Jakeozzy

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

Aria sat quietly and listened to Serena, half expecting to hear something like this. Cronic did say that she had reasons to hate the Thalmor... They wanted her power, and were willing to destroy her whole world in order to gain control of her gift. She’d escaped, but even now she might be one of the many dossiers locked up in the Thalmor Embassy - a woman with an enchanting voice, to be captured if located...

“Nice to know you’re strong, ...guess you have to be.” Aria commented, before breaking into a quiet chuckle. “A girl hounded for her power, huh? I take it that’s the case with Snowy,” she said, nodding at the window as young Yuki ran by the shop yet again, with bags full of herbs, jars of specimens, flowers and the like. Seemed like Arcadia had found a tireless apprentice!

“Poor kid.” Aria mumbled.

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"Not trying, ...but definitely succeeding! To think, I opened this place for a chance at peace and quiet. Or maybe not that, but, normalcy, you know?" Aria chuckled. "Little pieces of odd work. Instead, the Odd Jobs name has a dragon to it, bandits, monsters, vampires, cultists... Well, the dragon was us, but we preferred the credit go to Jorrvaskr. Too big a name will attract all kinds of people wanting us to do mercenary work."

Aria took a seat at her desk and kicked her legs up on it like usual. "Shouldn't be what we're all about... I figure its nicer to spill blood for good. They say that's hypocrisy, but bad things don't just go away. IE, I'm thinking that we find vampires, kill them, find cultists, kill them, and anything equally scummy we find along the way can get killed, too. Jarls like to be rid of threats, and they're usually happy to pay for that service..." she explained.

"But I wouldn't take our youngest addition on any jobs like that... She seems interested in magic, and I can feel a little of her power when I really focus on it... But whether she's strong or not, she's just a kid. And kids don't..." Aria frowned for a moment, something crossing her mind that cut her off. "...shouldn't fight."

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"I had an eye open. You're pretty strong, even when you're tired!" Aria chuckled as they approached the shop entrance. She thought for a moment before going inside and nodded along, "I guess we've both been tired recently too. Before we met you and the kid, we had some pretty violent jobs. While we're all for that, it takes its toll. That, and mild paranoia makes me lose sleep - between assassins and Thalmor agents..."

KHR: The Mafia War [Jakeozzy|Demon Shinobi]

It didn't take long to throw the proper clothes on, the ones she wished she had time to change into before this failure of a spar. Ringo's outfit was made up of a pair of boots, jeans, and an orange and black hoodie with the Vongola insignia on the upper right arm, like any army unit would have their own. She flicked her hair out of the hood and finally began to calm down. She cleared her throat and called over, "You can look now..."

Ringo started walking over to her friend, still slightly red in the face. Less because he might've seen her all over, but more because she wasn't ready for the training. She could see in his expression, he wasn't overjoyed. Had she really gotten to a point where she was completely vulnerable?

"I uh, ..." she held her arm, "At least you're strong enough for the both of us?" she tried to joke.

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"There's this.. 'Harkon' character. Didn't manage to get anything else out of the vampire me and Cronic fought before an arrow turned him to ash." Aria explained, sighing as the two stepped out of Dragonsreach. Behind them, a confused Farengar could be heard asking around about his collection. Walking faster to avoid an angry bookworm, Aria would lead the way back down into the market, and toward home.

"We'll make an evening out of it - I'm sure Yuki and Cronic could join in. We're after a 'Harkon' and a 'Miraak'. One's a supposed high-ranking vampire in Skyrim. The other is apparently the 'true dragonborn' according to some cultists we messed up."

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

Aria gave a nod as she peeked at Serena's find, but remained silent while they went about 'borrowing' the books. She couldn't find a anything relating to a Miraak, but grabbed a couple of notes on Solstheim. Farengar was still lost in his apparent genius when Aria gestured toward the exit.

Once they'd made a break for it, Irileth gave a single chuckle as she saw what the two were carrying. They passed through the great hall, and went straight for the doors.

"Nothing looked like information on cults..." Aria shrugged, "Find anything you liked?"

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

An idea popped into Aria's head as Serena mentioned looking for a good read, causing a tiny mischievous grin to creep across her lips. "I'm sure we can get some books from the court wizard. He won't mind!" she said. She pushed open the doors as they arrived at the entrance, and opened her arms as if to display the great hall of Dragonsreach to the newcomer... It was pretty amazing to behold. The perfect seat for Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, who was a fair and just leader of the central Hold.

"Farengar is the court wizard. We'll take his books, because he's got copies. In particular, we're after books on vampires, and books on the dragon war - in particular on Solstheim, or Miraak. Long story short, there's money in beating the crap out of either of the groups that have been screwing with the province lately. The Imperials and Stormcloaks are too busy hacking each other to pieces to spare forces for investigations, scouting, and fighting 'em."

Irileth put her hand on the hilt of her sword as she watched the two women enter, but immediately recognized Aria as one of Balgruuf's 'honoured guests'. She instead offered a nod, which the redhead returned as they headed into Farengar's office. There was a map of ancient burial sites posted on a board beside his desk, which he inspected. He didn't even notice the two enter. And to that, Aria simply walked past him and toward a tall, wide, filled book shelf. Like she said, he had copies of important works and tomes. Surely he wouldn't miss just a few...?

"Feel free to nab some," Aria whispered, knowing Farengar was concentrating way too hard to even regard their 'borrowing' from his collection.

----------

Yuki did exactly as Cronic suggested, and found herself visiting Whiterun's various points of interest. Sky Forge, Jorrvaskr, the Gildergreen, the temple, and various stalls and businesses. It sated her curious little head to take it all in... Was this going to be home? The thought made her happy, after being dragged from Akavir in chains. The people were so nice here, even the scary ones.

KHR: The Mafia War [Jakeozzy|Demon Shinobi]

More or less zoned into the fighting in this goal-obsessed form, Ringo had followed her opponent's movements and knew to simply dodge and continue trying to get close enough to do damage. But of course, this form was almost all braun, with a pretty severe lack in brain. At least, for her untrained mind it was... Charging in was reckless, but the shortest path. The moment Mamoru fired, Ringo used her whole body to twist around the flames and carry on - but underestimating the size of the attack meant she'd slow down soon enough...

Ringo didn't notice, but her whole left side had grazed the Earth flames, causing a minor pain, but ultimately caused the left side of her body to suddenly get heavier, with more pressure weighing her down with every passing moment. By the time she was in range to leap at Mamoru, she only managed to jump a small distance, and hurtled to the floor, confused and close to slipping out of Dying Will Mode. "Need revenge... Can't move... Can't get revenge...!" she grunted as the shine around her began to dissipate.

It wasn't her best shot, surely? Maybe she just lacked a lot of resolve, to go down so easily. When she came back to her senses, she spared no time in curling up and covering up! The sting from DW Mode's exertion kicked in, leaving her wanting to writhe in pain, but also to keep whatever modesty there was left!

"M-m-my bag! Throw my bag!"

KHR: The Mafia War [Jakeozzy|Demon Shinobi]

With a mind clear of anything but the desire and drive to meet her goal, Ringo initially took the small blasts from the drones and 'dealt with it', leaving scorch marks on her skin. She slowed down, gauging whether it would be easier to punch the crap out of the drones, or go straight for Mamoru. With her friend preparing a strong attack, she decided on the latter and turned ready to dodge. The mitts from earlier had transformed into the practically indestructible gloves so many Vongola bosses had used since Decimo's era. 'Soft' Sky flames burst out of the X-Gloves, letting Ringo propel herself sideways, all the while his drones chasing her to harass her movement.

She certainly hadn't mastered flying in this form, and opted to use the gloves for bursts of speed where needed. Her focus needed tempering, and her body needed further training, otherwise she'd be unable to handle that second pill or bullet when the time came...

Having dodged the worst of the smaller blasts, Ringo boosted herself toward Moru in zig-zags trying to get close enough to start beating him up! That and, those drones made it pretty painful to stand still for too long!

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"More local sounds much better. Warmer and safer, too," Yuki replied. She imagined herself wearing something like Aria or Serena, seeing as they were the only two she found looked nice. Their gear was for travel and adventure, light, but hard wearing.

----------

Aria raised a hand casually at Serena as she watched her walk up the steps to Dragonsreach. As quickly as he'd entered, the Dragonborn strolled back out looking to be in a hurry. He tipped his head quickly as he passed the two, and carried on. People tried to spark up chatter with some small talk, but he quite literally just ignored them all and carried on. Life as a legend among mortals was probably annoying, Aria decided. Starting to walk toward the doors, she gestured for Serena to follow.

"Heading in? I was just about to ask the Jarl's people about this 'Miraak' whackjob. Or vampires. Irileth usually has intel on nasty things hiding in the Hold."