Avatar of Burthstone
  • Last Seen: 4 yrs ago
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    1. Burthstone 10 yrs ago

Status

Recent Statuses

6 yrs ago
Current Wow I couldn't be bothered to do anything this past weekend holy damn.
7 yrs ago
Me: "I can't afford a Nintendo Switch" Also me: "Yes I would like two of every DLC for every game I own please."
3 likes
7 yrs ago
I've somehow only watched an hour of youtube in two hours of watching youtube. Man being sick sucks.
1 like
7 yrs ago
Hey, I made my own avatar this time!
7 yrs ago
Finally got my financial aid for college!
3 likes

Bio

Name: Burthstone || Zzyriphian

Age: 21

Schooling: 2-Year Degree

Occupation: I wish

Country: United States of America

First Language: English (USA)

Other Languages: Welsh (Introductory)

Preferred Units of Measure: Metric/SI (Imperial accepted)

Most Recent Posts


Tenrou Island

@MarshiestMallow@Crimson Raven@Hatakekuro@t2wave@Burthstone@Demon Shinobi@LightningMaiden@Joshua Tamashii@Oblivion666@Lunarlord34@YipeeXD

Mayt's plan didn't work. Of course it didn't work, and Lazarus payed for it. He watched the light-slayer get slammed in the back and stepped on before he could get close enough to deflect the attack with the spell he had prepared. Cursing, Mayt drew his shortsword from his side and readied himself to try something stupid. "Shape Origin: Reinforce Inanimate," the weapon he now held in his hand now turned black with his magic, becoming effectively another way to extend his magic. Maybe, just maybe, if he could get enough amplified motion on it it could cut the dragon...

Then all the sudden the fighting stopped, the dragon pulled its foot off Lazarus. Mayt looked around, trying to find the source of the disturbance, and realized everyone was looking at a strange-looking dark haired wizard. Having failed every history class he ever took, and having not been too entwined with the fear of magic until his adulthood, he didn't recognize the man until several other people had said his name. Zeref. That sounds familiar. Was he the guy that made all those demons and made everyone terrified of magic? Was that it? The power level matches up, if nothing else, being able to control dragons like that, but shouldn't someone like that be dead? Maybe he's just that guys descendant. Yeah, that makes more sense Mayt lowered his sword and waved to the man. "Hey, thanks for stopping the dragons, they were giving some of us a run for our money," Mayt finished saying this just as he noticed Ariel dive bombing 'Zeref' like a meteor. Without realizing it, he started taking quick steps forward towards the two. He would never get there before Ariel did, but perhaps he could catch her if she was knocked away, or stop her blast from hitting other people, or just do something to improve the situation.

Tenrou Island

@Silver Fox@CitrusArms

Mithera clutched Karn's chimera form tightly when the red dragon first appeared, fear and excitement overcoming her and causing her to practically freeze on his back. When Karn turned into a dragon, Mithera began to feel a scream of fear rise in her throat, but it was knocked out of her before it could start as Karn slammed into the fire dragon. By the time Trinity had taken her magical jump off of dragon-Karn, Mithera was gripping him so tightly that his scales she was cutting her arms and legs, holding herself in place while the two gargantuan beasts fought. It wasn't until her friend was thrown off the dragon that the shape shifter was dislodged, leaving bloodstains on Karn's back. Mithera's battered form hit the ground and knocked the air out of her and sending her rolling across the rocky soil.

The white haired sorceress just laid in among the rocks where she had stopped, shaking from the effort of holding onto Karn so tightly. Her long-time practice with her magic kicked in and began forcing her lacerations closed so that she would stop bleeding, allowing her to use a large boulder to help herself stand up. With due effort, Mithera was able to stand up in time to see everyone fighting what was now five- five- dragons. She let out a gasp of fear and desperation, knowing there was nothing right now she could do to help. Her magic was too slow to act, and even if it was instant like Karn's, none of her forms could even do enough to be a nuisance in damage. Following her instinct to flee, and her feeling of uselessness, the transformation mage turned and began quickly making her way away from the fight. A little unsteady from the stress and bruising of her fall, she occasionally had to balance herself on various rocks and debris, before sitting down behind a boulder. She was out of view of the dragons, and hopefully far enough away that any collateral damage wouldn't reach her.

Then the sounds of fighting stopped. Still shaking, and now crying as she came down off the hormonal high, Mithera stood up and looked around the rock to see what was happening. The dragons had stopped attacking, and there seemed to be a man. From where she was she couldn't make out who it was, other than the black hair. She could, however, see that some of her friends had been battered somewhat. Lazarus was on the ground, others were visibly panting. Mithera took a sobbing breath and sat down behind the rock again, gripping herself and wishing she had more offensive magic, and vowing to learn how to use a weapon of some kind.

Tenrou Island

@MarshiestMallow@Crimson Raven@Hatakekuro@t2wave@Burthstone@Demon Shinobi@LightningMaiden@Joshua Tamashii@Oblivion666@Lunarlord34@YipeeXD

Mayt did his best, practically dancing around the red dragon trying to keep up with the people attacking it and its attacks, but he was only one man. Even so, he kept a few of the dragon's incidental attacks- his tail swinging around when he turned to face Karn for example, from connecting with anyone with a Energy Redirect. He had watched Jack suck up the dragon's fire while sitting up from being blown back, having just come from stopping the fire breath that had incinerated the mercury spears from doing too much damage with a Reduce: heat, and learning the hard way that there was more to that than just temperature. Brushing himself off, Mayt got to his feet as more dragons descended and joined the fray. He scrambled to his feet and glanced around for where he could help, just in time to avoid some of the backlash from Hunter blocking the shadow dragon's roar from hitting Sasha and Jack.

No time to dwell on that though, he flinched at the beam of light catching the edge of his vision, and turned to look as Lazlo finished consuming the last of it, and Ferrin began engaging. He glanced between the light dragon and the shadow dragon, and an idea pinged in his head. Cupping his hands over his mouth he shouted. "Lazlo, Ferrin, get that light dragon to roar at me!" Turning towards the light dragon he shouted again. "Hey! You! No not you rusty! The lame white one over there! Who wears white after the start of fall? You look like an ignoramus!" He started quickly backpedaling away from the dragon, trying to draws it attention. "You should just crawl back to wherever you spawned from you big ugly newt!" He looked away to where the shadow dragon was being engaged, then up towards the sky dragon. With any luck, the light dragon would breath at him, and he would be able to redirect it into the shadow dragon. "Full redirect." he said under his breath, finding the right angle to stand to redirect the full blast of light dragon magic at the shadow dragon. He hoped. For all he knew it'd just break his magic in a heartbeat and incinerate him, but it was worth a shot.

Tenrou Island

@MarshiestMallow@Crimson Raven@Hatakekuro@t2wave@Burthstone@Demon Shinobi@LightningMaiden@Joshua Tamashii@Oblivion666@Lunarlord34

When Mayt saw the dragon, someone could've easily thought that Time Lord had accidentally cast his spell on Mayt. The S-Class, who had so far just been blithely following the rest of the group, now stood stock still. He was so... Completely dwarfed by the things presence. Sasha's and Ferrin's orders and suggestions fell onto what could be only called deaf ears. What finally brought Mayt out of his stupor was the attack of the illusory dragon, where instinct caught the mage and he put his arms out to cover as much of the area a behind him as he spoke his spell: "Reduce: Heat." This moment of action- and Sasha's scream- was enough to get his brain jump-started.

Mayt started to grab anyone he saw who was spacing out, or clearly didn't know what to do, or standing stupified, or otherwise generally not in-tune to what was going on and directing them where Sasha was saying to go. Hopefully just being gently nudged would get them moving again, as if all the rest somehow couldn't of. When the Dragon broke out of the time spell Mayt changed his patterns so that he could keep an eye on the dragon, but continued with what he was doing until everyone was moving with the rest of the group, and followed only just ahead of Sasha.

Then, as was expected, the dragon broke out of the spell Time Lord had put on it, and the dragonslayers started attacking. Mayt wanted to shout at them to come back, but when Ferrin started rushing back into the fray he realized that anything like that was futile, and jogged towards them himself. As Ferrin's Ice nova finished Mayt almost shouted something about how they ought to not go all out here if there's going to be more fights later, and instead ducked quickly over to Hunter Jorgenson. "I'm going to keep its attacks at bay you focus on taking it down," he said quickly, and shifted stance as he now watched the dragon. He was going to try and interpose himself in the way of any attack the dragon made and either nullify it or throw it back at the dragon if he could. And while athletically he probably couldn't keep up with the dragon slayers or Ferrin, the beast itself should be slow enough moving he could get somewhere in the way. Hopefully.

And hopefully the energy the beast could put out wouldn't just overwhelm him.

Tenrou Island

@MarshiestMallow@Crimson Raven@Hatakekuro@t2wave@Burthstone@Demon Shinobi@LightningMaiden@Joshua Tamashii@Oblivion666@Lunarlord34


Mayt had stayed out of most of the conversation as to what would make a good plan. That wasn't his forté and there were plenty of smart wizards in the group. Instead he focused on taking in the surrounding area and trying to figure out what he could about the island from where they were. That was definitely a dragon roar, so there is at least one. Possibly more given how the others are talking. What are the capabilities of a dragon? He wondered, musing. [i][color=50c878]What does it take to hurt one? Is my magic powerful enough to manipulate theirs? If I overexert myself in my enhancements, could I actually lay a painful blow on one? Or does it have to be slayer magic?[/i][/color] These were probably all questions he should've asked before they reached the island, he realized now, but were good none the less. Mayt walked around the group over to Zero, careful not to walk through any conversations.

"Hey, uh..." Crap what was his name again? Clearing his throat, Mayt spoke again. "Hey, are you and the other dragonslayer the only ones that can actually hurt dragons? Or is it just it's much easier for you two?" Hearing Trinity call out at the group as Karn tried to scale the cliff, his hand instinctively went to the hilt of his sword. "And we should probably try to catch them before they get themselves hurt. Though Ferrin is a bit concerning too."

Tenrou Island

@Silver Fox@CitrusArms

Mithera had woken up before Karn had reached the beach, but she had just continued resting against her friend and trying to go back to sleep. She didn't perk up and start trying to figure out what was going on until the dragon roar. Part of her shared Karn's immediate excitement, but the other part of her was afraid, remembering how powerful Hemlock was. She has just raised her hand to touch the necklace the poison dragon had given her to reassure herself when Trinity tackled Karn and nearly knocked her off his back. Oof she grunted when she hit the ground, trapped between the two forms. When Trinity got up initially, Mithera was clearing her head and preparing to do the same, when Karn began strapping her to his back.

"Actually, I think that-" she began, before Karn transformed into his chimera form and took off. She yelped at each bound, trying to pull herself as close as she could to Karn's back, gripping his fur for dear life. "K-Karn! Wait! You don't know where you're going you're going to get all three of us lost and hurt! You don't know if these dragons are friendly!" She tried to pull his mane towards the rest of the group, which she had spotted to their side. "A-at least let me get my bearings!"

Tenrou Island

@MarshiestMallow@Crimson Raven@t2wave (And whomever else can see Mayt)
Mayt was impressed as the boat he was helping row approached the island. Unlike the other members of his guild he didn't feel the turmoil, the destruction or the constant combat between the dark and the light magics. He instead felt the weight of the magic- an ocean, trying to drown him before he got to land. Before long his body was crying out in aches as he struggled against the unseen current, muscles working hard to slog through the molasses. His throat clogged and made it impossible to breath, his eyes lost focus, sweat beaded on his forehead just from the effort of turning his head to look around. Just as it reached an apex, so thick Mayt wouldn't have been surprised if he hit a wall, the air released its stranglehold on him. In hopes of relieving the pain of not breathing, Mayt took several deep breaths and grabbed his chest. The boat he was on reached shore before Mayt's breath had returned, and his shirt now had clear sweat lines.

Mayt climbed off the boat and stood on the shore, surveying his surroundings surely as much as they were surveying him. He could still feel the magic in the air. It wasn't as oppressive as it had been mere moments prior, fortunately. He made his way over to where Sasha had landed just as the shaking of the island began. He braced himself where he stood as well as he could, but ended up crouching much like Sasha had. Unlike her however, when the roar hit them he fell onto his side, sitting in the wet shore. He covered his ears and closed his eyes. The roar felt like an attack, the island shouting him down for daring to think he had earned the right to so much as look at it, much less set foot on its shores. When the roar finally subsided, it took Mayt another moment to believe it. Slowly, hesitantly, he stood up again and looked at Sasha. He felt embarrassed that she had stood up to the roar while he had shied away in cowardice. He fixed his clothes, brushed himself off and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Well..." Mayt stopped and cleared his throat as his voice came out quiet, shaky, and tinny in the heavy air of the island. "Well, something isn't very happy," he observed dryly after taking a breath to clear his mind. Since Sasha seemed to know the most about what was going on, he gave her a sidelong glance before returning to scanning for any signs of trouble approaching.

Phoenix Wing Guild Hall -> Magnolia -> Boat



Mayt sighed inwardly as he heard the call that it was time to get going to Tenrou Island. Rolling his shoulders back, he stepped out of the guild hall and began walking quickly towards his apartment. Magnolia wasn't exactly huge, so it wasn't too far, but he hadn't thought it through when he leased the place and it was in the exact opposite direction of the train station as the guild hall. He stepped in, packed up what he thought he would need for a few days of being out of town, and began the walk towards the train station. He wasn't really looking forward to spending the next few days with a number of other guild members, fearing the looks he might get from the members who didn't know who he was even though he was S-Class. He hadn't become nearly as famous as Penny 'The Phoenix' or Damian 'The Blade of Phoenix Wing.' Maybe that was because he didn't have some kind of gimmick that people could latch on to. More likely it was because he didn't really announce it anymore.

Mayt stopped at a food stall about four blocks away from his home and ordered some food to go. Maybe I should just leave Phoenix Wing, he thought. Phoenix Wing had become more of a hiring agency to him rather than the family it was for everyone else anyway. He certainly wouldn't be the first wizard to work solo, or as part of a mercurial group. At the very least, he'd no longer have to keep phoning it in as an officer of the guild. The stall owner produced the food Mayt had asked for, and he took it with a polite smile and returned to walking towards the train station. If was going to quit, it at least wouldn't be today.

On his way to the part of town with the train station, Mayt took a small detour to another set of apartments. He went inside the building and up to the stairs to the room, and knocked gently. After a few moments he knocked again, a little louder. He stood there for an awkward amount of time before the door opened to reveal a middle-aged woman, who looked up at him. She had brown hair that flowed down to her shoulders, and dark green eyes that matched Mayt's almost exactly. "Hey mom, how's it going?" The woman just smiled and gave her son a hug before answering.

"Pretty good overall. I've got a regular job now so I can pay my own rent, and I'm getting to see my son more often than I used to," she said, giving Mayt a smile and stepping out of the doorway so that he could come in.

"Yeah, uh, sorry, but I'm actually about to head out again. I just wanted to stop by so you wouldn't worry about me. I'm apparently going on this expedition to this place called Tenrou Island. I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, but I wanted to let you know before I left."

"Alright," Mayt's mother said quietly, thinking and resting her hand on the inside wall next to the door. Her hand glowed slightly with a magic circle and a small window of archive magic appeared above it. She read over it quickly, before standing back up straight and giving her son another hug. "Be safe, and be careful, okay? Keep with a buddy." Mayt raised an eyebrow. "What? If you're going it means they think it's going to be dangerous enough to bring at least one S-class, and I know you're in the awful habit of doing things by yourself," his mother said, putting her hands on her hips and staring him in the eye. Mayt chuckled.

"Alright mom. I promise I'll stick with someone once we get to the island. I'll see you when I get back," Mayt began to turn away to head back towards the train station. He wanted to stay longer, but he knew the train wasn't exactly going to wait for him, and neither Damian nor Penny seemed like the kind of person to cross right now.

"I await the story when you get back. Seriously though, do be careful," she said before finally closing the door and resuming her day. Mayt just nodded to himself as he took the stairs down and out of the building, and began the walk towards the train station. His mother's words in his head and a lunch bag in his hand. He tried to make a short list of potential buddies to keep- for the sake of his mother- but it ended up being pointless as he realized he wasn't even sure who was going.

When Mayt reached the station he boarded the train with the other Phoenix Wingers without much more than waving or saying 'hey' to anyone. He sat on his own for the trip, entertaining himself with a combination of staring out the window, staring confused at Mithera and Karn, and telling himself to stop thinking about his position in the guild. The train trip went without incident, as did boarding the boat (mostly). Once on board Mayt put his stuff away in what seemed like a convenient space for it to be in before heading up to the deck and finding a place to sit and watch the waves. He was content to let everyone else mingle and have fun while he watched the ocean roll by.
Link to previous post

Crocus Restauraunt
(Collabed with @MarshiestMallow) Mentions: @SilverFox@CirusArvennicus (Last paragraph)
Mithera wrung her hands as Jarvis subtly suggested that he didn't entirely believe her. "I d-don't know about them not being generous," she half-mumbled, stammering slightly. "I mean, they did cover Royse and I's medical bills. They could've had their own reward that we didn't know about, or maybe they just like Phoenix Wing enough that they're happy to help?" She glanced at the door to the kitchen, hoping maybe the server was coming back out and could serve as a distraction. No such luck. "As for why Royse went back without me, uhm... I wanted to stay here and get something to eat, and she wanted to go home, so I gave her that lacrima you gave me and sent her home. D-didn't she tell you everything else that happened?"

Jarvis stayed silent for a moment or two, as if giving Mithera a chance to tell him the full story. When it didn't seem like she would, Jarvis sighed. He wasn't necessarily angry, as he was... saddened she didn't trust him. "Medical bills. Why do I get the feeling that Royse's injuries were a lot less then yours?" He said in a soft tone, watching her, "And that you sent her on ahead so that we wouldn't worry?" he raised a brow, as if asking that he was right before continuing, "I just want to know that you are okay."

"I mean..." Mithera began, rubbing her left arm. She winced when her thumb ran over a bruise she hadn't realized was there. "You know my magic Jarvis, right? What might be fatal to someone else isn't fatal to me," she couldn't meet his gaze. "So, relatively, Royse was hurt a lot worse than I was. Y-you saw her eye right?" She shot a glance up at Jarvis, before bringing it back down to the table in front of her. "But no I sent Royse on so she didn't worry about me. The, um, doctors wouldn't let me leave just yet anyway," the shapeshifter bit her lip, having not wanted to say that. Sighing, she rested her head in her hands.

"I'm going to be fine long term," Mithera finally said with some finality. "The doctors were unconvinced, but I did finally prove that I'd be fine, even if I'm not really okay at the moment. I'm... I'm just very tired right now, I couldn't sleep safely last night and I haven't eaten in like three days. Honestly this place is just the closest to the hospital," Mithera didn't meet with Jarvis' eyes and looked longingly at the kitchen door. "I'm sorry for leading you on, I just don't want anyone to worry about me."

"Mithera, we are going to worry about you, that is a given. It will always happen, same as it would for everyone else." Jarvis said, with a sigh, "If the doctors thought Royce could go, and you couldn't that means you were hurt worse then her. Don't leave us out of the loop... I don't want to lose any of my members because of that"

Mithera gave a sad little smile to Jarvis, finally meeting his gaze. She was clearly exhausted, with red eyes underlined in what easily could be bruises. "You won't, I promise next time something big like yesterday goes down you'll be the first I tell. Besides, once I get some food and sleep I'll be good as new! Then we can look for some way to get Royse a new eye," she sounded somewhat relieved, though she perked up when the waitress finally arrived with Mithera's meal- a large steak with an equally large side of vegetables. The starving wizardess barely got out a muffled thank you before beginning to shovel fork-fulls of food into her mouth. The waitress then turned to Jarvis, to see if he needed anything.

Jarvis shook his head at the waitress, leaning back in his chair. He watched Mithera a moment, sighing. "Just don't send someone back without you. It was... worrisome." he said, "And use your communication lacrima- that's what its there for, to make sure you stay safe and get help if you need it." he said kindly

"Sorry," Mithera muttered as she chowed down rapidly on her food- barely taking the time to breathe. Before the waitress even came back to check on her she had finished her meal and accompanying drink. Wiping her mouth, Mithera looked up at Jarvis and gave him a happy but tired smile. "So are we going back by Lacrima or by train?"

Watching her, Jarvis sighed softly glad that she was safe. At her question, he couldn't help but chuckle, "Why, lacrima of course. I need to be back quickly"

Mithera smiled and stood up after slipping the money for the dinner under the plate. She knew it was far more than what the meal was actually cost, but she didn't really have a convenient place to keep the money and didn't care to. She held out her hand to Jarvis "Then let's go! Is there a free room that I can take for the rest of the day?"

"Of course" Jarvis said, as he took out a lacrima, and took her hand, teleporting them back to the guild.

Mithera had to shake herself when she felt the arrival back at the guild hall. A few long days were beginning to wear on her, and the food had filled her to the brim. Through half-closed eyes, Mithera quickly scanned the room, barely acknowledging Mayt as he brushed past her. Her eyes shot open as she spotted Karn though, since she hadn't seen him almost at all in far too long. "Thank you Jarvis for bringing me back, see you later!" She said before practically loping over to Karn with an airheaded smile on her lips, wrapping her arms around the other shapeshifter as soon as they were in range. "Karn! Where have you been?" Mithera asked, seeming to not mind that she was interrupting a conversation in progress. She also didn't seem to think that Karn might not connect the tall, white-haired woman with the same little pseudodragon he knew her as.


Phoenix Wing Guild Hall

Menions: @MarshiestMallow@Zarkun



Mayt kept quiet as Penny shouted at Damian and stormed out, biting his lip. After she had left he let a long moment to pass before looking back towards Damian. "So," he said slowly. "I guess I'm the one who has to go." Adjusting his shirt, Mayt stood up and looked around the room. He wasn't sure what to say after what Penny said, and he figured arguing with Damian simply wouldn't work at this point. Damian was still obviously the better choice in his opinion, but if he already had another commitment... "I will tell Jamie and go pack then," he said as he reached the door, pulling it open into the noise of the guild hall. "See you later Damian."

Mayt fixed his coat as he began walking across the guild hall, closing the door behind him. He nearly ran into Mithera as she and Jarvis reappeared in the guild hall, but all it took was some careful maneuvering and a quiet "Pardon me," to avoid any confrontation. He then made his way over to where Jamie was talking to someone, and leaned over to speak quietly. "Hey, uh, apparently I'm going to Tenrou with you all. If you need me I'm going home to get ready, ok?"
Crocus Restauraunt
@Caits


"O-oh hey Jarvis!" Mithera said, surprised. She had been distracted watching the door to the kitchen, the glass of what had been water was bare save for a few bits of ice, one of which she was now chewing on. Monika hadn't been back to refresh her drink yet, which wasn't unexpected considering how fast she had sucked it down. "I, uh, know that you can cook but I didn't want to wait until I got back to eat. Besides, I never got to explore Crocus and its cuisine the last time I was here!" She gave him a mostly honest smile. "Do you want anything? I'm sure the waitress is willing to take your order too, she seems nice. My treat," Mithera sneakily showed off a pair of 5000 jewel bills.

"The Knights gave me 'em after I got- err," Mithera hesitated a moment, almost admitting she had been in the hospital. She didn't really want to tell Jarvis about how badly she had really been injured, since she was sure it would be a bunch of unnecessary fawning over her health. She was certain she going to be fine, eventually that was. Ignoring the pain in her left arm she kept speaking. "After Royse got the payment for the job we came here for and went back. I was planning on just walking back, but a very kind fella gave me this so that I could get a bite to eat and take the train home! Though with you here I guess we'll be taking a lacrima back?"

Phoenix Wing Guild Hall - @Caits@Zarkun




Mayt listened quietly to Damian and Penny speaking, not really daring to mention that he couldn't think of more than a dozen of his guildmate's names off the top of his head. He couldn't even really say at how many people had joined since he had last left from a job, which he thought ought to be the bare minimum of someone who's supposed to be a leader in the guild. He though of Sasha, who he remembered telling him on one of his first days how she tried to remember everyone's names. And how she now was taking on serious responsibilities for the guild, and the world. She would make a much better S-Class than he would in many respects. Maybe that was what Penny's point was.

When Damian changed topics to who was going to Tenrou, Mayt quietly appreciated it, though he didn't say anything. Penny then mentioned that there was a possibility of a dragon being there- something Mayt had apparently missed previously- and he looked to Damian. "Well, if there's a dragon, or a possibility of one, wouldn't you be the best choice to go Damian? Since you've got Durendal, not to mention your talent of keeping your head," he suggested. Mayt also began compiling a list in his head of all the other reasons why Damian would be a much better choice to go to on a dangerous mission than himself. One of the foremost being that he wouldn't have a clue as to what to do.





Crocus


Mithera did her best to walk normally down the street, a small group of bills folded in her hand. It was an amount (Mithera wasn't sure if it was large or small) of money that the Rune Knights had given her as a reward for catching the slaver criminals. Her plan was to use it to get some food- the doctors hadn't let her eat, so her only food in the past twenty-four hours had been Royse's ice cream- and then to get a train ticket home. First, though, she wanted to find a place to sit. Fighting all those baddies in that old building had taking far more of a toll on her than even she initially realized (Especially after she had spent hours in surgery- which she had specifically not told Royse), and even walking down the street had left her breathing audibly. Hope came in a small restaurant that Mithera immediately slipped into once she saw it was open. She sat down in one of the padded seats that were there for when customers had to wait to be seating.

It was slightly into the afternoon at this point, and the lunch rush was mostly over. This left the host rather confused, and once they finished wishing the last group of people out, they looked at Mithera quizzically. "I'm a customer, don't worry," she said, giving him a polite smile. "I just... Need a moment. It's been a long week," the host chuckled and nodded, offering a sympathetic platitude. She sat there, taking the room in. It was a fairly nice-looking place. Hopefully not so nice she needed a reservation, but the food smelled good and the atmosphere was quaint. The pictures and artifacts hung up on the wall clearly were meant to indicate that the establishment was trying to emulate another culture, but Mithera wasn't sure which one. Once she had been looking around for some minutes, the host politely cleared his throat, reminding her of where she was. She blushed and stood up, letting herself be lead to a seat. The place had mostly cleared out by now, and the host sat her in a nice booth by the window, leaving her with a menu.

It was scarcely a minute before the waitress, a young woman with long curly brown hair and beautiful green eyes approached Mithera. "Good morning miss, I'm Monika and I'll be your waitress today. Can I get you something to drink while you decide what you want to eat?" They asked with a polite smile. Mithera bit her lip, and after an awkward moment spoke.

"Could I have water to drink, and uh... I can't read the menu," she stated hesitantly, feeling horribly embarrassed. Monika nodded as she wrote on her little notepad.

"Okay, would you like me to read it to you or find someone who can?" She asked, keeping her cheerful demeanor and polite smile.

"Actually, I'll just have whatever has the most... food in it. I'm not a picky eater," Mithera said, examining the pictures of food on the cover of the menu

"That would be our 32 ounce rib-eye steak, is that okay?" Monika asked, clearly not certain Mithera could eat that by herself.

"Yeah that sounds good," Mithera said, nodding. The waitress wrote that down, clearly impressed on some level. The two then quickly worked out the sides and other parts of the meal before Monika departed with notes and menu in hand. The Phoenix Wing mage leaned back in her seat in eager anticipation of her meal to come.
Mithera and Royse
Go to Crocus!

Yesterday
(A collab between myself and @Noodles that should've been posted a while ago)
| Last Post before the Collab here |

Mithera yelped awake as she heard ribbits, and immediately noticed it was much later in the day. "Ah poop," she said as she began standing up before noticing the ice cream cone. Glancing around, she picked it up and the note underneath. After staring at it blankly for a few moments she stuffed it in a cranny to hold it and starting licking the ice cream. Taking a breath to realize it was rather chilly out, her floral dress suddenly changed colors from pink-with-white highlights to a dark blue with lighter blue highlights, as well as added a poncho-like piece around her shoulders to cover her arms down to the elbow. The neckline also quickly clambered up to just below Mithera's chin. This transformation caught the attention of a bystander, who Mithera quickly conscripted to read the note for her and tell her where Royse had gone. Fortunately they had seen the other Phoenix Winger leave the ice cream and gave Mithera the general direction that they had gone. The pale shapeshifter thanked them and went to catch up with Royse, making progress on her ice cream the whole time.

In no time Mithera had caught up with Royse, despite the busy streets of Crocus. "H-hello!" She called nervously once she was within a few feet. Ungracefully, the much taller woman stumbled into step with Royse. "Uhm. Thanks for the ice cream, though it is a bit chilly for it," she said.. She shifted her ice cream to her left hand before offering her right to Royse. "I uh, don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Mithera." Royse would undoubtedly notice that Mithera's arms and other visible skin below the neck was covered in short but thick white fur, a recently acquired feature. The shapeshifter was so into the habit of adapting to her environment that she didn't notice she had grown herself fur when she was supposed to be posing as human.

How did you find--- Royse quickly dismissed her question that she was about to ask when she realises Mithera must have asked the passer-bys. Personally, she had wished that she could be hidden under the shadows a bit longer, 'cause she doesn't like to feel indebted to others.

"Its nothing much~ I'm Royse, but I think you would know that by now ~" Royse, shook Mithera's hand, biting on the last bit of her chocolate ice cream cone. "Oh, so that's your magic~" She looked at Mithera's furry hands and asked rather nonchalantly.

"I'm doing a quest currently, so feel free to tag along if you like, after all, its easier to complete with more numbers ~" Royse continued to the slums after giving an open invitation for Mithera. What she said was only true to a certain extent, although it indeed makes the whole quest easier with more numbers on the overall, it makes the first part of her quest harder to finish for Royse. That part on gathering information and setting up the bait. Though, it might be better on the overall as long as I get an opportunity, numbers are best needed for part 2...

The slums felt like home to Royse, the sight of those tattered housing are ever familiar to a girl like her. She walked to the area where there are more kids around playing, sitting along a tree while blending in the surroundings. Her age and her frugal clothing wouldn't make her stand out that much, as she acted like a big sister watching over the kids. She is aiming for those small fries, she knew nothing about the organisation, and those people are the easiest to capture.

"And speak of the devil..." Royse noticed an unfamiliar person who seemed foreign to the slums closing by.

Mithera smiled as Royse shook her hand, but blushed when she mentioned her magic. "Oh yeah, I'm a transformation mage. Sorry about the, uhm, hairy hand. It's cold out," Mithera gave the younger girl a weak smile as the fur rapidly disappeared from her body. She nodded when Royse mentioned she was on a quest, continuing to walk besides her. "What is the quest?" Mithera asked as they stopped to watch the kids. Unlike Royse, who seemed fine here, the shapeshifter stood out. Her clean, light-colored dress, unusual height, and uneasy demeanor made her clearly seem like she didn't belong here. She didn't get an answer before Royse noticed someone strange and commented on it. Mithera glanced at the person, before looking back at Royse and trying to make it look like she hadn't noticed the stranger.

"Uhm, I guess, you lead the way, okay? I'll just be support."

Royse ~
The slaver stopped to a halt as soon as he saw Mithera, an unfamiliar person that was clearly not from this slums. Better fall back this time, seems like those council Knights, but as long as I don't do anything I wouldn't be arrested, they aren't able to tell us apart from the slum kids... Sensing something amiss, the slaver turned back, as he tries to leave the scene quietly.

"That's the slaver, capture him alive."

Royse hissed, taking out a bow and sent an arrow towards that slaver's leg. The act of that slaver turning back adruptly had made it more obvious to a former slum girl like Royse. She had initially planned for a surprise unsuspected ambush, but this situation would work somehow, as the slaver has already entered her arrows reach, and firing at someone from their backs is as good as a still target. But, she is eager to know if that slaver is smart enough to have any magical defenses prepared. It isn't wise turn your backs against your prey ~

Mithera blinked. Slaver? Regardless of her confusion however, she lurched forward like a puppet on a string at Royse's command. After the arrow struck the slaver Mithera would tackle him. Though, if the man was big enough, Mithera wouldn't be able to knock him over with her skinny body. She wasn't really all that good at fighting in her human form. If she were a wolf or something, it'd be easy to take this guy down, but the best Mithera could do was wrap her arms around his neck and pull with all her weight. However, the element of surprise made it easy to bring him down. Once he was on the grown, however, Mithera just looked at Royse for further instruction. The slaver didn't seem to have any magic defensive or anything, and he seemed too surprised to cast anything before he was on the ground and had his arms pinned down-if he was able to cast at all. Mithera thought about it, and figured that he probably had some memory charm magic if he did this thing regularly.

"Uh, what now?" The pale woman asked, her shallow blue eyes watching Royse. She wasn't sure how long this slaver was going to stay down without a fight, and she really hoped her new companion had a plan.

"Just restrain him, I will tie him up." Royse took out a rope, and began wrapping up the slaver from the arms to the legs. She was still alert and cynical to the whole thing, because the whole process of capturing a slaver seemed way too easy to complete, even for a small fry. But, that's likely due to having higher numbers. From how it looks from the outside, the unprofessionality of tying up some stranger older than both of them in the broad daylight makes it look more like a kids' squabble than actual kidnapping. Adding to that fact that this is the slums, the process has gone smoothly without question nor inteference.

Royse dragged the slaver down the back alley, until she found one of the abandoned shacks. That shabby shack was the usual of worn-out chairs and table. Dusting away the chair, she did her usual of searching the slaver's belongings before making a couple more knots between him and the chair.

"Whew---" Royse sat on the table, stretching out her elbows after finishing the menial labours. Her 'part 1' is mostly complete, all that is left is for Mithera to be out of the picture, to ensure the smooth gathering of information from that slaver.

"Apologies for our crude invitation Mister~ We have received words of missing childrens from the slums, having being 'escorted' to a faraway place for slavery. Reports and Evidences have shown clearly that you're one of those dealers, so we would prefer to have your utmost corporation, Sir."

Royse crossed her legs but broke the eye contact after ending her formal sarcastic undertone. Her eyes rolled towards Mithera, showing a gentle smile like she always did. "I'm thirsty, go buy me a drink~ I'll do a bit of questioning in the meantime ~ Oh, and I prefer lemonade~" Royse casually flipped a coin toward Mithera. "And here is the quest paper if you're interested, didn't mentioned much about it back then, 'cause there might be rats around ~" She also handled the quest paper that she took down back at Phoenix Wing Guild.

Mithera nodded when Royse told her to just keep the slaver restrained, and did so. Once he was all tied up, Mithera helped carry/drag him to wherever Royse was leading. The shapeshifter was content to just follow the other girl's lead, especially since she seemed real confident, which Mithera certainly wasn't. She was glad, at least, that the slaver seemed totally confused. Probably would keep him of thinking up a good plan for at least a little while. He did try to scream at one point, which lead to Mithera ripping a petal off of her dress and stuffing it in his mouth. Royse wouldn't have had the time to comment on the damage to the dress- whether or not she had intended to- before the pale shapeshifter had produced a new one.

When they had arrived at their destination and tied up the slaver, Mithera yet again turned to Royse for the next set of instructions. She looked rather confused, and a little insulted, when Royse told her to just go and get a drink. Though what really offended Mithera was the manner in which it was asked. She had no issue going and getting drinks for them, but a please or a thank you or at least asking it instead of telling. Shrugging it off, Mithera caught the coin. Though when the piece of paper with the quest on it was offered the woman didn't take it.

"I can't read. You'll just have to tell me later when we get a moment alone," she said without much hesitation, her otherwise cheery tone coming in just a little bit flat. "I'll be back in a jiffy with some drinks though!" She gave Royse a half-hearted smile before leaving the building. She was bound to be back in no time though, and if Royse wanted to get the info out of the man before the mostly-bubbly shapeshifter got back she would have to work fast.

Nothing happened in the two minutes, the shack was silent other than words like "I don't know what you're talking about" coming out of that slaver's mouth. A response like that is obviously expected, but that two minutes of silence serves a purpose for Royse to ensure that Mithera is far enough, and time for Royse to prepare on what's coming next. Hope that you'll be prepared as well...

"You enslave kids, so now this is fair business. No hard feelings, just remember that there are repercussions on shady jobs like this even in the Underworld. Personally, you would've been better off arrested by the Council."

Royse showed a gleeful smile, as she got off the table and approached the restrained slaver. One of the slaver's fingers went away with one chop from Royse's knife, then she stabbed the slaver's arm, twisting the wound purposefully. Screams from the slaver echoed in agony through the abandoned shack. "I'll give you 10 more seconds to give me a more constructive answer, starting from now. 10, 9, 5, 0. I'm Sorry, Time's up~" Royse drew the Knife dripping in blood as she proceeded to slice off another finger. Blood oozes out profusely from the left arm of the slaver. So much noise pollution over here... Royse thought, piercing his arm and leaving it in the fresh wound.

"So, who is your boss, and where is your hideout? We regret to inform that we don't have any racks, so I will be stitching up your wound in a while, starting with your problematic eye~"

Royse threaded her needle and started stitching up the slaver's eyelids, 'accidentally' piercing the cornea of that eye on a few occasions. The white thread quickly turned red, and Royse wasn't sure whether the slaver was crying or bleeding. Sewing that eye shut, Royse eagerly finished off with a flowery stitch. She wasn't good at sewing, so she wouldn't want to waste this opportunity on practicing.

With the slaver bleeding from head to toe, Royse's hand was dyed with droplets of the slaver's spilled blood. She didn't feel anything bad about this, since she had been doing this a couple of times and got used to it, also that slaver is a bad guy who is just getting his deserts. The slaver would probably break and spill the beans by now, or she have other ways of further torturing that slaver, she had left the left side untouched for a good reason.

"Oh, and most importantly, how do you contact with your boss? Letter, mouth or lacrima?"

Mithera was humming softly when she returned, a paper bag with a logo stamped on it in one hand and a pair of persperating drinks on a tray in the other. Her humming stopped when she saw the man in the chair, and she only sighed slightly before going to the table and setting it down. "I also grabbed a bite of food with the drinks, since I'm feeling pretty hungry and figure you might be too," she took a sip from one of the two drinks she had. "I got you lemonade, but if you don't like it you can have my water," she sat on the table and began picking at some of the french fries she had gotten herself as the man metaphorically spilled his guts. Once he had told the two of them everything he knew- which admittedly wasn't much, as he was merely a grunt. He apparently only communicated with his boss indirectly, and only in one direction. Not too helpful, but it gave them another link in the chain they could climb up. Once he was done Mithera looked at Royse.

"By the way, I'm pretty sure Phoenix Wing frowns on leaving people physically disfigured," the shapeshifter said plainly. "Besides, there are much more effective ways of torturing someone than physical pain. Especially when, as wasn't the case here, the subject realizes their own boss would do much worse to them when they found out they had squeeled," she finished off her drink, giving the man tied to the chair a knowing look. "So, what are we gonna do with him before we run off to find the fella he gets his orders from?"

"Thanks! That french fries is appreciated~" Royse wiped her bloodstained hands with a napkin, taking a sip on the lemonade.

"They kidnap childrens and smuggle them to faraway countries and force them to do what they don't want to. So, there's a saying called what comes around goes around, and what I did is pretty justified if you ask me ~" She took a bite on the french fries and talked casually without any sense of guilt, as if she was doing the right thing.

"But, on what you said, its pretty true in a way. My original plan is to question and scrap those slavers, and put those corpses into a nice parcel. I'm empty-handed here with no racks or maidens, and I wouldn't like to waste too much magic on that. And if they refuse to say anything I will just do the usual to cut their tongue & just mutilate them. With a couple of packages mailed to the boss, we would anger him and hopefully he would appear here. If he don't, I won't mind having a slaughterhouse here, and eventually over time we would get more than enough information on the whole organization ~"

"That's the plan I was originally going to follow, or we could just storm in based on the information that slaver gave to us, but it might be a trap. But for now, I owe you one for the food, so I'll be going with your decision. After all, I'm supposed to trust my guildmates ~ And as for that slaver, your choice, you can dispose him or you can spare him, but I would be happy to see him have his hands chopped away, so he wouldn't be able to capture innocent childrens for the rest of his life ~" Royse ate a burger, talking with ease and a friendly smile, completely disregarding the slaver, now that he have proven his uselessness.

"First things first," Mithera would say through a pair of fries. "We're not going to kill anyone. I'm sure we can sniff out the boss without resorting to that- Literally if we have to. For now we climb the latter, and go find the communication lines," she said, thinking about an age old fight she and Melina used to have. Melina held the stance of 'if you do to your enemies what they'd do to you, you are no better.' Mithera never entirely agreed, but she had lived in the wild for a long time, where anything you could get away with was okay. She had a feeling, however, that Jamie would side with Melina, so they should at least err on the side of caution. "The boss can't be too far up the chain. As for our buddy here, leave him tied up and we'll point a few cops down this way in a few hours. Chances are he'll go to jail for at least a decade, which I hear is pretty bad," the shapeshifter suggested as she slid back off the table. "Or, if we're feeling gutsy," Mithera leaned over to Royse's ear, and whispered so their prisoner wouldn't hear. "We could go and get ourselves kidnapped, then use our magic to get out of it and get answers."

"Sounds good, lets' go with that~" Royse stated, it can be seen from her tone of voice that she was a bit reluctant on that approach. Not because she is scared of being captured, but she felt that a 'light' torture and 10 years of imprisonment is too lenient of a punishment for dishonourable criminals like a slaver. Finishing her food and wrapping up her trash, she stood up to leave that shack.

"I'm not so good at dealing with Council Business, so after reporting him, we should be waiting at another corner of the slums~"

Royse went ahead as she pointed the general direction of where they should meet after the proper handling of the 'loose baggage'. She will just be waiting there first, to observe the situation. It wouldn't be a troublesome job, it being a different location, and I've been living in such places for most of my life ~

Mithera would nod as Royse pointed out where they would be going to next. "I would not worry about the Council, Phoenix Wing and the Council are on friendly terms," she said politely. The shapeshifter then headed back to the last authority figure she remembered seeing, reported the man, and extricated herself expertly from the law enforcement's probing questions. Mithera didn't go so far as to leave a fake name for him to follow up on, but she did make it seem like she was mostly clueless (She had also made Royse at least stay back from the officer to make it all a bit simpler). Once the slaver had been reported she made her way back to where Royse had pointed out, meeting up with the younger woman if she had decided to let Mithera report the man on their own. It was then up to Royse to decide their next step.

Royse reached slum corner after splitting up. She doesn't trust the Council that much, especially on some of her more controversial acts. Not far ahead, she saw another guy with that same eerie brown cloak that she had saw earlier. The slaver was grabbing a kid forcefully, and Royse could see two human-sized bag behind that slaver, which settles quietly like a corpse bag. They seemed to have a way of knocking them out, and hostages are troublesome... She thought, creating three Stun Arrows with her Arrow Creation Magic, drawing her bow as she fired it upon the slaver.

The arrow missed the slaver who had stepped aside amidst the kid's struggle, hitting the kid & stunning him unfortunately. Royse was relieved that the arrow she fired wasn't a lethal one, until she realises that she had attracted the slaver's notice. She drew another one of her stun arrow, holding it there as it pointed towards the slaver. "Let my brother go, or I will shoot!" She shouted to the slaver who seemed more amused than threatened.

Royse was unnerved upon realising the situation where it turned into a certain stalemate. She couldn't use normal arrows due to 3 hostages behind that slaver. And her style of combat is mostly made for killing purposes, not for rescuing hostages. For someone with eye-to-eye contact with her, she couldn't take the slaver down with just two stun arrows. To get a hit, she will need at least a few dozens, and that will exhaust most of her mana for just one person. And she is not stupid enough to not know that the slaver is not alone. Time isn't well on my side...

Royse wouldn't want to retreat in front of those kids, they are too much of a resemblance to her back as a child. Its all or nothing here... She made a swift charge at the slaver with her increased speed from her use of her Wind Magic. Holding a stun arrow, she thrusted it towards his chest.

The stun arrow hit that slaver square in the chest. It was easier than Royse had thought, the slaver didn't do as much as to dodge that attack. Thats it...? Even Royse was caught by surprise on what happened in front of her. She glanced around, and right behind her was two slavers with fully casted magical blasts. Before she could even react to this ambush, the blasts have already knocked her out, sending bruises throughout her body. Royse fell flat on the ground as she lost consciousness.

"Quite a promising mage here, she will fetch a great price at Caelum. Let's call it a day, we've struck gold this time."

The stun on the slaver has worn off after a few seconds, as the other two slavers packed Royse into one of those large bag. Mithera would have arrived by then. The slavers started packing up their products and headed for the railroad car. Turns out that a 'planned' kidnap ended up being a real one.

Mithera was getting back to their meeting place just as the slavers were putting Royse in a bag, and she ducked into an alley immediately to watch them from around the building corner. The slavers were almost all gone when the shapeshifter finally came up with a plan. She produced the two lacrima Jarvis had given her when she was last back at the guild, and swallowed them both whole, wincing as she had to make some on-the-spot accommodations for them. Once the pair of objects were safely out of reach, Mithera came out from around the corner and walked directly up to one of the slavers.

"H-hey!" She said, her nervousness apparent. "I-I saw what you did, and you better let those people go!" One of the kidnappers chuckled, the others that had heard the commotion just looked at her like she was stupid.

"And what if we don't?" Asked one boredly. A few hand motions passed around the group, and they began to carefully surround the white-haired woman. Mithera pretended not to notice.

"I-I-I'll go and get the authorities! They'll finally do something about you w-with a witness!" She began to back up like she was preparing to run, but one of the men grabbed her shoulder roughly, holding her in place. "H-hey..."

"Right. That'll happen. Now what's a girl like you- who is clearly not from around here- doing in this part of town?" The same kidnapper asked, Mithera figured he was probably the leader of this group in some sense. She didn't answer, and instead struggled against the man holding her. Once the man was sure that she wasn't going to answer his question, he gave the motion for one of them to knock her out, which was complied with immediately. They added the white-haired woman to their other baggage for the day without much ceremony.

After gathering the slaves, the slavers moved to an abandoned factory near a frieght station. An order to load the 'cargo' is issued by the leader, and the train is scheduled to depart by the end of this hour. The goods are stashed at one corner of the abandoned factory. Because the slavers know that Royse is a bit harder to control as a mage, she wasn't among the 'common goods', but instead she is at the other end of the abandoned factory, which is a bit more guarded as compared to the rest.

Royse regained consciousness, finding that her hands are shackled to the wall. The room reeks of blood.. Royse looked around, the kind of room that she has seen over couple of times, bloodstains & rotting severed limbs here and there. In front of her was the same slaver that she tried to stun before. Although she is tempted to get herself right now, her magic hasn't fully recovered yet. As cautious as Royse is, she would only fight if she is at full power. Just 10 minutes...

The slaver felt that Royse had something to do with one of the missing men out there. A short questioning will do, I can't reduce the value too much

Mithera woke up among the other kidnapped individuals, meaning they either didn't recognize the phoenix wing mark on her stomach or didn't find it. Even the most confident of criminal organizations would know better than to underestimate a mage with unknown abilities. She groaned slightly as she stood up from the ground, and gave a polite smile to the people who were looking at her before she began counting both kidnapping victims and guards. She was not confident in her final numbers however, as they were already loading people onto the train. It still came to more than she could handle, even with the element of surprise. Unless she used said surprise to free Royse, that might work. She looked to the people around her, and spoke in soft but commanding tones.

"Okay, so I'm a mage from Phoenix Wing here to free you," she made a motion to stop someone who was about to speak up before they did. "I need all you to stay quiet and hide me from sight for like, five minutes, okay?" She made eye contact with each one looking at her.

"How are we supposed to hide you from sight?" One asked.

"Just keep your bodies between me and the guard," Mithera would then sit on the floor. "Also, be forwarned, I'm a transformation mage." The kidnapping victims nodded, and turned their backs to her before forming a loose wall of bodies between her and the guards. Minutes passed, and finally the two men loading people onto the train moved up and pulled one of the people standing between them and Mithera, only to suddenly find a person-sized wolf tackling him. He started shouting as the Mithera-Wolf bit into his arm hard, before bouncing off of him and bounding away. The alarm spread slower than Mithera moved, and she had managed to find where Royse was after only six or seven minutes of searching and knocking down guards. One had barely managed to get a spell off, scoring a deep gauge across Mithera's side, but it had nearly completely closed by the time the shapeshifter was pouncing on the guard questioning Royse, biting the forearm he was defending himself with viciously. After a bit of tug of war with the man over his arm, and his fainting after seeing the damage the large wolf had already done to him, Mithera retrieved the keys to Royse's constraints with her mouth and went to give it to the wizardess so that she could free herself and they could finish clearing this place out.

"YIPEEE--- HOORAYY----" Two large arrows were eating that slaver alive, with sharp-brown jaws that open and closes repeatedly, emitting shrieking cheers & laughters. Arrow Creation: Eater. Royse right eye is tearing in blood, with clear bite marks on that eye, as if it was nibbled over and over. As the slaver was bitten to his heart literally, the two floating fishes that was beside him disappeared following his death. 6 minutes is a time longer than what Royse had thought, long enough for her to snap.

Royse stood up, with shackles that have been cut apart from her Wind Magic, prodded herself towards the door. She was silent, her remaining eye narrowed, not seemingly recognising anyone. Walking out, she casted out the same Eater arrows, propelling them with Wind Magic, as those sinister arrows started screaming towards the other slavers, seeking to eat them alive. Royse has only one thought in her mind: Kill them. Disregarding any sane thoughts, the foul way of her using her magic shows how desperately she wants them dead.

Mithera panicked when she saw what Royse was doing. She recognized the instinct immediately: Royse was an animal backed into a corner, and now that she had the upper hand that animal was going to make sure she wasn't going to backed into a corner again. That wasn't good, as Royse could accidentally hurt one of the fleeing captives, or worse. The shapeshifter wasn't about to let her self-appointed charge hurt an innocent, though it occured to her that it wasn't good to let her kill the kidnappers as well. Murder was still murder, after all. In a split second decision, that went against half a century of instinct, the white wolf that Mithera had shaped herself into leaped into Royse's back, forcing the much lighter girl to the ground.

Mithera knew that with her size she could've easily cracked or broken one of Royse's ribs; even an arm if they had tried to brace themselves. Mithera didn't spend the time to diagnose whatever damage she might've done and now used the downed girl as a springboard towards one of the men that had been approaching from the side. She surprised the man, and caught his collarbone with her mouth while he was falling back away from her, and bit down hard. The bone snapped in two with little effort, and the crack that punctuated it was followed by an ear-melting screech. Barely giving the blood spurting from the man time to hit her fur, she kicked off of him towards the next one. He was far enough away that Mithera had to take bounding steps to reach him, which was enough time to notice one of Royse's arrows biting into him. Mithera gave herself just enough time to knock away Royse's arrow before breaking his collarbone too, before throwing herself into a run at the next criminal, and so on.

Mithera went on like this through most of the guards, kidnappers, and slavers. Most of them put up more of a fight than the first few, since they knew what was coming for them. When Mithera finally padded back to Royse, panting heavily, her fur was stained as much with her own blood as with that of the criminals she had attacked. Magic Bullet holes, slashes, and burns covered much of Mithera's backs and sides, but were already visibly healing. Despite all the damage dealt to the criminals and to Mithera, however, not one was dead by eachother's hand. And if Mithera had anything to say about that, they would remain that way.

When Mithera finally sat down not far from Royse, she had made sure that her arrows hadn't begun eating anyone else. After knocking down the girl again if she was persistent, or simply sitting there and giving her a stern look for a moment, the wolf-shaped mage coughed up a communication lacrima. Mithera had created a separate not-stomach in her body to store it, but that didn't change the fact that coughing it up was exactly as gross as a hairball. Once it had been delivered to the floor of the warehouse, Mithera finally gave Royse a softer look, and a slight whine in the back of her throat asked if she had injured the girl earlier.

Royse turned back to see the white wolf that was clearly about to pounce on her. Her hands twitched as she was about to cast something, but her instincts that recognised Mithera as an ally held her back. Only for a moment, but that proved crucial enough for Mithera to restrain Royse.

The few Eater Arrows that weren't snapped apart went biting against the floor of the warehouse, with the user being still conscious but having lost the target. Royse clenched her teeth against her bleedy eye and her bruised rib. Ironically, she had been questioned by a similiar way that she used on the slaver at the slums: Her right eye had been eaten alive by conjured fishes for the whole 6 minutes from that slaver that she killed.

Her breath shortened as she showed signs of giving way to her strain of her injuries, but she held her consciousness steadily. "I'm okay," Royse finally spoke, having calmed down by the time Mithera went back.

"That guy was annoying, but whatever." Royse got herself up, getting back to her usual calm & rational way of speaking, taking a quick glimpse of the lacrima with her left eye, "So, if this quest is done now, we'll be splitting the reward, you get half the share, I get the other ~"

Royse let out a slight, but subtle smile of satisfaction.

Mithera sat there thinking for a moment once Royse had finished talking, comprehending what she had said, before using her head to point back behind her towards the general part of the building she thought there were a couple more criminals waiting. She was pretty sure she hadn't gotten quite them all, just enough that she felt relatively safe sitting where she was for a few moments. After a moment of sitting there, doing nothing but panting, Mithera picked up the lacrima in her jaws and began limping over to Royse's cell. Once she was inside the small sectioned off area she put down the lacrima, coughed up her other one, and began the transformation process.

This time it took longer than it did when she had done it earlier, entirely on account of the fact that she was now fairly badly injured. It was almost a full half-hour before Mithera was back into her human shape and standing. She no longer had any external cuts or open wounds, but there were still several large bruises that suggested bad internal injuries. By now Royse had surely mopped up any remaining baddies, and Mithera limped out of where Royse was being tortured. Once the younger mage had noticed her and came over, she spoke, though her voice was a bit strained.

"You can keep the full reward, I get by pretty fine without money to be honest. Also, go and get the Rune Knights, tell them to come here. Once you do that, go and collect the reward and use this to go back to Phoenix Wing," Mithera held out the teleportation lacrima Jamie had given her. "Just hold it and focus on the Guild Hall and it'll take you right there. Give it back to Jarvis once you do though. I'll talk to the Rune Knights here then walk back." She offered a fragile smile. "Hey, we did something good today, and made a few people's lives permanently better. Go us."

Royse bandaged her eye as Mithera spoke, she had to make herself more presentable to those Knights, and to the public.

Its over, this quest, conditions fufilled enough to claim the reward by then. She doesn't have good experiences with the Knights, because some of her methods doesn't go along with people like that, and also she doesn't trust authorities well. She'd actually hoped that she would get to the root of this, but letting the Knights knowing this would be the best course of action, there is only so much one person can do.

"No problem, check if there's someone with the name of Aiko Hajime here. I'll be going off, I'm still able to fight, its only one eye gone anyways. Even if we've yet to fufill the fine print of the quest paper."

Royse headed off for the town square, her tone sounding firm and confident, especially on her last sentence. Reaching the Rune Knight's Fort, she reported the situation, omitting the more brutal parts however. Perhaps due to her crude bandages, the Rune Knights was summoned to the trainyard without much delays. Mere injuries are already good enough evidence for them to take action.

"So, how was it? Is there anything?"

Royse returned back to the scene and asked, the Rune Knights starting to make their arrests on the criminals. She had learnt how to use her 'useless' Arrow magic on something more than mere party gimmicks. And she is prepared to continue & try out her new level of magic control if she had to.

Mithera just shook her head in response to Royse's question, letting a Rune Knight medic attend to her many injuries. Another one directed Royse to a place to sit down so they could attend to her too. From there, the man attending Mithera's injuries insisted she go to the hospital and be treated properly, leaving Royse to follow up on the job on her own. That was fine by the transformation mage, who less said goodbye to Royse and more just caught her eye and gave the younger mage a wave while being helped out of the building. Mithera suspected the arrow-mage would be able to handle herself and get the payment on her own, and didn't hunt her down later.




Phoenix Wing Guild Hall

@Zarkun@Caits




Mayt had tucked himself away in a corner of the guild hall for the day. He had planned to just spend the day relaxing and people-watching, since Phoenix Wing was always a very lively group. Not only that, but it was fairly usual for any issues that cropped up to solve themselves. Or, at least, he was pretty sure that was the case since the place hadn't burnt down without him- which was most of the time. It was with a sip of his drink and the approach of Damian and Penny that he was pulled from his chair. Adjusting his clothes some as he stood, the mage said little as he was lead to the meeting room. Like Penny, Mayt didn't feel comfortable sitting in this setting, and instead stood behind a chair about equidistant from both the other S-Classes. "Well, been a while since we all talked at least. I think we've all shared the main room of the guild hall a few times for a couple seconds or so," he joked, trying not to be too serious.
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