I Think the Four of Us Make A Great Team [Marschal, Jiyu, Lilian, & Leila]

1852 words

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The comfort of her bed was something that Jiyu treasured heavily, a thing she took great lengths to achieve, getting her flank ripped open by a giant sheep, just so she could have one of the comfiest blankets in the world. Back than? It was all she could think of to resist knocking on Marschal’s door, asking to just sleep in his bed, heck even next to him, for the rest of her life. After she had been rescued, the nightmares had been so bad, she woke up in cold sweat several times a night if she could even fall asleep, fighting to stay awake, because the worst part about everything was she could not recall a single damn thing about the terrors after she woke. Now? She knew the reason why she had that torture inflicted upon her, Jiyu’s brain had worked so hard to protect her and prevent any knowledge of the things she could not remember, save the young girl from the horror. However in the end, it had all come leaking through the fog, and this had brought back the nightmares she had not endured since obtaining the blanket that her body was now curled within. Kazehime fought off the images, body shivering as phantom hands gripped her, and her body suddenly jolted upright, a silent scream escaping her mouth, body shivering out of control as Maka stared up at her in great concern. “I’m alright girl.” Only you could see the pure terror in her eyes as the girl crossed her legs, holding her arms over her bared chest, a defensive posture. “Just a bad dream.” that came directly from a memory that had almost been the end of her! It was these mornings she really hated her habit of stripping in her sleep, because waking up naked, it made everything worse, she felt more vulnerable, even with her door locked and the key hung around Koto’s neck. “It’s over now.” until she went to sleep again, but for now she could find comfort in the sensation of wool pooled at her waist, pulling the blanket back up to her collarbone, fingers gripping it tightly. For what seemed like hours, the wind mage lay there, unmoving, as if she did not intend on actually getting up. Even if this time seemed ridiculous? It was necessary to allow that state of horror to wear off, she needed to be sound of mind before she even moved to get ready for the day.

Jiyu calmed down sometime later, around fifteen minutes if anyone was paying attention besides for the little kitsune lain at the end of her bed. Once her mind could put together lucid thought’s and follow the set process all individuals were suppose to use, she spent energy to roll right out of her bed, not even bothering to kick off the cover, it came with her to kneel on the floor. Now was the time to point out this girl's room was extremely small, only three feet between her bed and dresser, and from the foot of her single twin bed to the sole window in the room. Honestly, considering the fact she only slept in her room and nothing else, Jiyu did not need much more room then provided, if anything it allowed her to make use of the ultimate invention for early mornings, laziness! The half demoness pulled open her bottom drawer, claws hands snatching up a pair of feminine under garments, panties and her normal bikini/bra top, rolling around as she eased the clothing on, groaning. Waking up was never her favorite part of the morning, she really would rather not, but by the time she got out of her birthday suit and into clothing that would never be okay for the public, she had managed to stand up. “Fuck, why do people need clothing anyways.” she had been singing a different tune when her body was scattered with burn marks and she certainly hated having people touching her, but getting dressed was so tedious when she had just woken up! “Which drawer did I put them in.” she grumbled the words out, finally finding a pair of her jeans, choosing those over daisy dukes for the day. Flopping back onto her bed she got the baggy jeans on easily, rolling over to open her night stand, retrieving her dagger and fan from the drawers, placing them in their rightful belt loops. The wind mage was silent now as she wobbled over to the corner of her room with a mirror, looking at her bed head in her own reflection. “He’ll kill me if I show up like this.” she could not brush it, but she doubted Marschal would be pleased by that and she was suppose to meet up with him today, so her wild locks had to behave tamely! Most of the time she spent getting ready that morning, was the hour she had to consume in order to brush her waist length hair out properly, well comb it out, with actual combs. After struggling with her tresses for all that time, she finally had them looking presentable, pulled over her shoulders so that her quiver would sit on her without pulling on the strands, with all that done the last task was to grab Night Hunt itself, and head downstairs.

Almost right after exiting her room, the wind mage had her normal energy restored, racing down the steps and strutting across the cafe to one of the booths, one more dimly lit then the right, a good spot to avoid getting her sensitive eyes over stimulated early in the day. Before she could even speak up, one of few current staff working came over with the breakfast she had asked for the night before. If the wind mage had become good at one thing? It was streamlining the process of getting out the guild’s center and off to some mission for the day. Kazehime had not been able to climb the distance she had, without a damn good method to getting things done. Of course her method did not account for Marschal in any complete way, so his roaring voice made her elfin ears visibly flinch. “Fuck.” the word rolled from her tongue as she covered those pointy appendages, tail lashing behind her.

The butterflies slammed into her stomach.

Jiyu had known she was going with him, there was no way to be unaware, but the fact she would be able to spend so much time with him, that was just catching up to her. Also she had to deal with the fact Leila was going to be there too and that was a can of worms waiting to be opened, considering the last time they saw each other had ended so badly, leaving their friendship in shambles on the wind user’s side. Having Marschal there when she saw Leila would make the whole thing easier, his mere presence was like a security blanket for her. Yet the man brought anxieties to the table as well, because the fantasies she had started having not too long back, those had not vanished with time. Thus while she could seek comfort, there was no easy way to lay all her nerves to rest and she was going to hate this whole damn thing. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” her voice was slightly ticked off, slowly making her way over, doing it on purpose so that he had to wait longer unless he wanted to leave her behind, it was what he got for roaring like that!

She couldn’t hide the wagging of her tail.

“This is going to be fun, isn’t it?” she giggled the words out as she came up beside him, one hand playing with a lock of her dual colored hair, smirking up at the much taller male. She hadn't really realized how much she missed his presence until just now. Sure they saw in passing, but she was often extremely  busy and gone on missions each day, so it had been some time since she had gotten to be around him like this, with the promise it would last at least the day. “The two we’re suppose to be meeting, I’ve worked with both before.” it was miserable, she could not think of anything to speak out in her velvet voice, so something related to the job came out without her consent! Work had kept her from even barely seeing him and now that she was standing next to the taller mage, all she could do was speak of work once more. “Lillian is the taller girl, green hair, green eyes, she’s a bit eccentric, entirely justice obsessed, and last I saw accompanied by a white wyvern  named Marshmallow-” her voice trailed off at the end, as if she could not bring herself to speak the next words, as if she couldn’t move onto giving him information on their other mission partner. Biting on her lip, she fought her own emotions, it was important to know who one was working with, and she could give him that information. “Liela is slightly taller than me with white hair and blue eyes, she’s often accompanied by a dragon fox sort of girl, Yuki, who uses ice, leila’s magic is harder to explain.” she seemed to stop herself from talking, shaking her head and glancing up at him once more trying to hide the upset that had taken over her body. He deserved to know what they could be walking into, she couldn’t tell him exactly what happened but “The last time I saw her, it didn’t end well, I have no idea how she’ll react to me this time.” she wanted to talk with him about anything else or spend the walk in silence, yet the topics got brought up, and she ate herself up about it, sighing out as she aimed to walk a step closer to his side.

She didn’t really speak the rest of the way to Ace Of Spades, staying mostly silent, enjoying his mere company in a manner that could only be stated as happy, told clearly by her wagging tail. However once they arrived at the meeting place, that ended, her tail slowly begun to stand still, and she started averting her head down once more, holding Night Hunt in front of her legs, close to her body. “Hey Marschal?” her velvet voice merged once more, as she looked up at him, craning her neck to do so. “...” she seemed to want to tell him something, but instead she aimed to take one of his large hands into both of her small ones, so she could hug his arm and lean against him. If he let her grab on, she’d let her body rest right against his, flush to him as her nose lay against his arm, taking in the scent she had missed from him. She couldn't’ change whatever Leila would do when she saw her ‘friend’ again, but she could enjoy the presence of Marschal, without issue. Until she had another fantasy.

The life of a hero was a tedious and busy one. You needed to wake up early, eat a specific diet, and be out all the time helping people. This was, at least, what the green haired Hero to Be thought about the life, and the flamboyant personality never ceased despite how her scheduel always looked.

On this perticular day, she was awoken by her brother, Gerome.

"Sister, awaken! Why ask me to prepare your breakfast if you let it get cold!"

The hero awoke and hopped out of bed in a flash, and forced her brother out of her room. She didn't live with him because she was still under the tutelage of her mother, no, it was quite the opposite. She had to protect her very sick, elderly mother, and that meant with money for her brother. Her brother was a doctor, but didn't have an official job because he needed to stay at home all the time, so Lily got the money for him.

After forcing her brother out of her room and quickly changing, she ran downstairs to eat her brother's cooking . She bought materials for breakfast that wasn't available around here while on Thunder Island, where she found Leila. Her brother fixed her an elegant and large breakfast consisting of 3 pancakes, scrambled eggs, a glass of milk, chocolate-covered strawberries, some toast, and three pieces of bacon as well as three more sausages. The hero ate this much on a daily basis, and didn't gain any weight. She ate for two - quite literally, in fact. She and her wyvern shared hunger and an apitite, and she somehow gained the reptilian beast's metabolism, so she had to eat a lot or else she might die of starvation.

After scarfing down the meal she went outside to greet her wyvern, whom was still asleep. It was five am of course, but she needed some early morning training. So Lily went to her shed, where her saddle, her two spears, and her armors were. Grabbing her armor, which added a whole 60 lbs to her with a chestplate alone, she got down on the ground, and proceeded to start doing push ups.

"One... Two... Three... Four... Five..."

She continued this until she got to a hundred, then stood up. Her arms ached, but she had much more to do. She proceeded to grab a bow that her brother used when practicing archery. She prepped an arrow and pulled it back until it couldn't go any further, then let it slack. She wasn't an archer, no, she simply noticed that pulling an arrow back on a bow takes a lot of effort, and thus was a good workout. She repeated this fifty times, until her arms felt like they were being crushed.

Taking a quick pause, Lilian saw the wyvern begin to awaken. She gulped down some water, and waved to her partner, who returned the greeting with a squeal.

"Morning, Marshy! We've got a big day ahead of us, mind hunting for Gerome? Mommy needs some dinner while we're gone, and the gods know Gerome can't hunt. He's an archer who can't hunt, strange."

The wyvern responded again with another screech, then flapped her wings and flew off, to go get some game for Gerome to cook. Lilian, however, stayed put and went over to her favorite tree - a tree with a little swing her mom made for her when she and Gerome were children. Jumping up and grabbing hold of the branch with the swing on it, she lifted herself up, doing some pull-ups. She did 30 pull-ups, until fatigue kicked in and she fell back, lactic acid getting the better of her.

She had to work out her arms, being a wyvern rider she had to hold her lance with one hand, and with presicion. Lances didn't have even weight distribution all of the weight was at the spearhead, which was roughly 20 lbs. That is a lot to carry with one hand for extended periods of time, so she constantly trained her arms, as she didn't need that much training with her legs, aside from the occasional run.

Lilian got in a quick shower, then changed into her clothes for the day. She then went to her mother's room.

"Mommy, I'm leaving out to go on a job, alright? Have Gerome call me if you need anything, okay? If you call I'll be back within a day's notice." Lilian gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, and walked back to her shed, grabbed her saddle, and got outfitted for the mission. Her sea blue armor and purple headband were put on, and she grabbed her two lances that she primarily used, and put them on the sides of the saddle. The sound of wings flapping could be heard now, and Marshmallow returned with a dead deer and lay it on the ground.

"Gerome! I got dinner for you and Ma! Don't burn it all in one day, okay!? I might be gone for a couple days, I might be gone for half of one! Call one of our cousins if you need more food, okay!?" With that Lilian lifted the heavy saddle and put it on the wyvern's back, and hopped onto the saddle.

"Alright, girl, let's go to Ace of Spades! Apparently there's something worthwhile there, plus I'll be able to see Jiyu and Leila again! I dunno who that last one is though, maybe a friend of theirs? Ah well! Let's go!"

The wyvern lifted up off the ground, and took off towards the former guild of Sabertooth, turned into a small city. She circled the skies above the meeting place, before finally deciding to land, and scratching Marshmallow's head.

"The chosen Hero arrives! Did ya miss me!?"
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917 words in dis post

Personal Vindstot note: This, in a cronological sense, will take place after my Sec. Training

1844 words this post
3696 words total.

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She felt his touch before she processed the fact he was touching her, a piece of sensory information that pleased her beyond belief. If it was any other man to lay hands on her? The canine would not be okay with it, but it was him, even if she was to have an issue with marschal making physical contact with her, Jiyu would never say it, she didn't have the right to express something like that to him, the man had saved her life. Heterochromic optics caught the worry on his face, and her heart skipped a beat as her body was suddenly pulled forward. Marschal was correct in assuming she didn’t want to speak, but the way he pulled her close, that said more than any words ever could. With his arm settled around her shoulders, the wind user almost felt as if the rest of the world was incapable of even seeing her, much less hurting her. Jiyu fell easily into him, her hands lifting to grip his vest, trying to be careful of her claws so she would not make holes, she let her forehead rest against the material covering his chest, taking a deep breath as she attempted to regain her self control. Not that Jiyu had much self control to begin with. The embrace was over almost as quickly as it had begun, it was sad that it had been unable to last longer, but she knew they couldn’t stand like that all day. The only thing that mattered? Was the fact he was there for her again, he didn’t say much or push her for additional things, he was just there again, catching her when she was about to fall, likely without even knowing it.

With half her face pressed against his arm, her blue eye was the one gazing up at him occasionally to see his expression or the fact he was drinking. Normally? She would ask her friends or companions to quit consuming liquor if they were doing so around her, it often brought up bad memories. However it was different with this man, Jiyu was pretty sure he was drunk when they met and she was almost sure she’d never seen him entirely sober, since he was almost always at least sipping from that gourd. Kazehime very well could not expect him to cease doing something that his magic relied on either! Plus, the scent did not bother her nearly as much when it was on him, in fact she barely noticed it was the scent of alcohol anymore. As time passed she thought of explaining herself on something from the last job they had went on together, maybe finding the courage to explain why her now dead friend had called her a run away. However the arrival of one of their teammates prevented this.

Lilian's arrival was nothing short of what Jiyu had expected, well  save the fact she arrived before Leila. While she never saw the wyvern rider as someone who would be anything less than perfectly on time? Jiyu had grown used to quickly finding her Eden born friend whenever she started a mission similar to this one. Kazehime pushed past the feelings boiling her throat, forcing herself to release her teammates arm for the moment. No matter how much she wanted to cling to marschal forever, never let go of the person she found the most comfort in? It just was not right to hug unto him and do this reintroduction, no matter how badly she wanted to keep her hands on him . “Yeah, yeah miss chosen hero~” the wind user sounded playful as she smirked, walking forward to stand with her hands on her jean clad hips. “It's good to see both of you again.” a slender hand reached out as she giggled slightly, ears twitching. “Just don't go racing ahead this time, Kay lily?” The half demoness pulled her hand back, it's extension having been more gesture than offer for a handshake, fingers lacing behind her back. She was referring to the last time she'd worked with the well meaning odd ball, the other girl had raced ahead to a point Jiyu had considered dangerous! In the end it was alright, but she did not want a risk like that taken this time. As seconds passed slowly, she went to resume her former placement, tiny arms wrapped around marschals much larger one, face resting against the appendage so she could take in his scent directly. It was pleasant waiting like this, cuddled up to him, something she could easily do all day, if it wasn't for the knowledge of who she was waiting for! The longer Leila took, more time extended and it was just the four of them, waiting. All the waiting? Brought up worries that even though she'd accepted the job after Leila had, the Eden Mage both knew she was on this mission, and she chose to avoid contact instead of coming along, that they were waiting for nothing, due to here mere presence. She wanted to believe that sort of thing was impossible, but she had already believed Leila would never tell her the words from last time! Was it so far a toss to think she might give up a mission due to what happened between them? She didn't want to believe it, yet it was still only marschal, Lillian, marshmallow and herself standing here! What else should she believe?

It was unlike Liela to be this late and Jiyu was beginning to believe that the other girl was really not going to show up. Eventually the magic energy of her filled the air, suddenly she could feel the Eden mage approaching, smell her even past the thick pleasing scent she was burying herself in. Yet Kazehime did not look up. The half demoness found that all she could do was hold onto marschal tighter and breath his scent in order to console herself. Feet touched the ground and the noise forced her elfin ears to twitch and this her head to rise, half of her face hidden behind the giant man she was clinging to. Instantly her vision was met with a shock for the girl before her looked different than normal, instead of the top hat, that costume like get up that the tailed girl had grown used to seeing Leila in, the other Mage was clad in a boring brown today. Why was she dressed so differently? Jiyu stared from where she stood, peered from behind the protection of marschals larger and much sturdier body. No matter how much she wracked her brain, no reason for this change came over her, and eventually she stopped trying.

He was always saving her ass and this time she was determined to prove her strength somehow to him! For the moment thought, she accepted the rescue that was his voice breaking through the silence she herself could not cut, directing them and prompting someone to offer to lead them to the crystal they were seeking out. She kept her hands on him as the group walked along behind this new woman, body flush against his arm, keeping hold of him for comfort, considering the silence was slowly murdering her. The last time Leila had been this quiet, well it had never happened. Even when she’d refused communication because she had not wanted her friend to discover her half demon status, the other girl had not been silent, she’d come to Rose Garden chasing her down. That was when she remembered once more that Leila had initially accepted her demon traits, slightly rebelled against her becoming ‘less innocent’ but the eden mage had accepted her, even considered her cute! How did that turn to hate within a few seconds? It didn’t make any sense, no part of what had happened between them recently made sense to Jiyu, and it made it harder to believe the other girl had meant her harsh words.

At the same time they arrived at the crystal, Jiyu finally broke.

Marschal had told her they wouldn’t need to say anything if they were really friends, but after what had been said, silence just couldn’t do anything for either of them! This was the sort of thing Leila should be rushing to fix, it wasn’t right that the other girl was so silent, something was wrong. However the wind mage was still tongue tied, her mouth dry as she glanced behind her once more, towards Leila, gripping onto Marschal tighter. Right now she was lucky her body was so weak, or she might be gripping hard enough for it to hurt. Even with that fact? Kazehime couldn’t take it anymore, the girl who led them into this clearing was saying something like “The gem seems to respond to magical power.” but the only thing Jiyu could think about was how she would solve this problem! Wait the gem, that was it, her ticket to a solution was the crystal in front of them. If it responded to magical energy it had to be a portal or something, either way a mage touching it would bring some result, and she was a mage. Her dual orbs glanced back once more, one hand releasing her team-mates arm so she could play with her own hair. She had to say something right? The wind user brought her fist in front of her mouth, a few strands of her ebony hair still caught between the fingers, averting her gaze to the side, face flushing as she struggled mentally. He was right. Bare feet stepped forward “It responds to magic power then?” she sounded as if she was clarifying, her hand falling from in front of her face, reaching out, feet carrying her until it was impossible to keep holding Marschal’s hand unless he had followed her. Finally, a slender finger rested against the cold object.

The crystal reacted to the girls wind magic swiftly, glowing until the light enveloped her, blocking her from the sight of the other three. When the blue brightness cleared? The half demoness had vanished, her footprints were in the ground, but her body was gone, all traces of her joining the girl’s physical form in utter blackness. Kazehime knew very well what she was doing, it was the only thing she knew how to do! The girl ran into something that could turn into trouble, knowing Marschal at the least would come after her, protect her and maybe lillian as well. However she also knew most importantly, that this would prove how Leila felt. You wouldn’t follow someone you hated into  blind situation that could be filled with danger, maybe even one that could become deadly! If there was anything left of their friendship, the white haired girl would follow her.

So Jiyu stood there in that world, surrounded by withered trees, waiting for them, anxious to see what her actions had brought. Besides for the scolding she was pretty sure someone was going to give her for being so rash.

Jiyu stood very close to some... Cat... Wolf... Dog.... Lilian couldn't tell. Some sort of animal-man, from the looks of it, whom was drinking right from the point of her landing. This was quite the person based on his looks alone, and sadly was the only one Lilian didn't know. This meant that Lilian would have to get to know him, and if that was the case she might have another Roy incident, as conversing with a drunk was not always the best of things to do. Of course their COULD have been another liquid in the gourd he drank from, but the likeliness of that was slim to none, considering Marshmallow's reactions. It could seem like nothing to the others, as they haven't been trained to sense even the smallest change in the wyvern's mood, and it helped a bit for her to share the sting in her nostrils that the wyvern did.

Lilian was greeted by Jiyu, whom held an arm out to her, however quickly retracting it shortly thereafter. Marshmallow screeched with delight to see a former face that wasn't just Gerome every day, so Marshmallow flapped her wings and moved towards Jiyu, only to have the reigns pulled by the rider.

"I hope it's needless to say, but Marshy here missed ya. And as for our job, I didn't exactly run away, it was more so Marshmallow dragging me away. Last I checked if a wyvern with a size thrice yours drags you away, you go away!" a chuckle left her lips as Marshmallow stomped in embarrasment, distorting the mage a slight amount before regaining her composure, and she turned to the unknown animal man. She put her index and middle fingers together, and made a sort of salute to the man, and nodded her head.

"I don't believe we've met? I'm Lilian Truth, if Jiyu hasn't told you of me. My friends call me Lily, and this here is my darling partner, Marshmallow!"

The introduction of herself and Marshmallow was followed by a quick succession of multiple events, ranging from the arrival, albeit very late, of Leila, in which Lilian gave the same greeting of the two finger salute as Marshal, and with a woman beginning to guide the group towards the crystal. Lilian, not wanting to get entirely ahead of the group, dismounted the wyvern and walked aside the group, not really having a topic to speak about that would pass the time with actual efficiency. Absolutely none.

Lilian, despite being the third one there, felt as if she were alone, the others' silence being completely boring. While she hadn't a topic to speak of, Marshal was either endulged in his drinking or just silent, Jiyu seemed concerned with something, and Leila... Well something was off. The only thing that made an attempt at sounds was the wyvern taking the trek with them, which was only an occasional screech at a bird or something.

"Blast, you guys are boring!" Lilian made a chuckle to herself, and stood there as the woman explained about the crystal, and about how it reacted to magical power. Jiyu, ironically, was the person to simply run up and tap on the thing, and a blinding blue light enveloped her body. Marshmallow made a roar of discomfort, and Lilian had to shield her own eyes. She, once the light cleared itself, stared at a crystal, not Jiyu.

"She tells me not to run off and then does this!?" Lilian dashed forward, Marshmallow close behind, and put her hand to the crystal. At first nothing occured, until a slight bit of mana was leaked by the mage, and soon the same repeating blue light surrounded the hero, and within the same instance she was gone. She was surrounded by blackness, but that changed quite soon to a scenery of a forest of withered trees, shrouded in a deep fog with no source of the sun. Jiyu seemed to be fine, plus Lilian highly doubted that a simple teleport could bring THAT much trouble, but possibilities exist nonetheless. The Hero to Be turned around, not hearing the screech of disapproval that normally came with something new - in fact, she had no idea where Marshmallow was at all! Lilian had assumed that, since they are magically linked to one another, that if she teleported, the wyvern would too, but Marshmallow hadn't. It seemed that Lilian was alone, and with that she started to panic, the worry clearly showing on her face as she turned away from Jiyu, and quite possibly the group.

Her thoughts yelled at herself. It was true, she hadn't the faintest idea as to what this supposed world would do to their connection, wether it'd be severed or remain intact, and that left only the worst in her head. How would she faire if some hunters came by and decided to take Marshmallow's skin for a leather industry? Would Lilian collapse in battle suddenly, only to perish without ever being wounded? Or would she be trapped in this realm forever, should she leave that the magical connection would be returned, only to cause her death. At the moment, nothing good could come from Marshmallow being in the other world, but the young mage had to think about the here and now, the world she was in.

Slapping herself lightly, just to straighten out her mindset, Lilian regained her composure, and sighed. This wouldn't be good for her to be weak, mind-wise, as it would have an effect on her judgement. She, instinctively, reached for her -

BLAST!

Her lance was still with Marshmallow! Great, just great. In an unknown land, without her weapon, and without her wyvern. This was just absolutely great.
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1004 in this post, 1911 total for me

1816 words
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“Well I missed him to~” she chuckled at the wyverns actions and noise, moving to try and place one hand on it’s forehead and scratch it, if the beast would allow her. Most of the people she knew? Had adorable pets like this one, and in a sense she had an adorable pet as well, btu that pet also was more of a companion or an adoptive daughter, than she was a pet. Jiyu had taken in a kitsune who she named Makoto, an orphan who only had two of her tails, yet was growing in power every single day she stayed beside her guardian. However the kit was still an infant of her species, so the wind user left her behind on missions that could eventually turn dangerous on her, so that the child would not be harmed. Thought, every time she arrived home? It was hell explaining to Koto that leaving her behind really was the best option right now, the kitsune hated being left home alone and before long Jiyu knew she would have to obtain a babysitter. Since she was a growing entity, one of these days Maka was not going to just stay put in their room on her own accord, even when told to! After this mission she would find someone to fox-sit for her, so that she would never have Maka following her secretly into dangerous situations. Too bad Jiyu was too absorbed in Marschal to notice that the day the twin tail did not listen to her, might have come sooner than she believed. In the alley way next to them? A small silvery/purple shape was peering out, fighting to eavesdrop, spy, all while not being caught by the wind user.
 
“Yeah, can’t exactly force him to drop you.” the wind user chuckled a reply to something lillian had said as they started to walk, small smile gracing her face. Once the group was a few feet away, out of sight, the shape that had been watching them set off to follow, just out of sight, tracking them using the sense of smell all foxes had. “Are we?” Jiyu did not think she was boring, but then again she was acting extremely weird today, just like Leila. Until things got solved between them, it was doubtful either mage would be much fun, but that was just how things went, it wasn’t their fault they’d hit such a rough patch. Although, Lillian seemed daft to the tension that actually existed between the two, which was reasonable since they both had a habit of hiding things like that, so each girl was obviously good at looking nearly alright even if everything was falling apart. Until they both inevitably broke, like Jiyu did when she started behaving in a way that cued Marschal into the fact she was about to do something that none of the other three would be very happy about. Of course, if Jiyu never acted, her hand never touched the sleek surface of the gem, than they would never have the adventure that game with it. As the mage’s started to vanish, the fox watching them grew increasingly concerned, eventually leaping at the gem, the tiny magic she held from being a mythical creature proving to be more than enough to transport her.

The magic from the crystal tickled Jiyu’s skin as the light from it enveloped her body, consuming her material form and translating it to pure magic. Blue light was blinding to her sensitive eyes and her optics closed naturally to protect themselves from any damage. Once she had her vision canceled out again, panic almost flooded over her in massive destructive waves, nearly overtook her once more, but every other sense went on high alert, due to her being unable to see right now, and she could feel his magic energy so clearly, the contact between their hands tickling her sense of touch. Even with her stupid, the reckless action, he had not let go of her, Marschal made sure his large hand did not slip from the grasp of her tiny appendage. Even without seeing him, due to having her eyes closed and the blinding blue energy? Jiyu knew that when she opened her eyes wherever they ended up, he’d be right there with her. It made her happy to know that he was with her so easily, red dusting across her face as she felt her bare feet touch mostly dry soil, her pride fighting off the blush so that he would not be able to see it. If her occasional fantasies were not bad enough? She’d never be able to recover her pride if he caught her blushing when there was no clear and logical reason for the reaction! Kazehime felt her face might be slightly more colored than normal, but she knew the red was mostly gone, and there was no more time to wait, in a new environment you could not remain self absorbed for long.

“Marshmallow didn’t follow you?” as Marschal let go of  her in order to offer something of his to Lillian, the wind mage realized the large wyvern was missing from the team. Jiyu glanced around from him, momentarily thinking she saw something moving behind a tree, but even if she saw something, it wasn’t white. So it looked like the large beast was actually gone, not present at the moment. Hopefully he touched the gem late like his rider and Leila! Otherwise if she recalled, the hero was screwed for the moment. Jiyu did not know the extent of their bond, but she did know that the two were close and Lily relied on Marshmallow heavily in battle, plus her spear was with the wyvern.

All of that faded from the wind user’s mind, it suddenly became impossible for her to think clearly. While they had been touching before right now, when he returned from his task of giving Lillian the wheels? She had been the one to grab him, her tiny hand enveloping his larger one, both of them required to really have a decent part of his appendage covered. Once Marschal was done the task he had wriggled out of her grasp to complete, he grabbed her hand, the size difference between them jarring as her slender hand vanished in his much larger one. Holding hands with someone was nothing major, she’d done it with leila several times, yet her heart was pounding faster in her chest, back when she held his hand her pulse had been calm, now that he was holding hers, she couldn’t control her own heart rate. Jiyu had no time to regain her own self control as Leila came crashing into the world, landing without a flaw. Before the other mage even acted? She nearly teared up at the fact her suspicion had been right, leila didn’t hate her, it was impossible for that to be the case, if the other girl despised her like she had said, the phoenix member would have never followed her into the gem so recklessly!

Jiyu had no defense when Leila suddenly barreled into her, her emotions from Marschal’s grip on her hand and her eden friend coming to her, they nearly shut down the wind user. Leila’s form was in her face within seconds, there was no time, she felt herself falling, her friend had forgotten about her weak body! Dread filled the wind user, this was going to hurt and there was no way to avoid it, white hair fluttered around her, blocking out everything else in the world, but she couldn’t admire the beauty of the moment, she knew the pain that was coming.. Only it never happened, she didn’t feel the shooting pain that normally came when she fell, no time was given to consider what happened as Leila spoke and sobbed at once. “I was seeing if you’d follow me.” she had also found out Marschal would follow her, but that had not been her initial plan, she had just wanted to see if her friend hated her to begin with, yet she had gotten so much more out of this! Might have been stupid but she’d do it all over again. “You wouldn’t have come after me if you hate me.” she explained herself, but her face grew reddened when she realized at his voice and laugh, the reason she had not experienced pain was that Marschal had caught her, literally. Oh fuck, they were both laying on him! Instead of bitching at him for rubbing his being right in her face, this time she laughed, her free arm wrapping around Leila’s back as her team-mates heart beat thundered in her sensitive elfin ears. The half demoness could have laid like that forever.

That woman ruined everything! She heard the voice, and was still content until it’s words caused Marschal to manhandle her once more “Hey I Can-” yet she realized all physical contact between them had been broken and it made her pause her complaint for a second. “You could have asked me to get up, how many times have I told you not to manhandle me?!” yet she was so easy to man handle, because of the fact she was very short and only weighed close to a hundred pounds. Someone with Marschal’s size and strength? Clearly had no trouble controlling her movement when they desired, especially since her body was so weak. “And be more careful next time Leila, if Marschal hadn’t caught us, I would have gotten hurt. Remember, my body is weak.” her little motion of bringing her fist in front of her mouth happened again as she averted her gaze, smiling softly and yet scolding one or both of them. “Thanks for that by the way~” she would admit that she needed him to do as he had done, especially since there was no denying he’d saved her ass again anyways. “You won’t be saving my ass this whole time thought! I’m stronger than I was on our last mission, Plus Leila’s here and we can kick some major ass together.” the wind user forced herself to stand slowly, offering her hand to the eden mage afterwards to help her up. Even if she wanted to continue physical contact with Marschal again? She had just gotten a friend back, and she didn’t know if it was alright now that they had a dangerous objective.

“Can you tell us what they smell like so I can track them?” the female asked the question, walking forward to stand in front of the new appearance to their team. In the past, her senses had been helpful in allowing herself and Leila to get ahead of their enemies, make the first move, which often lead to a swift, decisive victory. If she could not track the opponents? It would make things harder.

Almost as if Marcshal had read her thoughts, he walked over to the green-haired heroine and gave her two weapons, most likely his weapon of choice that he uses in combat. A benevolent gesture, and it made Lilian feel a bit more secure about the man that she hadn't known anything about, well... Now she learned his name.

Marscshal, a good name. Sounded much like her pet's name, and she knew in advance that she'd confuse the two, as Lilian constantly calls her pet "Marshy." However, the young heroine made it an immediate goal of hers to get as little mix ups as possible between the two, however she didn't even know where Marshmallow was to begin with! For all she knew the wyvern was in this world, just in the polar opposite direction. She hadn't the faintest of ideas how this world worked, but she did know she WOULD make it out of here, whether or not some woman says that teleportation works or not.

Taking the two wheels in her hands, she nodded her head before thinking about how to use them to her own personal best proficiency. She was used to basic thrusts of the lance, however that was far greater than arm's length, so she decided to use them as a sort of addition to her normal boxer-like fighting style when engaged in hand-hand. She hadn't had MUCH training without Marshmallow or a lance, but she did know the basics and to some extent the advanced level skills of boxing.

Lilian watched as the next few events unfolded, however paid attention only to the woman that told of some god-like creator that can send us home, however we must first do the busy work of defeating enteties and collecting crystals, only one of those two unnerving Lilian. It seemed the woman knew her morals and dislike to kill, because she stared directly at Lilian when she spoke of it, and the heroine didn't know if it was just her imagination but she heard a much more forceful tone from the unknown lady.

Essentially, they were going to be used as meatshields for ressurecting the creator of this planet. Whatever must have imprisoned this god-like entity must be indirectly or directly the course of this bleak surroundings, the soundless trees, the darkness without a source of light, it all seemed so dead. Either this creator had been the provider and couldn't do it anymore, or whatever brought the creator out of the picture was the one to destroy the areas around them, and probably placed the guardians of the crystals. So, was this the life of a hero now? Putting herself into the position of nothing more than a simple meatshield? No, it always has been. There was the difference between the people with strong ambitions and convictions and those who succumbed to their own defeat before it even happened. Someone else would not have wanted to risk their own lives for the sake of others', however a hero knows that any sacrifice was worth saving at least one other person, and as such she cleared her throat and spoke up. She wouldn't speak on the topic of killing - that was too sensetive a topic for the headband-clad hero to be.

"A crystal around here? Wouldn't it emit off magic power that we'd all be able to feel? There is, in fact, a blasted beast inside of it. Unless the beasts are weak, and in which case why ask 4 people? So there won't be any need for smell-tracking, Jiyu. Plus, why not take out the sense of exploration? If you were to take us directly there, we wouldn't be able to see the world around us with much depth. I dunno, maybe that's just the simple country girl in me talking, cause I haven't seen much in life."

That last part was a complete lie... Well it wasn't a lie but it was completely incorrect. Lilian thought that as much as she saw in her lifetime, there was still much much more to see, and there was a large number of people who have already traveled and explored a million times more than she did. This way she spoke directly from her heart, but compared to a normal person - her brother, for example - she had seen as much as he could only dream to, so that made the statement she spoke invalid.

Lilian thought for a moment, then decided to remain silent after that. She had been fixated on losing Marshmallow to the past dimension, however she did want to pass that thought as soon as possible. As such she started thinking about this job at hand - the four of them go to defeat... And most likely kill... Several beasts that guarded these crystals. This would be a test of teamwork, as it appeared Leila and Jiyu had already met, Marschal and Jiyu met, and Lilian met both Leila and Jiyu. They all had a connection somehow, whether it was direct or indirect didn't matter. That way, at least one of them knew the personalities of another, and they knew their strengths and weaknesses. This would be a test of compatibility, but only time could tell the outcome.
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The canine girl had yet to legitimately cold bloodedly kill someone or something, even when she attacked in a blood induced sadistic spree? Everything was left barely alive, to die on it’s own time, she didn’t kill it. Whether this made or weak, sadistic, pitiful, merciful? None of that was known, because it was not something she did intentionally, it just kind of happened on both sides, the attack and then leaving it incomplete. In truth the woman was incapable of finishing the task, not out of lacking the desire to do so, but lacking the ability due to her own personal ideals. After being held captive the way she was, the girl swore that if anyone was going to kill her they had to watch the life fade from her eyes until she was gone. If Jiyu were to ever kill someone directly? She would want to do the same thing, watch them unmerciful as they passed away, with them until the very last second, in control. Kazehime’s body was too weak to allow either of these things, she couldn’t a finish a murder with her own hands and she certainly couldn’t force that kind of eye contact, it was impossible for her. No reason existed for her to fear killing someone, , because she was barely capable of it to believe with. Although the woman intended to take one persons life before her own was at it’s end, even if it took the rest of her life the girl was pretty set on avenging her mother who had given her the demon blood she had.

Everything after her transformation into a demoness was a learning process for Jiyu, even the senses she had since birth, had to be learned and mastered once more after this change had overtaken her body. If she had to start from square one on her ability to use her canine like senses, than she could start from square on how she felt about them as well. For some time now, the wind user had also been utilizing her advanced senses comfortably, but this was far from what had always been the case in the past. At one point in time? Kazehime had tried her damn hardest to hide the fact those basic abilities were keener on her than they were on some others, maybe not wanting to remember her mother, perhaps disliking the fact people promptly compared her to a dog upon their unveiling, or maybe for a reason she had not revealed, she had once kept them close to the vest. However with the thing’s that had changed in recent times, even beyond her own body, there was no longer any drastic reason to conceal her sensory abilities, especially when they could give her quiet the edge in missions at times. Plus, she was beginning to be affected more by their downfalls at times, like how prone she was to overstimulation, her allies needed to know about and accept them, so they could help her if something happened. Of course there was something she had recently discovered that could be lumped into things her allies needed to know, but she wasn’t going to tell them about it. Jiyu had a bad feeling one of two people here might potentially use it against her for fun when this was done if she let them know she had a spot on her that was more sensitive than her tail; Of course none of them knew about her tail’s sensitivity either, and she planned to keep it that way.

“I thought I’ve told you before, not to call me like a dog you insufferable panther!” She was shifting slightly with her anger as she waited for the woman who was going to ‘guide’ them through this world to speak once more, answer her. Everything should have been smooth sailing at this point, no additional difficulty, even as tracking the creatures was ruled out by the purple haired girl. Jiyu was counting on her normal verbal banter with Marschal being the only real problem that could emerge, considering how often he tended to say something to piss her off and how head strong she was. Nothing prepared her for what leila spoke, even if she had known the words were coming, there was no way the girl could have prepared any response to them, besides for the wide eyed deer in the headlights look she was struck by as the phrases entered her ears. Jiyu was almost frozen in place as her mind churned in fear. What was marschal going to say about what Leila had just proclaimed?! Somehow she had to make sure Leila knew she was not actually sleeping with the cat who saved her life, and make sure he knew that she had never told the other girl they were being that intimate. The man had saved her life, she knew that he would never raise his hand to harm her, but she was still so frightened by what was going on right now, desperate for some way to rewind time and prevent Leila from speaking in the first place. Kazehime was not equipped to deal with emotional stress like this, her tail pressing between her legs, ears dropping as she heard the drunken man move across the ground swiftly, ending up behind her before she could move or even think of something to say. All of this was just too much for her, the wind sorceress wanted to faint, something to happen, make it all stop. Somehow two presences that had once comforted her beyond belief, now caused her arms to wrap around herself as her body trembled in fear, she wanted them to go away. How had things taken such a turn? She trusted them, and yet now she couldn’t look up at them past the fear that had welled up inside of her.

For the first time, she flinched at Marschal’s touch, body shuddering in terror as his arm laid over her small and thin shoulders. Oh gosh, he was too large compared to her, if he wanted to suddenly snap her neck one day! No, her mind whirled and she struggled to stop it, eyes becoming moist. He spoke seconds after touching her, but to the horrified sorceress it felt like eternity. “I’ll have you know that I have been a good boy with Jiyu; I haven’t once slept with her yet,” his powerful voice captured her elfin ears, making them twitch as her body suddenly relaxed into his touch, scent invading her nose. Jiyu’s world slowed down as she glanced up at him, cursing the fact he had come to her rescue again so swiftly, but counting her blessing at the same time. “Wha-” words tumbled around her, but his dark golden gaze was the thing that held her, expressing what her ears had missed. Intent was thick across his flushed features, dripping right off his face onto her own, morphing her own expression to nearly match his. Without even the real time to notice it? Jiyu was blushing heavily, the eyes he found so pretty, entirely focused on him as if no one else existed, hands moving to lay against his chest. Marschal started singing to her, at least she figured it was meant for her, at his voice her eyes slowly slipped closed. It almost looked as if this was a chance he could take to kiss the small demoness, almost as if the sorceress was asking him to do it. However Jiyu had no idea what was going on, she was too far gone.

He walked away in his drunken stupor and that shattered the spell he’d placed the wind user under. “Huh.” she came out of it, passive expression, form mostly limp as she watched him stumble off. What the hell had just happened? She let her body slide to the ground, hands between her knees, as she struggled to let her mind catch up with everything, the world still going on around her. Someone called out her name directly again, head turning to face her best friend and the feline who she adored. “Maka.” the expression on her face suggested someone might have shot the five foot mage, eyes focusing in on the kitsune in Marschal’s arms. “Makoto is a girl.” still in a slighty trance like state, the female corrected her team-mate on how he called her little charge. Once she corrected the gender term? Jiyu finally came back to the world, her body shooting up suddenly.

“MAKA!” it looked as if she had just realized the tiny fox was with them, looking down at the bright eyed child who was lugging black fabric with her. “I Told You To Stay Home Makoto! These Things Are Dangerous!” arms crossed she scolded the pup, glaring down, eyes shaking as she considered the trouble her little companion was now in. “Wore Wrong Outfit.” the fox yipped it out, dropping the outfit she brought with as an excuse, pushing it towards her adoptive mother of sorts. “Like hell you- fuck- come here, don’t you stray from me Koto, fuck.” she took the child into her arms, the foxes face buried in her neck, worry thick in Jiyu’s expression. “I’ll get you home safe, I promise.” only the fox wasn’t the one scared here “Maka knows.” she just trusted blindly that her caretaker would be able to take on anything this world had to offer. Kneeling there she took a deep breath, standing up her fox perching itself on the sorceresses shoulder.

“We should get going than, but we’ll have to camp eventually, Maka is just a baby she can’t go as long and hard as we can.” the kitsune mewled at Jiyu’s words, running between her shoulder’s. Kazehime wanted to grab her arms onto Marschal again, until this was over and nothing else was left to deal with. However she stayed still, looking at the weird dressed girl who nodded at her words. “I’ll take you to them now.” with that, somehow, suddenly they would be faced with the thirty foot tall beast and it’s five foot mini-me’s, the smaller one’s racing right towards the purple haired girl.

The revelation that was dawning upon the hero to be was definitely one she wanted to live without. Seemingly oblivious to it at first, Lilian now realized the one crucial factor that could determine how the teamwork could play out through their mission. The three of them were in some sort of love triangle, and that fact alone was not ideal. A team needs no hatred or favor to any specific one member, instead it needs synergy that would allow it to function on even footing. At this rate there would be chaos simply by the end of the job, just because each of her partners wouldn't let go of their personal life just to save their real one. It showed a lot more about them that they might not even know about themselves. Lilian sighed and put her fingers to her temples, and started thinking to herself. She needed to think of alternate things, something that would not include the other three members. Marshmallow! She could think about her leathery draconic partner that was in the real world.

Marshmallow obviously wasn't dead, or else Lilian would have died by now, unless her theory was correct on this mystical land severing her ties to Marshmallow entirely. In which case... Well she would be stuck in this realm forever. That wouldn't be good, not at all. She needed to somehow get Marshy out here, just to have more mental stability. But that was not the only thing wrenching the Hero's mind, it was the state of this team!

"I can't believe this! We're trapped in some strange, unknown place, entering a fight that we don't know the strength of the enemy, we haven't the faintest idea of where our enemies are, and you can only think about your feelings for one another!? Goodness, you all are pitiful. Jiyu, must you flaunt over him like some prissy little fangirl! Leila, must you get so choked up over jealousy that you struggle to breathe?! Marcshal, stop trying to be the knight in shining armor! We're on a JOB! Keep your personal lives outside of your work. You guys wanna go play the "who's the next soap opra star" game, do it AFTER we get out of this wreched place!"

Lilian rolled her eyes, and would have folded her arms, if it didn't mean she would get her arms sliced up because of the wheels Marcshal gave her. Lilian meant no ill intent when she spoke her mind, she just meant to show the other three the truth of how they were acting. It would be seriously detrimental to the rate of success of the job, and any factor that lowered the rate of everyone's survival should be nipped in the bud rite off the bat - it was something all Truth Riders knew that.

The little kitsune appearing was the next event to unfold, but Lilian was only distressed even more by it. A baby now!? A frickin' baby!? Not only was it a baby they'd need to protect, but they still needed to protect their key to leaving this godsforsaken place, and Jiyu would feel inclined to focus more of her attention towards Maka, or whatever the thing was called, than anything else. Jiyu seemed to be a mother-figure to this fox thing, and that caused another eyeroll from Lilian, whom just walked over to listen to Jiyu speaking to their little "guide." Lilian was about to agree with Jiyu, to say that they should just up and get to the point, until half a second later there were three.... THINGS in front of her.

The things, beasts if you will, inhaled a breath of air, and Lilian felt something wrong already. She didn't know what it was... But there was another problem. Two of them were charging at the guide, and Lilian jumped in front and held up the two wheels to block a strike that would have struck the guide, which caused her to slide a bit back from the force of it. But that was only one of the mini-mes, the other was still attempting to attack the strangely-clothed woman.

Lilian raised her left hand, her right still holding back the beast, and attempted to shoot her Lineage's signature spell... Attempted being the key word. How it didn't follow through was another thing, but she just swiped her hand and shot a wave of ice at the beast, causing it to stumble back. A swift kick to the chest sent the one that Lilian was backing off of her sprawling as well.

"Perhaps give us a little warning... Perhaps a little 'Oh yeah, and when I teleport you it won't be in front of a gate or anything - nope! You'll be transported RIGHT in front of them!' That would have been... A lot more helpful. Now go do your thing, I guess."

Lilian waved off the woman and regained her breath. Sudden reactions like that was not her strongsuit, but there was one elephant still in the room. Why didn't her ball of darkness fire? Was that the effect of this strange place? Or was it something these things did? Well, thinking for a long period of time wasn't good, as she was on a battleground.
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It was when the fighting started that Jiyu noticed something odd, a shocking development one would not expect. Second’s ago? Lillian had been scolding them, but now suddenly, the female was nowhere to be found, in fact the weapons marschal had given to her lay on the ground. The sudden change was so enchanting the girl almost didn’t notice the enemy coming up behind her, and by the time she noted the beast it was nearly too late. “Back Off!” the voice was smaller than Jiyu’s and higher pitched, Makoto, the little fox jumping up and turning into a child within moment’s, her foot landing square in the center of the monster’s head, Kazehime’s hands grabbing the back of her kimono as the wind mage swiftly backed up, refocused entirely. “Thanks Maka.” maybe her baby fox was not as helpless as she had priorly thought the kit was! Considering Koto might have just saved her life, Jiyu briefly had the thought she should let the fox come on mission’s with her, be a little softer for the kit breaking her wishes this time. “Marschal your weapon’s are on the ground.” they couldn’t face these monsters with her thinking haphazardly like this, she couldn’t consider Lillian’s disappearance, she had to think clearer than that, if they failed to protect this one lavender haired girl, then everything was over! “Maka help protect her.” the fox child nodded, running over to the mysterious girl who had greeted them and taking on a stance suggesting she was ready to fight at a moment’s notice, doing as she was told perfectly, happy that Jiyu finally saw she could help out.


“Leila.” no matter how thing’s had just went and how off she felt, the girl still reached for her friends shoulder. Whatever was going on beyond Jiyu’s current understanding? She knew she’d be able to figure it out later, right now it would not affect how she could trust her best friend and the man she loved. Both of them? Were powerful and she trusted them instinctually, whatever had just taken place didn’t matter, she looked the same as always, just a tad more smug due to the idea she had come up with. “We’ll do it almost just like we did lilith.” the wind user drew an arrow from her quiver, looking at the dead forest around, no sniper posts, she’d have to do this in a way she was not used to doing things and the range was such that she couldn’t wait for the blurry mass to move. Jiyu motioned Leila to stay back for the moment, pulling her arrow back and letting it go, seeming to miss entirely, yet the creature flinched, all three did due to her aura lashing out at them. Second’s after her missed shot? Tornado’s erupted around the largest beast, and it dashed forward, thus the girl knew what she was doing had worked. “Think you can finish it now?” glancing back, she saw the large version of Makoto fighting one of the five foot beast’s, matching it’s height and strikes. Jiyu nodded slightly, looking back to Leila to see if she needed to do anything else. Hopefully this would be a quick fight, she felt bad that her baby fox had to fight, but with Maka shape shifting between her large and small forms to dodge blows and then using that to make her next attack? The fox was a much better fighter than Jiyu had thought she was! However it was clear that someone else would have to finish off the five foot beast, Maka was only capable of holding it off by keeping it focused on herself.


Kazehime took a few steps back, she looked like this was no big deal in spite of facing down a thirty foot tall monster. Honestly, she was not frightened of tall things normally, they just irked her, but with Marshcal and Leila both here, she felt beyond secure, it was amazing to feel this calm in the middle of a battle. “This thing is becoming an eyesore.” looking around to keep an eye everything, trusting Leila to finish off the monster soon. “Marschal, who is he?”