[Rogue Robots]: Firewire!

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

The sound repeated again, and again before finally a disgruntled bartender opened the wooden door with a resounding creak from the old, abused hinges. A wave of warm air and a scent often held by fire places welcomed the man into the room, it would have been pleasing if not for the fact that the room itself lacked a fire place or furnace. However, the source of the scent and the apparent heat of the room belonged to something far more terrifying than an old furnace. Simultaneously terrifying yet beautiful in an almost awe inspiring way. Had he not had experience in dealing with this particular source of heat, even he would be perplexed. Just by the window bathed in the sunlight streaming in from an open window, with limbs tangled about in only the thinnest of white sheets lay a sleeping woman. Every step closer to the woman made the air feel muggier, and it was apparent that she was the source of heat for the room. There was only one explanation for the woman creating such a temperature difference in her room;


Not just any slayer, but a goddess slayer that was nothing short of looking like that which she could supposedly slay. One that was terrible at self-control when it came to magic and temperament but the bartender was more than acquainted with her. She was a rent paying tenant, that had lived above his bar for sometime. It felt like she had been staying there longer than she really had, and the circumstances in which she had come to be there was always a touchy subject so he never bothered to ask. However, her presence was a welcomed one. Being a bartender and owner of the Soul Bar in Talonia was a tricky business, meaning he dealt with a plethora of guildless mages with questionable morals. The female slayer had managed to earn his respect not just by consistently paying rent, or reimbursing him for any objects she had accidentally burned, but by also stepping in and stopping any fight that were to occur in his bar. In turn, he was always dealing the blonde her own fair share of odd jobs, usually letting her have her pick of the litter before giving the other requests out to the other local guildless. Which was why he was in her room, other than of course to take a sneak peek at the sleeping beauty.



He hovered just out of grabbing distance from the bed. Upon occasion she was known to grab when sleeping, generally to pull someone or something in to snuggle. Having already fallen prey to her heated embrace, something that had nearly left him with burn marks from her hot touch, and an overwhelming sense of comfortableness, he certainly did not want to repeat the incident. He called her name, or rather nickname once more before finally violet hues revealed themselves. It took a few moments for her gaze to fall upon the bartender, and yet another moment for the sleepy fog to clear. "Hmmmmmm?" She hummed with inquiry as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Again the bartender repeated his phrase, and watched with amusement as she rolled onto her back one hand rubbing circles on her exposed stomach, just below the hem of tank top, and her other hand was reaching out to him. He knew better than to touch her hand when passing the job request over, being so early in the morning her control of her own body temperature was lacking. It was a miracle that the paper itself didn't turn into ash from just the brush of her fingertips. A few moments of silence passed as she read over the description before giving a nod and passing it back over to him, "Let em' know I'll take it on." She sat up and gave a stretch with a few pleasant pops from her back, "I doubt these robots are gonna be of much trouble. If anything just getting there will be more of a pain but I have always wanted to visit there so might as well." With that she looked once more at the bartender before giving him a soft glare, "Oi what are you looking at? I've gotta get changed if I'm gonna be going anywhere today!" With a chuckle man left the blonde to herself, before going to send off the request with the woman's usual signature of agreement to partake in the job.


It was just as she had anticipated, getting to the actual job location was more difficult than anticipated. It was such a long walk. "I could probably get a car or maybe something else while I'm here." The thought raced through her head, or she could get some sort of cool mount or steed but either way she was faced with the same dilemma. Venir lacked the storage space for a vehicle or an animal large enough to ride. As much as the bartender loved her she doubted he'd let her start storing her things in his storage room.

Travelling to the city was a hassle but the city itself was even more so. She had done quite a bit of travelling on her own, and had visited a number of large towns but motor city made the other places look like rural villages. There was so much technology, and so many people all crammed into one place that it was a little dizzying to look at let alone navigate. At the least Venir stood out compared to the citizens of Motor City. Since she was going on a job she had worn her standard almost adventurer like gear, which in Fiore wouldn't have been an uncommon sight for a mage, but in Motor City she screamed foreigner. "Ugh." She shuddered at the number of uncomfortable stares that her manner of dress and appearance had earned her. "I just wanna find this job..." She internally cried, and despite her best efforts the passing pedestrians didn't help her in her cause. If anything she seemed to earn some sort of backlash from her appearance, evident status as a mage, or even just from being foreign. In short she wouldn't be receiving any help from the locals. "There has to be some here that's not from Motor City that might be able to help me...." She pulled out the job request that she had tucked neatly away into the pouch attached to her belt. Being of rather petite stature, she couldn't exactly see over the crowd of people that littered the streets even at such a late hour. With vision out of the question the young woman relied on her other somewhat enhanced sense to guide her to someone that smelled like Fiore. However, a different scent caught her nose, one that made her stomach audibly growl.


She could smell it in the air, and it wasn't a naturally produced one either! It was produced through magic, that much she could smell and feel if she focused her senses. Venir didn't realize the extent of her hunger but she had been travelling just about all day to get to Motor City, even forgoing breakfast, lunch, and well dinner. Another growl had escaped her stomach as the scent of the flames got closer and closer until finally she could see the glow of the single flame itself.


Hardly a thought crossed her mind, save for the taste of the flame itself, as she sealed her lips about it, practically inhaling the flame. Flames were practically like liquid or rather air? Despite their texture Venir still preferred to chew them or at least bite into them but this time her teeth met something rather solid. At long last her thought train finally caught up to her, now that the flame itself had already traveled down her gullet, and something that was not a flame was caught between her teeth. Only when a metallic taste hit her tongue did the young woman release her bite, toss herself backwards with a shriek of panic, and a great deal of flailing followed by apologizing. "Oh my gosh I am so sorry!" She practically cried, "Please tell me I didn't bite off your finger!" Or at least she prayed it was finger, "I can't bear to look! It's still on right?" Contradicting her words, the woman peeked out from behind her spread fingers looking at the crescent bite marks her teeth had left upon his single finger, "I was so hungry and your flame was just there I couldn't help myself. You see I've been wandering around this city for sometime trying to find a client for a job request and in my wandering I forgot to eat...All three meals." She rambled on, a bad habit of hers when she got nervous, "I hope you can forgive me or I can make it up to ya."

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

His shout only made the slayer wince, feeling worse than she did before. She had expected him to be angry but that didn't stop her from hoping that perhaps he'd be a little understanding. It wasn't as if she had intentionally harmed him. If she had known it was his finger then she wouldn't have so readily chomped upon it. Even with her gaze averted Venir knew that the man had combusted in flames. She could feel the heat of them, smell them in the air, and see the flickering glow of the flames in the otherwise poorly lit street. Her stomach growled again, and her mouth watered but she didn't dare try to repeat her earlier action less she anger him again. Though if he made a move against her, then of course, the blonde was more than willing to inhale those flames. "Wait...He's on fire?" She had never heard of a fire mage that could be set on fire without any bodily harm. While her counterpart may have realized their similarity in magic, Venir was still blissfully ignorant.

His next shout of words made her flinch again but she didn't reply as his own question was never finished. Slayers weren't exactly common, so meeting someone who ate flames must have been a surprise for him. Just like meeting someone who could simply combust without any consequence. Even when the flames extinguished their scent was still in the air, and her stomach gave another miserable rumble. Which only made her hang her head in guilt, blonde bangs covering her amethyst eyes. His question did not go unanswered though she muttered her response so quietly that it was likely he did not hear. Again he yelled at her, but this time the words did not make her cringe. "Oh!" Her head shot up, amethyst eyes widening as if the idea never even occurred to her. With little grace, Venir scrambled up to her feet quickly wiping away any stray dirt that may have clung to her form. "Thank goodness!" She chirped, still somewhat guilty, "Yeah I'm here for the scientist thing with the crazy robots. I've never actually seen a robot or fought one but I bet they burn just the same as everything else!" One hand clenched into a fist, lighting up with black flames for a moment in excitement before they extinguished. Venir was about to ask him why he was there, when a sudden scent caught her attention, making her nose crinkle.

Beneath the smell of the diminished flames, there was another scent that she couldn't quite put her finger on. People carried all sorts of different scents, and in her short time of being a slayer she had learned to distinguish a mage from a regular person through scent alone. Usually mages carried not just a smell of energy, of life but something that particularly correlated to the magic they wielded. A water magic typically smelled like water, like rain, or the ocean, and even smelled fishy upon occasion. Earth mages were earthy, like a long hike out in the woods. Cellestial mages smelled like stars and hope, and typically even carried some of the scents of the spirits they wielded. Fire mages, always carried around a smokey smell to them, occasionally ashy, but always pleasant to the fire slayer. Which is exactly what the male before her smelled like but there was something else. "Hey wait don't move." She insisted, nose crinkling again as she neared, "I'm not gonna bite ya again." She warned as she got closer, personal space was clearly a concept Venir did not understand.


She decreed as she took a large step back. Her statement was not said in an unkind way it was merely stating a fact. Then again Venir could only imagine what she might smell like to other people with senses like her own. It wasn't as if he truly smelled bad, but it was different. Foreign and unlike anything she had smelled before. "Kinda like an animal?" What animal she did not know, but her nose crinkled again, "Just what are you doing here exactly?" She sounded almost suspicious, after all this weird smelling stranger seemed to know why she was here. Venir had encountered another slayer before, but it was a fellow god slayer so his scent was similar to her own. Never had she encountered a genuine dragon slayer. Just like every other person in Fiore, she knew of them. How could one not? A person raised and taught by dragons to slay dragons? It was practically a fairytale read to children, storybook magic wielded only by a select few. Her knowledge of dragon slayers didn't necessarily mean that she would be able to properly identify one. That and it wasn't as if the male before her even looked remotely capable of slaying a dragon.

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

A sudden increase in temperature almost went by unnoticed by Venir. Her tolerance for heat was exceptional for obvious reason. It was likely that she could stand amidst an inferno and feel cozy. The only reason in which she noticed the sudden increase in temperature was not because she felt it but because she saw it. Near the male the bricks distorted, melting from his heat alone, and if she focused her vision she could literally see the heat rolling off of him in waves. His temperament wasn't surprising, perhaps to Venir but to anyone else it was to be expected. Even to some extent the woman also had a nasty temper but not so easily sparked as the male before her. Ill tempers were to be expected when dealing with any sort of fire mage, it was a given that they be more than a little hot headed. Of course, it's not to say that every fire mage has anger issues, it was simply a matter of majority. While, his temper was quick to ignite and just as quick to cool some, Venir was the opposite. There was only a few ways in which to get her properly pissed, and the last time she was ended up in the destruction of a certain guild. Meaning that the blonde did not come out of a rage as nicely. However, it was a challenge to anger her, or rather to stumble on the few things, odd things really, that angered her.



She grumbled, chewing her lip as her gaze flickered away from him again. Despite his tone and his words he hardly produced much of a reaction out of her. If anything she looked more like a kid getting scolded rather than an experienced mage. Managing to take another meager glance at him, Venir was startled to find that his eyes were practically glowing not too mention their colors! Heterochromia wasn't something she had seen before. It was odd but not necessarily in a bad way, more unique than anything. She would have marveled at the sight for a little while longer if not for noticing his raised fist. Even then she did not seem angered, if anything she looked agitated which was still an overstatement. Inconvenienced was a more accurate description. After all, if he picked a fight with her she'd be obligated to retaliate, and then she wouldn't be able to snag a few more flames from him, interrogate him about his strange eyes, and it would put her job on a hold even if it was a temporary one. However, the job seemed to have to come to them.

Hardly quiet, the usual hum and whiz of machinery echoed down the alley that the two occupied. Moment later the source of this sound appeared in the form of robots. The very robots in which Venir was certain that the job had entailed. Before she could hope to go try her hand at beating up the weapon wielding hunks of metal, a sudden burst of flames illuminated the alley. All that was left after the flames went out was the smoking remnants of the robots, and the acrid smell that their burned wires produced. Wait...Those were her robots to fight! Damnit! Venir was about to voice her opinion when once again the red haired male spoke claiming that those flames were for her,

"Really!?" She chirped, violet eyes practically sparkling, "You were gonna let me eat those!?" Once again the meaning went over her head, and her was already watering at the thought of getting another taste of his fire. However, she quickly snapped herself out of her fire filled daydream, "Wait! Hold it! Those were my robots to fight! I did not travel all this way for nothing!" She huffed, arms crossing over her bosom in an almost childish pout. Luckily, more squeaks and pops echoed from around the alley. There was going to be plenty of robots for the slayers to fight, or if Venir had her way for her to fight. "Oiiiiii these one's are mine!" Again it was not said in an unkindly manner. If anything she seemed more protective than anything with the way she squeezed past him, as if to place herself as a shield between him and whatever robots lay down the ally. "Stay back." Her words only confirmed her intentions, as if she thought he needed protection. Not allowing him room to interject, and making sure that there was no time for him to sudden squeeze past her, Venir sucked in a large gulp of air.


Hardly a moment later a torrent of dark flames escaped pale pink lips. Their color did not illuminate the alley like his had, but the slight purple tinge to the dark flames offered a faint bit of light. Unholy fire pushed its way down the alley, likely breaking through to the other out onto the side walk. Whatever robots that had been down that alley, none even having the chance to reveal their forms from the shadows, were burnt to a crisp. After a seemingly never ending supply of flames, they finally ceased, and Venir had to let out a large exhale of air. "Whew~!" She rested her hands on her knee's for a moment, just to catch her breath. "I think we're safe now. You should probably get going. It's dangerous for ya here!" Again it was not meant to be rude, the slayer genuinely thought that the male might be in danger if he stay. Danger from robots and from Venir, but it wasn't because she doubted his abilities or anything. It was simply in her nature to protect when she could, she'd already destroyed enough. From above the alley, up on the rooftops came more unnatural sounds,

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

By the time Venir had recovered and returned her attention back to the red head, a finger was none too gently shoved into her cheek. She had to resist the urge to bite into his finger, not a hard bite of course but a gentle one that was more of an instinctual desire than anything. Perhaps if she bit into his finger he'd let her taste some of his flames again, she was getting a little hungry after the brief very one-sided conflict with the robots. His reaction was a confusing one for Venir to say the least. "How did I what? The fire? Haven't you seen a goddess slayer before?" She grumbled, watching in vague amusement as his head became a blur of red hair, "Oh wait..." She mused, "I guess goddess/god slayers aren't really that common..." Still, there was some famous and even infamous god slayers out there, one of them being the guild master of Infinity Hydra. Normally, Venir was mistaken for Ardere due to their shared black flames, though Venir was more infamous than she was famous. One day she'd hope to earn a name for herself rather than be mistaken for Ardere, or be recognized solely for the destruction she caused.

Noticing his grimace Venir was about to cheer up the male by offering a smile, still unable to grasp that she was the source for his apparent unhappiness. However, his words stopped her from offering a smile of friendship, and instead she was stumped for a moment. If he was the child trying to impress his mother than there was little doubt that Venir was the doting mother, overwhelmed by her child. "I never said you couldn't! I just think it'd be best if-" More sounds of robotic life was picked up the slayers sensitive ears. Accompanied with the sounds of the robots was another voice that sounded like they needed an inhaler. Pausing to listen to his words it took Venir a moment to comprehend them. He was the one who had put out the request? "Ha!" She slammed her fist into her open palm, the air sizzling around her, "Rival even the greatest of wizards? I'll have you know I punched a Wizard Saint in the face once." The outcome of that small skirmish with the said wizard saint was another story, but seeing his nose bleed from the force of the punch was a satisfying memory.

Unfortunately, it would seem that male fire user had a similar idea of proving his worth to the scientist. He had taken off towards the roofs with wings of flame to guide him up through the air. "Ow!" Her hands clutched at her head as she was used to help him propel himself upwards. Looking up Venir was going to shout a warning at him but instead could only marvel at him, eyes practically sparkling at the sight. "Wings of flame!?" Such a cool way of flight! It hadn't exactly dawned on her that with enough time and practice, she too could fly with flaming wings. Instead her own method of flight was... Far less graceful. "Don't worry those robots are gonna get taken care of!" She called out to the scientist before digging her boots into the earth of the alley. A moment later a burst of dark flames propelled her upwards through the air, overshooting her target by a long shot. She cleared the roofs and ended up a few meters above them, turning her body while mid air she spotted the fiery male on top of the roof along with a score of robots.

He had performed a bellow, or in this case a roar in similar fashion to Venir's own goddess slaying one. There was a few obvious differences between their attacks, but that didn't make his any less destructive towards the robots. Using another burst of flames to propel herself towards the roof, she landed on the tiles with a skid. If her flight was ungraceful, her landing skills were atrocious if they could even be described as landing skills. She skid to a stop right into a robot, that was quickly disposed of with a flaming fist, sending backwards, also skidding along the tiled roof. "Betcha I'll get more of them than you!" She grinned, before launching herself once more into battle taking on another group of robots.

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The finite.

Venir took care of the robots, one after another. Each chunk of metal might as well have been paper before her flaming fists. Combat was one thing that she enjoyed though that was a recent change. Once a shy and timid girl, unsure of even her own abilities, Venir was now a confident young woman that took pleasure in the heat of battle. That was not to say that Venir took pleasure in other's pain. A battle was not fun if her opponents were unworthy, nor was it fun when herself or allies were injured. This mentality even applied to allies whom she had just met. Which is why a gasp escaped her lips when a heated blade had buried itself into Ibara's chest. Her first instinct was to run and smash the robots to pieces, and her next was to make sure he was okay. Ibara satisfied her first instinct as he incinerated his attacker with a flaming fist. Deciding to make sure he was okay, Venir had only taken a few steps in his direction when a column of flames surrounded him. Half-tempted to push through the column of flames Venir continue moving towards him until she caught sight of Ibara once more. The hole in his chest leaked a continuous flow of blood, making her grimace, but his words made her expression drop further.


Her voice fell as she had turned her gaze to the robot charging the laser. In terms of importance both were equal, Ibara's wounds seemed bad, but that laser was just as bad. Clearly torn between the two, Venir let out a huff of air "FINE!" She shouted back, "I'll take care of it but don't you dare die over here, or make any dumb decisions!" She growled before leaping from the building and onto the opposing one where the laser robot was. Trusting that Ibara would take care of himself Venir was left to figure out how to deal with the robot, that just looking at was clearly built better than the rest. Using just her own flaming fists would take too long to defeat it, and there was no telling when the laser was going to fire. An enemy of this caliber deserved more than a simple fist...


Her right hand lit up with black flames, building up all of her fire power into just that hand. Wind ruffled through her hair, waiting for just the right moment to attack. Even at the sound of the explosion just one building over did not startle Venir. Her focus remained on her opponent, "Now." In a single breath she had closed the gap between her and the robot, its laser ready to fire any second,

Her hand decorated in dark flames moved forward as if to punch the robot, but instead her index finger was pressed tightly against her thumb, and then- FLICK! The robot did not move, the attack seeming ineffective until finally the force of the attack was registered. If the robot had lungs to breath from, the breath would have been knocked right out of it as its body went flying from the simple attack, it crashed and skidded along the roofs of countless buildings. It's body was engulfed in dark flames that melted the robots metal, and inner workings. Its laser would not fire due to the exterior and interior damage done to the robot. Not bothering to look to see if the robot was finished off by that attack, it had to have been, Venir instead turned her attention to the nearby collapsed building.


She cried out, vaulting off of the roof of her building and to the ground below in a quick graceful motion. Venir landed with a soft thud, the impact making her knee's squeak in protest, but she moved forward. Her eyes watered from the dust that floated through the air, and her lungs didn't fair much better but she pushed through it. Straining her senses for some sign of life, Venir finally heard something that might have been the dragon slayer. It took her a while to clear through some of the rubble, chunks of cerement, iron, and building were no easy task to lift even for her.