CANDY CORN GALA • sitewide social gathering

Sol simply smiled and nodded as Itori seemed happy to see him and while she declined his offer to dance she did say she would like to later tonight. The dragon could accept that answer since he had interrupted the two and they were locked in with no explination.”very well perhaps later then and also perhaps we can catch up” he said before he heard her ask if he was in good health and offered to talk should he feel something was wrong.” I’m alright Itori actually Ive never felt better since I completed my Dragonification I have gone from human to demon to a full dragon and I feel amazing” he said with a grin showing his sharp teeth for a moment. It was then that the fox woman introduced him to her companion in conversation and he blinked in surprise at the amount of machinery on her along with the strong smell of iron that clung to her. At the mention of his affiliation Sol spoke.”to be fair Itori I would rather keep my occupation and affiliation to myself since I’m fairly sure many people here would frown upon it and some might even like to knife me” he said with a chuckle at the end.

It honestly made him feel good to know that Itori thought that he was a good man even though that was the farthest thing from the truth, he was not a good man he was an evil man but he had a few morals and to those that he considered friend he was a dependable ally and a loyal friend. Itori could consider herself one of the lucky few that had earned the slayers friendship. As he was introduced to Grema he got a look of wonder in his eyes as he saw her Magitech parts and he then spoke.”it’s a pleasure to meet you Gremalin, if I may ask who created your Magictech prosthetics, I enjoy seeing different designs as I create magitech myself in my spare time“ he said as his eyes caught glimpses of metal on the woman and he could also take a guess from the smell of iron on her. Sol was being truthful about his creation of Magictech, he may seem like he enjoyed lazing about but the dragon was actually very active and constantly was pushing the boundrys of science and machinery by combining them with magic. One of the dragons crowning achivements was the creating a powerful robot but combining it with the brain of a mage making it able to fight and plan steps ahead that no other machine could.

Hearing more people arrive Sol blinked as it seemed that more people had snuck in before the doors had locked then he had thought, he could only hope that the regent of this party finally showed up and explained what was going on, Sol would be lying if he didn’t say that he was suspicious since this wasent the first time he had a situation such as this and it wouldn’t be the last.

3514

7 tickets

Adalia's left eyebrow twitched; why in the world had she decided to attend a social gathering was beyond her.  While she was walking in Hargeon Town one night, a raven had flown over her and dropped a letter on her head, much to her annoyance.  Being the nosy person that she was, Adalia opened the letter that she was uncertain was sent to her, yet, after reading it she felt as though it was written exclusively for her.  The letter wasn't particularly fancy or anything of the sort, yet, it made her feel compelled to join in on the festivities, even half tempting her to dress up for such an occasion, though that didn't happen.  Getting from Hargeon Town to Capital Crocus wasn't easy.  She had to use her scarce money intelligently and find some people who were willing to give her free transportation, but, she got there, and that's where we're at right now.

She was already inside of the gathering, having sneaked through a side entrance; she didn't want anyone seeing her entering the place, though, she'd have to tolerate people seeing her inside of the gala.  She didn't really know what to do at such a gathering; there were many people whom she had never seen before, so she decided to stay in the darker areas where it'd be difficult to notice her.  As stated before, normally, Adalia would never even consider coming to such a gathering, yet, while she was on her way towards the gala, she was almost happy that she was going, and that's what bothered her.  There was something suspicious about this place, but she couldn't figure out what exactly that was.  She would investigate, but first, take full advantage of the free food and drink that was offered at the gala.

She maneuvered through the mages and creatures fairly easily due to her size, hoping that what she wore and carried wouldn't draw much, if any, attention.  She had a small smile on her face when she reached the punch table that had cake next to it; Adalia had little money since arriving in the new country and has been struggling financially, so this was a nice temporary break from that.  The punch had a nice fruity flavour, having several mixed into the drink which she couldn't distinguish between.  The cake itself was a velvet cake slice, which, of course, was always fantastic to eat.  When she was done with her first slice of cake, she decided to treat herself to another...  and another...  till she had eaten about five slices of cake.  This was extremely unusual for her, but, there was no way that Adalia would turn down free food at this point in her life, however junky it may be.

Now that she was done eating, she went into another room, only to find more inhabitants and party-goers.  Almost every single room she went into had more and more people in them, which was starting to irritate her.  Adalia eventually gave up...  for the time being.  She'd see what would happen before doing anything else, now.  Maybe socialize a bit, though, that'd be doubtful.

OOC:
524 = 1 ticket

Shea watched with a small smile as her acquaintance fluttered with worry over their state of events after they broke out of the reunion hug. It was rather concerning for everyone involved to be trapped, but it especially irked the free-spirited half-elf. She really didn’t like to be tied down to one place, let alone trapped like they were now. It really made her unhappy, and several times now she had to resist at least a pout, if not a frown. She even had teleportation powers that she would usually use to get out of such places, but something was telling her that was a bad idea.

“You have good reason to worry dear, but at this point in time little cause.” Shea soothed in her usual easy-going manner. “At this point it's up to those of either great intellect or power that could get us out of this place, or simply our host making herself known.” The songstress said with a small wave of her gloved hand. She was no slouch and skilled at magic, there wasn’t anything she could do but help keep the peace. “And while we may be powerful and intelligent in our own right, mages like us can’t really do anything about this situation at the moment. So it’s best just to enjoy ourselves at a nice party~! Don’t you worry darling, if anything does happen you have friends all around you to aid in the situation.” Shea made one last move to reassure the tipsy girl.

“But on the other hand…” The beautiful woman said with a sly look in her eye, plucking the girl’s current hard stuff out of her grasp, though allowing her to grab it again if she wanted to. “We are in uncertain territory, so it’s best to keep one’s mind sharp. You may need it soon. Though keeping up appearances is a good thing as well, as we both know as performers.” The dragoon says, toasting her own almost empty white wine in return, though she had been secretly using her healing abilities to keep her wits about her. She then subtly flicked the hem if her dress so her shrunken favorite spear could be seen. Seeing as how Desiree had summoned one of her crystals earlier and that Kiwi was here, Shea knew the girl was prepared as well and have full faith in her combat abilities. Though it probably wouldn’t be a good thing if the white-haired girl’s alcoholism got to the tabloids, mostly when thinking about her age and younger fans. But she probably knew that and the older woman knew better than to harp unnecessarily.

The former opera singer then hid a smile behind her wine glass at the mention of possible rivals, or at least the blue-haired woman was sure that was the implication from the tone of Desiree’s voice. “Oh pish posh about rivals, it’s much more fun to beat them on the stage anyways,” Shea said, a certain amount of mischief entering her voice. She then gently grabbed the younger girls arm and tucked it under her own. “Let’s talk about how many handsome men and beautiful women are attending this party, shall we? Ooooh, or maybe some gossip? Possibly a bit of both?” Shea said, gently yet almost casually dragging the girl along with her to the non-alcoholic refreshment table, giving a few pets and coo’s to the adorable symbiote on the way. “So who do you think is the most handsome mage here? I’m quite partial to the Fire King myself, he cuts quite the figure in that suite, though I’d probably pick my companies vice-president Julius Sea’s if he was here. How about the woman for you? Aiyana of Lamia Scale is looking gorgeous tonight. And did you see the look on the face of that girl attaching herself to Mura Kensho of Fairy Tail?” Shea chattered away to the idol beside her, still giving Kiwi any attention he wanted while absentmindedly making sure the ones they were talking about were out of hearing range, to the best of her abilities.

WC: 660
Total: 1644
Tickets: 3

@Desiree Blooms

Grema nodding when the animal girl introduced herself, and almost let out a sigh of disappointment when she admitted her ignorance of magitech. One of the main thing she had missed about her home country was other people to talk about her favorite subject about. But whatever, she seemed friendly enough, and knowledgeable about something she was curious about. Though Grema didn’t know how to refer to her. She was from that eastern country, right? So was Grema supposed to refer to her by her last name or her first name? Wait, was she introducing herself in the Fiore way or Midi way? So which was her last name and which was her first name?! Also, what was a kitsune?

Grema decided to wing it and call her Shirokawa. Then listened, and recorded, her small lecture on mind-based magic with extreme focus. It, at the very least, explained the letter and the events behind it. Could it also possibly explain why people were so calm? Probably not, mages were probably so used to weird things happening to them that they now tended to deal with this on a situation-by-situation basis now. Or so Grema theorized.

Then a rather tired looking man approached before Grema could reply, completely unaware that she was now in a conversation with a dark mage. What? She didn’t assume that every off-looking individual was evil, look at herself for goodness sake! Game Changer gave a whine of disappointment at the ending of the belly rubs before getting over it and going over to his master's feet for a nap. Grema waited through the small talk of Itori and Sol, only giving a nod when she was introduced. Then raised an eyebrow at the less-than-moral implication. So he had enemies of some sort? Must be hard, but Grema still didn’t think he was dark since there was several members of Infinity Hydra and Sabertooth around, both guilds which are known for their love of Dark Mage annihilation, Itori being one of them and friends with the man. Technically Grema was also a member of a light guild but didn’t care much for bounty hunting unless with a direct reason to.

Then her one good eye practically lit up at the mention of his interest in magitech. Yes! Finally, someone to talk about the topic with! “Call me Grema, and nice to meet you. So you're intrusted in magitech? My magic is focused on magitech actually, and I’m an expert in the subject, made these prosthetics myself. Was educated in the world magitech capital of Bosco itself. Even my body equips magitech to make up for its missing natural parts, though it's powered by my own magic rather than the usual natural energy or larchima its more commonly known to be in use of in Fiore.” Grema half-bragged and even showed her left magitech arm, leg, and eye to the duo amongst scarred skin. She even pulled out all of the stops and showed where several of the organs on the left side of her body had been replaced by machines. Her enthusiasm for the subject was obvious and she didn’t get the opportunity the brag and talk about it to someone who understood the science. “At the moment I’m attempting to research the magical barrier we are entrapped in. So far I’ve attempted to scan the energy signatures of the enchantments on this place. Unfortunately, while I am well versed in the extraordinary subject of magitech, pure ethrano magic and the formulas of pure spell work is a rather new subject for me, one I have only been researching for the past few months. I have so far gotten some data and magical readings but without a magic code index I can only guess half of what the code of magical runes and glyphs my readings received means. We may be in some sort of pocket dimension accessed unknowingly when walking through the front door, not unlike Fiore’s Wakusei Portals, which has its own natural magic rules which explained why teleportation isn’t possible. Or it could just be layers and layers of magical barriers and spells that creates the guise of them being in another dimension, not unlike the letters we received. At the very least I can confirm magitech is not involved, but not much else.” The cyborg rambled away, happy to talk about such things. While talking she brought up a hologram from her arm with the readings she received from her scans on it. It was a mixture of mathematical formulas, magical runes, and glyphs one would normally see under a mage when they cast a spell. There was a lot of data, some of it still coming in. “From the way Shirokawa described the mental spell that encouraged us to come here and the readings, I’m starting to lean towards the layered spell but still with a good bet on the portal theory. Most likely it’s a mix of both. Either way, to lock and stump so many mages, some very powerful, makes this Night lady or whatever a definite force to be reckoned with.” Grema finishes off with a serious look, eyes locked on her holographic screen. Maybe she should just as the godly level mages to start firing powerful spells at the door or pumpkin. Aw, that probably wouldn’t work. “What do you two think?” Grema asked, remembering she was actually in a conversation with other people and they possibly had opinions as well.

WC: 913
Total: 2405
Tickets: 4

@Itori
@Sol

Kiru's expression stayed the same as she stared at Astrid. Even though her face said otherwise, Kiru was somewhat intrigued in what exactly she was doing. She had noticed that when she had bumped into Astrid, she did not react right away. Instead it took the elf several seconds before the force of gravitiy finally knocked her out of whatever trance she had been stuck in. With that, she had turned to Kiru and dismissed the incident, claiming that it was fine. Before Astrid could say anything else, however, a new arrival entered the conversation... And Kiru could smell the cannabis from a mile away.

"I don't believe we've met before. Kiru." The demon slayer said promptly to the new girl, who like Kiru shared missmatched hairstyle. Weather it was natural or not was unknown to the water mage. But her eyes were also different colors. Odd. A rare condition indeed, even among magic. However, that wasn't the only thing about Erika's eyes that grabbed Kiru's attention. It was the fact they had been bloodshot. Combined with the odd physical appearance to her oculars, and the strange demeanor not seen among typical folk, Kiru could conclude that this woman was indeed under the influence of some sort of cannabis. When she offered to 'smoke' one with Kiru, she waved her hand dismissively. "I do not partake in the inhalation of cannabis smoke." She stated simply. The action that the stone woman would instigate next was equally as strange. She proceeded to smack Astrid's butt, which caused a large amount of angry yelling to emanate from the girl. Needless to say, based on Kiru's observation, she was not a fan of. During their interactions, Kiru simply stood there and stared at them, before carefully looking around the room as her interest turned back to their current situation that everyone had once again began to ignore. She was about to walk away and continue her search for answers when yet two more woman joined the scene.

Jiyu and Ayianna. At first, Kiru was taken back a bit by Jiyu's sudden entrance. The last time they interacted, she was still deathly afraid of wandering anywhere NEAR Kiru. Now she seemed completely composed and relaxed around her. Strange. Something must've changed in the girl concerning her fear of demon slayers. Maybe she had finally gotten over it. Aiyanna on the other hand Kiru did not know. Her scent and appearance was all new to the demon slayer. She appeared to be a kitsune, and the powerful aura around her told Kiru she was in fact a skilled mage. She also seemed to know everyone else. Sensing another conversation to spark between the four other girls Kiru nodded towards Astrid. "If you'll excuse me. I'll continue trying to figure out what this Regent has in store for us, and if there is any way we can prepare for it." With that, Kiru walked passed Astrid and Jiyu, staring at her sharply for a moment to see if she would react to Kiru in a similar way she had before. With that, the twin haired girl would move away from the group and walk more towards the center of the room. Watching and sensing...

Takumi was lost in his own little world with Wist, at least for the moment. He smiled at the gentle way Wist was treating him, it was refreshing compared to the rowdiness of Fairy Tail, or the rough way his own adoptive sister, Chiyo, treated him. Especially considering his current condition, and the children growing inside of him. He looked up from Wist's shoulder, the blush still fairly obvious on his face, though he didn't care. "Wist, am I a bad boyfriend? I keep having thoughts about you even though I'm with Liam..." He whispered, too low for Coal and the Pumpkin King to hear. Wist's eyes went wide at that, a huge blush appearing on his own face once more. He didn't know what to say for a moment, but then he thought, and got it.

"Takumi, you aren't a bad boyfriend. He hasn't made any effort to see you in nearly two months, even though you're having his children. If Anything, you don't deserve to have somebody like him, you deserve so much better, okay?" Said the shapeshifter, his gaze gentle as he looked at Takumi. He cupped the man's chin, drawing him in and pressing a slow kiss to the corner of his mouth. His green eyes were closed, and then he pulled away and opened his eyes. "If you'll let me, I want to be the one who's here for you, I want to be with you, want to support you and the children you're carrying." He said, all the while giving Takumi the gentlest expression Takumi had ever seen him make. Takumi's eyes began to water at this, the hormones getting to him as he threw his arms around his companion.

"I was so scared I'd end up losing both of you... I love you, idiot, don't ever leave me!" He exclaimed, before kissing Wist again, this kiss anything but slow or gentle. He wanted to show Wist he was serious, and he was certainly getting a reaction. Wist kissed Takumi back, until they had to pull away for air, panting. "As much as I would love to continue this, Takumi, we are trapped here." Wist pointed out, which made Takumi pout a bit. "Fine, should we go say hi to anybody else?"

WC: 379
TWC: 885
Tickets: 1

Chili wasn't entirely sure where or what inn he had been staying at when he received the letter all he knew is that it had just appeared there on his desk atop his notebooks, his window was open, and oddly enough he could've sworn he heard the flapping of wings take off as he approached to close said window. A weird mixture of interest and cation settled into his stomach as held the letter up to the light trying to read it through the envelope. He was unable to so he set it back down on his desk deciding he could wait fifteen minutes before he opened so he could at least change into clothes that were not ripped and eat something just in case the whoever sent the letter request he go somewhere. After a quick rinse Chili dressed in his normal attire of a silk red collared dress shirt, a tactically made blazer, suit pants along with a reliable belt and finally his black gentleman shoes. He quickly had a few bowls of leftover potato salad from the day before, finally opening the letter. As he read over the short text inviting him to a gala, though that wasn't all, he could feel it the moment he opened the envelope as a sense to obey and go to the invitations location took hold of him. It was subtle, not full-on mind control however it was a close second maybe third seeing as he was able to at least pack up his books and take his pack with him before leaving.

As he looked at the building he was about to enter he couldn't help as he cocked his head to the side it seemed so none suspicious yet he still had that feeling in his stomach, Chili opted to seek out a side entrance as to not draw too much attention to himself, still slightly ponder what may be the influence behind such an event. Now inside the building Chili was able to see he had arrived a little late to the party it seemed. A good sized group of mages had amassed and were mingling, eating, and enjoying themselves. Part of him wanted to introduce himself to some of the more interesting looking members of the party. The other part was not really sure why he was here, all he knew was that the invitation had brought him. So he chose to avoid contact with most of the party goers as he managed to stay on the outer edge of everything and managed to find an empty table for him to sit at. Now thoroughly stationary Chili started to comb over the room.
"A stage with instruments being played by an invisible small orchestra, the melody of which sounds hauntingly beautiful to me. The way the candlelit chandelier swung lightly as the flames seem to flicker and sway looking as if they are dancing. Along with the happy banter and comradery of the attendees, the atmosphere is light yet it feels ominous." Chili thought to himself taking in his current surroundings. He decided to lean his back against the back of his chair the best he could as he set his pack next to him and closed his eyes deciding to tune out the chatter and focus on listening to the music as he let his thoughts wander over every speculation that was coming to his mind. He could slightly sense the invisible beings among the room, though the energy of the wizards who inhabit it was quite strong, however.

He was unsure of how long he was sitting there with his eyes closed when he heard the music halt. Opening his eyes, Chili was surprised that he was not that surprised to see a fireball appear on the stage that the instruments had been upon, growing until it became the size of a head before flickering and extinguishing. In its place was now a rather large jack-o-lantern with glowing menacing eyes, a ragged looking fur cloak, and vines tipped with scythes for arms. It gave its speech, and when it got to the end, Chili couldn't help but smirk. "Huh, strange letter, weird gala, a gathering of mages, a host only known as the Regent of the Night, and she has an, I want to say pumpkin butler with sickles for hands. I'm kinda excited to see where the evening goes." He commented in his mind. Chili was surprisingly calm with the sudden turn despite his short time traveling Fiore he had seen a good amount of things and this was not even the close to the top of his list. Well, at least now his questions were starting to get answered though he wasn't sure if he should be happy to be trapped in this building with what was starting to appear to be a menacing plot. People don't put a place on full lockdown to play nice.

There was nothing he could do about it now so he decided to take pumpkin head's advice and went to get up, making sure to secure his pack back over his shoulder. He walked over to one of the drink tables near a few people, Chili grabbed what he was sure was punch if it was spiked he didn't know and didn't really care. After gulping down half of his first glass, Chili grabbed a second one for to drink once he was through with the current. He figured it was best he mingles a little before things really kicked off, however, he didn't really see any faces that he was familiar with though he had always been up to meeting new people. Though now that the thought was in his head he had never really had an idea of how parties went really, though he was pretty sure this was not routine. Making his way towards a more populated area he decided to be confident and make a few acquaintances with the mages in the room. Not sure where to start really some people in the room appeared to know one another while others were doing as he had, taking to the outer ring of the crowd. Not sure where to start he chose to just choose a table that looked populated and see where things went.


Word Count: 1047
Tickets: 2

As the party continued without event, the twin haired girl would continue to gaze around. Looking for anything else unusual as she conversed the gala room. Strange as the events may seem, she felt nothing else. Not now at least. People seemed to go about their business not paying much mind to the current situation, which frankly worried Kiru. To think that all these people in here were obviously stuck in the threads of someone else's plan. Completely at their mercy. And nobody seemed to care. If she could show emotion, Kiru would scoff at their foolishness. Was she really the only one willing to figure out what was really happening? What the price would be for their ignorance? Guess that was a side effect of the way her brain was wired. She cared little for the entertainment the gala provided to the others. She only focused on the trap, and what exactly it would set off. However, the fact remained that there was still likely nothing the demon slayer could do about the current predicament. That may have been quite possibly the reason as to why so many others appeared not to even notice. Maybe they all sensed it too, and were steps ahead of Kiru. Determining that there was, in fact, nothing to be done. Those thoughts alone could be enough to explain the casual, and calm behavior reflected among her fellow wizards. Even if that was true, however, it would not deter the demon slayer from her current quest. She wouldn't accept the fate thrust upon her and every other person in this room. She would do everything in her power to figure out how to stop any forms of impending doom... Or at the very least prepare for it.

All her thinking was interrupted though, by the sound of a rather young voice addressing the girl from her side. Sensing this voice was in fact being directed towards her, Kiru would halt her advance briefly and turn her cyan optics towards the younger man. His appearance and voice were all new to her. He seemed quite composed, but with enough tone in his voice to regulate concern. Kiru was relieved to find out at least one other person felt the need to show a little much needed caution in this situation. Well, enough to even bother asking about it at least. "That is what I am attempting to figure out. It appears this 'Pumpkin Lord' or his master has entrapped everyone here with a magical barrier. It would be ill advised to attempt an escape just yet. I fear such action would lead to... Negative side effects." Kiru would state rather bluntly in her normal monotone voice towards the man. She had no problem being perfectly honest on their current standing point. After all, she believed the more who knew the better their chances for whatever came next...

His face remained indifferent as he had a slice of what appeared to be cherry pie. Chili would have been lying if he said that it wasn't good. Now that he had a semblance of what was going on he was finally allowing himself to relax since he arrived. Still, he needed to figure out something, turning about ninety degrees he absentmindedly set his empty dish aside and casually walked over to the windows with his hands firmly in his pockets. Looking outside he couldn't make out much even with his enhanced sight it was almost as if the windows were tinted on both sides. A small smirk spread across his face, there was definitely magic holding them shut and strongly at that. The pumpkin had said they were trapped, however, Chili still couldn't help to check for himself. The small stupid grin was still on his face as he walked the outer wall of the room, looking for even the smallest gap in the lockdown magic. After a few moments of wasted time trying to find a way out of a place he already knew he wasn't going to be able to escape. This Regent lady really had them in the palm of her hand, hell if she chose to blow up the whole damn building with them all in it she could. Though he was also fairly certain that a good chunk of those in here could survive such a thing, which meant she was probably going to have to be creative in whatever way she decided to try trapping them. Weirdly enough that train of thought led him to wonder how big of a pie he could make with the floating jack-o-lantern, though once he considered it, Chili couldn't help but chuckle to himself a little as he realized that the thing was probably mostly hollowed out and wouldn't really make the best pie besides who knows what a minion who just happens to be a pumpkin taste like for all he knew it could end up tasting like squash.

"Summer squash pie did sound really good though now that I think about it" Chili smiled to himself he had gotten off track a little. He had contemplated starting up a conversation with one of the many mages, though he was calm and collected with the fact that there was a ninety-nine percent chance there was a way out, Chili was still unable to beat out the urge to wander from room to room investigating them as carefully as he could. The sound of the party continuing was drowned out as he went into detective mode. Looking for a kink in the lockdown, a hidden doorway that you need to pull some sorta secret lever for, or even a picture that seemed to move as it watched you. Anything that could give him an answer or at least an idea of whom this Regent of the Night gal was, well besides the obvious fact that she appeared powerful enough get them all in here like rats on a very slowly sinking ship.

Not sure what room he was in when he decided to stop searching and decided that there was in fact really nothing he could do but to wait until the hostess showed up, Chili let out a slightly bored huff as he removed the pack off his shoulder so he could lean against the wall he was near. It was slightly aggravating, he had spent most of his life training, traveling, and fighting. Parties were down on the list of things he never really attended they were a nice change of pace he would admit. Though to someone who may have what bordered on being an addiction to adventure, danger, and violence they seemed to get a little dull. Boredom set in and along with the mystery looming over his head now, Chili began to get a little antsy with anticipation for something to happen or do. So he chose to open his pack with a silent zip noise and took out the notebook that his pencil was hooked to. Flipping to an unused blank page, Chili let the flame above his head which he had dimmed to the point of invisibility appear to give him a little light in the shadows of the room. He dated it and began to write down the day's events making sure to take notes on everything that seemed important, completely drifting into his own thoughts as he sketched the appearance of the entire place down to the small details of the candlesticks trying to simply keep himself busy as he waited for something happen.

Word Count: 747
Total Word Count: 1794
Tickets: 3

Chili almost cursed when the lights went out completely, well all of them except for the bright as heck flame that was hanging in front of his face. Though it was more of the loud crash and screams that came from close to the center of the room that caught his attention as it seemed to get even darker somehow. Despite having a torch for a head Chili could barely make out anything in front of him. Swiftly securing his notebook and pencil into his pack before flinging it over his shoulder. He remained still as he quickly guessed what the load crash and screams were. The chandelier must have fallen on someone the attendees, though he was quickly taken from his thoughts when a voice spoke up. Sounding like a bold whisper behind him, Chili relaxed slightly as he listened carefully to what the Regent said. He was slightly concerned by the fact that she seemed to want to merge creepy wonderland world with the real one however as she finished explaining the task she had for him and the other mages here, Chili couldn't help but to nod his head and whisper softly in a sarcastic tone to the darkness, "As long as you keep your word I don't really care if you wanted me to collect you different parts of the skeletal system."
Though his comment went unheard by anyone else, he couldn't help to cough a little as his flame seemed to almost be enveloped by the murky like shadow fog as it seemed to be trying its best to stump it out.
Hearing the whispering continue from behind him, Chili smiled as he felt a small piece of candy appear in his pocket. So she was giving them a gift to help in the job she was sending them all on. She definitely was good at sending off different signals. First, crush a bunch of people with a large light fixture then give the remaining ones candy and send them on their way to go fight monsters. It all seemed ludicrous to him almost though as the darkness seemed to lift and the doors opened Chili was just happy to finally see that the night was going somewhere. Even if all hell broke loose he'd be fine all he needed to do was keep the smart ass smile he had on his face as he walked out of the building and into the World of Eternal Darkness.

Word Count: 400
Total Word Count: 2193
Tickets: 4

Adalia started walking around some, looking for some people that might interest her, and while there were certainly very...  peculiar looking people, they either didn't look like they'd be interesting or looked too interesting, which would draw attention to them naturally, which, by extension, her, because she'd be interacting with them in some way or another.  Just as she found the first person that gave her even remote interest, however, the unexpected that she was expecting had happened - a loud crash occurred and darkness had now filled the room, a darkness so deep it felt almost as though it was trying to choke Adalia.  If she had to guess, the chandelier had fallen, which was later proven accurate because of what the feminine voice that soon after said.  Fortunately, she was never near the area where it actually fell, so she was completely safe from it.  She used her Blood vision to scan around the area where it had fallen; while she couldn't see the chandelier itself, she did see red, mangled body shaped figures, which would perfectly describe a victim.

This really wasn't a simple party as the letter made itself out to be.  Just before the lights went back on, she felt a presence right next to her that she couldn't see, even through her Blood vision, and wildly threw her arms out in order to try to strike it, to no avail.  When the lights were on, it was as though nothing had ever happened, except, now, the doors leading out of the gala were now open.  A candy mysteriously appeared in the air and fell into Adalia's hand; she quickly looked around and saw everyone else get one, too.  She didn't trust the voice she heard one bit, and so, decided it'd be best to stow away the candy for later, and so put it in her pocket.  There were a lot of questions forming in her mind, all of which wouldn't be answered anytime soon.  All Adalia knew is that she wasn't sure about aiding this...  creature, in bringing about "The Night of Eternal Darkness" as she put it.  All of this just reeked a very, very bad time.

Yet, there was nothing she could do.  Her power was so insignificant in the face of this being that she had almost no choice but to comply if she would ever want to get out of this realm of darkness; the consequences don't sound appealing in the slightest.  Adalia doubted that even the strongest mages among the crowd, whoever they may be, also can't really change the circumstances, and they too would have to play the little game this creature set out for them.  She was smart enough to bring her rifle and sword with her from the get-go, mostly because there was no place for her to store them in.  Her rifle was always strapped to her back, and she wore the sheathe of the sword on her left side; she brought the rifle to her hands, and slowly set out into the darkness.

OOC:
Words this post - 509
1033 words total
2 tickets
Obtained the Candy of the Night, hasn't consumed yet.

Development, progress. The night was continuing, but where in some ways it was advancing smoothly in other ways it was standing still. People were talking, interacting, communicating, yet the most important information wasn't shared, because none of the participants had it. They didn't panic, oddly enough, instead continuing to act as before. They weren't wary, oddly enough, instead continuing to act as before. It was strange to see how people reacted to different situations. Where one might think that being trapped would immediately lead to panic and worry, seeing it happen here, in such a comfortable location, you saw how many only spared the fact little focus, as they were more busy with business more personal to them. Was it overconfidence? Was it the ability to accept what could not be changed? Was it because that what was more personal attracted their attention more? People were interesting phenomena, in some ways more interesting than magic. All creatures had a certain amount of unpredictability to them, some more, some less, but people, creatures who had become sentient enough to partake in civilization, were by far the hardest to read, because that same sentience came with an immense amount of complication. It was both frustrating and intriguing, and if the observer wasn't more interested in magic and what it could give them they might have decided to study people instead... At least, more than the observer already did, for the sake of survival and success.

However it then seemed that the time for waiting was up, as everything went dark. The first time it had merely been a threat, intimidation, the candles flickering and waving but not dying. This time it was full darkness, a situation in which the observer was most comfortable but most others wouldn't. Most others were creatures of the world of light, who reached out towards the sun and who revelled in vibrant colours. The observer wasn't such, ever since she had learned that for her the shadows and the darkness were more accommodating. However even in this comfortable darkness the observer knew that something was not right, and their worries were realized when they could sense movement. The chandelier was falling from high above, straight down towards mages were gathered. The observer didn't care for the value of their lives, but until she knew what was going on, and what would be the best way to deal with it, they were better off alive, both for their own sake and for the observer's.

The chandelier refused to budge, which was unfortunate. Heavy as it was if it wasn't guarded against interference keeping it from hitting anyone would have been easy. As it was, however, the observer would have to strain herself. This would have been cause for her to reconsider, but the host had been so kind as to give her a near limitless supply of nourishment with which to recover should she decide to use a lot of energy at once. And most fortunately not everyone should need saving: there were capable people here, people who'd get out of the way in time of their own volition, who would help others get away. Still, since there was so much food available she could afford to go into excess with her interference...

---

Those standing underneath the chandelier and who weren't already getting out of the way would feel themselves pulled, pushed, dragged aside by an invisible force in the darkness. Whatever it was that had grabbed them it seemed to grab their entire body at once and yank it away from the centre of the ballroom, away from what would quickly turn into a miniature disaster zone. Not everyone was pulled at the same time, but whatever force was at work here it was working quickly, trying to drag as many people away from the certain death zone as it could. Those that it did grab wouldn't necessarily be pulled out of the area where they'd still get hit by the collateral damage, but at the very least they shouldn't get killed.

Jiyu, on the other hand, got special treatment as instead of being pulled, dragged or yanked she was swallowed up in the darkness, only to reappear in one of the unused corners of the ballroom. The observer was aware that Jiyu was more frail than most, so she couldn't afford to risk inflicting severe damage to her and had to use a more intensive trick to get her to safety. And she had to be moved further than the others, since even being hit by shrapnel could still inflict large amounts of damage. Luckily the observer's little servant was also present, which did make matters a lot easier as the observer could leave Jiyu's safety to the servant while she continued to move everyone aside that she could move before the chandelier hit the ground.

Once the chandelier did crash into the floor the observer covered Jiyu with a large, scaled wing, to prevent any shrapnel from hitting her. They were out at the edges of the room, but the observer would rather not leave it up to chance. Once the disaster had run its course the observer finally materialized fully, Akeya standing next to Jiyu as she glared at the location of the chandelier. She wasn't able to save everyone, but she hoped that it would be enough that those who remained would be able to help her deal with the situation.

"You are all more use alive than dead." Was the only thing she said to Jiyu before their hostess appeared, demanding Akeya's attention as the explanation for tonight was given. It was an interesting ambition that the Regent of the Night had, and honestly if it was up to Akeya she wouldn't even have minded complying. She herself was a Shadow Dragon after all, a creature of shadow and darkness, so mixing this dark world with Earthland wouldn't even be an issue for her. It would cause trouble for others, however, and Akeya might need them in the future... That, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to live with this Regent in full control. For now she'd go along with this challenge of gathering candy for the Regen of the Night, but she'd have to see if she could find a way to sabotage it and still return to Earthland safely. Of all the people here she might survive the best in this dark world, since for her the darkness was comfort (she was even munching on some of the darkness to recover from grabbing and pulling so many people from the darkness as she listened to the Regent), but she still would rather not deal with the issues of the slumber that was promised as part of the punishment.

"Best to do this as quickly as possible." Akeya looked towards Jiyu after their hostess had departed and the candles were lit again. "Right now we're basically hostages or prisoners, and if we're in her world we don't have much choice but to do as she wishes. If I were you I'd gather your friends and work together to gather enough candy. The more of you survive the more beneficial it'll be." Akeya herself was planning to go off by herself, since in a world of darkness she would be in her element, especially with the candy that was given to her in case things did go south.

A brief glance back at Aiyana during her time changing? She felt like something wasn't quite right, but it was not because she had picked up on the other female's true intents or thoughts. Instead, the female remembered a time when she would have been more playful about the whole thing, less embarrassed. heck, Kazehime could remember a time when she wouldn't have asked for help covering herself until she could fix the problem, where she would crawl under a tablecloth and fix thing's beneath the table before she would ask for help. Had she changed that much from those three years? Really shifted so far from who she originally was, just because she finally experienced being used the way she once had used others? No those men had used her more than she had ever used anyone else in this world, that couldn't be why she had seemed to change.

Distraction entirely took over her head as she considered this hovering beside her childhood friend and rest of their current party. At the moment? Jiyu looked incredibly thoughtful, which was rare for her since she rarely seemed to actually think, even if she was good at some forms of strategy due to all the games she played. "Hmm, I heard about places who sold a claim that their product could affect those not normally inflicted, but I never verified any of it back then I was fourteen and running in a different circle from those claiming it." so basically she knew nothing, and since she wasn't thinking in the moment she let slip the fact she had run in the same circle's as some pretty hefty scum bags when she was younger. If she had been thinking? Jiyu would have never said it while standing beside Astrid, Mikka never wanted her friend to know all that had happened to her after she ran away! The Golden Pheonix master didn't need to know about those sorts of things. "Yeah, I say she probably did a bit much, or whatever she got her hands on is some damn good shit, I can barely see her eyes past the bloodshot." her face took on a honey-laced smile, a giggle emitting as she held a curled hand to her mouth.

The statements before those two made it easy to think she had been playing on Erika's state instead of asking for some, but her request of wanting to meet the other girls 'friends' likely took a new light for anyone who had heard her comments. Right now she was so stuck thinking of her past, everything started fading out, not even hearing Shea and Desiree with their drinking, nor their talking of gossip. She did, however, realize Kiru may have assumed Erika was on pot, and Jiyu had never seen pot that could do what Erika was experiencing, at least not without enough of it to also make someone a couch potato and Erika was quite active. However, it wasn't important what the other mage was on right now, Jiyu just wanted some, because then she would not have to think about how much spending three years in darkness had changed her. When Kiru glared? Jiyu jumped softly, a clear sign she had not overcome her fear but instead there was another presence allowing her to remain composed for now. When had she started taking strength from those around her rather than herself?

The light's went out and Jiyu screamed the second they did, however, it was no simple scream, no that would not be embarrassing. A high ranking mage squealed like a little kid, like some animal being hit with an electric shock and it went on for several moments. When she stopped screaming like a banshee? Jiyu hit her knee's, blood leaking from the wound's her sudden impact with the ground caused, arms wrapping around herself as she gave that madden laugh one gives when they can't believe what's happening around them. "No, No, No, No.." it was on repeat in her extremely softened frightened voice, the girl's entire body shaking beyond her control, tears slowly starting to leak from her face. When the darkness rose higher the wind user shrieked again, ducking her head to the ground, pressing her tail between her legs. In another few seconds? She would be the fetal position or on her back like a submissive dog, the fear in her becoming so intense she couldn't even sense her own presence, the only thing she could sense was her own fear.  

Akeya was saving her and Jiyu would realize this later, notice she had been in the kill zone, the second half of her frightening ordeal actually being the half-dragon saving this current body. Curled into herself she only felt the presence of the other girl's wing, jumped at the loud sound it protected her from, pressing herself against the wall of the unused corner she'd been taken too, tears streaming down her face from wide terrified eyes. Most people closed their eyes to fear, but that would make hers worse she was looking for any sign of light in the room, any shine to attach herself too, even if it was a flame. She couldn't be trapped in darkness again, the bad thing's happened in the dark, very bad thing's, and she couldn't go through that again!

"A..A..Akeya?" the light's came back on and Jiyu had not heard anything their host said over her own fear. However, from everyone's comments, she could get the gist of thing's, shakily getting to her feet and struggling to get her own breathing under control. In spite of the power she wielded, she still had fears and tonight seemed to like stepping on them. "I.. I can do that." but she couldn't even seem to levitate at the moment, images flashing behind her eyes as she tried to pull herself back to the present. "I just need a few moments." came her awkward laugh.

8356

Before Sol could even give an answer to the cybernetic woman the lights in the hall went out as the woman known as the regent of the night finally revealed herself and even to Sols keen eyes he saw nothing untill the woman in the Victorian dress showed up, she wanted candies from the sprites outside in the land that was clearly not earthland like she said. She told them that to gain the candies that she wanted would earn them a reward or a wish of their choosing if it was in her power . As he felt the candie mentioned by her appear in his pocket as he bowed to both grema and Itori.” I’m sorry ladies but I should go get what the lady wants after all I don’t wanna be stuck here” he chuckled before he pulled out a small card and passed it to Grema.” Feel free to contact me and set up a meeting I can give your magpies a tune up when needed and I can bounce ideas off of you and you off of me” he said before he stretched and headed towards the doors.”I fear no creature and no darkness I’ll have this done no problem”" he stated as the shadows started to swirl around him and seemed to shift his clothes to his normal ones for the mission at hand, a simple pair of black pants and a Chinese shirt.

As he approached the doors he saw Desiree and he smirked at her.”gotten a lot of sleep lately? You never know whats lurking in the shadows under your bed” he stated with a wolfish grin before he reached the doors and he pulled his fist back before with one strike he knocked both doors open and leapt out into the eternal darkness that was outside the building. Once he was out he quickly unfurled his wings from his back and allowed his arms and legs to gain pitch black scales and deadly claws as his ruby red eyes scanned the bizarre darkness to find the candies that the regent wanted. It wasent long before the poison shadow dragons nose caught the sweet scent that he knew meant that sweets were nearby and he headed off in that direction to find them. It wasent long before he found the source of the scent but he also knew he was not alone as he spotted three faires who appeared out of the woodwork and confronted him and looked very unhappy.”Leave this place human our candy is not meant for any of your race” one of them said as Sol suddenly grinned and revealed all of his razor sharp fangs.”Good because im not human and I’ll gladly crush your bodies to paste to get the candies I need” he said before he suddenly hunched over and he released an animalistic growl before his body started to grow as his clothes seemed to rip off him.

Scales grew all over the slayers body as he kept growing and he growled again loudly before he roared at the three fairies. One of them shot a large sphere of condensed essence of the night at the dragon but he only released an angry snarl at them before he swept his arm out and knocked all three fairies into one of the trees nearby and before they could even try to react or harm him the dragon quickly slammed his hand down and crushed all three of them violently in one motion. With one more smack for good measure the dragon quickly flicked his right hand to get any entrails off of him before he turned his attention back to the candies and he quickly grabbed a remenant his shirt and turned it into a sack before he started to pile as many candies as he could into the bag.

However the slayer was not alone again as he heard croaking and from the shadows emerged some nasty looking toads that wanted the candy that the fairies had made and that he was collecting. From what Sol could tell there were about 6 toads and they were looking at him with hunger in their eyes before suddenly one lunged at him with the intent to devour some of the candy, the dragon snatched the toad of out of the sky harshly and quickly proceeded to slam it down into another toad twice before the beast was a mangled mess in his hand and he was then slammed into by another toad and he growled before his claws shot forward and impaled the creature before he spread it fingers and caused the creature to break apart with a scream of pain. The remaining three were still hungry but now scared and when another tried to jump at the dragon the slayer responded by swatting the pest from the sky with his tail before slamming his tail down on it again and crushing it.”now for you two” he snarled loudly before he lunged forward with a loud roar that would be heard all the way in the hall and grabbed the two remaining toads before he slammed them into each other twice in rapid succession and he growled before noticing they were finally dead and he shook his hands hard to get rid of the gore on them.

With no more enemys lurking the dragon sighed before he started to shrink and reverted back to his human form and oddly enough he was back in his suit with no blood on his person. He grabbed the makeshift bag that was full of the candies and he made his trek back to the room, it took a little while but he managed to make it back in one piece and with no danger as well and he walked back into the hall with a grin on his face before he spoke to the regent if she was still here."I got your candies my lady I hope I obtained enough to gain your favor and perhaps my wish” he said as he held his bag and waited to be addressed. He looked fine but the slayer had some nice bruises and internal injuries from the toads and fairies and while they were quickly healing they still hurt something fierce.

mission wc 1054 words

total wc 4568

total tickets 9 if the mission wc is included if not then 7 still

spells:

Shea listens to the fellow singer gossip and chat with a sly smile. “Oh my, romance in Black Rose? Please darling don’t be a tease, do tell.” The blue-haired woman says, sharp eyes filled with curiosity as she takes another sip of her wine. “It wouldn’t happen to be my dear friend Grema would it? Have you met her? She’s in Black Rose as well, you’ve probably at least noticed her, she’s over there in the corner doing who knows what. She’s really a nice woman, just needs a few friends and reasons to socialize.” The half-elf chats absentmindedly. “Or maybe not? Oh my there is so many options in your guild I cannot even begin to guess can I? Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to live with the curiosity practically eating away at me dear.” Was the dramatic finish, forlorn sigh and back of hand against her forehead and all. Then a small laugh to show she was joking before continuing to listen to Desiree.

Jokes were gone in the next moment when the area was filled with such deep darkness that not even Shea’s holy lance’s light could be seen in. Shea’s muscles tensed, then her eye’s and senses sharpened as she prepared for an attack of some sort. Her swinging out her arm to grab onto the panicking Desiree was not needed as the girl latched herself around Shea’s waist to the dragoons relief.

There was no time for her to reassure the idol as the floor below them began to make ominous noises. Shea’s senses were better in the dark, but with how oppressive and magical this one was she could not get her senses through it. The goddess Luna also gave her a weapon to cleave through darkness, but that only depended on how strong Shea was. This darkness was much more powerful than she was. So all Shea could do was pull out her fully sized lance and grip Desiree, preparing to jump out of the way of the slightest provocation towards them.

It wasent needed as the chandelier feel far away enough that the half-elf knew it would be able to harm them, but not close enough to save people. As soon as the lights come back on Shea’s expression grew even graver as she looked over the dead and soon to be dead. It took a good amount of willpower and reasoning to not run over and sing a song, since she knew no magic in her arsenal could heal such wounds. This Night Regent would pay.

Shea listened in grim silence along with her companion. “Necromancy.” She mutters under her breath. It may be useless. She may have to kill those ‘brought back to life’ anyways. Most of all, it was all to bring about that evil woman’s agenda. Shea did not like this at all. The half-elf listened to the enraged white haired look with an unreadable look on her face, gripping the candy that appeared in her hand. But it would be worse not to play into this ‘queens’ hands at the moment, since she had far more control over this world than any of them did. Decision made, Shea’s face warped into the easy-going smile she was known for, completely unaffected by Desiree’s outburst. “Yes, that would probably be for the best. Probably better than staying here anyways.” The half-elf says in a whimsical manner as she was pulled along through the door. “But let’s be careful, shall we?” She ends as they are sucked into the abyss.

WC: 592
Total: 2236
Tickets: 4

Leila had, surprisingly, left the group in a hurry, stating that someone had to figure out a way out of this place slash trouble that they had been dragged into. It was fair enough, because Mura himself was a tad worried about this night regent’s intentions. Was this just for fun, or did something more personal get into play? Even if the regent had something in mind, would it be something alike a game or activity? It was, despite the tense atmosphere, still a Halloween party, so maybe this was but a hunch, but something felt not so alright with this place. His eyes began moving around to try and locate windows, but they were all affected by this new black fog that covered all view. I really hope that it’s all just for the Halloween spirit…, he thought in silence.

Another figure had made it to the group, wearing quite the fancy Halloween getup. However, Mura noticed her aura at first, and given by her appearance too, on top of Jiyu’s familiarity with this woman, she was… a fox? Wait, no, she seemed to have nine tails, but… did that make her like Eris from his guild? He couldn’t but look ever so confused at the lady, until he managed to cast away the confusion and exaggerating curiosity. Along with her, a fair share of other people had made their presences in the gala, but everything suddenly turned its focus at the stage as the lights flickered, soon to turn off completely. His ears caught the sound of a falling object that crashed on the floor, combined with screams from different people. “What the hell-“ he spoke up, instinctively holding up his hands to make sure that Izayuki was still up there. He knew very well that it would take like ten elephants… or ten cities to take her down, but he was obligated to worry about those around him. Very small shrapnel had been flown off from the crash, and a good amount of them had, unnoticed by the shaman himself, cut their way onto the back of his new tuxedo, causing small injuries on his clothes. He slowly turned his head around, but before he could even take a look to see what had hit him, a gloomy voice made its way across his ears. He turned his head around a few times to locate its source, but due to the dark fog that settled along with the lack of light, no specific person was spotted as the source of words. She greeted them all, and that was the first time that they heard the actual host’s voice, a woman.

After listening to her words, it seemed as if they were left with only one option as a piece of candy had been laid onto his grasp. People had suffered from the chandelier, and to his surprise, some of them had even gotten killed beneath it. His eyes widened by that fact, but he began thinking about the regent’s words. Was she able to bring life to the dead? If her words were sincere, then all that he had to do was to find these candies that she required to fulfil her task. And even though this ‘Night of Eternal Darkness’ sounded a bit too hostile, what about the others’ opinions? Surprisingly, another silhouette had made its presence right beside Jiyu as the shaman moved his gaze towards her location, quickly catching her words. “… Alright, then,” he replied and moved his eyes up to his little hat, “What do you say, goddess? Shall we work together..?” Either way, he would be making his way to the entrance where he spotted Leila again, surprisingly asking: “Okay… this is a tad ridiculous, but I guess it’s critical. Also… what happened with your arm?”

Total WC: 5076

Tickets: 10

@Hat-chan

Itori was glad that Sol accepted her declination without any complaint. She genuinely wouldn't have minded dancing with him if it wasn't for the situation, and for the fact that she was already in conversation with Grema at the time of his arrival. She would've felt guilty if he had been hurt by her rejection, so it was good to see that he took it in stride and accepted that now may not be the best time for it. "Understood. It would be pleasant to catch up." When Sol explained that he had undergone full dragonfication, his nature changing from human to demon and eventually dragon, Itori wasn't sure what to say as she instead stared at those sharp teeth of his with surprise. She had been aware that Sol wasn't your average human mage, but she hadn't been aware that he had done something like that. And she wasn't sure if she approved of it either. Dragons were strong, yes, and they had many more good qualities than many a human would like to admit, but in the end they still tended to universally share the flaws of arrogance and cold-bloodedness. Whether Sol would be able to retain the warmth of a human while possessing the nature of a dragon was something she couldn't say with confidence, especially since while she was actually aware of the nature of Dragon Slayers it was still rare to encounter one who successfully completed the dragonfication process and still mingled with the humans. The ones that Itori had encountered in her long life had a distinct urge to go claim their own territory as all dragons do, preferably somewhere where humans wouldn't bother them overmuch.

"So I see. I would guess that the amount of power possessed by the dragons would be quite the exhilarating sensation for anyone who wasn't born a dragon or a god. Although I must express sincere relief that you have abandoned the nature of a demon." Itori's expression grew a bit more grim, as the topic of demons brought a sour taste to her mouth. Of all the creatures to exist she didn't think there were many which were as undesirable as demons, especially for a spirit creature like Itori herself. Those who predominantly lived in the physical realm already had enough issues with them, but for Itori it was even worse since she was keenly aware of what happened to souls which were captured by demons. It wasn't a pretty sight by any means, neither the procedure or the results of it. Itori was not above using souls herself if necessary, but she always kept the core pure and whole, so it could safely ascend to the afterlife. Demons, however, didn't care for the value of the immortal soul, at least not beyond how it could be of use to them personally, both as a source of power and as a form of entertainment. The weaker a grasp demons had on this realm, the better it would be for everyone. "As enticing as the power of demons may be, I can assure you that it's better for both your own health and that of everyone else that you took the power of dragons instead. That power, at least, is only coloured by how it is used." Some might call it unfair to decide a source of power tainted by its very nature, claiming that the same thing Itori said about the dragon's power, namely that it was only as good or evil depending on how it was used, applied to everyone. However Itori was of the strong conviction that she knew better: demons were born from evil, cruelty, negativity. Their power was directly derived from suffering and corruption, and that power itself would spread more suffering and corruption to keep growing. It would even consume those who used it. A type of power which would expand itself in that manner was inherently evil, even if those who wanted to be more reasonable opposed Itori in that belief.

As for Sol preferring to keep his affiliation hidden... Well, it wasn't Itori's business to pry. She was aware that despite her claim that Sol was a good person he wasn't solidly on the legal side of Fiore, and that he was also capable of doing things much more questionable. She wasn't so naive as to think he was some kind of saint that everyone should look up to. However she did still believe that he was someone who stuck to his own sense of honour, and even if he would questionable things to achieve what he want she didn't think he would do something to harm others unless it was of actual benefit to him. It wasn't the best definition of good, but Itori would still say that as long as Sol kept his murkier deeds to those which actually had acceptable motivations she could consider him a good person, especially with morality being as murky as it is. There was no such thing as pure good or pure evil, since that would imply that there was some objective quality that you could attain if you just tried hard enough. You had to judge people according to what mattered to you, and while Itori preferred it if people were willing to risk themselves to save others she could accept someone who did have selfish motives, but at least didn't inflict harm on others unless it actually served a purpose. The quickest way to actually become evil was to treat the lives of others as completely worthless, free to be used for personal amusement or to be extinguished if they so much as annoyed you. Sol wasn't like that so far as Itori was aware, so she accepted his words only with a smile and a nod. "As you say. Although I doubt anyone would want to risk causing a scene here, if only because the hostess might not look kindly upon those who steal the spotlight." That last part was meant as a joke, although Itori was honestly curious how the Regent of the Night would react if her guests began attacking one another. Not curious enough to find out herself, but it was something to consider. The personality of the Regent was actually quite important knowledge, since it would help give insight on what she might want and how to deal with her once she arrived.

It looked like introducing Sol and Grema was a good idea, as the two shared interest in a topic which turned out to be the exact topic one should use to catch the girl's attention. It was rather unfortunate it was a topic which Itori knew so little of, although that was with good reason: Itori was knowledgeable about many things, but her knowledge came from a very long life, where she could visit and learn from a great many people and take their knowledge in the future after time had already claimed them. While that meant she had the opportunity to gain a much broader field of understanding than those with a limited lifespan it didn't mean that at any single point in time she was actually being a fervent researcher. In the same five years that Itori learned one thing someone with more motivation could learn several things: Itori's large library of knowledge was based off of age, not enthusiasm (although she did have SOME enthusiasm, at least for certain subjects). Which meant that something like magitech, which actually was a very recent development (from Itori's perspective, at least) was outside Itori's scope of understanding. She had been fortunate enough to meet several people in her long life who had been ahead of their time in development, knowledge which had been lost to everyone to Itori, who didn't share it with the rest of the world because she thought it better if she was a traveller, someone who observed and who didn't drag the world into a new age with lost knowledge. At least not unless it became necessary for things to not become unacceptable. But magitech was still new, so Itori had little choice but to just listen to Sol and Grema as the two talked about the subject.

The idea that it could be used to replace missing limbs, however, was quite interesting. Itori herself would use other means to restore herself, but she was aware that not everyone had access to the same techniques as she did, so it made sense that they would look for other ways to undo the price of misfortune. When Grema showed the replaced body parts Itori studied them with respectful curiosity, not wanting to get too close in fear of crowding the girl but still looking visibly interested as she watched how the metal and the magic did its work, substituting blood, bone and nerves as well as several of the more interesting mechanisms inside a living human body. It was truly a fascinating sight, although the sounds that Itori was hearing from Grema made her frown a little. Fantastic as it was she had the feeling that the human body wasn't exactly made for this kind of extensive substitution of body parts. Grema didn't look like she was unhealthy, but... Itori had a hard time explaining it in detail, but the feeling that she herself would rather refrain from using magitech body parts only became stronger. She would ask Grema what the drawbacks were of such a body, but with how enthusiastic the girl was the Kitsune preferred to just show curiosity and interest as to not spoil her opportunity to show off.

And it seemed like magitech really was different from pure magic, as Grema herself explained that she had some severe difficulties figuring out what was going on with this place they could not escape from, as whatever method was used to keep them locked in wasn't supported by magitech. It seemed that turning magic into physical components did change the way it worked drastically, which wasn't too surprising but was somewhat unfortunate. If understanding of magitech also granted understanding of magic the reverse would also have been true, and Itori would have had an easier time learning of this type of technology. More pressingly, it meant that Grema's tools, impressive as they were, weren't actually going to reveal the truth of this place, which meant that they were still forced to wait until the Regent appeared and they could get information straight from the hostess, an idea that Itori would rather have avoided. However it was as it was, and if Grema's intensive study into the field of magitech meant that she wasn't as well-versed in the mystique of pure magic that was just something they would have to accept and deal with. At least it did confirm that there was no magitech involved, which could be considered useful knowledge on its own.

"Any information is of more benefit to us than having no information at all. If there is no magitech involved in this place it increases the likelihood that there were no humans involved in the creation either, which in turn increases the likelihood of it being a creature from another realm." She looked at the information displayed on the hologram Grema was holding up, studying it with some curiosity before deciding that it was better to focus on Grema herself. There was information on there, but with the amount and the way that it was written down it would have taken time for Itori to go through it all, and as it was they couldn't afford to spend too much time decoding and deciphering. When Grema used Itori's explanation of the magic on the letter to support the idea that this wasn't an alternate dimension, just a place with many magical layers to separate it from the rest of Earthland, Itori shook her head, although she waited for Grema to finish talking before she replied. "While I am confident in my assessment honesty compels me to say that while my theory of the workings of the letter is amongst the most likely, I could still have made an incorrect assessment. The more I think about it the more I believe what we are dealing with was caused by a creature of another place or realm, which means that it is difficult to correctly determine what methods they might use. However if I had to place a guess on whether we are trapped inside another realm or inside a complex trap of magic, I believe there is some more merit in this being another realm entirely. For the reason that some of the people trapped here are quite powerful, and possess impressive skills." She indicated some of the more powerful mages in the room, including Izayuki and Ardere. "Regardless of which possibility we are dealing with the Regent must be a powerful entity, but that doesn't mean there wouldn't still be limits to what she can achieve, and the wise would still try to use the more efficient method instead of relying on raw force. If this was a trap consisting of magic and magic alone this many mages could still have a fair chance of finding a way to subvert the trap, since anything that magic creates can also be undone by magic." At least, the vast majority. "In contrast, the only thing needed to trap us if our cage is located inside another realm is a moment's negligence and a hidden portal. Portals themselves are difficult to create, but even so if the Regent could lure us through a portal into a different realm she wouldn't have to rely on her magic being stronger than that of all of us here combined. The moment we would step into her realm escape would become significantly more difficult and it would cost her a lot less than the alternative, to use many layers of magic to separate us from the rest of our own world."

At that point the conversation had to be interrupted suddenly, however, as at that point the entire ballroom went dark, which immediately set Itori's senses on sharp. While she was capable of seeing just fine when there was little light she wasn't blessed with the ability to see if there was no light at all, since that was outside of the realm of sharp senses, instead being an ability belonging to those who were attuned with the darkness, or those who used magic to surpass their physical limitations. On the other hand darkness was no barrier to sound, so Itori's sharp ears, which for her were even more vital sources of information than her ears, were still as effective as always. She could hear confusion, mild panic, a stronger panic from one or two people, fear... It seemed like while most people had been capable of remaining calm and enjoying one another's company while waiting for the Regent to arrive, the darkness made it impossible for the people in the ballroom to remain unaffected. Itori hoped that the darkness wouldn't result in people getting in one another's way: this night was already tricky enough to navigate through without people stampeding all across over one another in the darkness.

But there were more pressing matters, as Itori caught a soft sound from high above, followed by the sound of rushing air. The chandelier. Nothing else of that size had been that high up, so that was the only explanation... and there was nothing Itori could do about it. Itori was capable of many things, as long as they were based off of skill and cunning rather than raw power. But the truth of the matter was that Itori wasn't like those powerful mages, who could affect the entire ballroom with their magics if they so desired (although it seemed like this ballroom specifically was protected against interference, anyway). She could predict how the chandelier would fall down onto the people mingling in the middle of the room, and she knew that even if they were powerful mages that kind of brute physical violence could still inflict severe damage, possibly kill a good portion of them. And she couldn't really do a lot to stop it. Well, she could do exactly one thing, but she doubted that it would do them much good. "Get away from the middle of the room!" Her voice resounded throughout the entire ballroom, Itori for once not suppressing her siren's voice so everyone who heard it would get the very strong urge to do as the voice said, and move away from the middle of the ballroom as quickly as possible. Itori herself doubted it would be enough, but it was better than nothing... although she knew from experience that some would resist her influence, and while they would still feel the compulsion she couldn't force them to obey, not with a single sentence no matter how enchanting her voice might be. She wasn't the Regent, even if she had been blessed with the siren's song she still couldn't control entire crowds of powerful mages like it was nothing.

Then the chandelier landed, and Itori could hear the unpleasant sound of bones cracking, skin tearing, flesh ripping and bursting, and blood falling out to land onto the floor and taint it a dark red as people were crushed underneath the heavy chandelier. Itori would've liked to close her ears so she didn't have to listen, but she had never been capable of turning off her sharp hearing, and even if she could turning herself deaf might cause her to miss something. For now she'd just give a prayer to the souls of those unfortunate enough to have been caught by the chandelier, and hope that she'd be able to save as many of them as she could once the dust had settled and she deemed it safe to approach the middle of the ballroom again. It was fortunate that she, Grema and Sol had been in one of the corners of the room, so they were by and large unaffected beyond the emotional and psychological effects of hearing a bunch of people get smashed by a chandelier as if a god had decided to slam its fist down.

The Regent of the Night appeared, and it quickly became clear that this wasn't going to be an easy task, to survive this night and get back to Earthland safely. Even worse, they would have to find a way to deal with the Regent's plan: Itori wasn't entirely sure what she meant with the Night of Eternal Darkness, but she was quite sure that neither she nor the other people of Earthland would appreciate it. Especially since it had already been made clear that the creatures moving about outside of the ballroom weren't of the friendly sort, so if the Regent succeeded that meant those creatures would be unleashed upon their world. Not a pleasant prospect, but as it was Itori couldn't really think of a way to stop it. They could all, collectively, refuse to cooperate: for some reason the Regent wanted their aid in gathering the Candy, which indicated that somehow she simultaneously wasn't all powerful in this realm yet those very creatures who she herself couldn't be bothered to hunt were still not so strong that the mages in the ballroom couldn't deal with them.

Actually, the more Itori thought about that part the more questionable it became: why would the Regent need her help? The materials she needed were from her own World of Eternal Darkness, so why would she need outsiders to gather them? What were the limitations on the Regent's abilities? Was it a test? Did it have something to do with her actual plan? A lot of questions which arrived all at the same time, but Itori wasn't sure whether she'd be able to find all the answers that she wanted. One thing was certain though: the plan of everyone refusing to cooperate with the Regent was too optimistic, since there were going to be people who valued their own lives too much, or who cared too much for someone else trapped in this world, or who figured they could take advantage of the situation. Convincing them all that they should potentially sacrifice themselves to protect the world of Earthland was unrealistic, even with Itori's enchanting voice to help her. Even if she reminded them that there was no reason that the Regent couldn't employ their aid and get rid of them afterwards anyway. How trustworthy was this Regent of the Night, anyway? Itori didn't know of her, she didn't know any stories which told her whether she was known to keep her world or if she just lured those who helped her into their untimely demise once they were no longer of use to her.

For now, though, it would be best if she tried to help those she could help, and if possible gather some of those candies so at least the Regent wouldn't come after her personally. She'd also help others find the candies if possible, but Itori wasn't quite so utterly selfless that she'd refuse to at least try to improve her own odds of survival as long as it didn't mean condemning others to a miserable end. With the darkness and the chandeliers having disappeared (along with the bodies of the fallen) Itori's expression remained grim, turning back towards Grema and Sol only to see that Sol was already departing to find the candies. She wasn't surprised: she knew that Sol wasn't the kind of person who would heroically defy the Regent, especially when he had no reason to believe that it would result in anything but his own demise. She didn't blame him, instead nodding and bowing towards him. "I wish you good luck in this world. I hope we can all return to Earthland safely." At least it looked like Sol wouldn't have an issue in this world: someone with the ability to use darkness would almost certainly thrive in this kind of situation. Grema, however...

Itori didn't know what Grema was capable of when it came to combat, but for now she herself had to focus on the more peaceful part of this entire scenario: healing. She turned towards the mechanical girl and bowed once more, a bit more deeply to help bring across the sincerity of the apology that accompanied the bow. "I fear I must attend to the wounded. If you wish to accompany I won't mind, but if you would rather prioritize gathering as many of those candies as possible I'll have to apologize. I'll head out after I've healed those who I can heal. I wish you good fortune, and that we both survive this night together with everyone else." Well, everyone who hadn't been crushed by the chandelier already. The Regent claimed that she could bring those back who had already died, as long as her demands were met. That made it obvious why she had killed them in the first place: she wanted hostages, wanted those in the ballroom to be desperate to appease her. Itori didn't doubt that she was capable of it, since in this world she could very well have the power to hold onto the souls of those who died, and if she had taken their bodies as well it could be as simple as her repairing the bodies and putting the souls back in. As difficult as it was in reality the process itself was actually relatively easy, so someone as powerful as the Regent of the Night might be able to pull it off.

Looking around the ballroom Itori spotted someone who looked like she could benefit from her healing abilities: the woman with white hair and ears similar to Itori's own, who was at the entrance of the now open gates. It looked like she was waiting for something, or simply was trying to deal with the fact that her hand was in a nasty state. It certainly looked very unpleasant, so Itori hastened over to Leila's side, smiling gently even as she showed plenty of concern for the woman. "My apologies for intruding, but I believe it would be better if I helped you with that hand before you went out. I understand the desire to quickly get away from this place, but our chances of survival would go up significantly if we prioritized care and caution over haste." She didn't want to sound chastising, but she did hope she could convince Leila to let her heal her hand before she'd go out into that dark world to hunt for those candies. "We do not know how strong the entities wandering outside are, after all. So, would you indulge me and allow me to take a look at your hand? I promise it won't take too long to restore it to a usable state." Itori might not be the strongest healer around, but she was still quite capable, especially if she had the time to focus on the wound.

Should Leila accept Itori's offer of healing the Kitsune would nod and gently take Leila's arm, holding it up so she could see the damage from up close. Holding one hand above the wound she'd concentrate, a spiritual energy spreading from her hand to cover Leila's, at which point Leila would feel a soothing sensation as Itori's magic shut off her sense of pain and replaced it with a more positive sensation so the Kitsune could repair the wound without leaving Leila screaming in agony. Healing wounds at high speed was actually quite the unpleasant experience, which was why practically every healing spell ever invented had that feel-good portion included so the patients didn't die from shock or leave traumatized. As the spirit energy suffused Leila's hand Itori also used her other hand to put the broken bones back in place, after which the bones would slowly begin to mend even as nerves regrew, veins reattached and flesh melded back together. It would take a minute or so for the healing process to complete, since Itori was being careful and thorough, but once the broken skin had been smoothed over and made whole once more Leila's hand would be back in a functional state, where as an added bonus it wouldn't leave her in agony either.

Should Leila refuse Itori's offer, however, the Kitsune would nod, accepting the girl's decision even if she herself wouldn't have chosen the same... unless Leila had reason to distrust Itori specifically. Should Leila have decided against being healed Itori would instead turn back towards the rest of the ballroom and say in a loud voice, not shouting but making sure she was being heard: "I can heal anyone who got hurt, so if you require the services of a healer please alert me. I can't heal everyone at the same time, so if there are any other healers present I'd ask of them to help out as well, but I'll do my best to help as many of you as possible. The more we work together the more likely we are to get out of this alive." Itori wasn't using her enchanting voice, instead suppressing it to its usual form where it was very pleasant to listen to but not supernaturally compelling. She did hope that people would listen though: she would hate to see lives lost because of a lack of proper communication and cooperation, and Itori was sure that working together was the key to success here. It usually was, honestly.

tl;dr: Itori is either a) healing Leila's arm/hand at the entrance, or b) waiting for people with wounds to alert her so she can heal them.

@Grema Fen
@Sol
@Leila Vergious

It looked like she had managed to get Jiyu to safety without any issues, which was good. Well, no big issues, at any rate: it looked like Jiyu had injured her knee in the process, which would have been surprising if it wasn't for Akeya knowing that Jiyu could get her knee injured by so much as being bumped into. She had to admit that sometimes she really wondered how the girl could even move about. Even if she used her wind magic to float rather than walk, wouldn't the force of the wind be enough to bruise her skin? Maybe because it was her own magic it didn't affect her as much, but even so Akeya had to wonder how Jiyu had managed to become strong enough a mage that in terms of raw magic power she exceeded Akeya herself. Granted, Akeya had always been the type to focus on skill and utility rather than raw power, but she was still a dragonkin, so her raw power wasn't something to sneeze at.

Well, that aside, the knee shouldn't be too much of an issue. It might have been if Jiyu needed it for moving about, but honestly once you got to the point of using flight as your main method of transportation legs became less and less important and kind of ended up being useless lumps of flesh and bones. Not that she wouldn't advise Jiyu to get herself a healer if possible, but at least it wasn't a very high priority, compared to all the other things that they would have to do. Which included: figuring out what the Regent of the Night exactly was, figuring out what the World of Eternal Darkness exactly was, figuring out what the Night of Eternal Darkness exactly was, and figuring out whether allowing the Regent of the Night to bring about the Night of Eternal Darkness would be a good or a bad thing for the people living in Earthland.

Of course the initial guess was that it wouldn't be a good thing, but Akeya preferred to be certain instead of relying on the instinctive feeling that darkness was evil. Granted, she herself could also be considered evil, but for Akeya darkness on itself wasn't evil or even detrimental. Her main objection at this point was really more that this Night of Eternal Darkness could cause too much trouble in Earthland for it to be worth everything being smothered in darkness. Earthland was, after all, a world which was more closely tied to the realm of light than the realm of darkness, and as interesting as it would be to snuff out the light and let darkness stake its claim, a world which originally belonged more to the light might not react too well to being taken over by the darkness instead. Akeya might not be bothered by the darkness, but Earthland itself could make her regret the Night of Eternal Darkness depending on what the Night exactly was and how it would interact with Earthland.

Also, there was the whole issue that she wasn't exactly fond of this Regent of the Night. She understood why she did what she did, and that it made sense considering her supposed objective, but she couldn't really bring herself to really like anyone who would cover an entire ballroom in darkness and then would prevent her making complete use of that darkness. Akeya had been able to use enough of the darkness to pull some people out of the way of the falling chandelier, but she had still been aware that the dark smog that had covered the room had been outside of her jurisdiction. Just like the rest of the ballroom seemed to be outside of the control of any of the mages in it. That did give some serious credence to this instead being an alternate realm, where the Regent had full control. Unfortunate as that was, as that still meant that at least for now Akeya would have to go along with the Regent's wishes and start gathering those candies. Although that did make her think of another reason to not be too eager about this Night of Eternal Darkness... It seemed the Regent was capable of producing darkness that Akeya couldn't control, at least not in any effective quantities. If the Night of the Eternal Darkness covered Earthland in darkness she couldn't control either... Akeya actually bared her fangs at that thought. It looked like she might have to find a way to get rid of this Regent just to make sure that potential future wouldn't happen. She could accept many things, but she wasn't going to let some upstart gothic girl cover Earthland in darkness and not allow her to make full use of that.

But this plan would require several steps. The first step was to make sure that everyone in the ballroom was ready to get to work. At least, those who weren't dead or so badly hurt they couldn't recover in time. Akeya had already done her best in that aspect, since she wasn't an orator and didn't want to be one. She had saved as many lives as she could, so as long as these people knew how to get the job done that should be enough that they could keep themselves alive. Their lives were of no real importance to Akeya, but their abilities might be of some use if they were capable of keeping themselves alive. Not a guarantee, and Akeya allowed herself to remain pessimistic, but at the very least she wasn't going to kill people at random just because she couldn't think of any use of them in the here and now. People who proclaimed themselves as uncaring of life but who then went to go and kill people at random always gave Akeya a fake feeling. If they really didn't care, why didn't they just do their own thing and left the lives of others alone unless those lives got in their way? If you really didn't care about the value of life you wouldn't kill at random, you'd just consider murder a valid option as long as it accomplished your actual objectives.

Next step was to take care of Jiyu. Akeya could have been called a sociopath for the way that her mind did not register of lives of others as important, where it not for one fact: she could still care about individuals, and she wasn't above feeling strong emotions (granted, most of the time she was cold as ice in the emotional department, but that more meant that her emotions were subdued than that she actually lacked them). Even love was something she could experience, although that wasn't what motivated her to help Jiyu. Even if she didn't consider life to have inherent value individuals could still make her prefer them alive over dead, and during that one mission in Rose Garden Akeya might have been annoyed by Jiyu at times, but the girl had also been able to grant her some interesting insight, and troublesome as her frailty was she had been of help back then. Since Akeya's value of life wasn't either positive or negative, just neutral, a slight nudge to the side of positive was already enough that she'd at least put more effort into keeping Jiyu alive than others. In general Akeya tended to put more effort into helping people she'd met before and worked together with before.

Unfortunately it looked like Akeya had discovered a weakness of Jiyu, which might have been interesting to know at other times but which this time around could be a major issue. With the way that Jiyu was screaming, crying and curling up, Akeya was pretty sure that it wasn't just the threat of the Regent that was making her behave like this, especially since the screaming had started before the Regent had even shown up, or the chandelier had hit the ground. If Jiyu was afraid of the darkness that would be a useful weapon for Akeya should she have to deal with Jiyu in the future, but right now it meant that Jiyu was one of the weakest in the entire ballroom, as they were quite literally surrounded by a world of darkness right now. If she went outside she'd be traumatized, which would reduce her ability to hunt down the sprites for candies to practically zero. She'd have to think of a way to deal with that issue as well... With some luck the Regent would be willing to accept it if people shared their candies. Although the Regent's wording actually hadn't made it clear whether she would punish every single individual who failed or if this was meant to be a collective effort, where if enough candies were gathered it didn't matter if one person gathered half of them and another gathered none. Worth thinking about, but maybe not worth risking Jiyu's life over... Although she wasn't sure how Jiyu could gather candies in a world made of something she seemed to be dreadfully afraid of.

"Yes, it's me." Akeya wasn't very good at being supportive, but at the very least she could try to not glare at Jiyu too much. She wouldn't be of much use if Akeya's inherently intimidating behaviour managed to get to her now that the darkness had stripped away her mental defences and kept her in a state of fear. "The Regent didn't say whether we need enough candies collectively or individually, but I think it would be safer to assume you should at least gather some candies. Which might become difficult for you, seeing your apparent fear of the darkness." Akeya crouched and carefully picked Jiyu up, making sure to not bruise the frail girl with her scaled claws. "You can't overcome a fear like that within minutes, so we'll have to think of another way to bypass it. You could try bringing a light into the dark world, or we could try luring some of those Evening Sprites into the room... Although I doubt that they'd willingly enter such a bright place." Akeya held Jiyu up, her claws covered in a layer of semi-materialized shadow so her scales wouldn't scrape across Jiyu's brittle skin. The dragoness looked around as she considered the ideas, wondering if there was someone in here who could help... Her eyes fell on the white-haired girl who had walked away from Jiyu when Jiyu had asked Aiyana to help cover her. Just because Akeya didn't get along with people and was by nature a loner didn't mean she couldn't get some understanding through constant observation, and she had the feeling that the white-haired girl would do a good job protecting Jiyu.

"I'll be moving you again in five seconds. Do not be alarmed. If it helps, close your eyes and imagine it's a blanket or whatever it is you'd use to cover yourself at night." Being gentle was really difficult. Akeya couldn't imagine for the life of her how people could do it so naturally when for her it took a lot of effort just not to drill a hole in Jiyu's eyes with her own emerald draconic gaze. Regardless, as long as Jiyu was paying attention she should be fine, so after counting five seconds out loud so Jiyu knew when it'd happen Akeya covered herself and Jiyu with shadows, disappearing and after about a second reappearing near the entrance of the ballroom, although a bit to the side so Jiyu wouldn't be staring straight into the infinite darkness beyond. She also was now close by Leila, Akeya pointing at her with her tail before pointing at Jiyu. "Considering your behaviour towards this one I believe you'll take care of her. She appears to be afraid of the dark, so sending her outside would be of little use. At best she'd do little, at worst she'd hinder others as they'd have to protect her while she panicked. Instead I suggest you keep an eye on her while I go out and gather those candies. If the Evening Sprites treasure them I should be able to lure them back to here once I've got enough candies, so you and she can also get your share. I do not know if the Regent demands an adequate offering from every individual or if she just needs a certain amount, but since I prefer her alive over dead I think it's better not to take the risk. Any objections?"

The fact that Akeya was still holding Jiyu up in the air with the shadow padding around her claws to prevent Jiyu being injured by the floor, walls, or basically every other solid object out there could be considered humorous, considering Akeya's height and the way that she was holding Jiyu up more like a doll than a person. Trying to help or not, Akeya still had some issue with not treating someone as small and fragile as Jiyu as a kind of pet.

@Jiyu Kazehime
@Leila Vergious

tl;dr: shadow stepped Jiyu over to the entrance, asking Leila to keep eye on Jiyu