Dearly Departed [Job: Lexa Grimoire/Rei Katsura}

Seated aboard the colossal titan of a ship known as 'The Sentinel' was an extremely young looking woman with cream colored skin, blonde hair that had two places at the front held up by a pair of clasps, and a pair of bright blue eyes that shimmered like the ocean's surface. They had docked at Hargeon, or what's left of it, in order for the crew to take a few hours rest. It as during this time that a pigeon of sorts flew onto the deck of the ship. While this wasn't such a rare ocurrance for birds to land on the ship, seeing a pigeon in Hargeon was a rare sight of its own. Watching intently, Lexa observed as the creature began glowing before it turned into a small, light blue, rock like formation.

Dispersing her being into its absolute most basic of structures, Lexa had appeared standing above the small rock, but at the same time was still standing at the helm of the ship overlooking the deck. After a few seconds, the version of her was seen slowly moving through the window and floating down to where the real Lexa now stood as though she were in slow motion. This sort of effect was brought about when beings move faster than light, causing the light rays to reflect slower than the individual is actually moving and creating a type of ghost form of them.

Lexa picked up the rock and turned it in her hand, examining it to make sure it wasn't a type of explosive that would go off at a timed interval. She could sense that inside it was magic circuits like her own, making her curious since that type of technology is only utilized by the people she's hunting. Upon sending a minor jolt of electricity into the item, it began sending electricity back to her that caused a type of recording to play in her mind.

'Is this thing on? It- it is! I'm terribly sorry to seem unsure of this thing, it is fairly new for us. The circuits were never meant to act as a storage vessel, so we never tried using them like that... that is, until you, but I digress.

My name is unimportant, just know that I'm one of the scientists that worked along side him when you were created. That name he gave you... Lisa? No... Lana? No.. Lel... Lex- Lexa, yes that was the name. I'm very sure that by now you've discovered that you aren't quite what you thought you were...

I didn't contact you in an attempt to anger you Lexa. You see... I was performing some research in the Cursed Lands, attempting to cure the plague in the area and was attacked by one of the locals. I regret many things, most of them being what happened in those laboratories, but the one thing I didn't regret was letting him escape with you. You'll find me at a shack just outside a nearly destroyed city in the Cursed Lands... I have many things I need to tell you that pertain to who you really are, but I have very little time. Please... be fast, I'd like to die knowing I did something that wasn't fruitless.'

Lexa looked at the item and then stuffed it in her shirt pocket. Within less than a fraction of a second, she was standing in the Cursed lands with a sword at her left side, and a rifle on her back. She had the feeling however that she wasn't alone... Lexa hadn't directly seen anyone, nor did she look around to try. If anyone would be after her, it would likely be one of the members of her former guild trying to claim the 1 billion jewel bounty on her head. Many of the fresh bloods had seen the bounty, and those who had were automatically told not to take it. Lexa's name alone was infamous in the guild... She was known for being the fastest wizard there, on top of being by far the most brutal. Following her leave, two of the guild's aces and one other had ventured to find her... The strongest of the aces, Elyx Reiaki, had instantly been put down... Then Izayuki herself was paralyzed, and her brother had his arm removed all in the blink of an eye... This type of brutality was Lexa Grimoire's legacy... the power to put down the strongest members in the guild with minimal effort was the exact reason that it was ordered 'If anyone spots Alexandria Lexicus Grimoire... do not engage her in combat.'

With that type of legacy behind her... Lexa was never afraid when she was being followed.

Lexa was unable to sense any magic, not that Rei's magic was that low, but Lexa couldn't sense magic power at all... However, she was able to hear the person from a mile away with how loud her footsteps were. A small smile came across Lexa's face with her back turned to Rei, who's name Lexa didn't know as of yet, as the girl charged at the woman. 'That's right, come kill me...' she thought as the sound got closer and louder by consequence.

Just as Rei had gotten a hand on Lexa's hair, the feeling of silk would vanish from her digits. Rei would see her hand going through Lexa, and at the same time, assuming Rei hadn't been aware of Lexa's incoming attack and that she was unable to react to the speed of light, Lexa would appear directly next to her slightly off the ground, her fist coming in hot at roughly chest height. If Rei was caught off guard and unable to react to Lexa's light speed teleportation, she would find Lexa's fist slamming into Rei's chest, right between her breasts. If Rei were unable to break from the hit quick enough, she would be forced to the ground, on her back, and a massive explosion of blue lightning would erupt and deal a tremendous amount of damage to her, so much so that she would be left on the brink of death but still very much alive and conscious.

Lexa would stand up, stretching out an arm with a magic circle appearing, moving outward to form a rifle seemingly made from obsidian. The barrel would swing and be pointed directly between her eyes. Lexa would be seen with bright blue circuit markings lining her arms, her eyes would shimmer like the surface of the bluest ocean. The circuit board pattern wouldn't be visible on her neck or face, only everything below it that wasn't covered by Lexa's combat robes. A type of scowl would be on the twelve year old looking woman's face as she glared down at Rei. "Alexandria Lexicus Grimoire, former Ace of Petals to Black Rose. Identify yourself." she would say sternly. Her voice would sound like a full blown woman, and not some little girl like her face would suggest. If Rei would give her name, Lexa would lift the barrel of the gun and step back to let Rei get herself off the ground.


Lexa would appear where she previously was, as well as twenty meters away at the same time. The original vanished after a few moments, and the current one would be seen with a rifle in her hands that looked like it was made of obsidian. A gently blue glow emitting from the weapon as it aimed at Rei. "Who are you and how quickly do you want to die? If it ain't soon then turn away and keep walkin'!" she would exclaim. Lexa would be seen with bright blue circuit markings lining her arms, her eyes would shimmer like the surface of the bluest ocean. The circuit board pattern wouldn't be visible on her neck or face, only everything below it that wasn't covered by Lexa's combat robes.


   

Rei would feel the barrel being lifted from her dome before seeing Lexa giving a small twirl in her hand and it disappearing into nothingness. She would take a few steps back and then hold out her hand as though she were a worker at some restaurant, and she were carrying a tray in the hand. Suddenly, a metal box would materialize in the hand and she'd toss it to Rei. "I'd patch you up, but it's safer if I don't touch you." Rei would notice several arcs of blue electricity dance down Lexa's arms before dissipating at her fingertips. Suddenly, the blue markings would fade and reveal normal looking skin, and with them the arcs or electricity would vanish too.

Lexa crossed her arms, closing her eyes while thinking, opening after a few seconds. She would speak in a more informative tone, giving the lower ranked mage useful knowledge if she would accept it. "Your approach was too basic. Against common undead like you find here that's fine, but against something that's able to think it's not. The first mistake was advancing on an enemy you knew nothing about. Your time spent eyeing my was almost exactly two minutes, and yes, I was aware the whole time." Lexa's fox-like ears would twitch a little as she heard a cricket chirping a ridiculous distance away. "The next time you see a target, spend the time to watch them. Learn their movements, and if you can see them get attacked by something else, pay very close attention and learn their fighting style. Small targets normally rely on speed, larger targets brute strength. As you just learned, sometime the target has a mix of each."

Lexa turned her head to look in the direction she was heading. "I've got some business to take care of, you can come along if you want... Kat-chan." Lexa gave a gentle smile to Rei as she said her new nickname, along with her voice changing to a very childish, high pitched, cuter tone. She then began walking in the direction she knew her target was supposed to be in.

Lexa had heard the kid stumbling about behind her, she knew that her hit was no joke, but she didn't think that the girl had been slammed that hard. Just another reason Lexa had to avoid physically touching people... Lexa stopped in her tracks, making sure to move aside in case Rei was far too close. Lexa turned around and looked at her, watching how she truly was looking like shit...

A breath of air was let out of Lexa's mouth, the blue circuit markings returning to show on her skin. "Hold still, I don't do this often so if you twitch I might accidentally paralyze you." she said while stepping closer to Rei.

If she would trust Lexa, she would see her holding her hand up to Rei and small sparks of blue electricity moving into her. They wouldn't hurt at all, but rather she would notice that she was feeling better. "This takes a lot of energy for me to do. I'm controlling the electricity in your body to redirect your natural regenerative processes to critical areas, speeding up the healing process before redirecting it to non-critical areas. I'm also preventing your central nervous system from registering how much pain you should actually feel... it's almost as bad as child birth, not that I would know." Lexa would inform her, keeping a focused stare on her hand. She would pull her hand away and the blue circuit marking would disappear. "There, you should be fine now."

If Rei would tell Lexa to stay away, or back off, Lexa would sigh and tell her what she was going to do. She would explain it much simpler, saying "I'm gonna speed up your healing process so you're not lagging behind and being at risk of collapsing from blood loss." instead of the highly detailed, specified, and less agitated version. However, if Rei would still refuse after that, Lexa wouldn't pursue any further. She would roll her eyes and turn back around to continue her path.

Regardless of which choice Rei made, Lexa would spin around on her heel and walk backwards, a gentle smile on her face. "I'm a bit surprised Kat-chan... normally people only come after me to claim that bounty the council has on my head. When I connected with you back there I didn't actually sense any desire to kill in you. So why did you attack?" she would ask, her voice sounding quite adult, but also kind and caring.


HP: 600/600
MP: Either 97/315 OR 127/315
((OOC: Don't let the MP effect your choice. Lexa won't need more than 10MP for most the enemies on this job...))

Cooldown:
Heal - 5 Posts

The answer was more or less what Lexa was expecting, the reward Rei got for satisfying Lexa's expectations was a generous grin the showed off a pair of razor sharp incisors. "Ya like fightin..." she repeated, her voice brimming with interest as sinister as it would come across albeit. The toothy grin would subside as Lexa turned around, the sight of the cabin she was here to visit was in sight.

"Sentinel to Captain Grimoire." a voice would call out from a small light under her robes. Lexa pulled out a rectangular object that was shining and held it out. "Grimoire reporting, what's the situation?" "You left suddenly captain, is something the matter?" "No, I had a small job to get done, it's almost finished so you're clear to come in for extraction... I've got a guest so get the ugly off your face before you get here." Lexa paused as she was within thirty meters of the abandoned cabin.

Small children, ethereal in form with smokey appearances were moving about some appearing from what could only be assumed as thin air. The sound of creaking bones and squishing flesh was heard as the hoard approached. "L-Z's a bit warm... send in SD-031 when you get here." "Aye sir, Sentinel out." Golden tail swaying as Lexa turned her head, oceanic eyes staring calmly at Rei with a smirk on her face. "Kat-chan, I've got a ride coming to get us out... but I still have a business associate to meet with. Do me a favor and keep the locals busy."

Just like that, Lexa would vanish from sight and reappear inside the small cabin, looking at the corpse of what was supposed to be her client. He had already killed himself, a gun in his hand with a hole in his head, instant death, no chance of bringing him back... However, he had placed several items neatly along with a letter next to the fire place. The letter read 'Lexa, I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to meet you in person. Please, take these and forgive me for all I did to you... for the sake of the others, you must undertake a single job with no reward.' ~ E³

The table contained two of the same circuits that Lexa had listened to that started her on this journey. There was also a lab coat, a vial with some strange blue liquid, and a small and very out of place object... a reel of film, the sort used in projectors.

It had been ten minutes that Rei was outside, tasked with the job of holding off the zombie horde as best she could when suddenly she would see the entire bodies of zombies begin erupting into goop and gore, the ground exploding, sending dirt all over as red streaks flew past. If she would look to the sky, she would see a small object opening fire on the zombies. If she would look past that, she would see a colossal ship looming overhead. Lexa would appear suddenly next to her as more zombies erupted into UN-undead bits of flesh and blood. "That's our ride." she would say, holding the same crystal in one hand and the other items in the opposing hand. "Ready for evac." "Ten-four, deploying ground support for cover fire."

Scenario 1
The ship would get even lower, three men dropping down from robes with assault riffles blaring, the flying gun from earlier closer to the ground and opening fire on the larger areas. A rope ladder unrolled, landing next to Rei. "Go I'll meet you up there!" Lexa would shout over the gunfire and begin waiting for Rei to grab hold. Once she had a good grip on it and at least one foot on the rung, it would begin rising off the floor. Lexa would meet her up top, a very young looking girl with silver hair and crimson eyes would be pulling the ladder. As Rei hit the deck Lillian would instantly wrap her arms around Rei's waist in a warm hug to welcome her. "This is my sister, Lillian." Lexa would say, the little girl taking a step back and bowing to her while smiling. "All passengers on board, good work men. RTB" she would say, talking into the lacrima.

Scenario 2
Assuming Rei had refused to take the ride out and spend a bit more time with the former guild ace, Lexa would simply shrug and disappear, reappearing on her ship and telling her men to come back up.

Lexa looked to Rei, seeing how she had some blood on her as well as a bit of gore from both the drone and her own personal bit of fun. A man and woman was seen across the deck of the ship, all the way on the other side rolling towards them in a military style vehicle with no roof. Once they arrived, the man stepped out, his voice matching the one that was coming from the blue lacrima earlier. "Captain, welcome on board ma'am!" "Thanks, this is Rei Katsura, one of BR's members." The man turned to her, giving a polite bow "A pleasure to meet you ma'am." "Charmed." the woman said shooting her a light smile. "Rei, these two are my personal assistants, Jack and Rosa." "If you'd like to clean up I can show you to a guest room." Rosa said, gesturing to the zombie bits on her. "I'd be happy to bring you a set of temporary clothes to use while your current ones get cleaned." Jack said with a gentle smile.


"I'm gonna be in the helm, Jack and Rose can show you the way if you need." Lexa would say while pointing to the top of the tower at the rear of the ship just before disappearing entirely. Lillian gave a bright smile, accompanied by a bow before she erupted into black flames and vanished from sight.

Scenario 1 - Rei decides to get cleaned up
If Rei would choose to get cleaned up, Rosa would show her to a rather large room that had a shower complete with cleaning supplies that would normally be found in the restrooms belonging to nobility, and royalty; not a military-style operated ship. When she got out of the shower, she would find a pair of combat robes just like Lexa's except made for people Rei's size, and outside the restroom would be Rose who would say "At the captain's request, I've been assigned to escort you anywhere you want. Our only policy is that you can't use our systems to contact Silver Island."

Scenario 2 - Rei finishes getting cleaned and asks to be taken to Lexa
Scenario 3 - Rei skips the clean up and asks to be taken to Lexa
If Rei would choose to forego freshening up, and just skip straight to meeting Lexa in the helm, she would be escorted by the two individuals to a room at the very top of the ship's tower. Alternatively if she would choose to go see Lexa after cleaning up, Rosa would escort her. She would see a bunch of consoles and tablets mounted on desks, as well as several lacrima vision screens on the walls. In the middle of the room would be a large table with a very old fashioned looking projector that Lexa had already gotten set up. Lexa would look at her, speaking with her serious, non-childish voice saying "Since you helped me get this stuff I figured you had a right to check it out with me." and gesture to the various chairs around the table for Rei to pick which one she wanted. Lillian would be sitting directly next to Lexa with a couple of feet between them.

Scenario 4 - Rei decides to stroll around the ship
If Rei would decide to walk about the ship and not see Lexa, one of the assistants, which ever is present at the time, will radio Lexa to let her know where they'll be and Lexa will go ahead and review the materials.

Regardless of which scenario played out, the first thing Lexa would pick up is a black plate with circuit board patterns that was in the shape of an SD card. Upon touching it, the plate began emitting sound, light static at first along with tapping noises like the start of most home-made videos. Then, a voice would play with a strange accent (German)...

'Doctor Edward E. Eisenhower, recording number unimportant, date unimportant... The alien... the one they call Taranis has finally realized that the experiments are inhumane. Over twenty three thousand of the subjects have either died or are highly unstable, this next one... X-003, he says must be the final one. He tells me that he plans to sabotage the experiment, ruin her reproductive matrix to make it so they loose hope and stop this madness. I will lose my job, but for the sake of these little girls it is well worth it... The girl will likely die alone, but Taranis swears he will do all he can to give her a good life with many friends to make up for her lack of a mate. I will die knowing I took part in ending these experiments, I only hope the gods will forgive me for the things I have already done... Edward out.'

Lexa showed no emotions at the first recording, she lifted the circuit card and set it aside, grabbing the next one and charging it. The same voice with the same accent came through.

'Lexa... -coughing- In my dying breath I only hope this message reaches you, and not looters who come to pick my corpse clean... The things I wish to tell you in person with have -coughing- be said on this memory card... The other girls, I could not help... I was not there when they were taken, but you... you I took with my own hands -coughing- so it -coughing- it's my responsibility to -cough- put you back... (ten second pause) -gasping- You were born on an island -wheezing- off the coast of Cresent Island, a wealthy family... you -gasp- have a sister. -coughing- I'm beginning to turn... The reel I gave you is -coughing violently- -wheezing- I took -cough- It's when I stole you from them... Please forgive me, I can't let you kill me as one of them... I will only die as who -coughing- I am... Goodbye Lady West -gunshot-'

Lexa also had no emotion on her face with this one, she only set it aside while addressing Lillian. "Get me a map of Crescent and it's surrounding islands, and write down the name West and all others associated with that name." Lillian nodded and began tapping away at a tablet, showing that she was a bit more than just a seven year old. Lexa looked at the projector as Jack flipped a switch, shudders covering the windows and the lights dimming. Lexa flipped the projector on, the old machine coming to life and beginning a small video.

The world was dark as the camera was set in a hallway at night. "Squad B do you read?" a voice whispered, likely the camera was mounted to the voice's helmet. "Ten-four, we're moving in for extract-(explosion) SHIT!!!!" The sounds of people dying was heard, limbs tearing and screaming. "Damn it! Alpha, move out! Charlie, Echo engage from behind! Delta get the- ...." silence erupted, the sight of a very small girl with blonde hair and blue eyes came out of a door. "Fuck..." the voice said, the camera beginning to shake. The girl looks like Lexa if she were considerably younger, possibly five or six. She rubbed her eyes, looking at the man and walking towards him, the camera was moving backwards hesitantly. "Mister... " she said, her voice was dangerously sweet and innocent. "Pease yeave mommy ayone." Lexa's eyes narrowed on it, the fact that she was watching herself and knew what had happened stunned her... The little girl stretched out her hand, a smile on her face that made Lexa's heart skip a beat. "I come nice?" A tear moved down Lexa's cheek as she watched herself be taken by the hand, along with the words "All teams full retreat... target acquired." the reel ended there.

Jack turned the lights back on and Lexa wiped the single tear from her cheek. She reached over to a button in front her and spoke into a microphone while pressing it "Set a course for Silver Island, let the local guild know we're dropping off precious cargo and not to engage." "Aye, on our way."