant seem to get it right. I dont understand it. I'll try it on this one to see if I get it right this time. ... I killed 29 today. I really seem to be unable to do it properly. Whenever I attempt to use healing magic, it only ends up hurting the target unless it is myself. Alot. Maybe I should find someone who is good at this and ask them why mine always causes explosions. I dont really want to clean up this mess though, so maybe I'll do it now. Someone might wander by and get something off the remains of these birds if I leave them here anyway. ... The soup I made from a few of the birds was not very good.[/spoil] LOG 2 [spoil]It was a trap. I really dont understand anyone it seems. Three days ago I was hired by a woman wearing a cape made of feathers. She was very beautiful, and very nice. Her name was Madeline. She said all she wanted was company for her small vacation on her ship. We left, and I really was having fun. She fed me a lot of very delicious food, and kept patting my head whenever I said something that she liked. Then suddenly while I was sleeping all of these men from another ship boarded and attacked me. I let my guard down, so I was knocked out immediately. When I awoke I was bound and lying on a shore. Madeline said that I killed her son a few months ago.....but I dont remember. I dont remember my jobs after I do them unless something good happened. When I told her that she got angry and tried to stab me. ... I didnt feel like dying, so I tripped her. She accidentally stabbed her arm with her dagger, and rolled over screaming. I used this chance to stomp my foot into her mouth. Her teeth hurt, but I kept my foot fixed onto the back of her mouth until she died. ... After I managed to free myself using her blade, I put her body in the water and watched it sink. Only her feather came floated back up towards the surface. ... The food she gave me was really delicious. I didnt get paid though....[/spoil] LOG 3 [spoil]Today was strange. I was just walking around when suddenly these strange people picked me up and ran into this crowd of even more strange people. Then for some reason they told me that I had to dance with them for some show. I didnt say yes, but they still carried me to some weird building and made me wear a robe and this strange powdery stuff. After that they threw me on a stage and started playing music, telling me to let the music carry me. ... I didnt really understand, but I felt strange listening to the music. When I looked at their faces as they played music, they all seemed to really enjoy what they were doing. It felt really interesting. So I began try moving with the music. I felt really uncomfortable at first because a lot of people were watching me, but it also felt kind of nice. After a while some women dressed in the same outfit as me got on stage and began to dance with me. It was like we have known each other a really long time, and we all danced together with the same moves somehow. When I felt the music coming to an end I did a strange pose with the women dancing, and all of these pretty lights started to shine. After that everyone started clapping a lot so I left the stage. ... After putting my clothes back on all of those strange people showed up crying. They said I was the best dancer that they have ever worked with, and asked me to stay with them. I didnt feel like I should bother them though so I said no. As I was leaving one of the women I danced with gave me a bracelet with pretty gems in it. Then her face turned red and she said that I should come back soon. I dont understand why she was so angry, but I didnt want to get hit so I said that I would. ... Today was strange....but I didnt hate it or anything.[/spoil] LOG 4 [spoil]I really dont understand anything sometimes. Aeka was angry at me today because I didnt have any apple cake the other day to give her. I said sorry but she pecked me anyway and ran away. I tried chasing her but I cant keep up with her while running on sand. I only stopped for a second.....but the sand swallowed me up. ... I fell on my head. It hurt. When I looked up though I was in some old looking place underground. I couldnt really see much so I used my claws to make sparks. After walking a while I found some lit torches though so I used those instead and went in deeper. I dont really know how long I was walking, but I know that my feet really hurt afterwards. I ran into a group of people, and they seemed to know where they were so I decided to speak to them. They were not nice people though. They had a girl tied up and it looked like they were about to kill her. I didnt really care, but they said something about me trying to interfere and tried to kill me too for some reason. ... They were all really strong, and there was a lot of them, but wherever we were, the building was old. I killed three of them but it started getting difficult to fight all of them so I took a guess and hit the wall as hard as I could. I thought that if the ceiling couldnt take having myself and some sand on top then maybe using force would break it down. It worked, but the entire ceiling started to cave in. I dont really understand why, but I grabbed the girl that was tied up and ran in the direction that I assumed the others came from. I figured that if they were just here to kill one person then they wouldnt be too far from the exit. I actually had no idea if this was true but I figured that if I was going to die then it should be while trying to live. ... I was wrong, but there was a hole with light coming out of it down the tunnel so I decided to tackle it while running as fast as I could. It really hurt. I managed to escape, but I couldnt really move too much afterwards. I didnt really care anymore, so I untied the crying girl and told her to go home. After that I fell asleep. I had a really nice dream about the sun. ... When I woke up the crying girl was sleeping on my chest. She was heavy. I waited until she woke up, then told her that she should go home. Somehow that tunnel went all the was to La Noscea, at least where we jumped out anyway. The hold was already covered in dirt and stone so there wasnt really anything we could do about it though. She told me that she didnt have a home. I didnt really care, but she kept following me around everywhere. Eventually I did want to get some work done though so I told her that I had to go earn some money soon. I didnt really want her to get hurt because of me so I took her to Limsa so that she could rest. I bought a little place where she would be able to live, and bought her some food after making sure she could cook. A few days later after it seemed that she would be fine on her own I was ready to leave, but she made me give her one of my pearls. She told me that she was really glad I saved her, and that she wanted me to be her papa. When I said no, she hit me on the head and said a bunch of stuff I didnt understand. She started to cry though, so I said I would be her papa. She got really happy after that, and said that she will wait for me and be a good girl. I dont really get it, but I felt really....warm after that. ... The food she makes is really delicious.[/spoil]

WARNING Since Dantes mind is currently in a state of chaos sadly all of the current scores pretty much reflect that. There will also be contradictions and possible downright lies. [spoil]Trelose (-3): Dante has had an extreme dislike of Trelose since the aftermath of their very first meeting caused him to get attacked over a foolish misunderstanding. For the most part Dante just wanted to forget that Trelose even existed and move on, but became enraged again upon meeting him in Gridania. In his current state Dante is struggling between avoiding Trelose like the plague or "breaking" him for all the misfortune that he has(intentionally in Dantes eyes) caused. Blade (2): Dante has only met Blade twice in passing, but each meeting seems to feel like a reunion of old friends. Dante enjoys "playing" with him just to pass the time, and takes delight in every one of his reactions. Due to the fact that Blade reminds Dante of Ventus Zeruel however, Dante has yet to spend much time with him out of cautious concern. Kou (0): Dante doesnt like Kou because he feels impossible to read, but upon learning of his death he found that he was actually enraged that someone managed to kill him off. Unable to believe he "simply died during a random job" Dante randomly decided to help look for his body. Eliza (?): Dante has been what is a seemingly endless mind game with Eliza since she attacked him during their first meeting. He appears to respect her while trying to mutually use her as company that he can accept during his jobs, earning them both more money and comfort in the long run. This led to Dante gaining a feeling towards her similar to a sibling, so he decided to trust her unconditionally. This proved to be a great mistake however, and her betrayal has given Dante a bitter reminder of his past fears and regrets. This feeling can be accurately described as one of the cornerstones that has led to Dantes current tattered mental(and physical) state, which possibly may lead up to his demise if not properly settled in time. He wants to be around her no matter what, yet he is still angry that his daughter is dead after Eliza pushed her off a cliff however, and cannot think rationally around her yet. Leanna (0): Dante refuses to allow himself to feel anything for Leanna because of the way she makes him feel around her. Her personality triggers a warmth he wants to embrace but cannot understand, but her magic triggers an unending desire to fight her to the death. As such he has settled that he will treat her as if she were nothing more than a distortion in the water he so often runs into her nearby. If she were to stay around him, then he will accept it as if it were normal. If she were to reject him, then he would treat her as if she were nothing more than a passing ripple in the water, and let her be gone. Trileyrel (1): Sees her as a possible companion, but cannot bring himself to actually show her his way of living yet. Dante struggles between wanting to bring her with him for his work, and wanting to travel and see wonderful things with her. Due to the recent mindstate of Dante however, he cannot bring himself to be around her at all, much less so after he accidentally caused her to cry(because he was threatening to cut her face with her own axe) and has since pretty much been avoiding her. Miyuki (4): Miyuki holds a position as one of the most precious people for Dante. She was the first person he has ever shown his eyes after he resolved to hide them, and is willing to do anything she asks. Her current behavior that Dante cannot understand however has hurt him down to his core and is the biggest reason for his current state. Believing that he will be thrown away again, Dantes feelings of despair and loss have thrown him into a spiral. Despite that, he holds no conscious feelings of ill will towards Miyuki, only confusion. Mnim (3): Mnim is one of Dantes first friends. It appears to him however that their relationship has become that of those who are uninvolved with each other. Sensing this, Dante decided to try introducing Mnim to his daughter so that she could both help him raise her with better results and so that they could befriend each other. After his daughters death however, he has not bothered to contact her. In truth, he feels too afraid of what she would say to him to even attempt to inform her of the current tragedy. Chisana (1): Is entirely uninterested in Chisana as a person, but views her as an nonexpendable source of observation as one of the only references of a "mother". Being that he is interested in what a mother is like, Dante intentionally does things around her to see her reactions and recording them secretly. Perhaps because she is Kous mother however, Dante finds her extremely difficult to read, and this combined with the fact that she lives with Miyuki, and his "observations" cause Miyuki to cry, he has decidely given her a bit of distance. Due to his current state, he does not even want her to see him as he is unsure of how she will treat him. Kalim (0): Dante views Kalim as a way to make sure that Kou is really dead. That said, his encounters with Kalim has often spurred interest, only for his true intentions for being around Kalim pushing those thoughts from his mind. Due to his current state, Dante has not appeared in front of Kalim again for quite some time... Manari (5): The one remaining shining light in Dantes mind, Manari is the one person that has successfully not only stopped Dante from going beserk, but also made Dante feel at ease, accepting everything he has done and makes him uneasy as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Afraid of hurting her by being useless however, Dante has strayed away from her side, determined to stay away from her until he has the strength to never be thrown away again. Tahrara (2): Dante wishes to be around Tahrara, but her recent rejection immediately after he decided to trust her put his mind in turmoil. Due to recent events however, Dante realized that things were not her fault and began to contemplate how to see her return to him as she was before. Because of his current state, he has lost his focus on this goal and is resorting to less humane tactics to accomplish this goal. Diyne (-4): Dante has felt uneasy since his first meeting with Diyne, but his actions leading to Tahrara rejecting Dante have earned Diyne his seething dislike. Every sighting of Diyne leaves Dante with a very intense bloodlust, to the point that often Dante takes very dangerous tasks afterwards just to help him forget. Keeping in mind that he is the key to seeing Tahrara again, Dante has tried a logical and civil method of speaking to Diyne, trying to reason with him so that he could meet Tahrara again. Secretly however, Dante has already investigated Diyne extensively, and if he does not recieve the outcome he intended, Dante may impose an extreme "solution" to force Diyne to accept him. Thanks to Dantes current state he has decided to avoid the matter entirely out of concern for a less than logical approach to see his friend returned to him. Akane (2): Dantes first meeting with Akane was a warm one(literally, the first time he met her he suddenly jumped into her lap as if it were the most natural thing in the world), and every encounter since has not failed to supply the same feeling. Dante cannot bring himself to feel any malice at all for Akane, and is terrified to allow her to see anything that may make her dislike him. That said, even in his current state he will still request to sit in her lap without hesitation for a few moments of respite and peace. Nanami (1): Dante respects Nanami. He can understand the feelings that she bears and can see her ability just by looking at her. For some reason though, Dante can not bring himself to speak to her nicely, or much at all beyond a random provacation or off the wall insult. Truthfully Dante wants to become great friends with Nanami, but some unknown force seems to be getting in his way. In his current state Dante can not be of much use around Nanami, and as such has decided it would be best for everyone if he avoided her like he has just about everyone else.[/spoil]

[The following is a small story about what happened to Dante during his recent & sudden disappearance for the last few weeks. As my motivation to retype the story in....well....story format has somewhat died, so instead of giving a step by step explanation of what occured(that would take way too long to read anyway) I will just type it out in a summary-ish kind of format, and will just add desired details that I feel you should all know in []brackets. Feel free to respond OOCly if you want to.] [P.S. BEFORE you read you should know that you will not be getting the entire story by a longshot. This is just a rather bland recap of what happened. If you want more specific details you should ask Dante in Rp, as he woulndt have any issues telling you at all whatsoever. ] -Dante Abigors disappearance- While sleeping somwhere in Thanalan Dante was attacked by men in purple hoods. While managing to kill some of the attackers and escaping, Dante was attacked yet again by an even larger group of lalafell thaumaturges wearing the same robes[The importance of these thaumaturges may show up later, but wont be fully defined unless something in Rp triggers it first. It is worth noting however that they are important.]. Upon waking(bound) Dante was informed that he was to be hired for an assassination of a family living in Coerthas. After Dantes refusal to cooperate, he was force fed a slow acting poison. Even with the poison now within his body Dante continued to stubbornly refuse to take the job, after which he was informed that someone else that is VERY important to Dante would be unhappy were he to continue to resist. With this information given Dante finally gave in and accepted the condition that he know exactly who it is that would have been unhappy with him. A few days later Dante arrived in Coerthas and begain searching for his targets. The very next day Dante found the family-a wed couple of a Roegadyn male and Elezen female, approached the them(Dante has a policy of allowing his targets to know he is about to kill them unless directed to do otherwise). To his suprise he found the family to not only be expecting his arrival and task, were seemingly very at peace with it all. Sadly during their pleasant meeting a group of bandits suddenly descended upon them all. During this exchange Dante(who was not half asleep this time, nor attacked by magic users) dispatched with all of the Bandits with minimal injury. Seeing Dantes skill, the couple started a conversation with him, inquiring where he came from, and his motives behind being so peaceful with his "targets" while viciously attacking those who would do them harm. [Ok this is boring so Im going to skip out here.] After much conversation, the couple proposed a request to Dante. He would kill them and take their bodies to his hostile clients, but he would also find and save their daughter who was also being held hostage by the same group, even offering him all of their gold in exchange. Dante accepted the offer and took their lives, already planning in his mind how he was to save a person he has never seen or met. [Thats it for my summary of what happened. What happened afterwards you will have to ask Dante directly ICly, as everything else is pretty detailed type of stuff & blah blah blah explanation blah blah its something youd actually have to be interested in. Also, I dont really like typing out stories anymore, so if Im gonna ever write the full story again it would be in a manga, not in full text with no visual aid or anything. Well thats really it now folks. Feel free to comment/criticize if you please. Thanks for even taking the time to read a summary that I wrote in the first place. Really.]

Id go with the Chocobo. The moogle cursors creep me out a bit, & look like theyd be pretty liable to break or something.

I can attend this.

Hello & welcome! Im pretty new myself so if you want to rp please let me know. My in game name is the same as my username on here. See you around!

I would gladly join this. I just moved my character from Kashuan today & am still friendless. D* Anyways I am in Ul'dah for any who would be interested & my name is the same as the user name on here.

Hello all, I am introducing myself in hopes of making some great friends. As it turns out, I was out for two months & the billing came back. However when I went to reactivate my account I found that apparently the methods to do so are down effectively keeping me from playing the game, no matter how much it annoys me until it becomes able to perform properly again. Beyond that I am further aggravated because I made my character in the Kashuan Server first(which will be corrected whenever I can return to FFXIV) so all the experience I had before is now useless. If that doesnt put you off then please by all means befriend me. I dont necessarily have preferences & Id like to think that Im easy enough to get along with. Now on to the suggested stuff. --MMORPG background: Given the questions below, I cant really tell what this one is referring to. If its asking if FFXIV is my first MMORPG then my answer is no. --RP experience: I have a bit of experience. Im a bit different in that when I roleplay I do my best not to interfere with canon storyline while skillfully working my own alongside it. That said I also enjoy mixing stories with others. For example, I have no issues whatsoever fitting my character into anothers storyline, or inserting another into my own. I enjoy creating the story as I go along, not script it beforehand & act it out. This is done mostly because it feels more natural & fun in this manner. That said, I still do not mind planning an event beforehand. I simply do not like scripting every little thing that will happen during said event. --Character ideas/info: Dante Abigor is can probably be best described as a wanderer in every way. He does whatever interests him, or whatever seems interesting at a moments notice. This often takes him to random places at any given time for reasons he cannot even clarify, or possibly even remember. This tends to get him branded "weird" or "stupid" but either doesnt notice or doesnt care. The only thing that he does seem to take seriously is his work, and if he has been given a job, he feels a strong obligation to complete it. As far as his origins/story Id prefer to share it with interested friends rather than make a giant wall of text, especially since some of it is still subject to change. --How did you learn about the coalition? Good ol fashioned web surfing. --What kind of a role-player are you aiming to be? I would prefer to stay in character as much as possible, as to prevent confusion. Also its much more fun this way to me.(I used to even make it so that when you log out there needed to be a rp explanation with friends just to test how creative we could be with our exits. --Anything from real life youâre comfortable with sharing? I have habit of making hideous dishes that taste delicious. Its nice to meet all of you & I hope we can all get along well. EDIT: My account is now active again. Aw...no one wants to play with me?