[IC] [yoshua171 Vs. LilyGold] Magic's Essentials

[Lilygold]

Katheryn stalked the canopy, weapon in hand. She touched a long, elegant finger to the blade, caressing the specially made metal gently. She retreated into the upper branches of the great tree, below the thick leaves, after seeing no movement above. Glancing down, she saw nothing. Not that she could necessarily see an enemy anwyway through this kind of mist. She suppressed a quiet chuckle. A smile upon her face, situations and strategies flowed through her mind like the water through the nearby stream. Continuing to be on high alert, she returned to the more welcoming, slightly brighter canopy. She wouldn't have to depend on her abilities immediately for her guard in case anything went wrong. She could just tell from up here, what with noise and the animals' alerted state.

Nothing yet. Careful not to fall asleep, she waited.

OOC: This good? Sorry it's short, there isn't much to say yet.

[yoshua171]

Timore Scarborough

---

Walking into the forest with Metentis wrapped soundly around his wrist, even Timore's eyes had trouble piercing through the mist. Nonetheless, he could still see the high density essence through the fog, making it easier for him to identify living things and their shapes where he couldn't physically see them. He'd been sent on a mission by the Academy to hunt some rogue or something. Apparently she'd violated some law or another, likely without even realizing it. Nonetheless, she was to be brought in alive, if possible. He wasn't to risk his hide if it was too much trouble to do that though. Better to have an alive musician than a potential criminal after all.

Smirking slightly, his eyes weaving back and forth, and occasionally up, Timore pondered the nature of the forest he'd had to enter. It was a strange place. They called it Merelil's Mist apparently. A fitting name, though it was admittedly difficult for him to remember who the hell Merelil had been. He was hardly a history buff, even after all of those classes.

He reckoned it was some demon...or perhaps an ancient human mage. Those popped up here and there. As he began to grow annoyed with locating his query he found his foot produce a slight wet sound. Glancing down he noticed the stream set before him. He'd almost walked into it with how lost in thought he'd been. Not the best thing to be when on a mission.

This in mind, the young man refocused his attention and sent essence through Metentis, rousing it from its partial slumber. Immediately the fragment's fashioned eye sockets began to glow a fierce emerald green, a similar color shining from Timore's eyes. He heard the being's voice whisper in his mind, guiding him, 'She's neearr,' the serpentine fragment hissed. Timore focused his energies, sending more into the instrument's form even as he wondered how near and in what direction she was. 'Up,' the fragment supplied the answer--he smiled in response, glancing up lazily as if he were simply surveying the area. He turned and walked along the stream's edge. He figured she could hear his movements.

Now it was just a matter of time. Who would strike first?

(Tis fine)

[Lilygold]

The bright canopy with all its charm would not distract her. Katheryn, with her sharpened magical senses from the mist, plus her normal status of alert, immediately noticed the presence of someone... Or something. She dipped down into the trees. Based on build and outline, it appeared to be a man, not old, but not a boy either. The mist, thick as it was, obscured it, but there was something wrapped around his wrist, perhaps to enhance him somehow. As she had learned from her time making strategies, it's always best to consider the worst case scenario. She positioned herself in such a way that he would not notice her going down, maybe merely see a flicker of movement, nothing more. Unless, of course, he had equipped some sort of magical presence to himself. Which would, in all likelihood, detect her fully. His being near the stream supplied a good advantage for her. She fingered her blade again as a fish jumped out of the stream and returned to it, sensing carefully and meticulously.

She had come here to train her skills, hoping not to run into a fight but also somewhere deep inside hoping someone would come. Her frail body proved a hindrance, but her speed was near-unsurpassed. She needed to train her strength and endurance. In the next town on, she had ordered another device to be specially made for her, a high-frequency emitter that would deafen a dog...and improve drastically her blade. No human would detect it without extraordinary abilities. However, it would take a while, so she trained in the hopes of preparing herself for any time she might be disarmed.

Her heightened senses allowed her to see, if faintly, a flash of bright green about where the man's eyes would be. This could mean he had some sort of magical presence attached to him, he was a demonic or otherwise magical being himself, or he was simply a very extraordinary man. Katheryn knew how to prepare for all of these. She muttered under her breath: "Witch Spell." The brightly colored beam faded into existence over 4 seconds, giving away her current location easily for anyone looking as it grew, and disappeared within a millisecond. Whether it had hit, she couldn't tell, as she jumped out of the way and wasn't looking. The man didn't appear extremely agile, certainly not enough to to dodge the accurate, lightning-fast beam even if he noticed it. But looks can be deceiving. She jumped out of the way to avoid revealing her location, silently landing on another branch and traveling up to the canopy. She poked only her eyes through the leaves to see what he would do. If he had another helping presence, this would be unecessary, for that would detect her anyway. But there was no helping that, and though the ability left her just a bit drained, it was nothing major. With adequate rest of her power, she could recover fairly quickly.

[yoshua171]

Timore Scarborough

_{Sleight of Hand}

---

Flashes of movement and sound, but nonetheless they were quiet ones. Could be animals, could be something else. Metentis informed him it wasn't the animals. He began weaving essence in an invisible field around him, strands of energy heeding his voice's commands as he hummed quietly while he walked. There it was, the colors and essence of a voice. The essence around him coalesced behind him even as Metentis hissed a warning in his mind. The essence solidified, striking the bolt of light from the side and deflecting it with a tiny angled barrier while Timore appeared to make his walk more aimless, allowing the bolt to fly past him. It all happened fast and the essence dissipated as fast as it had solidified, leaving no trace.

He had only used it to slightly alter the path of the bolt so his movement barely dodged it, making it look like a coincidence rather than his own skill. He crouched by the stream and ran his fingers through the water. As he did this he drew his ring from his finger beneath the surface.

He knew where the girl was and he was positioned just so she could see him running his fingers through the water. However, since she was no terribly close she'd be unable to see him remove the ring underwater.

He rose up holding a finger up to test the wind before lowering the hand to his side. He held the ring in it, ready to act.

He had been humming the entire time.

The music was playing and so the dance must begin as well.

(Note: Don't lock yourself into actions. Meaning, if I interrupt one of your actions, you can choose to have your character not try to do the things after that action, but instead react to my character. Assume that I do this as well because if Timore's actions are interrupted he won't just stand there and get hit. Just something noteworthy :))

[Lilygold]

After a brief pause in absorption, Katheryn could feel the land around gain a sort of hum of energy. Her bolt had missed. She began to sift through possibilities. She saw the man running his fingers through the water. She knew this was not a man in passing. And it could not be mere coincidence that the bolt had not connected. His act was unecessary, but clearly he would know that if the bolt had been fired at him. He was hiding something. Katheryn saw an opportunity, and took out her mid-sized drone. She input a few basic limiter commands and let the machine free. It held no aura or essence. She was beginning to suspect his "dodge" was a helping presence, or he would have held that green gleam in his eyes the first time he glanced upward. The machine was undetectable to a magic-based being. As she sensed the small emitter she held vibrate, she knew the drone was in position. She drew her hand out of the bag and continued to watch the man, reflexes ready for a quick flight. The man was humming throughout. She was unsure of whether this fact was of any great importance, or if it was simply part of the 'act'.

[yoshua171]

Timore Scarborough

_{Tune and Rhythm}

---

Timore's humming gained a slight beat, his tongue clicking to keep tempo. He let small waves of essence move outwards from him, the action caused by the clicking noise. Sound was the catalyst to dance after all. In this way he was able to keep tabs on his surrounding even when his target wasn't making noise. The tune he was humming was a cheerful one and had been the entire time.

He began walking to a location 8 meters to the right of his target's location as he hummed, bobbing his head side to side lightly, a smile which appeared genuinely content on his features. It was always fun when his targets had to be sneaky. Then again, it could mean she was just a coward, which could be amusing and make his job a bit easier. It'd be far better if she was just clever though. He loved clever opponents. His essence continued to travel through Metentis' form, which remained wrapped around his right arm.

His left hand was at his side, fingers bending to his palm one after the other, appearing to tap out the beat on his hand. In actuality each finger was taking turns holding the ring against his palm. It might make someone think he was casting spell or weaving magic, but that allowed him to disguise his actual intention quite well. He'd have laughed if it wouldn't break his act. He'd put money on his opponent having already seen through the act somewhat, though it was unlikely she'd deciphered it. Reason being he could clearly sense the purposeful movements of something that was unlikely to be human or animal. It certainly wasn't alive given that he couldn't locate its essence. Nonetheless, its presence interrupted the flow of energy from the waves he was sending off when he clicked his tongue, so he could sense it. The closer it got the more detectable it would become. Also, by leaving essence on the thing he began to be able to trace it via the essence on its surface. After awhile he wouldn't need the clicks anymore.

[Lilygold]

Katheryn had spent a considerable amount of time stock-still, recharging energy effeciently. In that time, she'd managed to analyze the man decently. He was directly below and to the right of her, which would be problematic if he were doing anything immediately. However, this would mean she had plenty of time. She'd deduced that the man probably was charging something. Something that he could release at any time if he detected something suspicious from her. As far as she could figure, he was unaware of the now-dormant drone. She fingered the blade she held in a habitual movement. This confirmed her plans. Fortunately, with a full energy store, this plan wouldn't use up too much of it. She used a bit of extra energy to conceal her actions into thought instead of the binding plane of words, just in case. Wired Awareness. She made sure to think of something standard at the very forefront of her mind that would shield her mind from a glancing, but not piercing, eye into it. Strategy. Smart strategy, but fake strategy. Options she was considering, but not using. His magical 'friend' may be a reader of such things. She could never be too careful, especially when the preparations are simple ones.

Using the drone's charge, she gained a heightened, and full, vision and awareness for the 50-meter area around the drone. The mist was nullified to this. Her all-seeing eye's presence would be the same presence as the signal's, so he would not notice it unless he had already detected the drone, and they would be one and the same. The energy drop may or may not be noticed. As far as she could see, they could sense something, perhaps a type of aura or soul-fire, that kind of thing. Hopefully, if all went well, they couldn't sense the energy and its stores. The area around the man seemed to be, if only slightly, fuzzier than the rest of the perfect awareness. Something was disturbing the long-range signals. She could see inside it fine, however, but noticed that this disturbance was being pulsed out like a signal in itself. This was in tune with a clicking sound, the kind you make with your mouth to keep tempo. This likely had something to do with that humming.

A major disturbance was caused by a coil on his right forearm. His magical partner! It appeared to have the same glowing green in its eyes. Only more reson to believe they were working together, and it was sentient. There was a ring being passed around as he tapped his fingers. Something he would have to hide from her, unseen by the natural eye? She could not deduce its purpose. She noticed that everything in the signal's range was just barely, in a tiny way, fuzzier than normal. She noticed, using the heightened awareness, a disturbance in the drone itself. Some of the strange aura-thing had been deposited onto the Subterranean Utility, but she had no way to deal with that now. She would just have to remain Wired and hope to notice something more than all this new information.

All the while, her physical form kept its stock-still position it had retained ever since she had noticed the bolt had missed, or more accurately been dodged, or for that matter deflected, as it could've been by whatever was disturbing her signals. She had kept for fake strategies flowing at the forefront of her mind, though it became increasingly difficult to focus upon as she gained new information, and increasingly difficult not to let on that she new these new items of information. Still, she attempted to maintain a sound mental barrier all the same, though perhaps it grew weaker overtime.

[yoshua171]

Timore Scarborough

_{Initialization}

---

Reaching his destination he placed a hand on a tree trunk four trees away from the one which his target was in. He smiled and then turned around, leaning against the tree. He'd felt something pass over him, though he wasn't quite sure what it had been. Now in position he let essence trail around the ring before he flipped it into the air, making it clearly visible, before it suddenly fired forwards and directly at the girl. His essence traveled up through the tree behind him and his tongue continued to click as he hummed. The energy continued to gather upon the mechanical object. Perhaps his maneuver would get her to do something.

If not he'd be rather disappointed really.

[Lilygold]

The ring began to accumulate a disturbance. Katheryn's real body remained still, although she wished to tense for a dodge, but she knew her heightened senses would prepare her. Suddenly, if one swift movement, the ring, heavy with disturbance and gaining more, find quickly at her. She knew she was too weak to deflect it, and that disturbance would make it even more powerful she was sure. All the while, the man continued humming. It was beginning to bug her, as if he was laughing in her face. Shaking the thoughts away, Katheryn realized that this set the fact in stone that he had a partner. He himself did not have enough disturbance to view her himself, but his green-eyed coil did. The tree behind him gained a disturbance. He was about halfway inbetween the center and the edge of her range.

Gathering all her speed, after that lightning-fast chain of thought due to the Wiring, Katheryn broke the connection and rolled her head, which the ring was aimed at, to one side as if stretching. The ring shot past, barely missing her. She rolled her head around a bit more, as if mocking his 'act' with another. Well, that and the short maneuver was all she had time for. She hoped that the coil was watching, and relaying it to the man all the while. Katheryn smirked.

[yoshua171]

Timore Scarborough

_{Once Veiled Intentions}

---

So she'd decided to dodge eh? Amusing. His left hand, the one that had flicked the ring, moving up and stroking his hair back, causing the string of invisible essence to tug on the ring after it had flown 2 meters behind his target, Timore began his maneuver. He continued humming as the ring practically slingshotted back towards the woman's back. He grinned, activating the essence he'd sent into the ring. It swiftly morphed into a blade, poised to stab the girl in the back if she didn't move. Only problem is if she moved to her right, the string would tag her with essence, or better yet, cut her and impede her movement some due to its being reinforced by his humming. He was channeling emotion through the essence, emotions of joy, which reinforced essence it was in. This meant that she'd have to move down or up to escape the strike, as the trunk of the massive tree upon which she was perched was located to her left.

Each of his actions had been calculated and this one was no exception. His essence he had placed within the tree earlier was gathering more from the tree and spreading throughout its form. He wondered if he could weaken its energy enough to cause it to collapse.

He'd find out soon enough. For now, he had only the girl to focus on.

[Lilygold]

Flowing back into the Wiring, she made sure to keep a smirk as she remained still so that he didn't suspect. The ring had a trail of disturbance behind it. Katheryn, amused by herself and slightly drunken on it, named it Static. Regaining her focus and composure quickly, saw that the man's hand was what the string of Static was connected to. As he slicked back his hair, the Static string tugged. Slightly alarmed and cursing herself for not better considering this possibility, which she had thought upon briefly earlier, she dropped the connection briefly. Even without the Wiring, which she fumbled at trying to regain, she heard a clicking noise behind her and instinctively dived into tree-cover, down below the canopy. She decided it would be a bad idea not to attack, but regained Wiring first. She saw that the ring was now a knife, and it was reinforced with enough Static that she wouldn't be able to see through it without the Mist's inherent power. Merelil was a clever one, and she would make sure to go find out who the hell he was after this if she survived to thank him. Dropping the Wired connection deliberately this time, she spent some energy and thought, Beast Illumination. The Illumin took the form of an eagle automatically, seeing as she was in the air/trees. Not the best animal for this, but she had no choice. This was the best way to fight him, and if it caused some noise or a distraction it would help. She preserved a hope that something might hit. She took up Wired again, seeing as the stillness produced more energy than it spent if used for long enough. Katheryn saw the eagle dive down and attempt to rake him with its razor-sharp claws, aiming for the back and neck, screeching as it did so.

[yoshua171]

Timore Scarborough

_{Prey Afoot}

---

Detecting her as she evaded, her movement taking her below the forest canopy, Timore's blade continued downwards back towards him. With a flick of his wrist he allowed entered the blade into a spin end over end and then he swung his arm diagonally downwards. The blade spun between trees, the line of energy getting caught and tied as he continued to alter the weapon's trajectory. Then he noted her weaving essence and he grinned, crouching in an instant, and placing his foot on the string of energy, connecting it. He turned and dashed at the tree he'd sent essence into and ran right up it, using the essence in it to allow him to adhere to its surface, and using the essence around him to amplify his physical strength and speed somewhat. IT wasn't something he could keep up, but it was useful in short bursts. In this way he ran up the tree trunk to the first set of branches, spun and intentionally slipped back and downwards, fingers splayed and new energy wires formed as the eagle flew at him. If it had followed him, the eagle would narrowly miss as his body slipped behind the tree, finding itself flying either around the tree, or through the V shaped divergence of branches.

As he had slipped backwards he'd flung his arms out, sending wires of energy outwards, their strength all amplified by his continued humming.

He adhered himself to the tree once more, a hand and his feet "stuck," to its surface so long as he did so. He could maintain that much better than he could running up it. It was the movement and physical amplification that was difficult on him.

Metentis slithered around his arm, downwards, its head and neck nestling into his hand and hardening. He brought the weapon up with his free hand, ready to use it. Threads of energy were weaved around it, and energy was channeled through it as it had been since he'd started humming. The glow in the fragment's eyes had brightened to a fierce glow and Timore's eyes glowed more noticeably. His tongue continued clicking and his humming shifted slightly, weaving patterns in the essence surrounding him.

He figured the eagle would be circling back around, and he'd be ready when it did.

[Lilygold]

The man evaded, and eagle followed. However, the Illumin found itself flying around the tree, not hitting him. Mouth curled into a grimace, Katheryn sent a bit of energy into the eagle to remotely command it, and sent it back around to her. She leaped in sync with the creature's flight, half-hoping the distinct energy of the eagle would mask her own energy. As she leaped from branch to branch with incredible speed, she allowed the eagle free reign beyond just locating and attacking the man. She drew her knife, fingering its surface once again from half-habit, and prepared herself. As she got into a close enough proximity to see the man's glowing eyes, the eagle screeched. She tried to leap towards the man, knife gripped firmly by the hilt, and tried to land a slash on his right forearm, the heat of the blade slicing the glowing-eyed magical partner if it landed. Meanwhile, the Illumin attempted to fly around to the other side of the tree and rake its talons across his back.

[yoshua171]

Timore Scarborough

_Engagement

---

Instead the energetic manifestation returned to its user and as it did Timore smiled, bracing himself at which point he hopped back onto the connecting point of the branches, where they formed a 'V' shape one either side of him. He phyiscally watched the place the eagle flew, tracking it through its energies as well. His smiled broadened as it, and its caster, came towards him in sync. However he wasn't able to entirely note the woman's subtle shift of hand and arm till she was much nearer and it was at this point that the invisible threads of essence around him came into action.

Timore grinned as he shifted the energies to his sides, above, near his feet, and behind him, leaving very few of the strands before his form, though some remained. As the woman lunged at him he raised his hand, Metentis in it, and allowed her to strike it. It was comical because as her weapon made contact she'd realize that Metentis was not only composed of a metal-like substance, but that its durability was not something easily bypassed. However, he didn't just let her strike Metentis, no instead as the knife made contact the formerly straight status of the serpent, suddenly coiled around the weapon's blade, the energy channeled around and through it adhering to the blade at the same time that it made contact with its surface. She wouldn't be able to pull away unless she let go of the weapon.

Then as he figured she'd do, the eagle attempted a second attack, one that he had easily predicted since a two pronged assault was often better than its counterpart.

The joy infused threads struck out at the bird, while others physically manifested as an orangish glow behind Timore, forming a shield. The threads that struck attempted to make contact with the illumin's form and if they did they'd latch onto it, infusing themselves into its form. This wouldn't do much to the eagle, at least not yet, but it might be useful later.

With Metentis' action of curling around her knife being automated by the serpent, this freed Timore up for a third action. As his ring was in hand he moved his foot backwards, shortening the invisible wire of essence that connected it to his blade, thus allowing his blade to fly at her from behind while also strengthening his stance on the tree.

[Lilygold]

Katheryn's eyes seemed to dart everywhere in only a few seconds as the serpentine figure coiled itself around her blade, holding it in place. The Illumin behind him was blocked by an orange shield, supposedly made of Static, but she decided that rather than letting the orange threads make contact with it she would just retrieve most of the energy the Illumin was made of back into her own stores remotely. This would save her the cost of having it destroyed by an offensive maneuver.

Meanwhile, she met eyes with the man. They were intensely green in glow, almost as if the light was oozing or flaming out of them. She heard a whistling through the air behind her and, before she could react, felt a stab of pain. Katheryn tried to push it away, despite the blade striking into her rib, and concentrated on her enemy. She made a quick decision not to let the Illumin eagle's energy go to waste. A light smile crept onto her face as she whispered, just quietly enough for him not to hear, two simple words as she stared him right in the eyes. "Testament Crashing." The energy was gathered and released from point-blank range, not enough for any chance of it missing. Nor was there enough time for the energy to taper off in firing. It was too close to dodge and too potent to be deflected, or lest he be an unbeatable foe. Now all that was left to do was to see what his life was like.

Judgement Day had arrived for the man with the glowing green eyes.

[yoshua171]

Timore Scarborough

_{Accidental Successes}

---

His blade having struck, Timore's features spread into a grin. Then he noted a build up in energies as the eagle was dispersed. His eyes narrowed, though his smile remained, and he shifted the location of his shield, swiveling it around his body in the space of a second. However, the maneuver was still not fast enough as her ability took hold, slamming him with a sensation of weight. It was only a slight increase, but it was sudden and so he, outside of his conscious control, took a step back. As he did so, her weapon was likely pulled from her grasp by Metentis' grip, an act occurring purely by chance. Still, while Timore recovered the metallic serpent struck forth, lunging at her throat from only a foot and a half away. She'd have minimal time to respond, and it would also keep her busy for the moment that Timore recovered.

As he did so, he felt the guilt and weight fade somewhat and he called forth his essence once more, weaving it back up and around him where it had briefly fallen during his recovery from the strange spell. His humming and tongue clicking had stopped, but he resumed it now, the tone and mood of it shifting as he began to weave the emotion of rage out of his necklace and into the essence that surrounded him along with the joy that was already there. He didn't mix the two emotions, as he didn't feel secure enough to do so in that moment.

The other effect that would quickly become evident to his adversary was the effect caused by his blade as the weapon seemed to burn within her, though in actuality it was just an intense sensation of burning it caused, rather than a real one. Additionally, the blade was pulling blood from her body at a steady rate as long as it had remained within her form. Last of all to note was that with Timore taking a step back, the blade had been pulled further into her body, perhaps poking or piercing her lung.

[Lilygold]

The serpent managed to pull the knife from her hands, and as they grasped for the familiar blade she swerved to the side to avoid narrowly the snake lunging for the kill. As a burning sensation filled her body, she let out an involuntary cry of pain. She hadn't intended this, not at all. She wanted a friendly fight, not a lot of bloodshed in it. "Woah, woah, woah there friend. Can't we just all be buddies here? I surrender for Merelil's sake! Now can please just tell me what business you have with me?" Another wince was brought on as more pain racked her body from the knife.

[yoshua171]

Timore Scarborough

_Entrapment

---

Timore's smile remained even as she made attempts to evade, which the serpent did not follow or make further efforts to stop. He made no movements either. He had her firmly in his grasp after all. "Unfortunately miss, I'm to take you into custody or eliminate you outright. Your choice really. I don't care much either way," stated the Musician with a slight shrug, his smile remaining. He had a slightly smug air about him even as he awaited her response. Still, despite his apparent motionlessness, the energies which danced invisibly about his form weaved through the air in subtle strings, each plucking their own tune via his whim as they unwound themselves around her. None of the energy ever touched her form or anything near her as they all positioned themselves several feet away, amounting to around 3 feet of room for her. Still, they were numerous and their purpose simple, though likely effective.

It was a net he had cast and it would close should he required it to.

[Lilygold]

Katheryn narrowed her eyes at his response. A tune was playing invisibly, probably Static-work. To be honest, she didn't care about whatever traps he had set at this point, just surviving this experience. "Personally, I prefer the less death-y option. No grudge, man, but could you please try to refrain from the killy-killy attitude? It's starting to creep me out. Take me into custody if you want, but I'd like my answer." She steeled her eyes. "What business do you have with me?" If she wanted, she could be as fierce as she liked. The serpent's eyes seemed to laugh at her, and she refrained from struggling enough to activate his traps. She had surrendered. He didn't need to terrorize her, in her opinion. Now that she got a good look at him through the mist, his smug look was disgusting. A scowl graced him with its presence upon her face. She wasn't a fan of being trapped, and certainly not by a man without enough honor to answer a captured opponent's questions.

[yoshua171]

Timore Scarborough

_{Simple Orders}

---

His smile slipped to show her a sympathetic expression, "Unfortunately madam, I was not informed as to what you had done. I am merely a cog in the Academy's machine you see." With his essence ready to stop her should she try anything, he relaxed slightly, waiting for her response. She would likely be disappointed at his answer. "As to me, well, just following orders. I've nothing against you personally, but my job is to be taken seriously you see." As he spoke Metentis, the serpent actually began to cackle at her, thus entirely revealing its sentience. After a moment it hissed slightly, its glowing eyes still locked on hers. "We could jusssst kill her and be over withhh it," it hissed out, a clear sibilance apparent in its voice.