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Hana Oshiro - The Last Samurai
"Nine hundred ninety-eight, nine hundred ninety-nine, one thousand..." Unlike her usual attire, Hana wore grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt, tucked under her pants to keep it under control. Her long pink hair was tied into a bun, held with two chopsticks in a cross pattern. Most importantly: she was upside-down, her feet in the air and only supporting her body with her left arm on the ground. After her final push-up, Hana brought her legs down and slowly stood upright, letting out a sigh of relief.
Once on two feet, she wiped some sweat from her brow. Her exercise regimen was always considered intense, even "crazy" by some, and it always did a good job at tiring her and expending some extra energy. With the exercises completed, Hana had no need to keep her hair tied up and out of the way, so she removed the chopsticks and let her hair down. Despite being a satisfactory warm-up, her expression didn't show any signs of satisfaction. If anything the Lamia Scale paragon seemed depressed and distracted. She looked down at her left hand and flexed her fingers a few times.
After staring at them for a moment, she clenched her fist and brought it down to her side. "I may need to double my training..." Hana muttered to herself, walking to the door of her bedroom. Like most members of Lamia Scale, Hana lived in her own apartment at their boarding house. Her room was surprisingly plain, but also fairly clean. The bedroom merely had a bed and a nightstand with a lamp on it, not even a clock or calender or a window to liven it up. The walk-in closet was the only stand-out thing about the room, and even then it merely contained clothes.
Walking into her living room, Hana looked up at the calender on the wall near the kitchen (which was surprisingly devoid of cooking utensils). It had been a week now since the battle at Augustine Town. Jeanne had recovered and Annabeth was still at Lamia Scale. Hana was initially upset that Anna might take another long job, but so far she had settled back down at the guild. While things had calmed down, Hana has been busy. She had always trained fairly often, keeping a routine to stay sharp. But lately she has been training every day, spending every morning exercising her body and perfecting her skills.
Her pink eyes floated away from the calender and over to her living room. There was no couch or chair to sit on, but a simple yet comfortable mat on the floor. The pink-haired samurai sat down with her legs crossed and placed her elbows on her knees. With the fingers on her hands interlocked with each other at the center of her position, Hana closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The room around her began to fade away, leaving her in a white space devoid of distractions. There was a moment of silence as she could properly meditate, but the sound of two katanas clashing and a brief image of her father appeared before her.
When she slowly opened her eyes, Hana found that she was only in her room. A glance at the clock confirmed she only managed ten seconds of meditation before being distracted. "I can't concentrate..." she confessed to herself, giving up and standing from her position. "I'll try again tonight." With that resignation Hana returned to her room and returned moments later, fully dressed and ready to take on the day.
Some time later, Hana walked into the Lamia Scale guild hall. Unlike her depressed state before, a smile was already upon her face. Her infamously pleasant nature had to be maintained, even if something was bothering her. Several people waved and greeted the Last Samurai, to which she returned the kindness before moving on to find Lyon. "Lyon-sama," Hana greeted. "Have you seen Jeanne? I wanted to check in with her and see how she's doing before I take a job today." The pink-haired woman also began to wonder where Annabeth was, as she also wanted to see her. It'd been over six years since she left, there was so much to talk about.
Stacy Kaiser - White Tiger
The red-eyed, pale woman looked at the profiles of her targets. She swirled the glass of wine in her hand as she examined the targets. A smirk formed on her face and her eyes went back up to Kyou. "Of course I can capture them," she proclaimed, bringing the glass to her lips. Unlike the sophisticated manner she seemed to be displaying, Stacy proceeded to drink the entire glass in one gulp. With a pleasured sigh, she looked back to Kyou.
"I don't need reinforcements. Not if they're in the north. That environment favors me, and if they're close to my hometown then I have a good advantage of knowing the lay of the land." Her free hand began twirling her long, white hair as she spoke. "If this information is accurate, it'll be a breeze. Piece of cake. Sons of bitches will be in custody within three days... Even faster if..." Stacy almost mentioned Kyou's ability to teleport other people, but she knew the queue wouldn't be necessary. It seemed as if Kyou enjoyed teleporting Stacy around as it is, so this would work to her bold claim's advantage.
Ajax Thera - Councilman - Hellmouth
Over the past week, Ajax had made sure to give Aiden and Oriel a mixed bag of training regimens. Each and every one, of course, being incredibly arduous and exhausting. From physical conditioning to pushing their magic to the limit. But today he wanted to do something different. Ajax waited at the base of the ladder to the outside, having already had his simple breakfast and prepared for a day of training. Once Aiden and Oriel were prepared, they would inevitably find him waiting in the only hallway the base had.
"As Magus Hunters," Ajax began, crossing his arms over his chest. "You are expected to be strong, to defeat many dark mages, most likely at the same time. But you are also expected to be smart, to track down these evil men and potentially outwit opponents that would otherwise be too dangerous to take on." His yellow eyes went over Aiden and Oriel. "I sent the request several days ago and your target arrived last night. A convicted criminal and former master of a dark guild. I gave him a very simple task."
"I told him that if he kills the two of you, he will be released from prison." Ajax looked up the ladder towards the hatch that led to the desert. "He is a strong mage, but his real danger comes from his craftiness. And the environment here suits him well, being he is a sand mage." Now his gaze went down to Aiden and Oriel again. "He's had several hours to prepare for the two of you. I know he didn't run, because he isn't foolish enough to attempt crossing this desert without supplies. There may be traps, he may be waiting far from the base in order to wear you down with travel. In all likelihood he will ambush you. In addition to his own knowledge of combat, I gave him a basic ideas of what you two are capable of."
The large man paused now, to give the recruits some time to comprehend what he just said. "Your objective is to recapture him and survive. Your foe is strong, cunning, and has a homefield advantage of sorts. A comparable position you will find many future enemies having, so it will be a good experience. Due to the extra-dangerous nature of this training, I will supervise and only intervene if you two fail completely. I don't intend to let you two die, simply because I don't intend to let this man go free, but grievous injuries you may receive will certainly affect your future performances."
Now Ajax stepped out of the way of the ladder. "By now you two understand the law and the rules of the Magus Hunters fairly well. Depending on how this goes, you may not need much more entry training. Aiden, Oriel. You are close to becoming Magus Hunters, but you are still only recruits. Don't let small or petty things distract you from your goal. His name is Claudius, commonly known as The Pharaoh. He's the only living thing out there aside from you two, so I shouldn't need to explain what he looks like. You can go when you please, though the longer you take formulating a strategy from the safety of the base, the more time Claudius sets up traps or comes up with his own strategies to handle the two of you."
Piper Hatfield - Ms. One Shot
-to be added later-