Rune_Alchemist

Botanist And Bards

~Isabella~

---

Valora narrowed her eyes at the guard. By all means, it was a sensible request that Valora could understand asking of unknown and armed persons asking to stay somewhere. Still though, the safety of Isabella was a bit more than she was willing to risk on the whims of some unknown guard in an unknown place.

"I request that at least I and at least one other retain our weapons." She replied curtly. "I understand your concerns but Lady Isabella's safety is my number one concern and without a weapon I can hardly call myself a soldier nor capable of efficiently protecting her Ladyship." There were so many things that could possibly go wrong if she didn't have a weapon, it was foolish to even ask her to relinquish it. If the princess was here she'd of course, see no problem at all. Valora may not know the princess all to personally, but from the small bit she had been with her she knew one thing. The poor girl had about as much of a sense for danger as a blind, deaf, old man, light bless her.

Not her fault - that lied with her parents for keeping her locked up in that gilded cage known as a castle.

"Is that acceptable terms, sir?"

St. Sappho Academy, Medieval Magic Academy (Invite Only)

~The next day, Sorcha~

The rest of the night past swiftly for the dragon, Luna, and Maoin. After spending most of the rest of the night making merry, eating, and generally enjoying themselves, the three made their way back home. As the previous night, they all shared the bed, with the kitten and Luna. The dragon, being somewhat drunk, and in her usual fashion started to cuddle Luna half-way through the night. When morning did finally come though, the dragon was one of the first ones up.

Now she just had to wake up the Knight - she was excited for this duel.

"Luuuuna~" Sorcha whispered, nuzzling the humans neck in quite the overly affectionate manner. "Time to get up!" The dragon suddenly darted out of the bed, tossing the covers off of both of them. "Our Duel is now, and I will not have any knight of mine chickening out! Up and at 'em, I want you in that armor of yours! Maoin, you're coming too."

~Fox~

Ah, seeing Ayumi and even talking with that foolish princess did much to calm her nerves. After spending more time at the lake, the fox made her way back to the dorm, though she didn't check to see if Sel had already returned or not. Instead, she curled up under Sels bed, and decided to sleep. By the time the next morning came, the fox hadn't moved from under the bed. She was questioning whether or not she was even going to make the effort of talking to that insufferable mage.

...with a sigh, she trotted out from under the bed, and hopped up onto it.

"My ever so slothful master," She said, pressing her paws right into Sel's eyes in a clear attempt to annoy her. "I do believe it is morning."

~Cynthia~

Cynthia and Mugi spent the rest of the night studying. For now, the maid only lightly went over a number of subjects, just to get a good grasp for what the ice-woman had knowledge of. History, Language, magical theory, sciences, geography - everything. Perhaps she had gone a little overboard, since by the time they were well into the night the poor yuki-Onna had practically passed out. Cynthia picked her up with fair ease, and carried her over to her bed though.

By the time the next morning came around, Cynthia was already up and about in her usual fashion. There was a small written note on the nightstand by the bed, as well as freshly made tea and a small breakfast that was recently made. If Mugi happened to head downstairs, she'd stumble across the made starting that days cleaning.

~Miren~

Oh dear, she was so warm. Not that she didn't mind Eith's company, not at all. She was warm and cuddly and after getting over her initial timidity she felt oddly safe with the hound which was a bit rare for the rabbit to feel in any capacity. She was even tempted for once in her life, to simply lay there and accept the cuddles and not even open the store that day. But, unfortunately, she was a professional and she had a job to do. She just had to get Eith off of her because she was being held quite...affectionately.

"...E-eith, if you could let go of me..." The Rabbit asked, trying to pull gently away from the hound. "I need to...get ready and open the store...take a bath and change clothes..." She yawned, unable to resist the urge to nuzzle her head against the hound softly despite her words.

Pokémon: Start

~Claire Blackwood~

@PlatinumSkink

Current Team

Ralia, Ralts
Level: 9
Status: 50% health


Ritz, Ledyba
Level 8
Status: 30% health


Lure, Combee
Level 7
Status: 90% health


Del, Kakuna
Level 8
Status: 30% health

Inventory

5113$
Antidote x1
pokeball x1
Focus Band x1

---

After taking the focus band with a quick thanks, Claire booked it back to Redcoast. A small reminder in the back of her head told her to once again, fix her hair which she had still forgotten to do so once she had got back to the pokemon center. She also took a mental note of the rain stopping rather abruptly once she had gotten back to Redcoast. Now, she wasn't saying that it couldn't just be a coincidence, but in her years of experience in playing video games and generally being all around the smartest person told her a few things - coincidences didn't exist, especially with what Anise told her.

Regardless...

Claire walked into the pokemon center, soaked with rain, but from the grin she was wearing she didn't seem to mind so much.

"Whew..." She sighed. "I should by an umbrella...or get a pokemon with drought, heh." She probably was quite the interesting sight, and most could probably tell where she recently came from. Alright, well, time to use the pokemon center...wait, was that Yvonne? A grin spread across her face as she decided to give her 'rival' a typical patented Claire 'surprise greeting'.

Wait...what was she holding? Was...that a badge?!

"Hey, what'cha got there?" Claire snatched the badge from Yvonne's outstretched hand, mouth slightly open in surprise.

*Gasp*

She was behind! THE HORROR!

"T-this is a gym badge!" She replied, seemingly in shock herself. "Gah, I'm behind now! Yvonne you sneaky little sneaker sneak!" She grinned, obviously not actually upset with the other girl. "I see how it is, beat me while I'm out training! And here I thought you weren't gonna be a suitable rival." She clenched Yvonne's badge in her hand, pointing at her with a confident grin. "I won't be outdone though, nope! Our contest debut can wait! Where's this gym at? I'll go give 'em a thorough pounding with my fabulously newly evolved pokemon, heh!~"

She made a point of emphasizing 'Evolved' and 'Pokemon'. She was probably being a little over the top here, but she didn't really seem to care.

Pokémon: Start

@Pirouette Teh-heh. Guess I can start writing that scene ahead of time.

@Joshua Tamashii SO I DID. ... Or more correctly, I SPELLED IT CORRECTLY THIS TIME AROUND. I BLAME RUNE, SHE MAKES ME WRITE UNDERSCORES INSTEAD OF SPACES.

@PlatinumSkink

Waaaah?

Don't blame me for you not paying attention, silly~

...And yea, I really should look into getting that fixed one of these days. On the old guild you couldn't have spaces in your name, I think, so that's sorta how this happened.

And...is that a badge Yvonne has?

Oh boy, Claire can't let herself be out done, nope.

Botanist And Bards

~Isabella~

---

Isabella frowned, but said nothing to the maid, only turning her eyes ahead and watched them until they disappeared over the hill.

"Oh yes, we're a traveling band of brigands that just waltz right up to the door of some well-fortified looking building because the three of us can totally not get an arrow in the knee." Tripp replied to the nervous guard after they finally approached, earning a swat on the back of his head from Valora and a small snicker from Prescott.

"Shut your mouth, soldier." Valora turned back to the guard that addressed them. He was nervous, that much was obvious. Odd for someone in his position unless he was doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing. Perhaps he was just new, though. Valora narrowed her eyes at him before responding directly. "What this idiot here is trying to say, is no, we're not brigands. Just...a group of travelers escorting Lady Isabella through these lands." She didn't elaborate anymore on Isabella - didn't want to give them any more information to go on, but she at least did want them to know she was of some importance. Chances were they wouldn't know her first name, but the title of 'Lady' in the way she used it wasn't done so lightly. "We've been traveling for awhile, and still have quite a bit of ways to go. We've been informed of a possible storm and would prefer not being caught outside. Would it be possible to let our people stay here until the weather passes and possible resupply?"

If the other guard had any lick of sense, he'd likely realize that Valora was being cautious.

inSINerate - Our Unending War

~Cerise~

---

Ah~

Such a...crude lot, they were. None of them had a hint of elegance or class to their Cowls and Crowns. Unfortunate. Ah well, nothing she could do about it really, and she expected it. Many of them likely weren't going to be up to her standards. Not that it would matter if they were. She'd care about them just about as much as the rest...though they'd be more tolerable to keep around and she might actually decide not to use them as cannon fodder if the situation arose.

"Fire, hmm?"Cerise chuckled. Before she could make a rebuttal though, he was already leaving. It vaguely sounded like a threat...and she didn't take kindly to such things.

Such a shame fire could so easily be snuffed out...pitiable, really.

She cast a glance over to Yui and the others as they started leaving. Hm...she oh so did want to see those unsightly beasts killed by her own hand, yet...and something in the back of her head was screaming for blood...but why should she have to stain her hands so directly, when they were so eager? Besides, if something happened that would be less fools for her to deal with and chances were the tyrant would easily.

"You all go on ahead, hm? If not hunt...then trap them like scared rabbits, heh" She said to the ones remaining. "I'll stay here...as our ever so tactful friend suggested." Despite the complimenting words, the tone of her voice indicated nothing but sarcasm and disdain for Yui. "If you have trouble with something...bring them back over here - I'll make quick work of them, and no, I'm not just saying that to boost my own ego. Its the truth." With that, Cerise turned back to the entrance of the underground. Whether someone else decided to stay behind or not, or even if they decided to flee back here if they came across a tyrant they were having trouble with she would go through with her little plan.

A green vine grew from her left shoulder twisting and covering her arm, sharp thorns pierced the flesh and tightened around the appendage, blood seeping from the spaces in the vines and dripping onto the earth. It writhed and twisted, contorting as several large thorns completely impaled themselves on her arm and flaying the flesh as several important arteries in her arm were severed. The vines opened, a pool of her own blood forming at her feet.

"Now...lets see, I wonder what a lovely garden I can make." The redhead proceeded to walk around the immediate grounds, planting the sanguine seeds over the ground.

Digimon World: Tamer's Bureau

Rachel Holt

"And what have I done that's tease-worthy?!" Impmon replied, obvious not too happy with his position as the one everyone is going to apparently be teasing. It didn't help that Arukenimon seemed to join in on the teasing, too. It made him more than a little angry and he couldn't help but to give them a small glare. "If anything, this cactus brain here has done more stuff tease-worthy than I have!" He said, pointing to Rachel who didn't reply in her usual manner. "G-gah, it don't matter. We'll take out those rogue digimon easily! Nothin in the digital world can stand up ta' me when I'm serious."

"Sounds like a bit of a walk, though..." Rachel commented, looking over to Yumeko. "Can I just take a nap here already? This is more activity then I do in a week."

"Oi, off your rear end partner, we got bad guys to wrangle and outlaws to bring to justice here." Rachel gave him a deadpan expression before yawning, not entirely too interested. "Oi, none of that get that human butt of yours in gear or I'll drag ya there myself!" Rachel rolled her eyes, but looked over to Yumeko.

"...alright, lets get this over with." She was content with following the other person.

St. Sappho Academy, Medieval Magic Academy (Invite Only)

~Ayumi~

Ayumi stared at Kozue for a few seconds before shifting uncomfortably. Lyssa simply looked between the two of them, realizing that she should probably keep her mouth shut.

"...Heh." After a few seconds of silence, the ninja laughed quietly. "I dunno where you're getting that from but you don't need to apologize." She said. "I...l-look we can talk later me and Lyssa have-" And suddenly a hand was placed firmly over her mouth.

"Shush, no. No no~" Lyssa giggled. "You two have some stuff ya need to talk about, so do it. I'll go make myself scarce...Ooh, I know, I'll go bother Luna!~" With a happy giggle, the demon hopped away leaving Ayumi and Kozue alone. A few more seconds of silence followed as Ayumi collected her thoughts, before finally managing a reply.

"...I'm an idiot, you know?"

Kozue looked a little confused. ”What do you mean?” The Priestess asked, wondering what exactly she meant by that.

"Oh, you know, just in general I'm an Idiot." Ayumi said with a chuckle. "I constantly do things I probably shouldn't, get into trouble…things like that." She cast a small smile at Kozue. "Like you know, potentially endangering the entire temple and the village and whatnot."

Kozue was silent for a bit. She couldn’t deny what Ayumi said, not in the slightest. She closed her eyes as she thought, unsure of what exactly to say. Something finally came to her mind though, ”Yea. That was stupid and I’m unsure as to why you did it. I didn’t think you were so against the life there. Not to that extent.”

"Ouch," Ayumi chuckled. "Blunt as ever, Kozue. You'll never get a boyfriend or girlfriend like that." The ninja glanced towards the ground as she continued. "I just…I wasn't really against it. It's just...it was just painful to live there after a while." She admitted. "I-it's silly, when I say it. But you were always well respected around the temple, but me? I was just that perverted ninja who Dawa always had to scold for drawing mustaches on the statues with paint for giggles. After a while, I just really wanted to leave but…it was harder than it sounds, especially when you don't know anything about the world outside of the temple and village." She frowned. "No one ever verbally said anything but…I wasn't exactly well liked there, you know."

Kozue looked aside, ashamedly. The words were not untrue. There was aught Kozue really could have said to others either. Ayumi was annoying, sure, but she was still on of their own so Kozue tried to do what she could. Ayumi was too much a trouble-maker however so it ended up Kozue scolded her often. ”It’s true. I’ve no words to rebut that.” Kozue looked back to Ayumi, almost sorrowful. ”. . . When you left, the Black Fox mentioned you felt guilty about something. Of what, I had no idea. Now, I think I have a clue. I think...” Kozue looked at Ayumi, as if wondering if there was more the ninja wanted to get off her chest.

"I mean, I don't hate you guys, though! I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to anyone. If anything, pissing you guys off made me chuckle." Ayumi chuckled quietly. "But…well, when I met the Fox she offered me…well, freedom." She shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, I don't think she's as bad as everyone at the temple says after spending some time with her but at the time…It just, well, happened short after Dawa scolded me for spending too long in the village doing something other than 'what I was supposed to be doing." She shook her head. "I just did it to spite everyone at the time and as usual, I didn't think about the consequences because I am an idiot." She fell silent for a few seconds before she continued. It was getting a bit harder to speak.

"After it did happen though…I just, it felt so good to finally have someone to just..talk too, y'know? Someone who didn't judge me or scold me simply for being…well, myself. I just…got carried away when Lyssa and everyone tried to take that away from me…and I ended up w-well, hurting more than a few people in the process, didn't I?"

”Yes, you did.” Kozue said in her brutally honest and blunt way. She couldn’t help but sigh though. ”But they’ll survive. Thanks to that one woman with the healing powers.” The Priestess nodded a couple of times. Loathe I am to admit, those outsiders saved many of us. Either in making that attempt to exorcise all of us for the Fox moot, or the Fox regaining its full self without the constraints of that odd contract these mages have.”

”That said, you’re reflecting on your actions now then. Right?”

"…A little, I guess." Ayumi replied with a small smile. "I don't think the fox is entirely bad, and I don't think she deserves to be locked up, but…instead of doing something stupid like I did, I could have done something else…anything else, I think."

Kozue gave a soft smile, ”Good. I know it’s hard, but use that head of yours more next time.” She crossed her arms and added, ”Just remember to not get in too much trouble alright. I’m not able to bail you out of trouble here. You reap your own consequences here.” It seemed like they were able to at least reset their friendliness. Not that she’d mention it, but she was quite happy.

"Me? Get into trouble? Haha, the only reason they could catch me in the temple is because they knew all my escape routes, but out here?" She grinned. "They'll never take me alive, heh!~" It seemed at least, Ayumi's mood had also improved since having this little talk. "…want to go get dinner or something? I was gonna eat with Lyssa, but I think she'll understand."

Food. That was something Kozue had forgotten about all day. It was amazing she hadn’t thought about it at all. ”I’ve seemed to have neglected food today. I should be glad to accept your offer.” She nodded.

"Well, then, I know a great place that you'll love. Come on then!"

~Gwynn~

Gwynn looked from Mugi, then to Cynthia, then back to the teacup.

"Yeah, no thanks." There was a small huff from Cynthia, as she pouted slightly. "I'm not taking a drink from anyone who probably wants to kill me." Before Cynthia could really be upset if she even was, Mugi mentioned attending the school. The maid walked over to Mugi, and in a somewhat rare display of emotion gave her a congratulatory smile.

"...study." Cynthia replied. "You must study." Before Mugi could tell the maid no, Cynthia had already grabbed her by the hand and attempted to pull her out of the seat and back to her room. No girlfriend of hers could do bad in school, no, she wouldn't allow it!

Gwynn simply watched as they left, along with Livia smiling softly.

"Ah, to be young again..." Livia chuckled.

"...You still do that sorta thing, don'tcha?" Gwynn said, turning her head back to the headmistress.

"An old woman has to have her fun somehow, Gwynn."

"J-just forget it." She shook her head. "Look, about something-"

"The curse on your families bloodline, hm?"

"Uh...right."

"I know a great many things, Gwynn, especially about those I employ in my service." Livia said, pouring some tea for the both of them. "I like to take care of my people, after all."

"Well...uh, can you do anything about it?"

"Hm," Livia sighed, shaking her head. "Not directly, no. If it was an affliction of the soul I could help easily, but a bloodcurse from a god is...much more difficult to dispel." Gwynn frowned. "The easiest method would be to seek out this god and 'persuade' him to remove it. Though, from what I know he may not be willing to negotiate...which is why I have a little something I am going to be giving you before you leave that could help with this."

"Oh?"

"It's not ready yet, but just make sure you come see me before you leave. It should make dealing with this...god of yours, much easier I think." Gwynn narrowed her eyes at Livia, mistrust obvious. As much as Gwynn didn't mind working for her...no way in the seven seas was she going to trust this woman. Before she could think more directly on it, though, the door to the study opened again, this time it was Ritsa and Fia. The redhead of which, was being dragged along by the hydra who seemed thoroughly exhausted.

"Oi," Gwynn said, practically leaping out of her seat. "I was wonderin' where you skittered off too." Gwynn grinned, looking down at the Hydra. "Tire Fia there out?"

"We played in the garden, it was fun! Fia tires easily, though." The hydra grinned.

"That so?" Gwynn chuckled, placing her own hat on the Hydras head. "Anyways, I'll be leaving then. That's all I wanted to talk about now that I picked up this little troublemaker-gah!" Ritsa climbed onto Gwynn's back, quickly scaling the older girls body so she was sitting on her shoulders. "Do I look like a horse to you or somethin'?"

"No, you look like a mommy." The hydra replied with an innocent grin.

"Ugh, Eva why do I have to watch this little fish brain..." Gwynn grunted. "Alright, well, I won't be leaving until after the festival."

"Hmm, I'll have it done by then, Gwynn. See you later, dear."

"Mhm." Gwynn turned to leave, the Hydra resting on her shoulders still.

"Bye pretty red!" She kicked her legs against Gwynn's side. "Hurry up, I wanna get home!"

"Oi, and who made you boss!?"

"The hat!"

"...sometimes you're too clever for your own good." Gwynn sighed. Well...technically yeah, that was her 'captains hat' as she called it. "Alright alright, I'll get going." UNless stopped, the two would leave and make their way back to Gwynn's dorm.

inSINerate - Our Unending War

@Eleos

I think I might have Cerise hang back for now, actually so no worries.

Let everyone else get into trouble and do all the fighting first.

Botanist And Bards

~Isabella~

---

The princess rode in silence, taking in the surroundings. It just...looked so much different than the vast plains Raerith. Even the grassy plains had a different feel to them. Not that she really knew the countryside of Raerith all that well, since she wasn't allowed out of the castle except for any fancy parties...but she always liked the calmness of them. They passed the giant crab, some of the more protective soldiers with them making a bit of a fuss and put themselves between them and the princess.

"Alright, Halt!" Valora said, holding up a hand to bring the group to a halt a bit of a distance away out of view of the castle. "It'd be foolish to walk up to a fortress like that without knowing if their friend or foe." She said, earning a small tilt of the princess head. Why wouldn't it be good? They would...have no reason to try and harm them, would they? Besides, the sword seemed...trustworthy. He seemed friendly, at least. "Princess, I'll take a few men and approach the castle and see if its safe enough for us to lodge here for the night and maybe resupply." Well, it sounded like a good idea. It wasn't like she knew how to do any of this anyways - and Valora was nice and she trusted her. The princess gave a silent nod of her head.

"Very well. Prescott, Tripp, with me!" The two other guards quickly fell in line. "Kelsey, if anything happens to the princess I swear to the creator I'll have your hide even if I have to crawl out of the realm of the dead to do it." She turned back to the princess. "If we don't return within half an hour, assume its no good - and don't try and wait for us." Isabella smiled to herself as Valora left. She was always so serious and always was so...unafraid? She wished she could be a bit more like her. Leaving them behind for any reason though, made the princess frown.

She did feel at least somewhat responsible for them, they were out here because of her after all, and they didn't even really know why.

She cast a glance over to Gracie...she wondered what her maid was thinking?