Hometown Reunion (Private: Skylar)

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

Talonia: home to all of Fiore’s guildless, mercenaries, and black market dealers. Most people tended to stay very, very far away from Talonia but for a certain cream haired Slayer; this place was her second home away from Sabertooth. Haretsa had spent quite some time living in Talonia working as a hired gun. It was in this very city that she taught herself how to fight, how to shoot, and how to build weapons. She was personally quite renowned in the city for her efficiency in handling whatever job she took, so most people tended to greet her with respect and a smile.

  Making her way through the bustling night life, Haretsa made her way to what was practically her old guild hall here in Talonia; the Soul Bar. From the moment she opened the door, she was greeted by the voice of an old friend. ”Everyone grab your swords and pitchforks, looks like that pesky little Fire Dragon has come back for more!” the bartender shouted, causing everyone to turn and laugh the moment they saw Haretsa making her way inside of the bar. ”I thought that joke would have lost its charm the first twenty times I heard it Jerry, I guess I’m still wrong.” Haretsa laughed, sitting down at the bar as Jerry prepared her usual drink without a moment's hesitation. ”I can tell you’ve grown quite a bit since you last stopped in. You’re definitely giving off a much more powerful pressure than ever before. Did you finally get over that problem with your magic?” Jerry asked, spinning bottles around in his usual overly flashy fashion as he mixed together Haretsa’s drink. ”Not… entirely, but a little bit anyway… Nevermind that, how goes that search I asked you to look into?” ”Just as slow as it always has been. These guys are really good at covering their tracks no matter what they do. All the information I’ve been able to dig up is either unconfirmed or too old to be relevant anymore.”

  Haretsa let out a heavy sigh at Jerry’s response to her question, leaning her head against her hand as her elbow rested on the bar itself. ”Ah well, it’ll still be useful to me regardless.” she said with a smile, grabbing the glass as Jerry slid it down the bar towards her. ”I’ll worry more about that in the morning when I go to pickup that shipment of ammo and wires I ordered. Tonight's just gonna be all about relaxin’ after all the shit I just went through on that damn, trippy island…” she said, taking a rather large swig of her drink before slamming the mug down on the bar. ”You somehow managed to make it even better than before. Damn, that always hits the spot!”

 

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

The entire bar fell silent once more as a strawberry blonde woman with some rather large assets stood in the entryway. While every man in the bar sat there gawking at her, Haretsa was too busy finishing off her drink to really pay attention to what was going on around her. ”Jerryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy buddayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…. Hit me with round two!!” she ordered after Jerry had set the men back in there place and the woman sat down at the bar not to far away from where Haretsa was sitting. Jerry simply sighed, taking the glass away from her before going to attend to the woman's order. ”Sorry Har, you know how it goes with you. One drink is always your limit before you’re essentially drunk.” he explained, walking away from the young girl as he prepared the woman with the large assets’ drink. Haretsa simply dropped her head against the bar in agony. ”Yeah well, you smell a dragon’s butt inside a watermelon…”
  Haretsa turned her head over towards the woman to see she was being harassed by three men. Haretsa didn’t understand a word that any of them were saying, but it was rather clear that the woman wasn’t interested in anything that they had to say. Yet there they were, continuing to bug her for no apparent reason. ”Heyyyy, you three fartknockers!” she exclaimed, slinking her way out of her seat and walking up to the three men. ”Can’t you nimrods take a hint? She’s not interested in buyin’ yer damn cookies so just go sit back down and enjoy yer drinks!! she told them, leaning against the bar with a ridiculous smile on her face. The men simply laughed before the closest one spoke up. ”You should probably go home, kid. You clearly can’t handle your alcohol and besides, adult’s are busy talking. Now, where was I…”

   Before the man could even react, Haretsa’s left hand was gripped firmly around the back of his neck before she slammed his head down against the bar right in front of the woman’s gaze; her bracelet jingling a bit around her hand wrap and the shoulder displaying her Sabertooth tattoo practically right in the woman’s face as well. ”I think you missed the part where what I said was an ORDER, not a question!” she exclaimed, causing the other mean to react rather violently.

   Haretsa quickly pulled herself up onto the bar, performing a handstand on the man head that was against the bar as one of the other bloke’s went to grab her. She threw her legs towards the fools arms, locking them between her legs and lifting him up and over the strawberry blonde woman’s head before slamming him down hard against the floor. Pushing herself off of the man’s head on the bar, Haretsa landed on the poor bastard she had just thrown to the floor with her legs as the remaining one threw a punch at her. This was easily dodged by Haretsa ducking slightly to her left, throwing her left hand as a hook into the man’s kidneys before knocking him on his ass with an uppercut from her right. ”Now go back to your drink’s or get the hell out of my house!” she exclaimed as she stepped off the man on the floor. Gathering their bearings, the three men gave Haretsa angry looks before making their way towards the exit.

  ”Sorry bout them fartknockers. If they know who I am, they’ll know not to come back!” Haretsa explained to the woman before crawling up onto the bar and laying down on her back and looking over at Jerry. ”So did I ever tell ya about that one time I ate a moon rock made out of Vulcan’s?” ”Har, get off of the damn bar!” ”YOU GET OFF THE BAR!!” she exclaimed before she rolled over to Jerry’s side of the bar and fell flat on her face. ”....HIYA CEILING, WHEN YOU GONNA MAKE ME THAT SANDWICH?!”


 

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

”Someone call me?” the young girl asked, poking her head up from behind the bar and looking around in confusion. ”Yeah, this young woman here mentioned your name. You know her, Har?” Jerry asked as Haretsa’s eyes fell upon the strawberry blonde woman. The young girl tilted her head and confusion as she stared at the woman with curiosity. ”Well, you do like kiiiiiiiiiiiiiinda familiar…. Have we met somewhere before? I can’t place who, but you remind me of somebody…”

   Haretsa’s thought process was soon interrupted as the doors to the bar slammed open. The three burly men from earlier had returned, now with at least seven other men standing behind them. However, all the men stepped aside when a ten foot tall monstrosity of a man ducked in through the door. This man, if you could even call him that, wore a clean black suit with a white shirt underneath it complete with some very sharp looking dress shoes. While he looked the part, this man was clearly not a businessman of any sort. It appeared as if all of his muscles were going to rip the suit apart at any moment and the man had several scars across his face; indicating his pride as a warrior. The entire bar fell silent in fear, for everyone in it, except for Haretsa and more than likely the other woman as well, knew who that man was.


”Alright, so who was it that was causin’ all the trouble with you three?” the large man asked, as Haretsa rolled over the bar and fell to the floor face first once more. ”Ceiling, we reaaaaaaaaally need to stop meeting like this. she groaned, pushing herself up off the floor as one of the men from earlier pointed at her. ”That one right there, boss. She stopped us from talking to that hot blonde chick and started throwing us around claiming she owned this joint when it belongs to the Blood Hounds’!” the man shouted, as Haretsa looked at the man as if he had five heads. ”The Blood Puppies? Who the hell’s that?” ”Shit, I knew they looked familiar… The Blood Hound’s are a mercenary group that take ‘protection money’ from me every week, so they basically own the Soul Bar…” Jerry explained, which didn’t resonate very well with Haretsa. This place was her home when she was staying in Talonia and working as a mercenary, so like HELL anyone else owned it but Jerry.


 Haretsa gave the hulking man an angry glare as a man at one of tabels in the went to stand up and help Haretsa in the inevitable fight, but his friend quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his site. ”Hey, cmon! You really want me to just sit back and let her take them on alone?!” ”You know damn well you can’t take on any of the Blood Hounds. Besides, you know damn well who Har is. She’ll take care of them, just you sit and watch…” his friend explained, before the behemoth decided to speak once more. ”Well, look’s like we gotta teach this little wench her place. Tell me your name, wench, so I can spread it around town as an example of what happens when you mess with the Blood Hounds!”
 
   Haretsa drew her pistol from its holster and fired it relatively close to the giant boss of the Blood Hounds, the bullet grazing his cheek and causing him to bleed as it impacted in the wood of the doorway behind him. ”If you have to ask then you obviously don’t know who you’re dealing with… My name is Haretsa Shikon and you messed with wrong bar, Fat Hands.” she responded with a scowl, to which all of the Blood Hounds erupted into laughter. ”YOU’RE that little Fire Dragon brat?! You’ve gotta be kiddin me! You don’t even use your magic because you’re too damn afraid of it!! We’re not afraid of a mage who can’t even use her damn magic and your weapons ain’t gonna help you against all of us! You must be out of your mind if you think your name holds any relevance around Talonia any more! he continued to laugh, wiping a tear from his eye.

  In this very moment, Haretsa holstered Blamo and dashed forward, her eyes shifting over to a flaming red color as she pulled her right hand back with her palm facing forward as she lit it aflame. Everyone in the bar looked on rather shocked to see the young girl actually using her magic, especially the boss of the Blood Hounds as Haretsa was now directly in front of him and he was within her striking distance. ”FIRE DRAGON’S RIFLE PALM!!!” she shouted, shoving her palm straight into the gut of the giant. The sound of a rifle being shot echoed throughout the bar as her palm impacted; the flames entering into the large mans body before bursting out the other side of him and sending him flying 6 meters back out the bar door. The Blood Hounds stood in shock after seeing their boss get sent flying so effortlessly, Haretsa ignoring them entirely as she walked out the door after the man she just sent flying. ”And you’re a fool for thinking I’m the same as I used to be two years ago. I’M GONNA BEAT YOU INTO A FREAKING PIECE OF CANDY FOR PICKING ON MY FRIEND!!!"

"I HAVE FURY!!”

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Blamo: 11/12 Shots
MP 100/110%
 

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

”Lucky little bitch… Alright if that’s how you want it!” Fat Hands grunted, pushing himself up to his feet as Haretsa charged towards him. Fat Hands pulled back one of his enormous fists and threw a rather quick punch for someone his size at the approaching Dragon Slayer. In mid run, Haretsa quickly dropped down into a slide, throwing her right arm out to her side as she slid underneath the behemoth of a man and underneath his legs. When her arm was just about to hit the leg, Haretsa wrapped it around the leg; combining her momentum with her natural strength to pull the man’s leg out from underneath him and sending him face first into the ground.

   Haretsa then quickly jumped up to her feet, bending her knees as she did so before jumping backwards towards Fat Hands. After a quick backflip, Haretsa landed on the giants back to stomp him into the ground as he tried to get up. She jumped back from this and performed another backflip, landing on the ground and waiting for the man to get back up on his feet. ”I’m surprised Jerry was so afraid of you, Fat Hands. You really aren’t as tough as you look, which is kinda disappointing. I was hoping you’d be a good enough test to see what my other magic could do, but you’re no better than big, stupid Vulcan throwing all its weight into its punches.” Haretsa taunted, performing the rather odd stance of her fighting style. It started out with her left leg placed out in front with her knee slightly bent and her right leg out straight behind her resting on the ball of her foot; her right arm kept horizontally as a guard in front of her chin. When she brought her right leg forward, she would move slightly to the right in her motion as she moved her left leg to the back in the same position the right one once was and her left arm now acting as a guard in front of her face. Haretsa would repeat this over and over in a fairly quick and fluid motion almost as if this stance was a sort of strange, foreign dance.

  When Fat Hands regained his footing and saw Haretsa doing this dance like motion, he grew even more infuriated with the girl than he already was. The anger that built within him grew to the point where it looked as if he was going to explode. ”What, you gonna try throwin’ your poop at me now, Fat Hands?” Haretsa continued to taunt, not wavering in her stances motions. The large man finally snapped, slamming his fist into the ground and cracking it, allowing him to slip his massive fingers underneath and rip out a rather large chunk of the street, holding it up above his head as he glared at the cream haired girl before him. ”I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT YOU GET FOR TRYING TO MAKE A FOOL OUT THE BLOOD HOUNDS!! AND MY NAME. IS NOT. FAT HANDS!!!” the man shouted in pure rage, causing heads to turn and look out all the windows of the surrounding buildings as he threw the chunk of concrete and earth straight towards the young Dragon Slayer.


  Haretsa stopped her motion in the same position she had started in with her left leg forward and right leg back; waiting as the large chunk of concrete and earth came hurtling towards her. A rather faint, but noticeable, orange glow came from her left arm underneath the red hand wrap she kept fastened around it. An adrenaline rush quickly surged over the young girl from the glow on her arm, allowing her to perform her next move with rather impressive speed. She turned her entire body on the balls of both of her feet, keeping her left leg towards the incoming rock as well as her eyes. Her motion continued as she threw her left hand palm down to the ground next to where her right leg was using the momentum to pivot on her left hand and foot to bring her right leg around to kick the large mass of ground that had been thrown at her. This happened in the course of mere second and the moment her foot impacted the mass of ground it shattered into dozens of tiny pieces; pieces that would go flying down the alleyway to her right harmlessly as no one was there at the time.

  With both legs back on the ground, Haretsa walked up to Fat Hands slowly with the glow still radiating from her arm. The man simply stood there in a combination of shock and terror as the girl approached him. ”Wh...what the hell are you!?!” he asked as Haretsa jumped towards him, grabbing his head and bringing it down hard into her knee. She held onto him as the man fell over onto his back, her right foot planted dominantly on his chest. ”I’m a mage from Sabertooth and a guardian against senseless bullies like you. You’re gonna leave Jerry alone and pay him back all that money now, right?” she asked with a smile, as the man broke out into a sweat. ”Y-yes, I promise! I’ll do whatever you want and I’ll pay him back in double and we’ll never come back, just please leave me alone!” ”I think you need to say it a little louder so your men can hear back there.” ”WE’LL PAY HIM BACK DOUBLE WHAT WE TOOK AND NEVER COME BACK, I SWEAR!!! Haretsa gave him another smile as she reached down and patted him on the head. ”I know I said I was gonna beat the shit outta you, but you’ve been a good Vulcan, Fat Hands, so I changed my mind!”
 

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

Haretsa looked around in confusion as the strawberry blonde woman was now standing next to her with the ten Blood Hounds were staring down the two girls. ”...Are you guys retarded or something? The fights already over and your boss already gave up. Its time for you guys to head on back to the pound now.” Haretsa explained, taking her foot off of Fat Hand’s chest so he could get up and calm his men down. ”Guys, seriously, we lost already… We’re done here, lets just go home now.” Fat Hands tried to reason with his men, but they were having none of it. ”Not a chance! Both of these stupid bitches insulted our gang’s pride, like hell we’re gonna let that slide!” the one responded, before all ten of the men started to charge towards the two mages.

  With a sigh, Haretsa drew Blamo once more from her holster and fired 3 shots at the group's feet, causing them to all panic and trip over themselves. ”These guys really are idiots…” she sighed again, turning to the woman that stood next to her with a smile. ”Since they’re so insistent, if you can fight, go ahead and take as many as you want. I’ll clean up the rest of ‘em without a problem.” she said, keeping her pistol aimed at the group as she bobbed it up and down with her hand. ”SCREW THAT, JUST LET ME SHOOT EM ALL RIGHT NOW AND BE DONE WITH IT!” a loud, brash voice rang out, seemingly coming from the pistol. If the woman was paying very close attention, she would see Haretsa’s lips were moving ever so slightly that entire time. ”Blamo, stop being so damn rude. We’re not looking to hurt them that badly!” Haretsa shouted at her pistol, taking her left glowing hand and smacking the top of the pistol with it. ”Ow! You little, FIGHT ME RIGHT NOW LETS GO!!!” ”You know I can take you apart and leave you in pieces, right?!!” ”BITE ME!” Blamo shouted, before Haretsa actually did just as her pistol requested, biting down on the top of the pistol before falling over to the ground; appearing to have quite a tussle against her weapon as everyone merely stood there and watched on in pure confusion.

 

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

    Haretsa looked on in amusement after her tussle with Blamo as the men ran off after being pelted with some gravel. She didn’t even know how the heck it even happened, but it was still relatively amusing to watch just how sad they really were despite trying to act tough. Haretsa couldn’t stand people who tried to act tough but didn’t have the skills necessary to back it up, so seeing these men running about like cowards was enjoyable to say the least. Fat Hands took off after his men, leaving the two mages there alone in the streets of Talonia.

    ”Well, that was fun I guess.” Haretsa said, pushing herself up off the ground and turning towards the strawberry blonde. ”By the way, who is your sis….terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…” Haretsa was going to ask before she got a much better look at the woman standing before her; the alcohol being burned out of her system from her anger spike earlier. Now, memories of the past came flooding back to the young girl’s mind all at once as she stared at the woman before her; reminding the Slayer of the day her life changed forever. The image forever burned into her memory that she tried to bury away had resurfaced once more; the memory of watching her mother be killed before she was taken away by that man in the robes.

 ”M….M...Mo… Momma?” Haretsa stuttered in shock, her body beginning to shake and quiver uncontrollably. A mixture of fear, sadness, and anger washed over the young Slayer at once before she aimed her pistol at the woman before her. ”Wh-who the hell…. who are you… and why do you look like my Momma?!? Is this just another one of their sick games!? Are you with those… those…” the girl continued to stutter with her body still shaking and her eyes failing to hold back the tears. Haretsa collapsed down to her knees, pulling her gun close to her chest as if she were hugging it. The young girl remained there, rocking herself back in forth in a failed attempt to calm herself down. Her head was slowly becoming a chaotic storm of all the memories of the pain she endured all those years because of the ones who killed her parents. ”M...Momma… why does she look like you, Momma…?” Haretsa sobbed in confusion, tenderly rubbing the bracelet on her left wrist.

 

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

Haretsa looked up as her head was brought to rest in the lap of the woman who called herself Skylar. The young girl remained there and listened as Skylar talked; trying to remember just what this woman was talking about. Haretsa didn’t know who the heck this Reiki person was and the farthest memory she could recall about her childhood was the night that her mother died trying to protect her; a memory which she visited more than enough tonight. She wanted to believe this woman, but she just couldn’t remember anything that Skylar was saying. ”Is… she really my sister? S-she wouldn’t be trying to comfort me...if she was with them… would she? I… I don’t know… What am I supposed to…believe?” she thought to herself.


Haretsa was about to say something until Skylar asked her to remember what she used to call her when they were little. Haretsa was unsure what Skylar meant until she saw those grey eyes obtained a faint rainbow glow to them. Memories that were long forgotten seemed to come flooding back like a broken dam to the young Slayer’s mind as Skylar’s tears dropped down against Haretsa’s cheek. There was no mistaking those eyes, the ones that watched over her when their parents were gone, the ones that would always be there to play with her no matter what. Yes, there was no mistaking them, for they were like… ”A Rainbow in the Sky…. S...Sky… SKY!!” Haretsa cried, pushing herself up and burying her head into her older sister’s chest as she hugged her sister tightly; the tears flowing from her eyes like rampant waterfalls. She could care less if anyone in the streets was giving them looks or anything; all Haretsa cared about was that she finally had someone she loved back in her life. Haretsa didn’t care that she hadn’t remembered Skylar at all before, because she remembered her now and she was her sister. That was all that mattered to her right now, for she had back a piece of her family she had long sense forgotten.