Kaori & Samira: The Desert: B Rank: Private

Kaori had kept a look out while Samira made her way to the portal. She felt her fingers getting ready to fire at the first target every time Samira began to get jumpy, or at least when she looked like she was. The ordeal was only difficult because Kaori wasn't having to watch her own back, but rather watching someone else's. The spirit Samira was using was making itself just as useful as the last ones. Kaori had an appreciation for someone with versatile magic like Samira. Being only good for one function was useful at times, but those were very specific moments of glory.

As she saw Samira enter the portal, Kaori relaxed her arrow and slid it back into its quiver. She put the bow up and took a couple steps back. A quick leap and Kaori vanished from mid air, reappearing crouched on top a support beam that was above the predators. She crept along the beam until she got near a pillar where she jumped to it, catching the edge with her bare hands and shimmying her way around it. An old shelf that was mostly rotted was below Kaori and she allowed herself to land on it while using her telkinesis to keep it from falling apart immediately. Slowly, Kaori let the pieces of the shelf fall to the floor; so slow in fact, that they made an almost negligable sound when they tapped the stone ground below. Staying behind various furnishings in the room, Kaori made her way to the other side before leaping into a roll and landing at the opposing side of the portal.

Going down the stairs that lead further into the ruins, Kaori heard the sounds of combat. A small group was fighting something, and judging by the tapping sound it made when it moved, it was another bug. 'Get low.' Kaori said in Samira's mind, as well as that of Janus's if he were still with them. When they arrived, Kaori had spotted seven individuals in ninja clothing fighting off a large scorpion. From past experiences, Kaori was extremely cautious of other clans when meeting them at random. Judging from the red band tied to one of their wrists, it was Saia's clan... "Don't help them." Kaori whispered while sinking back further into the shadow of the hallway. "When they're done, I'm gonna go down there. Stay here and only move if it's safe. If I die... run." Afterwards, Kaori would put her hand to her mask and begin removing it. A magic circle formed around her feet and moved up over her head. When it was done, Kaori had completely changed form. She now wore the same clothes as the ninja below, fighting the scorpions. Her skin was extremely pale, and her eyes were snowy. The biggest change however, was that she was now a six foot tall man instead of a woman.

Kaori put the mask in Samira's hands, set the borrowed weapon down, and stood up to begin walking forward before leaning against one of the pillars while the others fought the scorpions. It wasn't long before the smaller, and larger one were dead and Kaori was approaching them in her masculine form. "My apologies for tardiness. The crow flew south into a storm where the dragon consumed it." Kaori said, her voice matching her manly appearance. The on with a red band around her wrist turned to Kaori and said "Destiny would write the dragon flew its storm into the crow, if only for a meal." the woman replied, the two of them seeming to talk in a sort of coded language.
"Then the dragon was the one mislead."
"So it is written. Tell me your name."
"Saijiro. I'm but a hatchling in the nest, without wings to fly."
"Why were you sent?"
"As a beast of burden, to carry all what you wish me to bear."
"Where's your sword?"
"I lost it, I'm afraid. I ran into a trap on the way that separated me from it."
"I see... Have you noticed anything else on your way here?"
"I passed a girl with white clothes and a cat mask. Lacking a weapon, I avoided her attention at all costs."
"The Lareci girl... the captain said she'd-"

The conversation was cut short when Kaori had appeared behind the group leader in the same male form, with a cutlass already halfway through her neck. A quick spin and the head came clean off, and Kaori had already disappeared again. "Shit, she's here! Someone warn the captain, we'll-" the one speaking had taken an arrow to the inside of their mouth that protruded from the back of their spine, fragments of the vertebrea sticking out of the wound with sinovial fluid oozing out. One of the group had tried to run for the hallway on the other end, but was stopped by an arrow in his knee. Before the scream of pain could come out, another arrow went in his back and out his sternum; causing the screams to be silent. A shot to the head immediately after, seemingly from nowhere, had ended his sufferring. The remaining four were back to back with weapons drawn, looking for Kaori.

Three balls dropped from the ceiling where Kaori had been the whole time. The balls all began emitting lots of smoke, covering the area in it and concealing the four targets. Using her historical clairvoyance, Kaori had used their past to determine their futures. The sounds splatters was heard just before that of bodies hitting the floor. One person had ran out of the fog, and towards Samira with absolute fear on his face. Samira would see a bright white chain erupt from his chest and keep flying towards her, seeming to slow down in front her eyes enough for her to see the barbed tip. The chain would then reverse direction and pull the man back into the smoke while screaming for Samira to save him. The scream was cut short suddenly. The smoke had subsided to reveal the chain was gone, the man's head was cut vertically in half, and the other three were killed almost as gruesomely. Kaori held her hand up, letting the mask fly into it before putting it on. Once the mask was on, the magic circle reappeared and put her back in her original form. "It's safe now." Kaori said calmly from the middle of a massive, and still growing pool of blood. Her tone didn't contain the slightest bit of concern for their lives, no remorse, and no signs of a moral decision having been made. It was as though Kaori was heartless, and able to take anyone's life without caring; because she really was.

Lava Hawk
Motorcycle
Word Count: 535
Posts: 12
Mana: 75%


Cooldown:
Clone - 4
Replacement - 1
Passionate Burden - 1

Kaori had heard the question, and while she wanted to tell her what happened, there were some things that no one should see. Kaori turned and continued her path, saying a single line with a cold, hateful tone. "They deserve it."

Under her mask, Kaori bit her lip with a single tear trailing down the soft, porcelain skin of her cheek. In that moment, she had reinstated an oath she'd made over a decade ago. 'I'll kill them... every last one of them will die before I stay my blade. I'll kill them all and make sure no one else has to die.' she thought, keeping the words in her head while walking ahead of Samira and her spirit. She was thinking back to when she had gone from being the shame of the clan, to being its head. How she didn't have an option, and how it was her responsibility to avenge them all.

Kaori had paused when Janus spoke up, stating that he wanted to take the lead. Kaori stepped aside, gesturing to the path ahead. She had no need to be the one in front beyond protecting Samira, and never once had a problem with someone taking her spot if they thought they could. Watching from safety as the spirit took on the overgrown scorpion, Kaori had appreciation for the work Janus put in. She'd rather see it die since that guaranteed safety, but to each's own.

Samira had commented that she was suspecting they were coming close to the ruin's guardian. Kaori had remembered the hieroglyphs Samira was studying earlier and how they depicted a rather fearsome creature. The masked girl began looking around, stopping at a rat that was making its way to safety. The slits in her mask took on a violet glow that was reciprocated in the rat's eyes. She knelt down, holding her hand out and allowing the creature to get on. "In populated areas, this would be a bad idea... but without humans, there's no bacteria, fleas, or germs for me to be wary of." Kaori said, obviously speaking to Samira. She turned her mask back to the rodent. "I need you to be my eyes and ears." she said calmly, to when the rat replied with a squeak before jumping off her hand and running along the path leading ahead.

Kaori would remain still as she watched the world around the rat. She was viewing the history of the rat, exactly half of a second in the past to be exact, as it ran through the corridors. "Three human targets..." Kaori mumbled softly as the rat cleared the room ahead. "A room with a collapsed floor." she said afterwards, planning a way to get around it. "Ten human targets setting a trap... and four more fighting a-" Kaori paused, her hands beginning to tremble slightly. Kaori stood up, the glow in her masks eyes vanishing. "Target acquired." Kaori said in a grim, cold, spiteful tone. "The guardian is a chimera." she added, though, the tone of her voice wound hint that, that wasn't exactly her target.

Upon arriving to the first room, Kaori pulled a small lacrima from her tool belt and tossed it through the doorway. The individuals inside were more ninja-like folk who all had the misfortune of being distracted by the lacrima. Kaori quickly put her hand over Samira's eyes while looking away just before the flash went off that blinded all three ninja. In a brief moment, Kaori had vanished and snapped the neck of the first person. In the time after that, she'd kneed the lower jaw of the second person. The third one's vision began clearing just as Kaori's foot swept under him and a clone of herself seemed to rise from the original, planting her foot in the skull of the man and splattering his brain on the floor. The clone immediately erupted into smoke, leaving Kaori standing among the corpses. Kaori didn't wait for Samira to follow, she kept running as though she had some form of purpose.

The room with the missing floor came up quickly and Kaori didn't bother to stop. She jumped, leaving behind a clone of herself that waited for Samira while using her telekinesis on herself to levatate over the gap. Kaori landed into a roll on the other side that transitioned into her running ahead. She stopped at the entrance to the room with the ten people, all facing the door. "This is as far as you go Lareci." one of them announced. All of them were high ranking, and Kaori didn't have the advantage of surprise this time. 'Do it' a horrifyingly deep voice would say in her head. 'I don't have the mana for that...' she replied. 'Don't worry about that, I don't need much time.' it replied, causing Kaori to grit her teeth. "The mission comes first..." Kaori said calmly, causing the ninjas to get ready for the small-framed girl to attack. If Samira would've allowed Kaori's clone to help her over the gap, or used Janus or a similar spirits to clear it, she would arrive in time to see Kaori holding a pitch black key between her thumb and index finger.


The command was associated with Kaori swinging the key and a massive, black and silver magic circle appearing behind her. From the circle flew forth a man that was easily over nine feet tall with thick fur on his back and mammoth tusks sticking out from under it. A large, crimson war hammer was in his hand as he flew forward. The hammer would normally require two hands, but for him it only called for one. He slammed the hammer on the floor, releasing a shockwave that forced all ten of the ninja into the air. "Go!" he shouted in a voice that made the ocean seem like a kiddie pool. Kaori nodded and began running, knowing she had some explaining to do when it was all done. The final room was at the end of an extremely long corridor where a large beast was buried under a pile of rubble. As Kaori approached, she saw the four ninja from earlier as they exited through a door on the other side of the chimera.

The chimera began getting up, shaking the debris off its back. It looked back to the door the ninja had left through and snarled angrily. When Samira caught up, she would see Kaori hiding with her back to a pillar as a massive blast of fire shot past, splitting off to both sides of the pillar and leaving a red spot where it hit. The beast was furious, and not exactly targeting Kaori so much as it was attacking anything it could. She would see Kaori run from behind the pillar and charge the chimera only to get smacked by its snake-like tail and go flying into a pile of debris. After several seconds, there was no sign of movement and the Chimera began sniffing out Samira's location.

Lava Hawk
Motorcycle
Mammoth
Word Count: 1158
Posts: 13
Mana: 50%


Cooldown:
Clone - 3
Replacement - 0
Passionate Burden - 0

Kaori felt weightless as she stared into the void around her, the ground beneath her glowing but providing no light to the world beyond. She took a step forward, noting how the light changed form to provide support for her foot. She retracted her step, looking down out of surprise and watching the light fade away. Taking another step, Kaori realized that the area was mostly safe to traverse due to it being a dreamscape. She continued walking cautiously, looking for some form of landmark or something she could use to find out where she was. A small light in the distance marked her destination as it was the only source of guidance she could find in the desolate place. As she got closer to it, a screen of sorts came into view. As she got closer still, she was able to make out images moving that turned into two beings Kaori had never seen. Judging from the area they were in, it was the ruins. "Sami's spirits...?" Kaori had guessed, already assigning the woman a nickname; though, that would be her secret. As she watched the fight, she remembered why she was in such a rush. "Alright, I get it." she said calmly, knowing her state was the result of her spirit's doing.

The Chimera would get ready to unleash a white flame from all three of its mouths, but be taken by surprise when a sandstone block shot out from the pile of debris and smashed open on its goat head. The pile of debris Kaori was in began to take on a pure, white glow that radiated a desire to protect. Kaori's mask was cracked on the side, and the crack was getting bigger by the second. Suddenly, it broke through to the other side causing her mask to completely fall off. What remained, rather than a grim, and deadly looking warrior with battle scars to tell a million stories; was a girl with seemingly flawless skin. Kaori's hazel eyes were wide, and contained no hatred for the best before her. Her lips were a gently shade of pink, and it was obvious that she wore no make up. Kaori spoke in her native tongue, her words coming across as firm and commanding, but the tone soft spoken. "Sekai o tōketsu suru..."

Suddenly the room began growing colder and colder until ice began forming over the debris hovering above her head. The fact that her mask was gone meant that everyone had to die. The chimera shook its head while snorting, shooting dust out of its nose. The lion mouth let out a roar and the snake tail moved in to strike at her. Meanwhile, the room continued getting colder at the command of her Imbue spell. As the snake head got closer, one of the now frozen debris peaches shot out, slamming into its mouth and lodging itself in its throat. Her eyes switch to being determined, and her mouth switched to a stern form. "Owari desu." she said just before each piece of the debris began firing at the three remaining heads, exploding on impact. Still not done with the attack, the chimera released a blast of white hot flames from its mouth. Kaori held out her hand with a magic circle appearing in front her. The circle was blue and shimmered like a sapphire in the light with holy properties. As the flames hit it, the room filled with steam from the colliding temperatures. When the flame was over, Kaori was no longer standing behind the magic circle. Where Kaori once was, a red haired woman with two shotguns, the same ones Samira used earlier in fact, stood aiming at the beast. The Chimera was confused and didn't expect the switch. Before it could react, the woman fired the shotguns six times, firing six chains with barbed tips at the beast that slammed into its head.

"Tengoku no sutā..." the words came from behind the chimera, and a powerful wind was moving around the room and causing the steam in a circle, making it rise further. Out of the steam, Kaori shot high above the chimera. In her right hand was a massive shuriken that was easily bigger than she was and spinning rapidly. The room instantly became hot, hotter than the desert, hotter than the heat wave the chimera released, and the shuriken erupted into white flames. Kaori shouted "...sekai o moyasu!" while throwing the shuriken. The holy flames swept across and melted straight through the lion's head in the middle while incinerating the goat and lamb heads on the side. Kaori had landed in front the chimera's corpse rolling and stopping in a kneeling position, the front of her hair flopping over her eyes. The snake's head finally coughed up the ice brick and came after Kaori, only to have its head blown wide open by the red head. "Hey Cap... you missed one." the woman said with a smirk and snarky tone. Kaori got up, brushing her hair back. "Well I didn't want you getting lazy on me." she replied with the same snark in her tone. "One last group..." Scarlet said, gesturing to the door on the other side. Kaori looked at the door and began approaching it as scarlet erupted into white particles, showing herself to be another spirit if it weren't already obvious.

On the other side of the door was the leader of the ninja group. A man with a massive wound on his exposed torso, and a glare filled with hate as he looked at Kaori. Kaori approached while a cutlass began materializing in her left hand, stopping ten or twenty yards away from him. If Samira was behind her, Kaori would address her. "Go after those other three if you can. They're all below my skill level, and lack magic. But they will kill you if you give them the chance... Stay at the door if you'd rather be safe, I won't judge either way. But him... he's mine." Kaori's tone was serious as she established their leader was her prey. He was one of the enemies who'd come to the clan's castle; and one who cut the arm off one of the members. Kaori's killing him wasn't out of spite, but rather, as a punishment to him and a message for his leader. If Samira went after them, she'd be faced with two opponents that were truly below Kaori's level, but not by much. The third would be escaping on a flying creature that resembled a small, less threatening looking dragon. If she stayed at the doorway, she'd feel the tension in the room rising as the two got ready to fight.

Lava Hawk
Motorcycle
Scarlet
Word Count: 1158
Posts: 14
Mana: 25%


Cooldown:
Clone - 2
Heavenly Star - 3
Scarlet - 5
Wall of Passion - 0
Passionate Strike - 0

The man watched as the other girl went after his subordinates. He knew not to chase her as Kaori wouldn't allow him to take up an additional opponent, she'd kill him before he could get close. "You oppose an army with little more than a blade." he said calmly. Conversation between enemies was commonplace before a duel, and any warrior with honor would at least acknowledge their foe if they were strong. "I oppose a man with many tools at his disposal." Kaori replied, insulting her opponent with a cold tone. "I see. May the gods greet you kindly Lareci." he replied, taking a fighting stance. "Only when I'm ready to kill them, too." Kaori replied while getting ready to begin. The two vanished from their positions and a set of sparks erupted from where their blades clashed.

The sound of steel clanging against steel echoed through the room. Where the man excelled in strength and skill, Kaori excelled in speed and agility. He knew where to block before Kaori could hit, and Kaori knew where to attack to keep him in a defensive stance. Once Kaori had made contact with his blade enough times, she had decided it was time to fight with everything she had. As their blades clashed, the man forced Kaori back. Rather than fight it, she let herself go flying and began performing a backflip while glowing white. She vanished and reappeared as ten versions of herself. As nine of them began getting close, the man began to form a ring of water around his feet using what was left in several urns in the room. As the nine clones got close, the water turned to spikes that impaled all of them. The original Kaori was some distance away and shot an arrow at him, letting the man turn into his water form to avoid the arrow. However, he felt a surge of panic at Kaori's lack of surprise. From the puffs of smoke that the nine Kaori clones turned into came six crystals with varioud buttons, the yellow one on each pushed down. Six electric explosions went off, and the leader had taken the full blast of all of them and was thrown into the air.

A small piece of his body in the form of water had gotten close to Kaori and turned into another version of himself. As the sword began forming, Kaori had brought hers up and parried it while gritting her teeth. The original reformed in the air and landed gracefully on the ground. Kaori vanished from position, reappearing a good distance away while holding a silver key. "Open, Gate of the Undead! Jed!" she shouted while opening a black and silver gate. A man stepped out with rotting flesh, and seemingly no ability to die. The swords he held were both made of bone, and looked as grim as he did. "'Bout time, felt like I was gonna die waitin'." he said as he blocked the water clone's sword. Kaori herself felt like slamming her hand into her forehead at the joke, but refrained from it.

The leader had grimaced at the fact that Kaori had improved, even learned more magic since their last meeting. He knew he'd have to survive and report his findings, but with the introduction of a new factor, he wasn't sure if he would. Kaori vanished and reappeared closer to the original enemy, charging her weapon with a power so vile that no mage could resist it. Kaori vanished again and reappeared behind her target, vanishing again and a third time to cut his thigh. It was only a small cut, not even causing the man to stagger; but he immediately felt his control over magic weaken.

Samira would walk in as he turned and kneed Kaori in the stomach, sending her flying to the ceiling where he appeared and hit her in the back with his fist, sending her back down. A blood stain began showing on Kaori's back and expanding, and the zombie pirate she'd summoned didn't even bother to look back. The man began running towards the summon, trying to sandwich it between himself and his clone but was shocked when Jed moved aside and let the clone attack its original. Having no choice, he dismissed his clone to avoid having a second enemy to fight. Just as he vanished and reappeared behind Jed with his sword fully extending out the spirit's other side, white mist began rising in the room and Kaori began getting back up. She inhaled and exhaled the same type of white mist, the blood stain on her back reversing and healing. Kaori's eyes began to glow pure white, and a white katana appeared in her right hand. "Well, my part's done." Jed said with a smile before erupting into black and silver particles.

The man began running towards Kaori, knowing this attack all too well. Kaori moved the katana and held it infront her with both hands, just like in kendo. She closed her eyes and let the white energy build up. Samira would feel something different surging through the room that was more powerful than any emotion Kaori displayed before... As more energy rose from the floor and began pooling around Kaori, Samira would feel the room filling with hope, love, and passion like none other. It was Kaori's ultimate weapon, and the reason she was sometimes called the Goddess of Passion. "Tengoku..." Kaori said, causing the white energy to multiply further and make the blade in her hand longer. There was no despair in her sword, no fear of dying, no hatred for the enemy, and no regret for what she was about to do. Her sword reflected her love for her friends, hope for a better future with no pain, and the passion she felt for her people despite all they'd done to her. "...no kogeki..." she said and the white energy sparked with white lightning, the world seeming to slow down. Kaori switched her stance to prepare for her attack. A white combat robe seemed to form around her from the energy, and the air became dense as she focused on her target that was now thirty meters away and closing in. Kaori opened her eyes and shouted the final word of her attack, magic circles forming all along the sword. "KAMINARI!" she shouted before vanishing, leaving a bright white trail of light where her sword had swung and much to her surprise, she was stopped by the man's sword.

The man was obviously under strain, unable to force the girl back, and finding himself slowly being moved. Kaori let her right hand go, materializing a second katana in it while saying "Shirofune" after which she spun, letting her second blade literally phase through his and cut him across the chest. The man staggered back, falling to his knees and looked at Kaori. As the light in the air continued closing in on her, her clothing had changed to that of a woman wearing a white mask with matching robes, the sword reflecting Kaori's purest emotions; the power of her heart. She raised the sword over his head, the man unable to move, and she brought it down to cut him from skull to groin and cauterizing the two halves shut to shed no blood. Kaori staggered before beginning to collapse in light of her victory, the power of her Unleashed form being the only thing keeping her conscious. "Captain!" an extremely high pitched, soft, and loving voice shouted as a girl appeared from a celestial gate, catching Kaori over her shoulder. The girl didn't look at all like a combative sort. From her large, blue, soft eyes to the lack of ferocity or attitude in her voice; she was definitely a lover. "C-Captain, are you alright!? I- I brought you a new mask." she said with a concerned tone while holding the item out.

Kaori weakly took the mask, her hands shaking from the immense strain she'd put on her body. "It's... purple..." Kaori said, breathing heavily between words. "I-I'm sorry captain." the girl said, her eyes beginning to water. Kaori's least favorite color was purple, and Charlotte knew that. Kaori began to put the mask on, her hands shaking so much that she had to use her telekinesis to get it on. "Tha-ank you... Char..." her words fadded as she lost consciousness. There were many ways that magic could backfire on someone, and while sometimes it did explode, other times the magic drained her energy immensely. Charlotte had gently set Kaori on the ground and moved over to where the dragon had taken off at. It was an outdoors area, large enough for the ship they'd arrived on to fit in and leave safely. Charlotte had held her hand out and formed a magic circle on the ground that rose up while slowly turning. As though she used the same portal magic as Janus, Charlotte had transported the entire ship to the area for a quick safe spot. She moved back to Samira and said "H-hell-o-oh. I'm Charlotte... c-could I trouble you t-to help me move the capt-ain?" with a hesitant, and sweet sounding voice that'd give even the most hypoglycemic person diabetes. Charlotte continuously avoided Samira's eyes and kept staring at the ground while addressing her.

Once on board the ship, Charlotte would have Kaori placed in a room with a bed and a chair on the other side of the room. She would place Kaori's head over her thighs and watch as the ninja instinctively began holding one of them while curling her body up slightly. Her cheeks immediately turned crimson, but she forced herself to maintain composure. Charlotte would reach into Kaori's right sleeve and pull out a golden key. "O-Open, G-Gate of the Sea Shanty. Ah-Aquarius." she would say calmly causing the key to glow bright gold and a matching magic circle appearing on the floor. A man came out of the circle with a fist made of iron, bandages on his torso, fiery hair, a cloak, and eyes that reflected the ocean's surface. He looked at Kaori and let out a sigh "Damnit... at least she's still got skin this time." he said with an exasperated tone. His reaction would imply that it was common for Kaori to return in this condition, or worse. If Samira remembered, Kaori mentioned that Gisen always had someone accompany her to missions... this would've been the reason why. Charlotte pointed to Samira wherever she was in the room and began scratching his head. "Name's Iron Fist... uh... Aquarius, whichever you prefer. I guess you got some questions, huh? I can answer some, but others are ones only the Captain can answer." he'd say calmly before taking a seat next to Kaori on the bed and awaiting any queries.

Lava Hawk
Motorcycle
Jed
Charlotte
Iron Fist

Word Count: 1,784
Posts: 15
Mana: 0%

Aquarius looked at Samira's spirit with a rather blank stare. He wasn't accustome to people knowing him, and he didn't venture out beyond the celestial docks much, so he didn't know his own fame. Samira had begun speaking, stating that she had come to the conclusion that Kaori was like her, a celestial spirit mage. Many of her questions were very appropriate, and some were ones that Iron Fist couldn't personally answer. He let Samira talk and waited for her to stop before speaking himself. "First, to you... strange... scorpion person... I'm not the Aquarius you know of, most likely. The old one died, and I took her place." he said calmly. "U-uhm... Actually..." Charlotte chimed in, avoiding the gaze of her first mate when he looked at her. "Z-zodic keys are somewhat rare... and they're extremely powerful, so news of you spread fairly fast." she informed him, Iron Fist not even showing surprise since he didn't know much about the celestial realm. "I see... so I have shoes to fill on top of being dead." he said in an unamused tone.

"As for you Sammy; I'm sorry to say this but I got no clue what Kay's lookin for. I don't know why she wears the mask, or what 'Lareci Law' actually is. I don't know anything about her past, and up till today, I didn't know what she looked like." he said calmly, as though it had no effect on his relationship with Kaori. "Kaori's a brutal person, and she's completely unafraid of anything- death included. She kills everyone who gets in her way, and protects anyone who's her friend. Only thing I can say is that it takes a lot to turn someone who's barely an adult into that kind of person... To be honest, most of us would rather not know." Iron Fist said calmly.

"The kid's morale compass ain't mine to question. She's stronger than I am, so I don't mind following her. Treats us human enough. Anyway, I'll go get the runts to move this bucket." Scarlet said while leaning against the door. She unlocked it and left, immediately barking orders at the crew that were muffled out by the door's closing. "The mask is a representation of myself. It lacks personality, and holds only lies within. It's a husk, a shell to protect the empty space behind. I am a monster... so why should anyone view me as anything more?" Charlotte's voice sounded off, adding a depressing tone to the room. "Miss Kaori told me that while we were training. That's the only one of your questions I can answer... s-sorry." she said in a calm voice, having mostly gotten used to the people around her.

Lava Hawk
Motorcycle
Word Count: 454
Posts: 16
Mana: 0%

Iron Fist stood up and walked to the door, pausing to leave Samira with one final message. "One last thing. Don't call her a celestial wizard to her face, she'd count it as you insulting yourself." he said before finally exiting. Charlotte had leaned against one of the bed posts and fallen asleep, deciding to keep her wizard company. What Samira did throughout the ride back to the village was up to her, they had quite a bit of time on their hands.

The crew had taken several items from the ruins as their own. Much of it was valuable, and some things just looked shiney to them. The crew had set aside some things for Kaori since she was technically the reason they'd turned such a profit. They also had a question they wanted to ask, but refrained on account of her being asleep.

Upon arriving at the village, Iron Fist had walked into the room and flicked Kaori on the mask resulting in her stirring only slightly. He let out a sigh and formed a ball of water over her head, releasing it and dropping it on her. The action had manage to startle her enough to vanishing and appearing with her heel burying in his crown. Iron Fist quickly turned with a lump on his head and screamed at Kaori "What the hell'd you do that for!?" to when she replied "You should know better than to wake people like that!"

As the two began arguing, Charlotte slowly woke up and looked at them with a tired expression. They were always like that whenever he woke Kaori. The fighting suddenly stopped with Kaori and Iron Fist crossing their arms under their chests and looking away from each other. "Hey kid... why didn't you call me out?" Iron Fist said while relaxing his body, his tone was slightly sad. "Sorry." Kaori said before leaving the room to be greeted by the desert's setting sun.

Upon seeing Kaori awake, one of the members of the mercenary crew had approached her, asking if they could talk. He'd explained that they were good at working, and the group as a whole had a difficult time finding employment due to their lack of skills beyond running a ship. The group couldn't work at the docks since no one needed an entire crew, only a few hands here and there. They couldn't work as their own company, they lacked the money to start it; even with their recent score. Kaori had let out a sigh since she was awake for only ten minutes and was already doing business. "I have access to more than enough funds to pay for a crew, and am currently hiring. Draw a contract with your opinions of a fair wage, and find me in Hargeon; we'll talk then." Kaori said before leaving the ship entirely to take her share of stuff to her contact in the village.

Kaori had her contact trade her the goods that were worth something for raw currency instead of the items themselves. She had intentionally given Samira the slip, using her stealth to make it to her bike and leave. Samira would find Kaori's Lava Hawk waiting with a letter in its beak that it'd present her with.

'Samira,

I know you have questions that Iron Fist couldn't answer, but I ask that you keep them to yourself for now. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that you're not strong enough to handle the repurcussions. If you value your life, forget you ever saw what's behind my mask. You don't know anything about my spirits, nor my magic, nor what happened in the ruins today. If you see any ninja wearing white, gold, or silver bracers on theri wrists; avoid them at all costs. I'll be back at the guild hall within a month, let Lady Ceostra know that I'm meeting with an old business associate from Midi and not to worry. My friend will give you a ride back home. He likes venison, snake, and ice cubes; and hates chicken, pork, and anything that's been swimming around in a lake.

Sincerely,
K.

PS: He's not allowed in the castle.'

Lava Hawk
Motorcycle
Word Count: 700
Posts: 17

Loot:
2x Strong Item
- 3,500 Jewel