The Library

[Brovo]

Harunobu looked around the area curiously, spotting the knives a chuckle reaches his throat before it erupts into a quiet purr of satisfaction. There was some nostalgia there for him. He didn't hear the other spirit, nor could he see the other spirit, Rasifah, as his holder didn't have the appropriate skills to do so. So instead, Harunobu kept an eye out for the purple haired samurai woman, spotting her approaching he nudged Kurotori's ankle and whispered. "Watashitachi no ushiro no murasakiiro no kami." Kurotori looks down to his spirit momentarily and nods. It seemed they were all gathering together at relatively the same time. How convenient.

"The lands of Shima, from the Uekira clan." He stated simply to Aiden, resting his hand upon the hilt of his katana as he heard armoured footsteps behind himself. Not the kind of armour used by townspeople here, either, no. People of The Hub rarely wore armour, so therefore, it had to be someone from his lands, or at least lands with some common sense. He turns, the first thing he noticed was the purple hair. A strange taste. Then the armour, the clothing, the face... An attractive woman, wearing some combat gear. He bows eloquently, allowing his hand to slip off of his katana's handle as it was likely one of their companions. Even if she wasn't, she was just a woman... Yet his lands had legends of legendary battle women.

Finally, the woman greets them and declares her purpose. So she was one of their companions... The Library had an odd sense of humour. Why would they send such an attractive maiden off to this place? Aside from the purple hair, she was obviously from his lands... Why did she abandon her place? Why would she want to be in danger? So many questions flooded his mind, but he kept them back. Yet the indignation didn't leave his eyes; what woman thought herself a warrior, leave alone one from his own lands? The absurd folly... Yet her stance showed she had significant training, so she wouldn't be a dead weight. A little appreciation reaches his eyes as his body relaxes a little. A warrior maiden, perhaps... Still best to keep her away from the front lines, her beauty should not be tarnished. "Ohayō, josei." He bows his head slightly in greeting, and then continues with a stern expression. "You must be Yuzuriha-san, of the Takeru clan." He takes a step to the side, motioning to Aiden. "This is Aiden-san."

[Valeric]

Vologhn

His binding spell was carried out without fail. The Silken Cocoon wrapped itself around the rebel tightly, causing him to lose his balance and tip over onto the snowy ground. A great stroke of luck for the man, since he would have been impaled by Remia's crossbow bolt if he was still standing. Vologhn held a hand out in front of Remia, before running towards the fallen man. The magical bindings began to fade as soon as he reached. With a painful twist of his arm, Vologhn held him restrained against the floor.

He couldn't shake off the feeling that something was off. Now that he was in direct contact with the rebel, Vologhn could tell there was something unusual about him. However, it was a vague feeling he couldn't pinpoint.

"We won't harm you if you don't resist," Vologhn barked at him. He had hoped for more rebels to be subdued without killing them. Bishop approached them, her face visibly showing signs of fatigue. Whatever she did, the fight had taken a chunk out of her vitality.

"I cannot see through my spiders, Bishop. I can only control their movements," he replied to her request. "In any case, the rebels must have been alerted to our presence. We have to go after them before they escape through the tunnels."

He shifted his weight forward to stifle any struggling from their captive. Tying him up and going after the rest of the rebels was probably their best bet right now.

[Vologhn steals 1.2 SPI from Mime]

[Xaltwind]

With nobody to hinder her walk and with no sight of the other Librarians, Ophelia had more or less succeeded.

Having arrived at a the local area for coach-rides, she had managed to persuade one of the drivers to take her along - as she had promised to pay him upon arrival at her destination. It was a mundane carriage, no embellishments or remarkable features at all. It looked decent, neither rickety or overly weathered, but not gaudy or stand-out-ish either. An excellent choice. Taking a final look around the surroundings, the ambassador stepped into the wagon and shut the little door behind her - pulling the interior curtains so that none could see in, nor could she see out. With a gentle few knocks on the ceiling interior, the driver atop the carriage took his reins and lightly whipped them. The horse neighed and shook its head and mane slightly, before gently beginning to trod forward along the road.

Now that her business in Calcany was concluded, it would be good to return home and relax for a bit. She ahd informed her partners of the Library's presence and investigatory nature here in Paggio, so hopefully the contact she had spoken to would be so wise as to get his butt out of the citiy-limits and go inform the Family as soon as possible. After all, the quicker their tracks were covered, and the less information those fools gathered, the better for everyone. It might be troublesome to explain to the higher-ups in the Library why she had abandoned the mission but, then again, she was certain that she could think of something. Besides, with this job done, she was as good as done with this organization anyway. She had gotten all the connections and networks she needed from it - their use was now non-essential.

"A cup of nice tea... Yes, I think that'll do nicely once I get home." The woman thought to herself, as she sat in the wagon, eyes closed and listening to the sound of the wheels and hooves of the horse outside.

... Within a few minutes, Ophelia had left Paggio and was on the road back home...

[Hedya]

Salia Kyrie

Salia let a sigh of relief as she saw the monster’s strength disappearing, as it stopped struggling, trying to break free, and in the end fell before their eyes… only to vanish soon afterwards. “It’s a spirit! Who’s the knight?!” the girl let out, almost feeling exasperated. Where in the whole land was its knight? And where would Nuka be?

The rook moved towards Adeline, in order to make sure she was fine. “Are you okay?” as she smiled gently. She had been particularly worried about the girl, so she was glad she was fine. Part of her wanted to hug her, but she did not want to look too concerned, so she simply placed her hand on her shoulder. Just to make sure nobody missed anything, she touched the girl’s head with the scabbard, for a few seconds. “We were under a spell, or something, it seems. I don’t believe there’s anything else we could not see. But I’m not taking the risk. If there was a spell on you, still, it’s now vanished”.

____________________

Remia Kyrie

And so all of a sudden, Bishop ordered a cease-fire, and a hand in front of Remia was clearly meaning she should not go on. The rook was breathing heavily, still into her “fight-mode”. She felt she needed to use that energy for something, but for once, she listened to Lancelot. “Learn to control your energy. It’s one of the best ways of learning how to deal with an excess of passion when fighting. Too much passion could lead to your demise. So learn to do that when the occasion to do so arises. And listen to everything that will be said here.”

Remia was not particularly fond of boring talk, but Lancelot seemed to insist quite a bit. “It is very important that you learn how to deal with this. You are smart, Remia, but you get easily distracted. If you can develop the skill to be aware of your surroundings, listen to what people have to say and use it to your advantage, you will become a really valuable person.

“Well, even I can see that this person is unusually unwilling to fight. Wouldn’t it be normal for the prisoner to just have tried to escape, or even fought back? Surrendering like that… I know there is something strange”. She did not bother saying that out loud. Why should she? If it was so obvious, the others could see it as well. It would have been a bit ridiculous.

____________________

Diane Whimle

It would have been a lie, to say Diane wasn’t nervous at all. The only jobs she had been tasked, outside of cooking and taking care of people’s health, were minor errands mainly within the Library itself, and only on one occasion, she had to be a team’s support member. She guessed this was to be her role again, but the mission would be harder. This time, she was being sent to a hostile area with harpies.

In fact, the team’s mission would have to be to capture a harpy? A male one, actually. Which meant… it would be hard for them to actually meet one, to begin with. The main reason she was nervous was because she had never worked with those new companions? What if they did not accept her? What if she could not befriend them? That could be a problem for the mission to turn out right. She hoped that it would all go right, in any case.

The trip had been rather quiet, as Diane was travelling alone. It essentially consisted on her mentally rambling about cooking recipes to Meena, and singing in a low voice to herself as her spirit did the same within her mind. “Do you think we could befriend one male harpy and ask him to come with us willingly? But of course, if he was to be tested and all that, it’s not something you would do to a friend… so let’s not do that, on second thought”. Meena laughed. Despite their similar personalities, the spirit tended to look smarter. It was not that Diane was unintelligent, but she sometimes had a rather straightforward way of thinking. She would sometimes solve difficult problems, and some other times would have problems with the silliest things.

Finally arriving to the town where she was to meet with the rest of the group, she wondered how they would be, and if they would be friendly as well. She did not even take notice of the odd looks some of the villagers were giving her. She whore a pointy hat with a rose at the front and a couple of “crystal feathers”, which were basically ornaments made of cheap crystal that looked like feathers. In order for them to be crafted properly, a skilful hand was needed, since the crystal had to be cut in a very thin shape for it to look good. So the only way for them to be cheap was that the raw material was cheap as well. The air was cold, so Diane was wearing a coat. Half of it was of a light red colour, while the other half was white. Underneath her coat, a long dress that had various colours. All in all, she was dressed in a rather odd way.

To that, one would have to add the fact she wore a couple of necklaces that didn’t match too much and a bracelet that made a jingle sound as she walked. It was probably this sound that alerted the rest of the group. “Oohh!!” She simply said out loud. It was them. It was definitely the group of three people that were talking. It could have been anyone else, but they gave the image of a fighting team. With protection gear and all. It seemed that Diane had simply been lucky again. “So you’re the people from the Library!” she exclaimed. “I was –really- looking forward to meeting you! I know this is not an easy job and I know walking through the mountains with such dangers is not the best of pastimes but let’s make sure to enjoy this!”. She spoke way too quickly. Perhaps that was what showed that her mind was really active; how quick she spoke. Either way, Meena sighed, wondering how long it would be until they got tired of Diane.

[Asuras]

Yuzuriha's gleeful and open demeanor became one of worry as the fellow samurai turned to face her. Aiden remained as standard as any other individual outside Shima, though this other man seemed to be studying her, and by his visage, the results certainly didn't seem like they'd be endearing. He almost seemed disappointed. It was just the reaction she was hoping would evade her. The mission wouldn't do well with cultural influences working unfavorably between just two members. She allowed herself to break her attention from Kurotori to get a better look at Aiden. Fortunately he seemed to harbor no such distaste for her presence. As Kurotori finally introduced the other, she herself bowed and returned her expression to one of appreciation and eagerness.

"Aiden-san..." she greeted before turning to Kurotori, "Yes, that would be me." Yuzuriha answered the samurai's original question, albeit bluntly and with little emotion. It wasn't because of the growing disjoint she was harboring for him, rather, it was simply due to her disinterest in her own family. Having her last name mentioned only for the sake of relating to a clan -her clan- left her indifferent. As far as she cared, she would rather forget the place and people of her household.

"And you are?" she asked Kurotori. His answer was interrupted somewhat by the arrival of the fourth and final member, a rather skittish girl. Yuzuriha nodded at her arrival and listened intently. Thankfully, her adaption to Ka's rapid voice allowed her ease in comprehending Diane's own words. "Slow down!" she laughed, "You forgot to give us your name!"

[Alphakoka]

Footsteps in the Snow - Mime side

Mime's eyes went wide for a second when he saw one of the Librarians was Bishop. Second later, the spirit started to laugh hysterically despite being pinned down.

"No way! Bishop the Bishop?" Mime said between his laughter. "Whoohooo, this a lucky day, a lucky day indeed!"

He returned to laughing loudly until the Holder on top of him shifted his weight. The weight caused him to cough before he started to squirm with a renewed vigor.

"Pull me up! Pull me up! I'll show you where the base is!" he shouted. "Come on, before they got away!"

[guinness]

Tonia gazed around the room, eyes stopping on each dog. They all looked so different, some were massive, anger and hatred lining their eyes. Others seemed more startled than anything else, hiding behind the big mean ones. Some even seemed to want to play, but they seemed afraid to actually do so. It was unclear if they were afraid of her or of the other dogs. It made sense since dogs tended to have dominate personalities within groups, kind of like wolves and stuff. Pack leaders and all the jive.

She didn't much care for all that bravado. She just wanted to open up her arms and hug all of them. They each had their own unique cuteness and she just wanted to squeeze it out of them. Dogs were animals she always liked, big, cuddly and loving. They lived simple and easy lives. They merely wanted to play, eat and sleep. All three things she could certainly get behind especially play. She could run around in fields with them all willy nilly until her legs hurt than they could all take a giant nap together. A nap would be righteous right about now.

Her thoughts were rattled as a cold wetness pressed against her back side causing her to leap a few inches off the ground. The wetness turned out to be that of a nose, the nose of a curious dog. He was a chocolate Labrador. His mouth was open, panting though it looked more like he was smiling at her. His tail swished back and forth as he looked up at her, eyes filled with wonder. Labrador's were a beautiful breed and she wondered if it was possible to take him home with her.

Bending down to one knee she outstretched her hand towards the lab. He bowed his head, allowing her to run her hand across the top of his head, petting him. His tail began to move faster and faster as he got excited by the attention he was receiving. In his excitement he slumped down to the floor, rolling onto his back, legs upright and belly exposed. She of course obliged his request of a belly rub.

The other dogs seemed to be calming down as they noticed she was friendly and not an actual threat. All the dogs save for two. A massive Rottweiler and a moderately sized all white American Bulldog. They flanked her, standing to her right and left, eyes beaded on her, letting out boisterous barks. The friendly lab's interest seemed to be perked as he rolled over, ears perked up, looking towards the two dogs expectantly.

It seemed these two were the ones in charge and they were by no means willing to play. Naturally it would have made sense to devise some strategy to win their trust or to get out of this potential sticky situation. Sense was such an overrated concept though.

“Aww aren't you both just big sweethearts!” she talked in a high pitched squeal. Holding her right hand out towards the Bulldog she waited for him to move towards her intrigued by the thought of being pet. She did not however expect what actually happened.

The dog snapped his mouth forward, latching onto her hand, teeth cutting into her skin. The pain was sharp and sudden. Her eyes widen as the dog shook his head back and forth, using her hand like a chew toy. She could feel her arm beginning to buckle under the pressure. She could hear voices nearby, running towards her location.

The entire room had begun to break out into a chorus of barks as all the dogs began to back off, watching her and the not so friendly Bulldog. They were watching her like she was some sort of spectacle. If it was a spectacle they wanted she was going to give it to them. This dog was going to find out just how rough games could get.

Lunging forward she connected with a punch to the dog's sternum, his eyes igniting with fury at the pain he most likely felt. His grip however did not loosen as he tugged once again. A loud pop rang over the barks as one of her bones sprang out of place. It didn't matter, bones could be healed. With her free hand she repeatedly pounded it into the dog's rib cage, each blow seemed to lessen it's grip.

“Stop!” Someone yelled in the background. Stopping wasn't an option. Games were meant to be finished or not played at all. The dog had chosen to play and thus must learn what it meant to lose. Looking into the dogs eyes she could see the fury he once had flutter away, replaced by acceptance as they began to glaze. With one last blow the dog slumped over, falling to the ground relinquishing it's grasp on her hand.

Blood dripped from her finger tips, splashing onto the floor. Her hand looked as if it had been thrust into a garbage disposal, bone could be seen in portions as the skin had been torn away. Using her functioning hand she rubbed the collapsed dog's ear, whispering, “That was fun.”

“Get your hands off of him you animal!” A portly lady slapped at her hand. Kneeling down to check on the dogs condition. Furrowing her brow she began to light into Tonia with the most profanity induced rant she had ever heard. She truly had a way with words.

“I guess I played a bit too rough huh?” She asked as she got to her feet, blood still dripping from her hand. The lady's face went as red as a tomato as she began another rant, waving her arms like a crazy women this time. She really took her job as a dog shelter person serious, but if she had paid more attention maybe things would of worked out differently. Alas she was just some big porker trying to pass off blame. People were so silly.

Having been shooed out of the shelter she wandered the streets. She most likely needed to go to a hospital to get not only her hand looked at, but her arm as well. It hung at her side like a limp noodle. It would have been so much cooler if her arm was actually a noodle. She could make spaghetti with it. Her blood could even be tomato sauce. Now that would be righteous. She smiled, body swaying back and forth.

[Lukas Kelly]

Aiden was about to confirm his name and more formally introduce himself to Yuzuriha when a new girl came running up. He looked over both of the newcomers. This new girl, presumably Diane, was dressed akin to the Nomaders who he would sometimes see camped outside cities back in his old country. They were a people that seemed to have little concept of fashion and were constantly in clash with the normal inhabitants of a city and a bit too criminal for Aiden's taste. This girl, though, was clearly not a Nomader and seemed particularly friendly. Not being a Nomader always scored you points as far as he was concerned. She did seem to be inexperienced as far as hostilities go, but everyone who fights always has their baptism by fire.

Yuzuriha, on the other hand, looked like she could take care of herself. Her armor was clearly from the same region as Kurotori's. The difference was that her armor was significantly lighter than his. It seemed more suited to mountain warfare, Aiden thought. She herself seemed to have the same composed confidence that he himself and Kurotori had. Her hair was... different to say the least, but Aiden didn't think that to be a bad thing. He wondered whether that was something that was traditionally Shimese for women or if it was something she had decided to do herself.

"What do you mean? A mountain hike isn't any fun without a little danger", Aiden jested. He wasn't really being serious, but he had found that speaking of situations as if they were light matters often helped you and those around you deal with them more confident and composed. Actually treating the situation lightly would get you killed, so Aiden made sure to distinguish the two. Aiden smiled somewhat, "You must be Diane, right?".

[Alta]

Footsteps in the Snow

“Okay.”

Eowyn avoided looking Bishop in the eyes and at her request, the knight simply returned to her watch. She stared into the distance of the caverns. There was nothing in it. Devoid of life, as Sleipnir would speak of it. Strangely her spirit offered no words. Eowyn hoped he'd at least speak to her. She hoped Sleipnir would lecture her, to her annoyance or frustration. The spirit did not. Leaving Eowyn feeling exactly like the caverns looked like.

Without realising she had actually picked up most of the conversation, Eowyn began to contemplate. Their mission had been to 'hunt' the rebels down. Wasn't it simply easier to cause a cave-in? And where was Ryan?

Mother of the Dunes

“Just doing my job.” Lux grinned to Emily. The two of them were walking ahead of Ramza, who had seemed to have taken the rear with his minions. He should probably give the team leader some space, Lux thought. The last mission weighed on all of them. Although not their superior commander, he held the highest rank in their company. Who knew that made him feel the most responsible of all for Exazie's death. The bishop couldn't tell.

Like Ramza, Emily remained rather quiet. What she was thinking Lux couldn't even guess. She made some strange movements, from time to time. Lux recognised it; she must had been talking to her spirit. At least that was a topic, the bishop thought.

“So, Emily. What's your spirit like? You talk to him a lot, don't you?” Lux asked. “Or her, of course.”

[Player2]

With hands in pockets Sol strode on towards the police station. It was but a block or two away now, and the small section of street that he was familiar with now welcomed him back. Any people from earlier had moved on to other places it seemed, and attention fell to the giant once again. At least, a portion of it. The rest seemed to be focused on the rainbow colored lady who had just entered out of a side street, her feet seeming to have a bit of trouble walking a straight line. He briefly wondered if the effects of the portal were still clinging to her, but as he neared her, her dripping, bloodied hands revealed otherwise. From her rather serene look it seemed she wasn't too worried about any assailants, so it seemed she'd taken care of whatever the problem was. And then another thought crossed his mind as he knelt down in front of her.

"I'm rather hoping you've beaten someone lifeless whose name isn't Michael," He looked down the alley she'd just exited in hopes of seeing either of the others, but there was nothing about. "You haven't seen him, have you? Or Aelfric for that matter?" He began to have the sneaking suspicion that he'd been betrayed... He was still in one piece though, as was his partner though. Perhaps Michael had done something? It was impossible to know without first locating the member who had assured Sol that the portals were "perfectly safe". He was even more so bothered by the fact that he was now going to miss lunch as a result of this man's assurances. The man would be getting an earful if Sol ever found the blighter. His attention was pulled from thoughts of vengeance though as he noticed the limp arm on Tonia.

"Your arm looks broken, will you still be able to fight if needs be? If not I'd recommend returning to the Library and visiting the medical division. They should be able to patch you up and have you back out in the field fairly quickly, though with any luck I'll have found the other two by then," He ran a hand through his hair as his brain continued to churn. "At any rate, we should visit the station and see if they can't offer any assistance in re-capturing Michael, though I imagine they'll be none to happy about it..." He sighed, his eyes looking towards the building. "Still, they've got the only knowledge about him, so it seems unavoidable." He looked back to Tonia, and down to her hands. "If you do continue, I'd advise wrapping your hands a bit. If mention of a knife set our man on edge I can only imagine what the sight of blood and bone would do." He gave a nod to the young lady before turning towards the station once again. Hopefully they'd know something that could be of use.

Sol crossed the street at a light jog as a carriage rolled past, taking the steps in a single jump and pushing open the door. The man inside recognized the giant from earlier and gave him a smile, which quickly vanished as he noted the absence of the prisoner they'd transferred to his protection. "We've run into a problem. Michael escaped mid-transport, and as you're the only group who has had contact with him, we could very much use your help. Again."