Reconnoitering with a Side of Fraternizing (Private/Amber + Altarias)

Amber couldn't help but look around the bustling, overwhelming city like a tourist. It had been years - she'd forgotten exactly how many, as living underground made the passing of time somewhat trivial - since the last time she'd set foot in the stronghold and headquarters of the Magic Council and their pet Rune Knights. Once, this place had been her home. Now, she barely had a home. The closest thing she had to a home, a family, was Errings Rising, but previous experience made her wary of such things, so she kept her distance. She never wanted to be betrayed again.

The lioness had never expected to return to Era, which was of course packed to the brim with those that had once been her friends and family and now held only her enemies. In this city, you could hardly swing a cat without hitting a Rune Knight or other nosy do-gooder, none of which would hesitate to arrest her on sight and imprison her - or worse - on trumped up charges. Treason, murder, thievery, aiding and abetting criminals... Actually, now that she thought about it, most of those were true now. They hadn't been, when she'd been forced out of the Rune Knights. All the better that she wore a disguise in this, the city of her enemies. Her heritage made it possible to change her appearance, and she had done so well before she'd approached Era. Gone were her lion-like ears and tail, her most distinguishing features. Gone too was her Errings Rising mark, which marked her clearly as a traitor and a dark wizard. The scar that had crossed her Rune Knight tattoo had been replaced by smooth, unbroken flesh. Her hair was black instead of gold, and her eyes had changed to green. Her figure had slimmed from buxom to petite, and she'd lost a fair bit of height. She would be entirely unrecognizable to anyone who'd known her in her previous life.

As she strolled through the city, which she'd come to ostensibly to gather information for the guild but had really just wanted see again, she noted a pair walking the other direction. The male was tall and burly, and seemed to be muttering to himself. Maybe he was a bit touched in the head? The girl, however, was what drew Amber's attention. Just about of a height with Amber in this guise, she had long black hair that flowed down her back, framed an achingly-sweet face and baby-blue eyes, and was pinned on the left side with two gold barrettes. The lady trailed along after the male, a vaguely exasperated expression in her eyes, though it seemed to be tempered by affection.

As Amber watched, the pair stopped, conferred for a few moments, and then split off from each other, the female heading inside a building while the male went to wait, sitting on the edge of a well. A great opportunity. With a slight smirk, the lioness moved in closer. Her senses told her there was a decent amount of water at the bottom of the well, enough to make a fall survivable. Perfect. Even better, there was no one around to witness what was about to happen. Drawing upon her magic, she scuffed her foot on the cobbles, sending a precise, focused ripple through the earth below. It would catch the male under the feet in a sharp wave, pitching him up and over the rim of the well, into the depths below. There was a faint splash a few moments later, and Amber's senses detected faint vibrations at the bottom. He'd survived. Excellent.

With that taken care of, Amber took up a position nearby, leaning against the wall of the building the female had entered, waiting for her to exit. Her hands idly fiddled with a rounded sliver of rock, dark on one side and light on the other, shot with speckles of quartz and flecks of bright yellow citrine. She'd picked it up on the way to Era, and thought it would be a fine addition to her collection back at the guild hall.

Amber grimaced in annoyance as her sensitive ears picked up the sound of the male's muttering, echoing up from the well. With a sigh, she shifted her foot on the ground, manipulating the earth as subtly as she could. She opened gaps in the bottom of the well, allowing water to drain from it, enough that she could feel the male's feet hit the ground. She closed the gaps then, leaving him roughly waist-deep in water. She then closed the well over his head, leaving enough gaps in it for him to breathe but hopefully muffle his mutters and cries for help. The well was deep enough to be entirely dark at the bottom, so a cursory glance wouldn't reveal anything. A light shone down would, of course, show that there was no water in the well, and it was shallower than it should be.

With that, she stepped up to the side of the female, putting on a slightly confused and concerned expression. "Hey, you look worried. What's wrong?" she asked, injecting well-meaning concern into her voice, which was lighter and more breathy than her usual husky tones.

Unfortunately, Tony would find that the new rocky ceiling of the well was just a few feet above his head when he was standing on the bottom. It was also quite thick, the airholes taking weird paths through the stone in order to attenuate the sound waves from below. He would have a hard time escaping without resorting to magic of some sort, which Amber would likely detect.

"Your brother... Would you mind describing him for me? I may have seen him around." said the lioness, cocking her head slightly. She continued to affect a concerned and helpful demeanor, inwardly smirking. This girl was gorgeous up close. Any amount of time the lioness could spend with her was time well spent.

Amber gave a little frown of confused consternation. "I don't really remember seeing him.. He sounds pretty distinctive. Especially with that... Habit." She said. "As for the well... I don't know. I don't actually live here, I'm just visiting. It's my first time here." That was both truth and lie, mixed together in roughly equal parts. With Amber's shapeshifting to help control her autonomic reactions, it should pass inspection, even to trained truthfinders. She'd always been good at lying, and after coming into her heritage she only got better.

"Of course, let me help." Amber said, grabbing a few of the bags she felt she could justifiably carry. With her magic and her heritage, she was stronger than she had any right to be, especially in this form, so she had to be somewhat careful.

Feeling the male climbing up the side of the well, she irritatedly scuffed her foot on the ground, sending a ripple through the earth similar to the one that had knocked him down the well in the first place. This would barely be detectable through magical or technological means, but would serve to knock Tony's hand loose and pitch him back down into the well. It would then smooth out the sides of the well, making it nigh impossible to climb.

With her hands full, Amber didn't try to shake the woman's hand. "Kenna Brown." she said by way of introduction. It was a pseudonym she'd used a few times before, but it was a common enough name to not arouse suspicion even if it was associated with her. She'd always thought it was rather clever, as the color amber was 'kinda brown'.

"Sure thing." Amber said, smirking a little to herself as she felt Tony splash back down into the bottom of the well. He'd certainly have a hard time getting out now. After all this was over, she would have to come back and refill the well from the nearby aquifer. She didn't want any of the townspeople, associated with her enemies as they may be, to go thirsty just because she wanted to mess with a guy and her sister.

"Lead the way, and I'll follow." she said, hoisting the bags up over her shoulders and following along behind Britney. The further away from the well they got, the less control she had over what lay at the bottom of the well, and the less she could even feel it. For a moment, she wondered if that had somehow been Britney's plan; to lure her away from the well, thus giving Tony the opportunity he needed to escape. But she shrugged it away. This Britney didn't seem to be shrewd enough to even know what she'd done with her brother, let alone figure out who'd done it and how, and concoct a plan to deal with it in such a short amount of time.

"Well, I thought I would like to see the home of the Magic Council. They kinda are the real power in Fiore, you know? Plus, I'd always heard that Era was one of the most beautiful cities in the country. I think it is, in a way." Amber replied to the first question. She continued to answer the girl, carefully manipulating the truth.

The lioness raised an eyebrow slightly as Britney's voice changed, a hint of flirtation sliding into her voice. Amber knew at that moment that something was amiss. This attempt at seduction was so bad, the demidemon knew immediately that the girl had never tried it on another girl before. Which likely meant that her efforts were fruitless anyway. But the fact that Britney was even trying... She was definitely suspicious.

"I'm originally from a little village in the south of Fiore. It was so small, it didn't even have a name, we just called it 'the village'. I eventually decided it was too small for me,and left to explore the world." More lies mixed with truth. She didn't remember her home town all that much, but she remembered that it was tiny, and somewhere in the south.

Amber cursed under her breath as she sensed a minor seismic event occurring near the well. It felt like shattering stone and falling rock, which meant only one thing - the male had broken free. Distracted as she was, she completely missed what Britney was saying. But it didn't matter - the jig was up.

Just as Britney's phone would buzz, Amber would lurch into action like a striking snake. She dropped the bags to the ground and whirled, grabbing Britney by the back of the neck with a single hand, lifting the girl off the ground as her hand transformed into that of a demon - red-skinned and scaled, with vicious claws in place of fingernails that dimpled Britney's soft skin. "Well, princess, looks like the fun is over." she purred. "Your brother just broke free, and it seems like he sent you a message. But you knew what I was up to from the start, didn't you? Clever girl."

"Correct on all counts." Amber replied with a smirk. "I'm not who I said I was, and it's not a Take Over." A ripple shimmered over her flesh as she transformed into her real shape - gaining a few inches in height and a curvier figure, hair and eyes transmuting to gold, animalistic ears and tail sprouting from her body. Most tellingly, the Errings Rising mark swirled into existence on the part of her midriff left visible by her cut-off top.

"Take another step closer and I snap your sister's pretty neck, big guy." she purred with a faint sneer. "Or maybe I'll just let the earth swallow her." With an effort of will, she opened a rift in the ground beneath her feet, dangling Britney directly over it.

For Amber, it was all over so fast she barely had time to grunt. All of a sudden, the helpless girl she was holding summoned magic of some kind and broke free of her grip. Then there was a flurry of motion that ended with the lioness in a headlock. Before she had time to consider her escape, a boot connected with her face with a flash of phantom light that faded into darkness. Before she passed out, a single thought floated across her consciousness. "Crap."

When she came to, she fought back a groan at the pounding in her head. She could feel ropes around her arms and legs, and it wouldn't do to show her captors any weakness. She kept her head down and her eyes closed, controlling her breathing for the time being in an attempt to fool her captors into thinking she was still unconscious. Meanwhile, she flexed her arms and legs as slowly and carefully as she could, testing the strength of her bonds. They seemed to be ordinary ropes, nothing fancy like magic-infused or metal-threaded. She could still feel her magic, which meant they hadn't taken steps to neutralize it. That was a mistake.

Smirking a little, she raised her head, staring directly at the person across the table from her, her eyes turning slit-pupiled in the glare of the light. As she thought, it was the male from before, Tony. She listened as he monologued for a little bit, then shrugged disdainfully.

"Why did I attack you? Well, the answer is that I thought your sister was attractive and I wanted a little time alone with her. But you were in my way, so I dumped you down a well." she said with a faint sneer. "It didn't take much effort."

Amber's eyebrow lifted at the woman's last statement. This pair were Rune Knights? Her old commander would laugh himself to death if he'd seen this guy muttering and bumbling through an interrogation.

"Yes and no." she replied to the question, deciding to be honest. For the moment. "I came to Era to gather information about the state of the Rune Knights. Garrison strength, supply lines, troop movements, so on and so forth. Attacking you two I did on my own initiative. However, if I had known you two were Rune Knights, I would have planned it out a little more carefully. You would be the ones tied to a chair, not me."

She then turned her gaze back onto the male. "The reason I'm not in your database is because 'Kenna Brown' is not my real name. Look up the name 'Amber Stone' and that should answer both of your questions. Assuming they didn't redact my files." she said. If they hadn't, she would be in the Rune Knights' personnel files, probably listed as defected or Missing in Action or something. Hell, they may even detail everything that had caused her to go into hiding. Or at least, it would detail the 'official' story. Certainly not the true story.

Amber smirked at Britney's ham-handed threat of torture. It was so obviously a ploy, she almost laughed out loud. With a slight grunt of effort and a ripping sound, she leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table, lacing her fingers in front of her. Her wrists still trailed the ragged ends of the rope she'd been bound with, which she'd ripped through with hardly any difficulty.

"Let me tell you what I've observed on this scouting trip." she said with a smug smirk. "First, the Rune Knights must be truly desperate for members if they allowed you two in. It's clear you barely know anything about investigation or interrogation. You can't even threaten me properly. Granted, you may have some powerful magic to play around with, but it takes more than strength to be a Rune Knight. It takes skill, dedication, experience. You're so green you didn't even think to use magic-suppressing handcuffs."

She shook her head and stood up, ripping her way out of the rest of the ropes. "You want to know how I know that? Because I used to be one of you. Until my commanding officer ordered me to kill innocent civilians and then disavowed me, kicked me out of the Knights, and put a bounty on my head. I swore I would kill him one day for that. Second, I observed that this isn't a Rune Knight facility. They're never this rundown, and they have magic-nullifying interrogation rooms. And that means that I can bust my way out of here whenever I like, and no one would be able to stop me." she said, a sneer creeping into her voice and face.

"My name is Amber Syenite Stone. My comrades used to call me 'Breaker' because of my destructive magic. Recently, I've inherited a new title: Queen of Stone. It was a mistake not to bind my powers, and it was a mistake to let me touch the ground." As she spoke, the earth began to shake beneath them, the building rattling and the lamp swinging wildly. "Now it's my turn to ask the questions, unless you want me to bring this whole building - maybe even this whole neighborhood - down."