Zoey Boey

Teen Titans: New Beginnings

Um, no I'm not waiting, but you can post. My posting slipped through my fingers this week and I forgot. You can post with the assumption that Starfire followed his orders and then is on her way to help Wonder Girl and Wraith. We could go with the 'camera' as it were not really cutting to her perspective yet you know?

Blood's Jewels (High Casual Fantasy Revolution)

Winton, in the Inn with Faeril

Dareen had been placed in a position she would never have imagined she would find herself in just six months ago. Lone bodyguard of a Black Widow. Being somewhat of a social pushover it wasn't the hardest thing in the world to wordlessly imply what Dareen should do and have her do it. But as Faeril, the Black Widow, complained about her companions, her back turned, moving and arranging the trunks and the items within them, a pit of guilt and dread sat within the Pruulish woman's heart. This didn't feel right. Dareen had to say something. It was probably a bad time, given that Faeril may be in a bad mood, but this was the first time she and Faeril had been alone with each other. Truly alone, with no one to listen in.

Her heart rate ticked up nervously as she smiled weakly, nodding along with her complaints. Her sword was sheathed on her hip, her two hands wringing each other and cracking joints. As it so often was, Dareen's back was against the wall. Literally, and figurativly. With plans of returning home to Pruul, and with the Black Widow she had found herself serving isolated from the others, an opportunity had presented itself.

After a long silence, she worked up the courage to begin speaking. "Um...Faeril." She started quietly, waiting for the Black Widow to acknowledge her. I have to talk to you about something and...I..." She glanced around the empty room, exasperated. "Wh- why am I here? Alone? With you?" The ex-mercenary asked.

"You...you know what I've done. What I do. I'm not...trustworthy." Dareen managed. She leaned forward, emphasising her point with earnestly clenched fists. Dareen was a killer. A murderer. She exhanced blood for coin. Moreover she gained power and wealth by hunting down and killing Black Widows. Healers and exiles. How many little hilltop homes had she kicked the doors in? How many Black Widows and their found familes has Dareen torn apart with steel and strategy? To her shame, she didn't know the exact number. Perhaps it wasn't that Dareen wasn't trustworthy, she wasn't worthy, period. Instead of hatred and disdain, she had been mostly treated with respect and cordiality. She even liked these people, and it seemed like some of them actually liked her, too. It didn't feel right. It didn't feel real. Dareen knew she had somehow tricked her way into becoming these people's ally. These feelings were all bottled up and much to her chagrin, needed to be talked about.

Blood's Jewels (High Casual Fantasy Revolution)

@LadyRunic I'm gonna post today in like an hour here. I haven't been able to be writing as much this last week and I lost track of time when it came to this RP. Post today for sure

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Pandora had long since stopped making eye contact with the young agent, instead focusing the varnish of the wooden counter she was standing behind. When Christina stopped talking and asked a question, the orange-eyed woman blinked and looked up at the agent, seeming mildly surprised. "Oh, I get a turn to talk, too?" She asked, feigning incredulousness, like she had come out of some boredom induced stupor. Truth be told, she had listened intently to every single word, and had come to the conclusion she disliked Christina Lavender strongly.

She was the fifth of her kind to come her way, trying to wrangle Pandora out of retirement, using some tactic or plan or whatever. They assumed that just because she was still in fighting shape that her retirement was somehow immoral, undeserved, something to be rectified. It was drilled into these people that humans are only deserving of a rest once they have no more to give, and since Pandora had more to give, she wasn't deserving of a rest. They wouldn't be happy until Pandora sacrificed herself in some sort of grand redemptive gesture. The best way for people like Christina to die was young, beautiful, and optimistic. With a little look of shock on their face because they never imagined it could actually happen to them:, not after all they had done, no! Otherwise, they would live long enough to either become bitter, or fool themselves into thinking they had actually given the children they never got to raise a better world to grow up in.

But she didn't want to waste her time or her breathe expositing all of this to this tragically self-righteous young woman, since it would most likely go over her head. It would most likely be interpreted as petty insults to be brushed away with a dismissive, forced grin rather than anything to actually consider. Her servitude to the system was such that she could't even comprehend the idea that Pandora's self-chosen name was legitimate.

Christina was right, in that Pandora did want to join HERO. The last light of her life had spent some of her last moments imploring Pandora to take up her old torch. Mary Silverstone had made a promise that she intended to keep. The only reason she was joining was because of what she owed. HERO could have sent a letter or left her a voicemail and she would have joined all the same. But Pandora's apathy was such that she wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to go plunging headfirst back into hero work. Even on the back of a promise.

So for Christina to come in here with self-satisfied threats of ICOSA involvement, or attempting to shame her for her alleged "lesser actions", was annoying. Annoying in the way a fly is, when it has the arrogance to land on your food the fifth time after shooing it away. At some point, one just wants to destroy it, if only to punish it for is hubris.

And truth be told if this was the 90's, this kind of disrespect would make Pandora stick a finger in Christina's forehead and lower her IQ by 20 points. But now, that would go against her goal of joining these people. So she held back on the flyswatter, for now.

It was just the fact that Christina would assume her little speech there would be the reason behind getting Pandora to join was...annoying. Christina was annoying. Her organization, HERO, was annoying. The systems and people HERO was inplace to protect was, and you're not going to believe this: annoying. Unfortunately, they had set themselves up to be the only avenue of putting her abilities to good use. They had thoroughly squashed reasons like "being kind to one another" and "making the world a better place" and replaced them with "money" and "protection from the legal consequences of misconduct." Superheroing was a career opportunity. Blegh. Pandora was confident she had gotten a read as to the type of person Christina was, and it was one of her least favorite.

All of these demeaning thoughts, though, would result only in an unimpressed facial expression. Pandora spoke only a moment after asking her mocking question. "Yes. I'm in. You could have just asked nicely, and we would be halfway to HERO One by now. But then I suppose, you wouldn't get to feel like a big girl." She mocked Christina with a faux-sympathetic childish pout, tilting her head to the side. It was not good natured teasing. Pandora had decided already that she would never, ever, like Christina.

Not waiting for a response, the florist spoke:"I beg your pardon." Pandora floated silently from her standing position and through the ceiling. She had the intention of travelling to her bedroom.

There, sitting by the windowsill, was a proud red rose in a vase. The redhead did something she rarely did- genuinely smile- as she gently ran her fingers over it's bold crimson petals. "Apologies for the delay, sweetheart." She murmered softly under her breath to the flower. Carefully she removed it from the vase and tucked the green stem behind her ear and intertwined it with her hair, using her red strands as an impossible bobby pin to keep it in place. Then, she took off her green apron and lay it on the bed.

Phasing back downstairs, Pandora was no longer in her uniform and had the big red rose on the left side of her hair. Everything else, the short jeans, grey crop top, and overall buffness, had not changed. The lavender flower that used to be a HERO business card had fallen out of her jean pocket and onto the floor. Now the florist looked at Christina expectantly, wondering if they were going to head right to registration or if there was yet more displays of her 'power' she had in mind. Pandora would have to close up shop.

World of Light

Kasugano Sakura

Level 2: 3/20
Location: In Lumbridge, collaboration with Lugubrious
Word Count: 3,062
Points Gained: 3
New EXP Balance--- Level 2: 6/20

For one of the few people in the whole town devoid of Galeem’s influence, Michael did not look comfortable. The expression on his face suggested that he didn’t expect in a million years to be addressed by either Curly or Sakura, and in a billion years to want to answer back. Now that the girl could get a closer look at him, ‘gentleman’ was a more polite than accurate way to think of him. His clothing was quality, but neither up to date in terms of fashion nor well maintained. His stubble, his hairline, and general manner all spoke to a former big timer grown old and fallen on harder times, which a jaunt through the World of Light probably didn’t help. The way he tended to avoid people’s eyes suggested a reluctance -or inability- to come to terms with all of the weirdness that surrounded him, and a desire to keep it at length.

Still, when Sakura spoke to him, he got her meaning quickly enough. Glancing around, he scratched the back of his head. “Yeah. Should be fine. The people just behave like themselves, as far as I can tell. Just don’t start any fights, ‘cause they sure as hell don’t back down from a fight, no matter who they are.” He went quiet and looked over at the pig merchants, making it clear that the burden of continuing the conversation lay on Sakura’s shoulders.

Sakura nodded, relaxing a little bit. Still a bit uncomfortable, but this person definitely seemed like someone she would pass in the street. Or at least give her weird looks when she was practicing her moves in public. "Okay, then, well...pleased to meet you!" She said, doing a polite little bow.

Sakura decided to just ask the big question first. "Is there any way to get things back to normal? Mister…?" She trailed off, giving the man a little room to answer her question and then fill in the blank with his own name.

“Uh, Michael de Santa,” the man replied, recognizing the prompt. In remarkable alignment with Sakura’s thoughts, he’d given her a brief but still visible look when she bowed. Evidently the gesture featured neither in his culture nor any he was familiar with. “And yeah, this guy called the…’Master of Masters’.” Michael recited the name as if it was ridiculous, which it was. “He told us when we arrived here that if we beat the champions of that angel ball thing, we can fight it directly. Once it goes down, things should go back to normal.” Now that he said it out loud, he didn’t know if he exactly believed it, either. At least in this world, though, it seemed like anything could happen.

A racket drew his gaze. Some ways down the town’s road, another pair of wooden carts pulled by cats approached the guild hall from the same direction as the bridge Sakura crossed earlier. A blonde teenage boy rested on both, one in blue and the other in red. At least one of them Michael recognized, and he pulled in a breath through closed teeth.

Sakura had listened excitedly, now that Mr. Michael de Santa had actually outlined a plan. Defeat the champions, then beat the final boss. It was like one of those video games her little brother played!

Sakura was about to ask another question when he turned to look at something. Her big brown eyes followed his gaze and she saw the carts. Being pulled by cats, again.

"What’s wrong? Are those good cats or bad cats?" She asked, looking back and forth between Michael and the strange sight. But Sakura had seen weird stuff in her time, so she was already becoming acclimated to this entirely new level of weirdness. Right now it was just inexperience and still some shock that was keeping her a little detached. Like some part of her was still holding onto the idea that this might just be a very vivid dream.

Michael shook his head. “I dunno about the cats, other than there’s a bunch of ‘em in this town here and they seem okay. But one of those kids went out with the others to take out the boss of this region this morning.” He frowned, his forehead creased with concern. “Must have gotten hurt. But it doesn’t make sense. There’s this...robot lady who was with them who can heal anything. And they went out in a monster truck. They must have been hauling him a long time.”

Sakura looked at the cats and the people they carried, and then back to Michael. Overall her head seemed to be going on a bit of a cycle. After a moment she raised a finger in the air, and then pointed it the cats. "Oh! I know. I saw them poof." She made a little poofing motion with her hand. She remembered them appearing on the outskirts of town with a robot. At the time she hadn’t thought much of it because at the time her brain decided to just skim over the bizarre occurrence.

"I dunno what I thought it was but, maybe those cats can teleport? I know like, three people who can teleport. Never any cats before, though. But I guess anything is at the table now." Sakura said with a shrug. She also noted him saying something about a robot lady and a monster truck, and a boss.

"So there are people trying to get things back to normal, though? Do you know when they’ll be back?"

An embarrassed look fought for control of Michael’s face. “Uh...yeah. The team I’m with. A bunch of us met over in another region, and then more came along as we went. I...well, me and Franklin, we...had some other stuff to do, but the others went across the plains this morning.” Regret tinged Michael’s voice. “I’ve got no idea when they’ll get back. They might just keep going in that direction when they finish. If, I mean. Last time we fought a boss, well...a couple of us didn’t make it. But I’m sure they’ll be fine. This time.”

As Michael spoke, Sakura glanced over her shoulder at Curly. Maybe she was being a bit presumptive, but from the way Michael spoke it sounded like he was one of the ‘amazing adventurers’. That’ll show her for judging a book by it’s cover! She assumed he was some American guy who lived in a big house in California and did nothing all day long, but it turned out he was actually an adventurer! What didn’t sound quite as good, though, was his mention of people not making it. He looked worried about them.

"Oh, well... You guys are pretty strong, huh? Do you think I could join? I could help!" She asked, preemptively adding on a bit of defence on her part since most a lot of people somehow got the impression that she wasn’t actually that good at fighting just from looking at her. Even if it was really dangerous, these people were the first path she had come across. If there was a fight to be fought she couldn’t just sit on the sidelines the whole time and do nothing. Maybe they could find her family along the way, too, if they travel great distances.

Michael nodded. “The others are strong, I’m just good with a rifle. But yeah, I’m sure they’d be glad to have you. I bet you have crazy powers or something, huh?” He only guessed, but by now he felt pretty confident in such guesses. In this world, anyone who didn’t fade into the background for sure had some kind of special ability. Normal people getting by with just their skills and some guns were a rare find. In a way it made him feel special, but the damage he’d done to his enemies so far had been with borrowed power. Michael the man was just a man who’d lost his edge. Trying not to feel inadequate, he told Sakura, “If you want to join the team, you’ll have a tough time catching up to them. They drove. There’s these Sesame Street-looking birds here that the people here ride called Chocolates...or something, but you’d need a car. Unless you can fly. It’s a big world. The kid who got sent back might be more helpful to ya.”

Above Michael’s head, off in the pristine blue sky, a wandering eye might catch sight of something out of place. It looked like a bird at first glance, but the shape wasn’t quite right. And with almost imperceptible slowness, it was getting bigger.

Sakura nodded along, her smile growing a little bit. She did have some pretty crazy powers! As he spoke though, she wondered how she was going to find these people. Let alone catch up to them. Still, it seemed like some of the travelling adventurers had returned somehow, so she could probably find out from them. Maybe finding a Chocolate bird would help?

Sakura chuckled a little bit."No, I can’t fly. Not yet, anyway!" She said jokingly, raising an eyebrow knowingly. "Well, thank you so much, Mr. de Santa. You..." She narrowed her eyes as she caught sight of the thing as it got bigger. "Do you see that?" She asked with a squint, pointing above his head at the encroaching shape.

What the girl said seemed like a joke, but Michael found himself half-believing it anyways. He didn’t get much time to think about it, though, as she seemed to spot something behind him. Desperately hoping he wasn’t falling for the oldest trick in the book and about to get punked, he looked over his shoulder. When he followed Sakura’s finger he saw that she wasn’t him for a fool. “Huh, yeah. What is that?” He narrowed his eyes, determining that whatever it was seemed to be getting closer. “Some kind of eagle maybe. Or a-”

“DRAGON!” Came a full-throated yell from one of the Lumbridge watch towers. The sentry waved for the villagers’ attention, pointing at the thing in the sky. “It’s a doggone fire-breather, dangit! Someone git over t’the guild hall ‘n holler at the adventurers! This ain’t a prank, folks!” A chorus of chatter and outcries rose in response, with a few of the townspeople making a beeline down the road for the castle situated there. The adventurers already out and about took to their heels, rushing to gather and equip their gear while heading toward battle positions. All the while the dragon got closer, descending straight for the town.

Sakura had startled, reeling back from the fact that she and everyone in town was about to be attacked by a dragon. Everyone was taking up their battle stations!

Oh, my gosh! Should I fight? I should fight, right? I should help! I’ve never fought a dragon before! Sakura looked around, whirling to try and find the right place to be. Eventually she tried to find Curly with her eyes and follow her, or failing that, look back to Michael for help. ”What should we do!?” She shouted, looking ready to zip off in any direction at any moment.

Everything was happening too fast. Pigs were panicking. Curly had already disappeared, having forgotten all about her new acquaintance out of panic for the townpeople’s safety. Adventures were pouring and stumbling out of the guild hall. But it was too late. The dragon hit the ground a little way from the town’s edge and slid for a short way. After coming to a stop, it sat back on its haunches and looked over the assembled people. Sakura narrowed her eyes and de-tensed a little bit. Not what she expected.

“Hello!” She exclaimed in a loud but distinctly feminine voice. “Sorry to disturb you folks, but have any of you seen my dear, sweet prince? Just a few moments ago I received this awful sensation, like something terrible happened to him…”

Sakura smiled, a little embarrassed for getting so worked up over nothing. The blonde-haired boy Sakura saw earlier stepped out from the baffled ranks of adventurers. He looked less confused, more embarrassed. “Mym?”

The dragon’s face lit up with joy. “Darliiiiiiiiiiing!” Power welled up within her and her body was consumed by flame. It blazed for a brief period before beginning to shrink, growing smaller and smaller. After a second it condensed into a beautiful woman in regal garb, bearing horns and a tail very much like the dragon who sat there a moment before. Without hesitation she launched forward onto her feet and sauntered straight to the prince, her tail swishing behind her. Before he could object he disappeared into an overaffectionate hug. “Oh, darling! For a moment I thought something bad happened to you, but here you are, safe and sound. As if the flames of our love could die!”

Euden worked to extricate himself. He tried to say something, but another boy beat him to it. “Euden, you didn’t tell us you had a girlfriend!” he ribbed him good-naturedly. His tease helped break the tension filling the scene, turning pent-up apprehension into relief as people realized that they weren’t due for a dragon fight after all.

”Don’t we feel stupid now, huh?” She said aloud to everyone nearby rubbing the back of her head. ”It was a nice dragon lady the whole time!” Sakura stated the obvious, shaking her head with a grin on her face. She felt rude, but it seemed like the dragon lady didn’t care much.

After a moment, Sakura realised she would probably have to go talk to that boy named Euden since Michael had indicated him as a member of the adventuring team. So she slowly made her way closer to the conversation, kicking at dirt with her sneakers and trying to subtly detect if the dragon lady or the two boys had creepy red eyes or normal eyes. Or normal creepy red eyes. When she got close enough, she could see without much trouble that the older boy and the horned woman both had Galeem’s red eyes, but those of Euden -as his friend called him- were blue.

As Sakura closed the distance, she looked over at Euden. Trying not to interrupt- but also, really wanting to talk to Euden- she spoke up. Here goes nothing!

”Uh, hey, hello. My name is Sakura, and I heard you were an adventurer?” She asked, her voice trending upward in pitch as it turned from a statement into a question. She made eye contact with Euden, and then brought her finger up to her cheek and pulled on the skin to emphasise her natural eye color. She did that a couple times, leaning towards Euden.

The crowd was starting to thin, its members going off to resume their own business since what was going on between the prince and the dragon was clearly none of theirs. For his part, Euden blinked at Sakura repeatedly, his expression quizzical. It took him a few moments to understand. “Oh! You’re also…?”

He put that on hold a moment to try and push his admirer off him, “Mym, please! Not in front of everyone!”

“Oh, of course, dear!” She hopped backward, clasping her hands together. “I will happily save all my love for when everyone’s gone.”

“Thank you,” Euden breathed. He turned to Sakura, sheepish. “Pardon us. I’m Euden, and this is Mym. She’s a friend I haven’t seen in a while.” The shapeshifter waved, winking as though saying the prince surely didn’t mean just ‘friend’. “I’d love to chat, but my friends are in danger. They’re fighting the zone boss right now, and I need to hurry back.”

Mym brightened up. “Do you need to go somewhere, darling? I would be overjoyed to carry you!”

Sakura also brightened up, glancing at the dragon lady, Mym, and Euden, her friend. ”Oh, wow, you know that’s perfect because I- I want to come with you! I’m a fighter! I want to help turn everything back to normal, so could I come with, please? Euden?” Sakura asked excitedly, stumbling over her words a little bit. Truth be told she probably needed to do a bit of preparation, like going back to her room and grabbing her student bag. But if he was in a hurry because his friends were in danger, then this was her only chance. No way he would wait just so she could get a water bottle if lives were on the line. Sakura took more steps forward as she talked. ”Uh, Mym, too? Could I come with you guys please?”

Mym crossed her arms, looking put out. "I only wanted to carry my darling! To allow a human rider is a very serious act for a dragon. An intimate one, even!"

Euden have her a plaintive look. "Couldn't you make an exception? She can help us. We can't just leave her behind to walk the whole way."

Putting a hand against her cheek, Mym sighed. "Oh, dear...if you ask me like that, I just can't say 'no.'"

"Thank you, Mym." Grateful, Euden looked between the two women. "Let's get going."

After reaching a safe distance Mym transformed again. Almost tenderly she allowed Euden to climb aboard and take hold of her neck. When Sakura approached, however, Mym reared up and held out her clawed hand. "I'll carry you," she explained. "And don't worry, I'll be careful not to hurt you."

This was the first time Sakura had ever been talked to by a dragon. She felt like she was in a fairy tale or something. She looked a little apprehensive at first, looking at the clawed hand. Still, if riding on her back was offensive, it really was the least she could do.

Not like I’m afraid of heights or anything… Sakura reassured herself.

Sakura did another grateful little bow.”Thank you, Miss Mym.” She said, swallowing and letting herself get picked up.

Sakura was bad at lying though. Or concealing her true feelings. ”Just don’t drop me, please? I care about that more than I do about getting poked a little bit.” She added with a little bit of nervous laughter.

"You are welcome, and please rest easy," Mym assured her. "A dragon always appreciates someone with manners." Once her passengers were as ready as could be, she put her powerful wings to work and took to the sky.

Teen Titans: New Beginnings

I will post. I think I kinda forgot to post because I had to hold off and then kinda forgot and i dunnoooo? I will post tomorrow

《 H. E. R. O. 》

The shop was unresponsive. There was an air conditioner whirring, and a gramophone playing old songs.

...

Suddenly, the card twirling between her fingers was sucked out of her hand and behind her, by a sharp, silent gust of wind. Upon turning around Christina would find it flew precicely into the grip of one Jane Smith, one Pandora, one 'Mary Madison'. Looking particularly unamused by Christina's attitude and presence in her shop. Pandora's orange eyes flicked to the card.

"Christina Lavender, hmm?" Pandora asked rhetorically, giving the HERO agent a once over. She squeezed the plastic card in her hand, and then released it, the card having turned into a lavender flower, with it's vertically oriented tiny lavender petals. It, like the card she had altered, was made of plastic. Pandora held the flower in her hands and rolled it between her fingers.

Pandora walked around the other side of her counter. It seemed that inbetween the time Christina had announced her presence and her intentions, and the time that Pandora had silently crept up behind her, that she had done some thinking. This was inevitable, Pandora thought. Infact, this was almost what she wanted. If she wanted to stay hidden, she could have gone anywhere in the world. Instead she went to Castleburg, within line of sight of HERO One. Right now, though, Pandora was indignified. Annoyed that this woman had come in here so sure that she would find help. Annoyed that she was right. Annoyed that despite the fact that Pandora could easily turn her into silly puddy, it was Christina who held the real power of the situation. Still, it wasn't entirely lopsided. They both had something the other needed, she imagined. Pandora had the help that HERO needed, and HERO had the purpose that Pandora had sought out. While theoretically speaking this meant the negotiations should be smooth and amicable, Christina had ticked Pandora off. Not like that was a particularly hard thing to do. Now, the florist was aiming to make the agent work for her paycheck.

"You know what doesn't surprise me?" Pandora asked. "That the thing that finally brought HERO crawling to my doorstep was incompetence. You've come here, to my little flower shop, to plead for my help. It's degrading." She said derisively, looking at the flower in her fingers.

Pandora sighed. "As for your questions...yes, I do wedding corsages and bouquets. Thank you for your compliments, I take great pride in my work." She explained casually, almost slipping back into her American accent.

"Finally: No, you should not say Mary." She practically spat out this last sentence, her words full of venom. Pandora didn't like to threaten people. Normally she thought herself above such lowly behavior. But in this instance, Christina saying that name so flippantly, with that stupid look on her face, had struck a nerve. Now the florist was silent, waiting for this HERO agent to say whatever she had to say.

Blood's Jewels (High Casual Fantasy Revolution)

Winton, in the courtyard outside the Inn

Dareen nodded silently as Jandar and Denvar said that going to Kaeleer was the best plan. Indeed, it was hard to build up a resistance while in enemy territory. If they could escape and find help, at the very least regain their composure, that would be a good move. It was also an exciting prospect, because she had never been to Kaeleer before.

"All right. Well, I'll tag along if you'll have me. I've no where better to be." She said with a small smile. She was also secretly relieved that Xandar would not be following them. At least for now. He always made her somewhat uncomfortable. So if he was off doing his own thing, than so be it. He certainly was handy in a fight, but...the same could be said about a rabid bear.

"So, Kaeleer, huh? I've only heard stories. What's it like there? Good weather?" She asked, still sitting down against the wall. The task ahead was daunting, but Dareen was calm and ready to undertake it. She had spent her life fighting for reasons she didn't totally understand or grasp. The only difference now was that she was sure this was the right thing. That she was fighting for more than herself and those around her. It was a new feeling, and perhaps it suited her.

World of Light

Kasugano Sakura

Level 2: 2/20
Location: Hamlet's produce place
Word Count: 516
Points Gained: 1
New EXP Balance--- Level 2: 3/20

Sakura helped guide Ryu back to town. When he was left at the guild master's healing place, she waved at him as she left. "Bye, Ryu-san! I'll fight you once you're feeling better!" She offered excitedly, unaware that they already had fought.

Then Sakura followed Curly around town. She had seen some of these people before, but not while she was Sakura. Not, Sakura Sakura, anyway. She was under it's spell. If she was herself, she would have been trying to find people to help her find her family, or defeat that Galeem thing. At the very least she would have asked what the heck was going on! She tried to sift through her memories, but it was like they belonged to somebody else. A Sakura that looked, sounded, acted like her, but there was something missing. It was creepy. She remembered seeing herself in reflections, seeing her dull red eyes, and not thinking anything of it. Not really 'thinking' at all.

Sakura waved and said brief hi's and hello's to everyone that Curly did, trailing behind her as she investigated the town. Sakura liked Curly already, but she was a woman on a mission, clearly, so they didn't have much time to chat. There were all kinds of colorful characters that she would love to get to know. There were more stories and histories here than anywhere in the world. The people in this town looked like they weren't from Earth, or at least, not her Earth. Like from an alternate reality, a different world. It was amazing, and awe-inspiring. It made Sakura feel insignificant, but in a good kind of way. It was humbling.

But as time went on, and she saw more and more of the townsfolk, saw their dull red eyes, she thought about herself. How she wasn't really herself. They all seemed friendly enough, but the young woman slowly began to feel uncomfortable. Were all these people under Galeem's spell? Was her family under Galeem's spell, somewhere? Like puppets? Sakura's smile faded and she clutched her arms to her chest. Were these 'amazing adventurer' people also going to be under Galeem's influence? She wanted to go back to Ryu already, but not for the reasons she usually did. It felt like was surrounded not by people, but life-like drawings of people.

Finally they made it to their destination, and Sakura was greatly relieved to see the person Curly had in mind was free of Galeem's influence like she was. She smiled and then glanced around at everyone else. Michael could see the concern on her face.

Are these people the enemy? Would they want to kill me if said or did something against Galeem? What is Galeem? Who is this old guy? I guess I should start asking questions but...I don't want to say the wrong thing.

Sakura looked up at the older gentlemen, looked back at Curly and realised she had the floor. "Uh, uh...hello, sir. Is...is it safe to talk, here?" She asked nervously, quietly, trying to get her meaning across without explicitly stating it.

World of Light

Kasugano Sakura

Level 2: 2/20
Location: With Ryu and Curly outside of Lumbridge
Word Count: 459
Points Gained: 1
New EXP Balance--- Level 2: 1/20

Sakura felt a little bit better. Ryu was as perceptive as always. Sakura was, infact, very confused. But wow, someone really beat Ryu up. Like, someone villainous. But usually Ryu beats people up like that, so she stil wasn't entirely sure what happened. Her head was still swimming but she was blinking through it. He followed his gaze towards Galeem. Somehow, it felt like she had only just now noticed it, even though it was impossible to not see. The sight of it was awe-inspiring and made a pit drop in her stomach.

When Ryu mentioned it had her under it's spell, she dropped back a little bit and exhaled. That explained a lot. Her eyes were wide and she had a hand on her head. Heart racing, head pounding, hands trembling. It was a lot to take in. Normally, Sakura didn't believe in stuffing one's emotions down. But in this case, it was necessary to function. Shove, shove, shove, right into a bottle and stop the cap. There would be time to process this later. Right now Ryu was hurt, and there could be danger around any corner.

Suddenly, a robot lady approached, seeming concerned. "Uh, no, no. I didn't beat him. Not me. I would never hurt him this bad, even if I could." She laughed nervously, looking the woman up and down. Was she actually a robot? Sakura hadn't seen many of those, but she had seen people that weren't quite traditionally 'human' before, so she wasn't too concerned about it. Especially since the bizarre encounters she's had on her trip here were coming back to her. Sakura's composure was returning.

The japanese woman blinked at the strange side of a robot being carried into town by cats.

Okay, so weird stuff. Get used to it. The most important part, though... Sakura thought, her eyes trailing off of the robot lady and onto the glass angel in the sky. Is beating that thing up, from the sound of it.

She smiled lightly at the new person that Ryu seemed to know. Sakura joined Ryu, standing to her feet aswell. If he wanted, she would offer him a shoulder to lean on. "Hi, I'm uh, I'm new in town." She managed, stammering a bit.

"Eh...konnichi wa. My name's Sakura, I just came into town to fight Ryu... but there's no fun or honor in beating someone up who's already been attacked by someone else." Sakura greeted the stranger with a short bow.

"Yes, I could use some help. I need help with..." She hesitated, trying to find the right words. After a moment, she just settled for gesticuling vaguely at the entire universe. "I don't even know."