Elementals: The Black Beast (IC, Sign-ups only)

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Tristan watched as Eric took out the sword from his back and observed it. The sword didn't really look any different than it did earlier, when the old man had used it to kill Kayarost, perhaps with the exception of it being no longer stained with foul Daemonne blood. And yet here Eric was explaining that the sword was the one talking. For a moment there the white-haired boy wondered if the old man was pulling his hair or if he had really gone bonkers from 'smoking the hemp' like Aldraniri and Richard were so fond of saying. But he was soon proven wrong when the sword greeted him.

At this, he just blinked, and stared blankly afterwards.

"Nice to meet you." He said with a polite nod.

[Constaniana]

Aldraniri would have nerded out over something as cool as an Angelle sword, but his reaction was dampened by the fact that she came off as practically being Eric's wife, as well his not understanding the last insult she had thrown at her wielder.

"Well, nice to meet you too Belle Lame. And you two are...?" said the Albrian as he looked at the two behind Tristan and Lisoette.

"He's Rahdon Varus and she's Astra Rellian. Rahdon, Astra, meet Aldraniri Alsvidster, Temujin Jinmao, Aisha Guan, Erosen, Trish, and Veryll Keirsson, one of the knights guarding this place. The other one, Sir Magnus, is fetching us dinner," Lis rattled off, hoping there would be less conflict with the new arrivals this time around than when her, Tristan and Elena encountered them.

---

Rachael found a practice room in the left half of the complex near the armoury Trish had gotten the weapons from. A minute or two after she set about hacking and smashing at a dummy she would notice a blonde man in a leather trench coat with a steaming mug in his hand watching her with some interest.

"You know, it's rather rare to see a Lightning Elemental use axes and hammers of all things. Javelins, lances and bows, sure, and everyone always seems to love swords no matter what their element, but axes and hammers always seem to be something the more stocky Elementals use. Funny, that. Also, hello, salutations and and all that, Rachael," the man said quickly, before taking a sip, "Do you want some cocoa too?"

[Shadowwell]

Aldraniri would have nerded out over something as cool as an Angelle sword, but his reaction was dampened by the fact that she came off as practically being Eric's wife, as well his not understanding the last insult she had thrown at her wielder.

"Well, nice to meet you too Belle Lame. And you two are...?" said the Albrian as he looked at the two behind Tristan and Lisoette.

"He's Rahdon Varus and she's Astra Rellian. Rahdon, Astra, meet Aldraniri Alsvidster, Temujin Jinmao, Aisha Guan, Erosen, Trish, and Veryll Keirsson, one of the knights guarding this place. The other one, Sir Magnus, is fetching us dinner," Lis rattled off, hoping there would be less conflict with the new arrivals this time around than when her, Tristan and Elena encountered them.

Rahdon said nothing and simply nodded, he went to an area and raised a mannewuin tyoe figure out of the Earth in the same shape and size of himself and then proceeded to take his massive armor off. He put his armor on the mannequin moving the earth as need be, every time a piece of his armor hit the mannequin it shook. He sat his shield in front of it with his battleaxe resting on it, he then nearly effortlessly stabbed a sword through the cave walls until only the hilt remained. He then raised a chair out of Dirt and sat in it and entered a light meditative state.

[Olthar]

Rachael continued training without looking over at the man, though she responded to his comment.

"Well, the way I see it is that the best way to becoming the best is to identify your strongest points and make them stronger. But see, my best quality is speed. Sure, I could use daggers and other small weapons to enhance that speed, but I've found that speed reaches a point where it just becomes pointless. If I'm already faster than anyone I may possibly fight, then why improve my speed more? I can attack with an axe faster than a normal person can with a knife, and the axe can be swung with more power. The benefits it gives to combat output far outweigh going a little bit faster with a more 'appropriate' weapon."

After giving her little speech, the lightning Elemental suddenly stopped and turned to the man. She looked him up and down with a puzzled expression.

"Wait, who are you, and how do you know my name?" she asked, suspicious of his intent.

Before he could respond, however, Rachael lit up in a burst of excitement.

"Are you my fan!?" she giddily asked, "Oh boy! I've never had a fan before! You must have heard stories of my exploits and tracked me down to meet me for yourself! That must mean you're, like, a super-fan! Oh, this is so exciting! Hold on for a moment. I'll find something to write on so I can give you my autograph. I knew this day would come eventually!"

Rachael was nearly jumping for joy as she began frantically looking around the room for paper and a pen.

[Ameriganastan]

Aldraniri would have nerded out over something as cool as an Angelle sword, but his reaction was dampened by the fact that she came off as practically being Eric's wife, as well his not understanding the last insult she had thrown at her wielder.

"Well, nice to meet you too Belle Lame. And you two are...?" said the Albrian as he looked at the two behind Tristan and Lisoette.

"He's Rahdon Varus and she's Astra Rellian. Rahdon, Astra, meet Aldraniri Alsvidster, Temujin Jinmao, Aisha Guan, Erosen, Trish, and Veryll Keirsson, one of the knights guarding this place. The other one, Sir Magnus, is fetching us dinner," Lis rattled off, hoping there would be less conflict with the new arrivals this time around than when her, Tristan and Elena encountered them.

Rahdon said nothing and simply nodded, he went to an area and raised a mannewuin tyoe figure out of the Earth in the same shape and size of himself and then proceeded to take his massive armor off. He put his armor on the mannequin moving the earth as need be, every time a piece of his armor hit the mannequin it shook. He sat his shield in front of it with his battleaxe resting on it, he then nearly effortlessly stabbed a sword through the cave walls until only the hilt remained. He then raised a chair out of Dirt and sat in it and entered a light meditative state.

"By the non-existent gods, son. What did they feed you growing up?"

Eric sheathed his weapon and snuffed his hash pipe, strolling over to examine the giant mans equipment.

"I haven't seen a warrior your size since that campaign near Tyrnâth. I tell you, that mean son of a bitch had it in for me. Twice my size, with an axe bigger than my ma's temper. And we kept running into each other over the few weeks we were in there, Then, we finally faced off. I readied for an epic clash...and he dropped dead from a heart attack right there on the battlefield. Pretty big letdown, really."

[Shadowwell]

Rahdon said nothing and simply nodded, he went to an area and raised a mannewuin tyoe figure out of the Earth in the same shape and size of himself and then proceeded to take his massive armor off. He put his armor on the mannequin moving the earth as need be, every time a piece of his armor hit the mannequin it shook. He sat his shield in front of it with his battleaxe resting on it, he then nearly effortlessly stabbed a sword through the cave walls until only the hilt remained. He then raised a chair out of Dirt and sat in it and entered a light meditative state.

"By the non-existent gods, son. What did they feed you growing up?"

Eric sheathed his weapon and snuffed his hash pipe, strolling over to examine the giant mans equipment.

"I haven't seen a warrior your size since that campaign near Tyrnâth. I tell you, that mean son of a bitch had it in for me. Twice my size, with an axe bigger than my ma's temper. And we kept running into each other over the few weeks we were in there, Then, we finally faced off. I readied for an epic clash...and he dropped dead from a heart attack right there on the battlefield. Pretty big letdown, really."

when he heard Eric's story, Rahdon Chuckled deeply at that before responding " I don't think I will die that easily. I am a lot more sturdy than I look even without that armor I made." he then stood up and pulled one of his swords out of the wall. " Only my armor is being anywhere near as fancy as your sword, as you can see this appears to be a decent blade. let me demonstrate." he then pulled his arm sleeves back revealing a heavily muscled fore arm. he then pressed down with the sword and ran it across huis arm, only leaving a fading red welt behind. Then to demonstrate that the sword was shapr, Rahdon grabbed a cloth from his bag and cut it on the edge of the sword. " as you can see I am not so easily injured. I also have some surprises that render it even more difficult to injure me."

[Ameriganastan]

"By the non-existent gods, son. What did they feed you growing up?"

Eric sheathed his weapon and snuffed his hash pipe, strolling over to examine the giant mans equipment.

"I haven't seen a warrior your size since that campaign near Tyrnâth. I tell you, that mean son of a bitch had it in for me. Twice my size, with an axe bigger than my ma's temper. And we kept running into each other over the few weeks we were in there, Then, we finally faced off. I readied for an epic clash...and he dropped dead from a heart attack right there on the battlefield. Pretty big letdown, really."

when he heard Eric's story, Rahdon Chuckled deeply at that before responding " I don't think I will die that easily. I am a lot more sturdy than I look even without that armor I made." he then stood up and pulled one of his swords out of the wall. " Only my armor is being anywhere near as fancy as your sword, as you can see this appears to be a decent blade. let me demonstrate." he then pulled his arm sleeves back revealing a heavily muscled fore arm. he then pressed down with the sword and ran it across huis arm, only leaving a fading red welt behind. Then to demonstrate that the sword was shapr, Rahdon grabbed a cloth from his bag and cut it on the edge of the sword. " as you can see I am not so easily injured. I also have some surprises that render it even more difficult to injure me."

"Heh, I like this kid. He's got some spunk to him."

Eric didn't really care that the guy was pretty obviously a grown man. He considered anyone more than 10 years younger than him a 'kid'.

"But watch that ego. I thought I was immune to injury in my younger days. Now I worry every day whether my old knee is finally gonna go on me. Those bruises and welts add up."

He held his canteen up for some reason.

"Wait til you see what's in here. It's like some kind of booger monster. But with boobs."

[The Grey Wolf]

She only smiled for a moment, though, and then simply continued looking at him in silence. He looked weak, and he was frankly useless in this state, not to mention she would have to make Theris ferry him around if he stayed lik that, so the Ice Elemental wondered if there was anything she could do to make him recover faster. Looking back at where the others were, she noticed the food, and, having an idea, she stood up and walked over to it, producing a long and thin spike of ice in her hand and stabbing some of the jerky with it before heading back to Erosen and sitting down as she offered him the food, holding the spike so that the jerky was right over his mouth for him to eat.

Flacht, never too far away from the Ice Elemental that she stuck to, watched the scene with a serene smile. "Yer a guid bonnie lass." she murmured under her breath. However, despite her smile, another part of her burned with envy at someone else being the recipient of Trish's tender loving care. It wouldn't have been so bad were she able to communicate her feelings to the pale northern girl, but Trish couldn't speak a lick of common tongue, much less Flacht's own Southern dialect.

Crack, crack, crack, every few seconds a crackle could be heard from the Fire elemental setting insects ablaze. It seemed her condition was steadfastly deteriorating each day. Her hair and skin were both losing any coloring that they might have, and her pupils began to lose their color as well. "Whit ta hell daed thay dae ta me thair?" she said to herself, remembering that strange laboratory who's closet she had broken out of.

[Shadowwell]

when he heard Eric's story, Rahdon Chuckled deeply at that before responding " I don't think I will die that easily. I am a lot more sturdy than I look even without that armor I made." he then stood up and pulled one of his swords out of the wall. " Only my armor is being anywhere near as fancy as your sword, as you can see this appears to be a decent blade. let me demonstrate." he then pulled his arm sleeves back revealing a heavily muscled fore arm. he then pressed down with the sword and ran it across huis arm, only leaving a fading red welt behind. Then to demonstrate that the sword was shapr, Rahdon grabbed a cloth from his bag and cut it on the edge of the sword. " as you can see I am not so easily injured. I also have some surprises that render it even more difficult to injure me."

"Heh, I like this kid. He's got some spunk to him."

Eric didn't really care that the guy was pretty obviously a grown man. He considered anyone more than 10 years younger than him a 'kid'.

"But watch that ego. I thought I was immune to injury in my younger days. Now I worry every day whether my old knee is finally gonna go on me. Those bruises and welts add up."

He held his canteen up for some reason.

"Wait til you see what's in here. It's like some kind of booger monster. But with boobs."

Rahdon responded " I know that I can get injured, my blindness is a result of my ego. I thought I had control of a situation and it blew up in my face. I believe you are talking about some sort of water, creature. I can sense the water magic contained in there vaguely. It should be interesting as it is a being made of elemental magic I will be able to see it in a sense." He then put the sword back into the wall and used his Earth magic to form a Whetstone of sorts, and sat down and proceeded to sharpen his twin headed battle axe.

[Minroz]

Meanwhile with the Sahranjjites, they are left to their own business. In the corner of the room, Temujin is making potions - magic potions. He’s been brewing them in the pot, taken from his travel bag. The Sahranjjite boy learnt some alchemy back home from his friend who is an alchemist. And he plans to make potions for everyone for their uses, out of his kindly, generous spirit.

Aisha just kept practising her martial arts to keep herself fit. And as well keeping herself focused, again, a habit of hers as a professional soldier despite her young age.

As soon as it is mealtime, they later joined in with the others. The two ate their share of the food distributed to them; they listened attentively to their companions’ conversations with piqued interests. Upon noticing the newcomers – Rahdon and Astra, joining in the group, they politely bow their heads upon greeting them.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Aisha smiled.

“Pleasure to meet you, friends. Let’s get along.” Temujin quipped. “Well, we’d never gotten together much. In case if some of us didn’t know, we’re brother and sister from Sahranjja. We were travellers before we join up with Sir Aldraniri. So far to keep story short, we’ve just finished off some monsters as of late.”

“I’m with him because he’s my brother.” The black-haired girl adds, nudging Temujin a bit. “Although I’m technically adopted but he’s still my brother in my eyes. As his big sister, I have to look after him from many dangers because he’s not ready for harsh life. There are times Temujin can be unbelievably naive.”

“Aisha! I can take care of myself. You worried too much.” The bespectacled boy pouted. He got poked on the forehead by Aisha’s finger, a friendly teasing one.

“I am protecting you because I’m worried about you. You are my brother I love. It’s a duty of the elder sister to protect her young charges.” Aisha smirked.

“Aiya, oh Aisha…what can I do without you?” Temujin smiled.

[Constaniana]

The man raised an eyebrow as Rachael dismissed the need for more speed. He would have answered with his own considerably more informed opinion, but she asked the question he had been expecting the most. He grinned a little as he went to stow away his mug, but found himself stopping in surprise for a moment as the Elemental went ahead and answered for him instead. Perhaps I underestimated the self-confidence. This is almost bordering on narcissism. Could present problems for group dynamic down the road. Also loses points for rejecting this tasty, righteous cocoa.

"Actually, miss, it's sort of the opposite. I'm much more interested in your future exploits than what you've done so far, and I'm not so much a supplicating 'super-fan', as you suggest, as I am your boss. I would have made this visit to acquaint you with these facts earlier but there were some other urgent matters requiring my attention. I am Boaltist, God of Lightning." He would have went on, but he wanted to give Rachael some time to take that fact in. Not to mention mortal reactions to meeting their creators could sometimes be hilarious.

---

"Hold on there, Eric. I thought you were in the army of Villdernby; what the heck were you doing all the way over in neutral Tyrnâth?" Aldraniri asked, scratching his head, "And shouldn't we let Blue out of the bottle?"

While Aldraniri quizzed Eric about history, Lisoette looked at Aisha and Temujin chattering with a wistful smile, deep in thought about something. Eventually she went and grabbed some fruit to eat, offering some to Tristan. "How long have you two been away from home?" The Daemonness asked the Oriental siblings before she took a bite of the grapefruit in her hand.

[Ameriganastan]

"Hold on there, Eric. I thought you were in the army of Villdernby; what the heck were you doing all the way over in neutral Tyrnâth?" Aldraniri asked, scratching his head, "And shouldn't we let Blue out of the bottle?"

While Aldraniri quizzed Eric about history, Lisoette looked at Aisha and Temujin chattering with a wistful smile, deep in thought about something. Eventually she went and grabbed some fruit to eat, offering some to Tristan. "How long have you two been away from home?" The Daemonness asked the Oriental siblings before she took a bite of the grapefruit in her hand.

"Oh, that's a fun story."

He opened the canteen, setting it down on the ground so Blue could get out when she wanted.

"The higher-ups wanted Tyrnâth on our side. But they weren't having any of it. So, me and a small detachment were sent in to...stir things up. And make it look like it was the was the work of another queendom or kingdom or whoever we were fighting with that week."

He fiddled with his beard.

"To put it bluntly, we were sent there to pillage and assassinate, and then pretend we were aghast at what happened. The whole operation was a disaster, really. Only 13 of us came back from the thing in the end."

[The Starlight]

Elena sat on the ground, doing nothing in particular. She had found a room, Yavanna following on her shoulder, and for a while the girl and the rabbit looked at the ceiling of the cavern. She did wonder when they were going to go back to the surface, where there were plants, animals and fresh air. Not that she was claustrophobic, but she belonged up there, in nature, and the caverns were kinda musty and boring.

Deciding to brighten the place up a bit, she dug around in her pouch/bag, bringing out a small hand shovel. Uncovering some earth, she started summoning some plants around her, feeling a bit more at home. Her mind went back to the previous battles she had participated in. It seemed that she usually was the one restraining their enemies, attacking from long range, predominantly with lances. She was no swordsmaster, but she was pretty good with her staff. She decided to try out a bow next time they got to a town. While she could create one, she had no idea how, and it would turn out crudely.

But nature just wasn't wood, was it? she asked herself. There was so much more she could do. She needed to get a book or something about plants, as she didn't know too many plants, and plants had lots of properties she was sure could come in handy. As for the animals aspect, she could talk to them, but perhaps she could get them to help her in battle. Having a bear charge those Watchtower cultists would be pretty cool, Elena grinning at the image.

Deciding to try something out, she stuck out her hand toward the wall, trying out something she had heard of a while ago: pheromones. Sending out a wave of happiness, the plants perked up and Yavanna's ears stood tall, the rabbit clearly affected as well. She looked at her hand, and sniffed herself, suddenly feeling happy herself. That ability could come in handy, and she decided to try it out some more, sending out pheromones of different feelings.

[Olthar]

Now, one might except most people's reaction to meeting a god would be awe or reverence, but Rachael was not most people. She stood in stunned silence for what seemed like a full minute, weakly holding the autograph in front of her.

"Th-the God of Lightning...is personally interested in me?" she stated, working it all through, "That means...OHMYGOSH! MY FIRST FAN IS A GOD! I'M SO AMAZING THAT EVEN THE GODS FOLLOW ME!"

Rachael was close to exploding with joy. After a few moments, she began taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Get it together," she spoke to herself, "You're facing a god. Better show some professionalism."

The excited Elemental took a few more breaths before turning back to the deity.

"Ok then, Lord Boaltist, Sir, are you here to give me some sort of special mission? Some horrible monster to slay? A great evil to vanquish? I'm ready for anything! I won't let you down, Sir!"

Rachael pumped her fist and gave a determined expression.

-----------

Slime leaked out of the canteen but didn't do anything else.

[Minroz]

While Aldraniri quizzed Eric about history, Lisoette looked at Aisha and Temujin chattering with a wistful smile, deep in thought about something. Eventually she went and grabbed some fruit to eat, offering some to Tristan. "How long have you two been away from home?" The Daemonness asked the Oriental siblings before she took a bite of the grapefruit in her hand.

The Sahranjjites looked a bit muted and melancholy in response to Lisoette. But they recovered their composure as the two looked at each other and made their weak smiles. Judging by their expression, they’re clearly homesick.

“Well coming to think of it, it’s been more than four months since we left our homeland. I nearly forgot how many days we spent travelling around this continent.” Temujin replied to Lisoette. “I couldn’t believe time can go so fast when not thinking about it.”

“We missed our home. We were lying if we aren’t.” Aisha admitted. She and her nerdy brother gave a short, sad chuckle.

“But we write letters and sent them back home, to our friends and our family when we have spare time.” Temujin spoke as an attempt for reassurances to the Daemoness to not worry too much about him and his foster sister.

“Don’t worry about us two, we’re not helpless enough to get caught by bandits. We can handle things on our own. And besides the fact, we’re both elementals after all.” The black-haired girl said.

[The Grey Wolf]

Flacht felt an unexpected pat on the back, causing her to drop her jerky in surprise, while Magda took a seat next to her. "Whatcha been up to, blondie?" the former assassin asked, using the nickname she had randomly assigned the Fire elemental. She'd assigned Big Mouth to Aldry, Icicle to Trish, Horny to Lisoette, Gooey to Blue, and Grandpa for Eric. Those were the only ones that Flacht could recall at the moment, she was sure that Magda had countless others memorized in her head. All of theirs usually referred to some personal trait that they possessed though, while Flacht's was solely a reference to her blonde hair.

"Nocht." she murmured, disenchanted and despondent while she looked over at Trish with a longing that Magda picked up on.

"You'll are all hot and bothered for Icicle over there, aren't you?" Magda guessed, before rolling her head back and laughing at her own pun. The Visalmarcher simply rolled her eyes, and picked up her jerky, looking around to make sure no one noticed before she rubbed it on her shirt before taking a bite. Bran, meanwhile, was busy scratching her ear with her foot, panting like a dog and making weird grunting sounds. Flacht leaned over to pat her on the head and reluctantly tore a piece of jerky to throw to her. She'd met a lot of strange people in the past, Visalmarch itself was full of weirdos, but never had she seen someone imitate a dog so... realistically.

"Whit gied it awa?" Flacht finally replied, deciding she might as well humor Magda. It was the best way she found to make her go away.

"Just the way you look at her all the time."

"I thig yer pardon?" the Fire elemental replied indignantly, eyebrow raised. "I daena gleek at her aw ta speal." she stated before slumping back and admitting with some resignation. "Juist a lairge pairt o it."

"Listen blondie."

"Flacht."

"Blondie, Flacht, whatever." Magda dismissed her with a wave of hand. "You've got to get it out of your system. Trust me, you'll feel a whole lot better. Tell her how you feel, if she cant understand it in words, show her."

"Ye really think sae?" Flacht asked incredulously.

"Indeed. Go get 'er Tiger." she patted Flacht on the back, noting how limp the elemental had become. With trepidation, Flacht got up from her seat and walked over to Trish. "Hehe," Magda chuckled. "Pretend you know what you're talking about when giving romantic advise. Gets them every time." Bran barked, and Magda patted her on the head. "Who's a good girl? You are!"

Flacht tapped Trish on the shoulder. "Can - " she was about to say something before remembering Trish couldn't understand. Instead she pointed to somewhere a short distance from where the others were, and made a gesture for Trish to follow her. At the very least, if she made a complete and utter fool of herself, Eric wouldn't see it and rub it in her face.

[Kassaran]

Looking down at Erosen still, the white-haired girl noticed him curving his lips upwards. She paused. She knew what that meant, though not in certain terms, so she decided to reciprocate and imitated the gesture, smiling back. It wasn't the first time she did it, and it certainly didn't look forced. It looked genuine.

She only smiled for a moment, though, and then simply continued looking at him in silence. He looked weak, and he was frankly useless in this state, not to mention she would have to make Theris ferry him around if he stayed lik that, so the Ice Elemental wondered if there was anything she could do to make him recover faster. Looking back at where the others were, she noticed the food, and, having an idea, she stood up and walked over to it, producing a long and thin spike of ice in her hand and stabbing some of the jerky with it before heading back to Erosen and sitting down as she offered him the food, holding the spike so that the jerky was right over his mouth for him to eat.

It was a confusing moment for the wildling-turned-darkling elemental. Never before had he ever been in such a position where he was unable to eat, and even now as he looked at the jerky, he felt nothing but pure disgust at the thought of such food. It was a kind gesture from the girl, and she had no way of knowing he wasn't really hungering for the hunk of dried meat now becoming slowly iced over. In fact, now that he'd been lying still for a moment, he could detect something far more appetizing (and for once such a feeling wasn't coming from the direction of the demon-girl present... it had been now established firmly in Erosen's mind that she was indeed a friend and not food). No, something much darker lay deeper within the confines of the tunnels under this mountain. It was a strangely familiar scent, but just as he had reserved himself to his fate of being forced to gnaw on the meat hanging over his lips, salvation came in perhaps the most... (unlikely?) unexpected of forms.

Approaching from off to the side, from beyond a point Erosen could see, there was a new addition to the group. Well, not so new as she simply wasn't well known to Erosen, to be fair though, he didn't know anyone in this group very well at all. It had been less than a month since he'd arrived here and so much had happened already. Watching the girl walk up behind Trish, he noticed something peculiar about the way she was carrying herself, and the look in her eyes as she surveyed their surroundings. She was, well, flustered would be the term the darkling would use as he inspected her face. She was trying her best to hide her anticipation of something, but it also looked like she had something to say. Curious, but not entirely piqued, he watched her point towards a location not far away. His own energy having recovered slightly by means of natural regeneration, he could feel the heat in his limbs returning to normal. His own strength also having returned, he reached out an arm to his side and began to raise himself up in his seat. It was slow going, but he'd be fine. Waving his hand towards Trish, he simply made a series of gestures for her to hand over the meat and follow the new elemental.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

As she waited for Erosen to take the food, Trish felt something tapping her on her shoulder. Normally she would have rammed an icicle into the thing by now, but she had learned already that this was how some Gallians opted to grab each other's attention sometimes, and so, instead of responding with hostilities, she turned to look over her shoulder, noticing Flacht standing there. She looked worse for wear, for some reason, despite not having been particularly involved in the battle against the Demon King. Proof of this was that she didn't have all the small cuts that Trish had, or any of the other injuries that the other party members had suffered during the skirmish. But even then, she looked... haggard was probably a good word to describe her, not that Trish could use words to describe people, and she wouldn't know the word haggard even if she did.

Noticing Flacht gesturing towards another place, the white-haired girl assumed that the Fire Elemental wanted her to come along, and, figuring that it was only fair when she had taken her along to raid the armory, she nodded. However, before standing up, she looked back to Erosen, still slightly concerned about his well-being. A wounded servant was not useful after all, but thankfully the darkling was strong enough to sit up on his own by now, and gestured for her to leave the food and go. Nodding once again, this time at him, she handed over the jerky on the ice spike and then stood up, her scarlet cloak billowing slightly behind her as she did so. Afterwards, she simply stared at Flacht, as if waiting for her to begin walking.

[The Grey Wolf]

Flacht walked a short distance from the camp, taking a moment to glance at Trish every few seconds to make sure she was following. When the Fire elemental had finally deemed they were far enough away from the camp not to be spied on, she turned around. "I, uh, luve ye." she stammered, her face redder than a juicy tomato. She wanted to kick herself or not remembering that Trish couldn't speak again. Whit ta hell.

Without thinking, she leaned over and kissed Trish straight on the lips. There was the point of no return. The sensation of the Ice elemental's coldness ironically drove her like a moth to flame. Trish was everything opposite to what Flacht was: cold, serene, and unemotional. At the same time, Flacht felt an irresistible attraction to her polar opposite.

Hating herself for doing so, Flacht pulled away. "Luve ye." she said, pointing at her own chest and heart to try and speak to Trish in the only language she hoped she could understand.

[Olthar]

Until that moment, Trish and Flacht probably had no idea what a laughing horse sounded like. They could no longer make such a claim. Sparkle Shine had just walked out of a side room as the two kissed and found the event highly amusing. The horse then walked into the camp and began licking all the crackers that had been set out.

[Constaniana]

"Yeesh, that just sounds like glorified cheating to me. I'm glad we don't have to do that sort of thing. Everything around us might be getting more dark and complicated, whether it's Watchtower's experiments and transition to open terrorism or Kayarost trying to come back to our world, but at least us kicking evil in the face stays nice and simple," said Aldraniri. The redhead then chuckled a little as he thought about the last thing his fellow Fire Elemental said, "And you're right there, Aisha. In fact I don't think any of us are worried about mundane highwayman any more compared to all the other fiends we've fought." He was struck by the fact of how much stronger they had all become in the 31 days since he, Kroisoto, Tristan, Charlie, Blue, Estrada and Amata first set out from Haventown after Heilaga. But that month had felt like a lifetime, and they still didn't know where Heilaga was. Collecting even initial leads was a difficult matter because, as he had pointed out that first morning on the road together, quite a lot of Aurennians were blonde, and busty blue-eyed maiden with locks flowing down her back wasn't enough to distinguish Heilaga from the other girls in the hamlets they had passed through on their travels through the northeast of Galllia. The only other trail Aldry thought Heilaga could leave was the use of Light magic, but he hadn't heard a word about it being cast outside of Erilhall.

Food managed to pull Aldraniri from his thoughts; upon seeing Sparkle Shine lick their crackers the Fire Elemental got cross.

"Oi, those are people food!" He said, attempting to move some of the bowls out of Sparkle Shine's reach. But the damage had been done, and he didn't particularly want to eat them. But then he noticed the slime dribbling out the canteen, and wondered how to bring Blue back to full health. Food was good for that, wasn't it? And while everyone else might have been repulsed by spit-crackers, the slime girl seemed to have a much less discriminating appetite than all the rest of them, so she was best suited to dispose of the salt-less crackers. Hoping to test his hypothesis, Aldry crushed some of the damp food in his hand and sprinkled them into Blue's container.

---

At least she's not drinking demon blood, at least she's not drinking demon blood, Boaltist internally sighed.

"You already have a special mission about vanquishing evil in the form of the quest the group you joined is on. I'm not going to order you after another monster today after all you've had to do. But there will inevitably be more, and for that reason I've come to give you a gift to aid you and your allies in those future fights," he announced, quickly reaching into his coat and pulling out one of the arcane stringless longbows. But this one was different from those Trish had seen. It was a bit longer, particularly in the 6-inch long grip, and looked to be made of gold with interlocking copper accents like jagged thunderbolts all along its length. The runes upon it flashed to life much more quickly as Boaltist pointed it at the dummy, with the addition of a spyglass of light slightly above where the arrow rested on the bow.

"I won't give a firing demonstration of Garudalëita here, but it's obviously good. And it has another aspect that I'll actually show you now," the deity continued. He focused on the weapon once more for a moment, before the runes condensed on to the edge of the lightning embellishments, resulting in a pale yellow blade manifesting on both limbs of Garudalëita.

"This artefact's siblings are almost all melee weapons that still have ranged capabilities, so I had the idea to make this ranged weapon have melee capabilities instead. I know you don't like swords for some silly reason, but Ferruoston and the others would never let me live it down if I tried sticking axeblades on a bow. Just take it anyway," said Boaltist, handing the double-bladed longbowsword off to Rachael.

[Olthar]

Rachael listened attentively as the Lighting God spoke. She became even more excited when he produced the weapon. She took it with reverence and slight trepidation. Her heart was pounding away in her chest. She held the weapon in her hands, staring at it for several moments before something finally struck her. She looked up with a puzzled expression.

"Gardu-wha?" she asked rhetorically, "That's too hard to remember, so I'll name you Blue Bolt."

Feeling satisfied with herself, she bowed to the deity in apprecition.

"Thank you, Lord Boaltist. I promise to slay much evil with this weapon."

------

Sparkle Shine was quite irritated by Aldraniri's interference, but as she had already more or less finished, she didn't bother making an issue of it. Instead, the horse attempted to sit on a chair. It, naturally, got crushed by her weight, but Sparkle Shine continued sitting in the pile of broken timber.

------

The bits of cracker laid atop the slime.

[Ameriganastan]

The bits of cracker laid atop the slime.

"You know, it's possible she's drunk."

Eric poked at her with a twig.

"I did brew that booze myself. And the last time someone drank it who wasn't me, he went temporarily blind, claimed he was the bastard child of a dragon, and screwed a hole in a fence...by which I mean he actually humped a hole straight through a fence."

He poked her again.

"So...yeah."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Having made his way back to the rest of the group alongside Lisoette, Tristan listened to the conversations around him, though soon he found the topic at hand a little awkward for him. Aisha and Lisoette began speaking of their homes forlornly, as if they held pleasant memories, and the white-haired boy could not help feeling unnerved, not to mention outright excluded, though not in the sense that the others were preventing him from taking part in the conversation; rather, he felt very disinclined to do so, given how the only place he could possibly call 'home' was an old castle that had nothing but unpleasant memories tied to it in his mind.

So instead of talking, he sat down on one of the nearby chairs, grabbing some grapefruits and attempting to do that thing he saw Gallian kids doing where they tossed up something and then caught it in their mouths when it fell back down.

The grapefruit promptly smacked him in the forehead before falling to the ground, and he winced slightly, rubbing his forehead. Now why did he think that that was a good idea? He wondered. The damn thing was about the size of a baseball, after all! Not that he knew what baseball was, anyway. Gallians probably hadn't even invented it yet.

He decided to chime in, however, when he heard Aldraniri's comment about all of the things they had been through, frowning lightly at the comment; it was true that they had been forced to overcome many trials, but if he was to be honest with himself, the days after he had been to Haventown had been the best days of his life.

Excepting when he was stuck with Baurnkrees, anyways.

"I don't know about you guys, but I feel like my life has improved a lot ever since we set out on this quest." He stated.

---

Trish saw Flacht begin moving and started walking after her, wondering what exactly she wanted but not really minding having to repay the favor Flacht had done her when she accompanied her to raid the Scarlet Knights' armory. However, noticing that Flacht suddenly stopped in the middle of one of the many stone passages of the cavern, the Ice Elemental stopped as well, wondering what exactly was going on. The fact that Flacht turned around and tried to say something to her before her face went red didn't exactly help clear up things either. Trish had absolutely no idea what 'luv ye' was supposed to mean, and Flacht's sudden red tint was just plain confusing for her to interpret.

When Flacht leaned in and kissed her, however, the white-haired girl's confusion only skyrocketed, shock accompanying it. What... what did Flacht think she was doing? A barbarian no less, a barbarian was placing her lips against hers, and Trish knew that it was dirty, and she knew that it was wrong, but what she did not know until it happened was how it felt so good. Her lips, usually so cold, were suddenly washed with Flacht's warmth, and the blonde girl's hot breath made her feel like she was about to melt away. The contrast, it felt wonderful, somehow.

By the time Flacht pulled away, Trish's heart rate was through the roof, and she was breathing heavily. The meaning of the blonde girl's words, and the words themselves, were lost on her as she tried to calm herself. What was this strange thing she was feeling? She didn't know, but it was overwhelming, and so, acting almost on instinct, the white-haired girl approached the Fire Elemental, and this time it was her who pressed her lips against Flacht's, at the same time wrapping her arms around the blonde girl and pressing herself against her body, basking in the girl's warmth as if she was trying to suck it all out of her body while they kissed. And it was likely that something similar was in fact happening.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered what those words had meant, and what had been that weird animal sound she thought she'd heard for a moment, but that was all completely trivial when compared to the matter at hand.

[Ameriganastan]

"I don't know about you guys, but I feel like my life has improved a lot ever since we set out on this quest." He stated.

"My life was awesome to start with."

He ceased poking blue with the twig.

"I roam wherever I please, fighting whoever I please, sleeping with whoever I please, and smoking whatever I please. No ties to anything."

He twiddled his beard.

"Though I suppose journeying with you lot has provided me a decent battle or two. So there's that."