Psyker Landshark

Iris Ascendis

Iraleth Kyrios

Iraleth frowned at both the professor's words and Davil's response. She should intervene, but she didn't know how to. If she knew how to extend her barrier to Davil, she would. A minute passed in which Iraleth couldn't think of a solution, and she resigned herself to Davil's fate, murmuring a quick prayer under her breath for his well-being. He was overeager and overbearing, to be certain. But that didn't mean he deserved grievous injury.

"F̶͉͗̊̀̔å̴̡͖͖̝̓͘ĺ̶̖̳̗̌͝k̷̝͍̺͚͙͋̆͒̽̕r̵̢͙͖͙͝i̶͍͘s̷̻͚͔͌̂̈̔, I invoke."

Everything turned bright, and Iraleth took a moment to evaluate the area once the flash had faded. That moment didn't last long, as Davil's pained screams confirmed her fears. She shot Professor Alto a withering glare for his seeming nonchalance at the situation before nodding to Ciara.

"Of course I can. Not as well as a dedicated cleric, but it should be enough to stabilize him." She confirmed to whatever the girl was, before striding forward and gently nudging Chloe aside.

"Move. I'll provide triage." Iraleth knelt down, joining Chunji as he began diagnosing her. His arm was obviously broken. Ciara wasn't wrong when she noted that Davil probably had injured ribs in some way. She'd focus on that first, then.

"Davil. I'm going to begin mending your ribs. The process may bring relief, but hold still until I say to move, otherwise you risk complications." Holy essence began to pool at the fingertips of her gauntlets, and she laid her hands over the boy's chest. Healing magic began to flow through him, the conceptual essence of mending being channeled.

A bead of sweat poured down Iraleth's brow as she continued to channel.

"Chunji. Otis. If you two can heal, handle his arms. The ribcage will take up most of my attention and ability. Healing magic was never my forte outside of immediate first aid."

@AThousandCurses @Estylwen @ERode

SPIRITUM

Kalina Kovalic

Silje's declaration had Kalina looking up from her phone. What was she talking about now? A glance over in the direction Silje was vaguely waving towards revealed a story very different from what she was painting it as. From the looks of it, Tony was being outright accosted by the locals. He could handle himself, sure. But the whole point of being a squad was that he wouldn't have to. Might as well go provide some backup.

"Even I can tell that's not friendly, you know." Kalina said dryly to Silje, already starting to march over. "Sit tight, don't escalate unless they do."

Kalina barged into the store, shoving the door aside. Unlike Tony, she hadn't quite bothered to make much of an effort to look like a civilian, her armorweave jacket obvious over her business casual wear. The pistol strapped to her thigh didn't help, either. She gave a dead-eyed stare towards every civvie in the store, her arms folded.

"There a problem?" She asked cooly, her voice even. Really, all these people were of age to enlist. There was a damn war on, what were they even doing just lazing about this hole in the middle of nowhere? Another one of those things she just didn't get.

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

Zhao Jinhai

The alarm on his phone rang, but he was already up. It was a habit he'd held since the temple: wake up earlier than designated so the monks in charge wouldn't have a reason to get on your case. He'd never quite kicked that feeling. Instead, Zhao Jinhai sat cross-legged in the middle of the fancily-padded cell they called a dormitory, and meditated. Find one's center. Attain utmost emptiness. Maintain utter stillness. Focus. And...

Form fists.

Qi flared around his frame, and Jinhai smiled to himself briefly. Enough training of the spirit. He may as well move on to training the body.

His stomach rumbled.

Right, after breakfast, then. Maintaining his spiritual energy did tend to take a toll on the body. He rose from his meditative pose without protest, moving to get dressed and get on with the day. Good thing that his minders at least let him keep his suits. Likely because it meant he'd comply with the dress code. Wasn't hard to when the Italians made him look so damn good.

___

Breakfast was quick and easy: rice, miso, and fish in the on-site chow hall. What he wouldn't give for some fucking youtiao or jianbing, but that was the price of getting his ass caught in Japan and not back home. Still, now that he had just enough food in him to not keel over during a workout, time to get to training.

Jinhai quickly found that someone had already beaten him to the training facility, though. Right, the new kid with the bow. Well, newer. It'd been a minute or two by now. The one with...some crap about being an entertainment personality? Jinhai grew up in a temple, it took him a year just to get used to phones and shit. Wasn't like he was all that attuned to that sort of nonsense. Last time he'd tried watching TV, he'd regretfully come to the conclusion that the monks had been on to something about the material world. And wasn't that just a crying fucking shame to prove them right?

"Yo," He raised a hand casually, the other clutching a sheathed blade from the armory. "Room for one more, kid? Didn't think I'd see someone else here this early. Crusty old bastards where I grew up would've liked you."

@PKMNB0Y

We Aren't The Hero's Party - Fanrasy Anime RP (Cancelled)

Yeah, sure, put me down as interested

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar Hagen

Renar was well enough acquainted with cheating at cards to almost instantly recognize that the two storied knights before them were doing so blatantly. His respect for them shot up accordingly. It was tiresome hearing of perfect legends that could do no wrong. The fact that they were so very much mortal men like the rest of them, barring this preservation in the Knight Witch's memories, made him think just slightly better of them.

The Bastard of Brias sat, briefly noting to himself that...Gretchen, was it? Had evidently the same idea as him. Even if it didn't work. That was fine. He wasn't expecting to win the first few hands. Not until the odds were evened somewhat. Nonetheless, he put his literal poker face on, settling back into a casual smirk as he looked over his hand. Not the worst, and he'd need a straight to do any better. Still, perfect information didn't quite work when one knew how to obfuscate such.

Renar started obnoxiously shuffling his hand, rapidly flicking through cards one after the other while his fingers concealed most of their backs anyway.

"The game is afoot. May the most...clever player win."

@Octo @HereComesTheSnow @Raineh Daze

Iris Ascendis

Iraleth Kyrios

"A spring festival." Iraleth responded to Chunji's inquiry, seeing no harm in doing so. She slammed a fist into the smoke, nodding as it failed to find purchase upon flesh. "Meant to celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of the planting season."

The door to the classroom opened, and Iraleth glanced over to behold multiple Mannekin walking into the room and...taking a seat? Controlled by Bronsteel again, or someone else? The explanation as to why they were here didn't engender confidence. More competitive shenanigans? As if the entrance examination and segregating the students into teams wasn't bad enough. She would have to ask the High Bishop exactly what was going on here should she ever have the opportunity. Did he approve of this method of forging heroes, or was this the faculty's brainchild?

And then the explanation went further.

"...Is it school policy to engage in constant, reckless endangerment?" Iraleth couldn't help but exclaim incredulously. "I don't speak out of concern for myself, but others." She kept her stare level, refusing to stare in Davil's direction. He didn't need that embarassment, even if she was speaking on his behalf.

Nonetheless, her piece said, Iraleth focused and prayed once more, her Personal Barrier manifesting around her with a soft light. That done, she looked over towards Otis. What was he playing at?

"I have no desire to owe you any debts." Iraleth told the Strigdae bluntly. "But for others, you think it best to offer them a sword at this moment and not a shield?"

@AThousandCurses @ERode

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

Zhao Jinhai

• Name: Zhao Jinhai
• Age: 28
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: Stands at about 5'11". Broad shoulders and lean muscle indicate frequent exertion and exercise. Tends to wear designer suits and expensive watches.
• Psychological Profile: Brash, headstrong, and cocksure. Zhao Jinhai exudes confidence and energy, while also brimming with an underlying desire for violence. Since childhood, he's known nothing but training and combat, and he knows no other way to live than by applying force to take what he wants. Despite his general brutishness, however, he's almost amiable on a personal level if one can get past that.
  
  Whereas once he had a problem with authority, his time as a member of organized crime imbued a certain level of respect for hierarchy and brotherhood within him. Jinhai isn't as resentful of his forced service with Branch-092 as one would expect a criminal to be. So long as he's provided with guns, blades, and fights, he's as satisfied as can be.
  
  Really, it's a good thing Sefirot snapped him up first. His profile otherwise indicates that he'd have been a perfect recruit for RedMark, and denying them another skilled soldier can only be a benefit to the branch.
• Skills:
  Close Quarters Combat: Jinhai didn't spend his childhood learning supernatural martial arts for nothing. He's highly skilled up close, both with his fists and with traditional melee weapons, whether they be swords, staves, knives, or otherwise. While his long-range marksmanship isn't the best, Jinhai is adept at weaving a pistol into close combat in tandem with unarmed and armed strikes.
  Taoist Lore: The other part of a childhood spent among Taoist monks dedicated to combating the supernatural is the abundance of knowledge they accumulated over thousands of years. His background in Chinese occultism provides a differing knowledge base from his Western and Japanese counterparts.
  Underworld Connections: A decade-long career in the Chinese underworld has left Zhao Jinhai with Triad contacts across several cities in China and Taiwan, as well as Japan. He's entirely capable of leveraging these contacts to Branch-092's benefit, though it would likely take cajoling. Using them too much or too obviously in the service of Sefirot would likely lead to those contacts drying up and vanishing nearly instantly, so as to avoid association with a rat.
• Abilities:
  Qi manipulation: Qi is thought to be the vital force fueling any living creature. Millenia ago, Jinhai's spiritual forefathers discovered how to cultivate and manipulate their qi in order to empower their bodies. A skilled qi manipulator is capable of matching many Anomalies in direct combat through their enhanced strength, speed, and durability.
• Equipment: Jinhai typically carries at least a pistol chambered in 10mm and a combat knife on his person at all times. When he's on assignment, he favors curved East Asian swords such as dao swords or katanas. He doesn't get too attached to any of his weapons, given that he inevitably tends to break them with his strength, after which he falls back on tried and true hand to hand combat.
• Background: After the Advent, numerous Taoist martial arts sects in China found themselves exposed in their ages-long duty of combating the supernatural. The Shaolin were mundane hacks, but these sects had been legitimate Chinese occultists dating back thousands of years. Prominent among these monks were the Wudang sect, which a young Zhao Jinhai had found himself being given to as a baby when Wudang monks found his parents dead as a result of an Anomaly incident. As had been their tradition for hundreds of years, the monks took survivors back to their temple, training them in their arts.
  
  Jinhai was raised in the temple for years, but never quite took to its values. He excelled at martial arts and qigong training, but never quite took to the monks' spiritual lessons. He proved to be a troublemaker for years on end, only tolerated due to his obvious martial ability and the hope that he would grow to be an asset for the Wudang rather than a detriment. That hope proved to be in vain by the time Jinhai turned seventeen, his growing violent streak and lack of care for Taoist teachings finally proving to be too much for the abbot in charge. Days before Zhao Jinhai would have taken his final trials to become a full brother, he was excommunicated and turned out by the Wudang after attempting to sneak out on his own to join an Anomaly hunt.
  
  The Wudang turned him out in Shanghai and left him to rot. Lost and unbalanced from losing the only home he'd ever known, Jinhai lived in the streets for weeks until fortune found him at last. A brawl with a local street gang attracted the attention of a triad recruiter, and Jinhai had no reason to turn the offer down. He was taken off the streets, given a knife, and told to get rid of problems. And he did so. Gratuitously.
  
  The next decade saw Zhao Jinhai's rise through the local triad's ranks, becoming known to the bosses as an exceptionally skilled hitman and supernatural specialist. His upbringing proved especially useful in dealing with Anomalies for profit, and Jinhai saw himself in a position of privilege for his skills. Eventually, he found himself in Japan in order to take care of another Triad that had been selling secrets to local yakuza. The assassination went off without a hitch, but a local Anomaly attack forced Jinhai to defend himself. Not that he needed much prompting to kill the supernatural. The Anomaly's corpse hit the dirt, but Sefirot agents arrived at the scene, apprehending Jinhai.
  
  Faced with overwhelming evidence of his hit, Branch-092 gave him two choices: he could either go to prison for a long, long time, probably life, or work for them. It wasn't much of a choice. The Triads had given him a life, but he'd be stupid to say no out of loyalty. Besides, Jinhai had already had his entire world upended once before and forced to start over. What was another one, so long as he could keep making use of the skills he'd been raised to utilize?

Iris Ascendis

I'll have my post up tomorrow, this is next in my backlog

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

Zhao Jinhai

• Name: Zhao Jinhai
• Age: 28
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: Stands at about 5'11". Broad shoulders and lean muscle indicate frequent exertion and exercise. Tends to wear designer suits and expensive watches.
• Psychological Profile: Brash, headstrong, and cocksure. Zhao Jinhai exudes confidence and energy, while also brimming with an underlying desire for violence. Since childhood, he's known nothing but training and combat, and he knows no other way to live than by applying force to take what he wants. Despite his general brutishness, however, he's almost amiable on a personal level if one can get past that.
  
  Whereas once he had a problem with authority, his time as a member of organized crime imbued a certain level of respect for hierarchy and brotherhood within him. Jinhai isn't as resentful of his forced service with Branch-092 as one would expect a criminal to be. So long as he's provided with guns, blades, and fights, he's as satisfied as can be.
  
  Really, it's a good thing Sefirot snapped him up first. His profile otherwise indicates that he'd have been a perfect recruit for RedMark, and denying them another skilled soldier can only be a benefit to the branch.
• Skills:
  Close Quarters Combat: Jinhai didn't spend his childhood learning supernatural martial arts for nothing. He's highly skilled up close, both with his fists and with traditional melee weapons, whether they be swords, staves, knives, or otherwise. While his long-range marksmanship isn't the best, Jinhai is adept at weaving a pistol into close combat in tandem with unarmed and armed strikes.
  Taoist Lore: The other part of a childhood spent among Taoist monks dedicated to combating the supernatural is the abundance of knowledge they accumulated over thousands of years. His background in Chinese occultism provides a differing knowledge base from his Western and Japanese counterparts.
  Underworld Connections: A decade-long career in the Chinese underworld has left Zhao Jinhai with Triad contacts across several cities in China and Taiwan, as well as Japan. He's entirely capable of leveraging these contacts to Branch-092's benefit, though it would likely take cajoling. Using them too much or too obviously in the service of Sefirot would likely lead to those contacts drying up and vanishing nearly instantly, so as to avoid association with a rat.
• Abilities:
  Qi manipulation: Qi is thought to be the vital force fueling any living creature. Millenia ago, Jinhai's spiritual forefathers discovered how to cultivate and manipulate their qi in order to empower their bodies. A skilled qi manipulator is capable of matching many Anomalies in direct combat through their enhanced strength, speed, and durability.
• Equipment: Jinhai typically carries at least a pistol chambered in 10mm and a combat knife on his person at all times. When he's on assignment, he favors curved East Asian swords such as dao swords or katanas. He doesn't get too attached to any of his weapons, given that he inevitably tends to break them with his strength, after which he falls back on tried and true hand to hand combat.
• Background: After the Advent, numerous Taoist martial arts sects in China found themselves exposed in their ages-long duty of combating the supernatural. The Shaolin were mundane hacks, but these sects had been legitimate Chinese occultists dating back thousands of years. Prominent among these monks were the Wudang sect, which a young Zhao Jinhai had found himself being given to as a baby when Wudang monks found his parents dead as a result of an Anomaly incident. As had been their tradition for hundreds of years, the monks took survivors back to their temple, training them in their arts.
  
  Jinhai was raised in the temple for years, but never quite took to its values. He excelled at martial arts and qigong training, but never quite took to the monks' spiritual lessons. He proved to be a troublemaker for years on end, only tolerated due to his obvious martial ability and the hope that he would grow to be an asset for the Wudang rather than a detriment. That hope proved to be in vain by the time Jinhai turned seventeen, his growing violent streak and lack of care for Taoist teachings finally proving to be too much for the abbot in charge. Days before Zhao Jinhai would have taken his final trials to become a full brother, he was excommunicated and turned out by the Wudang after attempting to sneak out on his own to join an Anomaly hunt.
  
  The Wudang turned him out in Shanghai and left him to rot. Lost and unbalanced from losing the only home he'd ever known, Jinhai lived in the streets for weeks until fortune found him at last. A brawl with a local street gang attracted the attention of a triad recruiter, and Jinhai had no reason to turn the offer down. He was taken off the streets, given a knife, and told to get rid of problems. And he did so. Gratuitously.
  
  The next decade saw Zhao Jinhai's rise through the local triad's ranks, becoming known to the bosses as an exceptionally skilled hitman and supernatural specialist. His upbringing proved especially useful in dealing with Anomalies for profit, and Jinhai saw himself in a position of privilege for his skills. Eventually, he found himself in Japan in order to take care of another Triad that had been selling secrets to local yakuza. The assassination went off without a hitch, but a local Anomaly attack forced Jinhai to defend himself. Not that he needed much prompting to kill the supernatural. The Anomaly's corpse hit the dirt, but Sefirot agents arrived at the scene, apprehending Jinhai.
  
  Faced with overwhelming evidence of his hit, Branch-092 gave him two choices: he could either go to prison for a long, long time, probably life, or work for them. It wasn't much of a choice. The Triads had given him a life, but he'd be stupid to say no out of loyalty. Besides, Jinhai had already had his entire world upended once before and forced to start over. What was another one, so long as he could keep making use of the skills he'd been raised to utilize?

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

The party set out from Midgar soon after first light. By noon, they reached Edren's mountainous border with Osprey. The main pass, where Izayoi had conducted her last stand five years ago, was occupied by a Valheimian checkpoint. Reinforced with black steel and brimming with soldiers rigorously inspecting what few travelers passed through, it clearly wasn't the best way into Osprey.

Instead, Izayoi led the party towards a side pass up the mountain, just wide enough for the wagon to accompany them. The terrain was steep, but with some effort, they managed to get all their mounts and supplies up the pass and started on the way down halfway through the afternoon.

"Ahead is what remains of the village of Atsu." Izayoi spoke for the first time in nearly an hour, staring down at the ransacked ruins at the foot of the mountain with a solemn gaze. "My home for five years. We will have to stay there for the night. It ought to be near dusk by the time we arrive."

The house that she, Isshin, and Suzume shared had still been standing when she'd left half a year ago. There was no other reasonable solution. Using one of the other home still remaining was unthinkable. She'd known those owners. They'd welcomed her. Kept their peace regarding who she was when they'd inevitably found out. Izayoi would not send the others to squat in those houses.

True to her estimate, dusk was an hour or two away by the time they approached what remained of the village. It hadn't been burned down in the attack, but several houses had been ransacked and debris still littered the street. Thankfully, there were no skeletal remains to be seen. Izayoi had seen to that months ago, spending days after the attack gathering the bodies to be burned away from the village. However, the closer they got, the more familiar the scene before her was.

Black-armored soldiers, milling about the ruins of the village. No more than two dozen in total, but...

"What is this?" Izayoi could barely breathe as her vision filled with red. "They dare return to the scene of the crime?" A feral scream erupted from her mouth as she drew her sword and charged, the first soldier in her way cut down in an instant.

"Ambush!" Came the cry from the Valheimian contingent. "To arms! We're under attack!" A few moved to engage the first intruder in their midst, while the remainder of the soldiers started charging at the rest of the party, the first ranks bearing swords and shields while half a dozen gunmen took aim.

__________________________

Bonus collab

Eight years ago...

“Your tea and sweets, my lady.” The girl laid a cup of bergamot tea and a tray of assorted rice dumplings down in front of Izayoi, and she nodded her thanks before dismissing the server. The Mystel raised the cup to her lips and took a sip, sighing in relief. She’d needed this. The past few months since she’d risen to being Lord Kaien’s captain of the guard had been nothing but hectic in acclimating to the responsibilities of her new position while still finding time to maintain her own skills and conditioning. After all, it wouldn’t do to slip from being one of the best swordsmen in the nation because she eased up on herself now.

Still, she’d gotten enough of a handle on her duties now that there was finally time to schedule a small break for herself. Just for the afternoon, and only to indulge in a guilty pleasure. Another sip of tea, and she set the cup down to start hungrily laying into the first stick of dango on the tray. Rich sweets weren’t something she could bring herself to eat on a regular basis, but once in a blue moon was acceptable.

The door to the teahouse slid open, and Izayoi briefly glanced up to see who was coming through. Hm. Wasn’t that a familiar face…?

Izayoi’s eyes weren’t the only pair to fall upon the young woman as she made her way inside, pale green eyes darting from table to table only to find each one occupied. She tapped her pointer fingers together, looking around the room until her eyes fell upon Izayoi. That is when she began to walk towards the warrior’s table, each step made with purpose and elegance. Whispers began to spread amidst the other patrons such as “It’s her, It’s Cira!” “Kori was right!” “I can’t believe I missed her show today!” and countless other musings.

“Excuse me, do you mind if I sit with you?” Her voice was smooth as silk and hopeful, a faint smile on her glossy lips. Her audience had requested, or rather demanded, an encore which didn’t leave her much time to visit her favorite teahouse in all of Kugane. It was a habit of hers to have tea after every performance, a great way to wind down. Ciradyl was already a known celebrity in the city, with her fame quickly reaching across Osprey and beyond. She had performed for countless nobles and even for the Emperor himself.

Decorum had never been Izayoi’s strong suit, but five years of having it beaten into her head as a retainer proved useful enough as she briefly gazed towards every occupied table before offering the Faye an understanding nod. They’d met briefly but a month ago when she’d performed for Lord Kaien and his retinue, including herself. If anything, Izayoi was more surprised that the woman remembered her at all.

”If you must.” She resisted the urge to groan at having her own private time interrupted. Nevertheless, Izayoi ripped another rice dumpling from the skewer with her teeth and started to chew, washing it down with more tea after. ”Though I hope you aren’t expecting me to cover your bill. My salary isn’t that generous.”

”Thank you.” Ciradyl pulled a chair out for herself and sat down, smoothing out her dress as she shifted slightly to get comfortable. In a strange way, she felt Izayoi was more approachable than most. What might frighten or turn away others served to make her feel more at ease. Ciradyl leaned on the table a bit with one forearm ”And I find that to be a true travesty!” A light giggle escaped her lips as she sat back and raised her hand into the air, looking towards a waitress, for a moment before letting it come to a rest once more. ”I have a good rapport with the owner. They should have my order ready.” The light in her eyes flickers as if a sudden realization hits her and a pout overtakes her smile ”I just hope it isn’t cold already…” Her voice trailed off.

For her part, Izayoi only shrugged as she started in on another sweet. Gods help her, small talk was absolutely not her forte. It wasn’t much of an issue most of the time considering that she’d never had to engage in it much as a retainer, and her subordinates were tolerant enough of her little quirk, thanks in no small part to her strength. Still, she should probably say something at least. Damn her master for being the most taciturn bastard on the continent and barely engaging in any conversation that didn’t have something to do with swordplay for an entire decade.

”For what it’s worth, I have never known this establishment to put out a bad order. And I’ve been here at least once every time I’ve come to the capital.” After all, no other teahouse in Kugane had bergamot tea in stock. An unfortunate shame, that. Especially for her gil purse. Still, it was a miracle that any upscale teahouse in this city stocked something that wasn’t matcha, much less a foreign blend.

Izayoi popped a strawberry daifuku into her mouth. As she chewed slowly, one of her ears twitched slightly upon picking up on a nearby conversation between three portly men at a neighboring table. Merchants, most likely. Samurai and nobility wouldn’t be so crass.

”Isn’t that Lord Kaien’s pet barbarian that Madam Ciradyl is sitting with?”

”Not so loud! Barbarian or not, she’s still samurai. Do you want to give her an excuse to cut you down?”

”Even so, it’s no wonder the eastern daimyo keeps her on. They call her the Wild Dance for a reason. Did you hear about how she mutilated the frontrunner of the last winter court’s tournament? Word was, the duel barely lasted three strokes.”

Izayoi’s tail curled slightly behind her, but she covered her mouth with her teacup, taking another long sip.

Ciradyl nodded enthusiastically. ”I know! I’ve been coming to this place ever since my parents moved here.” While her hearing wasn’t as keen as Izayoi’s, even she picked up on what the first merchant said. How despicable. It didn’t take a long look to know who the merchants were from her father’s connections. Kono Masahisa. Ujitaka Ishino. Yagyuu Morinori. She couldn’t pick up on the rest of what they were saying but reading Izayoi’s expressions she could tell it was nothing flattering. Mint eyes snapped to the group, eyes closed and head slightly tilted as her smile twisted into a menacing grin. Their attention quickly snapped away and she shifted her focus back. Ciradyl sniffed the air a few times and a delighted smile creased her lips ”Is that bergamot?”. The waitress whom she had flagged down earlier brought Ciradyl her order: bergamot tea with a plate of dorayaki. The smell of the former was unmistakable as near-invisible steam waffed off its surface.

Rumors were always floating around in the circles that Ciradyl traversed so she was astutely aware of Izayoi’s reported ‘reputation’. She rarely put much stock in such sources until she could verify them herself. Her lips pursed as she raised the teacup, blowing gently across its surface before taking a slow sip. The Mystrel was proving to be excellent company so far.

Izayoi curled her lips up only a smidge at the sight of her impromptu company cowing the merchants. Not enough to be called a smile, and barely noticeable. She’d heard worse frequently, but Ciradyl saved her the effort, at least. Perhaps this might not be as tiresome as she had feared.

So she decided to indulge Ciradyl’s question, if only to reward her for not being intolerable.

”Indeed. It was the only tea my teacher cared to drink, and therefore the only tea we had available for years on end short of whenever I had the coin or opportunity to purchase otherwise. Needless to say, I had to either develop a taste for it or go thirsty.”

Fond memories, now. Not so much in the moment. That, and reminiscing too long inevitably sent her mind spiraling back to how it all ended. Even now, seven years later, she still thought to herself on occasion that there had to be something she could have done differently.

”He complained about a lack of lemon and sugar often, but I’ve never tried it with those. We stick closely enough with tradition such that I wouldn’t be surprised to be banned for life were I to ask.”

Ciradyl set down the tea cup and traded it for a dorayaki, taking a small bite as she listened closely. The tea was as much a tradition as it was a mere drink. Her paternal grandfather would brew the tea for their visits. The two of them would sit on a balcony, listen to the sounds of the forest while morning air chilled their skin and the tea warmed them back up. ”Would you be opposed to trying some with lemon and sugar? I’m sure I could bring some next time.”

”Next time? You presume a great deal.” Izayoi huffed, finishing her tea. ”I am fortunate to have even one afternoon available each moon. Being a daimyo’s bodyguard captain occupies much and more of my waking hours-”

She was interrupted by the door to the teahouse being suddenly and rudely kicked down, a trio of armed men bearing short blades entering.

“Right, lads. The foreigner Faye. Find her, get out, and we get our payday.”

“Think that’s her in the back, brother! Across from that Mystel.”

Izayoi gave a deep, aggrieved sigh, nonchalantly rising to her feet.

”Can I not have even a single afternoon without being interrupted by buffoons?” She murmured in disgust, starting to stride forward. ”Allow me to take care of this nuisance. I may even leave one breathing for you to question as to who demands your presence so badly.”

Ciradyl slyly grinned at her companion’s response, she would find a way to arrange another teatime. The grin quickly vanished as a trio of ruffians burst through the entrance. The Foreigner Faye. A troubled look washed over Ciradyl before her attention shifted to her new acquaintance ”Izayoi…”. There was not a shred of fear visible in the Mystel. In fact, she spoke as if they were nothing more than bugs to be squashed. Ciradyl was aware of her reputation but to experience it firsthand was another matter. It gave her confidence and the worry that had started to grip her faded quickly.

”Of course…they are…yours to dispose of. Ciradyl for once struggled to find the right words. Asking Izayoi to be safe or wishing her good luck seemed inappropriate and possibly insulting to a warrior of her caliber.

Izayoi nodded to Ciradyl before surging forward, her feet seeming to barely touch the ground, if at all. She slammed into the leader in the middle with a palm strike, knocking him back through the open doorway he just came through. As the patrons began to scream in alarm and the other two ruffians turned to her, mouths agape, the samurai grabbed them by the scruff with one hand each and bodily hurled them out.

The trio groaned as they stood, gripping their wakizashi with scowls.

“Damn it, they didn’t say anything about a bodyguard!”

“At her! She can’t take us by surprise twice!”

Izayoi stepped out of the doorway into the street, her blades still sheathed at her side. In truth, she would have slaughtered them where they stood while still indoors, had there not been a risk of reprisal from the proprietors for causing an unseemly mess. She enjoyed this teahouse enough that she wouldn’t take that chance.

The thugs rushed her, and Izayoi spent several seconds simply ducking and sidestepping their clumsy blows, her face expressing nothing but utter boredom. Nothing but untrained gutter trash, after all. After a few more moments, she reached down towards her sheathed sword. Steel flashed for an instant, and blood sprayed across the road as the two subordinates found themselves decapitated simultaneously.

”Enough. I grow tired of this farce.” Izayoi drawled, taking advantage of the leader’s utter shock to roundhouse kick him into the wall on the other side of the street. ”Answer truthfully, and you may not join your fellows in the hells on this day. Who hired you?”

Ciradyl emerged timidly from the teahouse after Izayoi just in time to see the two henchmen lose their heads. Mint green eyes went wide as she felt the tea and dorayaki churn in her stomach, but managed to steady herself. It was her first time seeing something so grisly and it all happened so fast.

His fearful eyes flashed to Ciradyl for a brief moment, sweat dripping down his face, before locking eyes with the demon in front of him “M-Mizutani Tane!” He quickly chirped, voice trembling as his hands shook. Mizutani Tane. She ran a small merchant empire but she was about legitimate a business woman as a peasant was an heir to the throne. Rumors constantly circulated about shady dealings but nothing concrete was ever discovered.

Ciradyl recognized the name and fear flashed in her eyes. Mizutani was someone her father expressed great disdain for and warned against getting anywhere close to that ‘witch’. There were rumors that she was responsible for an underground human trafficking operation that supplied much of the illicit brothels that dotted the empire. “What are you going to do with him?” She asked, unsuccessfully hiding her newfound anxiety at the thought of being kidnapped and made to ‘disappear’.

Izayoi recognized the name as well, of course. Mizutani’s name had crossed the lips of those of wealth and power enough that even samurai in Kugane knew of her. She narrowed her eyes, glaring down at the thug in front of her.

”His life is forfeit regardless. If I do not kill him, his employer will. And the message will be more effective this way.” Her katana completed the trifecta as it lopped the last attempted kidnapper’s head off, Izayoi catching the decapitated limb by the hair on its way down. She started to tie it to her sash, looking back towards Ciradyl.

”I must apologize. Were I able to slay Mizutani without consequence, I would. But my sword is not my own. Should I act without reserve, the repercussions would fall onto my lord. Even a samurai cannot slaughter a merchant of that bitch’s reputation and influence without reprisal, no matter how odious her manner is.” Izayoi bowed her head towards the Faye in apology.

”Regardless, she has overstepped this time, if only by a miniscule degree. I will send this to her,” A gesture towards the severed head. ”And we will hope that the message sinks in. If she escalates…I will have my excuse to be rid of her.”

A part of Ciradyl had been hopeful Izayoi would indeed spare the last man’s life. That perhaps this brush with death would result in him turning his life around. Instead the samurai would give her the first lesson in the brutal reality of the world. She couldn’t keep her eyes off the head that now resided on Izayoi’s sash. The sight would surely burn its way into her dreams that night.

“No, no. If not for you…” The thought was quickly pushed out of her head and she bowed in reply “Thank you for protecting me, even if it ruined your afternoon.” She said gratefully. Fate had surely intervened by placing them together today. Her stomach was still queasy from the viscera but it was the least of her worries. “There are more ways than one to-” She took a small gulp “-gut a fish, as my father would say.” and with that quip she understood that any flicker of appetite she may have had left was gone.

Ciradyl glanced back at the teahouse “If you don’t mind, I’ll take care of your bill. It’s the least I can do.” Mint eyes looked back at Izayoi, the smile she had approached the Mystrel with returned. ”It was an exciting first outing if nothing else.”

Mizutani’s criminal empire slowly began to crumble after this incident and appeared to be on the verge of collapse when the war began. The noose that had been tightening around her neck loosened and Mizutani regained her power in the shadows. The operation to kidnap Ciradyl was abandoned in lieu of a score to settle. When the Valheimians invaded, Mizutani and her resources were quick to bend the knee and was rewarded with status greater than ever before. She would never forget, however, the person who had cost her so dearly.