Dale didn't respond immediately, but that didn't seem to bother Rennette. She turned away before he could respond, and skipped over to the job board. Her hand reached immediately for one job in particular, or perhaps it had been at random, but at any rate she peered at the paper intently. After reading the words with a deep look of concentration, Rennette finally nodded as if she had come to an understanding. "Ugo deru rasuchi boro kania," she said quietly to herself, pensively. Then she reverted to her happy demeanor, folded the document into a paper airplane, and threw it across the room. “It flys, it flys!” she exclaimed happily.
Mizuki used Blitz. Such post. Much wow.
Oh yeah, attacking is a thing that I should probably do. Mizuki used Sliding Dash on the whale.
Mizuki and Rennette are ready to depart. Also, not sure if it was particularly clear in the IC post, but Ren just handed Rennette all of his magic armlets, gaia bangles, and his improved mage staff. Just my way of saving all those thousands of gold by handing over the stuff to another character, and still do it in character. And yeah, she's equipping all that **** now :P Unless you decide to be all like 'nuh uh, boi'. In which case I'll be a sad panda. :c
There wasn't much for Ren to pack, truth be told. There was the small bundle that he had brought with him to the guild, and then another that contained everything that he had received since coming here: A few magic armlets, gaia bangles, and a new staff. He didn't really feel like taking them with them. They were heavy to carry, and he wouldn't need them anyway. Perhaps he'd be able to give it to someone in the guild who needed it more. He was distracted by a small sound by the door, followed by rapidly receding footsteps. On the ground he found a note, containing the few words Mikasa had written. He smiled. Some sort of official sending off, a formality that Mikasa wouldn't be comfortable with. At least she'd taken the time to say something, so he silently thanked her. Pocketing the note and gathering up his stuff, he left his room and headed for an exit. He was going to avoid the main hall and door, there were too many people around there, some of which would be overly curious. To that end he took the lesser corridors of the Guild, making his way down a narrow, winding stair to a side door. He took a moment to breath in deeply, and then opened the door. To his surprise a young woman was standing right there at the door, apparently just about to enter the guild. Strange, Ren hadn't seen her before. “Are you going in there?” he asked. She nodded with a bright smile. “You're part of the guild?” She seemed to take a moment to think about it, before nodding again. “Okaaaaay...” Ren continued, a little unsure. “Well, I'm leaving this place for a little while, so perhaps you could take this for me?” he said, handing her the bundle containing his magic armlets and other items. “At least until I get back.” The young woman simply smiled wordlessly and accepted the bundle. Ren smiled back, somewhat puzzled, but too distracted by everything else to worry about it too much. “Well, see you then.” He started to walk away, leaving the girl behind, when something struck him. He glanced over his shoulder back at her. There was something about the girl that was familiar, something about her smile. Strange, that one... As Ren made his way through the guild, eyes glistened with murder from the shadows. Mizuki followed him silently, hand on her sword, waiting patiently for an opportunity to strike down her target. A simple surprise attack wouldn't be enough however. The mas was too powerful, too wary. However, if he was to mistake another person as a potential source of attack, then Mizuki could capitalize on that. This was what she waited for. And that opportunity was steadily becoming more likely as the target was seemingly leaving the building. The city would be a perfect place to kill him. She tutted in frustration when he passed through the small side door. There weren't any windows for her to observe or exit through, so she would have to take the same door as him, which meant slowing down and waiting so that he didn't see her exit right after him. She waited thirty seconds, and then moved. A longer wait would have been safer, but she was impatient now. That man needed to die, and when he did, she could finally drop this charade of actually wanting to be a part of this fucking guild. She was stopped right at the door by the entrance of a young woman. Mizuki stepped to the side to let her past, gesturing at the girl. “Move.” “Hello, Mizuki-chan,” smiled the girl. Mizuki whipped around to face her, glaring at her confusedly. “How the fuck do you know my name?” “Oh, sorry!” the girl exclaimed, seeming to realize that she had said something she shouldn't. “I forgot, Rennette hasn't met you yet. Let's start again.” The girl paused for a moment, and then smiled brightly. “Hello, my name is Rennette. Who are you?” Mizuki was getting pissed with the girl now. “Drop it, you know my name already. How?” The girl didn't seem to pay any attention. “Hmm, it's Mizuki right? Or maybe... um, Mi... Mi... Mikuzi, Mikuzu, Mukizi, Miziku. Mikizu? Muzki! What do you think?” Rennette asked, smiling. Mizuki decided to dismiss the girl, and tried to push her out of the way. “I don't know who you are or how you know my name, and I don't care,” she snapped. “Just move.” “Mizuki-chan?” “There is no fucking 'chan' in my name. Move,” Mizuki demanded, the threat clearly heard in her tone of voice. Rennette sighed. “Fine, Rennette will compromise. Zuki it is!” She stepped aside and let Mizuki past. The warrior glared at her once more before continuing on out onto the street. Rennette watched her receding figure for a few moments, before turning around with a smile, evidently pleased with something, and then skipped her way through the guild, to all appearances knowing where she was going. She arrived at the guild hall at any rate, and instantly made her way over to the moody young man. “Hello!” Rennette smiled at Dale. “Rennette doesn't know your name, but you know hers now, so maybe you'll let her go on the mission with you. She needs something to occupy her time for a while.” Having rid herself of that infuriatingly strange brat called Rennette, Mizuki had rushed out into the street, searching desperately for a glimpse of her target. Nothing. She raced down the street, not knowing if had gone in this direction or the opposite one, but she had no other choice but to leave it to chance. Chance was not on her side today. No matter how many streets she raced down or how desperately she searched through the crowds, there was no sign of him. And it was all that damned girls fault. Storming back to the guild, Mizuki prepared to kill the bitch there and then. Yes, she'd kill her, and then search for the man. He would reveal himself before too long, and Mizuki would be there to end all of it. But first, that fucking girl. Arriving at the main doors of the guild, Mizuki prepared to kick in the front doors, but then she stopped. Rennette, she had known Mizuki's name. She had also just passed Ren at the door. Was it possible that the two knew each other? Doubt and uncertainty clouded Mizuki's mind. Maybe she shouldn't kill her just yet. The bitch might know something useful. Maybe... Opening the door quietly, Mizuki slipped into the guild hall, spotting Rennette almost immediately. She was already talking to the Dale guy, probably signing up for a mission already. Damn. Mizuki wouldn't be able to interrogate the girl just yet. Instead, she would have to sign up for a mission as well. Not the same one as Rennette, because there was a chance she wouldn't be able to restrain herself from strangling the bitch halfway through the mission. Caliborn seemed to be leading one of the missions, so Mizuki decided to go with him. He was reasonably competent, to all appearances, so hopefully he wouldn't do something to piss her off. She was already pissed off enough.
Mikasa's words were starting to lose their effect on Ren. Her latest round of arguments had failed to make the intended impression on him, and in fact did the opposite. Her speculation that somehow he had saved life, and what seemed like an attempt to flatter his ego, frustrated him. And her only suggestion to him was to, what, look forward, forget the past? Useless. “So Mikasa, you want me to simply move on,” Ren muttered bitterly. The resolve that had been wavering till now suddenly hardened. He suddenly stood up, clenching his fist. “I've been trying to move on for the last twelve years. I haven't succeeded yet, but at the very least I know when I need to leave a place. So, I shall leave this guild.” He walked determinedly over to the door, his mind now made up, and opened it to leave. Just before doing so, he paused and looked back at Mikasa. He owed her something for her efforts. “Thank you, Mikasa, for trying,” he smiled sadly. “I don't feel so worried about the guild anymore, with someone like you here to keep it on track. Perhaps you should show this side of you more often?” he suggested. “Just a thought. And maybe, when I do find a way to fix everything, I'll come back to Sapphire Eclipse.” With that, he closed the door softly, and began making his way to his own dorm room. He would need to pack his few things before he hit the road.
Mikasa, a face of granite, and yet what seemed to be a heart of gold beneath. A much better person that Ren could ever be. "Can you really help me, Mikasa?" he murmured. "Can you really rid me of this guilt?" He sighed, and began reciting the dates that so often occupied his mind. "April 6th the year seven-hundred and sixty five, one child aged nine. April 12th of the same year, a young man. May 3rd, an elderly couple. May 22nd, 23rd, 24th, a family of five. May 31st, twenty young women from a choir. June 26th, an Empress. July 6th, a child. July 7th, all thirty-four members of a small dark guild. July 30th, two members of the Grand Inquisitors. September 12th, one city, populated by approximately thirty thousand people." "September 13th, I turned ten years old." He groaned to himself, unsure of whether to continue. "Those are they who died by my hand during the first year of my job as an assassin. There were six more of those years, and the killings came more frequently, more callously, and more lethal." He stared at the ground in silence for a few moments, strangely calm. Perhaps getting this off his chest had been good, at least in the short term. "So, Mikasa, can you help fix any of that?" he posed to her. "Can anyone?"
Mikasa's response took Ren off guard. She'd said more in just these last few moments than he had heard her say at all in the entire time he had been in the guild. And everything she had said was... correct. Yes, she was right. "Mikasa..." Ren began, searching for something to say. He swallowed hard and continued. "You're right. About everything. I shouldn't complain about anyone else in the guild, no matter what they've done or how the act. I shouldn't question how Evanora runs this guild, or how the missions are conducted." He was speaking hurriedly now, eager to just get it all out. "I am a hypocrite, I already know that. I could change that, yes, I could try to help the guild settle down, fix it's issues, save it from it's own destruction even! But Mikasa, I can't," he pleaded desperately, "I'm trying to save myself. I can't be the one to fix anything, I'm already broken myself. So please, try to understand, I'm not giving up on the guild. I'm just struggling to not give up on myself, and this is the only way I can see to do it." Suddenly he felt tired. Very tired. He slumped down on one of the beds, and put his head in his hands. "I have family you know," he confided to Mikasa. "I'd like to see them again some day, when I'm whole. That family is more important to me than anything the guild could be. That's the truth."
Ren winced slightly as he heard the groan. Well, it was probably too much to ask for Mikasa to be somewhat inviting. “Hello Mikasa,” he smiled, stepping into the room. “I wanted to talk to someone in authority, and since Evanora is, eh, unavailable, I decided to come to you. I won't take too long, don't worry. You have more important things to deal with than the likes of me.” He closed the door behind him, and paced across the room to the window thoughtfully. “I've become concerned about the state of the guild,” he suddenly began, turning to face Mikasa.“Even though I've only been here a short while, I've seen so many cracks and disconnectedness within the guild that I'm not even sure it can last for much longer. I feel like before long this place will implode and everyone in it will wind up killing each other. Let me explain why,” he said hurriedly, before Mikasa could interrupt. “First, there was that incident with Ezekiel. It started out well, yes, and we defeated him, but the moment it came to deciding his fate, we all turned on each other. I'm ashamed to admit that I was one of the first in that regard. Half of us wanted to execute him there and then, and the other half, for whatever bizarre reason, were prepared to fight the others to defend Ezekiel. A guild should never come to that,” he muttered bitterly, slowly shaking his head. He continued on, pacing around the room. “Aside from that, there's the issue of some of the members of the guild. I'm sure you know all about the incidents regarding Thea and Cal, more so than I do, so I won't go into detail over them. I just find it disturbing that Evanora would let these two loose with very little supervision, especially since she knew about their pasts. They're not the only two in the guild like this I'd wager, and that also concerns me. I myself could be considered one of them. And maybe even you too, Mikasa,” he ventured to say, glancing at her to see her reaction. Never mind, it wasn't important, really. He moved on quickly, leaving aside his curiosity. “Even without all this, there's the way in which the guild conducts its missions. We go out on a job, complete it in any way we can, and then just leave, regardless of the destruction and consequences of our actions. For example, take the mission to Astedia,” he explained. “We went out there and completed the mission perfectly, and yet...” He faltered, searching for the best combination of words that could explain how he was feeling. He couldn't hesitate now though. Mikasa wasn't one for waiting. “And yet, that kingdom, while safe in the short term, faces years of decline,” he stated firmly. “The monarchs, while just about competent, have a silly and selfish daughter that will drag that country to ruin in the future. We of the guild knew that, and had an opportunity to help her become a true leader, but instead we took our money and just left. That seems a bit mercenary to me. Then again,” he chuckled mirthlessly, “I guess that's all this guild is. Soldiers for those who can pay, and can offer us a job that will let us keep our clean standing in the public.” “Someone should have stayed back to help guide that young woman and her country to a brighter future. Someone should have prevented Thea and Cal from doing what they did. Someone should have resolved the conflict over Ezekiel before it reached the point it did,” Ren declared firmly, and then softened. “That's what I hoped for in a guild anyway, but I haven't found that here. I was probably looking in the wrong place. And so, I'm leaving.” And so that was how he finally came to the crux of the matter. “I am not a good man, Mikasa,” he admitted to her. For a moment he almost thought that she would care. “I thought this guild could make me one, and perhaps it still can, but not in the way I want. That's why I'm making this choice. I ask that you inform Evanora of my decision, as she should probably know. I would have told her myself, were she around.” He finished talking now, and waited for Mikasa to say something. Most likely she would simply dismiss him, which would suit him just fine. This didn't need to be a dramatic occasion.
Ren paced along the upper corridors of the guild with a thoughtful and concerned look etched on his face. The state of the guild troubled him. He and the other new members had not been there for a significant time, and already large fissures in the fabric of the guild were starting to show. The guild had been split and ready to spill blood on the matter of Ezekiel, and as he had already heard Thea had killed several innocents during her mission, albeit mistakenly. On top of that, after leaving Sara he had overheard the exchange regarding Cal. Another killer in the guild, and clearly with Evanora's knowledge. Not that the Guild Master herself could clear up any concerns her subordinates may have. In the wake of this disturbing reveal, as well as the incident with Thea, Evanora had taken herself off to a meeting, at a time when her newest guild members may need the reassurance and clarification only a leader could give. Well, anything that she could have said probably wouldn't have changed Ren's mind anyway. Since she wasn't here, and Caliborn was literally stepping out the door on a mission, the last person he could think of to talk to was Mikasa. Ah, the stone faced, fiery Mikasa. She was another dangerous one. A killer? Probably. He stopped outside the door to her dorm room, and knocked. If it had been anyone else he probably would have just enter right away, but Mikasa was different. She would probably rip his head off if he did that, and he would prefer her in a relatively good mood for what he had to say. Knock knock.
Mizuki on 1 Rennette on 3 (Um, provided that all of team king have signed up for that already, I thought there might be more of them but I could be wrong. If there is one more of them to go on that mission, I'll put Rennette in mission 4.) Yeah, so, I haven't actually introduced Rennette yet, hoping to do that today but I'm working all day and probably won't be finished till 11 my time, so when I do post it'll probably be after the missions have all started. Dx
Alec watched after Vex's retreating back thoughtfully for a few moments. Shall I join is revolt, or shall I not? I'm not so sure yet. Suddenly turning to walk in the opposite direction, Alec set off. “See ya Kari,” he called over to the other girl. He trudged through Corvus casually, with a destination in mind and not pausing to look in any stores as someone out for a mere stroll would, but still taking his time. He wasn't exactly in a rush anyway. Regardless, it didn't take long before he arrived back at the abandoned house he had set up in. His Shadows should be back by now, he noted. As he fumbled with the front door, he glanced casually down the street he had just come along. There wasn't anything in particular that caught his eye. “Is our little follower still there,” he asked Koko quietly. The cat meowed, in a tone that Alec understood meant 'yes'. “Interesting,” he muttered. Opening the door, he tapped his foot softly on the floor three times, before quickly ascending up the stairs to one of the larger rooms there. Inside were two of his Shadows, examining him with curious looks. “Brought a friend, have you?” one of them asked. “Sloth, Lust, I trust the other two are around as well?” Alec asked them. They nodded in response. “Good, then I'm they'll all join us soon.” He took a seat on a wrecked couch, sitting directly across from the door. Now to wait. Sitting as his desk, Franco was tapping his fingers against it impatiently. He needed to do something. In fact, he a lot of things to do. But right now only a select few could be carried out. Which ones he chose would determine many things, some of which were undoubtedly of more consequence than the others, and yet it was so hard sometimes to figure out which ones those were. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Tap Tap. SLAM. Franco stood up suddenly, causing his chair to fall. A flurry of papers followed his rapid exit of the room, and soon it was left in a silent disarray. Not that Franco noticed any of this. He was already racing down the stairs, heading for the stables. “Kyle!” he called out. “We're going to Corvus! On your horse, quickly!” Assuming that Kyle had heard him, because it didn't occur to him that Kyle might not be in the house, or asleep, or just out of earshot, Franco had already arrived in the stable yard and was calling for his horse. “I must make haste!” he called out impatiently to the stable boy. “Make it quick and I'll see that you're recompensed for it!”
Ren folded his arms and looked thoughtful. From the sounds of things, the man had been quite enigmatic, so it was highly likely that this paper had some sort of message hidden magically on it. “I suggest you find someone who's good with magic writing and things of that nature,” Ren said to Sara. “There may even be one in the guild, if you ask around.” Well, it seemed like things were done here for the most part. Sara was quite a bit calmer, her locket had been returned to her, and Ren had helped her as much as he could for now. In fact, Sara would probably appreciate it if he left her alone to think over things for a while. “I'll be heading up to my room now,” he told her. “Got some things on my mind, and I'm tired. See you around, ok?” He turned to leave, pausing to give her a chance to say goodbye as well.
Ren was a little taken aback by Sara's extreme gratitude, but if the locket was so valuable to her then it was understandable enough. “Calm down a little,” he smiled. “I literally just picked up from the floor and returned it to you. But you're welcome.” The locket itself was interesting though. Ren hadn't actually taken a look at it at all while it was in his possession, he hadn't thought to, but looking at it now and listening to what Sara said about it, his interest was now piqued. How the man had got the picture was a very good question. He would assume that the man knew Sara from a long time ago, even if she wasn't aware of it. Perhaps he was a family member of some sort? Regardless, it was all speculation on his part, so he wouldn't pass any comment on it to Sara. The blank piece of paper was something though. The first thought that passed through Ren's mind was that it was a message, the writing of which was hidden with magic, or letters that only showed with the glow of the moon, or perhaps even something as mundane as, uh, invisible ink. He said as much to Sara. “That paper, I'm thinking that it's either a message to you, or a random piece of paper that was accidentally placed in the locket and has absolutely no significance. We'll assume the former for now. Have you ever tried finding out if there actually is something on that paper that's simply just hidden to the naked eye?” he asked Sara. Perhaps she had already come to the same conclusion as Ren and had been unsuccessful in finding anything, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure this was the case.
Well, Sara's explanation of what had happened to the bow hadn't helped much. The weapon had been out of her hands for only a few hours, with her close by, and even then there was no clear motive for the thieves to actually tamper with the bow. Since that possibility was seemingly negligible, then it would appear that the bow was perfectly fine, and that Sara was cursed herself, or just really bad with a bow. So bad, in fact, that it took skill to be that bad. Regardless, Sara was mostly worked up about this man she said she had killed. Well, what was Ren supposed to say? He hadn't been there, so he couldn't say otherwise, and if she had then he couldn't really reassure her that it was ok, could he? He now felt a sinking, helpless feeling as an impossible problem that he had no chance of solving was thrust upon him. “Well, Sara,” he sighed, trying to think of something to say. “I'm not sure what I can tell you. I wasn't there when that man died, so I can't say whether or not it was you who killed him. I hope not, both for you and his sake.” He stopped talking, lost for words for a few moments. What else was there to say on the matter anyway? “Anyway, if you're afraid of hurting people so much,” Ren continued, moving on to another subject, “why are you in a guild, with a bow n your hand? The best way to avoid hurting others would be to stay away completely from weapons, don't you think? Even in a guild like this, there's always the chance of the innocent being hurt by our actions.” He was reminded by Thea and the fairies she had accidentally killed. “Even in this guild,” he repeated quietly, this time to himself in a thoughtful mood. Suddenly he roused himself, focusing his attention back on Sara. “I just remembered, I have something of yours,” he smiled, pulling something out of his pocket. He stretched out his hand and let the object dangle from its chain. It was a locket. “I found this not long after the first feast we had in the guild hall. Didn't see you drop it, but someone said it was yours.” He stepped forward to hand it over to Sara. “Sorry I didn't return it sooner. The past few days have been busy, as I'm sure you'll agree.”
Listening carefully to everything Sara told him, Ren was able to establish that Sara had either unwittingly hurt some people, or been made to believe so. From the sounds of things, Ren tended to believe the latter. Sara however wasn't thinking very clearly, as her last sentence made clear. “Sara, calm down please, this probably isn't a problem with you,” he told her gently. “Besides, your logic doesn't make sense. How could you on the one hand not want to hurt other people, and yet still do so with a perfectly normal bow?” he posed to her, trying to help her see reason. “You say that the bow has misfired without you meaning to, or without you even handling it much. It sounds to me like it's something up with the bow. You said it went missing at one point? How did you get it back, and did you find out if anyone had taken it?” The circumstances behind could potentially confirm that the bow had been somehow enchanted. Whether it would explain why someone would want to enchant the bow of a random penniless girl was another matter, but it probably wasn't important right now.
Despite having responded to him, Sara hadn't really clarified what had her so upset. He couldn't really expect her to be particularly clear, to be fair, in such an agitated state. So Ren would just have to calm her down. “This place is a little trashed right now,” he commented, glancing around the room. “Although, it's something that we'll have to get used to. After all, this is a guild filled with quite a few powerful wizards, and several of them have some nasty tempers.” He smiled reassuringly, and pointed to a chair. “You should take a seat, you look a little tense,” he suggested to Sara. He himself stayed leaning against the doorway, watching. “I don't mean to pry, but I think it's quite obvious that you're riled up about something more than a few smashed training dummies,” he began. “Something up? You mentioned your bow, and killing...” He examined the girl again, this time with a slightly sharper look in his eyes. Was this another one with blood on her hands? Well, it wouldn't surprise him. He didn't know many people in the guild, but a lot of them gave off that vibe, some more clearly than others. And Evanora presumably knew all about that. The hell is that woman up to? Ah yes, Sara. He smiled again at her to encourage her to speak. “Even if you don't want to talk about it just yet, I'll be around. Ok?”
Having taken his leave of Jack, Ren had planned on going up to his dorm room and taking this opportunity to rest and think about things, but his attention was caught be a muffled scream somewhere in the Guild. Judging from the faintness and direction of the noise, Ren took a guess that it came from the training room, and so made his way over there. His guess proved to be correct, as he found a blonde girl looking quite distressed. Sara was her name, right? That vaguely reminded Ren of something. He had something of hers, right? Jewelry... ah, the locket! But that could wait for now. First, he wanted to know what exactly had caused her to scream. "Hello," he said to her cautiously, but with a smile. "You're Sara, right? My name is Ren. Did you, uhm, scream just now?" Looking around the room, he couldn't see anything or anyone in particular that should have alarmed her. It was a bit trashed, but it was a training room, that stuff happened. "Is everything alright?" he asked the girl, searching for an answer to this situation.
Ren noted that Jack seemed quite proud of his capabilities, and talked about how he had not only learned by his own means, but also bested his master. To top it all off, he even offered to teach Ren a thing or two. “Thanks, Jack,” Ren chuckled, “but I won't waste your time. I was being modest back there when I mentioned my own abilities.” Something this young man will no doubt learn sooner or later. “As for learning magic, it's like I told you, I picked it up on my travels,” Ren continued. “I would do a few odd jobs, and sometimes during these missions I would learn something new, or if I completed the task particularly well I would be shown how to use a spell as a reward. When you do that for over a decade, you do end up learning quite a bit.” Now, hopefully that answer will do him. If he starts asking too many questions things might get awkward. In fact, I should stop this before that happens. With a large yawn, Ren stood up from his chair and stretched. “Well, it was good talking to you Jack, but if you don't mind I think I'll head off for a nap. I've got some things on my mind I need to go over. See you around?” Half turned to leave, Ren paused to let Jack say his final piece. It was only the polite thing to do, after all.
Ren chuckled at Jack's questions about his past. “Nothing much to say, I'm afraid,” he grinned. “I'm from way off to the west, although it might be quicker to get her coming from the east. I lived in a city that was a bit, erm, oppressive. That's why I decided to leave, I felt like I needed a changed. And as I have already told you, I went wandering. As for my magic, nobody taught me it, I just kinda picked up along the way. So I'm far from a master,” he smiled self-deprecatingly. Having dealt with the questioning in a pretty conclusive manner, he turned to a point that had piqued his interest. “Your master, Verrik Radagast, it sounds to me that he probably is dead, sad as it is, since everyone says so and you yourself haven't seen him since. But yet you don't seem to be entirely sure of that fact. What makes you think that he might still be around?”
