RISIBLE

The slayer had been roused from her sleep by a cream-furred cat whose grumpiness nearly matched the peach-haired girl's. In tandem their eyes squinted at each other, as if sizing up who was going to throw the first verbal punch.

Eventually, Hime yawned. "Get on with it," she waved her hand vaguely at Vassa and fell back onto the bed, forgoing the sitting position she had assumed upon being awoken so roughly by two sets of cat claws on the bottom of one foot. "Also, if there's blood on these sheets, you're going to be the one to explain it to Poko or Leona." The scratches were barely stinging, but the fact that she felt that much from it at all indicated that oxygen might be contacting the blood. That implied that it was possible for other things, including brand-new high thread count sheets, to do the same and touch the wound.

Vassa flicked her tail and yanked the bedding off of on top of the slayer without much pretense, hooking her claws into the sheets and depositing them unceremoniously on the floor. "Now listen to me, Rionsa. It's early," meanwhile, Hime had noticed her bedside clock and now at this the peach-haired mage slapped a hand over the feline's mouth. "Yes, it is early, you should let me sleep," the irritated girl mumbled as she turned over more on her left side and patted the mattress with her free hand, seeking the covers that had just been moved out of reach. "Immphickyoo," the cat snarled into Hime's palm. Suddenly, the fiery mage jerked away her arm from Vassa's muzzle. Bringing it up just an eighth of a meter away from her face, the slayer squinted at her palm. "Gross, you really did bite me," she complained, shoving her hand underneath her head and wiping her it off on the backside of her pillow. The slayer was reluctant to sit up but did so, and she gazed at her animal companion with bleary eyes and frizzy hair.

"Listen, I am one hundred percent a morning person, but it's not even 2 AM and this basically qualifies as night owl territory," Hime explained in a babying tone before curling up without any sheets and burying her head between to arms with hands clapped over her ears. "I found you a job," the Exceed began, annoyance crispening her tone, "From a certain pirate crew. It's quite a ways away, so we have to get going soon if you want to do it, and I'm sure you do."

The tone of the feline left no room for argument, and already Hime had perked up at the word pirate. And a certain pirate crew? That wording left no room for doubt in the peach-haired girl's mind that this was related to her seemingly endless quest to discover the whereabouts of the Black Fox, a mysterious pirate who sailed in particular all over the Eastern Sea. Might they be headed to Hargeon Town and the docks? Hime sat up and scooted out of bed. "Okay, I'm going."

Vassa smiled smugly and materialized her wings, flying after the slayer and pushing past her as the two crossed the room's threshold. "I'll tell you more when we get there, just follow me," she advised.

"You want me to what?" the slayer whisper shrieked as the cat shushed her, glancing around with panic visible in her urgent gaze. "What's wrong, Rionsa? It's pirates. I told you, a certain pirate crew, the one who's been in the newspapers lately, especially when people talk about Minstrel." the ivory-furred cat murmured under her breath with an innocent blink of her eyes after confirming that nobody around appeared to have heard them. "I followed you all the way here, traveling for several hours and much of it was spent sick to my stomach, just to hear that lo and behold we've somehow ended up in Minstrel and you want me to help the Sea Snakes smuggle illegal goods into Joya? That's on the west side of the ocean, Vassa. The Black Fox is on the eastern-" she cut herself off and sighed heavily. The feline, meanwhile, was staring at the mage curiously and with a smidgen of disappointment. "I thought so, but it doesn't feel good to have it be confirmed right in front of my eyes. You came just because you thought it would involve that good for nothing. We'll talk about it after you do this job."

Hime adjusted her headphones angrily and shoved a lollipop in her mouth before tossing the wrapper towards the Exceed's face. "Shove off," she hissed. Normally the girl would have been happy to take a job such as this one, but it was the letdown of misunderstanding who had offered the mission that so ruined her mood. "You're paying for a mage to heal my motion sickness when we get back to Fiore-" she had been stomping away from Vassa, still looking over her shoulder towards the Exceed. Thus, the girl had failed to notice the rider and steed right in her path, the horse of the pair which she walked straight into the flank of. Holding back a hiss of frustration, the girl surveyed the figure mounted on the pale, ruby eyed- oh, such a striking horse, Hime reflected. She no longer was concerned at all about apologizing to the owner, but her eyes flitted up to his or her glowing blue gaze anyway.

Though she should never explicitly be called a coward, Hime was not one for confrontation without dramatic flair and much mirth involved. Thus, when she received the scratchily delivered warning from a still unnamed figure, the slayer was more than ready to, depart in peace, so to speak. Yet, she was struck by that same hoarseness in his tone, as well as his apparent care, no matter why or how much of it, for some random girl in the street who could have been stepped on by the warhorse in question and had her death chalked up to having been an accident.

With her eyes as smiling crescents, Hime gently tipped her head back up to study the mounted figure. After a moment's breath, she dug briefly in one of her pockets before fishing out a small, oval-shaped and white-wrapper thing that appeared to be candy. "Here, a cough drop," the female reached up with an open hand, the small thing nestled in the center of her palm. She pressed her lips together, curiosity piqued; however, the girl refrained from saying anything more. "Rionsa, what are you doing-" The voice started out slightly faint and immediately grew to be an irritated feline screech as Vassa flew to the slayer's side. "Who's this?" the Exceed murmured with concealed hostility, before a sudden clamor of noise further down the docks interrupted Hime's concentration on any possible response from the strange man. The pair, slayer and feline, would have ignored the rambunctious noise if not for a sudden exclamation that caught their simultaneous attention.

"Hey you with the cat!" Hime stiffened and whirled in the direction of the call, a smile plastered on her face as her expression visibly became friendly but detached. Before she could even attempt any sort of verbal reaction to the shout apparently addressed towards her, the male voice growled loudly again. "And dude on the horse! Yeah, you two, you like amphibians right? We've been expecting ya." At this the slayer blinked rapidly, trying to digest that seemingly completely random burst of words when Vassa hissed at her, "I know that guy, I gave him your picture earlier when he asked who to expect. He's part of the Sea Snakes," the feline's murmurings grew even less audible as she winded down the brief explanation.

Hime followed the man who had shouted, her eyes trailing his figure as he turned after a minute of gazing at the rider and the slayer pair. The sailor walked confidently down the dock and disappeared below deck after boarding the second ship on the left. "I-Is he coming too?" the Exceed muttered in Hime's ear, flicking her tail towards the warhorse and its rider, whose name the female had missed. "I suppose?" the slayer mused aloud. "I guess you're here to help out a crew too," the fiery mage addressed the dark horseman, a half-smile tugging at the corner of her mouth that resulted in a smirk crossing her lips. "I missed your name earlier, but please call me Vana or Hime- your choice. This fluffball only calls me Rionsa because she's stuck ten years ago," the fire-wielder huffed as she paced farther north, towards the disguised vessel of the pirates. Hime didn't glance behind her to see much more from the person she could be working with; they would have to sail with the Sea Snakes until the crew happened upon a Minstrel navy ship of a suitably small size.

'It seems so to be?' Hime could not help but overturn that phrase again and again in her mind, brain whirring like a set of cogs as she contemplated those few words. What a strange... what exactly was strange, the slayer could not be sure, but she certainly hoped this journey would not be a boring one. The peach-haired female soon found herself boarding the ship, following a path closely resembling that of the Sea Snakes' crew member who had called the two still unfamiliar mages just half of a minute ago. She barely caught the man's name, at least she assumed the figure was male, but her attention was soon diverted by the display that he had put on, if unintentionally, on the earth one might step on directly after leaving the dock itself. "Ice," the slayer couldn't help but hiss lowly, normally out of earshot of those not within a meter range. It was a pity to see the unusual steed go, but then Hime supposed she was really only fond of horses until she witnessed them do their business or really anything at all related to being alive.

Continuing to observe as the strange mage whom the female could now recognize as Lord Godfrey stepped towards the ship and boarded with a quiet certainty, Hime made note of how he removed the helmet and heavy mail that seemed to be unnecessary at the time. But really, what did she know, for the girl was not predisposed to wearing such things and had never made the additional effort. His hair was even fairer than his skin; fairer was not quite the right word, for it implied some sort of breath and life-associated flush underneath pale skin, and Lord Godfrey's hair was starkly white.

The slayer found her thoughts interrupted as the ship suddenly jerked; they were lifting up the anchor and setting sail, seemingly with barely two minutes of delay between the pair of hired mages boarding the ship and the delivery of news of their arrival to the vessel's captain. The man in question, or so Hime assumed, was now striding confidently across the dock. He paused several meters away and studied the uncommon pairing with unreadable eyes. Then, when the ship had managed to make it out of the port city altogether, a feat that probably should have taken longer, but pirates were not known to follow naval speed limits, the well-dressed stranger spoke. "We expect to sail for an hour or few, but do not be surprised should it take longer. After encountering the navy, the method you use to acquire the flag is of no consequence, but we will expect you to be finished before sundown. We sail to Joya tonight." He had not taken a step more towards them and his voice was barely conversational in volume, but it carried across the deck of the vessel.

This did not surprise Hime, for she could understand that it may be easier to even further deceive the checkpoint officials by forcing them to rely solely on the flag, being unable to clearly discern the faces or demeanors of the men manning the disguised pirate ship. With a small smile, the slayer made her way over to Lord Godfrey, who seemed to be standing near where they had disembarked. "Did you have any plans on how exactly we might accomplish the mission?" she asked, cordially. The female was more than willing to act the part of a stranded civilian whose ship had been capsize, her escaping barely with her life. Still, she would also be keenly interested in Vassa simply flying the two over and letting them drop down and wreck havoc, or really any method in between for infiltration or destruction, should that be the other mage's preference.

In the end, Hime would likely try to set fire to everything and anybody left occupying the navy vessel after the flag had been acquired, regardless of what had conspired.

Hime tapped her finger along her chin in response to Lord Godfrey's words. "Well, I actually quite like pirates," the slayer considered, barely restraining her impulse to sing-song the words. She much liked the man's idea of taking out the crew in addition, or more specifically, prior to stealing away the flag. Turning to Vassa, the female was just about to say something when she felt a lurch in her stomach and immediately rushed to the edge of the dock, hanging over the rail and begging inside her head that she did not up-heave the entire contents of her stomach, especially the wonderful, read: nonexistent, breakfast she had consumed. Stomach acid was hardly a taste that the girl desired to linger on her taste buds for the entire mission.

Lord Godfrey seemed to repeat part of his prior question, to which the slayer finally dragged herself back to standing upright, though her skin seemed to be tinged a pale shade of green. Now that the ship was properly moving, motion sickness was hitting her hard. "Yes, I do have magic," the peach-haired girl replied, the corner of her mouth lifting up slightly at his inquiry. "Worried that I might get hurt?" There lay a teasing lilt to her voice, though the unadded question at the end was an inquiry if the man was concerned about being dragged down in the job. This, Hime was determined to not let happen, but if only this stupid sickness could cease...

It did seem that this horseman, despite his rather dark appearance, was a blessing from heaven, as he cast some spell to prevent sickness on her at that very moment. Such a movement did raise a slight suspicion in the female that he somehow instinctively knew of her magic and thus the ailments that followed it, but when the other mage proceeded to cast the same enchantment on Vassa it became more clear that the action was more of a precaution or safeguard. "Aah? Cute," she couldn't resist adding as Lord Godfrey patted Vassa on the head, making an adorable sight as the Exceed raised an unimpressed brow and tried not to flick her tail in delight.

"What kind of magic do you use?" the slayer asked, blinking with intrigue as she angled her hand a little bit, examining the shape of the pair of snakes. "I'm a fire mage," Hime offered, glancing up to try to meet eyes with the horseman. It could indeed be seen as a bit strange for the fiery slayer to be out here in the middle of the ocean, thus surrounded by water, but she was an enormous fan of the stuff anyway. And she did like pirates, quite a bit in general at least, though there were certainly bad groups just like with any other favorite. With a slightly off put expression, Hime drew a heart in the air in front of her with fiery peach-colored flames, much to Vassa's dismay judging by the sudden screeching of the feline when she witnessed the sight. "Rionsa! We! Are! On! A! Boat! Made of wood!" the Exceed waved her paws with panic as she fluttered around in the air, circling the heart. The cat's wings had sprouted out of her back, a light, luminescent pinky orange in comparison to the cream fur on the rest of her body.

"Lighten up, Vassa, it's not even touching the deck," the fire slayer chided gently, laughing as she dragged her finger and subsequently the heart all around through the air as she twirled in a few circles. The female was tempted to dive into the ocean, even though she couldn't exactly properly swim, and such an idea seemed folly. After looking around and determining that nothing much was happening at the moment, the girl covered herself in a thin layer of heated magic and balanced neatly on the rail of the deck before diving into the ocean. When she resurfaced, she spat out the salty taste and waved cheerfully at the Exceed and Lord Godfrey. The captain had said it would be around an hour or a couple in the very least before they encountered a suitable target, so she figured why not to enjoy herself. Still mindful of the mission, though, she did move alongside the ship as it continued to break through the waves. Surprisingly, it wasn't too much of a challenge to keep up to pace with the vessel.

Needless to say, the peach-haired slayer was tad disappointed that Lord Godfrey chose not to return her wave. Instead, the horseman retreated beyond view, possibly still on deck and simply out of sight but also perhaps having gone down further into the body of the vessel. Shrugging, the fire mage found herself relaxing her limbs and allowing herself to be pulled along by Vassa, who had flown over the edge of the rail and was currently attempting to drag the waterlogged Hime through the ocean. The Exceed's goal was no doubt simply to get her back onto the ship, but in the end it seemed more like a game of catch-up or as if the feline was pulling her along as a tug boat could pull its larger, dependent counterpart. Regardless, she was perfectly content to let the feeling of waves wash over her skin, and eyes, and face- she breathed in the liquid and felt it drip into her lungs as the salty fluid replaced all of the oxygen previously occupying the space.

Seemingly, her skin was loose around her muscles, her face smooth and relaxed as the seawater ran awash over it. Inside, though, Hime was still burning up, broiling the surrounding area of the ocean and sending minuscule bubbles up around her. Despite the calming lap of the curvatures of water that splashed against her body, the girl couldn't help but smolder with excitement and a harsh laughter that felt derisive of this entire mission. Pirates were surely one of her interests, but helping poor, incapable Minstrel buccaneers wasn't something she was actually invested in. Lord Godfrey had made the mission slightly more interesting, but Hime still found herself tapping into her apparently endless reserves of a weird head space feeling that made her able to find random and completely inconsequential, blank enjoyment in the most meaningless of things.

It was then that she breathed out in an unattractive spurt of water that burned her nostrils, as she comprehended the words some sailor had just shouted. Barely a moment later, Lord Godfrey's voice was resounding in her ears even through the waves. Vassa suddenly heaved thte slayer out of the water, her drenched clothes having never existed as flames erupted over her body, briefly a burst of vibrant orange flame before becoming nothing more than a slight wavering, a bit of fuzziness in the air that was perfectly colorless but bent the light with their heat. Her clothes were dry, though. That was really the most important part. Not how a Minstrel navy's sailor screamed as she crashed into him, having dropped from the sky courtesy of Vassa's transformation wings. How the reason he was so horrified and unable to react was because the fires had seared into his skin, through his clothes, and melting everything he had on his person literally onto his person.

The slayer didn't bother to glance at him again before she left a small patch of cinders on the wooden blanks and flashed over to the stairs on deck, tempted to go below and begin wrecking havoc. Barely another few seconds after, her decision was made. Hime smiled beatifically as she formed an enormous fireball, tongues of flame snaking out of the mass and stretching toward nearby surfaces, hungry and searching. Without another thought, she tossed it down the stairs and turned back to the fight that was happening on deck.

Her peach colored hair swung from side to side as she tilted her head this way and then that, looking for some sort of rigging. Partly to climb the mast to grab the flag, but mostly to burn down and begin deconstructing the sails and wooden structure of the vessel with various combustion of the more... easy to burn parts, which could act as the kindling to this bonfire of a sea burial. Hime barely caught sight of the mass of bugs or insects emerging from every aperture in Lord Godfrey's armor before she diverted her attention to a nearby sailor, slashing out at his arm and whipping her leg out in a vicious kick that felled him without another thought. She threw fireballs left and right, not doing much individually, but together they were able to set on fire all manner of flammable things on deck, the magic flickering in her flames able to overcome the pure physical water and water-logged state of most of the wood. She was tempted to begin attempting to scale the mast, but there was still much to be burned down; the only thing that was off-limits was the flag itself, and probably her fellow destructive mage, since Vassa was hovering over nothing but the ocean, unwilling to get near to all of the fire and drowning that was taking place within meters of and on the ship.

Having been observing the scene at the mast and center of the ship, Hime reacted the very moment Lord Godfrey's attention to the wooden pole seemed to waver upon the appearance of the Minstrel Navy captain. As much as the slayer itched to pounce forwards and bombard the official with all manner of flaming fireballs and onslaughts of slashes and hits, she had been focused on the rigging previously and was still kind of in the mood to burn it down. Witih a fairly determined expression on her face, the dragon slayer rushed closer to the mast, already yanking a sharp short sword out of her backpack and unsheathing it. She clothed the blade in flames that seared directly into the wood, at first just smoldering and leaving a thick black line and indent until finally they warmed the nearby area of the block of organic material enough for it to catch fire, despite any waterlogged qualities and the muggy conditions of air just above the surface of the sea.

With heavy slices and lots of strength and repetitive motion from her upper body and arms, Hime managed to slice through the mast completely, and the boat immediately felt off-kilter. She started at the sudden shifting underneath her feet and the way that the vessel swayed dangerously from side to side. She quickly grabbed the mast, which seemed to be falling to the side in one motion and sort of defying gravity but obeying some rules of roleplay and anime somewhere, and hefted it in her arms. Further above, Vassa flew and tried to snatch the flag off of the wooden beam. The Exceed tugged desperately as the mast tilted unevenly from side to side, Hime not really focusing on holding it properly or steadily as she was tossing fireballs at nearby Minstrel officers, much to her delight. Their outfits simply deserved to be burned to a crisp in her opinion. But eventually the cream furred feline was able to rip the flag off, barely getting parts of the rigging too that were enough to maybe tie the flag back up to the pirate ship when they made it back.

Hime spat her lollipop out onto the deck, since her hands were busy and the peach haired mage was unable to hold it. Busy trying to smooth out her skirt and fix the wrinkles in her sleeves from the creases that had formed while hacking at the mast, but she was busy nonetheless. Hime did eventually finish that task and squinted a bit to scan along the horizon, just searching for the small or not so small because of the distance, shape that would be the pirate ship. When she located it, several meters away but not really out of vision, she jerked her head in inclination to Vassa, who recognized the motion and began to fly in that direction.

However, a Ministrel navy officer had apparently noted the distinct movement as well and an arrow flew through the air towards the flying cat, who dodged it nimbly and flapped her wings even harder, managing to shoot out of view before any more projectiles could remain within proper firing distance.

Hime was surprised when she suddenly found herself, or rather Vassa, dodging more attacks even as they left the vicinity and airspace of the Minstrel navy ship. Quickly finding that the origin was the group of pirates who had actually hired them to do this job, the peach haired slayer grew irritated with their behavior. Could they not recognize the pair of mages and a flying, cream-colored cat, all whose appearances were rather distinct? Sucking in an enormous breath and amount of air, filling her lungs up to their very brim, the slayer expelled it all at once directly towards the Sea Snakes' ship before suddenly Vassa commented lowly, casually, "How good is that for business, Rionsa?"

Said female mage was more than annoyed to have her decisions questioned, but nonetheless as soon as the hurtling fire neared within a meter of the ship, Hime rolled her eyes and pulled, jerking the flames away and allowing them to return to the air and circle around the mage. She was pleased to see that the attacks had stopped, and she waved down to the no longer attacking pirates with a wide smile stretching her lips. "Hi! We got the flag! Lord Godfrey will be right on his way too, so don't shoot anything nasty at him either, please!" with that having been said the slayer finally landed gracefully on the dock, the fire spiraling around her dissipating before it could damage the vessel. "Wow, cool," Hime commented, loosely tossing a fireball back and forth between two hands as she blinked at Lord Godfrey and his steed rushing through the air towards them, hooves slamming against what seemed to be nothing but empty sky. "So, where's that port?" she asked the nearest crew member conversationally, who blinked and then shook his head furiously. That answer made no sense, so Hime moved her eyes over to the next pirate, who shut his mouth before opening it tentatively and still saying nothing.

The peach haired girl was about to start hurtling fireballs and incinerating pirates when the relaxed voice of the captain reached her ears. "Naturally, we have to sink the navy ship first. With how long it took you, it was undoubtedly more of an espionage tactic that allowed you to procure the flag. I apologize for the unexpected barrage of unwelcoming attacks on your way back to the ship. We were not anticipating such a swift success," he expressed, the actual appearance of his face totally and completely bland and not revealing of any emotion whatsoever.

Hime was unimpressed by his words, and she raised an eyebrow as she popped another lollipop in her mouth, the other having been lost back on the other vessel. "It's burning," she said, deadpan, as the captain seemed unable to understand. "Even so, we have to sink the ship. I have already turned us around to ensure that this goes as efficiently as possible." Sucking in another irritated burst of breath, Hime resisted the temptation to explode flames all over the ship and instead just let it out in a normal, peeved sounding puff. "I wouldn't want to get my wooden, flammable ship so close to a blazing one, but suit yourself," she shrugged. They were probably mostly her and Lord Godfrey's flames, anyhow, so if the pirates actually were dumb enough to try ramming the smoldering navy vessel and somehow caught it on fire, she was confident that it could be put out. That didn't mean that she would prefer wasting time on this rather than just sailing for the northern port, which was undoubtedly quite a ways away regardless.