The mice kept talking about their situation, but Karina was only half paying attention while she mostly just wanted to speak with Kaida for a moment before things became unsettling again, like they were bound to knowing this group. "Yeah, I just... noticed them when we came to help with the battle I didn't know how else to thank you." She admitted rubbing the back of her neck. It was clear these types of social interactions were not something Karina was familiar or comfortable with. Kaida then gave her a little carving in return. Karina stared at it for a long time just taking in the gift she had just received. Her eyes darted back to Beuce, touching the necklace from him, another gift she had received. "Thank you. It is nice. We don't actually keep cats in my world, dogs are of more use in the military, but honestly I think I like it better this way. It isn't like what I am used to, a change and I think...." Karina pondered for a moment. "Change is good for me right now." Suddenly the whale suddenly shook and Karina fumbled, nearly dropping the carving, catching it only at the last second. She quickly shoved in in the pouch with her keychains and looked to the others. "I guess catching up will have to wait a little bit longer." She muttered as she looked to the boats getting on the closest one as quick as she could before there was another Atlantica experience.
Karina nearly forgot about the mice as they popped up and started talking, but Karina's eyes were on Kaida and what she was tossing Beuce. As she watched her eyes caught the glimmer of Beuce's necklace and Karina found herself staring. She had kind of wondered if he would take it off the moment she wasn't looking. They never really did finish their conversation that was interrupted by the king and from there communication between them seemed minimal. It warmed her heart and calmed the darkness to see him wearing it, and it burning in the minimal light provided for them in this chamber. After what seemed like nearly a minute, Karina realized that she was staring and quickly looked away, embarrassed. Did Beuce notice her stare? She hoped it wouldn't scare him off more before she turned towards Kaida, and reached into her pockets. "I know finding Olympus is important. Shiro told us that was where we were originally to meet you, but I don't know how to get there. Mr. Secret-Keyblade-Master might though." Karina jerked her head towards Caster. "But before we go too far, I... Um..." Karina was at a loss for words again. "I got something for you." She blurted out before presenting two pins. The first was a pin that kind of looked like a panda. "I noticed that you had a bunch of pins on your bag, so I picked these up. This one is for stepping up and supporting me, helping get my keyblade back and stuff." She tried to explain, not really sure how to hold a civil conversation if she was being honest. She then held out the second pin, this one appearing to be a mountain with a sun behind it. "And this one is as an apology for that dumb ass who wiped blood on your jacket."
"You don't know exactly how much we know." Tinarah had been dealing with them far too long, her brother longer. Gladio seemed to be making a lot of assumptions and she wasn't fond of it but as Take got excited to help with the plan, Tinarah backed down. With a sigh she summoned a small spark to flash across her fingers. "I can provide backup for Take." She said giving her friend a wink. This would be his first real chance to experiment with his new well of magic. Tinarah tried to keep a supportive smile on her face, but her stomach was turning with all of what was happening here. She kept glancing back and forth between Gladio and the street. Was this the what they were working on that got their mother killed. She couldn't help but wonder what was going on with the company. "Hey Chrono, did you get anything that might help in your notes?" She asked hoping that maybe there was not only more information but also give them more time before having to deal with that situation.
Karina didn't manage to get far before the was an arm around her. At first she was readying her fist to punch whoever it was assaulting her, that was until she realized the touch was more gentle, just holding her close. Karina was tense through it, not sure what she thought about his touch. Normally she didn't like being touched by anyone, it often didn't come with pleasant outcomes, but this was different. Kel stepped back and Karina was silent for a long moment before stepping away. "Thanks... but don't do that again." She seemed to be more calm now, but she still didn't want to encourage the behavior. "We should just find a way out of here." She added before continuing to wander.
Karina reached out after Aux for a moment before giving up quickly after. She didn't know how to swim in the darkness and despite his resentment, she knew that Aux did. She just wanted saving from the darkness consuming her, she was admittedly, scare of it. Making it submit, Kel made it sound so easy, but the only semblance of control that she had managed to get was when she was lashing out with the darkness, quelling it wasn't nearly as simple. Shaking Karina pushed herself back to her feet, darkness still leaking from her as she just looked at Kel, almost sad and destitute. "Thanks but that just might be part of my problem." She admitted. She tried to face so much on her own, tried to deal with things as much as she could without dragging others down. She had not realized that she was only dragging herself down in the process. She needed to learn to control this, but she couldn't expect Kel to understand, or anyone really. Perhaps Aux, but besides him she didn't think a single other soul in the group understood the depth of the darkness that she faced. "I am just glad to see everyone here and alive. Lets try and keep it that way." Karina muttered as she wandered away from the battle, trying to keep herself walking tall, but mostly failing at it.
Karina grit her teeth and shook her head. "No not really." She snapped as she tried desperately to reign in the darkness. But Kel's questions just seemed stupid and was making her more annoyed, which only added fuel to the fire. Her hands shook as she braced herself on the ground. Then Aux approached and he didn't seem to help either. "It wasn't a choice." She snapped at him. She wasn't asking for this she was just frustrated and inadvertently opened her heart to darkness. "I know I could have. I have done such things in the past, now shut the hell up, you aren't helping." Karina lashed out swinging her fist towards Aux trying to get him to back off so that she could try and calm her thoughts and pull herself out of the hole in which she was falling into.
"We know him. Same guy who shot a friend out of the sky... brought up that he knows more than he should, taunted us. Yeah we are familiar." Tinarah said in a bitter voice as she looked towards the direction of her old home. She stared off for a moment before peering back out at Gladio. "We said we would talk. But we don't know you. We don't know anything right now, you expect us to just follow you like it is nothing? Yes Gigas is horrible but I have seen too damn much to just follow you into a trap." Tinarah glared back out. "Speaking of, you don't even know us, what makes you think this is a good idea?" She could see the discomfort on her own friends faces at this entire situation, she wasn't going to encourage it until they got a few more answers. "How about we start with exactly who you are and what brought you here before discovering the mechs, why is it any of your business anyways?"
Karina willed the darkness to infuse itself into her already dark keyblade before chucking it, like she was attempting to rid herself of it. Being a keyblade however after striking the parasite cage, her keyblade simply teleported back, and the dark energy slamming into her was almost overwhelming. Karina grit her teeth as she dropped to one knee, staring at the enemy with anger. This was to end now, then she could deal with her own darkness. Karina uses strike raid
Tinarah was grasping at words that would not come as Illiana walked off. She wanted to stop the girl from doing something stupid, but Chrys and Take had already tried, Tinarah doubted that she would have any better luck with it. She couldn't help but just stare after the girl as she walked away, even as Chrys spoke to her. The name Chrys used caught Tinarah off guard. She found the one for her brother entertaining, but had not anticipated a nickname of her own, nor did she know if she liked it. Either way, it was no use arguing about it at that moment. "Huh? Yeah, um... follow me, I will take you there." Tinarah was lost in thought. She didn't know how she would react if Chrono had run off to join the other side, but going off by herself to talk to the very people who had a habit of kidnapping, it didn't seem like a wise idea to her. Climbing over the fence, Tinarah took in the familiar view of the playground. It was exactly how she remembered it. Tinarah would often hide here when her father was being too overbearing at home. While some went to sit on the swings, Tinarah crawled under the play structure to her personal hideout underneath. The man with them made a comment on her hide out and Tinarah scowled slightly. "I didn't have any better ideas, sorry. This was just where I used to hide from people when I was little when I wanted to be alone." Tinarah ran her fingers over the decrepit wood of the structure as she peered out, watching Chrono fill Gladio in on what they knew of Gigas. He was the best to do it after all since he would know the most, but Tinarah still felt his explanation lacking a bit. "We know a little more about them. Though if you want detail, ask Chrys. As for information on Gigas, you can ask Chrono a little more. We don't know a ton, but we know that they are hiding things, big enough things worth killing over. And it might have to do what we came here to get in order to help up stop those others master from doing any more harm than he already has." Tinarah clarified. She didn't know exactly what information Gladio needed but at least she could start by pointing him in the right direction of people to start asking.
"As long as I have to. I won't let it break me." Karina stated as she tried to rein it all in getting a handle on herself a bit better. Still it was around her but she was managing to deal with it alright, if barely. She let her darkness channel into her keyblade as she dashed forward using a move that Vincent had taught her, what seemed like ages ago. She then slashed at the cage in front of her, hitting it six times. With each strike both her own darkness and it's poison shed off, all of it absorbing back into Karina, the poison taking a new form, not that she needed it, but it felt good none the less. This whole magic thing had become a little more of a close companion in her walk with Lea, and while she still wasn't great with it, she could appreciate the use of it. Karina flexed her fingers, watching sparks dance with the darkness, far too defining of who she was for her liking. Clenching her fist Karina quieted them. "Lets just finish this before it can get worse." Karina uses Splatter Combo
Karina winced at the backlash of the darkness that was inflicting her. "Fine. I am fine." She called over to Kel. She wasn't quite ready to fully embrace the darkness, and that only made it harder on her. The fight within to keep control made her shaky as she tried her hardest to focus on the battle ahead of them. That on top of the damage she was taking from the enemy didn't really leave her in a good spot. The tendrils of darkness lashed out once more as they struck the cage, green energy being extracted from it as some of Karina's wounds closed over. "This isn't right Kel..." Karina couldn't however admit how scared she was of whatever had come over her. Karina uses drain.
So Koa was here. Tinarah gave Illiana a look to check if she was alright. She said she would be able to handle it, but Tinarah still couldn't help but worry a bit as she turned back to Gladio and his wry comments. "There is no secret base, but I know somewhere a bit further from town square where we can lay low and talk." She mainly wanted to get out of hiding in alleyways. She had enough bad experiences with them that it didn't bring her any comfort to stay and chat in one. It would also give her, and possibly Chrono, the advantage on the situation if this man turned out to be not who he lead on to be. If he was enemy more than a friend. Bringing conversations to a place of their choosing gave them at least some control over the situation. "I am guessing that there is security patrolling all area's and it is a matter of time before they look down this ally and find our chat suspicious, follow me and I can take us somewhere further away." Tinarah offered, waiting to see if everyone would follow before leading the way.
Well that attitude changed fast, Illiana backed off of her as Gladio said his name. Tinarah rolled her eyes as the girl went from assuming the worst, to not caring as much. When Gladio asked about what their issue was with Gigas, Tinarah wanted to go on a list of what that was, she knew that she shouldn't. She didn't know how much the council was watching, but Tinarah wanted more than anything, to become a master. If she went into everything then they would just think she is whining again. "Those kids you were talking about, we aren't a fan of them ourselves. And the company has something that would be beneficial to our purpose." She stated. "And I don't want to see those things take over our- this lovely city," Tinarah tried to correct herself before it became too obvious that she was from here. This man didn't need to know it, and Illiana seemed to be keeping it under wraps herself.
"I doubt it." Karina responded through gritted teeth before mumbling "found it" as her tendrils of darkness all returned to her, wrapping around her body closely, forming almost an armour shape around her. She then turned her attention towards the creature, her dark mist moving before her as she dashed forward. Streaks of black were left in her trail as Karina jumped into the air, coming down on the creature from multiple angles. Before she was done, she jumped back and planted her keyblade into the ground columns of dark energy burst from the ground where she had previously landed from her attacks, bombarding the creature on all sides once more. There was a slight burning in her skin, like this energy was eating away at her, but she was also stronger for it. She needed this, so would have to deal with it and move on. Karina used Dark Aura
As Chrono run up, Tinarah knew that he was right and she desummoned her keyblade. She knew it was stupid and she could cause a scene, but Tinarah found herself momentarily distracted. Finally she tore her eyes away just as Take walked up to them. "I don't know Take. I am just... I am scared. I know I shouldn't be. We are going towards our mark of mastery, I should have a better handle on things, but I don't. We just have to be prepared for anything. Maybe he won't use them, but what if Ardyn arms others with it. Those don't look easy to beat." She pointed out. Their keyblades would only do so much against a thick layer of metal. As they spoke there was another voice beside her. Turning Tinarah stared up at the larger man who observed them. She didn't know what to think of the man who was judging them already, trying to decide if he could be trusted. He seemed to be doing the same for them already, and he seemed to know about the keyblade. Tinarah turned and eyed her team for a moment trying to judge what they might be thinking what they should do. There wasn't much else to do however so she shrugged and followed, keeping an eye on him in the large crowd. Luckily he was large enough for her to see easily. "Just who are you anyways?" She asked as she got closer.
As everything happened around them and acid filled the area, Karina eyes the kids. Not just the ones that were stranded in the cages, she also looked to the two boys that were formerly beside her.all of this was just stupid, she had enough. Summoning her keyblade, darkness began to pour from it, cloaking her in a similar dark mist. Karina couldn't honestly say she knew what was happening to her but she was feeling particularly violent at the moment, enough so that she wanted to make sure she could inflict the most damage possible. Tendrils of darkness flared out from her, prodding at the parasite cage. Karina's eyes fell on a weak spot and Karina smiled a wicked smile. "There...." She whispered. Karina uses magnify
Chrys knew the boy, of course he was a chaser, but turned to continue the conversation with Chrono, leaving Tinarah to talk to Illiana. She couldn't help but smile however as she overheard Chrys call her brother "stopwatch." It was a fitting name for him after all. "Good as long as you can handle seeing him again then we should be fine." The next problem was, she wasn't sure if she could handle what they were to face now, especially as she watched the timer tick down to zero. A silence fell over the crowd, followed by... nothing. The awkward muttering of patrons filled the air momentarily, before a shadow seemed to fill the sky. Tinarah kept her eyes peeled, was her world about to fall too? She had seen no heartless since arriving, but this wasn't right. Before she could investigate further a large hand of a shadowy creature reached down, as a wall of ice rose around them. Summoning her keyblade Tinarah prepared for an attack. "Watch out! Away from the-" Her words trailed off as Tinarah pushed her way towards the stage. She hardly had time to reach it before something flew from the sky slaying the heartless, followed by a voice that stirred her to the core. Tinarah found herself near the front of the stage as the mech opened and the man responsible for much of her past misery stepped out. She didn't even register the tears that slowly leaked from her eyes as she stared at him with years of suppressed hate. "No.... we can't let them bring these here. They will destroy everything." She whispered having no trust for Gigas. "Ardyn... or the Light Chaser gets their hands on these, what then?" She continued to question under her breath.
Karina is unequipping Berserk and equipping Lucky Lucky (50/50 AP) Karina is unequipping Soldier and Equipping Dark Knight Karina is equipping Splatter Combo, Drain, Poison Edge, Magnify, Zantetsuken, Strike Raid, and Dark Aura Karina is using the Auto Aura to start off in dark aura
"It is the center of town, don't worry about it. I doubt they would charge for something in a public area." Tinarah waved off the concern that Take had about pricing. She wasn't too worried about that part of things, what they would find when they got here however, Tinarah wasn't sure abut that. As they walked into town, no one paid attention to them, thankfully, but as Tinarah looked around she wasn't sure about things as she looked towards the stage and saw something worse. "Hey Chrono, over there." Tinarah jerked her chin towards the man who had dragged their mothers body away, threatening Chrono. He hadn't changed a bit. She couldn't help but be astonished that he hadn't changed a bit since last time she saw him, but in the end she knew it was her that really changed above all else. Her eyes however were drawn to something else. "Hey Chrys, is he familiar to you?" She glanced at the blue haired boy. She thought she might have seen him before, but wasn't entirely sure. "Illiana if the Chasers are here, will you be able to handle seeing your brother again?" She added trying to just make sure that everyone was aware of the situation and engaged to some extent.
They weren't dumb, of course they wouldn't split up if they didn't have to. Even if the Chasers weren't here, there was no part of this scenario that seemed okay to Tinarah, just being here in general. Either way she hoped that Fost was right and that they were more here to observe them than to actually do anything about this situation. Things were already going to be difficult in their own respect, she didn't need this too. "Thanks for the advice." It wasn't much but at least he tried to be of some help, and Tinarah could appreciate that to some extent. She then turned and looked around as a low, familiar, rumbling sound filled their air, causing her to look up. "Well it looks like we found a starting point." She pointed up to the airship with the ad on it. Seeing the name of the company again, filled Tinarah with a sort of anger and sorrow that she had nearly forgotten. "It should at least give us an idea what they are up to now." Tinarah tried to suppress the emotions, not showing them to anyone as she stared at the ship a moment longer, hardly able to force her feet to carry her further.
