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Current Time and Location: Day 32, Midday. Coalition Camp, Alice’s Tent.

“Hey, Cross,” said Alice. “Get your ass over here.”

Alice was a renowned craftsman from the Earth Kingdom. To call her here a mere blacksmith would do her not justice. She didn’t just dabble in steel. Her creations ranged from magical staffs to mechatronic chainsaws. Capable of enchantments and technological breakthroughs, her name was known Astrea as the number one in the industry.

The Babettes had brought back Searzon’s corpse from their expedition two weeks back. The creature had stayed frozen in a giant ice cube created by Hazel’s magic until the day before when Alice had arrived on camp. Amadeus had approached her requesting for a new armour using Searzon’s remains.

“I wanted to you a proper full mail armor like you requested but I didn’t have the materials. You see this thing?” Alice lifted up a broken part of Searzon’s horns. “As much as it resembles steel, it ain’t. It’s more magic infused bone. I can’t melt it down and make your platemail and stuff. So instead…”

Alice then snapped her fingers.

Suddenly, an armored golem that was hidden from sight approached them.

“Ignore the mannequin, it’s something I use for measurements. It’s convenient because I don’t like dealing with people… anyway, that’s beside the point. Tah-da! Alice was grinning proudly at her creation.

“It’s leather armor. You see, I felt your metal armor didn’t really suit your fighting style. You rely on quick and agile movements, don’t you? Wouldn’t leather armor be better? I even made it in black with some fancy details like you like it. First of all, it’s durable as heck.”

Alice demonstrated by slashing at golem with a sabre. It was stopped upon impact and there was no visible damage to the armor.

“Regular weapons are useless against it. Though obviously it’s not all powerful, you guys managed to cut through his hide when you fought against him, right? But it provides enough defense and its also light as heck. Plus the last feature is the best one.”

Alice took out some red gems from her pocket and threw them at the armor. They burst into flames upon contact. The golem stood in the fire for several seconds until the flames died out.

“It has crazy heat-resistance.” Alice tapped the armor. “It feels cold even after all that. As long as you protect your face when a fire element attack comes your way, you'll be able to literally walk it off.”

Then, really abruptly, Alice begun stripping the golem and tossed the entire leather armor set onto Amadeus before pushing him out of her tent.

"Alright, that's done. Now get out cause I have work to do."

@Crimson Lion

One Month Prior

The next morning came, and The Babettes, minus Amadeus, gradually found themselves awakening. It didn't take long for Allush to find the stragglers and awaken them. As the group assembled he briefly addressed them. “It is far past time we returned to the camp; it is likely Gregorias has another mission for you, heroes.” He chided gently. “If you wish to eat breakfast be quick about it, after all, monsters do not slay themselves. We leave on the hour. I have already told Amadeus all of this earlier.” With that, he left The Babettes to their own devices, preparing their mounts.

Solanne woke up hearing that, of all things. Another call to get up. Well she supposed that if the others weren't sleeping in, she might as well follow their example. When she arrived at the inn's small mess hall, she was still yawning and rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"You'd think we'd get some better hotel service after slaying that thing yesterday, ya know," she muttered before another yawn overtook her words.

Hazel was certainly not easy to awaken. She very nearly burned Allush in a fit of aggressive sleepiness. She left the room, not waiting for Harley to awaken from his strange spot under the bed. She was, however, certainly surprised that he hadn't tried anything last night. She yawned, eyeing Solanne as she entered the room. "You should just be happy we didn't have to pay them." She said, smiling at her 'sister', having sorely missed her yesterday.

"Oh, hey there Spell Spitter," Solanne commented idly. "Ya know, I didn't see you much yesterday after the Searzon fight. Not only that, but holy crap, are you actually smiling at me?"

Confusion became replaced with a smug smile as the Crimson Hound closed the distance between them. Wrapping an arm around the other girl, she brought her face close so they couldn't be overheard.

"So? What'd you do last night?"

Hazel shook her head. "He actually didn't try anything, we just... talked. I'm actually kinda surprised he didn't do anything." She said, her cheek a light pink. "But, y'know, it was nice." She concluded.

Solanne blinked. Well she hadn't expected that. Still, it confirmed that the affection between Hazel and Harly was real, at least for now. So now the Crimson Hound nudged the other girl with her elbow.

"Oh? No specifics like a romantic dinner?

"Well, I mean, yeah, we did have dinner... it wasn't exactly romantic but... just, it wasn't anything like that..." She paused momentarily, "Anyways, we should get breakfast, Allush sounded like he wanted us to hurry."

Harley suddenly teleported right next to the girls in a burst of smoke that quickly dissipated. "Hey." he remarked calmly.

"Ever hear of personal space?" Solanne asked, grinning as she wound up a fist for Harley's chin.

"Someone feeling a bit moody? Is it that time of the month?" Harley taunted as he stepped back a bit.

An aura of fire radiated off of the Crimson Hound with the intent to make the Black Devil back off a bit. Once he did, the flames dispersed and Solanne placed her hands on her hips.

"Naw, I just don't take too kindly to nosy rats with wings, ya know?"

Hazel shook her head at the two. "You two better stop, or I'll hurt both of you." She said flatly, taking a seat at one of the inn's many tables. She searched for one of the serving girls, demanding breakfast from them.

"I don't even -got- wings." Harley mumbled before teleporting over to Hazel's table and leaning on it.

Solanne only snickered as she took a seat at Hazel's table too, glad that she had ruffled the boy's feathers a little. Oh wait. As he had said himself, he didn't have any. She leaned back on her chair, hands clasped behind her head before saying, "Love you too Spell Spitter."

Amadeus walked into the room, bags under his eyes and looking as though he could kneel over any minute. He had spent the whole night searching and asking around about "Arthurs Blacksmith" to no avail, it was like the store had completely disappeared. He sat down at the table, "Can I get a coffee?" He asked the waitress who complied. "Mornin' everyone, what did I miss?" he asked.

Hazel sighed, "Nothing important, don't worry." She said, her breakfast arriving. Bacon, eggs, toast, fairly standard fare, but very appetizing nonetheless. She began to voraciously dig in.

He looked to Solanne for conformation, or a witty reply. Whichever came first.

Solanne shrugged.

"Got your average three day balance right there. Better dig in Sword Slicker."

Amadeus nodded and began to eat some of the assorted food on the table.

Solomon walked into the room and took his place at the table, and picked up his utensils. "I have seen to that the horses are ready to leave, as well I have arranged for provisions to be ready as well." He said before he began eating his breakfast.

Harley smirked at Solanne."Hey, Solanne.." He said sweetly."I hate your soul, you know that, right?"

"Love you too Junior," Solanne answered right back with a wink. She was going to say more when a waitress came by to deposit her food along with a letter of sorts. Raising an eye, the Crimson Hound looked up questioningly. Before she could ask though, the waitress was already walking away.

Hazel's eating slowed, and she glowered at Solanne, beginning to sulk quietly over her and Harely's 'flirting'.

Solanne wasn't paying attention to her "little sister's" glaring, picking open the letter to see who would want to send her anything, let alone mail. Reaching inside though, the Crimson Hound froze up as something small and cold brushed against her fingers. Immediately she retracted her hand away from the envelope, already having a good idea of who sent the letter. And what the item in said letter was.

For once, the Crimson Hound was not smiling.

Curious, Solomon reached over and picked up the letter, tipping the parcel over. He let the item fall onto the table in front of him.

"H-Hey, who told you to read other people's mail?" Solanne said, though no amount of words could stop the item from rolling out of the envelope, leaving behind a trail of red.

Raising an eyebrow, Solomon answered, "Yes, because tapping an object onto a surface counts as reading. Truly you are a paragon of education, Hound."

Solomon's sarcasm was lost on the Crimson Hound as something small and spherical squelched onto the table. The severed eye stared at them all unblinking, the blood diluted and watery. The iris was a nice shade of green though no one would be admiring it for quite some time.

Chuckling nervously, Solanne quickly snatched the organ up before anyone else could see. Now she really needed to see the letter and made no hesitation to take the paper out and read carefully. What her eyes scanned made her sigh in anxiety.

"Well....that figures."

Solomon's face became like stone at the sight, the growing blood spot on the table cloth growing slowly. Catching Solanne's eyes, Solomon stared impassively at the fidgeting woman. "Care to explain your self Hound?" Solomon whispered threateningly.

Solanne shrugged again.

"Well...uh, don't freak out, but apparently we've been watched for the last two days by someone with...er, odd tastes in hobbies?"

"HaHa! What? That's neat." Harley remarked.

Amadeus, betraying his character, stayed indifferent at the sight of the eyeball rolling on the table. 'That's not a human eye ball.' he thought still half asleep. He wanted to confirm his hypothesis but Solanne had already hid said sphere. "What kind of odd tastes?" asked Amadeus.

"You really don't wanna know," Solanne said, placing the letter away in her pocket. "But I get the feeling you'll find out soon...in like, a few seconds."

Hazel raised her attention from her meal. Huh, an eyeball, neat. She said, forgetting her anger over the flirting. She shook her head at Solomon, "I don't really like your tone, Wyvern." Now she was speaking threateningly. She certainly wasn't going to abide him threatening her sister.

Harley, noticing Hazel's irritation with Solomon took it as a chance to be a dick without getting called out on it. "Yeah, me neither." Harley gave Solomon a wide-eyed look, keeping his hands by his hilts.

Amadeus looked at Harley, noticing the piggy back he did but said nothing. 'I still wanna know who this person is, I really wanna know where they got the monster(?) eye from and how they were able to remove it so perfectly without injuring the eye.'

"Ah, it's really easy when you know how to remove the skin first. Things like that always get in the way when you're trying to make art."

Solanne groaned as the voice made itself known. She didn't need to turn to see the young girl standing before her. Dark hair, red eye, and an eye-patch covered the other. Coupled with the dress, one had to wonder why the girl was associating herself with a couple of warriors like them.

"Er, Marianne? What are you doing outside of the orphanage?"

"Aha, I wanted to visit you big sister! Oh! Apologies," she said, noticing the others with a small bow. "Hello big sister's friends. It's very nice to meet you all."

At least her manners were superb.

Amadeus looked at the now addressed 'Marianne', "Good Morning miss" he said with a small bow, still half asleep. 'Eye Patch?' he thought but didn't say, wanting to be polite.

"Hello Mister Short," said Marianne, reaching into her dress pocket and handing Amadeus a severed finger.

Solomon ignored the two younger members of the team, he turned towards the voice, gripping his weapon in case he had need of it. "Acquaintance of yours Hound?"

"Hello Mister Beard," said Marianne, reaching into her dress pocket and handing Solomon a few teeth.

Harley eyed the newcomer. "I can be your daddy if you'd like." he said, smirking at her.

"Hello Mister Try Hard," said Marianne, reaching into her dress pocket and handing Harley a bloated nose. "You already got my gift, right big sister? Your eyes are still so A.M.A.Z.I.N.G."

"Um, yeah. I got your gift Marianne."

Hazel scanned over the new girl. She... she's... Hazel bolted up from her seat. She ignored the fact that she called Solanne big sister and Harley's not so subtle flirting. She dashed across the table at the girl, moving her face close up to examine her. She's... "You're... you're perfect..." she said quietly. I can tell... she's like... me.

Harley died a little internally as he was rejected twice in one fell swoop.

"Oh thank you" Amadeus inspected the finger, checking for blood spatter pattern around the finger. 'Dead for at least an hour before cutting off. Very efficiently I might add' he examined

"Oh my. It's very nice to meet you too Miss Faker," Marianne said happily. "And...your eyes are kinda cute....can I take them when you eventually die in battle Miss Faker?"

Leaning his glaive once more on the table, Solomon facepalmed in exasperation, mumbling out loud, "Dear Atros, there's two of them now." Before moving his hand to massage his temples, "What have I done to deserve this, Oh Almighty?."

Looking down at the teeth, he found that they were nearly perfectly intact, and ranged from incisors, to canines, to the molars. Placing the "gifts" in a napkin, Solomon placed it in front of him/

Hazel blushed. My eyes are cute! she thought excitedly to herself. "I- I-I yes, of course, I don't think I'll need them after that..." She moved her face closer to the girls ear, whispering to her, "Do you think... if you die, do you think I could burn your corpse?"

Harley glanced around and then suddenly teleported to some unknown location

"Oh no. No, that won't do Miss Faker. You see, I haven't arranged for my body to be dealt with when I die. Maybe I should donate it for science? Or for art? But no, I can definitely say for sure that you will die before me."

Solanne chuckled as Harley pretty much abandoned this conversation. Good, since Marianen hadn't even mentioned the cannibalism yet.

"So you came all the way out here just to visit me?"

"That's right big sister!"

Hazel shook her head. "No, no, I can say quite for sure I have no intention of dying so soon..." A thought suddenly crossed her mind, "So... wait, if you're Solanne's sister..." Hazel turned her face towards the older girl, "Does that make us sisters by proxy?"

Marianne giggled airily.

"Of course not. I came here to kill you Miss Faker. Would you prefer me to hang you by your intestines or replace all the blood in your body with acid?"

As she said this, the dark mage's hands began to glow a deep purple. Solanne sighed, really not wanting to get involved in her surrogate sister's demented games. If these could be considered as games.

While events transpired, Amadeus was staring at the cup of coffee in front of him, almost calling for his so he could rejoin the others in the world of awakeness. He downed the whole thing and slammed the cup down, feeling the effects immediately before he began to assess the situation. He looking down at the severed finger in his hand. Then at the other body parts scattered around the table. THEN at the fight was about to break out. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" he yelled as he jumped out of his chair.

Hazel looked at the girl curiously. "I don't quite follow. Why exactly are you trying to kill me?"

Letting Emerald Wyvern's magic flow through him, he forced the power through him, expelling into the surrounding. The table began splintering, and the building began to rumble down to the foundations. As the room began shattering under the force, Solomon bellowed"BOTH OF YOU SIT THE FUCK DOWN! FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL BE MET WITH ME BOOTING YOU THROUGH THE FUCKING ROOF." Letting the power ebb away, the building no longer felt as if it was in the middle of a 3.0 magnitude earthquake, and the room had quieted down, Solomon glared at the group.

Needless to say, most of the mess hall glanced up from their meals, some even ready to kick Solomon himself out for disrupting the peace.

Solanne winced at the loud yelling emitted by the Emerald Glaive, though she doubted such a tactic would work on a broken mind like Marianne's. And she was right as the young girl only sighed in response.

"Yes, you're quite right Mister Lungs. Another time then, yes? Ooh, but you have a lovely scream Mister Lungs. Can I have your vocal cords when you die? I P.R.O.M.I.S.E to put them to good use."

Hazel sighed. She was starting to get angry with Solomon. "Please, Emerald Wyverm. I'm in the middle of a conversation, do try to use your inside voice." She said sarcasticly. She shook her head, turning her attention back to the newcomer, "So, please, tell me why you want to kill me?"

"Isn't it simple?" Marianne asked politely. "You stole big sister from me. I've been watching you for the last few days. Did you know you only breathe out thirty times a minute when you're sleeping?"

Amadeus looked at the damages to the building, then back at Solomon. "Solomon, maybe you should sit this one out. I don't think violence really works against people as crazy as Marianne (And Hazel, and Harley)." He says in a pleading way

Shaking his head in disgust, both at himself and his group, Solomon walked over to the counter, with the room parting away from him. Reaching the cowering innkeeper, Solomon pulled out his coin bag, which itself weighed 30 lbs, and placed it on the counter. Bowing low, Solomon began apologizing, "Most sincerest apologies, master of this establishment, I lost control of my temper momentarily. This bag contains enough gold should be enough ot cover the repairs..." Turning around, Solomon once more sighed and face palmed.

Hazel leaned into the girl. She was really getting angry. Angrier then she had been in the past week. This girl may be completely perfect, but she would not abide by her threatning her relationship with Solanne. Hazel whispered in the girl's ear, low enough so no one else could here, "If you try to mess with me and Solanne I will kill you... I'll start with your eyes, since you seem to like them so much. Or perhaps I should say your eye... yeah, did you know that inside your eyeball this fluid? It has a lovely odor when you boil it. After your eyeball bursts, I'll light that pretty black hair of yours on fire. As tempting as it would be to light you up like an Atros day tree, instead I'll let you live out your miserable life, blind, covered in burns, and bald." Hazel was definitely fuming by now. She hesitated for a moment, then decided to go for a classic put-down, insulting people's disabilities, with the added benifit of mimicing the name's the girl herself labled the group with. "Miss Eye Patch."

Solanne immediately tensed, already moving to Hazel to whack her. She probably should have mentioned the eye-patch and that was a grave oversight on her part. Before Solomon could do anything though, the Crimson Hound cast a look that could sear a wall, telling him to back off and not interfere. None of them knew how to handle Marianne, and they would only make things worse. So for now, she silently told the Emerald Wyvren to wait.

Marianne’s entire composure froze up and she turned slowly towards the other girl.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, her voice tense.

The smile remained plastered on her face, though now it seemed one of intense cruelty and mistrust.

“You mean this?”

She pointed towards her eye-patch. Right now, she didn’t care about the fact that she was in the presence of others. To hell with the others! To hell with them all! To hell with everyone! All that mattered was that this girl, this one girl had noticed it.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, though it sounded like she was trying to convince herself. “It’s nothing....ahha, nothing. Nothing. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. Pay it no mind, yes? Ahaha, I said pay it no mind! Stop it…you’re still looking at it….why are you looking at it…I said stop looking at it!” she exclaimed, her voice slowly rising in pitch.

“Pay it no mind I said. Pay it no mind. S.T.O.P. L.O.O.K.I.N.G. A.T. I.T. Ahaha, stop it, stop it, stop it or I’ll do something! I’ll do something nasty! Just pay it no mind! Pay it no mind I said!”

She clenched one hand while the other rested gingerly on her eye-patch.

“Ahahha! What are you looking at? I said pay it no mind, right? Riiiiiiiiiiight? Stop it! Ahaha, stop it, or [i][b]I’ll find the highest point of this building and hang you with your own entrails for the people down below to rejoice in consuming your flesh."[/i][/b]

All traces of thought or reason were lost on her, though she made no attempt to lash out with magic.

"Heh....ahahhahhaha! P.A.Y. I.T. N.O. M.I.N.D."

The Crimson Hound quickly plunged a burning fist through the breakfast table even as the inn shook, giving the eye-patched girl another burning look. The dark mage seemed to pause, blinking as she watched Solanne, before sighing.

"Ah. Yes. Well, heh, apologies then."

If they weren't getting kicked out before, they were definitely getting thrown out now. Solanne leaned back in her chair, casting Hazel another look, before sighing.

"Sorry about breakfast," she said as the table pieces lay scattered on the ground.

Amadeus watched the girls outburst, feeling a sense of sadness at the sight. Something must have happened to the girl, something really bad if it caused a reaction like that.

Sighing into his palm again, Solomon walked outside, and brought back in another 30lbs bag of gold, before bowing once more at the owner. "I wish to apologize for my comrade's behaviour. take this additional bag of gold as a sign of my sincerity." he said, placing the gold on the counter next to the original, before continuing, "This is not a bribe, as you are not required to forgive us and the coins will still be yours. Once more I beg of your forgiveness to me and my comrades. You have treated us well, while we have only repaid with damages and grievances." Solomon finished, still bowing.

Amadeus' sweat dropped at the second bag of money on the counter. Did this happen often? because it seems like Solomons weirdly prepared for it.

Hazel glared at the girl. There was no doubt... this girl was perfect, and she absolutley hated her guts. Hazel giggled, turning to Solanne, "Why haven't you introduced us before? She's so... adorable." Hazel said happily. She had gone for zero to a hundred and back to zero very quickly.

One could argue that Solanne had befriended Hazel in the first place because of her similarity to Marianne. That in itself was a scary though for the redhead to ponder. Marianne smiled softly with a tilt of her head.

"You're funny Miss Faker. When you die, I'll be sure to use your eyes for something really special. Besides, I'm interested in someone else's pair," she said, casting a glance at Amadeus. "Can I take your thumbs when you die Mister Short?"

Amadeus took a step back for a second but thought about what she was actually asking, "Ummm, Maybe? Depends, are you still going to try to kill my teammate there?" He said pointing at Hazel. In all honesty, He was totally fine with her taking his thumbs, he was planning to leave his body to science anyways but the chance to keep one of his teammates from burning the whole town on fire was more then a good reason to start a bargain.

"Only if she starts spouting nonsense again. Honestly Mister Short, I'm a lady above anything else," Marianne replied. "I might take some more parts though. How do you feel about having your brain replaced with a snake? Or having your clothes melted into your skin?"

"Well than, as a lady I hope you don't mind if I ask a couple of questions. So, am I dead or alive? What will you do with my brain? Are my clothes going to become a layer of skin, or infused with my skin?" He asked sincerely with a smile. Despite the shear insanity of the subject, the scientific, analytic side of his mind was starting to get fired up at the mention of experimentation.

"It'll be funnier if you're alive," Marianne said with a tilt of her head. "Your clothes will become infused as a new layer, I think."

The dark mage crossed over to get closer to Amadues, hand reaching out to carefully poke his bangs and where his eyes should be. She repeated the action, poking in interest and showed no signs of stopping.

"Poke. Poke. You have some soft eyes Mister Bangs. Poke. Poke. Can I H.A.V.E. them?"

Amadeus's strangely silver eyes became visible for a split second, almost glowing when light hit them, but he combed back down his bangs with his fingers to hide said eyes. "U-umm, I'm a little sensitive about my eyes." he said. "My eyes are a little special."

"Oh that's why I must have them when you die!" Marianne said with a soft smile. "I'll be sure to use them for all sorts of things! New spells, breakfast recipes, scaring Mister Try Hard when he's sleeping."

As she said this, the girl continued to poke Amadeus's eyes. Whether the boy would blink to avoid being jabbed in the eye or do something about it was up to him.

Amadeus gently grabbed Mariannes hand and brought it away from his eyes, "The thought of using my eyes for magic is actually a pretty interesting idea." He hesitated to continue to talk, wondering if it was ok to talk about the background of his weird eyes. "My eyes are actually blessed in a way." he said as he smiled down at the girl.

"Does that mean I can have them N.O.W?"

Without waiting for an answer, Marianne's hand began to glow with a dark purple energy. Smile never wavering, she lashed out with the other to attempt to constrict around Amadeus' throat with the intention of holding him down. The other hand slowly lowered to pluck her prize.

Hey, he wanted to flirt with the psycho, right? He was only getting what he bargained for. Too bad Solanne was being bothered by another helpless lunatic to worry about him.

Amadeus quickly grabbed the arm holding his neck, "Dimissus!" he said as the hand was forcible opened by the chant. He skipped backward a couple feet, "Sorry Miss Marianne, but as a lady I expect you to fufill your side of the deal as well. When I die, you can have my eyes."

"Aw..." Marianne said with a frown. A frown that was soon replaced with a cheery smile before saying, "Alright Mister Ama. I'll be sure to kill you quickly then when the time comes...hmm...Ama, Ama, yummy, tasty, Ama...."

Amadeus chuckled at this, her happy attitude was very refreshing, It was so natural and honest. "Well then, if you call me Ama, may I call you Miss Mari?" he paused for a second, "And please don't kill me to soon, I actually have some things I need to do."

"No promises," the girl said with a light giggle. "It's so nice to meet new F.R.I.E.N.D.S."

Amadeus smiled before having an idea, grabbing a pouch to his side, he opened it to reveal a rather large tooth, "A present at our new friendship, a Searzon tooth."

The Corpse Collector set her gaze on the tooth, reaching out to take the gift. As she did so, a brought it close to her and smiled, a small streak of red crossing her cheeks.

"Heheh....now I have to kill you S.L.O.W.L.Y....."

Amadeus raised an eyebrow, "Okay? Well since you gave me such a wonderful gift before, I thought it only natural I do the same" referring to the finger currently lying on the table.

"You're such a nice boy," Marianne said kindly. "I'll have to be sure to sell your organs to help fundraise this monster slaying cause of ours."

Moving faster than expected, Marianne reached out and latched onto Amadeus' arm. She rested her cheek there, smirk turning soft as her one eye narrowed. Her grip was like iron and she held onto the boy possessively. Solanne couldn't help but chuckle at the scene. There would be no help from her when it came to Marianne's latest obsession.

Hazel watched the pair wide eyed. This girl really was absolutely amazing in Hazel's mind. She decided to not interrupt the pair's back and forth, not wishing to disrupt her. Instead Hazel tiptoed towards Solanne, whispering in her ear low enough for the others not to hear. "Solan- I mean, uh, sister, can you... do me favor?" Hazel's face was now dominated with a seemingly wicked smile.

"If you want me to set you on a date, then no can do Spell Spitter," Solanne said with an amused smirk. It wasn't the first time someone had fallen for the dark mage. Really, if one disregarded the eye-patch, she was kinda cute. Actually, really cute. Course, relationships weren't exactly Marianne's storngpoint since all of them ended up with a limb being used as a kitchen utensil in some way. That, and the girl saw dates as candidate hunting for experiments.

"Besides, Marianne can't comprehend affection," she continued. "Fawn all you want, unless you have really good eyes, you're not hitting anything past a friend at most."

"She said my eyes were cute." Hazel stated glumly. "C'mon, can you at least help us be friends? Please? Pretty please?"

The Crimson Hound shrugged. She had gone through this routine before and one more time wouldn't hurt. So she turned to her other "sister" now with that wide grin she was known for.

"Alright, sure. I'll try to see what I can do. No promises now. I've known her since...well, a long time. Let's just say, no matter what you think, that girl's mentality is way more unstable than yours. Trust me on this. Hell, I don't think she even has a mentality anymore. She'll break your heart without even realizing it. Er, I mean that literally and figuratively."

Hazel shrugged. "Don't worry Solanne, I'll think I can manage." She said placidly.

Amadeus, not feeling the danger of being branded Marianne's newest 'obsession', looked over to the other two girls. "See, now that we are all friends and no one wants to kill anyone (Except Marianne to Amadeus, Solomon to Harley, Harley to Solomon, and Hazel to a lot of people) I think we should start heading back to camp." he said. 'Solomon's probably tired of waiting for us.' he thought as he again looked at the two huge bags of money, "Wasn't Solomon a soldier? how did he get that kind of money?" he asked but didn't really expect an answer.

Solomon had left the building shortly after apologizing, and was waiting in the front with the horses. After waiting for the group to leave the building, the man began to do push-ups on the porch. He slowly moved from the basic position to more and more difficult positions. Currently, Solomon was in a one-handed planche position, pushing up slowly. Exhaling slowly, Solomon began to feel himself calm down as his muscles pulled and shredded themselves. Wiping the sweat form his face with his free hand, Solomon saw Solanne exit the inn and posistion herself in front of him

Leaving the two "love birds" to themselves, Solanne let Hazel fawn after her teenage crush and walked over to check on the only other adult in this merry group of theirs. She had to admit, it was pretty impressive of him to exercise like that. Not by much, but it was something to behold.

"Sup Tall Beard," she said, resting on one of the porch posts. "You done showing off?" posts. "You done showing off?"

Putting his other arm down, Solomon placed his legs back down and pushed himself up into a standing position. "I was waiting for the rest of the group Solanne, and i was exercising to keep myself busy." Solomon answered. Looking through the window at the younger members, Solomon asked the woman in front of him, "So how do you know Marianne? She doesn't seem to be someone who you would associate with."

"Jeez, nothing gets past you," Solanne sighed. "See, I work at an orphanage. Well, no, it's more like I live there to be honest. Anyway, I found Marianne on the borders between the Sky Kingdom and the Earth Kingdom. She was...er, not right in the head when I found her. Still isn't. She was going around killing everything and anyone that so much as looked at her wrong. Naturally, I used my awesome kid coaxing skills to ensure she didn't eviscerate me on the spot and the rest is sorta obvious. I ended up bringing her to the orphanage with me. No parents, no siblings, no friends. Except the dead bodies she was dragging with her."

Nodding his head in understanding, Solomon replied, "I understand, my family and our servants often adopted the orphans of refugees that reached our castle." Solmon began reminiscing about the two children who he had saved before he was called out to fight the monsters. He wondered how they were faring, before refocusing on Solanne.

"Just one more thing we have in common," Solanne said with a grin. "We both got kid coaxing skills and we both can't stand Junior. Still, Marianne's only given me a brief summary of what happened to her beforehand. As for her eye-patch...she doesn't like to talk about it, obviously."

"In all my years interacting with children, I have never seen anyone act the way she does. This is also with me interacting with children who have watched their parents murdered or enslaved. The only time I have seen such violent and erratic behaviour is in traumatised army deserters." Solomon responded, crossing his arms together in front of his chest.

"Well, she's definitely traumatised," Solanne agreed, her voice getting lower so the others couldn't overhear so easily. "Though I don't think she cares anymore. Apparently the people in her village thought she was a demon because she had interest in the dark arts, including her parents. You can see where I'm going with this. By the time I found her, she was trying to connect the entrails of her neighbors to create...something."

"And here I thought the Sky Kingdom was the Utopia of Atros," Solomon snarked at the women, "but I guess not all that is white is not pure."

"Gee, you think?" Solanne stated with a slight roll of her eyes. "Conflict exists everywhere Tall Beard, especially in utopias. Long story short, she has trouble getting along with the other children at the orphanage as you can imagine. She's well mannered, but of course no one exactly likes their eyes being taken in the middle of the night."

"I feel sorry for you Solanne, having both Hazel and Marianne wrestling for your attention." Solomon warned, before grimacing at a thought that passed through his head. "Though at least you don't have two rivals that try to start a fight as soon as they reunite with you."

"Heh, I think I'd rather take the two rivals then," she joked right back. "Besides, kids are kids, right? It's kinda my job to make sure they don't do anything too stupid. Though I'd still trade for them over a lonely girl with pyro issues and a giggling apocalypse anyday."

"Perhaps, except for the fact that anyone of our fights could level a small town if we truly put effort into them." Solomon commented, before adding, "Of course, that's when i started my habit of carrying around large amounts of money, after an honor duel with one of them demolished one of the communal baths in the capital."

"Er, do I even wanna know?"

"It involved a box of crumpets, four goats, a whip, and a miniature windmill." Solomon replied to Solanne's question.

"Well. I can see you certainly get into some exotic fights."

As she said this, it looked like the rest of their merry band were finally exiting the inn. At least more than half an hour had to have been spent already, so they should be moving soon. Marianne clung tighter than to Amadeus's arm, wondering the best method to remove said arm. Seeing this, Solanne sighed.

"Should we continue Amadeus' suffering Hound? Or should we spare him at your expense?" Solomon whispered into Solanne's ear as he walked over to the group.

"Eh, the kid needs a girlfriend. And if not, then at least he got a free grave digger. Just don't mention the eye-patch," she whispered back.

Nodding in response, Solomon pointed at Amadeus and Marianne, "Amadeus, since you have appeared to have grown... close to our newcomer, she will be assigned to your horse, as we do not have enough horses for everyone."

"Thank you very much Mister Lung," Marianne said kindly. "I'll make good use of your pancreas when you die in repayment of your generosity."

Ignoring that statement, Solomon walked up to his horse. Putting his foot, into the stirrup, the man pushed himself up onto the saddle smoothly. "Quickly, we have wasted enough time here. The longer we stay here, the fewer beasts we slay."

Amadeus nodded and looked down at Marianne, "Miss Mari, do you want to sit in front or back?"

"Hmm. Perhaps the back? Although it's very kind of you to offer Mister Amadeus."

"No problem" he said as he got on the horse and held out his hand to help her on, "By the way, has anyone seen Harley? I was kinda out of it when he left."

"Probably out getting his wings clipped," Solanne put in as she mounted her horse. Marianne took Amadeus' hand and gripped his body tighter than before, a slight hum in her voice. Yes, it was nice to have friends.

Amadeus sighed at this and then looked around, noticing that Harley's horse, like its owner, was missing. He put his medallion up to his mouth "Harley, I assume that you already left to base camp, I just want you to know that the Babettes + Marianne are about to head out of Laewae and towards base camp." He finished.

Hazel followed the group outside, mounting up. It didn't take long for Allush to return to the group. He momentarily took in the scene of destruction, sighing. He eyed the newcomer suspiciously, "I... will not ask how this has happened, but I trust you've already taken to compensating the innkeep, lest the authorities come after us." He mounted his horse, "I will also not ask about the child you have picked up, although I am sure Gregorias will have questions for her if you're taking her back to the camp."

"Well then, lets hurry. I don't really want to get on Gregoias bad side." Amadeus said as he scratched his cheek.

"Does Mister Gregorias have flammable eyes?" Marianne asked Amadeus.

"Ummm. I think the flamability of his eyes are normal." he answered as his horse began to start moving forward, "Lets head out. I need to get back to meet someone. She gets REALLY mad when you make her wait to long."

Marianne's grip became like iron, digging into Amadeus' shirt as her body suddenly froze up. Solanne noticed the younger girl's actions but chose to not intervene. Cause really, it was funnier that way. Well, at least to her it was.

"She gets mad?" Marianne asked in a sweet voice. "May I ask W.H.O.?"

Amadeus cringed a bit at the increased tightening, "I guess you can say she's my childhood friend, although she's more like an annoying sister. She makes all my armor and some of my equipment for me" he said as he sighed, "I asked her to visit me when I got back so I could give her some material for new armor. If I'm late, she'll use MY hide to make new armor"

"Is that so."

The dark mage said nothing more, simply digging her nails tighter into the boy's shirt. Right then. What was the best way to handle this potential issue? She could turn all of the girl's insides into lightning conductors and go from there. Or she could make her eyes into roaches and have them eat the brain from the inside out. There were so many choices and options for Marianne to consider for this "childhood friend".

"Hmm...she's sounds so nice," she said to herself.

"She's really not" he said with a sigh, remembering the times that she had smacked him over the head for being late, as the group had finally exited the town. "So Mari, where are you from? Are you also from the Sky Kingdom like Solanne?"

"It's not polite to ask a girl such intimate questions Mister Amadeus," Marianne answered with a smile. "That's how people get their skulls turned into flower pots."

Amadeus blushed a bit at the first part, then sweat dropped at the second. "Oh sorry Miss Marianne, I was just curious because I actually used to live in the Sky Kingdom before certain ... Events transpired and I was forced to move to the Earth Kingdom." He said as he looked forward, remebering said events.

"Is that so? Ah, events are funny like that. Did people die during these events? Were their body parts scattered to the wind with blood staining the ground scarlet? If so...can I have some of them?"

"Someone did die." He said as he looked down and frowned, "Sadly, there was no remains."

"Well that's no fun. Ah, but there's no reason to look upset Mister Amadeus. People die all the time! Usually in very horrific ways these days."

Amadeus felt pure gloom at this, remebering yesterdays events and Harleys view of the world "It's sad, whether it happens a lot or not doesn't change that fact."

"You think it's sad to die?" Marianne asked curiously. "That's sorta funny to think that someone thinks it's sad to think about death."

He rose an eyebrow at this, "Well of course its a sad thing, if someone you knew learned that you died they'd miss you and be sad."

"Hmm. Maybe. Death is a funny thing. No one knows how people feel until they're buried in the ground themself. Don't you think?"

Amadeus looked at the girl. In truth, he KNEW what it felt like to die but chose not to say anything, and looked back forward at the path in front of him, "Maybe," he replied, "So Mari, how long have you known Solanne? You guys seem very close." He said trying to change the subject, it probably wasn't the best idea to talk about the subject of life with someone who was a professinal at collecting dead bodies.

"Hmm, I've known big sister for many years now," Marianne said cheerfully at the change of subject. Her grip significantly lessened on Amadeus' shirt and she cast a one-eyed glance over at the Crimson Hound.

Amadeus smiled warmly at this, "You must really care about her." he said in a soft tone.

"We're I.N.S.E.P.E.R.A.B.L.E."

He sighed and laughed a bit "I wish I could find a special person like that." He said. 'Now I sound like a hopeless romantic. Although, I don't have anyone like THAT either' He thought as he began to ponder about the females he knows. He looked to Hazel, she was admittedly cute, and he suspected that she was a good person at heart but he sensed that the girl had already had her eyes on someone else. He then looked to the girl grabbing onto his shirt. Marianne was cute, she was fun too, and in the short time (extremely short) he's known her he has considered her a very charming individual. He snorted for a second, there was no way he could ever have a romantic partner, his life was to complicated right now for him to even consider having a girlfriend.

"But Mister Amadeus, don't you consider me as someone special to you?"

The notion was laughable. They had literally only met each other for an hour at most, and it probably wasn't a good first impression when the party gifts were severed limbs. Even still, she seemed eager enough. That did nothing to sate the...unnerving look in Marianne's eye. That, and she kept glancing at the boy's bangs, wondering what it would feel like to pick his eyes like ripe berries.

Unconsciously, her hand began to glow in power once more. Reaching over, she decided to fulfill her curiosity with the easiest route. After all, no one really needed their eyes to live. Losing one wouldn't be so bad and once one got over the screaming and writhing, the pain was a bit easier to deal with in hindsight.

"Aren't I S.P.E.C.I.A.L.?"

Amadeus, sensing the magic exerted, shifted so that the demon sword Pride's hilt touched Marianne, and her hand stopped glowing immediately. He then removed a hand from the reign of the horse and grabbed Mariannes hand before she could do anything, an event that would seem to definitly become a common occurance. "I think that this is the begining of our friendship, and that it will definitely grow into something very special between us.''

Marianne twitched sligtly as he used the demonic sword to cancel out her powers.

"Aha, that's a neat trick Mister Amadeus! Do it again, and I'll rearrange your arteries with your skin."

"Yes, yes Miss Mari, I promise I won't do it again unless you try to break your promise again." he said with a smile.

"No guarantees," the mage said with her same smile.

"Well then 'No guarantees.' then" He said mimicking the Corpse Collector.

Solanne watched from afar with mixed feelings. It was like watching some kind of demented flirting session and she found herself wanting to watch Hazel and Harley go at it instead. At least then she could make fun of Junior without the risk of losing an eye. With that in mind, she wondered how the Diaphat was handling all this, since she was the one interested in the pint sized psycho in the first place.

Hazel was, as could be expected, sulking in her saddle, glaring daggers at Amadeus. Pompous 'Prodigy Kid' with your stupid eyeballs. she though to herself. She momentarily considered flicking a fireball at him, but decided against it when she thought about the scolding she would probably recieve for lighting the kid on fire.

Well that answered Solanne's mental question. Obviously the younger girl was still infatuated with her other "sister". Marianne would probably not appreciate her latest obsession being roasted alive though. Then again, she could easily collect Amadeus' remains if that were the case.

Amadeus felt a chill go up his spine as Hazel glared at him, 'How come I feel a cold chill yet I sense the danger of an incoming Inferno.' he thought as he looked over to his other teammates. He saw Solomon in the back, staying behind everyone else. Amadeus slowed down a bit so both his horse and solomon's were parellel, "Miss Mari, you haven't introduced yourself to Sir Solomon correct?"

"Yes I did. Back at the inn, I gave him a lovely gift, didn't I? Even so, it's very nice to meet you again Mister Lungs," Marianne said kindly. "Oh! I have more gifts if you'd like."

At once, she produced a fresh eye from her pocket using her free hand and held it out for Solomon to take. It was covered in dripping blood and other eye fluids and she smiled warmly despite the dissonant sight.

"Please, take another gift. I have plenty to spare. Maybe you can repay the favor by allowing me to study your arteries when you eventually perish in battle? Or how about when you're sleeping? You won't even feel a thing!"

Looking down at the smaller figure, Solomon plucked the eyeball from her palm and brought it to his eye. Shrugging, Solomon pulled out a handkercheif and wrapped up the bloody object before he placed the object in his pouch. "Whether or not you are allowed to do that is dependent on my family's wishes." Solomon answered the girl.

Amadeus chuckled a bit at the interaction. Before he could comment, Allush yelled, "Warriors, a pack of Amarago's to the south! Their heading straight for us!"

Amadeus turned to Marianne, "Can you let go for a bit? I'm about to jump off." The boy said as he reached for the demon sword on his back.

"I suppose so," Marianne said lowly. She took a few moments more to cling on before slowly letting go.

"Thank you" he said before jumping off the horse, rolling on the ground, and began to run towards the pack of wolf like creatures. "There seems to be around 16 of them!" he yelled as he fully unsheathed his sword and got into a battle stance as the creatures approached.

Thank Atros Hazel thought darkly to herself. She really wanted to burn something that wouldn't get her in trouble, and monsters worked really well for that task. She wordlessly swept off her horse, raising her hand, a fireball forming in her palm. She carelessly lobbed it into the pack, causing a small explosion in their midst.

Seeing the incoming blast, all the wolfs dispersed and began attacking the others in groups. A group of eight attacking those still on their horses and two groups of four attacking the two younger warriors who jumped off their horses

Solomon earged his horse into a leap towards the dismounted warriors, barreling into the pack. Bringing Emerald Wyvern back and forth, Solomon attempted to drive off the wolf like creatures. "Leave these to me!" Solomon shouted, "Go help the others."

Amadeus slashed forward as his group of four Amaragos reached him, "Sorry Solomon, but it looks like me and Hazel are gonna join this fight!" he got into a fighting stance "IGNIS!!!" he yelled as a fire ball formed next to him, then shot forward, hitting one of the beasts in front of him, knocking them back.

"Don't be stupid Sword Slicker," Solanne called out, galloping next to Solomon and hacking away with her blade. "Jeez, first the overgrown mutt and now these pups. Didn't I tell you already that I'm the only hound around? I'm not bad looking either."

Marianne watched with a look of boredom on her face, still on Amadeus' horse. Hmm. She supposed she should help out her new friends...with a giggle to herself, the dark mage began throwing hex after hex into the pack of wolves, causing one of them to drop onto its side and whimper aloud. Apparently she was making its blood overflow from the inside.

Harley teleported behind Solomon from some unknown location, already running at full speed, he jumped, using the Emerald Wyvern's head to kick off, he launched into the air and spun, coming down with a kick that broke one of the wolves' neck, then dissipating in a burst of smoke.

Hazel renewed her attack, this time not intending to give the quick creatures the chance to dodge. She quickly extended her hand towards one of the beasts, a bold of lightning arching out towards the creature. The Amarago's were certainly swift, but not faster than lightning. The bolt caught the creature, causing it to quickly drop to the ground mid stride.

Harley once again teleported in to view, swords drawn, he came running from behind Hazel, taking a few steps, then teleporting directly under an Amarago in a slide and running a sword across it's belly. Then, in another flash he was by Hazel. "Eh? Eh?" he nudged her arm with a raised eyebrow.

"Very impressive." The girl stated sarcastically. "But I'll show you something much cooler," She said wickedly. She picked out another one of the creatures that Solomon had engaged, and focused for a moment, her hand extended towards it. It took a moment, but the creature paused, before exploding into a red cloud of gore. Hazel was breathing hard now, "I... probably shouldn't have done that."

"Showing off again Spell Spitter?"

Solanne noticed one of the wolves leaping for her. Reining in her horse, she twisted around to deliver a solid kick to the oversized dog. Said kick was a flaming one and she sighed as the thing was lit on fire, the smell of burning fur wafting in the air.

"Dude, you're not supposed to grab the lady until after you buy her a drink," she commented on the burning monster.

Shaking off the sudden blow, Solomon quickly leapt from his horse into a flip. While in the air, Solomon began channeling more power from his glaive making the air around him crackle with his aura. "Steady yourselves!" Solomon warned as he brought his weapon down on the earth. The resounding impact split the earth into a smal furrow, with the earth shattering around him, sending both the animals and earth into the air.

Marianne was no longer lying dormant on the horse. In fact, she didn't really feel the need to help out anymore. Why, when everyone else could potentially level a continent at this rate? So she left the specifics up to them as she crouched near the one wolf that was still spasming on the ground. Humming to herself, she lowered a glowing hand and brought it down to the whimpering creature's snout, fingers slowly crawling up to the eye socket.

Plop.

The Corpse Collector was unfazed by the dying sounds the wolf was making as it struggled to claw at her. Nor did the shaking earth seem to deter her from her morbid fascination. Blood was leaking out of the wolf's snout and empty socket, the clear fluids of a freshly plucked eye mixing in with the scarlet ground. She continued on with her work, paying no mind to the chaos around her.

"It's nice to make art," she told herself.

Amadeus got into a fighting stance as the four wolf like monsters surrounded him. 'Amarago's love to jump. So stay low.' he thought as the beasts circled him. The one behind him leapt to bite at his neck but he quickly ducked, letting the beast crash into the one in front of him. "DIE!" he yelled as he jumped up into the air and landed approve the two beasts on the ground, driving his sword through their chests in the process. The other two jumped at him at the same time, which he dodged by quickly rolling under them and span around "Oh daemonibus non huius saeculi perivimus!", he yelled as he extended his hand at the beasts. At first nothing happened, then the two beasts went wide eyed as they both began to vomit blood and fall to the ground lifeless. "Easy." he whispered as he looked to the others in his group.

The boy looked to the other combatants as they battled their share of the enemies, "And yet compared to them, I'm a weakling." he said as he thought about his strength compared to everyone else 'I guess the only way I can get to their level of strength, is if I use HIM' he thought with a sigh, "But he's almost as bad as Harley."

Hazel turned her attention towards the hounds that Solomon had knocked up into the air. She saw a pretty easy oppritunity to finally kill something with her preferred method without them dodging. A cone of flame leapt from her hands, enveloping the creatures.

Amadeus stared amazed at the power of the inferno, "Thats is, I need to talk to the bastard." he said with a sigh. "The man who's power can match that of Atros" he said in a whisper so no one could hear.

Solanne scoffed at the fireworks Hazel had made. She could cause something cooler than that if there were more enemies to fry. She idly slashed at another wolf that tried to lunge at her, slicing at its abdomen as she tried to think of a way to top the display off.

Dislodging Emerald Wyvern from the ground, Solomon surveyed the carnage around him. All of the beasts lay dead at the groups feet. Stabbed, incinerated, and butchered, the pile of corpses was an uninteresting sight as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Excellent job, Daphiat, though perhaps next time you could aim a bit higher." Solomon complimented the girl as he brushed soot off his shouler pauldron.

"There's no need to worry Mister Wolf. Your body will help serve the finer purpose of collective science."

Marianne's words of course meant nothing to the scorched thing that was probably dead twice over. This was her fourth corpse in a row and with the battlefield fairly devoid of constant battle, she was making wonderful progress. Soon she got to work on this one as well. A little slice here, a tiny rip there. The eyes though, always found a way in her pocket. The rest of the body needed to be inspected. After all, she couldn't carry the whole thing back to base. If she had more transport then she gladly would. but she doubted her new friends would appreciate the stench.

By now, her hands had been well stained as red as her one eye and she calmly uncoiled the intestines out for her latest query to better inspect. In short, she was studying each individual ridge and bump of the lungs, aorta, and other internal organs. Why? Cause it was funny.

Amadeus sighed at the bloody Marianne, he took out a small cloth from his pouch and held it towards Mari "You should probably clean your hands before we meet Gregoris, I don't think this amount of blood will leave a good first impression."

"Oh thank you Mister Amadeus. Yes, this will do just nicely..."

Misinterpreting his actions, Marianne took the offered cloth and proceeded to wipe clean the various eye balls she had collected over the course of this one battle. She soon handed him back his rag, which was dripping with red liquid and all sorts of undesirables.

He took the rag and covered it up in another rag, making a mental note to clean them both later, and put then back in his bag, "Well I guess that problems done, but where did they come from?"

Hazel cut in. "They're monsters, they were probably... just out... monstering." She said plainly. She walked over to Marianne and peered over her at her handiwork. Butchering was not one's typical arts and crafts hobby, but Hazel hardly disapproved.

"Does it matter?" Solanne put in with a shrug. "Though you gotta wonder, maybe they were being chased by some bigger monster? That's usually how these things pander out."

Marianne looked up and flashed Hazel a wide smile before saying, "Aw, hello Miss Faker. Have you come to help me create my art?"

Hazel glanced at Solanne, "Not our problem, unless Greagoris tells us to take care of it." She said shrugging. She redirected her attention back towards Mari, smiling back at her, "But of course." She said, crouching down next to the girl. "How may I help?"

"Well I can't decide on whether to take the pancreas or the liver," Marianne replied. "I can only have so much room. Would you suggest the entire nervous system instead? Actually, I wish I could take the whole head to make into a nice flowerpot. But choosing can be so A.N.N.O.Y.I.N.G."

Hazel shook her head. "Yes, that is quite the dilemma... I'm afraid I might not be much help, it appears you've far exceeded my expertiese in finding uses for the internal organs of living creatures. If it was my choice, I would probably do something fairly mundane... like, I dunno, make a nice coat out of it's skin..."

"Hmm...maybe....maybe, maybe, maybe...M.A.Y.B.E....I think I'll do that. It's such a wonderful idea! Though big sister says I have enough things made out of skin..."

"A wol- er, 'Amarago' skin coat sounds fabulous to me. I don't know why Solanne has to be so uptight about minor things like the mutilation of dead animals... anyways, you may have me beat in the department of dissection, but if you need any help with your coat I do think I'll be able assist you. I rather enjoy making clothing." Hazel said happily.

"Speak for yourself when those things start reeking up the place Spell Spitter," Solanne muttered, having caught word of their conversation.

"I see. You're very much a kind lady Miss Faker," Marianne said with the utmost warmth in her voice. "When I kill you, I'll do something extra special for you, like turn your corpse into a P.I.L.L.O.W."

Hazel chuckled to herself. "I'm sorry to dissapoint you Mari, but I highly doubt you'll be able to kill me. I'd burn you to a crisp if you even tried! You remember that whole episode in the inn, don't you?" She said, still laughing, "But I don't want to do that, because I've found you to be quite the charming young lady, so perhaps it would be best for you give up on this foolish plan of murdering me."

Marianne twitched slightly, an unnatural thing on itself. Solanne held back a sigh, ready to break up the two if Marianne decided to raise an undead army in retaliation. Thankfully, the dark mage only giggled happily with a tilt of her head.

"Miss Faker sure is a F.U.N.N.Y girl."

Amadeus chuckled to himself 'They seem to be getting along great' he thought as he obviously was misreading the mood. "Miss Mari, can I ask for a favor?"

Marianne turned her twitching head over to Amadeus now, smile still etched into her face.

"Y.E.S?"

"Well I can tell that your carving skills are top notch, so I was wondering if you can make me a coat or something out of all these pelts, I'd actually really like to see how well your armor making skills are." he said as he bent down next to the girl to examine the pelts.

Marianne glanced over at the mangled corpses then to her red stained hands and then back to the boy. She blinked once before a much warmer smile crept onto her face.

"Perhaps Mister Amadeus. That depends on a great number of things."

"Well lets hope all those things work in my favor" he said with a smile

"Indeed, that is the best option," Marianne answered kindly, one-eyed gaze drifting over to the boy's ear. "Don't worry Mister Amadues. I may look calm right about now, but I've already killed you twenty times in twenty different ways in under five minutes in my mind. Isn't L.O.V.E. wonderful?"

Amadeus looked at the girl next to him, trying to figure out if she was dead serious or joking. Then something clicked in his head and he finally realized something 'This girl is dangerous!' he thought as he finally realized it "Umm, I guess?" he said unsure

Marianne said nothing more, closing the distance between them and latching onto his arm with a death grip. Smiling, she allowed her head to rest in that spot, already lost in her wonderful fantasies of mutilation and murder. And if Amadeues died? Well, she could just ressurect him and the fun could repeat over and over again.

Solomon watched as the girl latched onto the boy's arm, despite Amadeus' obvious and growing discomfort. Decciding to keep an eye on the pair, Solomon looked back at his horse, who was currently lying on it's back from his shock wave. Feeling the horse's pulse, Solomon deduced that the horse was still alive. Placing his glaive horizontally on his lower back, he picked up the horse in a shepard posistion, the walked back to the group.

One might excpect Hazel to be fuming with jealousy over Marianne and Amadeus, but that was hardly the case. It was clear to Hazel that Amadeus would never actually have the ability to reciprocate the girl's obsession, or the motivation to. Amadeus wasn't exactly like Hazel or Harley or Mari, he was still fairly soft. When Solomon arrived with his horse, Hazel cast him an odd glace, "Why exactly do you feel the need to carry it around, Solomon? Just let it rest."

"It is resting, I will be carrying it to the next town." Solomon replied.

Hazel shook her head, glancing at the warrior incredulously, "Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt your strength or whatever, but are you... sure that it would be feasible for you to carry a horse the rest of the way and keep up with us?"

"I ran the distance from my family's manor to the capitol, without my glaive in 3 days, in full armor, to deliver a message. That distance is enough to cover 20 leagues." Solomon replied.

Hazel shrugged. "If you insist, just don't hold us up, I'd hate to be late." Hazel said doubtfully.

Amadeus sighed and walked over to the tallest of the group, Marianne slowing him down a bit. "Just put the horse down and I can heal it real quick." he said.

"Can I take one of its eyes?" she asked, looking up at Amadeus. "I promise it'll go to a good cause."

Solomon looked down at his companion, before replying, "It's not dead yet, so no. And Amadeus, I'm carrying it because it's not any physical condition, it is locked up in panic."

Amadeus nodded in understanding, "If you say so." he said as he, and Marianne by extention, began to walk back to his horse.

And where was Solanne during all of this? Lying underneath the nearest tree of course with her hands behind her head and a slight grin as always. Until Solomon-since he was pretty much the de facto leader-said for them to move out, she'd stay right here under her apple tree....apple tree?

Looking up, the redhead confirmed that it was indeed an apple tree. Well that was convienent. Standing up, she swiftly cut one down with her blade before palming the bright red fruit. Interesting to note as she turned her gaze over to Hazel. An idea formed in her head.

Hazel glanced around, noting that her 'sister' had moved away from the group, having seemingly elected to fiddle around with apples. Hazel shrugged, returning her gaze to Solomon, "So, do you suppouse we should get a move on? I'm sure that the rest of the 42 would frown upon deserters, and the absence of someone as powerful as me will surely be noted soon enough." She said, striding towards her horse.

Shrugging his shoulders, Solomon shouted to Solanne. "Whatever you are doing, are you able to do it in the saddle? We must be on our way soon. And you two," turning to Amadeus and Marianne, and taking care not to smack Hazel with the horse, he said, "Get saddled up, we leave in five."

"Yes sir!" Amadeus said as he looked around 'Did Harley disappear again? Dammit man!' he though with a sigh, the prodigy child wanted to ask Harley for a favor but it appeared that the Black Devil was no where to be seen.

It didn't take long for the group to reassemble. They all mounted, minus Solomon, who's horse was instead mounting him. And so began a long and thankfully uneventful journey back to camp...

Amadeus looked at the armor in his arms that Alice had made from the corpse of the Searzon, "Thanks a lot Miss Alice, I really appreciate this!" he said as he began to examine the expert craftsmanship of the armor.

"umm I know this might sound a little selfish after you JUST made me a whole set of armor, but can you actually make me something else to. I have the material, I just need someone to make it." He said as he scratched the back of his head.

Even though Alice pushed Amadeus Cross right out of her tent herself, the boy came back in mere moments after. After hearing his request, Alice began tapping her feet impatiently.

"And what exactly would you like me to make? And with what materials?"

Amadeus took off the bag on his back and opened it, revealing it to be full of a strange black metal, "I need a sheath, or more specifically, a katana sheath made out of just this material" Amadeus put the bag on the table "It's my sword, Pride, I kinda broke it on a side mission I went on by myself" he said embarressed by the fact.

Alice inspected the contents of the bag. The demon sword Pride was in shambles; though the blade retained its canceller effect, it was broken into several pieces. Signs of dullness could be seen. The hilt was worn and ragged as well. Alice felt a vein pop.

"Seriously, you stupid warriors and fighters have no respect for your weapons do'ya? I can feel Pride crying!"

Amadeus looked down in shame "I'm sorry, I wanted to grow stronger, so I went on a mission by myself. I was careless and broke my sword. Luckily i had this." he said as he motioned to the white katana on his waist.

She began running the repairs in her mind. She would have to melt down and reforge the blade and she had to do this using the Kliepson method to prevent damage to the magical circuits the blade... the blade?

"Hmmm? What the... Hey Cross, do you have any idea what sort of sword this is?"

Amadeus looked a bit confused, "An enchanted sword?" he almost asked

"Yeah, that's what I thought at first as well. But see here?" Alice brought up a broken blade up close to his face. "These circuits are hollow. Do you know what that means? It was clearly designed to indeed be an enchanted blade but there was no enchantment applied. It's a soulless blade so to speak."

Alice grabbed towards the ragged hilt. "My impression was there was a powerful canceller curse applied to the blade which was why it would disrupt the flow of magic and dispel it when it came into contact. But that's not the case. Rather, the hollow circuits acted as a conductor for this. The hilt!" Her eyes were sparkling. This was a rather unique sword and she hadn't seen magical blades made in such a way before.

"A conductor for the hilt?" he asked not really understanding why the hilt was so important

"Yes! The engravements on this hilt are seals. Basically it's not an enchanted sword, its a possessed one. It was not magic cancelling all along, rather, it was more of magic absorption. The demon sealed within this will probably pack quite a punch considering what the sword has been through."

Amadeus was amazed by this, he has had the sword since the day he was born and he never noticed, "This sword was created by my great great great great grandfather, so are you saying that the hilt has just been gathering magic this whole time?!" he said in amazement.

"Indeed it has. This here will take some time to work on though. I don't like doing shoddy work and creating a container for the hilt won't be easy. No doubt this will change the way you fight in the future."

Amadeus paused for a bit, the fact that it was an absorbing possessed blade instead of a magic cancelling enchanted blade changed things. "Can you make it a Katana?" he asked as he picked up a piece of the blade examining the circates. "If I'm going to change my style of fighting, I might as well be able to choose a bit." Katanas were not very common in his current home in Earth Kingdom, nor his previous home of the Sky Kingdom.

"Roger that. Do you have any other special requests?"

Amadeus thought for a bit, "Maybe later, I get the feeling that I'm going to be asking you for alot of favors" he said apologetically.

"Alrighty then. Oh, and don't call it a favor. You are paying me after all." Alice flashed a business smile.

"Well then I guess I'm going to be your best customer" he said as he began to walk out of the tent "Thank you again!"

"Well now... I've got some work to do."

Something small and dark moved at rapid speeds with a clear goal in mind. Anything that stood in their way would not only find its head turned inside out, but also have a bunch of other unmentionable things done to them as well. Even the air seemed to get a little colder as the walking apocalypse made contact with her prey in mere seconds…

“Hello there Mister Amadeus,” Marianne said sweetly, suddenly appearing by the boy’s side and interlocking her fingers around his arm in a death grip. “I was looking all over for you. Can you believe I had to threaten five people just to find your location? But you’re here now….”

The dark mage then noticed where they were standing and who’s tent Amadeus had probably just exited. The light smile didn’t falter one bit but her grip became harder, if that was even possible. Yes, Alice was a new addition to their merry little band. An addition that could prove to be dangerous in more ways than one.

“Were you visiting Miss Alice?” she asked slowly. “Ah, she’s a very kind woman. Taking the time to craft our forces new weapons. She indirectly creates death and that’s so wonderful of her. I’m a little jealous to be honest at how casual she treats her work…”

The girl’s tone became low as she set her one-eyed gaze right at the boy she was clinging to. It was enough to stare right through a man, not matching the small smile still gracing her lips.

“So…what were you two T.A.L.K.I.N.G. about?”

On the other side of the camp, another force was minding her own business. In comparison to Marianne though, this one was infinitely more lighthearted and certainly less threatening and trigger happy.

“Aw man, it’s a nice day to kick some ass!”

Solanne’s exclamation was directed to no one in particular, just the ones nearby to listen. Since Marianne had unofficially joined their mission, she had contacted her orphanage to reassure them that no, she wasn’t out making people their own graves again.

Just one more person to look after.

Grinning to herself, the Crimson Hound decided to relax for once. So she opted to take a fine stroll around the base camp, ready to make conversation with anyone else really.

Meanwhile, in one of the busiest and most popular corners of the Coalition's encampment, Hazel Daphiat was engaged in a very important task, on which perhaps the very fate of the world may lie: Getting food. She picked an odd time of the day to eat- most of their group would take their lunch in the span of the next few hours, but she always insisted on having her lunch at the exact point of midday. There was, unfortunately, still a line for food, which grated on the Dark Child's nerves. She waited patiently in a very plainly impatient manner. She carried a veil of false courtesy- one that did not recognize her may even mistake her for a proper heir to the Daphiat's, one of the most powerful families in all of the Sky Kingdom, not a borderline sociopath with a very short fuse. She did not pay attention to most of the 'famous' warriors that had surrounded her, save for her few new friends, but as she scanned around searching for a familiar face she caught a passing glance at a man. One of the fighters of the group, they were easy enough to pick out from the rest by their physicality and equipment. She would perhaps have never noticed this man if not for a small passing sense of familiarity and the not so small fact that he was glowering at her. As the line progressed she was acutely aware that the man continued to glare at her shamelessly. She was also acutely aware that she definitely knew this man. When she finally reached the head of the line, she collected her food, and left in the direction of her tent. The man also left the line- but he didn't collect any food. He was very conspicuously and unabashedly following her.

She picked a roundabout path to her tent, and the man followed close behind her at every turn, picking up his pace or slowing down to match her. Hazel finally stopped in place, turning around to face her follower. She opened her mouth to speak, but he spoke first. "Witch." His voice was filled with vehement vitriol. This man clearly was not one of her fans. "Sorry, do I know you? Why exactly are you following me?" She said quickly. The man was clearly caught off guard. "S-Surely you must recognize me?!" This time there was no vitriol in his voice, instead an aggressive sort of confusion "I am your sworn enemy- I am Vitor Estevo! The Red Flash of the Earth Kingdom! We made battle in the Burning of Nytchovich! I swore I would slay you in revenge for murdering my brother!" Hazel could not say she remembered the man. She certainly remembered the battle- there was a time when the Sky Kingdom decided it would try out its trump card. When the let Hazel loose on the battlefield she was only 13, and it ended up being a dire mistake on the part of the Sky Kingdom. She was all too effective, destroying legions of soldiers on both sides of the conflict.

"You'll have to excuse me- Between the Crimson Hound, the Phoenix, and myself, there are far too many 'Red' people to keep track of. I hardly think you can be sworn enemy if I don't remember you though- I suggest you leave." What came next she had expected. He drew his sword- to his credit, he was indeed deserving of the name 'The Red Flash', because he was quick. But Hazel didn't need speed when she had magic. She didn't make a move to block, instead forming a magical barrier in front of her without so much as an utterance or a movement. The man's sword cast off sparks as it contacted the barrier, and he staggered backwards, not expecting to be blocked. "I would really suggest you leave, before you make me angry... that would be very unwise of you. We've gone a month with no casualties, you know... it would be unfortunate if you were our first, at the hands of one of our own no less." By now a crowd was drawing around them. Vitor cast a glance around him, and finally back at her. "T-T-This won't be the last time you see me, vile witch!" He shouted, before casting a full retreat in the direction opposite of her. People are so strange She thought to herself. She shrugged, and resumed her path towards her tent, food in hand.

Soon enough Hazel took notice of the Crimson Hound, strolling aimlessly. Hazel raised her hand, smiling. "Big sister!" She called out. For one that was so feared Hazel had developed a very quick affection over the past month for Solanne, for the reason that she so quickly accepted her.

"Oh why hello Miss Mari" Amadeus said casually, after about a month of being stalked, the boy had grow accustomed to Mariannes unique personality and had mastered how to be near Marianne without losing and body parts.

"Alice was just giving me the armor that I had requested and I asked her to repair my sword." He said casually. "Actually, I'm glad you're hear. I wanted to talk to you about something" he said as he took out a notebook labeled Dark Magic."I was hoping if you could tell me everything you know about Necromancy" He said with a smile.

The camp lived up to every one of Adrian's unsavory expectations. The warriors may have been the greatest of of their time, but their egos were almost as prolific as their prowess in battle. Having arrived not even an hour prior, Adrian found the amount of head butting between these "heroes" downright dismaying. And considering who that was coming from, that was depressingly impressive.

Mighty warriors yes. But they are definitely not allies, he noted, observing, with particular distaste, an exchange between the Red Flash and a pipsqueak that could only be the Sky Kingdom's own Dark Child. He merely shook his head when he heard the Red Flash's exuberant proclamation of vengeance against a person a fraction of his size.

The gawking onlookers went back to their business and Adrian resumed his stomping trudge to the main tent. It was actually a rather beautiful day, with a radiant sun and blissful breeze, but he wasn't having any of it. While not quite resentful, serving as a replacement for Reiner and Jade was hardly something the former captain relished. The order had come rather unceremoniously to him less than a week ago. There were no heartfelt goodbyes or wishes of luck, and that was exactly the way he wanted it.

He ran a hand through his sweat greased hair, scowling at whatever happened to cross his field of view at the time. The trip had turned into a tedious affair and Adrian was left feeling rather drained. The old man can wait a while longer, the tactician decided as he leaned against the nearest wall to catch a brief respite. A solid "thunk" soon followed as he dropped the case that carried Whisper, his ridiculous looking weapon of choice. "What has fate gotten me mixed up into now?" he wondered out loud.

“Ah, I see,” Marianne said with her own smile, making a mental note to fill Alice’s organs with gunpowder later. “So I see. I’m glad Mister Amadeus is making new F.R.I.E.N.D.S. After all, it’s always nice to have F.R.I.E.N.D.S. And making new F.R.I.E.N.D.S. is always the best way to avoid enemies.”

The dark mage then caught on interest to the boy’s next choice of words. So he wanted to learn more about the dark arts, was that it? More specifically, he wanted to dabble in her profession of necromancy and the like. Oh so many horrible, gruesome things to teach him. So many lessons to choose from…

“I’m afraid I will have to deny your request,” said Marianne with a tilt of her head and a giggle. “Mister Amadeus can barely go around without breaking his sword and I doubt he’d be able to control magic of my caliber.”

For what was pretty much an insult, her tone of voice remained as pleasant as ever. And how had she known about his Pride sword shattering? Through the almighty methods of her stalking of course. She made it her duty to at least put in twenty hours of the practice and the other four to thinking of new ways to kill Amadeus.

“Apologies for my blunt implications. I only want what’s best for Mister Amadeus after all.”

The dark mage gently pulled on his arm in the indication that they should walk together on this fine day. Then she saw Solanne and she changed direction to join her big sister. Oh yes, she saw the illegitimate faker trying to interact with her Crimson Hound. In fact, Marianne tried at least three times a week to murder Hazel. Of course, their magic was pretty much equal and successes were low.

Not that the Corpse Collector minded. Even so, she couldn’t help but study the Diaphat with a look of…interest? Who could say for sure?

“Yo, what’s up Spell Spitter,” Solanne replied to Hazel with crossed arms and a huge grin. “You’re just now eating lunch? Sheesh, even your dining habits are fickle,” she joked before noticing Marianne.

Amadeus chuckled at her remark, "Well thank you for worrying about me. But truth be told, I'm not trying to learn it, I just need a basic understanding of how it works. Id like to know for future reference, after all, information is key to winning most battles." He said as the pair walked around the camp, "Oh, hey Miss Solanne, Miss Hazel." He said at the two girls ahead of him. "Miss Hazel, I see that you're having an early lunch." He stated

(I totally didn't read the post above and wrote the wrong response)

The battle was won and the beast Napsezal had been slain. While most would celebrate such a victory Ashaad retained his serene appearance as he walked the perimeter of the encampment. He had not been assigned to guard duty but he felt the need to observe the camp outskirts for any signs of trouble. While on his rounds he noticed a few members of the Babettes.As he passed the warriors Ashaad gave them a nod before continuing on with his rounds. Once he was satisfied with the security of the encampment Ashaad sat by one of the numerous campfires and made a quick look around before taking off his shemagh.

"Two Jaegers gone after our first mission. One wonders how much longer this alliance will last let alone this team", Ashaad glanced at his flask for a moment before removing the cap and staking a swig from it. His drink of choice, Qatar-Shan Fire Wine, spiced wine spiked with enough sand snake venom to give a noticeable kick and left to mature for ten years. The taste of it was something powerful. Leaving Ashaad to shudder slightly upon swallowing, to one new to it they'd probably have a hard time downing such a concoction. Ashaad sealed the flask and rested it beside him. For now he'd sit here and contemplate the day. Putting back on his shemagh he relaxed his muscles somewhat and stared into the fire. His orange eyes enhanced by the glow of the fire, Ashaad sat there as he remembered the day he got his scar. Even after all those years he could still sometimes feel the burn on his face. He quickly put it out of his mind and began to quietly chant, "Fataal Klo wahlaant zen, Fataal Klo fen kul zen. Fataal Klo wahlaant zen, Fataal Klo fen kul zen. Fataal Klo wahlaant zen, Fataal Klo fen kul zen..."

"And here I was about to remark to you how the new guy was talking to himself," said Isen'roy.

He had been taking a nap atop a tree when he noticed the Sand Stalker making his rounds. Wanting to discuss the oddities of their new comrade, he had approached Ashaad only to catch him doing what seemed to be meditating. Isen'roy thought to himself how the two most normal of the Jaegars had departed leaving what now was an awkward trio.

Nonetheless, Isen'roy being Isen'roy did not see the need to follow social rules and sat right next to Ashaad with a thunk. Grabbing the flask Ashaad had been drinking from earlier, he took a hearty swig and was met with a surprise. The drink had a unique spice to it that when combined with what seemed to be an an absurd alcohol ratio, created a powerful burning sensation with a unique taste. Fortunately, it was a drink still within his capabilities and he was able to keep himself from spitting it out.

"Woah, I've always wanted to try the drinks of Qatar-Shan. I'm not disappointed."

Despite saying that, he set the flask aside. Strong alcohol he loved and spicy food he loved but not when they were put together. Deciding to return to back the initial topic, he nodded towards Adrian who was leaning against one of the tents.

"He's still talking to himself."

@Against This@TheDarkTemplar

Ashaad opened an eye to find Isen'roy taking a swig from his flask. It was a minor annoyance but one Ashaad quickly got over. "There are stronger drinks than that in Qatar-Shan I assure you", Ashaad replied from behind his shemagh. "And those words were more than ramblings of a madman. They make up the dogma of my order", Ashaad glanced over to where the newest member of his team stood. He waved for him to come over before turning his attention back to Isen'roy. "And you? What is your creed?", Ashaad asked as he once again looked into the fire. He was not used to socializing with others, at least not in this way. In his line of work he rarely needed to speak for it was understood by all what his intentions were. Here it was different. Here he had to know these people, understand them, it was necessary if The Jaegers wanted to survive for long.

Adrian was indeed talking to himself, as his break had rather quickly devolved into noticing flaws in the camp's layout. His legendary scowl deepened with each one. "Having these tents piled on top of each other is just asking for trouble," he muttered, adding another item to his list. The unflattering analysis would have continued for quite some time, had he not noticed Ashaad gesturing for him to come over. The resulting grimace that etched itself on his face was a thing of wonder, as he considered just how unbearable his new teammates would be. Steeling his resolve and picking up Whisper, Adrian trudged over. At the very least, I’ll get to see if the Sand Stalker and Phoenix live up to their lofty reputations, he quietly thought to himself, already sizing the two up.

“I’m Adrian Somberwald,” he announced when he got close enough, “The Water Kingdom higher ups, in their ever brilliant wisdom, decided to send me here to take over for Ward and Coy.” His voice dripped with sarcasm at the mention of his superiors, who by and large were fools in his opinion.

"One man in place of two...", Ashaad looked to Isen'roy in confusion. "Why are you here, Somberwald? You alone cannot possibly replace the rest of our team. I can only assume you are to take leadership of us", Ashaad returned a glance to Isen'roy then to the fire. The first day of this alliance and things were already changing. For now Ashaad would save judgement until he saw Adrian in combat. Right now it was time to learn about his new teammate, "I've not heard of you before. Who are you?"

Hazel grimaced at Amadeus, mainly because he had Marianne on his arm. Throughout the past week Mari had been trying to murder Hazel, but that hardly discouraged Hazel's attraction towards the girl. If anything Hazel found the attempts on her life endearing. When both Solanne and Amadeus pointed out her lunch she merely shrugged, "A lady has to eat." She stated plainly. Hazel then redirected her attention towards Solanne, replying to her 'What's up': "Well, you know, the usual. Weirdos trying to kill me, ya'know, all that boring stuff." She had a very nonchalant tone for describing an attempt on her life. Hazel then remembered that she was in the presence of Mari, and didn't want her comment to be misconstrued, "Of course, not everyone that tries to kill me is weird, there are some uhhhh... very pretty... and... uhhhh... interesting people that try to kill me, y'know." She said, clearly somewhat flustered.

It took all, literally all of Solanne’s will power and resolve not to burst out laughing at Hazel’s behavior. Oh yes, she was still a sucker for the Corpse Collector. It was a shame Marianne never really noticed the other mage’s advances or just flat out didn’t care. A shame really, but that was just more amusement on Solanne’s part.

Even so, the redhead noticed that her younger “sister” was looking at Hazel now. To this, she had to raise an eye. She had seen this many times and for once she was glad of it. It meant Amadeus might one day not end up dead in a ditch missing some parts.

Maybe.

“If you say so Spell Spitter,” Solanne finally said, attention turning back to her other “sister”. “But I gotta wonder, what sort of person can be interesting, attractive, and want to kill you all at the same time? Doesn’t that sound counterproductive?”

She was about to continue her teasing when something impossible happened that made even the Crimson Hound silent. For the first time in what was perhaps weeks, Marianne let go of Amadeus’ arm. She was usually clinging onto him as far as Solanne knew; at least she was every time she happened to cross the two teens.

“Yes, I have to agree with big sister. Miss Faker, what sort of people would fit into this broad category of yours? They must indeed be special if you’re complimenting someone that wants you dead.”

Marianne’s expression was cool and the happy smile was now a confident, almost cruel smirk. Even better, the Corpse Collector quickly closed the distance between them until their bodies were inches apart. A knowing gleam was in her good eye and she waited for the other girl’s response. Meanwhile, Solanne just watched with crossed arms and the stupidest grin on her face.

Oh this was going to be good.

Hazel knew at this point that she had fumbled. Oh Atros I've walked into a trap. Hazel's face was reddening, she was acutely aware that Marianne must've known that Hazel was talking about her. Hazel opened her mouth, but no words came out. Any utterance she could've made felt like molasses when it tried to work it's way up her throat. All but one:

"Uhhhhh..."

Hazel tried clearing her throat. That should help, she thought. It did indeed help a bit, as she managed to form at least one word on her next attempt to speak:

"Well..."

Hazel paused again. She began to nervously tap her foot on the ground, and her free hand shot up to her hair, playing with the strands, searching for some sort of diversion. Trying to decide what to say was a true mental struggle for her. She tried to form words again:

"Well... what sort of... people?"

She had only managed to restate the question. She attempted to clear her throat again, but instead it sounded like some sort of horrendous coughing noise. This isn't going good, I need to say something, everyone's looking at me, I'm going to look stupid if I don't say something for the love of Atros I need to say something. Her thoughts were racing by a mile a minute, she was overthinking the question, and internal panic working its way up inside her, and this manifested on her face as a look of blank confusion. She took a deep breath and made a final attempt at response:

"Well... y'know... there are... uhhh... even if someone is trying to kill me... I can still, y'know, uh... admire them. I mean, maybe I can admire some people for trying to kill me. I'm not exactly an easy person to kill... so I can, uh, appreciate the effort. And also... this person trying to kill me... well, maybe I just... y'know, maybe I just like them. Because they might be... uh, kinda like me..."

She was surprised that she managed to fumble her way through a half sensible sentence.

“Leader?” Adrian all but sputtered, an odd mixture of perplexed and borderline offended at such a proposition, “Hardly. I am simply one of the Water Kingdom’s few tactical minds that is actually worth a damn.” His tone had returned to its usual evenness as he continued, “Individually, I am probably of the same caliber in combat as either Ward or Coy, but my tactical sense is supposedly going to make up for being one person short.”

Adrian took a moment to consider Ashaad’s question before stating rather matter-of-factly, “You haven’t heard of me for good reason. The battles I engage in don’t make for good stories,” he said, leveling his gaze at Issen’roy, “And I don’t paint myself a hero by going out of my way to save people and puppies,” he finished, shifting his attention to Ashaad. While his words could certainly be taken as condescending, there was no hint of self-gratifying superiority in his voice. To Adrian, he was simply stating the truth as he saw it. "I'm a soldier first and foremost and I am here because I was ordered to, nothing more."

Solanne slapped a hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to contain the snickers bursting forth. Hey, at least Hazel was trying, right? There was no guarantee that her high school crush would acknowledge those feelings but it was the effort that mattered, right?

Marianne watched the other girl carefully, her smirk never once flickering. Having known her the longest, Solanne could easily tell that the dark mage was greatly enjoying this personal show to her. Whether or not she was genuinely interested or just pondering on the many ways to break Hazel had yet to be seen.

Then she moved, closing the distance between them even further until Marianne was close enough to whisper into the redhead’s ear. Leaning forward a bit, the dark mage focused a red eye intently on the one who found so much attraction in her. The air seemed to drop in temperature just slightly as she delivered her message.

“So you think I’m pretty? My, my….”

It was low enough so only Hazel heard and she backed off quickly before a response was given. This time she was smiling gently as small giggles escaped from her. The air had returned to normal, if it changed at all to begin with.

“Well it seems you’re really quite fond of these type of people then Miss Faker. I’ll have to keep that in mind when being near you. I wouldn’t want these significant others to kill you before me. After all, you’d very much liked to be taken apart by my hands, yes?”

Another knowing look before Marianne titled her head cheerily.

“Well, anything for my F.R.I.E.N.D.”