[IC] Mirrored Fate

[The Pluto Knight]

"I actually found him to be holding back." Says Beatrice. "It felt as if he was mocking not only the woman over there, but also every person who attempted to join in the fight. To me, he seemed to have wanted a better challenge than what was presented."

Beatrice chuckles a bit to herself. "Of course, it's just my view on it."

She walks toward the city exit. The guards should arrive any moment, unless this City is full of incompetent people.

Beatrice was done speaking to the Stranger. She's wasting enough time as it is. Those who stayed were already beginning to disperse. As she walked away, she took a look at them once more. She couldn't tell what type of feeling was emanating from them all. It felt strange. Not happiness, not hatred, not worry. What was this feeling? Beatrice shook her head to disperse such pondering. She shouldn't care for them. They were simple strangers.

[OtomostheCrazy]

"Oh? Yes, I guess a passed out man would look strange. I'll carry one side, but I would need some help. Would assist me?"

Freya took her bag of armor and held It In her left hand. She used her right arm to lift and carry the braided man on the left side. The reason why she doesn't use her puppet to do the heavylifting Is because she knew that two armored figures dragging someone somewhere would look suspicious. Despite carrying a bag full of heavy armor for a long time, Freya actually had some difficulty carrying heavy things, and the weight of her belongings weren't making things easier.

She looked at the boy to see if he would help. This also allowed her to see If he had anything Interesting on him. She found him to be dressed in a somewhat strange way, but it wasn't exactly interesting to her. She tried to examine him even more to see if he was hiding anything, but found that the current circumstances didn't give her a good view. She quietly sighed and continued to wait for his response.

[TaroAndSelia]

"No, I'm just goin' to ditch you with a body after suggestin' we move it." Tyrell couldn't stop his eyes from making a half roll along with the sarcasm. He slid himself under the man's right side and hoisted up, then was slightly peeved that he couldn't get the man's feet off the ground even with his shoulder underneath the guy's. Leaving his lack of height aside, Tyrell didn't know what they were going to do with the body. The alley he had just come out of looked decent--there was a pile of garbage a little way in that they could dump the guy on. Then they walk out the other side and leave the guy like a tramp to sleep it off.

Was it nice? No. The guy was hit hard enough to black out; he could have brain damage for all Tyrell knew. He was covered in bruises and blood--Tyrell guessed that at least some of it came from the mugger--and there was a lump growing on his skull. The nice thing would have been to drag him to a healer or a doctor.

"Ah, narf," Tyrell muttered under his breath. He called out to a girl who was watching with wide-eyed curiosity from a second-story window. "Hey, kid! You got a doctor 'round here?"

At first the girl jumped, surprised that she'd been addressed. It took a second, but she did manage to raise her arm and point down the street. "Go two blocks, then it's the third house on your left. There's boxes of plants in the front windows."

"Thanks!" Tyrell called up. The girl nodded once, then ducked inside and closed the window. Tyrell turned back to the freaky armor--er, woman. "You heard her. Let's hurry up so I can have this guy outta my hair and offa my back."

[Nem]

Nathimys snapped his fingers to an imaginary tune for several seconds, watching as the woman walked away. She was quickly swarmed by people professing how they would travel with her. So strange.
That man.. Deserves to get stabbed.
No, no he doesn't.
But he avoided the blade.
Which he should have.
No, no one avoids the blade.
Almost everyone avoids the blade.
No one the blade is trained on avoids it. Besides, it'll make for a nice adventure.
Adventure for what?
It.
Nathimys groaned, irritated with himself. Although, his resolve was now made up. He will join this raggedy group of adventurers. "I.. Quite frankly, I like adventures. It's been an entire.. three days, since the last one. Yeah, tally-ho!" Nathimys said to no one in particular. He began walking towards the people clustered around Celosia. As he arrived, another person did to. He slid across the ground, lying limp. The woman in the party reached down and healed him, seemingly.
And then, the man promptly pulled her down, using her as support to get up off the ground. Nathimys almost burst out laughing right there, but supressed his laugh, which then came out as a fit of coughing. Nathimys quickly spun in a circle, placing his right foot forwards as he approached closer to the group. "Right then! I have decided, amongst myself, I will travel with you all, as well. I'm in need of adventure, yess."

[Bubsy 2]

The man that suddenly fell on the ground was evidently completely paralyzed. However Celosia fixed this; she used an Etra on him that made his body loosen, freeing him from paralysis. The man grabbed Celosia and pulled her down to him. Not exactly the kindest way to greet someone who helped you. He said something to her, then slowly pulled himself up. The man seemed to have trouble for a second, breathing heavily, then pulled his head up, presenting himself almost flawlessly. He gave a large smile and introduced himself as Zico.

Not even a few seconds later another man joined the congregation of people on the street. This was the same man that healed Celosia just a few minutes earlier, Nathimys. He declared that he wished to join the suddenly formed group. But they weren't really a group. It seemed as if Celosia didn't exactly find herself in agreement with the people wishing to travel with her. Leon decided to keep his mouth shut for now and see how she would react before he made any more attempts to join in on the party.

[Ampharos]

Atalee stared blankly at the young woman, wondering why she didn’t respond. Then, she discovered the young woman was distracted by something behind her. Atalee turned to see what it was and discovered another man lying on the ground, this one still breathing. She then watched as the young woman moved to hear him with some strange Etra, a support Etra, probably a healing spell. After a couple moments, the man let out what sounded like an involuntary and rather painful groan before grabbing the healer’s writs and pulling her down with him…

Atalee couldn’t quite make out what was going on down there, but the man eventually got back up and introduced himself, “Zico al’Sorna, delighted to make your acquaintance.”

Just then, a second man appeared, the one who healed the young woman before.

“Right then! I have decided, amongst myself, I will travel with you all…” She heard him say, though Atalee zone out at the end.

She wondered to herself what was going on here.

“Oh.” She frowned, unsure of what to say, somewhat confused but ultimately deciding to follow Zico’s lead. “Uh, my name is Atalee Vayshalum, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintances. I did not realize that you were traveling as a group…?”

From the way the second man spoke, it seemed as if the young woman was traveling in a group with some of these people, or at the very least, that’s how Atalee interpreted it.

[Lilacs]

Zico al'Soma was quite the character to say the least. Celosia couldn't imagine pulling a complete stranger that close to herself, much less strike up an intimate-ish air and end with 'Your hands are sweaty'! Celosia's hands weren't sweaty, thank you very much. Still, she felt her face heat up at the close proximity, feeling shy and hesitant at that moment. The shock that followed Zico's actions were enough to distract her from the fact that her healing etra was interrupted before the poison was completely extracted from his body.

"Wait, stop! The poison isn't completely out of your system yet..." She leaped to her feet, awkwardly hovering as she fluttered about, unsure of what to do. Was this man trying to kill himself?!

Despite the fact that Zico could possibly die, Celosia was once again distracted by the random strangers she just met.

"Excuse me?" She blinked a few times at everyone. "Since when do I have companions? I travel alone..."

[OtomostheCrazy]

Freya nodded in gratitude, keeping herself from using energy on speaking. She helped The boy carry the braided man to the doctor's house. She almost collapsed under the combined weight of her bag of armor and the bearded man half-way through the second block. Eventually, they did make it to the place the girl from earlier had said. As they approached the door, Freya looked through the windows and found some ordinary plants. Was the girl sure that this was a doctor? It might actually be a person preparing a plant shop. In any case, Freya was tired of carrying the braided man. She waited for the boy the knock on the door.

[TaroAndSelia]

It looked like the place. Some of the local herbs were filling window planters; apparently this 'doctor' grew his own medicine. Or maybe he was just studying them--Tyrell didn't pretend to understand what doctors were thinking. Some of them were completely crazy, especially those 'all-natural remedy' herbalists, so whatever their free time involved wasn't Tyrell's care. As far as he was concerned, they were there to patch people up.

"Hup, two!" Tyrell pulled the guy sideways off the woman and lowered him to the doorstep. Straightening up again, Tyrell brushed his hands together and gave the woman a nod. "That'll work. Did you say you were busy? Joscelin's probably wonderin' where I disappeared to by now. I oughta be headin' back. She ran for the middle a' the commotion, so if you were curious you could tag along."

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

A column of city guards barreled down the streets, with soldiers carrying various weapons branching off to move down side streets. Palesean was at the lead, his massive shield, Bulwark, strapped to his back and his sword, Soulreaper, in its scabbard on his belt. The muscular, yet short, man was barking orders to the armored knights as they moved forward, calling out names and ordering them down streets to catch the dastard responsible for a murder in the middle of this fair city. This was an insult to the guard, an insult to Zenith, and an insult to Palesean that such a heinous crime had occurred under his watch. He'd already been out the door when the sentry delivered the news to him at the barracks. "You four, with the halberds, make for the south exit and block it off! The bastard is using a powerful etra! Don't let him escape!"

Every step brought him closer to the crime scene and the commotion surrounding it. Everybody involved would have to be arrested for questioning, especially the girl who some civilians were claiming was a co-conspirator. How anybody could be so rash as to commit murder in broad daylight, the Lieutenant would never understand. As he approached the scene of the crime, Palesean ordered his men to surround the area, before they made their grand debut. Nobody else was going to escape their grips. To ensure this, he had three guards stationed at each potential exit. Even if the likely exaggerated reports were false and this man had acted alone, there were certainly witnesses to be detained and interrogated. Murder was among the highest and most grave crimes a person could commit. Justice would be served.

Finally, the guard contingent arrived at the scene of the crime. Obviously, they were too late. The men who had been stationed here originally would likely suffer the unfortunate fate of a professional inquiry for allowing a murderer to escape in front of their eyes. For now, there were plenty of witnesses to deal with. Stepping forward and drawing their weapons, the guards made their presence obvious, Palesean shouting orders. "By order of the guard, all of you, stay where you are! A murderer has escaped, and witnesses would claim one of you as an accomplice! Retreat, or any attempt to escape, shall be met with force! If you come with us willingly, we will abstain from harming you! I wish only to know what happened here and how a lowly murderer escaped my guards!" He was angry, and it was obvious. But he wasn't going to let that get in the way of figuring out what had happened here.

[Lilacs]

Celosia stifled a groan. This was exactly the reason why she had wanted to leave as soon as possible. Not only did every wasted second make the trail colder, but interference from the guards also slowed her down, and even potentially made her a suspect.

The guards didn't know Dhoulen the way Celosia did--not that Celosia knew him that well, but she most certainly knew more than the others--and she knew that every second spent loitering around Farecia, they drifted further and further from the truth.

So now, Celosia was faced with a conundrum. Should she stay and obey, or should she leave? She did have a handy little Etra to allow her to escape a bit more easily than others, but she also knew that there was a fairly large chance that she would be caught.

Ugh. Why. Why, oh why did she stay to engage in friendly chatter.

[Bubsy 2]

Leon sighed as the congregation of guards surrounded the area. This was of course partially his fault, and he knew that Celosia probably wouldn't be too happy about having to be held up. Plus, he wasn't exactly too keen on any sort of meeting with anyone in the military- given his own connections to it though his father. And he also knew full well someone could find out what had killed his father at any time, and he would no doubt be executed for murder. There were numerous reasons for Leon to be disappointed with running into the guards, but thinking over them would hardly help. He was about to move to pull up his hood and obscure his face, but doing so would only make him look suspicious. So instead he filled his natural role as the overly-outgoing hero. Leon approached the man barking orders. "Are you the captain here? The person who committed this murder was a man, but I didn't get a good look at him before he escaped. Me and the other people here tried to stop him, but he used a powerful Etra to escape. He just disappeared in a gust of wind." Leon tried his best to speak in a respectful tone, figuring it would help the situation.

[Ampharos]

Atalee hesitated, unsure of what to do. She looked around at the others, specifically Celosia, wondering what she should be doing and how she should react. The young man from before attempted to explain the situation, saying that the murderer escaped with a powerful technique.

The sister didn’t quite know what to say so she opted to stay quiet. On one hand, maybe this was a message from the Goddess Vexa. Perhaps she was supposed to go with these guards. On the other hand, however, she felt something in her gut that told her that her destiny was with this young woman rather than in some interrogation room or torture chamber in this strange city…

Considering how apprehensive Celosia looked about this, Atalee figured that she didn't want to end up there either.

“Perhaps I should do something…” She asked herself.

[OtomostheCrazy]

"I was headed that way anyway." Said Freya.

Within her helmet, she gave a soft smile. Something that would not be seen by the boy. She caught her breath and lifted the armor sack over her shoulder. Feeling that she need not say anything more, she started to head toward the area where all the commotion from earlier had been. She paid no mind to the people still giving her frightened and hateful looks. She could care less. As she walked, however, she realized that she had never introduced herself properly, nor had the boy given his name. She could not be bothered to turn around amd face him, however, because others may overreact out of their feelings toward her. So she said,

"I'm sorry, but I have forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Frey-"

Before she had finished, she spotted the area they had been heading towards filled with guards. They arrived late, but still armed and numerous. They surrounded a group of people, and a figure that looked like a high-ranking officer was leading them, making demands to the ones the guards surrounded. They were probably witnesses to the event from earlier. Another realization came to Freya's mind: the boy said that a friend of his had run to the center of the event. She turned to see if he would do anything rash.

[Jerkchicken]

The bandit woke up stretched out in the cottage's section with cots. Raging headache and a wave of confusion greeting him as he looked around in his new location. Moments passed as he gathered his bearings as he half stumbled out of the door with utmost urgency. The others, he had to get to them and- Outside in the street there was another colleague of his. This man had a more clean shaven appearance and a keen stare to him. "Torril," he said to him, "No need to come back, we know already.”

Naturally he was quite taken aback by this, “If you knew then why didn’t you help my ass out?” He said to him rather defensively.

“Because,” the other man replied, “ You already failed us so stopping him wouldn’t be worth the effort when we can just get outta here right under him. However that leaves us with one thing...”

Eyes narrowing and voice snarling Torill responded back, “So what! You’re saying I’m on my own after this?”

“Not quite. If you can prove yourself useful, you’ll be easily let back in.” The man responded before leaving to the main group.

Arriving at The Lazy Mule tavern, the young man found himself amidst the jovial atmosphere of the tavern. With sound and sight of people talking, drinking, and eating. Such mood seemed to be violated, however by his very presence. As quickly as he entered he began to scan his surroundings. Emotions racing as eyes bounced side to side in his search, something rather jarring caught his eyes. That man, that very same man he had left on the streets was there. A most uncomfortable prickling sensation ran around his neck. That very man was there two others.

Torril greeted the pursuant with a shit eating grin as he swiveled on the stool to face them. “You’re late, just like always. Just coming one step behind us” He said with a slight chuckle, although he really wondered if getting into yet another fight to buy some time for the rest of the crew was actually doing anything.

“Dammit I don’t have time for this! Where are they now?” The man asked him in a rather violent manner as the tension grew, with risk of escalation being a palpable thing.

“Belthsar, but not like it matters. Wasting your time is exactly the point” He made a hand signal that brought two other men with him. And with that the first punch was thrown and the tavern scene thrown into chaos. Soon drunken rowdy clients were entering the fray adding confusion to the mix. Ultimately that young man was the loser as by baiting him into fighting than fleeing, they accomplished their simple goal. Running like a mad man he was far away now from the tavern but now he had more than a hunch there would be issues with the law if he didn't clear out of town fast enough.

He frowned at his situation of having stepped into so many complications just on the first day on stepping into town. He wanted to just sit down and companion about how terrible this ordeal is but it only fueled his hunger to get it over. As he dashed through streets with all else a blur, he saw a group of people standing around, and even worse he saw out of the corner of his eyes something like guards. He felt that same prickling sensation this time accompanied with a gut crunching feeling. Racing instincts took over and deemed it proper to plow through the crowd with only concern to slowing would be pursuers down. Eventually passing through the gates and into the woods he wouldn't stop running until he felt safer in their cover.