A Sonata of Memories {Job/TAK}

Rose Garden was one of the places in Fiore she rarely visited, and now she was here for a reason, and that was to carry out a job assigned by someone known as Goddess Alyia, a name she hadn’t heard of before, but had a lingering feeling about being familiar with it in a way. That was not important in the job, however. It didn’t say that you should know who this Goddess Alyia person was in order to complete it. The Ice Dragon Slayer lit a cigarette while walking through an empty street in Rose Garden, smoking casually as she looked around. It looked like a fairly new city, like it had been rebuilt as the way everything was looked much newer than the other towns she had been to. Was it because of a disaster that hit this city? Maybe an evil force destroyed it. Lynn seldom came here, so she wouldn’t know, but what she did know was that something felt definitely off. Zlatan watched from the sky, as usual, soaring like an oversized golden eagle in the air above, making sure his mistress was safe. If someone were to harm her right there and then, then they would know Zlatan’s wrath. He barely let people see that side of him. Only if it came to his mistress and her orders.

For about another hour Lynn was just walking around the entire place, waiting and thinking of how she should tackle this. Now that she had walked all over the place, this meant that she had sort of a mini map in her brain now thanks to her photographic memory, and Zlatan had a more accurate map now, since he had been flying above Lynn the whole time, which meant that he was all over the place as well. “Not really sure what I’m looking for…” she mumbled to herself as she threw what was left of the cig to the ground and stepping on it to kill the fire before walking on. She honestly hoped she wasn’t the only one trying to tackle this job. That would make things a lot easier since there would be more than one dull mind figuring it out. Dull, because naturally, she was sleepy. She never had proper sleep, and if she was one of those people who had dark circles, she wouldn’t look so attractive anymore with gigantic dark rings around her eyes. Zlatan descended to the ground as his mistress seemed lost and it was his duty to guide her. “What could you find? Anything out of the ordinary? Nothing at all?” Zlatan produced a soft grunt, giving her the answer she needed. “Well, damn,” she said to herself, standing there and looking around again.

Sharp hadn't been to the rose garden since she had battled against that young man who seemed to be filled with flames that burned bright, but also cowardice. This places beauty was muddled by such a memory, and unfortunately, memories were what was on the platter for today. Memories that had been forgotten, or more likely removed by someone through deception, such trickery almost brought Sharp to a boil. One couldn't win in a fight against them so they turned all others upon them? Such a tactic was shameful, and brought disgrace to Sharp and her ways, if there was anyone to stop this foolish outbreak, it would be her, though, in reality, she might be terrible for the job. As she walked through the streets, Sharp began to have a few flashbacks, and noticed that none of the people were recognizing her, had it been too long? Surely they ould have remembered a brawl like that or had a wanted poster or something. She was wanted in minor ways all over the place, but here, she wasn't wanted for anything. it was so incredibly odd.

They probably had forgotten everything then, or at least the memories of that one person. Perhaps Sharp would test the theory in greater detail just to ensure that she would know the full level of the deception. Walking around to the various stores, Sharp asked about the woman, only to be, or at least they attempted, to throw her out violently. She didn't retaliate but rather, left using her own devices, rather than their devices. It was strange, she had now gone to a few places and all game the same unnatural violent reaction, and they just didn't seem to be all there. This was certainly the work of some foul sorcery that must be cleansed, but what?

Wandering around the streets proper once again, Sharp would attempt to find some form of a clue, only for one to fall into her lap. Lashing out behind her came the strange disfigured clawed hands of an enemy. Thankfully she had spotted it just in time, and dashing forward dodged the strike, but now once again she was attacked from out of nowhere by something on a job that entailed a mystery element. Drawing her crime hued blade she pointed it towards the weird robed "people", and got her first real clue as to confirming her theory. These people were going about their daily lives, ignoring the attack in the street, so something was for sure going on with them, and all she had to do was find out exactly what, maybe the beings foolish enough to fight against her right now, would hold some form of answer from their corpses.

---

Total WC: 455/11250
Post WC: 455

It seemed like Lynn and Zlatan did not appear too approachable as no one came to attack them. Not a single soul neared them. But after about three minutes, Zlatan could feel vibrations through the Earth that his very sensitive paws received, caused by approximately two creatures. Lynn rounded the corner and came to meet with a dark haired girl who had gone ahead and killed off an unidentifiable creature. Either she had done something for its form to become so...inhuman, or the girl had met one of the enemies the job writers described. Lynn was too lazy to read, of course, which made her clueless to what the creature might be called, and what it might be able to do. Surely this one couldn’t be the last. “Hello,” the Ice Dragon Slayer said, loud enough for the girl to hear. She would then walk over to the body that was on the ground now, checking it out and remembering what it looked like in case they had to meet more of its kind. “Looks like you found someone special,” she said with a grin, turning back to the girl. “My name is Lynn, by the way, and this is Leon Zlatan my guardian. You can call him just Pride though, if Zlatan is hard for you pronounce, because it was for a lot of the Fiorian’s that I’ve met,” she told her, hoping that she wasn’t too weirded out by how friendly Lynn was acting. “I suppose you’ve taken up the job as well?”

Lynn was hoping that the answer was ‘yes’. Because as mentioned, with this girl in their party, they might just be able to tackle the job without Lynn’s brain drying up. Well, it might have been easier if someone came and attacked her, which is the case for her new acquaintance. But no one came to her. The thing was, she would not really mind if the girl did not want to be a part of this, well by being a part of this, she meant, to be a part of the job and they would actually cooperate with each other. Lynn was good at working alone and all but still, sometimes she felt like she needed help. Shit! She was growing weak! How unacceptably horrifying. Lynn almost cursed out loud in front of the girl. Controlling her mind and pulling her best clueless face, she continued to ask, “Well, if you are, then how about we pair up and work on this together? You can be the enemy magnet and I will help you clean the streets of Era,” with a totally innocent smile, half praying that she would not decline this offer.

"Uh... I'm in the middle of a fight..."

Despite that statement, the girl was still talking. There were enemies across from them, but nope still chatting and asking about various details of their possible working relationship. Sharp did what she always does best in this moment, though, and as the couple of enemies rushed towards her to attack, she well, normally she would just charge them and slice them down in melee, but she didn't want this other person chatting in her ear to get in her way right now. lifting up her left arm she unleashed a hail fire of bullets from her wrist mounted weapon, causing some minor explosions upon those rushing her, blasting them apart. It was a shameful fight that didn't bring either side any real honor, but it was better than other people get caught up in the blast, at least right now. Sharp hoped they could forgive her for not giving them as meaningful of a death.

"Well Lynn, you certainly have a way about yourself... and an air of never giving up."

Sharp sighed softly, she had worked with plenty of people in the fast, including those who didn't know how to speak in anything but grunts and the roaring of blades, but this was the first time she was slightly confused by someone's attitude. She understood the emotions of it, but to be this chipper, or prodding was a bit admirable, if not slightly a bother for her.

"I suppose you could say that I have signed up for an assignment in the area. Deception on such a wide scale level bothered me. Though, you want me to act as bait when we have just met, in a town where there is deception running rampart? You had best rephrase or re-think that process because there might be more to lose here than just a fight, this seems like the place where identities are stolen."

Sharp stated calmly, and yes she didn't give her name yet on purpose, she wasn't the kind to be outright mean to another, unless in some way her honor was sullied, or another, but right now she couldn't trust anything, not even what her own eyes were seeing, because she didn't know how powerful the magic behind this place was. If one didn't mistrust their own eyes right now, they would have to be a fool, and the fact that the girl came paired with a partner meant that there could be twice the risk, one or both could fall for something, so Sharp would have to take this a bit slowly right now, and if this Lynn was somehow involved in the cases then, Sharp would just have her enemy one step closer to her the whole way.

---

WC: 916/11250
Post WC: 461

Realising later that the fight had not ended, and the dark haired girl told her that she was in the middle of the fight, Lynn would tilt her head and said, “...Oh.” She would have helped the girl but it looked like she was doing just fine so she watched as the girl blasted away the enemies that came for her. Lynn grinned, lacing her fingers behind her as she watched the half-hearted fight like a show. It was a sort of magic that she had not seen before, so she kept watching, until she was done and the enemies were finished. The girl then turned back to her and told her that Lynn had a way about herself, and an air of not giving up. The dragon slayer nodded, saying, “That’s right. I never know when to give up,” her line of sight fell to her feet as she thought about what she just said. She realised how true it was. And it was not a good thing. There were a lot of downsides to being determined. Plus she was not the kind to work hard selfishly for her own goals. She always thought about other people, too. In fact, most of the time she thought more about other people than herself.

"I suppose you could say that I have signed up for an assignment in the area. Deception on such a wide scale level bothered me. Though, you want me to act as bait when we have just met, in a town where there is deception running rampart? You had best rephrase or re-think that process because there might be more to lose here than just a fight, this seems like the place where identities are stolen."

The first thing Lynn thought of saying was, ‘Why are you scared?’ but that did not sound like the best thing to say someone she was hoping to work with. What if they thought she was underestimating them and got angry? Lynn was not underestimating her in the first place. She never did that to anyone but her enemies (LOL) because she was overconfident sometimes, but she is trying to fix that now as she is getting stronger and she wasn’t going to let something like that become a hindrance. Come to think of it, in the past she had always underestimated her enemies, and was never defeated by the enemies she underestimated. This girl wasn’t her enemy, but she was not her ally either unless she agreed to work together with her. Thinking a bit before saying something in reply was almost giving her a headache so she just looked up to the girl and said, “Why are you scared?”

"Fear is for the weak, caution is for the wise."

Sharp didn't want to bother expressing how she couldn't feel fear, in fact, most of the time she kept her emotions hidden away so that she could focus on the task at hand. Right now was no real exception, she was just trying to figure out what sort of foul magic was being used within the area, and what all of it meant for the people. Were the memory changes permanent or were they merely temporary, how far did the deception go, was it all rooted in a simple spell or more than that. Considering they had strange mind-wiped ab-humans running about without people caring, this was one serious threat, and Sharp didn't have time to deal with a goofball who didn't have much of a plan aside from just chatting. On the other hand, she could always use someone as the bait, granted they apparently wanted Sharp to be the bait, but in reality the one being the bait here could turn the one trying to take advantage of them into the real bait, though it would be tricky and would rely on Sharp's ability to finish off any threat fast enough to react to any kind of real threat against Lynn, or rather the real enemy of the area appearing before them. Wait maybe Sharp was just over thinking this, she didn't normally do that, but maybe it was just the fact that she wasn't used to someone being so up front about saying hello to her, it was pretty strange.

None of this really mattered, however, what did matter was trying to solve this mystery and clearing up the person whom they were contracted withs name within the town, or rather restoring it. A strange happy go lucky person appears, and an entire town is taken out of commission mentally, and she was attacked by some weird creatures, it didn't all add up. She would have to try and investigate further, but talking to others didn't matter, perhaps at the end of the day she could just ask this other girl to try and get some of the work done after all, since two were better than one and she at least seemed to notice the other figures attacking them, which was far more helpful than not.

"Tell you what? I can work with you, the people around here are useless for information in my experience, and there might be more enemies around every corner. Killing them will only just tire us out and won't help us find the root of the problem, so if you wish to use that bait tactic still, then I suggest you expect to be in for the long haul, if you wish to try another method, we could always attempt to find the hidden routes underneath the city, they could always be hiding in plain sight, but it's more likely they would hide, for the sheer fact of not potentially messing up with a reaction above ground. The choice is your's, I can handle either."

---

Total WC: 1430/11250
Post WC: 514

“Fear is for the weak, caution is for the wise.”

This statement kept her thinking for a while. While this person was trying to make a clever statement, she found a fault in it. Everyone fears. There is no one who does not fear a thing in the world. Even if they do not have a million fears in the world, she still believed that people had a kind of fear. So did the caution that she was talking about come from fear...or was she trying to say that wise people had no fear at all? If it was the latter, then Lynn would have to completely disagree with her statement. But this does not seem like the time to be arguing about a statement that could just have been an opinion, especially not now, because they were supposed to tackle this job together and arguing about such a thing was a waste of time and energy! Who knows, what if the difference in opinions made the other girl leave her? Okay she was overthinking things now. She would probably just ignore her opinions and be like ‘Whatever’ or something, right?

"Tell you what? I can work with you, the people around here are useless for information in my experience, and there might be more enemies around every corner. Killing them will only just tire us out and won't help us find the root of the problem, so if you wish to use that bait tactic still, then I suggest you expect to be in for the long haul, if you wish to try another method, we could always attempt to find the hidden routes underneath the city, they could always be hiding in plain sight, but it's more likely they would hide, for the sheer fact of not potentially messing up with a reaction above ground. The choice is your's, I can handle either."

Blinking, Lynn looked up, sanguine orbs locking onto the girl’s own bright red optics. Did she just agree to working together with her? The dragon slayer grinned, doing a mental jump of victory in her head as she nodded. She wondered if it was a good idea to actually made someone a bait, now that she actually thought about it. She would never be a good bait, and who would want to be an enemy bait anyway? Obviously, neither of them. Tilting her head to one side, the action causing her long blue hair to fall on one side of her neck, she thought a bit before actually replying to the girl.

“Well, looks like we can do it that way. None of us needs to be the bait. And about the underground routes? Do you know anything about them? I never knew they existed...and even if they did, why would the enemies be hiding in there…” she trailed off, the last part was just her thinking out loud, but then she continued, “Alright whatever! We will do this your way,” grinning. “But it would be nice to know your name before we do anything otherwise in the case that I need help, I can’t call out your name because I don’t know it!”

Now there was a second one that appeared, and Sharp already thought this first one was difficult to deal with. This man was quite brash, so of course, he was a friend of this Lynn, made perfect sense.

"I fought a man here once before, I had to make sure either I and/or he had an escape route, discovered the tunnels back then, though his ability to run away didn't last that long."

Yeah, it wasn't much of an explanation, but due to their brash natures Sharp didn't feel like disclosing much since it would mean that she would be placing trust within them, and she wasn't foolish enough to start randomly trusting those who are this cheerful or pushy. Call it her being paranoid or whatever, but she didn't wish to have to fight enemies behind and in front of her all in one day, it would just slow down her progress and hamper her work. That and the guy had called her a babe which to her recollection was supposed to be insulting? Sharp didn't know, she didn't care about such things, but others had told her it was a sign of her being hit upon. if this man really wished to hit on her, then he would have to get through her blade and her martial prowess, since nothing went over her head, her reflexes were far too good.

"Sharp, is the name, and there are a few entrances to underground, do you wish to split up and explore them individually or keep together as a group?."

Sharp pondered the question to them, she didn't care either way, a group would be stronger but if they couldn't handle themselves alone then what was the point in her actually teaming up with them. It wasn't any of that survival of the fittest crap, more of them dragging her down skill wise as she wouldn't be able to focus on self-improvement just protecting the two of them in case danger arose, and they couldn't defend themselves. Hopefully, that wasn't the case, since they seemed to have quite the nice bit of magical power, but having an inherently higher power source didn't mean the one using said battery, was any good, and Sharp had learned over these past few years what it meant for others to boast and fail.

Still since Sharp didn't know them she couldn't hold it against them that much right now, thus the previous question she had asked. Hopefully, they would give more a reasonable answer than before or actually, agree to a more concrete plan that would lead them to victory at the end of the day. If only Chaoris had decided to come along this would be so much easier, they could just kill everyone and then figure it all out later, not like the people would even notice their own demise, they looked to be in a state of weakness, and decay as it was.

---

Total WC: 1922/11250
Post WC: 492

A while after they were chatting about the underground tunnels, a familiar voice was heard, asking if someone said ‘underground’. Lynn whirled around to meet a very familiar face that belonged to her former guildmate, Mashyuu, the Earth Dragon Slayer. “Oh my,” she said, turning to the girl who had introduced herself as ‘Sharp’ now, saying, “Sharp this is my friend.” She had a feeling Sharp had already figured it out, but that did not stop her from telling her anyway. The earth slayer introduced himself, then asked who was stupid enough to pick a fight with Lynn. The sorceress blinked a few times, making sure she heard right, then laughed out loud. “No one, Mashyuu. Sharp here was fighting off some of the enemies when I found her,” she informed the clueless newcomer. She had a taken aback look when he asked if she was still going around cutting off people’s heads. “I don’t do that for enjoyment or anything. I only do it when it’s necessary,” she told him, then clearing her throat, turned to Sharp.

“Alright Sharp. You have knowledge of the tunnels here and Mashyuu knows how to find routes in the Earth. I think we should not split up no matter what. Shall we begin?” she asked, pointing at the ground beneath her feet. She was not exactly sure how they were going to do this, so she gave a look at Sharp who might know. She then turned to Mashyuu and found that he was not where he had been standing a minute ago. Lynn immediately started to look for him frantically. “Where did he go?” she asked out loud, then wondered if he had gone into the routes by himself. When she realised this was probably the case, she turned to Sharp then said, “Nevermind him.” Now that she was alone with Sharp again, she looked at the ground another time, hoping it would open up or something. “I think we need to start digging or something.”


OOC: Mashyuu dropped out of the job.

1359/11250

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Most dog’s seemed to have a natural sixth sense for dangerous thing’s, being altered to where danger was and running away from the risk, preserving their lives. Canine’s were very good at telling people’s natures and generally knowing when trouble was afoot. The last few nights, any dog not drastically bound to it’s master by impressive loyalty, had fled the town, only a few remained and they were restless, sleepless. It was the third night of being unable to fall asleep, of laying in her room, sprawled out across her bed, something gnawing at her insides. Why couldn’t she fall asleep no matter how hard she tried to? It was not like her fear’s were relevant, no spider’s were in her room, no fire, the space void of chains, men and even the dark . There was nothing that should be keeping the little canine awake, but she had still been unable to fall asleep for days now, and if she did manage to get some shut eye, it could never be considered real sleep. Something had to be out of place, there had to be something wrong in the town, something keeping her from falling asleep! The sense that told animal’s when there was trouble, it was screaming in her mind. However Jiyu was not your normal dog, she was a demon, a deity, a monster, whatever you called her, the wind mage, she responded differently to that screeching than most puppies did. Kazehime, she sought out whatever was making feel threatened, endangered, and she took care of it, wiped it off the face of the earth so she could sleep easy again. Most of the girl’s fears caused her to turn extremely violent if pushed into a corner by them, her fight and flight response was strong for survival, even if when her survival was sometimes threatened by an additional freeze or faint response. Nothing mattered right now, the canine kicked her legs over her bed, rising to her feet, still in her equipment, having not taken it off due to her uneasiness. It was one of the few time’s Jiyu was ready to go without any time needed to prepare anything. Something was up and she’d get to the bottom of it, she had come to enjoy living in Black Rose too much to let something happen to the city it now resided in!

Jiyu had done something akin to this before, being tasked once with figuring out why people were vanishing or dying when they went into the forest around the city. When she was involved in that? The wind user used her ability to talk to people in order to collect information that could help her finish the mission without getting seriously injured. Normally she could come across a wealth of information from people who didn’t even know they knew anything important. Kazehime spent the better part of the day, walking around to every building and questioning people on thing’s, anything she could think of in her head. However, nothing seemed to come up at any single one of the stop’s she made, and that was the thing that alarmed her! Alongside good information she also sometimes got misinformation, or got told thing’s she would rather not know. Today, she was not getting anything, every response to each question seemed robotic, rehearsed, and there were some people she did not remember seeing before she returned from her most recent job. Clearly, something had happened to the city while she was out running around slaying dragons and collecting riches so to speak. The fact she arrived home after whatever initially happened? Must have provided her immunity to whatever was causing this strange behavior in everyone, because as she went on throughout the day people became more hostile to her. Actually? The looks she was receiving begun to suggest she was beginning to be viewed something like a virus in someone’s body, out of place. It was not long before people began to treat her like some evil invading demon, scorn her the way the halfling had always feared being hated, and there was even some rock throwing.
Jiyu was not about to endure additional damage, she was not going to get hurt this early on, so when mobs of angry towns folk started chasing her. Kazehime knew her way around the city, but she didn’t know because she knew street names or such, she knew because of the earth’s magnetic fields. Thus she did not see the settlement in the same way people stuck on the ground did, she had many more places to hide than they could ever search in an attempt to find and eliminate her. “Something is really wrong here.” her heart ached, realizing the sensation of restlessness she had for the last few night’s, had to be caused by this. Normally when she leaped into something this risky, someone else was right next to her, multiple people at some points. This time it seemed she was alone, and the witch did not appreciate that at all! Knowing nothing would be brought from sticking around the town itself, all on her own without any back up, she figured she might as well seek out wizard friends from other guilds, a guild-mate who was out on a mission, or someone else she could rely on to help her break whatever was wrong with Rose Garden, give her home back to her. So the canine slipped out of the town easily, tossing one of her feather’s into the air, sitting atop the magical transport, partly lost in her own mental reflection of current events. She needed to figure out what was going on quickly, because feeling this unsettled was not really her style, she was more the type to confidently tell other people what was going on. The last time she had felt anything near the uncertainty she rediscovered now? Was when she was still dormant, unable to use the bulk of her demonic abilities, the days when she was still weak. These days her body was the only thing truly weak about her!

It was not long before she had felt the presence of another powerful magic force, however she could not spot it from the air. Alongside having all the perks of dog’s, the inhuman female also had the setbacks, such as only being able to see about twenty feet in front of her clearly. Jiyu was forced to land before she really knew who was around, it was in no ways a prime condition, so she landed as close to the forest as possible to conceal herself and see if she could get scent or something of the magical presence she had scented. Figure out who she was dealing with before getting involved with them directly. When nothing of their scent suggested a danger to herself, she allowed herself to venture forward, moving closer until she could finally see the form of the other woman. “So I take it my assumption of something being wrong with Rose Garden isn’t too far off if another powerful mage is this close to it and talking about digging holes.” the last part of the speech made her chuckle, considering someone else besides her was considering digging holes, and she was the dog between them. “Mind filling me in on anything you know? I came back from a mission to find whatever is going on.” she figured offering an explanation as to why she was unaffected would be nice, so she was careful to mentioned she had been absent from the town for a while, due to mage work. For once she didn’t bother introducing herself to a new person, the more important thing was restoring her home to what it should be, making it safe once more.

She wanted to run forward towards an enemy, something she could over power with her immense magical power, but she had nothing. The only thing Jiyu had right was this light cream haired mage, of course she had no idea the girls hair was actually pink a color she was incapable of seeing. Wasn’t this a sad situation?

2579/11250

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Even thought being alone could frighten the wind mage significantly and she often had the urge to seek other people out to fight off the darkness within her own mind. Jiyu did not actually have any major issues with being on her own, it was relying on others that put her off because for nearly ten years, even when she lived in the village after her mother died, the girl had been pretty much on her own. These days it frightened her to see how much her mind nearly shut down when she thought those who had earned places in her heart might be taken away from her, the home that she managed to find after years on the run, would suddenly cease to exist within accessibility to her. Jiyu would never be able to take that sort of event happening, so she took every measure she possibly could to avoid it. Yet she came home to thing’s screwed in this way, something incredibly wrong with the land around her, the place she called her home, and unable to truly do anything about it. Kazehime was not used to being or feeling so useless, especially considering the magical strength she had managed to collect over the past few months, she had gotten used to being strong once she achieved a strength she could use even with how weak her physical body was. Any panic the female felt it did not come from being alone, that was something she could handle, no matter how frightening it could be sometimes, loneliness was not enough to break her, not in her mind at least and apparently not at the moment. However finding herself alone in this and the fact it threatened to leave her largely alone in a whole? That was enough to drive her, force the teenager to seek out another mage to be close to, someone else to fight beside her or for her to fight alongside of, even though those two things were largely the same one. Jiyu didn’t want to be alone while her world was so shattered, during a time she couldn’t even consider herself safe walking down even the very street she lived on, she knew being alone right now could just result in no progress towards a solution being made. While she was not afraid, the wind user knew if she did not seek out an ally, fear could very easily rise up and overwhelm her.

Jiyu had not counted on finding the legally insane when she sought out someone to help her, and those canine instincts told her it might be best to fly off and find someone else. If she took the time to do that thought? It was very possible she would not be able to help Rose Garden and the sorceress would not have that, never in a million years would that take place, so she was stuck with miss loony, and she’d make do! Honestly, being a demon she was aware some who did not believe in her species with one standing right in front of them, would consider her insane, just like she doubted this other girl's sanity. How sound of mind the woman in front of her happened to be? Was not relevant, only her power and if she could seem to function well enough to not attack an ally. Hopefully the cream haired mage could fit those criteria and get promptly to helping release whatever spell had to have been cast over the town Jiyu had come to love. However the wind user was cautious, and she would not go rushing off with this girl even if she had seemed normal. One of the few good thing’s being held and bound for two years against her will had taught her was that anyone in the world was capable of evil, you had to watch people you didn’t trust with your life, or they might try to take it from you. “I don’t care how many there were.” she empathized the last word, expressing the fact she cared not for mages who were no longer standing here to save the town she held so close to her heart. Even mentioning those who had run off, if they existed in the first place? Was not going to help what she wanted to accomplish here, so hearing about it kinda irked her. Knowing there might be people who simply abandoned Rose Garden, it made her want to- No! Something stopped the rage cold, the anger suddenly vanishing and being bottled elsewhere within her. In her current state she was actually incapable of getting really upset, the most she could easily achieve was a cryptic form of being jaded.

“Right now the two of us, the one who came and who stayed to try and help here, we’re all that matters. Stop thinking about people who left, regard it as if they were never here to begin with.” because even the air held more value than someone who would run away from somewhere she treasured when it was in trouble! In fact the air held much more value, since the wind mage controlled it, existed alongside it and was closely bound to it. Even if this girl had not offered, not desired to help her, Jiyu had decided shortly ago that this would be her partner for this, whether the other female liked it or not. Kazehime was obviously a woman incredibly used to getting her way. And why should she be used to anything else? The wind user was clearly self confident, and her physical appearance gave reason to be! Well actually her short stature, pale and smooth skin, large chest, long legs, shockingly low weight, all of them only added to a physical suggestion she was not powerful, the same thing’s that might make getting people to do what she wanted easier, also made her look weaker. Truth be told, the wind mage was weak, in body, her physical form was incredibly easy to damage, it was the reason she wore her armor. Speaking of her armor? It did not actually look useful, being simply a silver chest plate, plated skirt and two arm bracers laying atop a tight black crop top and short skirt. Most of Jiyu was left exposed by her clothing, even her guild mark clear to see, spread large across her abdomen. The woman’s slutty style of dress was not by personal choice thought, it was a by product of her magic, the wind got upset if she was too covered up, if it couldn’t touch her enough.

“I’m Jiyu.” she returned the intro easily enough, smiling slightly as she noticed this was indeed going to go her way. Kazehime was frightened of losing her home and it caused her behavior to be a bit edgy, but being reassured she was not alone in this, seemed to do the trick in bringing the dog in. “If we’re doing this, let’s get going than.” Kazehime was also clearly sleep deprived, shown from the bags beneath her eyes, that definitely didn’t help her attitude. “And hopefully this does go easy.” the comment was almost a whisper, her hand reaching to draw two arrows from her quiver so she’d be able to use them eventually, when the need arose.

3795 words total.

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Maka had been left in the Guild during the last job Kazehime had chosen to go on, for her own safety, but now the wind user regretted it, leaving her companion alone like that. Even with several members of the Guild willing to check in on the infant fox and care for her while she was occupied with high rank jobs? Jiyu felt guilty every time she left the child behind, and having this happen, it only made things worse for the Ace, she cared for her kitsune greatly, not having her for this would be difficult. However in the end it was just another motivation for the woman to work hard undoing whatever had been done to her home, strive to save it from whatever this was. Oddly colored eyes watched the movements of the winged lion, seeing how defensive he instantly became of his wielder, the one he had chosen to bond with. Slowly the girl approached them both, staying a foot or so back as she lifted one hand. “I’m not going to hurt her.” it seemed she might have more sympathy for the lion than Lynn herself, but it was a sign of a gentle nature or such, a sign she might not actually be that bad of a person despite seeming stand offish right now. “You don’t have anything to worry about.” she offered her hand for him to sniff for a moment, retracting it after so long, running that same hand through her roughly waist long side burns. Honestly the last thing she needed was this lion being exceptionally territorial and illogical during this quest, so he needed to at least trust she was not going to try to get his master killed. Otherwise? He might do something stupid to protect the woman and end up caught in crossfire. Jiyu did not want to accidentally murder someone’s pet just because it was trying to protect them! She wouldn’t want that to happen to Maka so the wind user wanted to try and take precautions to avoid doing it to someone else's precious companion.

“He is a gorgeous beast thought.” there was no denying that the animal partnered with this other female, was quiet the magnificent speciesism. His height thought? Jiyu would do without, it kind of irked the female whenever anyone was taller than she was, even if it was only an animal! Of course it was so easy to be taller than a five foot tall woman. Shaking off her admiration of the large feline, the dog sighed out once more, realizing she had just been wasting time, which was not acceptable in this condition. There was no time to explain why she was so devoted to this, which was something she would have liked to do considering how the other girl seemed slightly confused as to her motives. If she took that much time? Thing’s may only get worse, and Jiyu did not desire to have that take place, she wanted everything to be perfect once more, back the way it should be! Lynn was stuck with a territorial dog who was trying to reclaim or defend her space, and sometimes that was not the best thing. Canines could become very aggressive when what they need to survive is threatened, Rose Garden was something Jiyu deemed necessary for her life, and the people within it. “Is it now?” she had not considered her name being easy to pronounce or anything, for Jiyu it was just what she was called. When her mother had died? It had lost all the deeper meaning it had once possessed, become simply a name, one she would never give up, but just a name nonetheless.

The wind user had a bad habit of seeming confident and entirely in the know, even when she knew not a single thing. This poker face of sort’s, had been developed back when she was a little girl hopping ships, dealing with sailors and unsavory people. However now her ability to do this, often became a fault because it did not serve the same self preserving purpose it once had, instead it was a thing activated by her emotional state, to mask when she was uncertain. Lynn was convinced she knew what she was doing, but Jiyu actually only knew the magnetic layout of the town. The sabertooth master was following someone who could actually not see 20 foot beyond her face clearly, she could walk right into an enemy! Of course she would not walk right into danger, because she still had highly tuned ears and a nose to match the best of dogs. “What have you found out since you got here.” Jiyu was going out on a limb, praying this girl knew something more than she herself had managed to find out. Going in with no sort of intelligence? Made the Ace Of Hearts nervous about this upcoming ordeal, doing research on the run was nothing short of unpleasant, even though she sometimes had a habit of being rash and rushing in like this, it did not mean Jiyu liked doing it. “I can tell you for sure, everyone is different from how they normally would be. I mean I’ve lived for months now as part of Black Rose, and the town was always exceptionally friendly to me until today.” and she had yet to run into any of the other wizards she would normally run to for help, because she did not seek them out! If this really affected everyone in town? She did not want to encounter her guild-mates, because she was already much like a small animal and easily frightened, if they went at her even being controlled by someone else, Jiyu was not sure if she could forget and forgive. “I tried to figure out something earlier, and everyone got aggressive towards me, it’s never happened before.” she looked scared as she spoke that, closing her eyes for a second as her body shivered, hugging one arm close to her body.

The woman who had looked confident and distant only moments before, now looked small and frightened, her tail held between her legs as she walked. “So we have to do something quick. This is place is the Home I never thought I’d have again. I can’t lose this place.” it had taken her so long simply to trust the people here after so long of being self sufficient and independent! Finding another place where she could feel safe like she did sleeping in her room at the silver moon, and tending the cafe? Jiyu did not believe that would be possible for her, she felt thing’s too deeply, if she couldn’t live here than maybe she just would not live at all. Kazehime sighed, realizing she was getting mushy and not acting very much like a powerful mage. “Sorry, I went on babbling.” she wanted to put the topic to bed quickly as she could, because it was unprofessional to be leaning on someone you didn’t know like that. “I guess this is just unsettling for me.” she could gently offer that much, but it was clear if pushed the canine would shut down. Considering they had to work together for this? That was something neither of them would desire.

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If someone blatantly disregarded Maka or how the kitsune felt in Jiyu’s presence? The wind mage knew she would be none to happy, so she was giving the same courtesy. Plus, in spite of being a canine she was rather fond of feline’s, the man she loved was a feline youkai after all. “Everyone should do that.” the female sighed it out, upon finding out no one seemed to see the lion as part of Lynn’s team, another entity working directly with them. What kind of trash had this girl been working with?! The wind user smirked slightly, watching the grunting lion make his sound, and the way he stood near the creamy haired mage was cute. “Cats can be just as protective as dogs.” it was kind of a weird comment, especially with her tail swaying, but it was something she truly meant. Thinking along that line? Brought a smile to her face and her hand in front of her mouth as her face flushed red at memory. “I know an over protective kitty myself~” she looked so happy making the comment, her cheeks flushed red, eyes lit up and posture confident, the girl looked in love actually! The feline she was recalling was no normal cat like the lion was, but instead he was another humanoid animal like herself, one of her guildmates and the man who she owed her life to. For reference she was also in love with him, madly so, he ended up sneaking into her mind even if he was unrelated to events transpiring. At least this time she had an excuse to be thinking about the tall man. “Well I hope I get the chance to see the tiny striped kitten eventually.” hopefully this wouldn’t be the only time they met, it was kinda depressing that this mostly serious side was all Lynn got to see of her at the moment, when she had so much more to her. Jiyu just couldn’t fight the frown coming back, the worry on her face as she looked down, eyes glistening slightly at the fear of losing her home.

“I’ve actually met lots of people.” she corrected the other girl, thinking back to her prior missions, finally realizing how far she had come from the runaway traveler that Marschal had found wandering around Lavanitir entirely lost. That single day? Had changed her whole life, it had woken her up to the fact she didn’t have to be alone even if she’d left behind everyone she had ever known for her magic. “I’ve been traveling for seven years.” it was hard to believe it had been that long ago that her blacksmith father had caught her practicing magic inherited from her deceased mother behind his back. Even with what she had been through since then, that night was still her most painful! Looking at him and screaming those things while she swore and cussed that she’d never stop being a mage and his rage sending her to her room, not knowing it would be the last time he’d ever see her. Other people would have tried to resolve things another day or offered a bridge to mend by now, but Jiyu just couldn’t do that, not with the baggage she was carrying. “I rarely bother with people’s full true names to be honest.” the comment was off to the side as the woman walked with her bare feet scraping the stones. As they kept talking the wind mage thought deeply, deciding to reveal her own theory. “I Honestly think the whole town is under some mental trance or illusion, some sort of manipulation.” And that frightened her so much, that someone was manipulating the people she loved


They had been walking through the town for a little while, using back streets, alley ways and such to avoid being mobbed by angry townspeople encase the spell controlling this place happened to be that powerful. Who was she kidding, Jiyu knew it was that strong, it was why she was so frightened and wishing she had never left the town.The wind mage was well aware she was one of the guild’s most powerful, her position as an Ace showed it clearly, and now she was fairly sure herself and the guildmaster were the highest ranked individuals in the guild! How could she had left her home alone to go work when she knew that? This was her own fault, she was at risk of losing her home just because she could not stay still. Jiyu bit her lip, nearly drawing blood as she sighed, looking at the ground, letting her memory of the lands electromagnetic fields take care of everything for her, because she certainly didn’t want to see anything right now, besides the tears welling in her eyes prevented her shitty sight from being effective anyways. “Huh.” the inugami stopped dead, her elfin ears flicking sharply as her nose cringed and she covered it. “Oh damn, fuck, what the hell is that?!” the scent of death filled her nose, and the woman suddenly appeared to have trouble standing. “That’s rank, like a corpse.” the female panted slightly as she regained composure, using her ears to locate the sound of foot steps. “Two enemies, coming from either side of us.” if Lynn had not picked up on the fact the teenager was not human before, it was painfully clear now, tail held in an erect position with her aggression towards their incoming enemies.


Moment’s later the enemies showed themselves, mere feet away from the two girls, coming round the corner. “SHIT!” the female’s aura arched and lashed out per normal, but this time it did it with greater urgency, the sight of an angelic being alarming her. Being a demon? She was logically more susceptible to their holy magic. “Take down the angel for me!” with those dove like wings on it’s back, there was nothing else it could be. “The lesser wannabe demon is already done.” she lifted her finger, aiming it at the weak horned monster and instantly the ball of wind shot at it, taking the beast down with extreme ease. Trusting her ally she than went to investigate the the lesser devil she had taken down, looking curiously at the corpse. “It wasn’t born a demon, the human blood is too strong. Someone made this.” the realization echoed as she moved her fingers and closed the eyes of the corpse. “Thank goodness it smells like you were dead when the transformation was done.” she knew what hell it was to have demonic traits emerge out of nowhere, erupt and consume you! The little demoness had been dormant, so she had experienced it first hand after her first taste of blood.

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In terms of the cat Jiyu spoke of, Lynn was correct in assuming he was no normal feline. In fact? He was a half breed like the canine herself, just the feline version, they were entities that normally might go at each other’s necks. Yet, the two clearly did not try to end each other, instead they gave their all to keep one another safe, a dog that should hate cats, loved one with her whole heart, had no room for no other romantic love with him in there. Kazehime had never thought at their first meeting, had no way to foresee how far she’d fall for Marschal, but now part of her thought she might even kill for him and it was terrifying, yet exhilarating at the same time, the instinct to be around him and the feelings of love were just so overwhelming! Even if she felt that strongly thought, it only truly served to confuse her further at this stage in her life. Jiyu had so little time to get to know herself, she transitioned from one life and before she adjusted she’d been thrown so many curve balls, from joining a guild, being kidnapped/rescued, to finding out she had never been a human. Anyone who experienced that much at once, would be likely to go mad, and it was largely due to her focus on him that she had survived with her sanity in tac, seemed like much the same persons to others. Yet?! They had barely known her any longer than him, and when they saw her reflection as normal when she gazed into the mirror, Jiyu was looking at a stranger, someone who was betraying herself with every breath for emotions she used to have control over. Kazehime didn’t want to stop the drowning her feelings generated, but she also wanted to feel as if she was standing on her own two feet again, could stand alone if she ever needed to! Right now, she felt so reliant on other people it was no where near funny, and it made her sick sometimes, caused her to delay her return to the guild by days sometimes. “No reason to distract ourselves, there will always be another time.” she sounded confident, looked calm, collected, controlled, yet inside she screamed to impulsively accept that offer, wondered why she didn’t do as she wanted to do, modified her behavior for someone other than herself. It was always so aggravating even if it happened often.  


“Settling down has never really been my thing.” even when she could stand staying in the same town, living in Peace Village growing up? The girl would run around all the time, she never stopped moving, it was just the way she was meant to be, mobile and free. Sometimes thought? The woman longed for something to keep her rooted somewhere, but part of her accepted that being chained down would not bode well with her, she’d lash out at someone keeping her somewhere, it was why she was gone from the guild so much. Everything that happened next, happened so swiftly there was no reason to be insanely concerned with it, one second their enemies stood weakly and the next both were on the ground mere corpses.


“They smell as if they died some time ago from what I can tell, though I’m trying not to stick my nose in them or even focus it on them, seriously it’s rank.” and her senses were so much more tuned that a human’s, her hearing and scent that is, Jiyu’s sight and taste were actually pretty poor. Covering her face with her hands, she walked forward a little bit more blocking the scent with her hands, so that her nose would not become too overwhelmed by the death trying to claw through it. Honestly? Smelling that final perfume, made something feel different inside of her, and she was sickened by how pleasant it made her feel, the fact without the moral code she had developed, she might even try to eat those bodies. Was she really that much of an animal? These days she honestly didn’t know, she barely knew herself so how could she tell if she was an animal or not! Well part of her clearly was canine, she had the tail and senses of one, but the rest of her looked human, only she wasn’t. Honestly? Jiyu had never confronted her life state and today would not be the day she did so, right now she just needed to keep things moving along. “We have to keep moving or we’ll never get anywhere, we’ll clean them up after we’ve solved this.” it seemed kind of cold, but it was the best she had right now, the girl could not think beyond things like this. If she really considered the emotional level of this, let herself realize those were likely once townspeople, than she would not be able to keep moving and certainly would be unable to fight them. At least, that was what should happen when this sort of twisted thing took place, but she honestly didn’t know what she’d do it her mind truly processed it, so she wouldn’t give the time for that, walking ahead swiftly, glancing back only once to ensure she was being followed.

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Jiyu was eventually going to come to despise any sort of evil or nasty that existed. However it would not be due to any wrong done to her that this new ideal grew, at least not directly. Instead? She would birth a fear of the negative due to the power it would grant her. Normally additional power would always be a good thing, but her new magic would be twined with darkness, born from malice and fed by rage, it would consume her and the area surrounding the girl, attempt to destroy everything because that what normal Inugami did, they wrecked everything expect their master and even than sometimes turn suddenly on their summoner! Right now she seemed innocent enough, but deep inside her true face as a spirit born of spite, it was growing at an alarming rate, one she would soon be unable to control. However for now she remained blissfully unaware of the darkness contained within her small body, entirely ignorant to the danger she would soon pose for those she cared for. Right now, the Mage was just an innocent wizard trying her best to make the world a better place, even if the future would change her, there was nothing to be alarmed over. “Or if they have buddies in the first place.” They could always be alone, but the tone of her voice suggested she was siding with her partner, doubting that their sneaky opponents made from angels and Demons, really came alone. Most angels traveled in hordes to eliminate the unholy and demons were pack creatures for the most part of her experience. Being away from her own pack? Made her sick to her stomach, the point where she could almost throw up was quickly achieved when she thought she might not be able to go back to the entities she loved, one particular face being strongest along two others who were familia. Jiyu was actually afraid when she realized how attached to others she had become in under a year for she had only been a dog demon for a few months! It was terrifying to realize how much someone else could destroy her if she chose to leave her all alone. Moving forward suddenly became a very good idea in her opinion, fear riddling her mind as she paced after her comrade swiftly, not bothering with her senses as her brain compared when she had been a ship rat to the life she loved every day now. How was she suppose to function when she actually did give a damn? How did people do this, care for others except themselves and their own goals. Jiyu didn't know, but she wasn't so sure she wanted to have that knowledge, considering the implications.


The scent of smoke rose to her sensitive nose, flowing in and corrupting her senses, the peaceful state of her mind being thrown out into the cold, being burned into panic by that single scent. Fire? Had never been kazehimes friend! Flames had taken so much away from Jiyu when she was little, her mother was ripped away from her by a house fire, murdered by it actually, and that was all before she has been tortured with the element for two years! At this point even the quick and small spark required to light a cigarette? Was enough to terrorize the wind user, make her sick to her stomach and curl up into a ball on the ground, her body pushing itself against a nearby wall, whimpering and cowering there until the flame went out once more. Honestly, she couldn’t believe what a fool she was making of herself by doing that, it twisted her gut into pretzels and only made her feel worse than she already did over the reaction she had to fire. Why did she have to be frightened so easily? It even prevented her from working with some of her guild-mates at times, any use of fire was too much for the small female to take. “I... I’m Sorry.” she forced herself to stand back up, coughing slightly at the nearby smoke from Lynn’s cigar, considering wind user’s were naturally more sensitive to air quality which was polluted by such things. “I’m not good with fire.” she laughed it off, the best she could, but the way she stayed closed to the wall and averted her gaze told the real story of how terrified the young girl really was of the fire and sometimes even smoke. Of course? There was one exception but that was for later.


“My little sister and-” there was a lot to protect here besides just Rose, the whole guild was pretty much like her family. The female just let out a small laugh, smiling slightly as she followed Lynn down the streets, feeling something was off about them, but being unable to put her finger on it. “This place is the closest I’ve ever come to being accepted for what I am.” because her father certainly had not been alright with her demonic status, otherwise he would have told her about it, she wouldn’t have found out when she was transforming, frightened and alone, terrified until Izayuki convinced her it was alright.


Jiyu knew it was an illusion when things started getting trippy because the female didn’t feel anything off about the magnetic fields of the earth, the canine could still tell where she was standing. “So you ready to beat her into the ground.” once more the female moved forward and her aura took over, lashing out at the opponent as she thought of how best to deal with this opponent, looking at her bow and arrow, than at her own hands, trying to decide what would be best to use, weapon or magic. “Mind you two making the first move?” dealing with an illusionist could sometimes require someone to stay ranged, practice caution so they could warn their allies as to when an illusion was being used on them.