RPG: Puppetry

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

The sun had risen low over Vocus, the capitol of the nation of Istraken. A steady warm wind was blowing across the island. In the outskirts of the city, the immense windmills that provided a miraculous sight for the island’s inhabitants turned slowly, but more quickly than the breeze was blowing. The reason for this was the Galestones several hundred feet beneath the surface. They blew wind in every direction, but over the centuries since they came into existence many large tunnels were carved away by the stronger winds. The ancients of Istraken had ventured underground to build supports to make the tunnels useful. The result was a series of large wind-propelled gears that turned the blades of the many windmills around Vocus. Many windmills within city limits are used to grind grain and other useful things. Because of this, people are hired to perform maintenance on the windmills and the tunnel supports underground. But all that is practically nothing to people who don’t work in the tunnels.

Just outside of town, a warm breeze ruffled the tall grass of the fields. The wind also ruffled the clothing of two people sleeping in the field. The one who woke up first was Roswell Meyers. The teenaged puppetmaster woke from the feeling of wind and smell of sea breeze, slowly getting to a seated position and looking around.

“What a good feeling.” he mused to himself. “There’s nothing quite like sleeping under the stars. It’s just lucky that Istraken is warm nine months out of the year.” Roswell had opted out of his usual outfit for something lighter, a short sleeved black shirt and dark brown long shorts. As he tried to move into a more comfortable position his right hand pressed against something soft that wasn’t grass. Looking to his right, Roswell saw that his hand was pressed against the leg of a girl around his age. He recognized the still sleeping as Bridget, one of his best friends. She was dressed in a long burgundy sundress that somehow managed to not get stained by the grass during the night.

“Hey, Bridget. Wake up.” the puppetmaster said gently, moving his friend to a seated pose. The girl made several groaning sounds before almost falling back again. “Bridget I’m not kidding. Wake up now.” Roswell carefully shook her.

“Nng.” she groaned quietly, her behavior while sleeping completely contrasting her usually polite demeanor. “Roswell… Sel…ene. Best friends.” The girl fell forward against Roswell, knocking him onto his back. “Great… puppet…” The teenager chuckled to himself at his friend’s sleep-talking. He couldn’t help but notice that his friend, for her age, had a fairly remarkable bust line.

“Wait… puppet?” Bridget’s words had broken Roswell from his reverie. “The… the Great Tour. You’ve gotta be… YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!” The puppetmaster’s screaming finally woke his friend, though because of low blood pressure she wasn’t really awake.

“Why are you yelling Roswell?” She yawned politely.

“Wake up properly. It’s already morning. We never went home last night. And when we get back home our parents are gonna give us those looks they always do whenever neither of us is home for the night.”

“Is it really that much of a problem?”

“That’s not even the worst part. It’s already morning. I’ve got to catch the ferry.” Roswell glanced at the giant wind-powered clock tower at the center of town. “We’ve only got two hours before the ferry leaves.”

“… Oh my.” The girl was beginning to wake up completely and could somewhat understand what her friend was saying.

“It means we have to leave now!” The puppeteer jumped to his feet, grabbing his friend by the hand. It wasn’t so much that they both ran, it was more like Roswell was dragging Bridget by the hand. The two ran toward the entrance to town, knowing that it would be abandoned.

“We’re not going to make it no matter how fast we run.” Bridget said concernedly.

“That’s why we’re not going to run all the way.” Roswell reached behind a tree near the gate, extracting what looked like a strong, mechanical umbrella. It had a loop that wrapped around the wrist and forearm. This segment connected to the umbrella handle that was unusually short. The handle had several wheels that were supposed to be turned using fingers. The wheels would increase or reduce the permeability of the umbrella.

“What’s that for?”

“If we use the wind tunnels we can get to your house and then my house in about twenty minutes.” Roswell and Bridget dashed down a staircase leading underground. They both immediately registered a strong wind. The girl hesitated for a moment but her friend didn’t have the same apprehension. He pulled Bridget along, wrapping his left arm around her waist just before leaping into the wind current. She screamed in fear as the two were propelled through the underground tunnels, tightening her arms around her friend’s neck.

“Roswell!” she cried.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m better at this than you’d expect.”

“It’s not that!” When the girl looked at her friend, her face was scarlet. “I’m wearing a skirt!”

“Unless you want to stop in the middle of the wind tunnel you’ll need to endure it.” Bridget, for the moment trying to forget that Roswell may very well be looking up her skirt, looked toward what, in her perspective, was above her. The umbrella that was propelling them through the tunnel was spinning rapidly. The girl had some sense that because of the exact nature of the winds that if the umbrella-like spinner didn’t spin, the one using it would. Bridget tried to keep count of exactly how many turns they had made, but had lost count after a recent left, right, up.

“We’re almost to a windmill where we can check our orientation!” Roswell yelled over the noise.

“How close?”

“Maybe another minute or two!” And, true to his word, within another minute the two teens arrived in an immense chamber with one of the giant galestones suspended in the center. Roswell kicked against it, sending the two into an updraft that shot them skyward. The two burst through the wind tunnel entrance at the top of a windmill. As they floated down gently, Bridget still had her eyes clenched shut and Roswell was chuckling to himself. When they touched stable ground, Bridget collapsed to her knees.

“I’m so glad to be on solid ground again.” She sighed.

“If you call being a hundred feet in the air solid.” the puppetmaster laughed. When he turned to face his friend, the first thing he saw was the face of an old woman.

“Roswell. You’re late.” she huffed. The woman’s hair was long and grey and covered by a hat with a pair of goggles over it.

“Sorry grandma.” he said. “We didn’t really mean to stay out all night.”
“The point is you’re here. If you use the tunnels you’ll be back home in no time. You’ll need to be, by the way. The ferry is leaving soon along with all the travelers on it.” It ordinarily would’ve seemed odd for Istraken to gain so many visitors in such a short period of time, but at that time of year it was odd to get so few.

“I know. And don’t worry. Bridget, can you get home from here?”

“Of course.” she responded.

“Then meet me at the pier in an hour. I’ll be ready by then.”

“Alright. I’ll see you then.” The girl swung herself onto a ladder and began climbing down. Roswell, being late enough as he was, leaped back into the tunnel. His grandmother looked fondly after him. Her grandson was physically frail, but he wasn’t weak. He was doing something no one in his family had ever done before. And he was smart enough to take a dependable friend with him.
Roswell rode through the wind tunnels, alone with his thoughts.

“My first grand tour. This is gonna be really great.” he mused to himself.

The Grand Tour… I’m Roswell Meyers. The grand tour isn’t so much as a rule. It’s really more like something that a bunch of puppetmasters decided was a good idea. You seen, every nation has a slightly different approach to making puppets. Not to mention that the technology of today is old news by tomorrow. So every year the puppetmasters make a journey around the world to learn everything they can about the puppets of every nation. This year is my first. Also, a puppetmaster almost never travels without a guardian to protect him. Bridget is my guardian. She may not look like much, but she’s a powerful sorceress. Anyway, about those travelers that grandma mentioned. A few weeks ago another puppetmaster came to Istraken. Not just any puppetmaster, a guy from Rende. Along with him, a puppetmaster originally from Istraken came home with his guardian. A few other people came right around that time. A mysterious guy, a little girl with a staff, a swordsman, and a Wilds archer.

Well, they’re all leaving and I’m on the same ferry. Well, not just them. An archer girl from the clinic is going with them. It’s in the nature of people to give travelers and leaving natives a send-off. So it would just be disrespectful to miss my own send-off. After all, my parents are actually going to be there.

Roswell burst into his empty house, quickly changing into his normal clothes. He hid his hands using a pair of black gloves and grabbed a bag with his clothes and a case containing his puppet.

“Let’s go, Halloween.” he said, patting the case affectionately. Roswell ran out the door and dashed toward the pier. When he arrived, a group of people were crowded around a ship. Roswell pushed through the group and ran into Bridget along the way. The two exchanged pleasantries again and stood in front of the crowd along with the rest. Everyone gave the group a healthy goodbye and they boarded the ship preparing to depart for the Wilds…

(Yeah… you know that group that Roswell mentioned. That’s you guys.)

[Luzifer]

Andras snapped awake. Even asleep he knew his balance was shifting and he awoke soon enough to correct it, snapping the stool back down to the barroom ground in an instant. He rubbed his eyes as he look around the tavern, the smell of last nights smoke still strong.

He always woke up in the Headless Badger, unless a job took him out a bit further and he stayed the night in the fields or another inn. Why? Because he was a mercenary and mercenaries, monster hunters, and other sell-swords had an unwritten policy that they would always wait for work in taverns. Each mercenary or group of mercenaries would stake out a table where clients could come get their services. There were only so many tables available in only so many bars and so the weak mercenaries would have to stand outside and rarely got jobs. They could try to duel another mercenary group for a table and that was the only way to advancement.

Even the taverns themselves were rated, the Headless Badger being a second teir tavern as far as mercenaries went, but given that Andras had no partners it was still not a bad position to be in. He felt something crawl out of his hair, across his cheek then through his mouth. Well, almost partnerless.

He bit down gently on the massive centipede. The many-legged creature wriggled in his mouth trying to bite him but even when he did both knew that Andras had long ago made himself immune to the poison. With a twist of his neck he tossed the centipede onto the table. The creature was black with bright red legs and antenna. Its mouth and hind pincers were both luminous green. "Get off me Stradivarius" the creature scuttle softly into a human skull that lay on the table, entering it through an eye socket.

That was the other reason mercenaries fought for tables. They displayed their abilities. Andras had his massive sword-spear on the table, most of its eight-foot length dangling off of it, as well as a short, gladius-length sword and the skull. The swords showed his weapon skills and the skull represented his abilities with death magic. Though, that was also obvious from his pale, life drained skin, and tired, black-rimmed eyes. Death magic was draining on the body as well as the spirit, making it probably the least efficient of all magic, unless one had sacrifices. Which is why he had only four centipedes now, Amati, Stradivarius, Guarneri, and, Gagliano. He used to have six, including Stainer and Guadagnini, however, he had gotten into some pretty tight circumstances and had used those two for batteries to cast some of his spells, and in so doing drained the life out of them. He had long considered getting a creautre with more life energy in it to full his spells, like a raven, but he didn't want to train one. He would have to because he was potent enough of a death mage to have them be drawn to his aura. These centipedes, however, followed him mindlessly, save when they went to feed, drawn by his musk of decay. Some were even easier to draw, in fact he drew maggots to him without thinking. This meant that often times if he went by a graveyard, or sat on a rotting log he would being picking the maggots out of his pockets for days.

He stood up and stretched. For all his skill with death magic he was first and foremost a swordsman and his body showed it. His arms, which peeked out from midlength sleeves, were, though pale, well muscled. His body had sinewy, snaky grace to it. He was obviously somewhat anemic though, and even he would admit could not take wounds very well dispite his strenght and build. The cloths he was wereing were the remanents of a dark red over coat, the sleeves, collar, and the lower part having been torn off since they encumbered his movement. The rest of the cloth was tattered and torn, bother from the fact he had found the cloth worm eaten in a refuse been and because it had be lacerated in several fights. Under that was a bandalier slung cross his chest which on the front had short, wide throwing knives slipped into it and on the back was the loop which normally held his sword-spear. Also were a couple iron plates which were places over the more vital locations and a tough flannel shirt (which by the way was really uncomfortable in the heat over the smokey Voci tavern). His pants were of a similarly sturdy material, thought they bagged where they were tucked into his boots, he wasn't as tall, nor of the girth, that the person they were designed for was, this was yet another article of clothing which he had swipped from a trash dump.

He stretched his hands up over his head, to the pleasant sound of a bone reseting and as he did a large black form snaked up his arm to his hand. It was the largest of his four centepedes Amati. This one was fully two feet long and a inch wide and was by far the dominate of the four. Whenever, Andras walked around at least one of the centipedes would curl up in the skull which he wore like a pendent (it being a good luck charm of his father's) and sleep. However, while the other three would share the skull's confines quite equitably among them, Amanti would push the others out and sleep in it alone, and woe betide any that disturbed him. Guarneri was missing an antenna because of it and he had gotten off lucky compared to the human that had tried to pick up the skull to look at it once. That person had died of the poison before any medical help could arrive. And that had led to Andras leaving the nation of Kazemei for quite sometime.

Speaking about leaving... Andras gathered his things, slipping his skull pendent over his neck and his swords into their places, his sword-spear through the loop over his back and the gladius through the sheath on his belt. He had decided a while back to move off to the wilds today if he didn't have a contract. He had been here for a few months and Andras had long ago learned that staying in one place to long was inviting trouble. Whether it be because the mercenary groups started to take a disliking to him, or because the general populace didn't trust death mages.

Andras began walking to the pier, as he did he felt Goarneri curl up in his hair to sleep. Andras's hair was black but many of the hairs had white bands in them where they had been drained of life energy when he had casted a spell. He could feel Amati's feelers against the back of his hand. Most people would have found it a tickling sensation but, as another of the side-effects of death magic, his nerve endings had become numbed and he coon only barely feel it at all. This didn't bother him so much because it was useful in a fight to not be able to feel pain but some aspects were bothersome. He often would walk around with a decent size cut before he noticed that he was bleeding!

He arrived at the harbor and watched some traveler standing out at the end of the pier standing in the rolling sea breeze. He sneered disdainfully at them. What was the point in taking joy in something so devoid of meaning? Even back when he could trully feel the coolness of the ocean's winds he had never acted so idiotic. He sighed waiting for the boat to leave. Quickly beginning to dislike everyone within a five foot radius of him.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

Selene was, for lack of a better term, in a bind. Her two best friends in the entire world, Roswell and Bridget, were about to leave without her on a big adventure. Her close friends were leaving for a trip around the world referred to by puppetmasters like Roswell as the Grand Tour. Selene had begged her two friends to let her come along, but to no avail. They had told her to stay behind, that she had things to do in Istraken, that she would attract too much attention. Selene had no idea what they were talking about. An undine, attract too much attention? The very thought of it was absurd! Sure, moving on land with the lower half of a fish was no walk in the park for the inexperienced and even the well-traveled never completely get the hang of it, but Selene was good enough.

So that's why she was in a bind. On one hand she had told her friends that she would be a good little girl and stay at home until the new year's festival in Furumaki where she would be allowed to see Roswell fight but wouldn't be allowed to see him before then. On the other hand it wouldn't be that hard to simply slip out of the castle unnoticed and follow him herself, even though the two would definitely be mad at her.

"Act your age." Roswell had once told her. She didn't know how to act her age. True, trying to chase after friends when they told you, with good reason, to stay behind was a little immature for a twenty-one-year-old, but they were her two best friends. The world was a dangerous place and a scrawny puppetmaster with a sorceress wouldn't stand a chance against half of the dangers the world put forth to them.

"I have to help Roswell and Bridget, even if they get angry at me for it." Selene had thought of doing this for several days, but saying it made it seem more likely. It was something she would do ever since she met Roswell and Bridget. "I'll need to let them get a few hours' head start to reduce the danger of being found. They're heading towards the Wilds so I know where to go. If I tail them far enough, we'll be too far away for them to send me home. It's the perfect plan." One would never believe by the way that she acted that Selene was currently the Undine queen...

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro Sat on the SHip with his eyes closes trying not to cough your to give the sigh of his sickness. He knew that it was not contagious but still wanted to be strong so noone would try and hold him back in a fight. Kushiro stoo up and his katana's,known as Sōgyo no Kotowari (双魚の理 or 双魚理, lit. Truth of Pisces, Viz: Law of the Twin Fish),stayed in their place and continued to give off a strange arua.


Jushiro remeber that his blade could be changed into TEN diferent sword at one time but never at the same time. he couldnt unlock their secret and never understood way,he was a strong fighter and could defeat anyone that tryed to defeat him. He shoke his head and looked over the edge of the boat. he grinned at the breeze and let a bird land on his shoulder. He smiled at it and watched it fly away. He smiled intel his eyes widened and blood came flying from his mouth. he coughed and let out blood with ever cough. He grabbed his mouth and used his spped to leave the area.

[Mitarisorceress12]

Mitsuki Todou was attending to the sick paitents to Athea Clinic. She took tepmeratures and gave flue shots. The air even had a sickly odor to it, but Mitsuki had gotten used to it. Growing up in a place where coughing , sneezing were mandatory you'd would have gotten use to it pretty quickly. The tan-skinned Istraken girl handeda bottle of pills to a elderly man. "Only take 2 a day." she said with a serious look apon her face. Some of her parent's patients had died from overdose of medicine, so Mitsuki didn't want anything to happen to hers.

The girl decided to take a break. She went out of the clinc and to the storage shed where her longbow await. Ah just because she studies medicine doesn't mean she is not skilled in the art of the bow. "Now time for some practice" she said as she made her way to an empty field only she used.

[Chosen]

Luther woke up, shifting uneasily underneath the mass of leaves. With a few pops and crunches he shifted up onto his elbows. His eyes scanned his scenery; This was his favorite time of day, it was the only period where his mentality was actually civilized, and tame. But, within a few minutes he stood up onto the balls of his feet, and stretched, letting loose a mighty roar (Even for a human.). He moved over to his composite bows. Bringing them up and around onto his shoulder. His bows looked totallydifferent. One was carved with features of fire, The other with Ice. As reccomended for his form, he sat down underneath a tree, and began his binding with nature. (Efrieda, Since you're a D & D player, he's 'bonding with nature' much like a druid would.) He crossed his legs, and placed his hands with his middle and index features touching, on his knees. His eyes slid halfway closed, his mind drifted, listening to the crickets ween and give way to morning birds. He usually woke up at around four in the morning.

The birds chirped, a mose call rang out through his forest. A fly drifted by, using his enhanced reflexes, he launched his hand out, and with two fingers, caught the fly by it's wings. The fly struggled for a few moments, before giving up all hope of life. A small smile spread along his lips, and he allowed the fly to go; Returning his hand to it's original position. Half an hour later, he stood up, and unslung his Composite Longbow from his shoulder. His composite longbow was embued with a capsul of water at it's core, and his composite short bow with embers from a fire. He moved through the forest with untrained skill. After spending almost half of his life in this place, you tend to learn it like the back of your hand. He knew what types of plants were poisionous, which animals had the best tender meat, what are the best types of fish, where to collect pure fresh water, and the safe spots to sleep. He didn't build a house, for it would harm nature, and since he was brought here, nature had been kind to him, almost like a surrogent mother.

He spotted his first pray, a small white bunny hopping through a clearing. With an unusually powerful keen eye he withdrew an arrow and knocked it. The arrow frosted over immediatly becoming a sub-zero arrow with the ability to instantaniously, as well as humanely, freeze an animal to death. He aimed it at the rabbit. Removing the fingers from the iced feather, the ice feather moved with insane speed. The arrow peirced the rabits neck, and froze his head. The rabbit plopped onto its' side, dead. He moved over towards the rabit, and withdrew his 15 inch dagger from his holster. Praying to the nature god for once more giving him a kill, and breakfeast, he would proceed to skin it, keeping the furr. Also, he removed a foot from the rabit, and put it in his leather pouch. He decided he could make a lucky rabits foot; He removed the large and small intestine, stomach, kidneys, and liver. And burried it. Then removed the heart and burned it with kindling to the god as a sacrifice.

He Cooked the meat with chef like skill, and began to eat his breakfeast, pondering on what would happen today.....

[Linked Anime]

Abel walked down a pier in the capital of Istraken, where he would be leaving for the wild in his first grand tour. He walked at a even pace holding a small bag holding his puppet, Sund, and some clothing. He looked around as other puppetmasters made there way to the ferry. He notice most had guardians with them. He saw swordsmen, Archers, and many others. He however, did not. He felt that he didn't need one and felt he could live without one. "Besides I didn't know one in Rende." Abel said to himself.

His arm armor clanked slightly as he headed to the pier. His walks sounded louder now on wood then cement and there was a large crowed ahead of him. He saw a teen a few years older then him race through the pack causing disruption. Abel stood at the back waiting for the ferry to open. After it did headed up there. After getting up o the ferry he saw the same puppetmaster again with a girl. "Must be his guardian." He muttered. He walked up to him and said, "Goodday sir. Are you a puppetmaster?"

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

While the boatman was making the final preparations for depature, Roswell and Bridget went over a last check of their luggage and supplies.

"Waterskin?" Bridget asked her charge who was digging through their bags.

"Check." Roswell replied, extracting an animal skin that was tied at the top for holding water.

"Heavy cloaks for when we reach Aira?"

"Check."

"Bedrolls?" It was fairly common for travelers to sleep in nature when they couldn't afford an inn.

"Check."

"Extra strings?"

"Check along with every other possible piece of puppetry equipment."

"What about my things?"

"Check. Your extra blouses, skirts, sturdy shoes, everything else that you packed. It's all here." Roswell had literally seen Bridget pack her things, so he knew it was all there. He wasn't about to go through a lady's bags.

"And I brought my spell components, spellbooks, catalysts, summoning cards, pendulum, talismans, and everything else in one bag."

"Aren't your glasses a kind of catalyst, too?"

"Yes. But I can't use them unless I have another pair." Bridget took off her glasses and cleaned them against a smooth cloth in her bag.

"Good day, sir. Are you a puppetmaster." Roswell turned to see a tanned man just a little younger than him with his hand up in greeting. The hand he held up was covered in armor up to just above his elbow with a metal plate that covered that as well. Roswell could tell from a look at his left hand that the tanned man was a puppetmaster as well.

"Yes." he responded, getting to his feet. "My name is Roswell Meyers." He extended his right hand. "This is my guardian, Bridget." He gestured to the still sitting sorceress with is left. The girl got to her feet and bowed politely. She was a little nervous introducing herself to a guy. It was hot out that day and she couldn't help but notice that her clothes were sticking slightly to her body, further extentuating the curves that she had been bothered for for the past four or five years. Luckily, she had some sense that the man was from Rende. The people of Rende forbade fornication of any kind. If he followed the laws of their scripture then she was in no danger.

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro fought his sickness and quickly drank a small bottle of herbs. He slowed his breathing and held onto the side of the ferry. He wiped the blood form his mouth and slide down to the ground where he rested.

[Reniti]

((Sorry if my first post is.. bleh-ish... ^^; ))

"Good bye," a young girl gracefully waved goodbye to a couple standing at the door, their faces full of joy. The girl, looking to be in her preteen yaers, pushed the two jet black ponytails resting on her shoulders back. With a sigh, she slightly smiled. There was a slight pause, and she stared at her mom and dad, adding, "Good bye. Mother and Father."

Her tone was formal. But then again, the lifetime Karei Yukino knew her parents, their relationship was formal; a business meeting, shall you call it.

'I hate it.'

With a simple, red blouse and a black skirt that flowed in the breeze, she slightly ran off and across the valleys with her arms extended. In her right hand, there was a red staff wielding a brilliant orange gem. This would be the Flaming Inferno. It was not meant for light-hearted magic casters. Karei was, in fact an expert in the subject. Just last year, she'd mastered fire. It was because her parents pushed her. And because she had a passion in what she did. Actually, the girl didn't know why she did it, it was probably half and half.

Nonetheless, the sorceress continued her trip to the harbor. The tour. It would be quite fun...

She ran into an endless, crystalline sea. Ah, she had to board the ship to get to Istraken. "Well," her lips opened to speak to herself. "Better get on board!!!" in an instant, she was on a ship, flashing a smile to all that were near her. The salty winds splashed Karei's face, and her red bows tying her hair were ruffled. This time, she didn't care.

The toes of her black shoes with stockings slightly tapped the wooden floor.

'Come on.... let's get going...'

[Luzifer]

Andras sneered as a girl with black hair rain passed him to get on the boat. He disliked people who got so enthusiastic about something. What could there be that made someone happy? There was nothing in life save the struggle to stay alive, a struggle which he had been committed to for many long years. Life was a trial and nothing more. Anyone who thought differently was deluded.

He brought his cynical aura with him onto the boat and sat down in the shade of the mast and stared up at the sky as Amati crawled into his skull pendent and forced out Stradavarius and Gagliano, who had been nesting there previously. The centipedes scuttleed across him before tucking themselves into his cloths. How long would this boat trip be? Either way it promised to be tedius. Sighing with a world weary breath he set his massive blade down in front of him and leaned back to sleep, hoping no one would botherr him.

[Linked Anime]

Abel looked over to Bridget and raise his eyebrow and gave a small grin. He quickly erased those from his face, 'Best not to do anything. I have never been a religious person at my country but I need to concentrate for the tour and its not the time anyway.' He thought, then saying, "Nice to meet you, Roswell, Bridget." Abel nodded to each. "My name is Abel from Rende. Nice to meet you."

He looked out at the ocean ahead of him since the ferry hadnt left yet. "I can't wait to see The Wild, never been there. You?" He asked the two.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

Edgar was more than excited. He was finally going back to Istraken to face off against cursed puppetmaster and his witch girlfriend who ruined his life. He was a ways away from the pier that would take him from Coronia to the Wilds, and then Istraken.

"Roswell Meyers, I'll make you pay..." the hunter thought, letting out a twisted smile. His thoughts were broken by a barely-dodged axe. Edgar's body had reacted on its own, a result of his training. The one-eyed teen had forgotten that he had company. Edgar had been sitting in a diner, minding his own business, and he was apparantly sitting at someone's table. He techniquely was an Edge, so he technically was allowed to sit in a popular spot in one of the types of popular mercenary and Edge venues: Diners, taverns and hotels. Also, Edgar was new in the area. How could he have possibly known that six of the highest-class Edges in the area usually sat where he was sitting? An Edge clan made up of axmen had a small group stationed in Coronia and they felt that, being among the greatest physical fighters in an area composed of sorcerers, they could have whatever they wanted.

Edgar had tried to resolve the situation diplomatically, he truly did. In fact, his efforts to rise above his temper, already volatile from his imminent clash with Roswell, were grounds for his ascendence into sainthood. The six men would hear nothing of it. All they saw was a little punk who knew big words. They had called him out and he had accepted, seeing no other way out. He was going to have to fight them anyway, better he do it in a place where he could be prepared.

The man's strike against Edgar had placed him right in front of him. The hunter had released his weapons in the diner, but saw no need in unwrapping them. His opponent had made the first attempt at combat, a fatal move. Edgar jumped into the air above his foe, letting the leather straps that connected his weapons fall from his legs and into a position that suited him. Landing behind the attacker, he leaped forward and prepared for a strike. The man had just enough time to turn around before taking three hooks following a boot to the side. He wasn't dead, but the hooks had torn his flesh to the point where he wouldn't be fighting for quite a while.

"Five left." Edgar thought before the next one attacked. This one used a more effective weapon, a pole ax. Still, Edgar was ready. He moved out of the way of his adversary's axe and struck out with his left leg, grabbing the weapon from his unprepared foe. Whipping his leg back, Edgar disarmed the unprepared man and leaped toward him. He only managed to hit with two hooks this time, but tore open the man's cheek and nose. He fell to the ground, screaming and holding his face.

"Four." Two attempted to attack him this time.

"I guess I never said one-on-one." Edgar mused to himself. Edgar decided to cheat a little. He opened the knots connecting his wrists together with a quick movement of fingers, unlocking his arms. He dropped to the ground, evading a cross-formation attack from the other Edges. The hunter put his hands on the ground and stood straight up on them, spinning using the momentum. The two opponents were felled straight away.

"Two left." To the credit of the final two, they had forced Edgar to do something that he seldomly did against anyone who wasn't a puppetmaster. They had forced him to use a "Raid," a series of techniques used in his fighting style, The Way of the Sea. Not an entire Raid, of course, just the opening move, the "Cast," and two "Reels," moves used in combat. Also, unlike the previous opponents, it was Edgar who made the first move. He ran toward the two men, leaping in the air and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Second Raid!" Edgar yelled. He was using the second out of ten Raids. The one-eyed hunter threw his arms out, releasing the hooks from his altered puppet rings and wrapping the strings around his opponents weapons. He pulled his arms together, disarming his adversaries alltogether. The second Cast was used for disarming. Seeing the axes falling from his hooks, Edgar kicked against the one that he assumed was the leader of the band, spinning from the impact. The strings from his rings wrapped around his opponents, pulling them toward him while they unwrapped and ripping some of the skin on their arms. The hunter looked up, happy to see the tree branch above him. He kicked off of it, plummeting to the ground. Along the way, the hooks attached to his rings and legs cut open both of them. The other four were likely to live, but the use of a Raid, even against two people, might've been fatal.

Edgar found the one who was the least injured and most able to walk.

"Find a doctor." the hunter barked at him. "Your team members need help, especially the leader." The man slowly got to his feet and ran away to town. "Better leave before trouble starts."

Edgar started back toward the pier, taking a passing gaze at the people leaving. All of the usual suspects were present; bands of Edges, merchants, mariners and thieves. Two people in particular caught the Edge's attention. One of them was a little girl with a very valuable-looking staff. The other was a stone-faced man who looked like death.

"I'd never think to underestimate children," Edgar started, "but that other guy looks tough." Making his choice, the hunter approached the man who was boarding the ship.

"Hey guy. Wanna make a little extra money?"

************************************************** **********************

"As I expected." Bridget thought when Abel mentioned he was fron Rende.

"I can't wait to see The Wild, never been there. You?" The other teen asked them, turning toward the ocean.

"Actually, I've barely been out of Istraken." Roswell responded. "Though I've read a lot about it. I'd like to see what the people there can do with marionettes. Rende actually usually does well in the Furumaki festival. The people there must be very talented puppetmasters."

"Roswell's right." Bridget announced. "It's been years since a puppetmaster from Rende wasn't in the top ten of the entire festival. Do you know anything about them Abel?"

"If you do-" The puppetmaster was cut off by a sudden wave of dizziness. He put his hands on his knees, breathing hard and trying not to lose consciousness.

"Roswell!" His guardian quickly extracted a bottle of medication and a bottle of water from her bag, placing two pills in Roswell's mouth along with a gulp of water. He swallowed the water along with the medicine, still struggling not to pass out. He sat down on the deck, smiling lightly to himself.

"Sorry about that Abel. Hope I didn't worry you Bridget." The girl moved as though to help her friend to his feet, but instead chose to sit down with her charge. She looked at Abel as though to implore him to do the same. Roswell seemed to be doing better, but was still breathing heavily. Bridget lightly embraced her friend for a moment, always nearly panicking whenever he had an attack.

[Luzifer]

Andras sighed, his bubble of only minor displeasure popped as he was forced to talk to someone. He looked up at the idiot that had decide to try and get his attention. Stradavarius crawled across his face and say length wise across it, dangling some of its middle portion into Andras' mouth. Andras gave him a slight nip which made him move so he could speak. "Depends... what is entailed in my condition of temporary servitude?" he said in tone of forced patience. The person infront of him was quite obviously a nuiscence but then all his employers were. This one might fight a bit and scream alot longer going down but he was still a walking corpse as far as Andras was concerned. Everyone was. It was only a matter of time before they to had to meet their deaths. But that was all in the future, for now he decided to hear whatever proposition this worm had for him.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

Edgar could sense the intense hatred geared toward him in his possible temporary partner's voice.

"Depends... on what is entailed in my condition of temporary servitude?"

"There are couple of people I need dead. A guy and a girl. I don't care what you do to the girl but I get to fight the guy myself. As far as payment, money isn't a problem. If it's something else you want, I may be able to provide." The mage girl was the least of Edgar's worries if this guy was coming with him. She had some impressive tricks tucked away, but she wouldn't last a minute against the person standing in front of him. And he'd get to fight Roswell uninterrupted.

"You look like the kind of guy who wants something that you can't get by yourself. Everyone in the world has their price. And I assure you, you will gain from me."

[Luzifer]

This person's greed annoyed him but everyone he knew was greedy about something so he didn't react much too it, just chalked up another mark on the side of mankind being a sinful creature, "Sounds fine... pay me whatever you will, I desire neither glitter of gold nor flesh of woman. Enough money to feed and house me for a while will be fine." He sighed... "first, what assurance do you have that all we'll be fighting is a girl and a boy? I don't know what your reasons are but neither will the people around us and in general if you attack someone in the middle of a crowd out of context there is always a few individuals who believe themselves heros and get involved on the opposing side. Second, which girl? Describe her specifically." He'd like to be able to make one of his centipedes bite her if that was at all possible. It would save work and his life energy, death magic, unlike other magics which used ingrediants and catalysts, required the sacrifice of life force. Normally Andras used his own and that was bothersome for his health.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

Edgar would never admit how happy he was at not needing to pay his new helper. Still, he was right. All of the issues he had brought up were valid points of concern. Luckily the hunter had answers.

"Unfortunately, numbers can't really be accounted for until the encounter starts. Luckily though, most people are cowards. If a fight breaks out they'll run away or run to get help that won't arrive in time. I'm afraid that if numbers are not in our favor you'll need to fight more than just the girl. Now... the girl. She has long hair and wears glasses. She clings to the boy like a lost puppy and has breasts like a cow's. She has that look on her face like she's never even killed an insect. I guess the word 'cute' would apply to her. Oh yeah. She's a sorceress too. And in Istraken, no less.

"Anyway, that isn't nearly as interesting as what I'm paying you. Like I said, everyone in the world wants something. I operate under the law of fair trade. Since you're gonna help me get what I want, I wanna help you get what you want. It obviously isn't money. It's power right? Maybe knowledge. Someone you want to fight. I actually don't care that much, it's just that a person works harder if they're getting something they want in return. You understand, of course?"

[Linked Anime]

Abel looked down at the teen before him in worry. Quickly moving over to help him. Making sure he was ok and in the care of Bridget he looked around to see a place to sit. Looking over he saw a few seats near the front of the ferry and ushered the two to follow. "Come on lets go sit over there." Abel said starting to walk slowly hoping they would follow.

[Luzifer]

Judging from the man's description of the girl, he noticed the obnoxious undercurrents of human lust. What a disgusting thing! Long ago he had cast off such mindless and base human needs. Humans were disgusting in that way, scuttling about like fornicating insects, spreading their seed. It made him sneer contemptuously everytime.

Still, he focused on the task at hand. So there was no assurance about numbers? Well, he was a death mage and they tended not to be well-liked and so that alone made him assume at least two additional people. Which, now that he thought about it, could actually be beneficial. If he managed to get one of them in his grip he could use them as a battery and unless some ofhis more potent spells almost without end. Sure they would probably be drained to dust but that wasn't his concern... only survival.

"I'll do it." A sorceress shouldn't be hard. He started fingering the skull pendent that Amati was sleeping in, especially with his little trinket, "But, like I said, I only need enough money to live off of for a while" This man obviously didn't understand what the life of an exile was like. He had barely escaped his home nation with his life and traveling around with his parents he had struggled and suffered everyday just to eat enough to survive. After a while, his sole desire had become just to live to see the next day and he began to forget such luxuries as, desire and hope. He lived for no other reason then to keep on living. In some ways, he thought himself a good microcosm of the human race. Only in the conglamerated form of course. Individually humans were full of weak minded desires. Such as the maggot in front of him.

He had a feeling that this person would be one what a more naive person would call the "bad" side, but Andras had long ago stopped believing in good and evil. There was only survival and the depravaity of the human race.

[Change Of Color]

Mercy fidgeted in the morning air and suddenly realized why she felt uneasy. They were leaving today. The ferry! They had to catch it before it left. This was their big chance. She jumped up and quickly dressed before walking to Jason's mat before shaking him awake. They had spent the night in the shed in order to avoid mushy good-byes. "Jason, wake up. We have to go! We're going to miss the ferry! I swear if you mess up my chance to leave this place I'll rip your ears off!" she shouted at him. He rolled over before sleeply and sitting up. "Mercy, why do you have to be so pushy?" he asked as he got up and got dressed.

"You checked all the bags last night, right?" he asked Mercy, barely waiting to hear her reply. He knew she had and dont know why he bothered to ask. "Of course I did." she replied, knowing he didnt care. She had already begun to pack all their traveling supplies into the cart they pulled, filled to the brim with everything they could possible need. And the marionette. Jason wasnt sure he would compete but he was sure he would watch. Mercy was giving one final tug to the straps of the cart when Jason finished getting ready. She handed him the pull bars and held the door open for him.

It took just minutes to reach the peir and board the ferry. Their were so many people. When they reached the deck, Mercy couldnt help but shutter. Their was a man missing an eye, a man with centipedes crawling all over him, a well tanned man and a couple sitting on the deck. "Do you remember our travel names?" she whispered in Jason's ear. "Yes. I'm Mr. Jake and you're Miss. Iona." he whispered back. He was truely just as nervess as she was but didnt show it. He was more eager than scared and wanted to leave. He could be so impatient sometimes.........

[Reniti]

Karei noticed another girl who was running late to the ferry. For a split second, she stared at her, but then turned back to the ocean. There was a variety of different people here. However, she didn't feel threatened; she liked to see how different the world was, and see different people all together. Although, she did have to note that man glaring at her when she climbed on. Karei placed her elbows on the railing.

'I guess some people think differently about the world.'

But she still kept on smiling. Of course, she was super-enthusiastic about today. Maybe the tour'd already started, and she'd be late!

No, she shouldn't think about such negative things. At least, now, the girl was alone, and her knowledge wasn't being compared to protegies by her parents. It was a soothing feeling to be travelling alone and taking risks.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

Roswell let himself be led to the bow by Abel, lacking the strength to move much on his own since the medication kicked in. Behind him, Bridget was carrying Halloween's case along with both of their bags. She let her friend rest for several minutes until he began feeling the effects of his anemia pills. The puppetmaster looked around, trying to see if he had made too much of a scene, when his eyes met a familiar face.

The young woman was dressed like a witch. Her long honey brown hair was partially covered and her pale red eyes shadowed by a large white witch's hat that, rather than being straight up, slightly flopped behind her. She wore a short red dress and a white cloak with red lining. Sitting next to her brown leather boots was a case similar to the one Roswell carried. The girl looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. Standing next to her was an older man whose shorter darker brown hair and similarly colored eyes revealed that he may have been her brother. Over a long-sleeved black shirt he wore a loose-fitting pastel blue-green tunic with a piece of sienna shoulder armor covering his left shoulder. His tuic covered the top of his legs, covered by burgundy pants. He wore an extremely long leather belt over his shoulder, either end wrapped around the sheath of a large broadsword. The sheath was partially supported by one his black-gloved hands. If one word could describe him, it was "soldier."

Roswell lightly nudged Bridget, alerting her to the presence of the two. Her eyes lit up for a second when she saw them.

"Esmeralda! Vanar!" she yelled to them, waving a hand for emphasis. The two turned, hearing their names, and saw the sorceress waving to them and the pale puppetmaster next to her. The girl, Esmeralda, ran to them, the guy, Vanar, not far behind.

"Hello Bridget. Roswell." Esmeralda greeted the two. Vanar nodded curtly and looked at Abel.

"This is Abel." Roswell said. "Abel, these are Esmeralda and Vanar. Alda's another puppetmistress from Istraken and Vanar's her guardian. At the Vocus grand tournament three years ago I beat her by a hair. We've been friends since."

"We thought that you'd left on the tour already." Bridget said, hugging Esmeralda.

"We wanted to surprise you." Alda said, hugging back. "So, why make the Wilds your first destination?"

"A puppetmaster from the Wilds won the New Year's tournament last year." Roswell answered. "We thought it would be a good idea to see the champion himself first."

"You look paler than normal, Roswell." Vanar spoke, his voice polite but aloof, like a soldier. "Another attack?"

"Afriad so. Luckily they haven't been as frequent lately."

"With your illness and your choice of a sorceress as your guardian I wonder if it is wise for you to travel at all." The swordsman continued.

"Vanar, don't be rude." Alda chided. "Bridget is much more dependable than you might think, what with her guarding over Roswell like a hawk."

"Oh! Abel, we've been ignoring you. I'm sorry." Bridget was very happy to be able to avoid the conversation, still ashamed of her older sibling syndrome regarding Roswell.

************************************************** ******

"The ferry will be leaving soon." Edgar announced. "Your term of employment will begin the moment we see Roswell and Bridget and ends when the battle is decided. Don't think I'll help you take the girl or anyone else, I just want to fight Roswell." The hunter had no doubt that his new employee would either underestimate the girl and get beaten fairly, or run into a group that he couldn't handle and get beaten anyway. He seemed like the type of person who didn't understand what human desperation really did to people. Edgar knew, that desperation was one the reasons he was still alive. The leader of the Crimson Hooks, Dread Fisher, had removed his eye easily, but Edgar returned the favor in order to escape with his life. That same desperation was probably what would bring this fighter down.

"Makes no difference to me." Edgar thought. "He wants to be that much of a depressing introvert, it's fine as long he doesn't slow me down. He's definitely stronger than me, but I'm at least five times faster. If the plan goes south, I can bolt and not pay him."

[Luzifer]

"Fine... now go away." he sighed and decided to eat. He pulled out a small sack and picked out the food. It was mostly meat. He need to get his blood cell count back up after his last fight. He had gotten pretty bad off then.

The warrior pushed through towards Andras. Andras pulled at his lifeforce, tearing some vitality away, another bandc of white formed in his hair. Using the energy he had gather he used one of his personal favorite spells which mixed so nicely with the hatred that pulsed through his frame, "Decrepify". As he said those words the breath he exhaled was visible in the cold air around him. Cold air, which was out of place in Vocus. The warriors muscles withered and became drained of life, his charge slowed to little more then a walk.

The archer of the three was taking aim with his bow, but it was too late for him. Amati had gotten too close and had bitten the mans ankle. The poisoin started taking effect just as he was about to shoot. As he release his muscles spasmed and the shot went wide. He fell to the ground screaming for as long as he could before his diaphrama hardened.

In the back there was a sorcerer who had not only used up his trinket but was also the reason the air was so cold. The sorcer had cast a fire spell some moments earlier and Andras had had to drain the vitality out of the air to feed it. The air was always infused with the vitality imparted to it by being breathed by living creatures. However, it took a lot of air to power even one of Andras's bone shields (a spell he cast with ease), so the air was now dead and frozen.

The warrior was getting close now but Andras cut through him easily, a simple wide horizontal the easily broke through the meager guard that the man mustered. He was to weak from the hex to put up stern resistance. Andras made good and sure he got a lot of blood on his blade. He would be able to use the blood later.

Later came quite soon. The sorcer who had heretofore been fumbling around with his reagents turn his attention back to him. Cackling magical forces formed around his hands, lightning began to leap from the ground into the sorcerers hands. Andras sighed, these jobs were never easy. Wiping his hand along the blood he drew the life energy still latent in it. As long as the blood was fresh it still held a fair amount of life force. As he drew his hand past, the blood dried up and flaked off the blade "Barson's Bone Shield" he muttered, and put out the hand which he had used to wipe the blood. A shield spiritual bones appeared in front of him just as the sorcerer launched his lightning at him. For a brief moment, Andras thought his shield was going to break but then opposing spell died off. Spent, the bones fades away into the wind like dust.

Looking towards the wizard, he saw the man was making his escape and already quite distant. The man was fast and had a large head start. Not only that but he was fast approching the nearby city and once he got to the allies Andras would loose him.

Andras sighed again, pain in the butt. He reached his hand into himself, his skin almost liquifing as it allowed his fingers entrance. Blood accumulated around his fingers, causing his skin to grow pale and his eyes to daze. But he had enough, he pulled the energy together and used it, "Vansel's Danse Macabre" he screamed. Not because screaming was necessary but because he was frustrated and it was a way to release his pent up anger. He felt his muscles fill with unholy speed and he ran and an instant later he was next to his opponent, actually slightly infront, his blade was held back behind him and with a single forward cut would kill at any moment.

The sorcerer looked over dumb-stroke but before he could speak Andras sliced him through, the man falling across the ground in two halves.

Andras fell against a nearby building, he would sleep for a while and then collect his pay.

Andras leaned back against the mast of the ship, and ate. His system was still recovering from that. Oh well, he would be fine. As long as the sorceress was by herself. If not there were always his centipedes.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

It felt wonderful for Esmeralda to surprise Bridget and Roswell. She was proud of the sorceress for guarding her friend so faithfully since she met him and knew that the two would inevitably fall in love. Her narrow defeat by Roswell had given her considerable respect for him. The two had a fun fight and it taught them both a lot. Reuniting with them had made the effort of conforming to Vanar's rules worth it. She loved her brother very much, but his attitude had scared away any sane man that might want to go near her. He had been trained to protect his little sister no matter what. He had learned how to use the large sword he handled from a soldier named Brayden and used it in order to be her guardian.

"Esmeralda." Vanar whispered to her. "Look." The swordsman lightly jerked his head toward the entrance to the ferry. A girl and a guy a few years younger than her had boarded god knows how long ago. The guy was looking around aloofly and the girl was looking at him irritably. Esmeralda's eyes widened considerably.

"Is that really him?" she asked her brother.

"Yes." he answered more soberly than usual.

"Jason Lerix..." Esmeralda had competed against the young man in the Vocus grand tournament beat him. It was a close match, that's for certain. Her marionette, Witch, had taken intensive damage during the fight and Alda was very fortunate that the tournament finals were delayed a day for the combatants to repair their weapons.

The puppetmistress had no idea if he had seen her or not, but she couldn't be sure that he wouldn't want a rematch, one that she definitely wasn't ready for.

"Grr." She thought angrily. "I should duck out for now, but I still want to talk to Roswell and Bridget. It would be rude to leave them, especially after Roswell had just had another attack. Brother will probably want to leave too. What a pain."

(OOC: Alright, around this time tomorrow I'll jump ahead a little. Hope that's okay with everyone.)

[Linked Anime]

Abel looked up to the two other guardian and puppetmaster. "Ah hello, Esmeralda and Vanar. I'm Abel, a puppetmaster from Rende. I hope to have a good time meeting you." Abel said shaking there hands. He turned his attention to Roswell to see if he was ok. After making sure he was still fine he continued to look around the ship from his seat. Many other people were there in there strange outfits and other things. He then saw that the two other members he just met were looking out to another team. "Someone you know?" He asked them.

[Chosen]

(I have to drop out, this is goin a little fast for me.)

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro awoke after a short time and sighed. His illness had got to him again. He hated the illness and slowly stood up. He slowly wiped the blood from his mouth and walked out to where two guardians,and two puppetmaster stood talking. he bowed to them and stated his name. "I Am Jushiro.....I'm a Guardian pleased to meet you all"

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

"It's good to meet you Jushiro. I'm Bridget." the sorceress greeted. "This is my puppetmaster, Roswell." The teen nodded politely.

"I am Esmeralda. My brother and guardian, Vanar." The puppetmistress gestured to her older brother.

"Roswell?" Vanar said. "It may be a good idea to employ another guardian. Magic will not work forever, you know."

"We don't know whether or not Abel is a puppetmaster though. I think he is and I don't see his guardian anywhere nearby." Bridget said politely. "What do you think, Abel?"

[Linked Anime]

"Ah, well you see back home I didn't have many friends and none of them were strong fighters or anything like that. I haven't had to have a guardian but its not like I don't want to have one its just well.........I've learned to fight myslef. I mean I didnt even become intrested in puppets until 14." Abel said. "But I wouldn't mind having some protection."

[Change Of Color]

Mercy-As Mercy looked around, she almost immeadately spotted a couple she had seen before. Where had she seen them before? She knew their faces. They were so familiar but so vague! Then it clicked. Jason had battled the woman. Oh no. They could not afford to be seen! They would give them away! They were trying to get better, not fight old enamies. "Why dont we go sit over there, by the rail?" she said to Jason, ushering him toward a spot by the rail on the opposite side of the boat. They couldnt be spotted.

Jason-Jason was almost pushed over by what Mercy considered 'ushering' to the side of the boat. "Mercy, have I ever told you that you are way to pushy when I'm supposed to be in charge? You do this all the time and I think you should let me be the boss every now and again," he said in protest but let himself be taken to a spot by the rail. It was actually kinda nice, with the breeze and all. He could get used to this.

[Luzifer]

Andras sighed as he ate. Leaning back on the railing of the sloop as he sat he watched the crew scuttle about like cochroaches getting it ready for launch. He wondered... did they even know why they continued breath? Why the found "happiness" so addicting? He didn't. The only reason he was even still alive was because doing someone a favor... he looked back over his shoulder to the sea which moved its deep blew form toward the crisply powdered sky forming there a twinkling white line of convergance...how bizarre...

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

(OOC: Alright, I'm jumping ahead by about twelve hours. I figure it's about time. Sorry if that screws anyone over, but this is for a good reason)

Night had fallen over the ship, bathing the area in a mixture of the ethereal glow of the moon against the water and the inky darkness of everything else. Roswell and Bridget had returned to their cabin after bidding Abel, Jushiro, Esmeralda and Vanir goodnight. Vanir had given his usual aloof response to things and Esmeralda had given the pair the look that said "you're finally stealing each other's virginity, aren't you?"

Esmeralda and her brother were also below deck, guarding their friends' door while the puppetmistress listened to what the two were doing.

"It's so nice that Bridget and Roswell are in love with each other." Esmeralda quietly declared. Of course the puppetmistress fancied herself a prize catch herself, every sane male who would possible try to court her was scared away by her older brother.

"They're both stubborn." Vanir responded.

"True. It's unlikely that they'll declare their passionate love for each other for quite a while. Still, won't it be exciting when they do?"

"How do you think he'll do in the competition?"

"Roswell has talent, but first-timers never do very well."

"You never know, it IS Roswell. He has tremendous luck when it comes to things like this."

************************************************** ******

Edgar waited quietly, just around the corner from a puppetmistress and her guardian.

"So... Roswell's on this ship. Fighting him here won't do me any good. I'll alert the hired help when we land in the Wilds and then get the jump on him." Edgar whispered to himself.

"I'll kill you Roswell Meyers."

[Change Of Color]

Mercy-Mercy couldnt believe how time had flown. They had managed to get all their stuff under the deck and into their room but just barely. It was crowded but that was ok. She was used to crowded. Its not like she had lived in some big fancy house or anything. As long as Jason was there, she was fine. She looked over at him, reading in his bed. He liked to read but never seemed to do it much. It was more like a nothing else to do activitey for him. 'How can he be so relaxed?' she thought, heaving a big sigh. She layed back on her bed and stared at the ceiling, the rocking of the boat lulling her to sleep.

Jason-Jason read his favortie book. It was old and somewhat tattered but still in good condition. He had read it so many times that he practically had it memorized, word for word. He heard Mercy sigh and looked to see if something was wrong but she had already started to doze off. 'I could probably use some sleep too' he thought, marking his place in his book and blowing out his reading candle. It was totally pitch black in the small, crowded room but it didnt matter much. It was more cozy than anything. But before anymore thoughts could enter his mind, he was fast asleep.

[Luzifer]

The blade clipped the moon... the silk-silver gleam creased the delicate curves of steel as it moved across the rhinestone studded sky for the prevailing night, Andras moved with the white-etched form, his own palely illuminated body seemed to slide through itself as like the rivers do when going over rockey ground, folding over himself and yet releasing with speed and power. He hardly felt the massive weight of his weapon for the blade never stopped its motion long enough to be truly felt. It was an always moving mist around him.

He stood now upon the railing over the ship, one misstep in the consuming dark was all that prevented him from falling overboard. He could hardly see the railing but felt it all the same. If his skin could be seen in the darkness a stranger would have noticed the color was beginning to return... his eating had done him well and he was beginning to recover from the blood loss. Hopefully he would be back in prime condition before the fight came. Even so he trained. The katana-spear was like a companion and for now he didn't think about the loathsomeness of the world. He didn't ponder why people were so drawn to each others organs... why they reveled in the taste of bodily fluids... why they screamed when they should sleep. No... he didn't think these thoughts... he was dispossessed from his dispossession. He was aloof from his aloof nature. He was unconcious and was concious of every particle around him. He wouldn't call it paradise... but it was as good as any lotus bloom

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro's white hair shined in the moonlight,its gleaming beauty was only beaten by the shine of his katanas. Jushiro smiled at the sea and the dark deeps that held unknown turths.

"You are so calm but at the same time you are so furious,and unforgiving."

"I dont understand way your vengence is so cruel,but your caring is so sweet." Jushiro looked out into the endless streaks of light and water as the vibrations os his katana sent out a sweet melody throughtout the ship. Jushiro listened to itssweet song,but knew about the Song of the demon that would chime from its blades at anytime. "Every Lighitng is my weapon but every yhunder is my shield....." He still didnt understand what that meant..........His mind continued to wonder as his body slowly fell to the deck.

[Reniti]

((Err.... no offense, but are there any special events happening??? And plllllease don't kick me out. My last OOC post without a character post.))

[ThunderBird]

Ryuku yawned as he opened his eyes, looking at the night sky. He didn't like to be below deck or underground at all. Seeing the night sky was all he needed to see, but he blamed this on his training, spending a few years out in the dessert. He gripped the hilt of his longsword, hugging it close to him. His gun and his sword were his prized possessions, the sword was a gift from a friend along with the gun. But this friend of his was special and hadn't seen her for quite a while now.

'Probably with her puppetmaster, no doubt.' He thought. Come to think of it, his last puppetmaster was too old and died of a heart attack after losing a match. That was more than a week ago now, and had been thinking of which puppetmaster should he join. Ryuku yawned again, closing his eyes before falling asleep. He had fallen asleep on the deck, his back to the railings and his weapons in his arms.

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro's body planted itself against the boats railing,and his mind became to wonder as his body layed still. HIs body had toke all it could for the time being,and would have to rest intel the morning. The cool night ocean breeze rushed past his faceand waved his white ahir in the air as he slept.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

(OOC: Alright. It's been almost a week. I guess innitiating night-fights just doesn't appeal to some people)

The sun rose over the ship. Edgar, who had slept several meters away from Roswell and Bridget's room, waited for his prey to awaken and for their 'guards' to leave. Esmeralda and Vanar, however, had no intention of leaving their friends any time soon.

Bridget woke up long before her puppetmaster did. She had spent the early hours of the morning sitting up in bed reading, as she often did at home. When Roswell awakened, the sorceress set a bookmark and greeted her charge.

"Good morning Roswell." she said happily.

"Morning Bridget." the puppetmaster grumbled, his low blood pressure slowing the waking process. They turned their backs to each other as they changed from the clothes they wore to bed to their usual day clothes. When they exited their cabin, the two were immediately assaulted by Esmeralda.

"Good morning you two." she said cheerily. "Did you two have 'fun' last night?" While Bridget blushed and stammered, Roswell, still not completely awake, walked right passed the puppetmistress and her guardian.

"Alda, just because you've had sex doesn't mean-" Vanar started.

"And just how long did that take?!" Esmeralda yelled. "It was hard enough convincing him to stand up to you and he only stuck around for one night. It's all your fault!"

"As long as we're here, we may as well hit the galley for breakfast." Roswell whispered, starting to wake up properly. Alda and Vanar followed behind them, the former continuing to yell at the latter.

************************************************** ******

Edgar watched the scene that unfolded with remote interest. His hired help would have three opponents to fight: a puppetmistress who could probably handle herself, a sorceress and a swordsman guarding her. The hunter was vaguely aware of Bridget carrying catalysts with her. She'd be able to almost instantly cast her spells. The guy he had roped in would be outnumbered three-to-one. If they were all fighters or sorcerers it wouldn't be a problem, but a mixture of several people would pose an interesting threat.

"That guy's gonna get get hurt. Doesn't matter, I just wanna fight Roswell."

Edger returned to the deck and looked for his hired help. Seeing him sleeping against the railing, the one-eyed hunter leaped over to him to make his presence known.

"Wake up. I thought you should know that you're not allowed to start fighting until we make landfall. But that doesn't mean you're allowed to slack off!" After finishing his announcement, Edgar dashed off into the crowd where he wouldn't be noticed.

[Luzifer]

Andras groaned... annoyed at being bothered. He opened one black-bagged eye at the hunter before the fool slipped off. Bah... what a waste of life that man was... oh well... an employer was an employer and Andras couldn't be picky. He stood, the motion wakened his centipedes the three smallest crawled out of the skull pendent and on to the string of his pendent. The other scuttled down from his hair and lay across the necromancer's face protecting it from the rising sun. Not that his skin would be hurt... hell he could hardly even feel the warmth anymore.

Andras slipped his sword-spear out of its place on his back and slashed it twice across an even plane in front of him. Some bones which had fallen out of place during the night snapped back into location. His face was now almost the color of a healthy human but the air around him was cold and frosty. He had drained it of life while he slept and used that power to replenish his blood supply. It had taken most of the night but it was almost over.

With a decisive motion, he slipped his sword-spear back over his shoulder and walked toward the crowd. His hands amused themselves by making sure his throwing knives were all holstered properly and could be drawn cleanly if the situation warranted it. He sighed, looking at the dim sun, I hope this doesn't turn out to be a bother... I wonder if that bastard realizes that he made my mission objectives dependent on his survival? I don't think he's that smart... That's going to come back and bite me, no doubt...

The seagulls rode the updrafts over had with their maddening cackles.

[Linked Anime]

Abel's armor clanked as he stretched his arm when he yawned from trying to shake off the last of sleep. "Ah, what beautiful morning this is!" Abel exclaimed. Walking off to meet Roswell and Bridget at their room and maybe their friends. As he continued he was pushed out of the way when a that looked to be in a hurry and had just woken up rush past him. Shrugging it off he continued on him way. Carrying his case with Sund, his puppet, he turned a corner as saw Bridget stammering, a half asleep Roswell, and the two friends of them talking to one another.

"Ah, well good morning!" Abel said to the group.

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro awaoke to the sound of the raging ocean and the sweet sound of the floking seagulls. Jushiro grinned and slowly stood up his katana's clapped together,and make a sweet song of enlightenment. Jushiro looked over the side of the boat and then at the small group of people talking. He shook his head and made his way toward them.

[Change Of Color]

Mercy woke up to the sound of seagulls and the rushing ocean. She sat up, stretched and looked over to see Jason still fast asleep on his bed. She stood up on her bed and jumped from where she stood onto Jason.

"Wake up sleepy head!" she shouted at him as he woke from the impact of her crash ontop of him. "Mercy! Why'd you have to do that?" he whined. "Oh suck it up!" she shouted back before sliding off of him and pulling him out of bed. "It's morning and we need to go get some breakfast cause I'm starving like a crazy horse!" She threw his clothes at him as she quickly dawned her own. When they were finally all dressed, she dragged the still half asleep Jason through the lower levels to the deck of the ship to try to find something to eat.

They were almost all the way out when she spotted the very people she had tried to avoid yesterday. No avoiding them now though. "Come on, lets get a move on!" she told the still almost asleep Jason. They hurried past them. 'Do I know her?' thought Jason as he walked past her but Mercy didnt give him a chance to figure it out. A few moments later they were on the deck, in the rays of the sun. 'Good. We're still ok.' thought Mercy and continued her search for food.

[Luzifer]

Andras watched all the now waking people scuttling about. It was disgusting, how much like insects they were. The only difference was the number of legs.

Andras let his cold gaze glaze each person over with scornful ice as he waited for his mission to begin. The loudest and most obnoxious of the people was an annoying girl pushing some boy along chittering with him like some over-grown rat. There was a couple other equally worthless people, people with weapons mostly, and in any case people who were mere accents of annoyance in the overall drudgery of this horrid place.

Andras sighed, and walked back to the railing to gaze out to sea. If one were to look at him they would see a daydreaming young man and that was all, perhaps a bit macabre young man but the point remained. However, they would be wrong for Andras never daydreamed. Daydreaming would require a lightheartedness of spirit and hope and a soft, gentle desire. He had neither. The world was so empty... there was nothing in it that glimmered. Nothing that filled him with passion. So his eyes scan only the sea and not the horizon. They saw only the sea and not some temptation. They never looked sad but they never looked happy either... a painless pleasureles empty orb, each one was. Drifting alone and seperate from the other. Andras began to gently finger the skull and reminded himself of why he continued to exist

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro stopped once he noticed someone over at the rail,he looked like he didnt care for himself or anyone here. He seemed to hate some of the poeple opn the ship and maybe thought they were worthless. Jushiro shook his head and continued to walk toward the main people that were talking but changed his mind once he felt his sickness rising again.

[Reniti]

Karei found herself crawling out of her bed in a trance, and realized that a day had passed since she'd been on the ship. Pulling her raven-black hair to form those long ponytails, the girl sighed. Unfortunately, the soceress had begun to miss her parents. "It's human nature." she thought. Another part of her mind replied, "Well, I for one, hate it. Why are there emotions in the world, anyway?"
Before she knew it, her morning routine was finished. Simply waiting for.... something, she lay on her bed and waited. Waiting for something. Just waiting.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

(OOC: So sorry I've been away for so long. I was studying for my exams and then I had to take them.)

Roswell turned to Abel's greeting.

"Morning." he said tiredly. "We were going to get breakfast and we'd be glad if you would join us."

(OOC: Hope this doesn't bother anyone, but I'm (again) jumping ahead. This time to the ship's arrival at the Wilds)

The vessel pulled into the makeshift port, several deckhands helping to tie it down. Soon after, passengers were allowed to disembark. Roswell, Bridget, Esmeralda and Vanar departed from the ship and got the year's first glimpse of the island.

It was majestic. After the beach where the ship had landed the ground was covered with small plantlife, beneath which there was rich, dark soil. Thick trees grew everywhere, shading the island from the sun. A single path cut through the forest, wide enough to be called a crude sort of road. The air was thick with heat and pollen and the sounds of animals were everywhere.

"So this is the Wilds..." Roswell said in awe.

"Guess so." Bridget responded.

"This is the third time Vanar and I have been here." Alda said in a showy sort of way.

"Oh yeah, this is your third tour, isn't it?" Roswell said in realization.

"That's right. I met the winner of the New Year's tournament here before anyone even knew his name."

************************************************** ********

Edgar cast a bitter gaze around him as the ship docked. He knew exactly where Roswell was but couldn't attack him until his hired help realized it. He couldn't even be assured of the guy's skills until he could pick the group out of a crowd without the hunter's help. And even after, Edgar couldn't afford to get hurt very badly. He was still working himself half to death in order to keep himself alive and send money to his family. Once he got back at Roswell once and for all, he could go back home for good and get a respectable career.

"But first I gotta take care of this problem." Edgar mused to himself, staying just out of sight of Roswell's group.

[Luzifer]

Andras continued to gaze out at the rolling waves until the boat finally shunted up against the dock and the sailors began tethering it to the pier so it would not drift away while the guests were disembarking. Once the crowd had begun to disembark Andras turned around to watch the people and see if he could spot his target. After everyone had gotten off he concluded there were two females that fit the description, however, he decided to ere on the side of the girl in the larger group, with three others. One was anemic looking boy (much like Andras himself after he had used a lot of magic), a soldier-type (more like Andras in his normal condition) and another girl, a ditz she looked like.

He slipped after them, departing last and looking around as if mesmerized by the scenery (which he wasn't. despite never having been their before he found nothing in the view worth more then the casual glance. It was all very dull).

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro smiled as he stepped from the boat. His katana's layed on his back and one on his side. he smiled and walked past a small group that were talking about their third and fourth time being here,it didn't concern Jushiro at all,Jushiro continued up the small road with no sense of direction but he felt he had to walk Little bit.

[Change Of Color]

Mercy and Jason walked a little way behind the group of four. A burly man walked not far behind them but neither paided much attention to him. Mercy tried her hardest to keep Jason occupied with pulling their wagon but he kept glancing at Esmeralda.

"You know, the way you keep staring at that girl, people will start thinking your sweet on her," said Mercy with a teasing hint in her voice. Jason immeadately blushed and stared at the ground. She wasnt trying to be mean but she didnt want their cover to be blown. They were trying to make a fresh start and he was not about to ruin it.

"Mer--uh, Miss Iona, I dont mean to stare but she looks familiar is all," he said as his blush deepened to an almost crimson color. He didnt know why he was embarresed at the fact that he might have a crush on some one but he was. They continued up the trail of a road in silence, Mercy satisfied and Jason embarrased.

[Luzifer]

Andras wasn't trying to eavesdrop. Hell, he would have rather never heard a single infuriating word of that obnoxious banter. He had though and it wrankled underneath his skin. He despised it when people talked abou such worthless and knavish subjects such as lust. These two people in front of him weren't any younger then him but they were caught up in their lustful games like two humping dogs in the village green. It was disgusting for him and shameful for them . They seemed to shut up though and for that he was grateful...he didn't know if he could endure their insipid prattling for much longer.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

Selene pulled herself out of the water, happy to be able to rest. She had hitched a ride on the undercurrents that sped her along faster than any ship could've, but steering your body in the undercurrents is extremely difficult and even more tiring. Still, the undine queen felt it was her responsibility to keep an eye on Roswell and Bridget in case they needed her help. She had been swimming for a day and a half without any rest at all, something that was simple and natural for fish, but very tiring for undines.

Selene had chosen to rest on a small island, maybe a mile or two away from continent. She had spotted the ship about an hour ago and followed it to where she was now. It was a very exhausting journey, but it would all be worth it. The young queen then remembered the discovery of trains, one of the last remaining marvels of the steam technology that existed on the continent called Arotl. They could get you to places faster than coaches, but travelling by train was really expensive. Still, they were currently the fastest way to travel by land. When Selene first saw one, she had called it a landship. It moved like one, but faster and without sails. She remembered how awesome it would be something like that could be applied to water travel. No one would need to use the undercurrents anymore.

"Grr. I can't rest now. Just have to keep going. Like a train, right Selene?" And with that, the undine continued her journey to find Roswell.

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro looked back at the one behind him and shook his head as they spoke so immuturly about being sweet on someone and all the things he didnt care about. Still he continued to walk without a sense of direction. He was a graudian but didnt have anyone to protect. All he could do was protect everyone in this small group.

Jushiro was first to enter the forest ahead of them but didnt look back again. It didnt mean anything to him about the sounds that surronded him but the only thing on his mind was the tornament and his chance to end all the killing back at his home.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

As Roswell's group continued to talk, Bridget felt a sudden gaze against her back. Turning around, the sorceress saw a creepy-looking blonde guy gazing lazily at the four of them. The two made eye contact for little more than an instant, but the look in his eyes made her instinctively move closer to her puppetmaster. Not only did she not trust the look she got from him, but he wore an odd blade over his shoulder and smelled distinctly like necromancy that was used without permission.

'Maybe he just doesn't know.' Bridget thought to herself. 'No way, no one who knows anything about magic would use necromancy without getting help from the god of death. Without his help, you need to find other lives to use as payment for spells. That, or use your own. And the white in his hair, it's obvious he's used his own more than once. With the way that he looks, he probably won't live to be twenty-five. How sad.' Even though Bridget felt bad for man's most likely early demise, she still felt it logical to avoid him for as long as possible.

"Roswell." she whispered to her puppetmaster. "I think we should pick up the pace a little. Someone's following us and he looks bad. Luckily, Alda's already way ahead of us. I don't think it would look odd if we tried to catch up with her. Don't say anything, just squeeze my hand if you agree with the plan." Bridget, always being the careful one, thought it would seem suspicious if she was having whispered conversations with people. Still looking ahead, the sorceress felt her partner's hand clasp around hers.

'I can't be certain that the guy following doesn't know our names. We'll need to be careful until-'

"ROSWELL! BRIDGET! HURRY UP!" The sorceress's thoughts were interrupted by Emseralda's yelling from further down the path.

'Alda... Even though you didn't do it on purpose, I still can't help but be annoyed at you." Bridget bitterly thought, still using the excuse to run ahead, Roswell struggling to keep up as the sorceress was still holding his hand.

[Luzifer]

Andras eyes met the sorcerous girl's for a moment but it was too much. He sighed with aggrevation as her body tensed up and she moved closer to the puppetmaster. He had hoped that he would be ignored in their wonderment with the new scenary but it seemed that he had been noticed... sometimes his deathly appearance was annoying even to him. "Oh, well" he muttered to himself. There was nothing for it but to follow at a greater distance. He continued on his way now a bit further behind but, with a Vansel's Danse Macabre it wasn't really a great length... if he used that spelll it would serve them no protection and only allow him more momentum. He fingered the skull pendent idly as he waited for that idiot... what was his damn? the hook person... it didn't matter what his name was what mattered was that he should be here but wasn't. It was his damn target that Andras would be opening the way to he could at least show up so he knew when to start this insipid affair.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

Edgar quietly leaped through the underbrush. True to his nature as a hunter, he was completely unnoticed. He managed to constantly keep both Roswell and the hired help in sight as he followed behind his prey. He feared he would be discovered when Bridget turned, he silently sighed at the discovery that she had noticed his employee. If they evaded him, Edgar would probably be able to take at least one of Roswell's friends before the puppetmaster could properly ready his weapon, but it the other two would still give him trouble.

"ROSWELL! BRIDGET! HURRY UP!" Edgar didn't recognize the voice, but he figured that if the idiot he had hired didn't recognize them now, he really was useless. As the sorceress ran ahead, the hunter realized his oppourtinity. Roswell tripped. It was just a stumble, but it was enough to momentarily seperate the two of them.

'Now's my chance.' Edgar thought, preparing to leap.

The hunter quickly jumped from the underbrush, releasing the weapons on his legs as well as unbinding his arms. He spun using the momentum from the jump, landing a kick on the still-stunned sorceress and punching Roswell in his side. The puppetmaster fell backward and Bridget stumbled forward. Edgar noticed her slip a ring on her finger, no longer stunned, and he turned toward Roswell. It was then that he noticed his employee.

"Hey, Dishpay! If you're gonna help, do it now!"

While he yelled, Bridget was making preparations to cast a spell. Esmeralda was getting her puppet ready and Vanar had already unsheathed his sword.

'The flow of magic, the Leylines, are tricky here. I'm in an area that is unfamiliar with my being. That'll reduce my spellcasting potential. The dominent Leyline elementals in this area are Wood and Earth. I'm no Nature Sage, so my spells relating to them will be weakened. We're surrounded by trees, so Shadow spells will also be strengthened. Metal element spells will be weakened due to presence of Wood element, and although Fire spells will be strengthened, they'll eat away at the Wood Leylines here. There are birds, so it would be best to follow their updraft and start with a Wind spell. With the difficulties in mind, the Leylines will allow me enough space to cast about six spells. I can extend this amount by maybe three or four spells. That gives me ten spells maximum' All of this information, long-since memorized, flowed through Bridget's mind in a matter of seconds. She quickly reached into her bag, extracting a flask filled with a dark grey liquid with the consistency of saliva. Placing the bottle between her right index and middle fingers, she placed her right hand next to her already extended left. An crystal ring had been placed on her left middle finger and she had her fingers seperated.

'I'll use the Wind element in the air to propel this bottle of Shadow element toward that guy. The combination of Wind and Shadow element should allow me enough space to summon.' Focusing her energy, Bridget made a magical link with the Goddess of War, the breeze that acted as the Scion of Wind, and the tree's shadows that acted as the Scion of Shadow. A large, intricate rune, colored dark purple, was engraved on the ground around her.

"Goddess of War, I have made Shadow the head of my arrow. The Ring of Modren has been selected as my bow, and I request Wind as the my arrow's shaft. Brind forth the elder of Wind at the point that my arrow lands and place him in my service. I will offer the amalgamation of Earth and Fire in the form of a vessel of the God of Space as the seal of our covenent. Let the Bow of Modren shoot my arrow true! God's Arrow!" The rune contracted and surrounded only Bridget's ring. Two curved beams of white light erupted from the ring, safely passing through her fingers and making a shape resembling a bow.

Bridget pulled back her right hand, a third beam of light, perpendicular to the ground, connecting the two existing beams and "stringing" the bow. The incantation had allowed her fire without missing her mark. The wind would be in her favor. She would just need to wait for the right moment.

[Luzifer]

Andras looked at the attacking Edge with slight annoyance but quickly turned his focus to his opponents. From the various reactions he could ascertain at least three opponents. A puppetmistress (an threat even when alone but with two others a frightening prospect indeed), a warrior (easier then the puppeteer but he seemed competent and not something to be underestimated) and a sorceress (something to be killed quickly before it grew to be an aggrevation, which meant before she cast her second spell.

A plan quickly fromed in Andras' mind. Gathering together energy from the air (what bare amount was there even in this relatively verdent place) and his own body (emptying most of his liver of extra blood cells) he prepared his first spell. The plan was simple... he would cast Pit of Shades to slow the puppetmistress and her warrior while he charged the sorceress, Amati and Stradivarius would move toward the pit of shades and hopefully bite the puppetmistress and warrior if they attempted to cross. The other two he would save to use as the situation warranted.

Execution...

"Barhiem's Pit of Shades" intoned as he pulled his massive blade from over his shoulder and his two centipedes scuttled down his legs to the ground where they headed to a rapidly darkening patch of ground. Soon ghastly hand burst forth from the ground and the faces of dead souls leered up from the earth, moaned as if struggling to be free. They could not though and their grasping hands wavered. One grabbed on to a bystandered who had the misfortune of being in the same place he required the pit and they clutched at his legs preventing him from running, no matter how hard he tried. The arms had no leverage to drag him down so he was merely forced to stand their and moan as the phantasmal hands groped his legs.

His blade fully unsheathed Andras charged straight at the sorceress 'come on little girl' he thought to himself 'just attack me with that precious little spell of yours... make this trap complete'

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

Bridget watched as the one who was following her group attacked. He had already used a spell, drawing strength from the air in the process, and unleashed what seemed like familiars.

'He uses familiars and life in the air to compensate for a lack of talent. Not bad, but my skills are far superior to his. He obviously has no clue what this spell is for.' Bridget aimed the bow, not at Hook, who she figured Roswell could handle on his own, nor the attacker. Instead, she aimed at the tree only meters away from him. The corked bottle sped toward the tree, breaking to pieces as it struck it.

'The combination of an element with Shadow is frequently used for summoning, after all. Wind Element. Summon Wyvern!' The pieces of the broken bottle vanished as though they were evaporated. The grey substance inside began swirling around, and a monstrous howl erupted from it. What appeared to be a winged dark green dragon that lacked forelegs flew from the shadow substance. Its long, scaly tail ended in several rows of sharp spines. Its mouth opened, loosing a beastly howl that sent all remaining bystanders running.

'I've got nine spells left. As a fake necromancer, it's impossible for him to read the Leylines. He has no idea how much power I have. I still wish I had given the land more time to sync with me, but this happened so suddenly.' Although she had help in her fight, her opponent still approached her. Bridget reached into her bag, having no intention of using her Modren's Ring on someone so close. Her hand was clasped around a potion containing the power of Fire. She would be able to use the spell without exhausting the Leylines, but she didn't have any more Fire bottles. The one she had would have to count.

Esmeralda and Vanar found themselves stuck on the wrong side of a pit full of lost souls. Alda had by then prepared Witch for combat. The puppet stood at three-and-a-half feet and resembled more of a doll than anything else. It was dressed the same as its mistress, though in all black. Also, the marionette had wings that resembled those of a devil. Extending from either wrist was a nasty-looking blade about a foot long, and from the brim of its hat dangled a multitude of small, scarlet gems. Each one secretly inscribed with a different simple Fire spell.

"Vanar, do it!" Alda yelled at her brother, just finishing attaching Witch's strings to her fingers. The swordsman grabbed the marionette carefully, quickly throwing it over the pit. The puppetmistress pulled a few well-selected strings, causing Witch to drop several low-grade explosives into the pit before being reeled in by its strings. She had seen a few bugs crawl into the patch of land and hoped for them to be killed without injuring the lone man trapped in the spell.

[Luzifer]

Andras ignored the dragon... he was already close enough. Using the full eight foot length of his sword-spear, Andras spun the massive blade hand over hand in a hard arch toward the sorceress. Still though his mind work. He didn't want to use his trinket until he was sure it was necessary... and he still had a fortunate reserve. He had two more centipedes to fall back on... the other had been sacrificed though they had given him valuable intelligence about his opponents and made them expend their own energy. This would not be easy... he might even have to sacrifice a limb... but such was the way of thing he supposed. As long as survived his promise would remain unbroken.

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro turned round and noticed the fighting going on. He dropped his bags and rushed back to help. He moved with grace and speed and without fail Intel he stopped and looked at the one called Andres. He looked at him and growled before turning his head to the threat that was before them. He didn't look over at the other puppetmasters but did know that they were their.



************************


Toshiro crawled from the boat and placed both hands on the shore. His stomach growled as he stood to his feet. he was sea sick and hated the sea but he had to find Jushiro before his illness toke over again. Toshiro looked up at the forest ahead of him when he felt Jushiro close by. He toke off and ran toward the forest and his brother.

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

(OOC: @Hollow Ichigo: Controlling major NPCs in combat is forbidden unless I give you specific permission which only lasts one battle. That permission has not been granted and thus, your action is voided. Also, between you and Edgar are Esmeralda, Vanar, Bridget, Andras and a wyvern. Keep in mind of your surroundings when battling. Also, Luzy, after this post, the battle with Bridget's group is entirely controlled by you. Esmeralda, Vanar, Bridget and the wyvern are moved by you. If Hollow Ichigo is taking part in this conflict, I would suggest coordinating something with him)

Bridget held up her left arm, feeling the heavy blade make quick work of the shield that was quickly conjured by Modren's Ring. After hearing the shattering sound from her barrier, the sorceress felt a sharp pain in her arm. The blade had cut into her. She rolled across the ground from the force of the blow and checked her wound once she was back up. It wasn't deep and probably wouldn't leave a scar if it was handled quickly, but it would be a burden in battle. That done, Bridget took a quick glance at her ring to discover that it was unharmed as well, but would likely not play a part in this fight any longer.

"Why are you working for Hook?" she asked desperately. "We didn't do anything to you, did we?"

[Luzifer]

Andras grunted as his blade smashed against the shield and broke it. A wave of shock traveled up his arms and reverberated through his entire body. "Nope. It's nothing personal. Just work." However, while he had been talking the wyvren had made its way towards him and was now looming over him and preparing to strike.

Time to get rid of this thing, eh? Andras thought and spoke the activation word for his charm, "Father!" the skull leapt up and opened its mouth and began drawing the sorcerous energy away from the wyvren, and gradually, by degrees, the summon faded from the world. The skull glowed with light as it began to dissipate the sorcerous energy it had absorbed. It had been a strong spell so Andras doubted that he would be able to use the skull again that battle. He always hated using it, it reminded him of the painful things he had had to do in order to make it. Two lives... heh... focus.

Bridget saw the other getting distracted by her wyvren and though she was suprised that he had brought with him an item to counter-act sorcery she couldn't worry too much about it now. Rather, she had to focus on stopping him before he attacked again. Using the opprotunity while he was looking at the wyvren she tossed the fire potion she had used before offering a prayer to the Goddess of War to activate the concotion.

He turned back to Bridget just in time to see the vial of liquid herttling toward him and bring his blade up to stop it. He knew full well this was going to be painful. He hadn't had the time to dodge as would be required.

The potion exploded in a spray of fire and glass shards which soon liquidified. It covered a large area and seemed to completely engulf the young exile. Suddenly though his body from the fire rolling across the ground as he was painfully knocked back by the force of the explosion. Suddenly he hit his palm against the ground pushing him up into the air for a moment and he used this time to recenter his balance before he landed on the ground in a low crouch.

His right hand, the one holding the blade, appeared to have been badly burned, though not enough to render it unuseable. There was blood dripping from the side of his face where a piece of shrapnel had cut him. He sighed to himself in frustration as he got up but soon was forced to jump back as witch came down on him with both its blade, one cutting him slightly in the shoulder. He quickly turned and struck back with the full power of his massive blade and though the infernal marrionette manage to avoid most of it, the blow still clipped on of its legs sending it to the ground some distance off.

Andras looked back over to the puppetmistress and noticed her warrior was rounding the edge of the Pit of Shades. Damnit! There were too bloody many! Logic told him to just fall back, he wasn't being paid enough to die, but he remembered that all he had to do was keep these idiots distracted long enough that this "Hook" person could get his butt handed to him by the pupppet boy.

He just needed to hold their attention long enough and not get himself killed in the process.

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro just stood their and watched he didnt want to jump in to fast and mess up any plans and by they way everything was looking he felt he wasnt need at this time. Jushiro watched as they fought and a smirk spread across his face. They were fighting with ture passion something he didnt have anymore. Jushiro continued to watch intel his chest began to pulse and blood escaped from his mouth onto the battle scarred ground around him.

*************

Toshiro continued to head toward therising fire that covered part of the forest. he couldnt what to see his brother and knew the first thing he would do was kill him for being the main reason his mother was killed.

[Luzifer]

The fight continued to drag on for several more minutes. Andras was now engaged completely with the warrior and for the most part he was able to use the warrior as a living shield from the sorceresses spells. She wouldn't dare attack Andras while her friend was in the line of fire and for as long as that lasted he was able to focus his attention almost solely on the warrior. Almost. He did have the annoyance of the puppet which kept darting in with its knives trying to stab him but he was able to keep that at bay as well. But it was all he could do not to get killed. He had already taken a horrific gash across the chest... blood was starting to stain his shirt but he knew if he tried to retreat he would get stabbed from behind. He had managed to give the warrior a couple close calls but hadn't actually wounded him, predominately because his sword wasn't designed to "wound". It killed or it didn't. If he had hit the warriors harm like he almost had the warrior would have lost the limb, not taken some meager to-the-bone cut.

He hadn't cast any spells since the Pit of Shades, mostly because the damn sorceress had used a blinding light spell to stun him while the warrior cut into his chest, which was why he had the massive wound in the first place. With so much bloodloss Andras wouldn't have the vitality he needed to cast his spells.

Suddenly Vanar's blade clashed hard against Andras' own and he was forced down to the ground. For that moment he was exposed and for a second he looked defeated but he gritted his teeth and muttered, "I will not... break... my promise!" and lunged up catching Vanar in the stomach with his knee while the warrior was still bringing up his blade. Before Andras could really do anything to exploit his new found advantage the puppetmistress attacked him with new found fury and shout "VANAR!!" Andras was forced to jump back from the attacking puppet but not before gently slicing Vanar's arm with the entire length of his blade. Andras smiled... it was time for his Gambit. He wiped the blade with his hand, draining the life from the fresh and still warm blood. Gathering the energy he spoke the arcane words, "Vensel's Danse Macabre" His leg muscles went taught with barely contained power and tension and he sprinited towards the puppetmistress. He passed both Vanar and the puppet before they had a chance to react and not even the sorcerous was able to ready one of her catalyst driven spells before he had his arms around the exposed puppetmistress (the pit of Shades having long since faded away when it stopped serving its purpose and he cut the umbilical cord of power that connected him and it). He slipped one arm around the puppetmistress shoulders and stuck his fingers into her chest, between the collarbone and her breasts. Her skin seemed a liquid to his fingers as they slid in, the thin material did not rupture but rather allowed his necromatic fingers entrance into their protectorate. He felt around and soon found what he was looking for, that thin and precious thread of life that existed within all creatures. He smiled as he gently began to manipulate it bring it right to the tip of his fingers just as he put his own near the same point. He whispered with a gentle malice into the puppetmistress' ear, "I'm going to be burrowing you for a little while. This will hurt" he then smiled and looked up from where he had been staring, his hand as he carefully had manipulated the life threads. "Nefreta's Life Knot!" he shouted and suddenly the two threads were tied together, overlapping one another in a perfect mixture.

A wave of relief flooded into Andras as exactly half his pain and wounds left his body and Esmeralda buckled slightly in his grip when those same wounds and pains were given unto her. Her features paled slightly and his grew slightly more colored as their lifeforces balanced out.

[Hyuuga "Corkskrew" Te]

Hiding within a nearby bush, Stone and Sine watched the fight, Stone smiling slightly. If she entered the fray now, it would be useless and somewhat silly. After all, Sine was still recovering from their last fight. But, she thought, I have to admit that this man, this sorcerer-warrior, is quite capable. I've never seen someone use this particular spell before.

She absently began stroking her marionette's hair, attempting to analyze each combatant in turn so she could determine the best course of action.

(OOC: I'm sorry it's so very short, but I'm not part of the fight.)

[Efrieda Arwaltz]

(OOC: I must apologize for my long time away. Immediately following my return home on the 18th, my family decided to take a vacation which required that I spend a little while in a Toaist retreat somewhere in Montana. I haven't had internet access for two weeks. I'm back now and I'll be able to perform my work as a GM. I actually couldn't have informed everone, I had to leave practically the moment I got home. I was given an hour and a half to pack and then we had to leave. Again, sorry.)

Esmeralda almost vomited at the sudden pain in her body. As far as she knew brother was uninjured and Bridget was fine. She had yet to hear from Roswell for several minutes. As far as she knew, she wasn't wounded, but it felt as though the puppetmistress had suffered significant nerve trauma.

***

Bridget had found her opening. Her adversary's actions exposed a new weakness. Though she wasn't well-versed in Shadow Element magic, she knew enough to perform a simple binding spell. Even though she couldn't use magic controlled by the Law gods, she still had studied many of the spells that were available to those who made the ritual or had "the gift." The spell that the pseudo-necromancer had used had effectively bound him to Esmeralda. Most of the puppetmistress's clothes were silk. Silk operated as a wonderful catalyst for magic. Bridget figured that she could use Alda as a catalyst and Bind the one who had attacked her. Silent casting such a spell would ordinarily be impossible for Bridget, but the cover or shadows over the area, plus the fact that she had paid a sorcerer to create a Binding Contract for her almost a year ago would make speaking completely irrevalent.

Ordinarily, a Binding spell using a contract would require the mark of the one that it was binding. A blood sample would suffice and thankfully, much of the attacker's blood was smattered around. It would be a stretch, but Bridget believed that the spell could be used to force him to submit to her whim. Of course, due to the specificity of the Binding, it would only function for as long as the man was attached to Alda and Bridget had no idea how long that would be. Still, it was worth the risk.

Retracing the steps that the battle had taken, Bridget located a small pool of blood that had belonged to the fake necromancer. Dipping her right index and middle finger in, she extracted a small sample and placed it onto the appropriate point of the contract.

'I have just the thing for this.' She thought, reaching into her bag and removing a small, silver knife. Silver was the magic anchor that would allow the God of Law to to recognize the contract as valid. She quickly located the tree that produced the greatest amount of strength to the Leylines and placed the contract against its bark. 'I'll need to speak a little to activate the contract, but by the time he can act, it'll be too late.'

"You whose blood stains the Holy Ground of the Great Judge, Submit!" Bridget drove the knife through the top of the parchment, pinning it to the tree. 'The effect should be instantaneous. The combined being of Esmeralda and the other one should bend to my will whenever I command.' It would hurt to place commands that effected her friend, but it was something she would, for the moment, need to endure.

***

Selene pulled herself onto shore, immediately feeling the presence of magic.

"That must be Bridget." she said out loud. "Guess I should change into something a little more useful." It had been a true gift to be able to abandon formal dialect, at least for the time being. The stuffy talk of aristocrats never interested the undine. She liked the way Roswell and Bridget talked a lot better, so she opted for that style to speak whenever possible.

'Changing is always a real pain, but at least I have the water nearby to help.' The 'change' that Selene could go through involved using the water's nature as a solute to disslove some of her body's elements, rebuilding them using whatever biologocal components she could access. In short, she used water, sand and dead fish and plants to turn herself human. She figured it would take a few minutes to get used to walking again. She had taken almost a year to learn how to walk the first time, and since then she had constantly looked for more excuses to do so.

After her transformation, Selene reached into the watertight bag she had brought with her and donned a long, cream-colored skirt like she had seen Bridget wear before. After a few unsteady steps, the undine got use to walking again and set off to find her friends.

'They're in trouble again, I can almost feel it.'

[Ranryou Roga]

Jushiro continued to watch. This was a very good fight. Jushiro let his white hair sway in the air in tel he felt a familiar force. It was his brother. Jushiro turned around quickly as Toshiro stood looking at him with a grin on his face. Jushiro toke a step back as he remember everything.
"Toshiro my brother..........Why are you here?" Jushiro toke another step back as he felt his anger. He hate Jushiro and Jushiro knew this. He no longer had his,little brother. He was gone only this monster of death and destruction was left.

"Jushiro you know why i am here.you are the direct cause of my mother's death and their for i will destroy you know matter what." Toshiro pulled out his large silver gun as he toke a step back. He pointed the gun at Jushiro as the fighting continued. He grinned before releasing four or five shots at him. No one could tell how many their were due to the fact that the echo of the shots made some believe one thing when their was something else.
Toshiro rushed toward his brother as the dust cleared from his shots. He jumped into the air above him and spinned firing three shots at him. He landed on the ground and looked as the dust cleared. Jushiro wouldn't die that easy even if he has his disease.

Jushiro rushed out of the dust and Toshiro landed. he had all ready drew both his sword and kick Toshiro back into the tree directly behind him 4 yards away. Jushiro was a guardian above everything else. He could see something and know how far away it was. Jushiro jumped into the air as Toshiro hit the tree. The cloud themselves began to turn black as lighting traveled to the ground and flashed around everyone. Jushiro didn't want to use this one but he may have to. This would be very hard. Jushiro pointed his sword into the air and lighting traveled down its blade. Even if Jushiro could control Lighting,if it hit him like it was it could kill him. Lucky,Jushiro was smart. he used his second katana to point downward at Toshiro using himself like a lighting rod. The lighting traveled down his body to the tip of his second blade. The light formed a ball before releasing in a wave. The wave slammed into the ground around Toshiro,then finely hitting him. The dust rose as Jushiro landed on the ground. The lighting continued to flash as he felt his katana in his stance.


Toshiro slowly stood to his feet. A shield of fire slowly lowered around him. His body was covered in dirt due to the fact that he had been hit by Jushiro's attack. He growled before spitting blood on the ground. This made him mad and he would make him pay.

[Luzifer]

Suddenly a great weight heaved itself onto Andras' shoulders and there it seemed to die, a cold dead mass that choked the life from his lungs. His knees buckled and he would have completely fallen had not he used his blade as leverage to keep himself up, albiet without his legs to support him. "Tch..." he clucked his tongue against the back of his teeth... an intense hatred burning inside him toward... nothing really. Perhaps it had been preceded by a slight terror but terror was such a...weak emotion. Long ago he had learned to channel his fear into fury and now it burned white hot in his chest and twisted along his every nerve. And from his nerves the hatred was spread to all things evenly, to the sun for having blinded him at one point, to the puppetmistress for having bombed him, to the warrior for slicing him, to the sorcereress for having not only wounded him but binded him by using his own life knot (the fact he had taken someone elses freedom with him was as much comfort as telling a soldier that before he had gotten cut down by an arrow he had crushed a worm that had gorged itself of enemy soil). But these were not the main focus of his loathing. Indeed, they were but the background, as the world had always been but a background to him, someplace he existed in but was (in his mind) never truly a part of.

Some dry and painful smirk slit his face as he slowly regained his footing, though still leaning heavily on his blade while the drip-drip sound of blood from his shirt pattering against the ground made a nuanced rythem to the entire affair. For a long time this rage had burned low... always their but for a long time channel merely as a constant contempt... how starkly and how clearly he remembered the two other time his fury had burned this hot! How he had wanted to shatter the world like a pane of glass and reveal the nothingness and everythingness (black as day yet bright as night) from which all things came and to which it would all go. But then, as now, he was powerless to do anything like that.

And his smirk cried tears of blood.