Blissful Reacquaintance [Job: Mercenaries - Zenshin, Adele]

It wasn't long after Zenshin had finished his job where he dressed like a women and appeared in the magazine that he was currently reading. These guys are pretty quick with the whole, production, part. They make lacrima for anything now he thought, walking through a very rich city. As he walked down the masterfully crafted stone streets, he rolled up the magazine and tossed in the the closest trash bit he could find. Now to find a good place to wait for whoever also took this job. New mages always need someone to go on the relatively 'bigger' jobs, after all. Looking around towards the client's home, he noticed a rather big alley filled with trash bins and ladders that led up to fire escapes to the apartments on both sides of the alleys, I'm sure they are all penthouses he thought while climbing on top of a bin.

Hopping onto a ladder, his legs dangled until he pulled himself up to the metallic platform that the ladder led to. So I and a partner have to protect some politician who doesn't want help. His wife shouldn't do things like this behind his back, if he found out, his pride would be completely destroyed he thought, sitting quietly and waiting for another mage. After about half an hour, another figure made their way into the alley, a woman, by the looks of it. Model girl? he thought, still sitting silently, covered by the shadows. "Girl.... not everything is that simple you know. Wait for your partner to come, and let me instruct the both of you through your voice."

"Meoru..... what do you want... I'll do this my way." Is she talking to herself? Or something else... he thought, continuing to eavesdrop on the girl. "Trust me, this may seem like an easy job, but if you want to do it correctly follow my advice." Whatever it is, it's right about the job. "Of course, boss. It's not like this my body and my brain that you're inhabiting. I'll just wait for my partner to come." Boss? So this gets even more interesting "You're upset, I can tell. But swallow it for the success of this. It's your money that would go down the drain. I can tell everything you think by the way, you shouldn't forget that." It must live inside her, whatever it is, or she's a psycho. "I remind myself everyday..."

"It's a real pleasure meeting you again, under proper circumstances. I'm Zenshin, ace of Sabertooth. Nice to meet you, or both of you." he said with a smile, almost directly above her. "So is it magic related, or are you just a schizophrenic?" he asked curiously, wanting to know exactly what he was getting into.

"Uh- Uh what? You are.... Zenshin... hi... I'm just Iana, or wait... yeah.. I'm one, and this just now? I was... talking to.... to.... I was talking to... t-t-t-tooooo..... MYSELF! I was talking with myself! Yeah...." she said, stuttering a great many times before finally relaxing. Emphasizing 'myself' and stuttering so much, there's no doubt she's hiding something. If she spoke to herself as much as she tried to lead on, she would definitely have no problem in saying that she did, though, it took her forever to convey those thoughts. Oh well, I won't pry until I get to know her a bit better Zen thought while jumping down from the fire escape. Looking right into her eyes, he said, "It's fine, you don't need to lie to me if you don't want to tell me your secrets. I'll figure em' out eventually he said with a grin, challenging either her subconscious, or whatever it was that was speaking to her. "Yeah, we do have a job to do. Protecting some politician from the shadows. Ah... staying in the shadows, something I excel at. Just stay close and we shouldn't have any problems" he said again while peeking out of the alley.

"Because so many assassination attempts have been made, him and his wife are moving to Era via airship, our job is to guard him from point A, his home, to point B, the ship. The Rune Knights will keep watch over him from there. Obviously, the wife doesn't want him to know we are doing this, probably about his pride, but if we do get caught, we forfeit the reward." he continued, tapping his foot on the ground, now. Beginning to help her up the the fire escape, he said, "I wasn't just saying it was nice to meet you again out of formality, I meant it, you know. Anyways, we will be taking the rooftops. People don't look up as often as you'd think, making it the perfect place for assassins to strike from, and for us to defend from"

Zenshin watched as Adele shot herself up the ladder and grabbed onto another set of bars, and shot herself up all the way to the ceiling. She's as agile as a cat. I like it he thought before crouching down. Wouldn't want to keep the pretty lady waiting Zen thought again before calling out a spell, "Ice make, pillar". A magical circle formed under, and then protruded a pillar that was as wide as he was. Though, the pillar itself came up at a rapid speed, launching him upwards, allowing him to land on the rooftop not even two seconds after his partner.

He noticed that she felt a bit... tense, to say the least. With a violent jerk, she turned to and told him that she had another question about the job. Oh... I forgot to ask her if she had anything against heights, I'm an idiot... he thought while gently rubbing his palm on his face. With a sigh, he put his arm back to his side and replied, "I also have a question for you. You seem to have the lovely eyes of a, cat like creature." he said, paying most attention to her eyes. They seemed very, out of the ordinary for a normal person. Maybe some of these unique features had something to do with whoever she was talking to. Before anything, he wanted to get the chance to actually 'know' her, a chance he blew on the last job he went on.

That was when the group of assassin's finally made their presence known, surrounding them and even launching a surprise attack on Zenshin, sending a sharp dagger towards his face and cutting his cheek rather deep. "Sorry guys, but you won't be getting to the politician. If you want to, you'll have to get through us, and we aren't going to let that happen. Unless you plan on losing your lives for this one target, I suggest you just leave he said, covering the wound with ice to stop the bleeding. One of them actually spoke up, "We don't take order from a kid who thinks he's tough and a girl who doesn't have a sense of decency. We'll just take you out first, and then the political scum you're 'protecting'." the man said, actually angering Zen.

In a short burst of rage, he actually considered using his jaws to crush the man in two, but that was a short lived thought before he calmed down. Whoa, I haven't been that set off in quite a while. I don't usually get upset over underestimating insults, so I wonder what triggered it... he thought before crouching down and activating a spell worthy of being angered. "I actually have to congratulate you, y'know, not many people can actually anger me, a Saint of all people, I'll make sure to finish you quickly and quietly. Benumb, dark ice" he said as his entire body was covered in black ice. Once all but his head was covered in the jagged, darkly infused ice, he bursted forward, leaving only a trail of dark purple smoke from the sublimation effect.

The assassin barely had any time to respond, as Zen actually disappeared from his sight for a second before appearing right in front of his with his hand on the assassin's stomach. Block this he thought before sending a wave of icy shuriken into the man, only blocked by a piece of underlying body armor that cushioned the blow. While this was going on, he saw another enemy coming from his side and simply shot a barrage of the ice projectiles at him to, also being blocked by the body armor. Although his attacks were blocked, he could tell that this was enough to almost remove them from the fight. That's what happens when I use one of my greatest spells at a job like this he thought before completely dispersing all the ice, as well as the spell. I can't have that on too long, that would only lead to bad results he thought before telling his partner, "You can take the other three"

Assassin's attack
Zenshin's block
Zenshin's attacks
Assassin's blocks

The member 'Zenshin' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

#1 'Monster Dice' :


--------------------------------

#2 'Damage Dice' :


--------------------------------

#3 'Block Dice' :


--------------------------------

#4 'Damage Dice' :


--------------------------------

#5 'Block Dice' :

The member 'Adele' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

#1 'Damage Dice' :


--------------------------------

#2 'Damage Dice' :


--------------------------------

#3 'Damage Dice' :


--------------------------------

#4 'Block Dice' :


--------------------------------

#5 'Block Dice' :


--------------------------------

#6 'Block Dice' :


--------------------------------

#7 'Damage Dice' :


--------------------------------

#8 'Damage Dice' :


--------------------------------

#9 'Block Dice' :


--------------------------------

#10 'Block Dice' :

Lana's attacks had proved pretty futile when compared to the assassins, which actually angered him a little. Still he really wasn't sure why these feelings were coming up all of the sudden, it was a new, alien one, there was no doubt about that. By this point, the man should be at least halfway to the airship by now, allowing him enough room to do things his way, as they were many blocks apart. "Hey assholes! Give your attention to the priority!" he said in response to seeing his partner sustain some wounds. Closing his eyes while kneeling on the floor, he said aloud, "Ice make, snakes". People seemed to respond better and more aggravated when vulgar language was used to describe him, quite the weakness that many people had.

I really hope I didn't make her feel uncomfortable... he thought before creating twelve snakes of varying sizes and sending them at his enemies. The snakes slithered and hissed as Zenshin's commands, and then made their ways to the targets specified. They were able to wrap around a total of five, but because of the remaining body armor of the three, the teeth were broken. Though, the two body armors that he had broken earlier with his barrage collapsed under the force of his snakes' jaws, truly a wonderful sound. A crunching sound followed by the screaming of the two unfortunate assassins who had their armors broken prior to this attack. One of them, however, was able to evade two of his snakes, two which immediately dispersed once they couldn't hit their target, making for a total of ten snakes on the roof.

Disappearing in a cloud of smoke, he reappeared right in front of Zen, ready to shove a short sword right through his solar plexus. In the blink of an eye, he unsheathed Ikari, his sword, and deflected the short sword that made a *CLANG* sound as it hit the roof and slid to the very end. There was very little that Zenshin despised more than assassins, and even though he was a legal mage, he had no problem ending the lives of of this pathetic bunch. It would be easy, too, as they were mostly immobilized. People that kill innocents in exchange for jewels... there is no reason I shouldn't kill any of them. The only reason I wouldn't do so is if... his thoughts wandered his he headbutted the man in front of him, causing him to fall to the ground with a bleeding forehead. "Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, I just want to get to know you. I also have another question, would you be cross if I killed any of these assassins?" he said, gripping his weapon tightly. Zenshin didn't really like to beat around the bush, especially when he thinks that he might actually enjoy someone's company more than that of most people, so he was direct. He also left the decision of killing them to her, as he didn't want to just do it and be too appalled to ever take up a job with him.

Zenshin's attacks
Assassin's blocks
Assassin's attacks
Zenshin's blocks

The member 'Zenshin' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

#1 'Damage Dice' :


--------------------------------

#2 'Block Dice' :


--------------------------------

#3 'Damage Dice' :


--------------------------------

#4 'Block Dice' :

Normally, Zenshin wouldn't think about killing his foes if they were humans, like him, but these were assassins, some of the most terrible people to walk this world. If he didn't kill them, they would just keep killing, and since he couldn't really call the Rune Knights on a whim, he didn't really have a choice. Walking up to the man he had just knocked to the ground, he quickly slit his throat and tossed him into the alley. Quick and painless is the only way out I can offer these men... he thought while repeating the process with the five others, bound by his snakes. After that, his snakes disappeared into clouds of smoke, as holding the enemies in place took too much energy out of them to do anything else.

Walking and then running into a sprint, he hopped over to the building that Lana had just hopped to and broke the fall with a forward somersault. Hopefully taking them all out will discourage the rest from trying to assassinate mister politics he said, looking at the sunset. It was a nice sight. She's bleeding... thought while walking up to his partner on this silly job. "As you can see, I use ice make, but I don't think I've ever seen someone with your kind of magic, Iana. What exactly is it?" he asked curiously. There weren't many magics that he had never seen before, so seeing one like this really piqued his interest. Snapping his fingers, he covered all of his partners external wounds in an icy layer, stopping the bleeding and any swelling or infection that could come as a result.

(Dice rolling wouldn't make much sense in this situation)

"..Would.... they... they woulda healed anyway." she said, stuttering again in response to him covering up her superficial wounds. "I... use... fire.... Yeah, fire magic n' stuff. Nuthin' special." she said after, responding to his question about what she used. Both of her responses prompted him to let out a small chuckle before thinking to himself, right, fire magic. I'm guessing fire magic also makes you talk to yourself when you think you're alone. It wasn't like he expected some sort of thank you or anything of that sort, after seeing how she was back when they were modeling, he got a good feeling as to what kind of person she was. The slang was a bit of a surprise, though, this was the first time he had heard her, hell, heard anyone talk like that, I must've really gotten her nervous...

While they hopped from the building they were on to one neighboring it, he heard her call out the words "thank you", which caught him off guard more than the slang, causing his eyes to widen a bit. Wow, she's just full of surprises. I guess she had to suck up all of her 'tough girl' pride in order to do that.he thought, grinning at her. Completely sucking up ones pride isn't the easiest thing to do, so as soon as he heard that, he respected her just a bit more than he already had, glad that he was wrong for once. "Hey, should we go down and follow him more closely?" she asked once they were overlooking the airship that the man was supposed to get on rather soon. "I don't want to risk it. If he even thinks that he may have a protective detail, we forfeit the reward, and I know how you care about being payed..." he said, inferring that it was the only reason a person like her went on jobs like this.

""He still has two blocks to go. I don't exactly look like someone trustworthy who could be hired as a bodyguard. So how about I jump down there and behave like a criminal or something, and you keep watching from here.... I know it might be a bit more dangerous... but do I look like someone who would be entrusted the life of an important politician?" she said, determined to get down there and spy on the man. No, you'd draw too much attention to yourself with the scars covering your body and general 'low cut' clothes. We should stay up here and just watch. After what I did to them, I don't think they would send more to attack he thought. "I guess you're right, go on ahead, I'll cover you from up here. You also still haven't told me your name." he said to her with a smile, at least wanting to have her name so he had something to call her. What in the world am I saying? Did I just completely contradict my own thoughts? What's going on? he thought, panicking in his mind.

Sure, his thought process was comparatively different from how he conveyed his thoughts, but that was just when he thought about things, he had never actually went against his own thoughts in this manner. Can't be magic, those assassins didn't use any in the fight, and she uses fire magic. Not poison, the knife I took didn't have any on it. Hmm... can only be one thing, something completely new to me... I have to see how this progresses he thought to himself while leaning over the building and looking down at the man they were supposed to be protecting. Before she went down, he turned his head to her, "Be... careful" he said, looking back down to the city streets, illuminated by the lamps.

"My name.... uhm... Call me... I... Call me Iana." she said nervously before descending through the building and out the alleyway towards the street that their person of interest was walking through. His prediction was right, it didn't seem like any more assassins decided to target the politician due to the trouncing that he just gave a group of six, they may be evil, but they're not stupid he thought, watching as people gave glances at Iana. She didn't dress like all the "fancy" people who lived in the area surrounding the Royal Castle, she actually stuck out like a sore thumb. Despite this fact, however, she didn't look like she was protecting anyone, so the nobles would probably mistake her for some commoner or tourist that wanted a look at the "wealthy" life. Staring down at her from above, he had no problem tracking her through the crowds of people

By the time she was keeping her distance, he noticed that the man was less than a block away from the airship, finally... he thought, thinking of how he would handle the whole situation between Iana and himself after the job was over. Iana was about to pass a corner, so Zenshin crouched his knees and leapt over to the other building before breaking into another somersault. Putting his hands on the ledge all the way to the far side of the building, he spotted Iana again without much work. Her attire was vastly different from those around her, actually, her dress was different than most people he went on jobs with. She wore really low-cut things, possibly to manipulate people with her looks, or perhaps because it was comfortable. Regardless, it made her easy to spot in a crowd of people who frowned upon such wears.

Zenshin let out a sigh when the man climbed aboard the airship and the Rune Knights escorted him into his quarters, there no doubt that he was safe by this point. Letting out a sigh, he gave a thumbs up to his partner down below, how made a perculier sign, signaling to the town's edge. Does she want to talk? Even after she's seen me kill? I wonder if she's a dark mage... he thought as he hopped from building to building, checking down to see if she was still there every so often. Continuing on, he began to think, he went through everything he could infer from her looks. Multiple scars on her arms, sign of many battles. Change in personality from when I was dressed as a female to now, as myself. Surprisingly shy after I complimented her. Nothing's for certain, but I can see why I took quite the liking to her he thought as he jumped from the top of the building to the stony streets and sprinted about forty meters until he was on the edge of town.

Stopping at the very edge, he finally turned to face her, his sight locked on the yellow, feline eyes that he couldn't get over. It was like a mystery to him that he really wanted to solve. They were by no means normal eyes, something had to cause them. That, and her nails were an abnormally sharp, also like that of a few feline cats he could think of off the top of his eyes. Eyes and claw-like nails, both features of cat creatures... Says she talks to herself often but I've only heard her do it once. When she did, it didn't seem like she was conveying her thoughts to herself, rather, someone. Or something. Was having a conversation with her. The dialects varied greatly. And that was no ordinary fire magic... he thought, unable to get over the mystery of Iana. Even though he didn't like liars, this wasn't the same type of lying. She just didn't want to give her secret away, something he respected, but would continue to persist on.

"You wanted to talk about something, Iana?"

"Uhm.... I.... wanted to ask if you.... you would give give me some company for.. for another job." she asked, prompting Zen's face to turn a light shade of red. Before he could respond, she jerked her head off to the side and said something else. "I'm.... just doing it for the money. I'll be straight. I could use your help, that's it". Even though I don't doubt she's doing it for the money, she's the first to get blood rushing to my face, which could only mean one thing. he thought before stepping to where her head was turning and looking back at her. He felt as though if you couldn't look someone in their eyes when telling them something, you basically gave away the fact that you were being dishonest. "I would love to accompany you on another job" he said seriously.

"Though, if it's too much to ask, forget it. But could you stop lying to me, I have a sort of, thing, against that." he said with a smile, outstretching his hand. "Let me start, I'm Zenshin, Hitsumo." he started. What he said wouldn't seem like a big deal to those who actually knew him. In his mind, he could only think of three people who actually knew his last name aside from his family members. His old partner in Eclipse Soul, Alye Reyold, Aegis Bright, his mentor and guild master, both Saints, and now, Iana. Normally, he wasn't so quick to trust, but he felt like he just could. "Now lets go get our reward" he said, leading her back to the client's home where they were left with a note of thanks and a bag of jewels, one for each of them. Yet another successful job