[IC] Myriad AoW Chapter 1 - Rise from the Cinders

[krim]

Alleyway Party

"...They went that way officer! There was a man with metallic parts and a girl with a huge bear! They seemed dangerous."

"Thank you very much. Follow me guards!"

"Shit, this is bad." thought Raziel. He hoped the distraction that Jorgen made would get them off his trail long enough for this to work. He began by throwing up an illusion on the unconscious angel to make him seem like nothing more than a large traveling pack to anyone else. He didn't think the blind girl would need to be included.

"Even with him hopefully drawing them away though, the two of us still need to get out of here. What do you want to do with him?"

"I need him alive if we're going to figure out how this glove works. Would you mind taking him to the safe house, or at least somewhere where he is unlikely to die? I'm too weak physically to do it myself without reinforcements. Those could take some time." he grimaced. He loved magic, but not having the strength to do simple things like this was one of the downsides. "I need to go to the alliance library in the center of the city to research all I can from what he's told us, and a few other things that may be...beneficial..in the future. I don't know the location of the safe house, so I'll make sure you know where I am come nightfall. Have someone look up for you. Probably near the bell tower, unless you understand the whispers of Night Wisps." The Night Wisps were small creatures of magic he could summon at will during the night. He wasn't sure where they came from, but they were nothing more than small balls of light he could speak to when he was feeling troubled. Sometimes they would speak back, although it was in a language of magic not many at all knew. They were most practically used for being seen, but being seen wasn't too useful in this case. "I've disguised him as a large pack, if anyone asks." he said before jumping onto the roof. Then he surprised even himself and gave her a genuine "thank you" as he hopped to the next building.

Edited September 6, 2016 by DragonMasterKrim

[Sutoratosu]

"Um... alright then..." A bit puzzled over what he meant by Night Wisps, but well... whatever he meant, if they whispered, chances were she'd be able to figure it out eventually by toying abit with linguistics. And even if she couldn't, she'd still find him one way or another. With as much ease as a toddler would toss a pebble, Bora picked up the suspect and slung him across his back behind where Lucille sat, careful on her orders not to eviscerate the man with such vorpal claws. At least that was one potential issue taken care of with the criminal disguised.

It was odd though, as she turned to move... she could've sworn he'd thanked her, in that fleeting moment. Certain, actually, for no sound ever truly escaped her notice. For what though, she knew not... if even one of them went down to the authorities, it would greatly jeopardize things for everyone else.

She was just trying to make sure that precise thing didn't happen.

"Come on..." She said, turning away from the angel's retreating form. Bora set off immediately, footsteps and breath silenced as Lucille quickly wove a field of dampening energy and swathed them both in it like an invisible blanket of silence, giving no quarter to any sound the beast lumbering gait might cause... He may have been big and easily visible, one of the points of intimidation, really... she couldn't change those aspects, but she could at least make his movements quiet and subtle as a tranquil wind when it was needed.

Travelling through any of the main streets though, was undeniably out of the question... they'd have to stick to the alleys almost exclusively if they wanted to avoid being spotted again too soon... as much as she was truly starting to hate them.

[Chevaleresse]

Gabriel took the hand and shook it, taking care to do it lightly; no one would be anticipating an iron grip from him, ideally. He had scribbled a few notes as Lerodoch had explained the ideas, and he set the notepad in front of himself with the pen laid across it before answering. "I'm Gabriel, and I came here from Avalon Academy. Marblegate is interesting so far, it's a lot different from home." A small part of him still felt a guilty twinge at lying to the students, but he had no real alternatives to doing so. "I wonder, what about, say, illnesses people are born with? I know those have always been difficult to truly cure, since technically the body isn't sick; it's just naturally in poor condition, in a manner of speaking."

[Cool Girl]

The thug didn´t expect a reaction that fast. Because of Bargus´ flames, his teammates couldn´t use the window created by Karol aiming at him; the angel officers were just preparing their spells yet and to boot, there was a sword coming at blinding speed towards his arm.

Just then, they heard the sound of metal crashing into metal as something deflected both the bullet and the sword. The thug fell to the floor, rolling sideways out of the danger line as Misara took the girl, and looked around confused.

The white haired man had arrived, holding in his hands two pitch black pistols. The air tensed for a moment while he stared with icy blue eyes at each of the fighters, but then he just put them back in their holsters, smiled and raised his hands. "Ok, ok, why don´t we calm down a bit? By the way you´re acting, it seems to me you´re actually just trying to protect the kids from the bad guys, right?" He asked Misara´s group.

"So, what if we are?" said Misara to the white guy. "Who are you anyway?" Could he be the killer? As Misara thought that, she felt her heart beating fast. She had so many questions for the guy, but retained herself and kept calm.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Cool Girl

[Jory]

Jarvis

The butler dragged the man into the alleyway over to Rhaeza. He sat the man gently against the wall and looked at his companion, annoyance apparent in his creased brow. "You know, you ought to let me work my way. I gave you a signal to remain silent so that we could follow him back to his hideout. Now, instead of going on our merry way we're stuck here until the man comes to." He sighed, shaking his head. "If there's one thing this damned umbrella can't do, it's carry smelling salts. Any ideas on how we're to wake him up? Or where to keep him until he's up?"

[IntSys]

Bargus

"Of course!" Bargus easily absorbed and extinguished the flames on his axe with his hand. "I think the difference in power has been shown by now." He looked at the thugs and withdrew his axe. Can't really do anything about him with such accuracy.

He looked at the city guards, who were just midway through preparing their magic, and shook his head in disappointment. Talk about unreliability! If they have to prepare the magic for that long, whatever thugs they would be trying to catch would've ran away easily!

[InnocentSerenity]

Karol

"By the way you´re acting, it seems to me you´re actually just trying to protect the kids from the bad guys, right?"

"Nah, I was just doing some shopping and thought I'd show off what a Sniper Rifle can do." Karol's tone was sarcastic as she glared at the white haired man. "Bargus wanted to put on a light show and Missy wanted to show off her fancy toothpick." A smirk appeared on her face as she spoke.

Deciding to listen to the man's words, she lowered her gun. Not wanting to leave herself unprepared, she put her hand to her pistol, putting trust in her reflexes. At a moment's notice, she could react to any bullets.

Edited September 7, 2016 by InnocentBoy

[M_Cowher]

Rhaeza - Back Alley

"You know, you ought to let me work my way. I gave you a signal to remain silent so that we could follow him back to his hideout. Now, instead of going on our merry way we're stuck here until the man comes to."

"If there's one thing this damned umbrella can't do, it's carry smelling salts. Any ideas on how we're to wake him up? Or where to keep him until he's up?"

Rhaeza raised an eyebrow. "I thought he was following you, if he was planning on 'returning to his hideout' I don't think he would have followed you out of the bar. Assuming that is what in fact he was doing. I was planning on luring him closer into the alley so I could grab him while nobody was looking rather than to run into the street and strangle him... But what do I know?" Rhaeza said, having nearly 40 years of experience in this line of work at this point.

"In regards to our new friend here..." He said, gesturing to the unconscious man. "Some water always seems to do the charm, but we need to find somewhere secure, or at least make sure he can't scream. Preferably both." He said, as he disengaged the mechanism on his wristbow, but left his sleeve unbuttoned in case he needed to use it in a hurry. "I almost forgot. The name's Rhaeza. I'm a werewolf, I've been working for the Vampiric Special Tactics and Recon for the past 38 years now." The lycanthrope said, without a hint of arrogance in his voice.

Edited September 7, 2016 by M_Cowher

[Shamitako]

(OOC: ストーカー　モード activate)

Lisa had decided not to follow up her attacks on the angel any further when she saw he was defeated. Whatever this group wanted, it had nothing to do with her, she was just a random that happened to help out. With no more foes to fight her abilities dissipated in a flash of light. She found herself sort of displaced. It seemed like she'd won, but she wasn't really part of the victory. She stood just outside the alley and waited for the group to finish torturing the guy or whatever, it wasn't like she had anywhere else to go. Then the invisible guy left, she at least sort of knew him. Sort of. Without any better idea, she followed after him. Well, not really followed, she had no idea where he was going and she couldn't exactly follow him since she couldn't see him, so it was more like wandering in the general direction she'd seen him go. But she'd been wandering entirely aimlessly before he showed up anyways so it was actually an improvement. As she was looking for him her mind was hard at work concocting a fantastical scenario as to what he might be doing which she would certainly share when she found him

[Notus]

Ok, party is over

A moment later three guards went past the place where the team had knocked down the magic thief, shouting and pointing at the figure jumping on the rooftops. It was pretty obvious that they´ve fallen for Jorgen´s bait, leaving the way free for Lucille and Raziel.

Now, Jorgen on the other hand had a problem: his pursuers had wings. Although he was pretty fast himself and had a headstart, the angels were steadily closing in. Eventually they would end up on the city walls, where he had nowhere else to jump, or in the city inside the mountain...

Misara, Bargus, Karol ((People who left the alleyway party group can already join in if the want to.))

"Nah, I was just doing some shopping and thought I'd show off what a Sniper Rifle can do. Bargus wanted to put on a light show and Missy wanted to show off her fancy toothpick." ((#acidKarol strikes XD))

The man smiled at them "Well, it´s heart warming to see the world still has people that willing to help others. I´m sorry if my subordinates had you thinking we meant ill, but this is just a misunderstanding." He scratched the back of his head, as if apologizing. "The little miss over there is called Cana Kefraas, and she is here to attend the student meeting. I´m Haze, her bodyguard." He paused a bit for the information to sink. "We were going back to ou hotel for her to take a bath, but the little miss hates water. Then she just ran away when we got distracted."

Gabriel

"I wonder, what about, say, illnesses people are born with? I know those have always been difficult to truly cure, since technically the body isn't sick; it's just naturally in poor condition, in a manner of speaking."

"It depends on the symptoms. If they´re related to the blood´s composition, it´s actually pretty easy to treat. For example, a case of anemia is easily solvable by increasing iron concentration in the bloodstream. We are also developing ways of treating hormone related diseases. Do you have an specific case im mind?"

((I assume Jarvis and Rhaeza have more talking to do before moving on?))

[Chevaleresse]

Gabriel thought for a moment. Ah, I doubt they would be understanding if I told them my true interest. "It's a pretty rare one that runs in my family. We've had all of the local healers look at it, but they haven't really been able to do much. It would take a long time to describe the whole thing, and some of the symptoms are kind of embarrassing to the ones that have them. . ." That much is true, at least. Blast, I keep getting distracted. I need to try and sniff out the killer or his possible targets. I do not doubt they are here to target a demon or a human; a human is the more likely target, what with how easy it will be to foist the blame upon demonkind, so this fellow is likely safe. . . I need to steer the conversation toward the humans here.

[Ragnar]

Jesse, Lisa, The Streets, somewhere between central district and the alley party.

Jesse's ghost like body reemerged from an alley wall as he saw the strange girl from before, wondering off the streets without any of his teammates. The invisible angel decided to approach her or better yet: silently sneak around her to play a little prank onto the unsuspecting girl, just for kicks.

"Boo!" Jesse said, reappearing his visible self out of thin air, right in front of wondering girl, hoping to surprise her. "What are you doing here and where are my friends? and who are you exactly?" The sniper asked the mage girl.

[Shamitako]

Lisa visibly jumped, grasping for her sword and fumbling poorly in her attempt to retrieve it. She eventually managed to drop it and started to bend down to retrieve it before remembering there was someone behind her and thinking better of it. Instead she took a moment to calm herself, steadying her breathing. She then deftly kicked the sword up into the air with the toe of her shoe. She had practice the maneuver more times than she cared to admit and accidentally cut herself doing it just as much, the katana's hilt slid comfortable into her hand. She turned around to face her new foe, but then realized who it was and quickly dropped her sword arm to her side. "Oh, you. You really scared me." She said timidly. No! That was wrong, she wasn't scared! She was a dramatic anti-hero hellbent on raining vengeance upon everything, a mere jumpscare could not deter her!

"I have already told you." She announced in a commanding tone, "I am the Twilight Avenger! Bringer of justice and stuff! I am here because you are clearly my ally in the fight for justice and I had hoped that together we could bring down the evils and/or goods of the Organization. I have been watching this city for a good while now and I have discovered a diabolical plot forged the powers of injustice. Should you be willing to aid me I shall tell you of it... Or we could just do whatever you were going to do since it seems like you've got actual goals in mind... I mean, or shall I assist you in your own quest first? As it is clear that you have well crafted plans for ways to disrupt the Organization's death grip on this rotting city."

[krim]

Raziel took to flight immediately after landing on the rooftop, and he soon found himself in the center of the city. Hastily dropping down, careful not to trample the numerous people going about their business, he made his way through the crowd to the building Vermillio told him of. It was a fairly ordinary, but tall building, although he couldn't quite tell what it was made of. "Not quite what I expected for this secure library, but I suppose it's inconspiciousness hides it well. Nobody would question so many comings and goings in an area this popular." he thought to himself.

Making sure one of his daggers was easily within reach, he took a quick rap on the door. He wondered just what Vermillio had told them, since he wasn't supposed to exist and all.

[Sutoratosu]

Lucille & Co, the Prisoner...

The shaded backways were just as empty as could be expected. Most hailing from such a high society thought little of such unlit places of refuse and mold, rats and vermin. She hadn't thought it possible, but the scenery had only decayed the deeper towards the heart of the city they pushed. Never emerging into the street for more than a split second, never moving at less than a mere blur... she finally let him slow down. If they hadn't caught their scents by now, Jorgen's ploy had to have worked.

They were alone. Just them and the prisoner. Every so often Des had checked over the girl's shoulder just to make sure the man hadn't stirred. Not like it would've been issue, she'd have either broken his legs or he'd have found the slumber-inducing Rune of Svefnthorn burning through his mind and destroying his willpower like wildfire. Lucky it hadn't come to either... she wasn't sure how much more the moron would be able to take in his still pitiful state.

"Enough bora..." she sighed, taking in the squalor of this place through the mouse's eyes. Well... maybe not squalor. Des could see the tell-tell signs of ivy, just a bit further in the distance... odd. the vines shouldn't have been able to grow at this altitude...not unless someone had gone to the trouble of intervening...Bora trodded towards them without question. A verdant light began to trickle forth, as they got closer...

They had indeed been tampered with... the whole area infact. Blooming with wild flowers and grasses in the middle of the alley, crumbling stone facades that hadn't been touched in who knew how long dotting the decent-sized space and all three walls of the dead end alive with years of Ivy growth.

She didn't have to take more than a few steps after getting off the dire bear to sense the immediate presence of Magic hanging heavy in the air. Someone had been practicing here... long ago. It certainly explained it, the sudden outburst of life among the stone and concrete and towering glass and steel. Probably some student or something... though she doubted some mere apprentice could've created all this on their own. perhaps a team effort of some sort...or a competition for pissing rights. She didn't know.

And she didn't really care either. She just knew where they'd be sleeping while they were in this jungle of glass and steel. It was certainly better than staying in a glorified cell called a Inn Room... or whatever the hell the others might try to set her up with...pfft, Dire Bears, cramped inside an enclosed space with several strange beings for an extended period of time... yes... that wouldn't end with any gore, none at all...

"Your wings are still torn." She tossed the man off Bora's back roughly, sending his unconscious form to the ground with a rough thud... she doubted even that would get him up. "Good...last thing I need is for you to fly away and risk dying of the fall when I ground you." She still considered breaking his legs, as she stood there, lips pursed more out of sheer agitation at how close things had gotten back there than anything else. But what point was there to it... not like beating him would be any fun or help blow off steam. Without his glove, he was exactly as he had claimed, just a weak sigil mage... nothing to the likes of her, or any of them. It would be like a lion thrashing a rabbit.

"Seal him..." She finally sighed. Desperaux responded immediately, eyes glowing an ethereal white as he let out a squeak, a circle of similar hued energy burning in the air, the Merkstave of the rune Fehu thrumming in it's center as countless tendrils of the light sprang forth and began to assualt the poor fool, energy permeating his entire form as the inverted rune sought out and sealed away all traces of Magic talent he might've had to begin with... all to end with a smaller version of the Merkstave burning into skin on the back of his neck, black lines etching across skin like ink on parchment. Des' eyes slowly began to lose their hue as the symbol faded and the gathered energy dispersed.

A fitting punishment... if she said so herself. He had robbed others of their abilities... now she'd gone and made it so he'd never use his own again unless he found some bloke knowledgeable enough to undo the sweeping and penetrative work of Des' seal...

A Squeak from the mouse. Oh...even better. Not even that would be enough. There was a backup... and a backup to the backup seal. An expert might be able to find one, but... few would think that anyone would go to the trouble of double or triple locking. And even if they did... Des had added a nasty little surprise for those who dared tampered with the second or third tiers...

The moron would likely never cast another bit of magic so long as he lived.

"Well... if that's out of the way, I suppose we just wait for nightfall..." She headed over towards where the grass was thickest in the constructed greenery, letting herself flop down into the stuff without much grace or ceremony. It was bedding enough, and it wasn't like she hadn't slept on worse before. Besides, there wasn't much else to do now except sleep

"Bora...if he wakes up and tries anything, smash him against the wall." She started settling in, propping her head up on her palm, elbow to the ground. "a few broken ribs won't kill him...don't use your full strength though, obviously... I really don't feel like trying to repair that much internal damage" Yes...try. that was being generous. If Bora used full force, the man would easily die on impact from such a blow.

The bear gave no protest, only a single puff and flare of the nostrils as his scarlet eyes drifted to the prisoner... and lingered there, unwavering as Lucille lay her head back down and drifted off.

[InnocentSerenity]

"We were going back to ou hotel for her to take a bath, but the little miss hates water. Then she just ran away when we got distracted."

"You do realize that does not sound convincing to me at all, right?" Karol spoke to the man with an almost bored tone to mock him. She stood up straight, relaxing her body from her usual combat posture. She trusted the man to a degree, but he still looked Human to Karol. Trying to be civilized enough to have conversation, Karol continued. "Look, as much as I'd love to just hand the little girl off to ya and be done with this, you don't exactly come off as a very trustworthy person." Dual pistols may seem cool, but they don't inspire a lot of faithfulness in strangers. Karol shot a glance toward the girl standing by Misara. Cara was her name? Kana? Carrie? Whatever. "Why does the little kid even need a bodyguard? Surely her parents or something are more than enough."

[Ragnar]

Even tho it was a playful scare, Jesse was quite surprised on how the girl reacted on his sudden entrance. Really? is this the same skillful sword-wielding girl that aided us in apprehending that dangerous criminal back in that alley? she seems a bit clumsy out in the open as if she has lesser experience in handling her blade to defend herself. Jesse thought to himself and looks away, trying to contain his chuckle as the girl picks up her sword from the ground with fancy way using her toes.

"I am the Twilight Avenger! Bringer of justice and stuff! I am here because you are clearly my ally in the fight for justice and I had hoped that together we could bring down the evils and/or goods of the Organization. I have been watching this city for a good while now and I have discovered a diabolical plot forged the powers of injustice. Should you be willing to aid me I shall tell you of it... Or we could just do whatever you were going to do since it seems like you've got actual goals in mind... I mean, or shall I assist you in your own quest first? As it is clear that you have well-crafted plans for ways to disrupt the Organization's death grip on this rotting city."

"so you're sticking with that name huh, The Twilight Avenger? meh, I'm cool with that" Jesse shrugs."tho it's a bit lengthy for my taste, got any simpler names? like mine, My name is Jesse" The wingless angel introduce himself.

"As for my plan, well I wouldn't say it was well crafted really," Jesse scratch his head and realize how naive and simple his plan is. "My goal now is to locate the rest of my team and leave the boring planning to the rest to them in figuring out where the bad guys are," the sniper said. "Me, I'm just a gunner who trusts his own instincts and just shoots the bad guys."

"Which reminds me, if your willing to share about this 'diabolic plot' that you know about and can do that cool thing back there in the alley with your sword, you're welcome to come with us and perhaps we could work something out." he offered

"well, that is, if you have something better to do." Jesse said to the mage girl.

To be honest, Jesse is a bit uncertain on how good this girl will benefit the team and their investigation. On one hand, she drops her sword like an inept fighter out of simple jump scare, on the other, She's this graceful myrmidon that slices that rogue angel's cockatrice like she was craving a cake with her sword. This twilight avenger could be a liability or an asset in this mission. The sniper thought to himself

Edited September 9, 2016 by Ragnar

[IntSys]

Bargus

"You're going to the hotel as well? Well, Karol and I were just so happened to be on our way to the hotel. Surely you wouldn't mind if we tag alone, would you?" Bargus looked back at Karol. You sure are wary...

[Notus]

Misara, Karol & Bargus

"Why does the little kid even need a bodyguard? Surely her parents or something are more than enough."

"She´s an orphan." Haze answered lowering his gaze. " I´m sure having someone to guard her in a foreign city isn´t that uncommon. But I do understand your concern, and apreciate it."

Haze then kneeled and looked straight at Kana. "Little miss, don´t you think this is enough playing already? You´re causing trouble to the ladies and gentleman here."

"Humn!" Kana at first stomped the floor with her little right foot and looked away, in a stubborn gesture. But, after a few moments of Haze´s clear gaze, she lowered her head and faced the floor, as if ashamed. "...Sorry Misses and Mister..." She said, walking by herself to Haze´s side. He patted her head and smiled when she arrived, which was responded by her showing him her tongue. Then she faced Misara´s group again and smiled too. "It was fun though! You guys are so strong!"

The guards watched all this bewildered - in fact, the short one was facepalming - and the one who seemed to be in command snapped. "What? No way, after all this confusion you foreigners are all coming to the station. Drop your weapons and come now!"

"That won´t be necessary, officer." Haze said, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket and showing the guard. He looked surprised, and cast a spell to check the thing´s autenticity. Although he didn´t like it, it seemed he was convinced. "All right, all right. Just don´t get in any more trouble for God´s sake." He gestured to his subordinate to follow him and walked away.

"Well, good. Which hotel are you all staying at? We´re at Central Hotel." Haze asked.

Gabriel

"Well, if you want to tell me more about it later I´ll se what I can do. Or if you ever drop by Shadowveil you can go to the Dearg Clan house to have treatment." Lerodoch answered, deciding not to press on the matter.

Then Juliet spoke up. "Avalon is that academy on the West, by the Glass Sea, isn´t it? You must be really talented to be studying there at your age! What are you researching there?"

Raziel

There was an angel with a city guard uniform guarding the entrance to the building. He held a golden spear about his own size, and crossed it in front of Raziel to block his passage when he approached. "Sorry sir, but only autorized personel can enter here. Please state your business and identify yourself."

[Felicity]

Jorgen was, in a sense, in his element. His mind whirred, not literally like his limbs, as he considered his options. He couldn't keep going for long, fighting was out of the question (that was the point of undercutting Lucille) so either he found a really good hiding place for his large frame or he stopped.

Thing is, his shotgun would be confiscated. He was pretty sure he didn't have any permits, not existing and all, so some thing had to be done.

He formulated a crude plan in the little time he had left. In a cheap tack, he selected a building, memorising its height in relation to the others and, instead of jumping clear over it, slammed into the wall besides a window. As he did, he rammed the duffel bag holding his illegal weapon, and essentials, into the room through the window, trying to disguise the movement in the impact.

Now he was only guilty of destruction of property which he'd blame on being scared by the police. Totally fool proof, right?

Jorgen fell down to the pavement, landing with a "whoof" and putting his hands behind his head, waiting for apprehension.

[IntSys]

Bargus

"What a coincidence, we're staying at Central Hotel as well!" Bargus laughed. "I haven't introduced myself, have I? Let's change that...My name's Bargus, and I'm a traveler and a bodyguard for this little fellow here." He just called the cops off, interesting. He must have some sort of privileges. It'd be nice to cooperate with him.

[Chevaleresse]

Gabriel nodded politely at the offer. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind, I promise." He turned to Juliet to answer her question. "I'm working on using charms and enchantments to heal people by basically recording what they're supposed to be like when they're healthy, and then giving them the energy so that their bodies can push back to that point as naturally as possible. It's kind of like rewinding them, except there's no actual time magic or anything involved. We were also looking at ways to change that template a little bit so that people could be stronger and faster and stuff. What about you?"

[Sutoratosu]

A tale of despereaux...

Not long after the girl was out had Des emerged from hiding, tiny paws skittering over her sleeping form as he retreived the strange object he'd stolen. It was warm to the touch, as he towed it free of it's hiding place... hot almost, like it had been left out in the sun. Though whether that was simply from Lucille's natural body temperature or simply something to do with the object's workings, he didn't know. He sniffed the thing, up and down, all along it's multiple faces and back again. Unsurprisingly the only scent he could pick up was hers. last time all it had taken to get a response from the thing was him getting close to it... now though, for the life of him, he didn't know why it stayed dormant.

He started small, slapping the thing a few times with his tail in a vain attempt to see if pressure was the answer. With that failed, he squeaked at it a bit... first in mere Common Tail, then Mouse, then Rat, then the more advanced Gerbil...alright, so it didn't respond to any of the Rodent Tongues. He looked at Lucille as she slept. Even though her chest rose and fell as any other's would, he knew there was nothing occupying the body right now. There were no dreams for her, nor the blank black canvas of nothingness, not when she slept. No... sleep to her was merely her mind wandering off elsewhere while the physical form rested, spirit hopping and leaping from animal to animal haphazardly.

She probably wouldn't be stirred if he did it...

"Open." her voice emanated out of his tiny maw as he spoke, an exact copy, pitch perfect done to the smallest detail of tone and weight. No other beast would ever be able to do such a thing, speak in her manner, take her voice for their own... but Des had already proven too many times in the past before that he was not just another beast. The bond forged between him and her was more powerful than a thousand chains of the finest magicked metal- he was an extension of her, and she of him... just as Lucille could channel the strengths of other bonds, so too could he do the same with her.

And like that... the crystal construct began to regain it's glow, intensity increasing as a strange whirring began to sound...

Des looked at her face yet again, a triumphant grin on his snout as the glow shined. She was still out cold, as he'd thought she would be... he hadn't been too sure it would work, while she was out warging, but he'd done it. The thing indeed had some type of stimulus for Vocal commands... they just had to be in the right voice... or the right language. Maybe there were even other ways to activate it... whatever mysteries the thing might hold was anyone's guess, afterall...

[krim]

"Sorry sir, but only autorized personel can enter here. Please state your business and identify yourself."

"Great. Should've known it wouldn't be so easy." Raziel thought to himself. He stared into the guards eyes as he appraised him "Doesn't look like he's from any great rank. Authority should do it." he cleared his throat before answering, still boring into the man with his naturally icy gaze. With a low voice he answered "Does the name Vermillio mean anything to you? I'm here on his business and would prefer to get to researching immediately." He ignored the question of his name. The less people that knew of him being here, the better.

[InnocentSerenity]

"She´s an orphan."

"Oh..." Karol took her hand off her pistol, her eyes falling to the ground to avoid having to look towards Haze. "Really sorry, then."

Karol watched the little girl run off to the man. "Guess you weren't lying, then." Maybe. "Sorry about snapping at ya like that."Karol scratched the back of her head, embarrassed slightly. "The name's Karol. Like he said, Bargus is my bodyguard." Karol looked towards the Sniper Rifle still in her hands. "This thing isn't enough protection, usually."

"'Central Hotel', huh? Guess that means we'll be seeing more of each other, since we're staying there tonight."