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[@Cello][@samreaper][@twave][@Zarkun][@Joshua Tamashii][/center]
It was good enough for Akemi!

[color=DDDCE1]"Nice to meet you...also ummm...miss Blackreach?"[/color] She hoped that was the proper etiquette, she wasn't really informed on how to talk to nobles and such. or people in general really, but she was address as Miss Desdemona, so was she meant to return it in kind? Either way, the girl was obviously hopelessly out of her depth here but she didn't really care about that anyway.

The fact she wasn't outright rejected already cemented the status of newfound friend well and truly in Akemi's mind, even if Aylin had yet to formally think so herself, her eyes sparkling as she eagerly and happily shook the noble girls hand. Most of the other noble sorts that Akemi had seen in the guild had either ignored her, or Zen had kept her away from, so this being her first proper interaction with one left her in an almost dazed happy state before she snapped back to earth when she realised her mind had wondered and she was still firmly, well as firmly as a sickly 16 year old girl could, shaking the other girls hand the entire time.

Right. Interests. She should answer that question her new friend was asking her! It would be rude not to after all.

[color=DDDCE1]"Hmmmm....."[/color] Taking a moment to think, a finger tapped at her chin as her head swayed left, right, left, right, left, right, as if moving in rhythm with the tapping of her finger as one could almost hear the clock-like ticking and tocking noises from the girl. [color=DDDCE1]"I like to train! If I want to become strong enough to protect everyone, I got to train to do so after all. Otherwise, I like to cook though Zen gets mad every time I do. Hmmm...I tried sewing but Zen got upset after I stabbed myself in the fingers. I also like helping people, but Zen got upset last time because apparently...."[/color]

And once she started speaking, she began counting on her fingers, a deadpan and unchanging look on her face as she listed off more and more things. Most of them ending with this Zen person either getting mad, upset, sad, concerned or some other such emotion. Maybe even a mixture. And these stories ranged from having an interest in cats and trying to take home a wild cat, to nearly becoming an accomplice in an attempted jewelry store robbery because she liked collecting pretty rocks. Once she ran out of fingers on both hands though, she reset and started again till she got to about 17.

[color=DDDCE1]"....I still don't know why Zen was mad about that one, I liked learning how to play poker with those nice gentleman. I even won some free clothing from them. Maybe I could teach you also? Oh right, Zen is my umm....guardian? Yeah, I think that's what he told me to call him? Most people call him my brother so we usually roll with that, but he isn't really my brother. I don't think so anyway?"
[/color]
Akemi didn't look like the sort, especially with her lack of emotion on display, but she could talk. And talk. And talk. It would be hard to gauge whether or not any of the stories she told were truthful or not, as aforementioned there was hardly a shift in tone in any of them, but Akemi was quite chatty when excited. And she was excited and bubbly right now, even if she wasn't showing it. At any rate, Akemi paused for a moment, perhaps giving Aylin a chance to speak if she so chose to, as Akemi realised she had forgotten the most important thing!

[color=DDDCE1]"Oh and I like to read. Ria is nice and lends me books sometimes, she has really nice books. Books about knights and princesses and heroes and fighting dragons. She won't let me read the books she's usually reading though, something about when I'm older?"[/color]

Oh you sweet summer child.

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[@Cello][@Sanguine Rose][@Zarkun][/center]
Another success! Even if landing in Kiba's arms wasn't exactly as smooth sailing as she anticipated, the plan so far had been going off without a hitch. Or rather 'plan', if one could call it that considering it was just Adelyn making shit up on the spot. But suppose improvisation on the fly was a plan in of itself, even if unintentional on Adelyns part as she was out of her depths a little in this scenario. However with a little bit more of a push, between her, Kiba and the Sargent already doing some significant damage to the Vulcan, then no doubt they could wrap this up nice and quick before moving on to help Mark with the-

Wait, why was the Vulcan running away? Had they scared it off already? Adelyn was confused for a moment, but no matter. She knew she totally had the giant ape covered, yep, totally, so it was just running away because it didn't stand a chance. That meant they were now free to go and help Mark.

Oh how naive she was that that was the thought going through her mind before the whole world seemed to turn into a series of blue flashes of energy that scorched the earth around them, narrowly missing both her and Kiba as she felt all the strength and fight in her body vanish almost as quickly as the creature had arrived, dropping to the ground looking like a deer caught in headlights and barely even catching what the Sargent was trying to say.

Her whole body had gone numb, her mind shut down at the display. And the beast was still not at their location? By the sounds of its roars of pain as Monroe's shots found their marks suggested it wasn't far off though, even if it wasn't close. A few hundred yards? If that? Just how big was this thing anyway? And this lightning; this was beyond anything she was capable of. She was resistant to such attacks, and even she wasn't sure what would happen if she was to be hit directly by this thing.

[i]'Because you're weak and a disgrace.'[/i]

No! This thing was way too big and strong! She refuted this voice which sounded just like her fathers, clenching fistfuls of dirt as she shut her eyes.

[i]'Excuses are for the weak. You're a failure, a stain on the Amberfield name. You should just run, its all you're good at after all right? You should just go home.'[/i]

That was different! She didn't have a choice, besides, did that really count as running? Besides, there was no home to return to. Not anymore. Adelyn slumped further, watching on in a daze as the lightning came back for another round.

[i]'Maybe you would if you were remotely useful? Instead of being worthless dead weight'[/i]

Adelyn had no refute to that, growing silent as more and more voices entered her mind at this moment. Mostly that of her father and brothers, each one as mocking and disgusted as the other.

[i]'You're not cut out to be a mage.' 'Give it up.' 'You're going to die.' 'Its for the best, trash should die like trash.' 'Your luck has run out.' 'You have no right to call yourself an Amberfield.''This is real lightning.' 'You should run, you'll just get in the way.' Etc, etc, etc.[/i]

[color=BFB4B0]"Shut....up."[/color] Her grimoire flared up with magical energy as hopefully as was the idea, all the lightning in the area was drawn towards Adelyn as she cast Lightning Rod. Hopefully, Kiba had the presence of mind to not be next to her for this, otherwise, she wasn't going to apologize for this as she just kept repeating that phrase over and over in her mind. Screaming and yelling over the voices she knew weren't real. They were figments of her imagination, her own mind playing tricks on her. She was used to it, but it didn't make it any easier to ignore no matter how much she tried.

After all, deep down, she thought every single comment to be true. She was weak. She was worthless. If she was half as strong as her brothers, as him, then maybe she could've prevented it all. Thats what she believed, even if all it was was just talk to make her feel better. This feeling of regret, helplessness, and guilt winning out over her shock and fear as unimaginable pain no doubt coursed through her body as she drew in as much lightning as she could physically withstand, redirecting most of the energy into the ground to hopefully harmlessly discharge there. The rest? Charged into another attack which she would shoot back in an arc of blue lightning right back at the creature which had but a simple message to the voices still hammering away inside her head.

[i][b]"[color=BFB4B0]I SAID SHUT UP!"[/color][/b][/i]

She wasn't going to run no matter what Monroe said over the radio. Not till their mission was complete. Her pride, the one thing she had and clung to no matter how dire things got, refused to buckle. Mark had the red beast handled after all right? So all they had to do was stall the lightning one. So she was damn well going to stall this thing for as long as she could. She would rather die an Amberfield mage than disgrace their name any further than her existence already did.