Shenanigans 3: Revenge of The...Guy (Mao/Mei)

Job Description:

Hargeon Town.

Though technically just a town, the combination of a port and a train station causes it to rival some cities in terms of population and commerce. The citizens of this town bustled about on their usual business, some were fishermen selling their catch to restaurants here and abroad, others were moving freight off of trains to be sold at local stores. All seemed as normal in the sunny port town, home of the magical guild Lamia Scale. In the midst of all this hustle and bustle, a certain gray haired mage wearing a black coat strolled through the streets. 

Dmitry Kazakov would normally be sleeping somewhere around town at this time of day, not out of any particular schedule, but simply because that was when he generally got sleepy. However, a recent job had him thinking about things he usually didn't worry about. It was a disturbing turn of events that left him with the sound of someone he cares about screaming, a sound he would have preferred to have never heard. Unfortunately, walking through town at the busiest part of the day wasn't exactly helping his mood either, the constant bumping into strangers beginning to wear on his nerves. Maybe a nap would have been a better idea after all...

'Did it really bother you so much, boy?' Asked the wolf spirit Hati, unheard by all but Dmitry.

'I don't know, old man,' the young sage replied through their psychic link. 'I just don't know.'

Not paying full attention to where he was going, Dmitry managed to slam hard into someone a bit shorter than him, knocking them on the ground. "Oh, I uh...Sorry about that." He apologized before helping the woman to her feet.

Mei had just minding her own business, the day was nice out, and there wasn't really much to do, possibly go shopping to replace the third fridge's contents, after all it was getting a little bit empty for her tastes, half full and all that non sense. So she was on her way down to the market to possibly pick up some fish, or other assorted veggies, when her mind began to wander. She had done so much recently, and her new master had really helped her out, perhaps Mei should go and  thank him somehow, wait no the real way to thank him would be to go on that expedition that he had told her about... odd all things considered. Seriously if the place he was describing was correct then Mei would be in a world of hurt, and not just physically but spiritually. The sea of devil's didn't really sound like a wholesome place after all.

All of this pondering led to Mei not paying any form of attention to her surroundings, a fatal flaw right now as apparently a man came and bumped into her. Thankfully she wasn't carrying anything, or else it might have flown off into space, only to crash down and leave an impact of nothing but tears in it's wake, and a whole giant mess.

"That's perfectly fine, I should have been paying better attention to be honest... You aren't hurt are you, I know sometimes people say I can be thick headed."

This town should’ve felt overly familiar given how often she came here according to records. Outside of records however everything just looked strange. Foreign. Some things held a hint of familiarity, but as if the woman had to squint through a veil to truly recognize it. A few books detailed that going to places when dealing with memory issues could help jog them, running into something familiar there likely to evoke something and help the person put the pieces back together. Nothing. No such luck.

Hidden by a hood Mao’s ears would’ve drooped if they weren’t already pressed down by the cloth. Rather than mingle into the crowd she stayed to the alleys and back streets, unwilling to mix amongst the masses when her mind remained so fretful. ’What more will I forget?’ The idea of more memories slipping out like sands from a broken hour glass set her nerves aflame, an odd and curious tightness welling up in her chest. Perhaps it was sadness, but she couldn’t rightly say since it matched a myriad of things she’d read about.

Nearby she heard people bumping into one another but paid it no mind, the subdued hearing alongside the cacophony of the crowds drowned out the single familiar tone between the two. Too many people blocked Mao’s view of one of her newer growing friendships. ’Can’t hide here all day…they don’t seem keen on coming out into the open however.’ Gritting her teeth Mao braced her nerves, eyes trained purely on the opposite side of the street before she made a mad dash to the other side. Halfway across something snagged on her hood, momentarily halting her steps as it managed to yank the garment from her head before dislodging, some carefree child upon his parent’s shoulders giggling at the unveiled ears even as the woman continued her path.

Dmitry had been about to move on, when something caught his attention. As if someone sprinting across the street didn't stand out enough, this person's hood was pulled down by some foreign object that went clattering to the ground, revealing a very familiar pair of ears. The mage's mood suddenly shifted as he saw the partial source of the unpleasantness he was feeling, making him feel better and worse at the same time.

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that..." He repeated to the stranger he bumped into, not realizing they were from the same guild, and began chasing after his bunny-eared friend. He met her at the other side of the street and called out to her. 

"Hey! What're you doin' here?" He asked, hoping that talking to the real deal would take his mind off the screams of a fake. "Couldn't stay away from the library huh? I got plenty of time on my hands if you wanna pay a visit. Or we could always make a trip to the fishbone."

'Take it easy, boy,' he heard Hati say, not realizing how excited he was. 'You might scare the poor girl.'

'Oh...oh right.' He responded, trying to tone it back down to his usual level.

"I've heard of 'hit it and quit it', but that was a little insane, and slightly rude. What got his attention so fast anyway...?"

Turning to look in the direction he darted off towards, Mei noticed something, rabbit ears... a most strange sensation. This was a feeling that she hadn't felt since... a few days ago. Yes, she was sure of it, it was her new old pal Mao, who had appeared out of nowhere just in the nick of time, plot convenience was awesome like that! In all seriousness, it was really strange that Mei had just run into this dude, who apparently knew Mao, and then found Mao. Oh well, Mei wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, or a Mao in the tail, though Mao did have a nice tail...s.

Regardless Mei would shift her way through the crowd, hopefully arriving in time to save Mao from any embarrassment with but a simple greeting, well embarrassment from this dude, but not from knowing Mei of course, Mei wasn't Aiyana, Mei was far less of a blight on your friend card, from a social standpoint.

"Hey there Mao, what are you doing in town? This guy, giving you trouble or something?"

Sadly, Mei said all of this in a sarcastic tone, not knowing that it might well have a far more devastating impact on the atmosphere. Still, that's just Mei's ignorance, and her more recent attitude of enjoying a few jokes between buddies.

Someone called out to her, Mao stopping before she went too far down the new alley. It was a strange combination of words as it could’ve been accusatory had his tone not sounded friendly…ish. At least judging from this man’s face he wouldn’t be a bubbly type, but he lacked any suspicion in his eyes. The man continued to speak as if she might understand his references, the woman’s face remaining blank as she regarded and listened to him more out of politeness than anything. To be truthful she was flipping through memories, attempting to locate a name in her memory banks that matched the face.

’Dmitry…I think it was.’

Again it was like sifting through sludge to even dredge something up as she could vaguely recall him helping her with a thing or two. Had they become somewhat chummy over it though? She honestly couldn’t recall coming to Hargeon over some library, so the girl really couldn’t understand if he meant that purely or if it was some sort of code word for another place or thing. Unconsciously she took a step away from the man, finding him a little close until another presence made herself known.

”Oh, Mei!” a small smile broke out, some comfort returning despite the fact she didn’t think this Dmitry fellow to be anything too worrisome, ”Oh, no, he’s fine. I think he’s just offering to show me around town, but I need to complete a job first. I...um…hmm…” In all the excitement she’d forgotten what she was here to do, frowning a slight bit, ’I knew I should’ve brought it along just in case.’ She’d simply scanned the location and a place to meet the person who posted it, but couldn’t recall reading the details at all. ’What a dumb oversight…’ That would teach her to avoid her guild hall, though with the recent transfer of…that girl she couldn’t help feeling a little unsure about the place. Even if Aiyana helped reveal an issue it didn’t make it any less comfortable to meet the girl’s eyes and see sadness somewhat hidden.

”Um…oops, I might’ve actually gone too far while trying to avoid the crowds. I think I was supposed to meet the person either down this street or the next.” Now she just felt silly, unable to help a small tinting of her cheeks.

Dmitry's heart sank a bit when she took a step back, wondering if he had gotten just a bit to excited. No, that wasn't it. The look she had on her face was...

A sinking feeling fell over the summoner as a suspicion began to creep it's way into his mind. Had it gotten worse? Sillibus had already explained her condition in depth after he had become aware of it through his own experience in the matter. But now it seemed like she barely recognized him. 

Her statement to the person he had bumped into earlier, who just so happened to know Mao, confirmed that thought: her recent memories were starting to fade as well. There's no other way that she could go from wanting to live in Zuo's Grand Library, to not having any clue what it even was. Still, the fact that he remembered this Mei person showed him that she still had some memories. They must have met at a later time. Regardless, someone he cared about needed assistance and he wasn't about to withhold that aid.

"Leave it to me; I've got just the thing." He said with confidence, before closing his eyes. Upon reopening them, his pupils were glowing silver and his irises had turned pitch black.

"I invoke the Twin Ravens: Huginn! Muninn!" With that, the two smoke-like birds flew forth from Dmitry's hand and into the sky, canning the roads below. Soon after, his bond with the spirits allowed him to observe what seemed most like someone waiting to confirm a guild job. Upon Mao's confirmation of the client's appearance, he proceeded to lead the two ladies to the spot.

---

HP: 200
MP: 95%

Spells Used:

Mei had only made a joke, but in half a moment she could tell that everything was weird... the atmosphere was very... odd. The tension could be cut with a knife, if only Mei actually had one. Perhaps that was the curse of knowing more and more people, awkward moments like this could and would happen often. Sadly Mei didn't know what to do right now, it was all out of her normal ally of expertise, normally Mei was the one who was surrounded by the awkward not looking in on it, so she didn't know how to solve the problem for other people. Maybe pretending like it never happened in the first place was the best idea?

Suddenly Dmitry decided to go all smoke and mirrors and summon a few ravens, totally not drawing the attention of the locals in the meantime. Could he have been more obvious? Oh well, suppose it would help to find the person Mao was apparently looking for. Regardless Mei would follow Dmitry in his attempt to locate the client on foot, and then for no other reason, other than she was bored possibly tag along, that and she got to hang out with Mao a bit, that was always a plus. She was fun, and had a little more in common with Mei than Mei had originally thought.

Luckily for the confused and unsure mage Mei didn’t decide to up and ditch her, leaving the girl alone with this odd fellow who seemed all too enthused to help. ’Well, can’t really fault him though as it’d be useful to locate them. I wonder how he did that though, are they just illusions or some sort of entity he can create?’ Perhaps later she’d ask him about it, but right now she settled for watching the fellow as he lead them towards the client.

Just as she’d described, the woman waiting for them sported black hair and brown eyes and looked relieved to see them even if a little confused, ”I thought only one person signed up….shouldn’t be more than a two person job, but I guess if you’re all willing to take it on then it’ll be all the easier? Either way it’d be a grand help to the people of Hargeon if you could deal with this mysterious arsonist. While he’s committed some unsavory crimes up above ground, what’s become the trickiest problem is the fact he uses the sewer system to escape as well as hide out. One of my comrades was burned, but in a rather unconventional way since it didn’t leave the usual scorch marks. I’d be careful of staying in the water too long as we think he might be heating it up to deadly degrees.”

The woman’s face twisted, obviously disgusted even as she felt some concern over the situation because it was still sewage water. Mao looked away, a little disgusted at the prospect as well but…a job was a job and it was her fault for not reading the information closely. Through poo water they’d have to go…’Well, there should be some sort of sidewalk down there for us to walk on at least. But there will be a few baths and a good, long soak in a hot springs or something after this.’ A girl had to treat herself right after all. She’d probably invite Mei along too, owing the girl for helping spontaneously with this and it’d be nice to hang out with someone she not only knew, but knew that she still knew….if that mei’d any sense.

Sewer.

Of course it was a sewer.

It simply had to be a sewer, right?

How else was Dmitry supposed to end his day smelling like human feces.

Despite his groan however, he was a mage of Lamia scale and while he didn't much care for man's laws, he was obligated to intercede if there was a killer on the loose. That, and he couldn't very well leave Mao to go by herself. The mage was worried about her mental state and needed to keep an eye on her in case she showed any new developments. "Great, i'd been meaning to see what knee high fecal matter was like," Dmitry said sarcastically. "Count me in. We're friends right?" The gray haired medium dropped this hint with the most reassuring look he could put in his eyes, hoping that Mao would pick up the fact that they had been friends. "And besides," Dmitry held up his arm and pulled his sleeve down, revealing the guild mark on his arm. "Can't let a nut like this run around my guild's home town, now can I?"

And so, the happy-ish band of mages made their jolly way to the Hargeon sewers, full of sunshine and cheery expectations for the...okay, they were go into crap water and they new it. Dmitry lifted the man hole where the poo dwelling arsonist was last seen, reeling a bit as the smell hit him like a brick wall. "Ah, I should of known I'd be going into a sewer: I was having such a good day." He said with even more sarcasm. Not that his day was actually going well up till now, but the odor of the city's collective relief made his afternoon seem like a breeze...that didn't smell in the slightest. 

Upon getting to the bottom of the ladder, Dmitry tried his best to adjust to the conditions he now found himself in. He could have said he'd been in worse places, but that wasn't saying much.

"Well, no sense dragging this trip out; let's find the bastard."

---

HP: 200
MP: 95%

Responsibility, a word that could make people believe they were swimming in crap, apparently this time it really meant swimming in crap. Mei had listened to the speech the man had given about the villain, funny enough Mei had heard a few stories about it, after all she lived in town due to the guild, but hadn't done anything about it, she figured the rune knights were on it... seriously those guy's didn't get anything done. It seemed like they were too busy talking about policies than enacting them in any kind of meaningful manor. Perhaps the crap that she was going to end up in represented their own policy of handling all these serial killers and hooligans, utter crap with no purpose that just drifted about. Okay, that was too harsh, there were probably good people, but seriously she seemed to have to clean up quite a bit of their work...

Heading down without so much as a peep, Mei got a whiff of the horrible atmosphere and decided enough was enough, heck at least she crapped nice and health diamonds, being partly made of magmatic substance was cool sometimes. Speaking of such a substance, Mei looked around and then realized that the sewer needs a little bit of a cleaning... while the light might give their position away Mei didn't care if it got rid of the smell, or at least made it safer to walk along the walkways...

"Not dealing with this shit."

Throwing her hand out over the running sewage, Mei let it begin to drip down, the red hot substance making the water sizzle before she fully deployed her naturally-made substance into the water, causing it to come to a boil and be devoured in due time, though it was a slower progress than Mei had hoped, after all she was only so fast, but thankfully as it multiplied she made it all the more apparent that this would at the very least make the adventure less of a "shitfest".

Turning towards Dmitry she would speak a bit,

"You can summon birds, I make things melt away it's a mutual relationship if you can get something to scout ahead while we walk along the hopefully melted crap right? At least it won't smell as bad, and it won't get on our clothes, right?"

Looking towards Mao for a second Mei would state something else.

"Sorry Mao I know it doesn't work well with you, but it's either this or we deal with more crap than we are expected to, I'll try to avoid your crystals whenever possible."

”Err…yeah!” Despite her smile, Mao could feel the hesitation oozing out as she awkwardly tried to sound upbeat. Friends. The way this guy acted must’ve meant she either had a stalker – who was sort of bad at it if he openly approached her like this – or she might’ve forgotten someone else. Neither option held a lot of appeal, least of all the notion of forgetting someone else. The fact that one girl almost lost it tore at Mao’s heart, but realizing there might be others who knew her and expected the girl to remember them fondly….it filled her with a sad sense of dread.

Things were terrible down there, not that the woman expected anything better for essentially the communal toilet. That smell though was over the top and she pinched her nose, almost hugging the wall and yet skittish about touching the rock unnecessarily. This whole place was probably infested with all sorts of fun infections and it was with an internal sigh that she watched Mei deal with the primary problem. When she dared to release her poor nose the earlier stench became mostly masked in the scent of burnt. ’Well…I guess it’s something of an improvement.’

”Oh, no, it’s perfectly all right!” Mao assured Mei, ”I’ll try to avoid the magma in turn, but the scent of cooked stone is scads better over fresh sewage…if sewage could ever be called ‘fresh.’” Though that did bring to mind….why the hell had she accepted a job that involved a heat-based opponent in the first place? Sticking to the back of the group she pondered over such a silly slip up as she let either of them take the lead, quite probably the overly friendly fellow and his ethereal creations or whatever they actually were.

The member 'Mao' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Dmitry's faced scrunched up a bit at the smell of burning poo in the air. However, that smell as well as the previous smell of poo in the air was replaced with the significantly more pleasant smell of burnt concrete. Soon after, the group was followed inside by Huginn and Muninn, who landed gracefully on Dmitry's shoulders. 

"Sounds good to me!" He said to the woman pouring out the magma. "I'll leave you to dookie-detail." With that, the Twin ravens flew well in front of him to scout out any danger that might be lurking ahead, thankful that he could ignore the smells transmitted through his bond with the birds. As he walked forward, Dmitry wondered what it was exactly that he was doing. Why did this person mean so much to him? True, she saved his life, but she no longer remembered that day; shouldn't he forget about that debt as well? 

No, it wasn't that. He noticed it the first day they met. For some reason, being around her felt...different. That feeling had grown since then, causing his mood to lift whenever she was around. Why? What was it about her that was so special to him? Why did he feel so compelled to help her? Why did it hurt him so much to know that she was going through the same thing that he did so long ago? It was the first time he had gotten so wrapped up in the why of things. Dmitry was jogged from his train of thought when he spotted something. 

"Heads up! We got three hostile constructs made out of...water." He said that last part with an enormous amount of dread. Intent on avoiding said 'water', Dmitry converted Huginn and Muninn into a pair of knives before sending them raining down on the construct in the center, which just happened to be on fire, before holding out his hand again.

"I invoke the Great Wolf: Hati!" An enormous wolf, twice the size of the normal variety, emerged in a cloud of what looked like shimmering smoke and charged through the flaming glob of water, destroying it and grazing the two beside it. 

"You're up ladies!"

---

HP: 200
MP: 85%

Normal Spell Used:

Signature Spell Used:

A few scouts and movements later, and the entire sewer was starting to become a molten paradise for Mei. Normally the girl wouldn't care too much about how much she had in terms of resources, spread around the "battlefield" but as Dmitry seemed to notice the creeping... uh enemies Mei too took some notice. She might not have been able to throw out little scouts, but she could at least around and through all of the walls. Pretty helpful little trinket now that Mei thought about it more, especially in this kind of situation, still hurt a little bit sometimes though, but such was the price for avoiding an ambush on occasion.

As Mei continued to poor more and more magma into the water, she tried to make it less horrible, but at the same time, she didn't advance it up to where Dmitry's summons were, that was just asking for trouble in case they got hit back or forced to retreat, and instead of landing in horrible water, they would land in melting death kneels. Instead when some of the little buggers broke off from Dmitry Mei saw fit to attack towards them. Most of them weren't water but were on fire, the couple that were made of water, broke off and went straight for well Dmitry and Mao, ironically they didn't seem to care about Mei that much, it was a little odd, she could understand Dmitry but why Mao? Did they secretly hate her or something, did Mao's tails offend? It was probably just some kind of hidden fireball racism or something. Still it was impressive if the guy responsible for burning down all of these places could make familiars like this, Mei was very interested in taking this guy out, such a power was troublesome in the end.

Regardless with but a flick of her melted hand, mostly for flare, Mei tossed some of the magma already made to make a wall, as the little jerks tried to throw out their fire and water. It was blocked by the magma as it all reinforced itself and formed a shielded wall. The poor little things didn't what was about to hit them as they tried to move around the wall, only to have the magma completely seal them inside of a sphere, since Mei freely manipulated all of it to match up around them. They shot out little bursts and while it seemed like it might make a dent, it was simply too thick for them to actually get through with such few numbers, and such precise blows. Covering them with more and more magma Mei made a clenching motion with her fist and let the magma rapidly implode upon them, ending them in a flurry of blows, causing one of the creatures to explode, but the sheer thickness blocked out the explosion, instead all it did was cause any other of them living within the magma sphere still to detonate or die.

Now though Mei had to check on the others, she was obviously observing them the whole time, but a verbal confirmation would be worth it.

"You guy's alright?"

In the end it would appear she was completely useless and unnecessary in the grand scheme of things, though the girl could’ve declared that at the very beginning. Like a ringleader and two cronies some fiery creation flanked by two water-based entities appeared, little grim smiles in place as if they’d enjoy any inflicted pain. ’But are they really alive or is that more of a cosmetic feature?’ She’d seen people who sometimes stylized their magic after all, knowing a snow user who once liked to make each snowball with a smiley face and dubbed them his “Have a Nice Day Snowballs.” The fire-based one saw a swift end between the daggers and wolf spirit, but Mao flinched a bit when the two water entities “burst” within the magma. Not that she could see it, more of her imagination flaring up. The idea of going out in such flaming glory held little appeal however as she nodded, ”Yes, I’m fine.”

Scratching the back of her head, Mao’s eyes quickly flicked from one to the other. ’That looked pretty natural…and she even easily avoided harming the bird creations…’ Suspicions gathered alongside the current evidence since the fellow came off as rather friendly for someone who didn’t strike her as the usually overly helpful and friendly type. Finally she couldn’t hold back the question as she regarded them both, ”Are you two friends by any chance? You two seem to work well.” As she spoke Mao walked closer to Dmitry, whispering to the poor, probably smitten lad, ”If you’re trying to get her attention you should try to be more yourself. I’ll try to put in a good word for you though if you like?” The rabbit-eared mage may be friends with Mei, but that didn’t mean the girl quite knew her taste in men and while getting in the friend(s)’s good graces was a good strategy Mao couldn’t say if it’d work or not.

Not that she was aware of how drastically far from the bullseye her arrow went: it was just the “logical” conclusion she’d managed to work out. Either way a job that should’ve been worrisome for her might prove to be a great deal easier because of it, though it struck her as a bit odd…’There must’ve been some reason I took this job though. Oh well.’

The member 'Mao' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

As Hati walked back to his summoner/pupil, Dmitry looked at Mao as if she'd grown a second head, eyes still glowing from the previous invocation. "Get her attention?" He asked her, completely oblivious to what she was implying. "Why would I wanna do that?" At that, the spectral wolf sighed heavily. "Don't bother, young lady," he said without actually moving his lips. "I never could teach him what that sort of thing means. Besides..." Hati looked coyly at Mao, much to the confusion and subsequent irritation of the mage who commanded him. "...I don't think it's her attention he would like to hold." Dmitry shook his head at what he considered to be Hati's usual cryptic nonsense. "Anyway," he said in an attempt to halt the wolf's rambling. "I don't really know her. To be honest, we just met today." Despite the fact that he already showed his two companions the mark of Lamia scale on his forearm, Dmitry had yet to realize that the girl he had met earlier was one of his guildmates. 

Just then, a spike in the rooms temperature could be felt, getting the attention of both the sage and the wolf. The two simultaneously looked down the walkway as two more fire constructs began moving towards them, raising the temperature in the confined area as they got closer. 

"You wanna try 'that' again?" Dmitry said to his mentor, reaching down for the knife in his boot. "Why not?" Answered Hati, preparing to charge once again. "Ought to at least be fun." With that, he charged the space between the two masses of fire the same way he did before, leaving a wake that not only harmed them, but split them apart as well. Just as he turned back towards the one closest to the wall, Dmitry hurled the knife in his hand, Dark Fang, at the being. While the curse applied to the knife relied on malevolence to produce it's full potential, it still had enough magic power within it to split this nonliving thing open, revealing it's core. As the blade traveled through the air behind the now filleted being, Hati leaped forward and caught the grip of the knife in his mouth. He then braced the wall with his front legs before kicking off of it with his back legs, sending him straight at the exposed core of the construct. Shifting his weight to his side, Hati cut through the core with the knife in his mouth and slid across the ground towards Dmitry before landing.

Before he could come to a full stop, the being now behind him erupted in to a swath of flame going in all directions. While Hati took the brunt of the explosion, destroying his already scorched form, Dmitry stepped in front of Mao and braced himself too block the intense wave of heat that still rolled toward him, lowering his head and raising his left shoulder to reduce the discomfort. After the heat-wave passed, a sweating Dmitry looked to Mao with concern, having pieced together by now that she needed to avoid the heat.

"You good?"

Mei had just finished crushing a few balls, and here she was, having to listen to Mao go on about how Dmitry and Mei were a couple... wait what? Since when were they even, or what even the whole couple things people pairing. Hold on Mei was currently suffering blue screen of confusion at the stupid, and now needed to restart a bit. Sadly even after a bit of a restart and a system brain scan Mei learned that it wasn't just a blue screen system thirty-two was uninstalled, she now needed an entirely new operating system. So needless to say as the violence went on around her Mei just stood still the magma flowing and her brain not so much. How could Mao possibly think that... with... when... nope another system restart was needed.

After about a hundred updates and installations going on within her mind, Mei finally snapped to a somewhat conscious state, just in time to see the epic saving of Mao by Dmitry. That was it Mei could be silent no longer, this entire situation filled her with frustration, and rage towards the two of them, though mostly Mao a bit, how could anyone be so dense, seriously! marching up to the couple, Mei sighed and gave a glare that could pierce through steel.

"Look Mao, he's cute and has a nice little package but that doesn't mean i'm interested in him, as a matter of fact it seems like you two are awfully close. He just threw his body in front of you to keep you safe, he's been happy every time he looks at you, and you think I am trying to get together with him! Mao, he clearly likes you even if he is too ignorant... no offense, to notice it! Look, sorry but at this point you two should just fu--"

Suddenly a few of the little bastards tried to throw an attack towards Mei, thankfully with perfect timing to avoid words that Mei might have regret saying in a more, reserved attitude.

"Whatever I'll handle these guy's just guy's just go forward some more, and I'll meet up with you two later, and don't do anything too suspect till we are out of here, the place is probably disease heaven."

Marching forward towards the little buggers that appeared behind her, Mei prepared to engage them and finish them off, hopefully distracting her long enough to get over her unjustified rage at the situation.

The member 'That Adopted Kid' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Oh? Had she gotten it wrong? ’Why? She is a looker…some people would probably say Mei’s hot stuff.’ The fact that she crafted a mental pun also flew over the cuckoo’s nest that was Mao’s head as she internally shrugged it off. The wolf creation’s words only confused her, ensuring that it was an entire party condition as she very momentarily mused over such a fact. Why would anybody want her attention anyhow? Unless this fellow wanted to sell her something it just seemed a bit strange since they hardly even knew one another…right? The budding realization was immediately shoved aside, the girl wholly not wishing to deal with the fact she might’ve forgotten someone else.

Mao really didn’t wish to watch someone in such distress again.

This place was highly uncomfortable however, and not just because of the godawful stench. Being in such an enclosed space with so much heat left the woman feeling very uncomfortable since it wasn’t exactly her favorite condition. Between the magma and these blasted fire constructs she really despised whatever person decided to hole up down here.

Even behind the man however the uncomfortable heat rolled over her, subdued thanks to him, but there nevertheless. It was just about making her sick honestly, so she stared at Mei a little glassy-eyed as the woman spouted off something about packages, happiness, and ignorance. ’What an odd combination…’ More of the buggers appeared however, her friend telling them to go on without her – but less “I’m about to die” and with more of an “I’m about to kick some buttocks” feel to it.

Well she was heat incarnate and getting away from not only one source, but multiple sounded like a keen idea so the animal limbed woman nodded and dashed off without further notice. She really couldn’t wait for the job to be done and over with, this bounty collected, and back up on the surface world where there were far more pleasant scents and temperatures right now.

As he retrieved the knife that had slid over to his feet after Hati's destruction, Dmitry heard something about ignorance, the way he looked at Mao, him liking her, and a package of some sort. 

"I don't think I'm carryin' a package," he said, looking over himself for any such thing. "Unless ya mean my money pouch." And what did she mean, he liked her? Isn't that normal for friends or did he mix something up? He never was good with social lingo. Dmitry looked at Mao and shrugged, letting her know he was just as lost as she was, if not more. Around this time, more elemental goons showed up, grabbing Mei's attention. She prompted them to move ahead, which seemed to excite Mao as she immediately took off in the direction ahead, not noticing the still straggling fire construct that survived Hati's onslaught and the subsequent explosion. 

"I invoke the World Serpent: Jormangand!" The massive, smoke-like snake rushed forth from Dmitry's hand and grabbed the construct in it's jaws, submerging it to avoid the fiery blast after it's death. It was because of this that Dmitry was thankful that he didn't have to feel everything around his spirits, as he followed after Mao, Jormangand following behind him.

---

HP: 190
MP: 75%

Spells Used:

Mei didn't know what was going on right now, everything was just so upside down, could they really be denser than the most populated of forests, the most solid of constructs? Perhaps they were like led and just sank into the abyss of ignorance! It was clear that they liked each other, but they didn't do anything about it? It was so dang odd, but then again Mei couldn't really speak, she didn't really do romance right now, rather trying to find herself, still though at least she noticed the advances... some of these people didn't even notice that! How could Mao remember anyone if she didn't even know when they were clearly attracted to her! The other guy too, what was his name... Mei hadn't gotten his name. Now Mei felt like the idiot, she kind of knew that he was in her guild, but she didn't even know his name, especially because Mao didn't mention his name because she didn't remember him, but he remembered her and liked her, but she thought that Mei liked him and that he liked Mei when it was really not that way at all and... screw it these little fireballs die now.

With blood rage induced eyes the little buggers peered towards Mei only to be greeted by the same back, except this time magma filled the entire corridor, Suddenly for but a brief moment the little things became sentient... they knew what they had done and began to regret it, the memories flooded their minds and left them with nothing but sorrow, they had regrets and now they were about to be extinguished in rage induced lava.

One of them, before he was wiped out by the giant wave of magma, uttered a brief but sorrowful cry.

"Rosebud..."

And with that the place filled with lava and the sound of explosions as Mei simply turned around to walk towards where Mao and Dmitry had possibly gone off to, her rage keeping her from running, after all if she did run to catch up all she would do is yell at them again, and she didn't want to do that, at least in the open, in her mind it probably wouldn't stop screaming till the end of the day or possibly beyond.

Things were much cooler in this part of the sewers, at least by comparison though the enclosed space kept things a bit warmer. She might’ve gone so far as to breathe a sigh of relief if that wouldn’t involve inhaling the horrid stench. It really was permanently imbued in such a place after all the years of sewage and time to lay there and just rot for the most part. ’It will be a very sweet relief to leave this place,’ she mentally moaned, a hand holding her nose as she gave a very small sigh. Footsteps fast approached her, but it was a sound from up ahead that caught the girl’s attention.

Click.

”GET BACK!” Mao shouted, outright shoving Dmitry back around the corner she’d just turned. Activating one spell internally, Mao watched as the opalescent mirror appeared before her even as a pink orb manifested in her right palm. All too readily the gem crunched beneath her panicked grasp, the thing splitting into a multitude of shards that grew in size, most forming a secondary barrier between her and the sudden onslaught of fire. Even as the wall formed Mao felt the icy finger of panic run down her spine.

’It still won’t be enough…’

What force behind the blast remained forced back some of the shards as it burnt a hole and slammed into Mao. Even with her arms up to defend she gasped at both the heat of the flames and the unbearable searing as some of gemstone shards liquidized like sugar and splattered on her person. A scream couldn’t escape, the shock too great even as she slammed into a wall, the force causing her teeth to chatter before they clenched. Only the barest of whimpers escaped, likely unheard over the noise of crackling crystals and the dying roar of flames.

Where once floated a mirror now lay a charcoaled mess on the ground, most of her diamond shards nothing more than a multicolored, half-melted statue with a hole formed in the middle of the fused pieces.

”Boom baby!” a cheerful, high-pitched voice rang out, the tone lowering as some of the initial giddiness died down, ”I usually consider my work a piece of art, but this is something else!” She lifted up the goggles, mouth set in a lopsided grin as she bit her lip and giggled.

---

MP: 70%

Used: Opal Mirror & Blood Diamond
Mirror on CD
BD still in effect, 1/3

Dmitry stood in utter shock at what he just witnessed, his world freezing around him. He slowly stumbled over to Mao and placed his coat over top of her in order to protect her from any water or fire that might spill over to her during what was about to happen next.

This feeling...He knew it well. It was something he couldn't remember feeling in such abundance, but he knew it all the same: rage. 

The infuriated mage gripped the knife in his hand hard, the blade now absorbing not his enemy's, but his own malevolence. Darkness began to sputter out from the knife as the vessel known as Dark Fang began to overflow with an indomitable will to see this person dead.

"Aww, whats the matter," the arsonist foolishly mocked. "Did I hurt your little girlfriend?" She was met with a glare that embodied a condemnation so fierce it sent her back a few steps. Of course, she tried to act tough and sent a stream of scolding hot water straight at Dmitry and Mao. Dmitry took a step and slashed his blade in an upward arc in front of him, sending an intense wave of darkness, almost like an extension of the blade itself, straight through the jet of water, dividing it enough to miss both mages entirely. The darkness continued on the arsonist and slashed her across the chest, somewhat reduced by the water it cut through to the point that it didn't cut her in two. 

Just as she reeled back from the hit, Jormangand made his presence both heard and felt in reaction to Dmitry's rage, launching itself from the sewer water and lunging for the arsonist with it's jaws open wide. Luckily for her, she threw out her arms just in time to prevent the Serpent's fangs from completely impaling her, though they still pierced enough flesh to cause a large amount of bleeding as well as inject their venom. The woman grit her teeth and brought a massive ball of fire into her hands, which were still in the snake's mouth. The flames erupted within Jormangand's throat, obliterating the spirit's physical form from the inside out.

"Yeah, how do you like...that..." Her words trailed off and she began to stumble a bit. Though his form was destroyed, Jormangand's influence still persisted in the venom he had left coursing through the arsonist's veins. She began cursing in a panic, as Dmitry slowly walked towards her, knife still in hand...

---

HP: 190%
MP: 80%

Damage Done:
2 C rank
.25 C rank per post (3 posts remaining)