??? | Crocus, Hidden Safehouse

@Lunarlors34
The man noticed Shiro's protest and gripped her scythe as he saw the look in her eyes "I prefer not to be rude with my guests, but we're not leaving this safe house while your friend is still in here. Especially when she would be by herself and no one aware. I'm sure you remember a few minutes ago that she tried to swing this scythe at me. Even now, she seems to disapprove the shelter that I provided you two to safely recover in. Leaving her alone now before any of my associates arrives and without you wouldn't be best at this current moment." As he finished, the scythe instantly became encased in a solid cube of ice. "She will recive her scythe after she has recovered." Still holding it in one hand, the man walked into a bathroom and placed the frozen weapon in the tub. Walking out, he went to the kitchen and got the glass of water that Manami requested.

He placed the glass of water beside Manami and after glancing at Shiro, he turned to Manami "Although your guild hasn't caused any major incidents or events to catch the public's attention, your guild is still a dark guild. I hope you understand that this thin line of trust between us is fragile and I'm trying to maintain it. Although I want to communicate with your master, I'm not in any particular rush to see her today. But once a fellow associate of mine arrives shortly, I'll brief them in on what's happening, then take you somewhere for you to call your master with that card."

<Snipped quote by Krayzikk>

Angel Ferrara

"That..." Angel searched for a way to correct Cyare without offending either girl. His mouth hung open as the words came to him slowly. "Picture...a really mischievous, snarky pixie. Who's blind. And snores like hell. She's got too much energy to even stay quiet and still when she sleeps. Awake she's even worse."

Worse was an awful word!

"She's great and all."

Crap.

"...But worse."

And thus his description came full circle.

"We should check my room first. She's probably waiting for me to realize I left her and come groveling back."

"She sounds wonderful." The Tactical Mage remarked, letting a faint note of dry sarcasm slip into her voice. Ferrara was clearly fond of his friend, but his description of her left a lot to be desired visa vis positivity. Still, she got the gist. And had a pretty good idea of the type. She started walking back towards the rooms without much further ado, absently swiping at her drying hair to force it into something akin to obedience.

"Sounds as though you have had this situation before. Realizing you left her and going back to grovel, I believe was the word."

"I've been up for three minutes and the spirit is still healing me." Jackie said, crossing her arms and looking generally annoyed. She was getting rather tired of Jack telling her to rest despite all the healing magic that had been used on her to fix the damage Angelo had caused her. Speaking of, she turned towards the Lightning Mage and her frown deepened. "Still eager to kill over small things, aren't you?"

Amelia was in Jackie's room, keeping Elyse and Sam safe. When Jamie entered, she looked up and smiled, perfectly fine. Getting up, she led the young girl's over to their mothers. Glancing around at the scene around her, her eyes lingered on Aria.
"What are we going to do about her?" She asked

Aria was still struggling against her restrains and trying to get her headphones back from Jackie. Her frustration was growing more and more and it became evident as magical energy began to visibly surround her body and her red eyes began glowing with power.
"I said... give THEM, BACK!" She said before the entire hallway became one giant mirror. The entire surface rippled before glass animals of various shapes and sizes began attacking everyone from all angles.

Amelia's spirit acted quickly, erecting a barrier around Amelia and the younger girls. Jackie summoned a barrier of solid mist around her while Joshua had to focus on taking down some of the creatures, though the sheer number made that impossible.

@Silver Fox@Caits@Prince of Seraphs@CirusArvennicus
Everything seemed to be going mad around her. Prince was wounded, the strange girl was acting, well, strange. At one point she had to cover her face to block the blinding light. After Elizabeth passed out, Ariel saw the words that were melted into the icy surface but didn't really take a whole lot of time to contemplate them. The cold was only increased when Sasha showed up. The boy trying to take the lacrama that held Edo-Karn was trapped.

Shivering slightly Ariel became aware that her current magic did not take kindly to the cold. Starting to feel lethargic she felt she had two options. Either to heat up or to cool down. She wasn't quite angry enough though so the cold won out and Ariel switched to her Ice magic. Her gaze was as cold as the air around them as her ice blue eyes glanced around the room. The animal boy seemed to make an effort to keep the lacrama away from them. Stepping forward she had a determined expression. "If you swallow that I might just have to freeze you solid and pick it out of your shattered remains. Now, give it back." She held her hand out. While her expression was calm, her tone and posture didn't hint that she might be kidding at all. Ariel hadn't really used this magic around people much. It definitely was not one of the more sociable.

@Joshua Tamashii@Zarkun

Angelo sighed as Josh talked about him forgiving the girl and just let go of the petty grudges but honestly it wasn't petty she was trying to kill him. He knew he was right but did he always have to be right? he couldn't be wrong once and just let Angelo figure it out on his own? Then it was Jackie's turn to tell remind Angelo what he did and she said that Angelo was willing to kill over little things. Has nobody thought to consider what happened to him when the match was over? Im not willing to kill anyone, what I did to you is something I will forever regret but I have no designs on killing the mirror mage simply because she tried to kill me. I am sorry Jackie but I didn't mean to put you in the state you were in I just got carried away Angelo wanted to say more until the mirror mage started to pissed about her headphones and the entire room became a mirror. Suddenly animals started to come out of the woodwork or mirror work whichever you wanted to call it. I will say more when we survive this mess Angelo told Jackie hoping she could forgive him and let him show her the real Angelo not the Angelo she met in the ring.

Once the animals started popping up Angelo said Zeus Armor Mode Angelo said and his lightning armor came out as he started to dash to each animal busting each one to pieces, Angelo was an offensive mage and he will do his best to take down the animals before they could hurt anyone, Angelo wouldn't be able to forgive himself if Jackie got hurt again...

Jack stepped back as Jamie left and turned to look at the restrained mirror girl while Jackie spoke with Angelo. He didn't think he was willing to kill her, but he certainly couldn't blame the young lightning mage for wanting a piece of pay pack for a cheap trick. However, before the Saint could weigh in on the discussion and point out the difference between a broken leg and a dead person, the hall became a giant mirror that seemed an endless spawning point for glass animals. "You, young girl, have much to learn about playing well with others. Flame God's Bellow!" He inhaled a bunch of air before unleashing it down the hall, the force shattering the mirror before it impacted the mirror using wizard head on, exploding on impact and likely sending her into the wall once more.

No matter what, Jack was right there and delivered a solid, consciousness ending blow to her head, catching the slumping girl and laying her gently on the floor. "Remind me again why none of us thought of that?"




James sighed heavily as the shadows finally dissipated and sheathed his sword, turning to look around for Cody. He had briefly gotten to speak with the lad before the shadow creatures all began attacking, including a rather large one, and had since lost track of him. When Rune Knights approached him and questioned him, he told them the truth, anything he knew he knew from a fleeing bystander and he had only faced the beasts within the shadow dome like they had. Satisfied, they allowed him to retrieve Cody and sit him down. "I may have to speak with Master Jamie about keeping you in the hotel, you're like a magnet for trouble. But, what about those two from before had you on edge? I was just a touch busy dealing with shadows."



Leaving the restaurant after returning the wave, he resumed studying the old maps he had instead of going right back to his swordsmanship. As he read, he really hoped he hadn't been needed anywhere today, he had left his communication lacrima in his pack.




Jane giggled and shook her head. "Relax, I'm not looking for anything special. Well, that's not entirely true. You happen to know where I can find your guild master? I mean, I've been looking for her all day and haven't had any luck." She ignored the Exceed, finding the overly flirtatious ball of fur more than a little obnoxious. Besides, she wasn't into guys like that.

@Joshua Tamashii@Caits@zarkun@jangel13

Rose watched as she laughed lightly seeing Aria's rage over some headphones "reminds me of when I was young" she commented before her shadows blocked a few attacks before they began to fight back against the mirror animals taking a few down while trying to defend against other attacks

"Roar of the Ice Dragon!.Amaya spoke taking in a deep breath before she let out ra huge blizzard covering who or whatever was in front of her. Once she finished, she laced her hands together as she breathed on them once as she moved then from each other gaining long sharp ice talons as she raced forward slashing at whatever animals were close and or attacking

Sasha
Having not noticed the ice that was already there, Sasha blinked at the feel of...contamination in her ice, frowning over it for a moment, before giving a sigh, watching the boy put the lacrima in his mouth. That could not be fun for Edo-Karn.

"If Karn Dies, then you're a murderer and I can take you down without fear of repercussion. As it is, this is clearly endangering someone, and I will take you in. Give the lacrima, now" She said, echoing Ariel.

She was more then prepared to fight, but she was worried it might hurt the lacrima. More, she was angry that someone would seek to do this, when it seemed that Karn and Edo-Karn had found a balnce.

Jamie
The whole situation just seemed...excessive. Jamie sighed, turning just in time to watch the girl be knocked unconscious, but she didn't relax, figuring that there could easily be something else go wrong. Shifting, to stand in front of the girls, Jamie laid a hand on her blade, ready to use it again.

"Well, we can't keep her near Jackie, just in case. And she can't be let free. Nor, do I think, we can allow her to be taken into the magic council hands"

@Silver Fox@Zarkun@Roseletta@Joshua Tamashii@t2wave

Games Master Sheldon

With the first event over, Sheldon announced the scores, which flickered up on the leader board.

Frenzy Plant, 10 points
Dragon Fang, 9 points
Phoenix Wing A, 8 points
Frenzy plant, 7 points
Phoenix Wing B, 6 points
Iron Enigma, 5 points
Pirate Lord, 4 points
tough love, 3 points

"And thus the battles begin! A half hour reprieve will be given, as we restore the stadium to its normal appearance"

@Zarkun@Expolar@Silvan Haven@Crimson Raven
Cody told the rune knights everything he knew. He and Dawn had been searching for his sister when they had heard a strange, unnerving roar and went to investigate upon finding a few other wizards fighting a shadow beast.
Things escalated for some reason as a huge bone dome was erected around of them and the monster simply grew stronger. Some weird guy who had created the monster turned up and made a bunch more while people were breaking into the dome to fight left, right and center it felt like.
Cody explained everything else in as much detail as possible, including the three dark wizards from Shadow Heart, and after he was allowed to leave left with James he looked down guiltily.

"Suppose so huh? All I do it seems is cause trouble or find it...." He mumbled apologetically. Maybe James was right, he shouldn't leave the hotel or maybe just stay at the stadium. Whenever he left the hotel it seemed he found himself in all sorts of danger.
First there was the Marlene incident, which was how he found Phoenix Wing. Then the Celestial Beasts. Now this....
"Been in the guild a day and been nothing but trouble...even my past is catching up." He chuckled absentmindly now, still staring at the ground as he visualized Shiro and Manami's guild marks in his mind.

"Those two wizards from before...were from the dark guild which killed my foster family. They ruined my life, and frankly I thought that I could keep my calm if I ever met them. Bring them to justice properly...but I couldn't. All I saw was red." Cody smiled somewhat as he shook his head. He still couldn't believe that after all these years, they were the ones looking for him.
On that note his hand went to his pocket as he traced circles around the real book. He had given the two a fake.
"....They said something however. Something about how they were going to have to fight us, Phoenix Wing, at some point. About the slayers...I'm not sure why however." Cody added thoughtfully as he thought back to the conversation. He was awaiting punishment of some kind from James for getting himself into trouble once more, however at this stage he had forgotten they had a training session and had forgotten all about poor Jasmine.



@Natsume Honnaji
"Thank you..I didn't want to seem rude." Jasmine replied sheepishly, letting out a relieved sigh as she felt the weight disappeared from around her body. Watching in interest as his blades connected she nodded eagerly.
"I'm all yours." She replied with a wide grin as she took his head. It was rather exciting to be around wizards as she suspected!



"I see. I assure you that Shiro is a good girl, she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize your safehouse here unless I or Georgie order her to. And I must remind you did surprise us by suddenly appearing, Shiro was simply trying to protect me was all. As I said, she's a good girl." Manami replied in an assuring tone. She sighed as she glanced to where Shiro was, placed a hand under her bust and shook her head before sighing again.
"However I understand your concern. We are members of a dark guild, and the reason why we haven't caught the public's eye is simply because we're very good at leaving no witnesses." Manami admitted with a shrug. She couldn't argue with the man on this point, he had no reason to trust her and Shiro after all.

They had just met and he knew they were from a dark guild notorious for their whimsical thinking in the underground, they were just as likely to attack him now as they were to ally with him.
Taking the glass now she took a long sip before sighing hapily.
"Ah it feels good to be re-hydrated. I must thank you again for your hospitality Mr...Ah what should I call you? You can call me Manami." Manami suddenly realised she didn't know this mans name, however since he seemed unlikely to give it in any case she thought maybe a codename or nickname would suffice?

"But I must stress the importance of contacting her today. I have other business I must attend to in the city, with or without the rune knights. I am rather good at magic recovery, however Shiro struggles so I am sure even she is thankful for some time to rest." Manami added as she finished the glass of water. She had some slayers to kill after all, the sooner she got started the better. She also had to silence that Phoenix Wing brat unfortunately as well, they couldn't let their guilds reputation be tarnished.
And they could use Shiro's magic to escape the rune knights, and besides once they left this safehouse they were no longer his concern. Whether they got themselves into trouble and captured or whatever was none of his concern.

@Lunarlors34

Robin gave Jasmine a soft smile as he gently pulled her up onto the now one large metal plate putting his left arm around her waist and held onto her gently. "Don't worry you don't seem rude at all..I don't want you to feel uncomfortable and I don't want you to think I'm trying to be smooth or anything like that. I simply wouldn't want you to fall off at all..hold on tight." He then put his righg hand out and the metal plate began to move forwards. It started slowly, at the pace of a slow jog, and gradually increased to the pace of a run.

Robin was holding onto Jasmine trying to make sure she didn't fall and travelling the streets looking for a clothes shop. "At this pace if we both look on opposite sides of the street and make turns once we reach housing it shouldn't take too long to find a clothing shop or at least a tailor..maybe even just a place I can buy some cloth to make a new one for you." Once he was finished talking he flashed her a quick smile before looking out at the buildings with intense focus scanning them for any if the buildings he just listed.

With Jackie's focus on defense for the time, Aria's binds weakened and she easily broke the chains. Raising her hands, two mirrors appeared and absorbed Jack's and Amaya's attacks before summoning two more mirrors, redirecting the attacks so that Jack's Fire God's Bellow hit Amaya and Amaya's Ice Dragon's Roar hit Jack. Betting that Jack would be the less deterred of the two, she turned to face him but was too slow and lost consciousness instantly.

Angel Ferrara: Pretty / Screwed

"It's been known to happen. I mean, she never really acts like it bothers her, and we kind of agree to live and let die after a few minutes of teasing," he admitted. "Still kinda hard not to feel bad when your friend nearly walks off a balcony while you're off whipping up waffles."

Would it really even bother her, though...? She IS the movement queen...

It was wrong to be so tempted to try it.

And he knew it was wrong.

...Heh.

"Buuuuuuut traveling the length of two countries with someone gives you a pretty high tolerance for 'em. And a pretty good idea of how they think."

@Krayzikk

Trinity began to slide as the floor was covered with ice. Sasha raised a wall between her and her target, as well, and she found herself slamming into. With a little bit of agile finesse, the archer was able to save herself from injury, rolling off the wall and somehow managing to keep her feet. She slid to a stop, repelled, but she could still see the kid. That kid. He had that lacrima in his mouth. Whatever it was for, she didn't like that he took it. She stood there for a moment, defeated by the barrier, but she decided that either her guildmates would handle it, or the kid would get out somehow. In the case of the latter, she would just have to be ready.

"Bard's Legerdemain, Bow Harp." The glowing golden bow she had in her hands gave up its shape and swirled in the air around her, changing color from gold to purple, and forming again in her hand as her instrument-weapon of choice. She stepped back from the ice wall, standing over by Prince again. She had been wanting to ask him something, before.

"So, Prince. I wanted to ask you. You looked in pain in the seating area, when you were leaving. Why? And let them heal you, would you? At least a little."

@Zarkun
NOLAN and DALTON

Dalton froze in the air, still as a statue. How? How could anyone resist the cute flying delinquent kitty with a pompadour? Up until now he had been smothered in hugs by women, but he was simply ignored. To add insult to injury, Nolan ignored him.

"Master Jamie? Um, to be honest I really don't know where she could actually be at the moment. Hopefully not getting into another altercation." Nolan said the last part quite passive aggressively, obviously showing that he doesn't exactly think very highly of Jamie as much as the other members of his guild. "I'd help, but I'm participating in the Games and I may be called at any given moment."

@Caits
FERRIS

Feeling her lean against him, he wrapped his arm over her shoulders to pull her in closer. "Hm, we've only got a little bit before the matches begin so perhaps we should go get food around the stadium. I've heard there were some strange looking people selling unusual food though I've heard it's good. Apparently they're somehow affiliated with Frenzy Plant and Phoenix Wing." Little did he know, he was referring to the yokai that came from Enma's village to cheer on Nolan and Karn since they were fighting in the games and for Enma's guild.

"Understanding, certainly. Tolerance... Is a strong word." Cyare commented, musing idly on her relationship with Rei while they walked. Professional (at least as professional as he ever was), but she could never quite decide whether she might stretch to call him a friend or merely express her exasperation. It depended on the day, she supposed. "Still, you make a good point."

"You two seem good friends."

Angel Ferrara

"I've never had anyone else. Dad died when I was six," the pretty boy said quietly. "Rest of my life, it was the monsters and me."

Not that there was anything wrong with forest living. It had taught him a degree of self-reliance and improvisation on his feet that he would have never gotten growing up in a place like Fiore. It had taught him what was worth attaching yourself to and what was worth letting go. It had taught him how useless it was to cry over things like cold in the middle of the night, and how to grit your teeth and bear it without screaming after the sixth or seventh time in your life you find yourself being mauled in the same fashion.

But there were things every child knew that Angel would never, ever discover. And even after five years removed from Boundary Forest, people like Cyare constantly made him realize how little he belonged outside of it.

"She bears with me a lot."

Michael

A little relieved, but worried still, Michael looked up at the sound of running footsteps, as games officials came running, clearly wanting to get them to move on, but not wanting to rush them.

"Do you feel well enough to be moved, Prince?" Phoenix Wings Jarvis asked

Michael glanced to trinity as she spoke as well, shifting and walking over to the games officals, saying they needed some time, but would hopefully be out of their way soon, returning to Prince.

Jessie

Jessie gave a nodded, "Crocus is full of weird foods. Some are good, some are weird and some you wouldn't want to touch with a ten foot pole. But I imagine the ones here are good" She said cheerfully, "But we should hurry, to get back in time" Still, worried that they wouldn't get back fast enough and thus be in trouble with their manager, Jessie retrieved her mic, and using some of her charm magic, allowed it to be attached to the booth and thus allowing them to announce on the move if needed.

Penny

Waking probably too soon, Penny didn't stay down long. She rose, a little shaky, but managed to stay on her feet. She pushed past the medical staff, insisting she was okay and essentially refusing to sit.

A fevered goal goal entered her, like an arrow pointing her to what she needed to do.

She reflected that she needed to do what was required of her, but knew quite literally that she couldn't get there by herself, in the state she was in. The logically place to start was the stadium, so thats where she went.

@Hatakekuro@Silver Fox@CirusArvennicus

@Joshua Tamashii@Caits@zarkun@jangel13

Amaya cursed seeing their attacks absorbed by the mirrors as she didn't expect a mirror to form behind her the smell of fire first hit her nosteriles as she twisted towards the smell crossing her arms in front of her face as she was sent flying towards aria from the strength of the attack. It took a few seconds for amaya to get back up as ice formed over any possible burns and heat on her as she groaned "why fire .."she complained managing to get up though the slight burns and smell of heat and the fire brought back the memories of when her life changed forever. It scared her but angered her at the same time as she closed her eyes remembering other things to help her regain control of her unstable mental state

@Roseletta@Caits@Joshua Tamashii

Angelo has to focus on the animals but thankfully master jack took down the mirror that was producing them. Angelo wanted to charge in against the mirror mage but decided to show that he learned something from all this. Not to rush in. Angelo waited this time and watched as the matter subdued the mirror mage Angelo sighed sitting down to take a breather all this was just emotionally tiring for him and he still needed to Make a proper to both him and Jackie hoping their neither will hate his guys for it

@Caits@CirusArvennicus@t2wave

Mausu's eyes narrowed, pupils slitting like a cats, ears swiveling back and tail lashing side to side as he was threatened. The child was obviously terrified, but he didn't heed their demands. "Y-You don't have room to talk... Your using another's soul to keep your friend alive. And you wizards Guilds seem to always murder, yet when someone else does it you don't hesitate to throw that word... You never hesitate to use someone else for your gain. I bet you killed someone. A mother. A father. A sibling. You wizards even have a slave and try to be high and mighty about it? Well... I'm just following your example." he managed his out, baring his teeth to show the lacrima, the fangs crunching against it threatenly as if to just smash it to bits.

The magical glow was quickly fading the longer the boy had it. But he glanced down to the gasping older blonde and seemed to be thinking. Watching as Karn practically choked, clawing at the ground. Mausu's ears swiveled as his fangs pressed against the lacrima tightly before he spat it out to Sasha's face.

"But. He does need to be alive to be of use later. I'll come back for him, some other time." he muttered. Pulling out his instrument and started playing it again, but in a different tune.

Suddenly, the earth started to rumble and shake before the ground began crumbling. Spikes of earth shot up and surrounded the child before sinking back into the ground and disappearing.

Prince groaned, a bit disoriented, ears slightly lifting as he heard Trinity ask a question. "Basically... A dog whistle.... Makes animals or beasts like me or Karn go crazy with too much exposure. The sound really hurts." he answered softly before glancing to Jarvis and slowly nodded.

"Yeah... I don't think my guts will fall out at least." he murmured, he tried moving again but to no avail.