[center][h3][color=A4DDED]Ni Rensa – Crocus Street[/color][/h3]
[@raijinslayer][/center]

No matter how Argus wove through the crowds down below, the keen, feral eyes of a War Sphinx could keep a bead on him.  Ni Rensa remained on rooftops, utilizing a very catlike agility to leap between buildings, shimmy across ropes, cables, and clotheslines, and to catapult herself with metal antenna.  There was a 0% chance of losing her this way.  Still, Ni had to wonder: was this merely the first phase of some advanced trick?  Demons were, after all, legendary for their ruses, gambits, and cunning.  Nevertheless she kept up the pace, and was tailing Argus by less than fifty yards when he regained the rooftops.

Those golden eyes watched closely as Argus unslung some lacrima and tossed them behind as he fled.  To Ni, it looked like nothing more than smoke, but she wasn't about to charge in blindly and risk losing her clothes as Marlene had.  Instead, the War Sphinx hunkered down before springing, sailing clean over the smoke and landing on the opposite side.  Unfortunately for her ensuing elation, she failed to get a purchase on the roof with her bladed shoes, and slid right off the edge into the street just as Argus leaped, smirking, from a broken window across from her.  Though an unorthodox and jarring landing left Ni a little worse for wear, she arrived at the ground approximately at the same time as Argus, and shouted in triumph, [color=A4DDED]”I have you nyow!”[/color]

The very next instant, a hairbrush bopped her on the head.  Ni flinched visibly, almost falling over in a mixture of pain and fright, and looked to the sky to see a wardrobe plummeting straight toward her.  Yowling, Ni instinctively summoned her axe and wildly swung it in a semicircle arc, partially cutting and partially crushing the wooden container and sending it flying off to the side in a hail of splinters.  [color=A4DDED]”Son of a bitch!”[/color] she thundered, and moved quickly to pull out a splinter with her teeth before she changed her mind.  A moment later she remembered about Argus and looked around, but there was no flash of crimson to be seen.  Ni's tail drooped, and in frustration she took another swing at the ruined wardrobe, turning it into equal parts matchsticks, shredded rags, and firewood.  Hissing, she stalked off, dreading the report she'd have to give.  The Generals wouldn't be pleased that she'd allowed a recruit to escape and rampage through the city, not one bit.

[center][h3][color=d8bfd8]Nero the Genie – Bold Tone Creamery[/color][/h3]
[@invisible man][@liferusher][@CirusArvennicus][/center]

A mischievous grin greeted Eve's joking promise of retribution.  [color=d8bfd8]”Heh, I'll look forward to it.”[/color]  Her concurrence with the plan of allowing Ayame to play leader for awhile came as expected, and the dark mage had already turned to face his little companion by the time she intoned his name.

The commonplace mirth of Nero relented before a facade of solemnity when Ayame turned her stuttering speech on him.  Her mention of her magic, a simultaneous apology for and identification of it, did not rouse any particular concern within the Genie.  From the moment he partnered with the young, vulnerable girl two months ago, he'd suspected her to be hiding some sort of trump card, and magic seemed like just the thing.  Why would someone so timid and weak decide to risk trusting him otherwise...unless his rhetoric alone, by some undeveloped virtue of the language, convinced her?  Her request, though, bothered him.  Seconds ticked by with the cloud of contemplative silence looming over him, and in that time his expression fully betrayed his doubt.  Finally, after listening to the two cents Eve had to offer for Ayame, and admiring once again the faith that the Necromancer had in him and his wisdom, Nero responded.

[color=d8bfd8]”Eve is not at any more of a disadvantage than she was previously, that's for certain.  I'd wager she's even better off.  Ayame, why do ya feel pressured to change too?  You're frail and skittish, aren't they disadvantage enough?  Everyone's got issues, kid, some are just better at hidin' it.”[/color]  A moment passed while he took a deep breath and folded his fingers together.  [color=d8bfd8]”That said, I won't turn down the wish of a friend.  If ya insist on bein' changed, I'll make ya as tall as I am.  Freakishly tall, for your age.  Then you can't hide behind me anymore.  Do ya want that?”[/color]

What was taking Trinity and Karn so long, anyway?