The Black Sun (Private/Vale)

"Get that orange!"

Was the rather ridiculous order that rang out, demanding that the guards apprehend an orange. Even more ridiculous was the fact that the small group of men were chasing after a giant orange. And the orange seemed to be winning.

It wasn't a real orange, of course. But a young girl dressed up as one. Why she had chosen to blow up a cart of cabbages while dressed up as an extremely eye catching citrus fruit was baffling. The reasoning behind that particular plan was probably never going to be fathomed by anyone but the girl in question; Valerie. It said a lot about the lilac haired mage that she was actually enjoying the chaotic chain of reactions she had caused.

At the scene of the crime, a wail that sounded suspiciously like "My cabbages!" repeated over and over again as the owner of a cabbage cart mourned his loss.

What had started out as a normal day to the market for her had soon proved far too boring. Of course, it went without saying that she did something to set the day off on its rightful course. As cabbages were something she detested, they made the most perfect of targets. Coincidentally, the cart of cabbages had been placed right next to the fireworks stall and within a matter of moments, the entire market was in an uproar. That was how she had ended up in her current position of being chased by physically unfit men in guard uniforms.

Valerie was far more agile than her pursuers and evaded them at every turn, laughing gleefully all the while. However, as the streets grew narrow and the number of people milling about increased, it suddenly got difficult to maneuver through. An orange was not the best outfit for squeezing through crowds, she soon came to realize. Still, it didn't faze her in the slightest. Taking a sharp turn onto a particularly crowded street, switched out her current outfit in favor of a nun's. The change was instant and she blended into the busy streets, confusing her pursuers as they lost sight of the very visible target she had made only seconds prior. Valerie smiled to herself and walked away at a regular pace.

Her little jaunt had taken her near the airship docks and particularly impressive ship rose up in the distance. The moment her amethyst eyes settled on the ship and her magnificence, Valerie's mind was made up.

She absolutely had to steal it.

A quick scan around the area told her that the reparation crew had most likely gone on break - leaving their equipment in place. There didn't seem to be a single soul around and the ship was calling her name. Laughing quietly to herself, she peered at the Archive screen for a few moments before finding the controls to release the lacrima holding the ship in place as it underwent reparations. With that out of the way, she was free to take off. Humming a melody off key, she wandered about on the deck for a bit before she found the control room and slipped inside. It felt like she was forgetting something highly important, but she pushed that out of mind and concentrated on getting the ship to fly - which was no small feat as she had absolutely no idea how to fly one. Luck seemed to be in her favor though, as she got it working somehow in no time at all. The ships engines sang to life and a steady hum reverberated as she lifted off.

"I did it~"

Valerie congratulated herself and enjoyed the view - for all of five seconds before she realized that the ship. Was. In. The. Air.

"Oh crap."

That was what she had forgotten. Her crippling fear of heights. The color drained out of her face and she clung onto a nearby chair for dear life, trying her hardest not to notice that they weren't on the ground anymore.

Darkness, that was all Ardere could feel or see as he was in his deep slumber. He did not dream, and even if he did he would not remember it when he woke. It was a satisfying sleep, with little to no snoring at all. Mild tossing and turning, it appeared that he would finally be able to rest easy. Just when it seemed that he would be well rested, the revving of his engine was loud enough to wake him up. Very few things could have caused him to arise from his deep sleep, but the revving of his ships' engines was most definitely one of those things. Leaping out of bed, he grabbed the red longsword next to his bed. His blade was known as Clarent, or the Sword of Kings. Clutching the handle of the blade tight, he was flung to the wall as the ship quite roughly took off. What the... Who could be flying his ship at a time like this? If it was one of the men working on the repairs, he was certainly going to kill them, figuratively speaking of course.

Once the ship had fully taken off, he began to ascend the stairs to the control room. The fire mage had no time to put a shirt on, thus his pale physique was still quite visible. He was not shy, he was in good shape and it was just a shirt after all. Rubbing his neck a bit with his left hand, he kept the sword in his right. I was just getting some sleep too. Sighing as he opened the door, he did it swiftly and without recourse. Leaping into the room with his sword slashing through the air at no one, his body slid into the room. Just who the- Blinking a few times, he found a woman that was or was dressed as an nun clinging to one of the chairs in the control room. She seemed scared, and he honestly had no idea why she would be, considering she appeared to be the one taking his ship.

It was quite the odd sight, to see a nun stealing his ship. It wasn't the first time he had a strange encounter with a nun though, his mind racing back to when he met Kiersa, one of the Sabertooth Aces. Looking around, he saw no one else. Rubbing the back of his neck, he was unsure how to approach this situation, but he did his best. Umm, just who might you be? And why did you take it upon yourself to commandeer my ship? Pointing the tip of his blade towards the woman, he was a couple of meters away from her position. It seemed just as he asked her, the sound of cannon fire was off the the distance. It was only due to his slayer senses that he could hear this, nor ordinary person or mage would have, at least not likely. The sound of cannon fire could only mean one thing, someone was chasing them. Unfortunately his first priority was to deal with the young woman here, then whoever was chasing them. It's just not my day is it? Speaking rhetorically, he let out a slight sigh. First his ship had shown signs of breaking down from the battle in Pergrande, and now that his sleep was interrupted he had to deal with someone attempting to take his ship. And on top of all of that, it seemed someone had a ship, and was in pursuit of them.

Valerie's moment of panic was interrupted by a half naked man who burst into the room and started slashing at the air with a sword. The event was strange enough to temporarily snap her out of her fear though she still had a death grip on the chair. She hadn't realized anyone else was on the ship when she'd stolen it. It seemed cruel of the universe to have let this happen, throwing a metaphorical wrench in her brilliant plan. Perhaps this was penance for the destruction of one too many cabbages. Even so, Valerie did not regret her actions.

The man looked baffled, halting in the middle of his sentence, no doubt trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Valerie was blackening the name of nuns everywhere, apparently. He tried his question once more and this time the words seemed to flow properly. This weird, exhibitionist of a man was the owner of the ship, or so he claimed.

"It's a really pretty ship. Could definitely use a bit more color though."

She replied by way of explanation, eyeing him as if he was the weird one in the current situation for asking her that.

"Why are you walking around half naked? Are you some kind of an exhibitionist? An exhibitionist who points his sword at nuns."

The potential double meaning of her own words was entirely lost on her. Without meaning to, her eyes strayed towards the window again and her fear returned with a vengeance. Valerie attempted to make herself as small as possible and dug her nails into the chair, growing even paler than before and forgetting the sword pointed at her neck. She had other priorities to attend to. Like focusing on not screaming. Or throwing up.

Keeping his sword pointed at the woman, Ardere noted the the cannon fire seemed to have died down for a bit. However he did hear the sound of rippling wind, whoever was coming would be upon them shortly. Arching a brow at the statement the woman made, he looked around at his ship. I happen to think it's nice. He was the best interior designer, but he prided himself in making his ship look nice. Regardless of what this woman thought about the appearance of his ship, she had stolen it, at least for a few moments. He was curious as to what she thought she was doing on the Black Sun, but it seemed that he would not find a sufficient answer for his question. Arching his eyebrows, he seemed slightly appalled by her question. Stepping forward so his sword was closer to her, he was a bit offended by her words. I'm not an exhibitionist, you could see more than this at the beach thank you very much. I happened to be taking a nap until you decided to interrupt it. Intently glaring down at her, he duly noted that she was a bit of a smart ass. And I highly doubt that you are actually a nun. If you are, you must be the worst nun I have ever met. Stealing another man's ship, now that's just rude. Before he could introduce himself, the sound of rippling air resounded in his ears. Widening his eyes a bit, he noticed the sounds of engines in the distance as his lacrima radar began to beep.

Wood splintering and air ripping, a cannon ball shot through one of the less reinforced walls. What the hell? Unfortunately, he would not have time to interrogate this woman, as it appeared they were under attack. Looking through the hole that the cannon ball made, he could see a ship at least five times larger than his outside. The ship was black, with ripped sails and bearing the flag of what he assumed was a group of pirates. It was not often that he encountered an enemy ship attacking his own, but he was prepared, at least with his magic. The huge wrench in his plans was worrying about the woman who stole his ship being on board. It was quite the predicament, and he was not sure what to do other than fight them back. Switching the ship's defense systems on, he considered firing his napalm cannons at them, but it would likely not be enough for a ship of that size. While his ship had significant fire power for it's size, the pirates were used to this sort of thing. Ardere knew that the Black Sun was faster than their ship, but they had enough fire power to knock him out of the sky. Not to mention his engines were still under repair when the nun decided to take it over, if it had been fully repaired he likely could have outrun them. Unfortunately now was not the time to whine about it, he needed to think of a plan.

Then, he heard the sounds of something ripping through the air again, and he could tell the cannons were pointed towards his current position. The sound of a ball soaring through the air had a distinct ring to it, one he had chosen to remember quite well, especially after buying his ship. Diving to tackle the woman, a cannon ball would fly right over their heads. Wood and steel cracking, the cannon fire was powerful, but reserved as to what he presumed was injure the ship rather than destroy it. It was a nice and a fast ship, perhaps they had spotted it at the port, or they were chasing Miss Nun. Sadly for the two, a large piece of the ship's interior fell on top of the fire mage, keeping him pinned down. It would be unsure for the woman, but Ardere was barely conscious. Reaching to grab his sword, he clutched it as tight as he could. No darn pirates were going to get his ship, but he had taken quite the blow to the head. As he kept his consciousness for a few moments, he heard the much larger ship move towards his, and the voices of pirates nearing.

"You certainly look like one, from where I'm sitting. And this is hardly the beach, is it?"

Valerie's words didn't have the snark she would have liked, mostly because the nausea she felt hadn't passed and was currently roiling about in her stomach. She did, however, return his glare with a glower of her own. The action was made sort of silly by the fact that she was still clinging on to a chair as if she would float away at any moment. Annoyance pricked at her for being interrupted while she was panicking - to do nothing more than debate on what made an exhibitionist. It wasn't that the girl had any particular discomfort about nudity or exposure, but more that the man seemed to be the type who would get upset or offended at being called out on such a thing.

"Borrowing without permission. I like to think I was rather polite. After all, I didn't go into your room and hold a gun on you, did I?"

The gnawing suspicious that he didn't really know how stealing actually worked was beginning to dawn on her. Taking what belonged to other people was pretty much the entire point. The fact that she hadn't noticed he was on board wasn't the best thing to mention, just then. The tip of his sword was now dangerously close to her neck. Was this man going to go so far as to stab her? It probably wasn't the best idea to mouth off at someone who looked like he was about to slice her neck open. But of course, Valerie had never been one for treading lightly.

"Should I have left you a note, then? Dear random exhibitionist. I'll be taking your ship for a bit. Perhaps I'll try that next -"

Whatever she had been about to say was interrupted by the very distinct noise of a cannon firing in the distance. As someone who had a near obsession with guns of any kind, there was little to no chance that she would have mistaken it as anything else. Though Valerie was aware of what would happen next, she couldn't move as her fear of heights still rooted her to the spot.

The splintering and cracking of wood announced the arrival of a cannon ball, proving she had been right. More cannons fired, the force of their attacks causing tremors through the hull as they made contact. Unfortunate as the attack was it helped snap her out of the state she had been in. Before she could do anything though, she found herself tackled to the floor. Heroic as it was for him to try to save her, she ended up hitting her head on the floor with the wind knocked out of her. Some part of her mind noted that while he was shirtless, he wasn't disgustingly sweaty. That would have been terrible and she was thankful for small favors. Valerie struggled to draw breath as dark spots swam in her vision, disorienting her. The sound of voices and approaching footsteps had taken on an echo like far off quality to them and the darkening of her vision threatened to overwhelm her.

Valerie's last thought before she blacked out was that this guy had the worst luck ever.

A loud ringing sounded in Ardere's ears, as he slammed his palm down onto the ground. Struggling to lift himself up, he found that his body was weaker than usual. It felt as if an entire engine block was on his back, but he pushed through it and lifted himself up. Rubbing his face and head, it felt like he had the hangover of the Millennium. Ugh, I feel like I was run over by a train. Huffing slightly, he rubbed his eyes. The world around him was blurry and spinning for the next few moments. When he came to, all he could see was bars. Reaching out to touch them, he stumbled a bit. Feeling the cold steel, it was familiar somehow. Still unaware of his surroundings fully, the fire mage was in a bit of a daze. If he had to imagine his injuries, it was probably a mild concussion. Reaching to the back of his head, the bleeding seemed to have stopped. After looking around a bit, his sight stopped blurring and he could begin to tell where he was. He was inside the massive pirate ship, in a steel cage. Did they really think a steel cage could hold him? He was a flame god slayer, and crash magic user. Breaking out of things like this should be easy, but that was when he noticed the markings on the steel. Running his fingers across the metal, he felt the runic markings. The metal keeping them in was specifically made to resist magic, just like in Pergrande. It was ironic that his ship was still recovering from the battle there, and now he ran into something likely from there. If these pirates could take on Pergrande knights, then there was no doubt they were powerful. Looking over, out of the cell he noticed his sword locked up in a rack on the far wall. There was no way to reach it, that was for certain. Kuso. Cursing in his native tongue, the fire mage would need to get up to do anything.

Struggling to stand, he mustered up all the strength that he could. He was still shirtless unfortunately, and his body was a bit battered. He felt as if he had been beaten up by a group of men, the fall he had taken must've been hard. He supposed it was what happened when a cannon ball blasted through one's ship and part of their own ship crushed them. Ardere looked around to find anything to break out with, and then he noticed the supposed nun. This day just keeps getting better doesn't it? Looking up to the Heavens, he held his arms out as if to say "Why?". Sighing slightly, he crouched down to make sure the woman was alright. She seemed to be breathing, and suffered no real major injuries, which was certainly a good thing. Attempting to turn her over, he would face palm slightly. Today really was just not his day, now he was trapped in a magic resistant cell with a fake nun. Miss, are you alright? Shaking her slightly, he looked around and saw no one. I wonder what level we're on.. Getting past the magic resistant bars would not be easy, but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. After all, he was a mage. Perhaps he could use his strength to break the bars, no that would likely not work. Looking back to the woman, he wondered if there was anything that she could do about it. He had no idea if she was a mage or not, he had not even gotten her name yet, but it was probably his best chance to break out.

An annoyed groan slipped out of Valerie's mouth as the gradual stirrings of consciousness began to slowly pull her back from the dreamless void that had settled over her mind. Someone was trying to shake her awake and she did not appreciate their efforts in the slightest. The dull pounding inside her head felt oddly reminiscent of the first and only time she had tried tequila - an experience that had not gone well at all.

"I don't feel like getting up. And I am never drinking again." She mumbled crankily as she forced her eyes open with a monumental effort.

Valerie did pick up that Sasha's voice sounded oddly masculine for some reason. It took a couple of moments for her vision to adjust.

Blinking again to make sure she was awake, she stared blankly at the face looking down at her. A face that was most decidedly not that of her aunt's. For a split second, she considered it being some bizarre hangover hallucination where Sasha had somehow turned into a strange man, but then the events prior to her passing out dawned on her.

It was the exhibitionist - the one whose ship she had stolen.

"Oh. Its you."

It was a fine mess she had ended up in. Valerie sat up slowly and very gingerly checked to see if she was in one piece. She was, for the most part. There didn't seem to be anything wrong except for the headache she was experiencing and even that was gradually lessening as the moments ticked by.

After it had abated considerably, she raised her eyes to look at her surroundings. She was stuck inside a metal cage. A real, quite literal cage with steel bars and everything. It wasn't even very big either, considering there were two people occupying it. Then again, whoever it was that had put them in the cage was unlikely to care about their comfort. Valerie had never been in a cage before, which was surprising considering the amount of trouble she managed to get in.

"You very nearly flattened me. But thank you. I doubt getting hit by a cannon ball would have been more pleasant."

The man had probably saved her back there during the attack. It was entirely unexpected since he hadn't really looked all that pleased with her. He had actually seemed annoyed enough to draw a sword on her, if she were to be precise.

"So. Do you have a giant metal cage to keep people in, or are we no longer on your ship?"

Valerie figured the latter was more likely. Although the guy could have had a cage for some reason. She was hardly one to judge. Upon closer inspection, the bars imprisoning them had strange markings carved into them. Tapping one lightly with her fingertip, she frowned as she attempted to make sense of them. It was highly doubtful they had been carved for decorative purposes.

"I'm Vale, by the way. Are you some super important person or are you just great at making friends who like to play rough?"

Arching a brow at the woman's statement, Ardere noted how strange she actually was. A nun that drinks, this certainly is a new one for me. Sliding a pale hand into his pocket, the fire mage looked down at her. She seemed to be in a daze just like he had been, but perhaps her "uniqueness" made it a bit more interesting. Even if she had tried to borrow his ship, she did not deserve to be lying on the ground injured, and because of that he was checking up on her rather than just busting out without her. Not to mention he probably had a better chance busting out with her. His eye twitching a bit at her "Oh it's you" statement, as if he was a tad bit annoyed that she would respond to seeing him with such. Sighing slight, he concluded that it was not worth it to be irritated by her and reverted back to his normal laid back demeanor. After all, if the two were arguing escape would not be likely. Now that he was certain she was okay, he would look at the bars, examining them once again. It's no problem, I'm not letting a nun die on my ship, even if she isn't a real one. Tugging on the bars, he noticed that the floor was wooden like most pirate ships. Hmm.

Turning back to her as she posed her question, he tilted his head and let out a deep breath before returning to his normal posture. No, we are certainly not on my ship. I'd say this here is a pirate ship, and by the looks of it a fairly sturdy one at that. Tugging on the bars again, he bit his lip. Still examining the bars, he smirked slightly as the woman finally took it upon herself to reveal her identity. My name is Ardere Kasai, I'm the guild master of a guild called Infinity Hydra, not that that would mean anything to you as of yet. It's fairly new. Though I am pretty good at making friends who play rough. Chuckling slightly, the god slayer cracked his knuckles. While these bars would not break, he had a pretty good idea of what actually would. Leaning down, he put his ear to the floor. Listening to people walking and carrying things on the floor below, he waited until he heard no one. Normally he would have looked around to see if anyone was on their current floor as well, but now that his senses were not in a daze, he could tell no one was. The ship did not smell particularly great, but not necessarily horrid either.

Looking to the young woman, he made a hand motion as if he was inferring she should move back a bit. You might wanna step back. Wiping his hands together, Ardere took a deep breath. Drawing his fist back, he slammed it down against the wood connected to the bars. His strength was bar beyond that of even a normal mage of his rank, he was perhaps even physically stronger than an S ranked mage. Splintering the wood and cracking it, it appeared that he could make a way out. Repeatedly slamming his fist down onto the wood in several spots, the bars came loose from the floor. Then grabbing the bars, he took another deep breathe. Bending them as far as he could away from the floor, he had made a small enough exit for one person at a time. Panting slightly, he caught his breath. Ladies first. Gesturing to the exit, he waited for the woman to exit before he did.

The man really seemed to be stuck on the nun thing, if his words were anything to go by. Perhaps he was somewhat religious and considered her impersonation of one to be blasphemous. Though, he had saved her, blasphemy not withstanding. She wasn't entirely sure what that was about.

"So you're saying you'd have gladly let me die had I been dressed as an orange instead? Or was it that you'd let a nun die if she wasn't on your ship?"

Valerie smoothed her clothes and tucked in the few wisps of lilac hair that had escaped, seemingly not the least bit concerned about their current predicament. The way she conversed, they might as well have been at afternoon tea in a garden. His confirmation that they were no longer on his ship and that they were currently prisoners of pirates didn't so much as cause the girl to blink. If worse came to worst, she could always teleport herself out of the cage. So long as they weren't about to fall to their deaths, she was nonplussed.

The news that he was a guild master did, however, cause her to look up at him in surprise. Which then quickly turned dubious as she continued to peer at him. Ardere - that was his name - didn't look all that old. And he certainly didn't have a giant bushy beard.

"Really? You're a guild master? But you're not very.... beardy. Or old. Do you just look young, then?"

These were all potentially quite annoying and even somewhat offensive questions to bombard anyone, let alone a perfect stranger with. Of course, it went without saying that such things were of no concern to her.

Valerie herself had never been in a guild or even seen a guild master. It all seemed rather pointless and troublesome, in her opinion. She doubted she would ever last more than a week in a guild. Though she wasn't truly silly enough to consider that all guild masters would be wizened old men with bushy beards and walking canes, she found reality to be rather dull and much preferred to make up her own theories. The more outlandish the better.

Life was far too important a thing to be taken seriously.

Ardere appeared to finally be done with his examination of the bars and then proceeded to press his ear to the floor. It was an odd thing to do, unless he possessed above average senses. Or wanted to get better acquainted with the floor.She was about to ask if he would like a moment alone when he suddenly gestured for her to stay back.

Watching him with renewed fascination, Valerie chose to comply and step as far back as the cage would allow her.  

Contrary to what the girl had expected, he managed to splinter the wood and loosen the bars somewhat, all with nothing but his fists. She blinked a couple of times, her delicate brows shooting up in surprise. Taken aback as she was, Valerie wasted no time in hitching up her skirts above her knees and slipping through the gap he had created. Looking around once she was outside, her eyes landed on a familiar sword tucked safely into a weapons rack on the far wall. She supposed the least she could do was get Ardere's sword back for him. Well, that and she had zero interest in melee weapons. Without a second thought, she turned her back and left him to finish breaking out of the cage.

It took little to no time for her to close the distance and use one of her wickedly sharp hairpins to pick the lock holding the sword in place. Once it was free, Valerie turned on her heel and drew it on Ardere, the sword's tip pointing at his neck in a mimicry of the way he had leveled it at her.

Before he had time to get upset and go on a rampage though, she quickly reversed it and extended it to him hilt first.

"Is your hand okay?"

Ardere chuckled slightly in response to her comments. He could have made a snappy retort, but getting the heck out of here was of the utmost importance. On the list of things to do, getting back to his ship was at the tippy top. Allowing her to ass through the gap, he grabbed the bars that he bent and slid right under it. The floor that he had repeatedly smashed was a bit unstable, but luckily they would not have to walk across it now. Looking the woman picking the lock, he arched a brow. While he could have easily crushed the lock, he did appreciate this act. If anything, it meant that they had both accepted the fact that they would need one another to get out of this alive. Waiting for her to pick the lock, he gladly accepted the sword. Tossing the sheath over his back, he would draw the red blade. It was still shining in the light, beautiful as ever. There was little chance that Clarent could have possibly taken any damage due to it's strength, but he was always a little bit worried when he was missing it. Now that he had acquired his blade, it was time to get a move on. Yeah my hand is alright, just a bit sore. Many thanks, now let's get going.

Looking down at his hand, it was a bit bloodied. While he possessed the strength to do what he did, it still hurt like hell to hit a wooden floor. Fortunately his skin was tougher than the average bear, and wrapping his head band around it would suffice. Now that he had taken care of his wound a bit, he clutched his sword tight. Waiting for the woman to confirm that she was ready, he would make his way down the hall, hopefully with her following suit. The ship was primarily composed of wood, but he could see the steel frame that ran between the walls and the edges of the floor. While it may look rotten and run down, this ship was perhaps more sturdy than any he had ever seen. Not sure what floor we're on, but I imagine going up is the best route yeah? He began to break out into a light run, as if signalling to the woman that they would need to pick up their pace. While he saw no pirates yet, he imagined this place was crawling with them. A large ship needed a large crew, and Ardere knew that. Keeping his sword out, the fire mage would not take long before finding himself in front of a staircase. Holding his hand up as a motion to tell Valerie to wait, he focused his senses on the surrounding area.

Listening to all the sounds on the next floor, he determined that there were several men in the surrounding halls, but the main one appeared to be clear. Scent wise, he did not smell anything out of the ordinary. Alright it seems clear, but be careful. Wouldn't want a woman of faith to end up on her ass in a cell again. A smirk running across his face, Ardere swiftly but silently made his way up the stairs. The next floor was composed of the same wood, but rather than a room with cages and weapons, it appeared to be for storage. Barrels full of food and supplies, the attached rooms were likely kitchens of sorts. The hall was several meters wide, and at least a hundred in terms of length. Peering down the hall, he did not spot anyone. Looking back to make sure the woman was alright, he began traversing the floor. Much to his dismay, four pirates came bursting out of one of the rooms. Laughing and talking, they seemed surprised that when they turned, found themselves in front of the two. The men drew their swords and began charging the man and woman. Yare yare daze. You wouldn't happen to be a mage would you, Vale? Cracking his knuckles, the god slayer lifted up his blade in preparation for battle.

Strangely enough, there didn't seem to be anyone around to witness their escape. It wasn't as if smashing through wood was the most silent of tasks, after all. There hadn't been even a single sentry posted to watch over the two prisoners. Either the pirates usually ended up capturing rather docile hostages, or they had put all of their stock in the anti-magic runes warding the cage. Neither of those options made their captors seem like the smartest of sorts.

Or perhaps no one had made it off their ship alive.

Since bloody and skinned knuckles counted as 'fine' to Ardere, Valerie shrugged and let the matter drop. It was most likely something to do with being a manly man and therefore too far out of her area of expertise.

They took off at a light run, with Valerie glaring daggers at the back of his head. He was too bloody tall. Her shorter legs, coupled with the floor length skirt of her nun outfit hindered her movements by quite a bit than his. She didn't dare run with her skirts hoisted above her knees for fear of giving Ardere a heart attack from the shock of seeing a woman of supposed faith bare her legs. So she did the next best thing and instantly swapped her clothes with more suitable ones that consisted of a pirate shirt and corset with tight pants. All that was missing was the hat and she planned to get herself one of those soon enough.  

Ardere's abrupt halt very nearly caused her to slam into him, but she caught herself just in time before they collided. His comment about nuns caused her to scoff and shake her head chidingly.

"Really, Ardere. Your strange fascination with nuns needs to end. Or be kept secret, at the very least. What ever will people say?"

Valerie followed him up a flight of wooden stairs, the soft soles of her leather boots making no noise as she ascended. She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the shape the ship was in. Though it was undoubtedly quite sturdy, it lacked the finesse and polish that Ardere's had. She wasn't going to accept this ship even if someone gave it to her for free - then again, she probably wouldn't accept the Black Sun either if it was just handed over to her. There was hardly any fun in that.

"What sort of mage are you, anyway? I haven't seen you use any spells but your senses seem to be far above the average."

Just then, the door to one of the many rooms lining the hallway opened and a small group of pirates stepped out. Their boisterous laughter was cut short as they met with the duo who were definitely not supposed to be wandering the ship.

While the four men were taken by momentary surprise, Valerie wasted no time in changing to her Sentinel form. The charging pirates suddenly found themselves falling down none too gently as Valerie took out their kneecaps with her perfectly aimed shots. The remaining two bullets found themselves embedded in the skulls of two of the men respectively. Hopefully Ardere wouldn't just stand there holding his sword and finish off the remaining two.

"No. I'm very obviously just a woman of faith." Valerie's voice sounded different from the usual and held a synthetic quality to it.

Spells and things.

spell armor:

spell weapon:

Siggies.

1:

2:

Total MP used = 30%

Ardere rolled his neck back and forth, popping sounds being made as he cracked it. What kind of mage am I? Well, I suppose we'll see then. Clutching his red long sword tight, he watched as the supposed nun/pirate took on her share of the pirates. Rather than just sitting back and watching, he chose to participate. The two men with their swords seemed eager to fight, but he would likely crush that spirit soon. The brown haired mage was interested to see how strong these pirates were, but the ones in the kitchen were not likely the strongest. As much as he would love to go home and sleep or read a good book, it was not every day that one encountered flying pirates. Dashing towards the two, he easily ducked under their blades, and maneuvered himself behind them. Twisting his body, he took to the air slamming both of his heels into the backs of the men. They were sent tumbling across the ground, thud after thud as they scraped against the wood. While they were not the strongest of enemies, their twitching and moving bodies revealed that they had a decent amount of fortitude. Rather than just letting them get up, he would cause some damage to the ship, but not enough to destroy it. Since his back was to Vale, and the men were in front of him, he would not block their path or harm her, rather destroy the path they had come from.

Bringing his blade up into the air, he quickly brought it down. Black flames seeping into the floor, they would burst up from the wood. A mountain range of black flames burst from the floor, rampaging through the ship. Wood turning black and disintegrating, the range of mountains destroyed a large part of the ship. Ardere felt the ground rumble and the floor in front of him begin to collapse. After a second or two, a large bang would sound throughout the ship. He instantly felt the ship begin to slowly descend. Looks like I hit one of the engines, we should probably get to the deck and find my ship. Turning back to the woman, black flames still covering the walls behind him. He noticed that she had made quick work of the men, as had he. Albeit, he had caused a lot more damage than she had. Oh and to answer your question, I am a Flame God Slayer. I'm guessing you're a requip mage yourself. Let's get to it. Waiting for confirmation from Vale, he would break into a light dash down the hall. He had caused quite the ruckus, and enemies would likely begin pouring in. Slowing the ship down had been his goal all along, due to the fact that even if they escaped, his injured ship would be too slow to outrun them. Now that he had evened the odds, their escape seemed more likely.

The storage hall was not long, but at the end of it they would come upon two sets of stairs. From what he could tell, one led to the barracks and one to the mess hall. Quickly making a decision, he ran up to the barracks. Ardere was quick on his toes, but every decision here counted. Enemies were tailing behind them, a group of five men that were fortunately slower than the two mages. He took no time to take in the scenery of the beds, and the few windows giving a view out into the skies. It was not much scenery really, just an average barracks. But a couple of flintlock shots flew past his head, prompting him to lift up one of the beds and set it ablaze before kicking it towards the group of men. These guys sure are persistent.

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