Anderiel

Aurora - OOC

Cross shoved Ailis roughly off to the side, drawing his own, heavier blade with a well practiced, almost effortless motion. The matte finish on the blade such that even in in the firelight, it refused to be anything other than a dull gray. He held it at arms length with one hand. He glanced from the dark haired woman to the rest of the pirates and back. The smile he'd had on for the girls didn't falter a bit and might have even widened.

"That many for just the three of us? I'm almost tempted to ask the girls to sit out and make it fair."

As the events slowly tolled out of their favor, the duo 's faces changed from excitement to melancholy. They had the whole plan set out, they'd get in good with the pirates, stay the night on their sky boat and make away with their valuables during the night. It was fool-proof, but then this goddamned native had to screw up their plan. Una thought to herself. "If I make it out of this alive, I'm going to skin this guy and leave him to dry in the hot sun." Which Ailis read, from the expression on her companion's face, and responded with the thoughts. "And then we'd throw salt on his raw, exposed, body and leave him for the vultures." The two offered eachother loud, careless laughs and Ailis quickly unsheathed her sword from it's encasing revealing the red hot metal of her blade. Una continued to rest her hands on the leathered grips up her own blades, waiting for the first action to be made before responding.

"If this guy is so caught up on making a fuss about himself, why not let him have a go?" - Ailis

"Agreed, it's a win-win situation for us regardless. If he lives, then he took care of them for us. If he dies, less work for us!" - Una

"Never in my life have I come across anyone so daft as to disguise themselves aboard a pirate ship as large as ours," the girl began, "You think I'm stupid enough to overlook two brand new faces that weren't with us from the beginning? Girls no less." The girl's words seemed to remind the three pirates around them that they did fall victim to their disguises, and they rubbed their necks innocently, turning away in shame.

"Who you are, though, I cannot tell," the girl offered a glare towards Cross, "but burning one of my crewmen, staked to a tree... that will not slide." With a great motion, she crouched slightly and then threw her arm up, flinging the albatross up into the sky. With a screech, it took off over the lake and towards the airship.

Taking a step forward, the girl seemed initially poised to prepare for a strike with her sword, but in a flash of an instant, she motioned for something entirely different.

The glint of steel flashed before Cross's eyes, searing through the air towards his person; throwing knives.

Cross grabbed the corner of his cloak and threw it it front of the knives, catching most and deflecting the rest. A single blade grazed the back of his left arm, passing by his head. Another that might have otherwise caught him in the face stuck fast into that same arm. He straightened up and glanced at the piece of sharpened metal in his arm. With a scowl, he tore it out and tossed it onto the ground. "That's hardly sporting."

Swapping the blade to his right hand, Cross charged into the fight with a wide swing, of which the girl easily ducked under, rolling along the ground before planting her feet into the mud and leaping like a rabbit to Cross's chest level. Midair, she curled herself up and launched her heels outward, impacting Cross in the chest.

"She's a pirate. Fighting on even ground isn't in their nature." - Ailis

"Should we help him? The fight really isn't that fair." - Una

The two shrugged at eachother, and whether it have been out of boredom or the goodness of their hearts, they also entered the fray. The cubi's blade came quickly from the right end of the group, it took just a few momenets to already have slashed past a few of the stray pirates. Their wounds smoked and refused to bleed as they cauterized upon impact. Had the battle started? She couldn't tell, but nonetheless for her the fun had started. Una had vanished from her former location, whether your eyes were on her the entire time or not the woman seemed to have just evaporated into thin air or something.

"Peek-a-boo!" Said the elven girl, who breathed softly into the raven-haired pirate's ear.

With grit teeth, the girl seemed more annoyed than surprised by Una's stealthy approach, but as she rolled her head to the side it became apparent what her tight jaw was for instead. Brutishly, the girl swung her head into Una's face, tightening her mouth in preparation for the jostle she'd recieve herself.

With a slightly larger gap between at that moment, the raven-haired girl swung her saber upon Una, attempting to disembowel her with a vicious strike.

As the sword came towards Una, she quickly let her body go limp, falling down quickly and firing a leg towards the back of her opponent's knee. The blow she took to the head disoriented her, and her nose was trippling blood, so in a fit of rage she'd continue this action in a flurry of blows towards the girl's legs.

Cross landed on his back and nimbly rolled to his feet. He broke off his fight with the dark haired woman and charged the pirates, smashing through their blocks with the strength behind his larger sword. One by one he went through them, dealing each one a blow to the head with the flat of his blade. The last pirate he disarmed, snapping the saber between his crosshilt and blade before delivering a final headbutt. He stood and turned to observe the other fight.

The girl's leg was bent the first time, nearly putting her vulnerable on the ground, but she managed to keep her standing position in the end, albeit with a bit of a wobble. Dodging the following strikes from Una, she lifted her targeted leg upwards in anticipation of the next strike before slamming it down upon Una's own outstretched limb. Kicking it away, she practically turned Una on the slick earth, granting even more distance between herself and the trio.

Shrugging, the girl grinned devilishly. "This many for just one?" she retorted to Cross's earlier comment.

"I told them to sit out. it's not my fault they can't listen." Cross threw his sword back into the sheath.

From the sidelines Ailis quickly came in at an aggressive attempt to slash the raven-haired girl's torso in a diagnal strike. The heat of the blade visible in the air as it slashed down in a red glow towards her, the Thanatite continuing to maintain it's molten exterior as she assaulted the enemy. Meanwhile, as Una was tossed aside, the rage within her intensified as her jade-green eyes glowed with a malicious aura. The elf quickly regained her footing and with blades now on the aggressive she sprinted clockwise from the girl, before attacking a few feet next to her partner's position. The dagger's shorter range would put her closer to the enemy, but the motives were for something different.

Unfamiliar with the material making up Ailis's blade, the girl assumed she could simply parry her strikes. Raising the saber, she brought it bear with the cubi's blade, impacting it with a surprisingly dull sound; it had already begun to turn the saber to slag. Retracting her weapon, the raven-haired girl could only stare at what had been done to the saber in a mixture of surprise and anger. Little time was offered for her to analyze the damage, however, as Una charged in.

Unsure of what her weapon could do, the girl resorted to a much more defensive stance, refusing to block with her sword in fear of further damaging it. She darted back with each strike, narrowly missing the swinging dagger each time until a final strike clipped her outstretched left arm. Retracting her wounded limb, the girl retreated a few more steps closer to the lake.

Behind her, it became apparent a great commotion was rousing from the ship. Torches and yells reached their ears as soon as their attention had been drawn to it. Above the girl's head, the deck of the ship could be seen out on the lake, lined with countless pirates staring straight back at them.

"If this drags on any longer, you'll have to deal with a lot more than me and some peons," she stated, grasping her burning arm.

Cross followed her towards the water, picking up a short, thick pice of wood as he did so. At a dozen paces away, he pictched the branch towards her head with a sharp overhanded throw while simultaneously picking up his pace and charging towards the girl bare handed.

"That ego of yours seems to have vanished." Una said as she spat the blood hardening in her throat.

"You okay?" Ailis approached the wounded girl, as she watched from the distance while pirates in the distance gathered like an angry mob. Resheathing her sword, and quietly pacing towards her elf companion, weighing an arm onto her shoulder.

"The wench headbutted me, she's got guts, I give 'er that." Una cackles as she seems to have enjoyed the scene more than anything.

Wounded but not disorietated, the girl easily bent her body to the side, barely scuffed on her ear by the branch. Sword hand situated to comfort her wound, she didn't dare try and fight Cross any longer, once again choosing to bob and weave rather than strike back.

Cross followed along, matching her movements more easily in the sand of the shore than in the mud of the forest. "Your captain won't get here in time. You're doomed with the wound, just give up." Saying this, he stumbled and crashed to one knee, his face twisted into a grimace of pain.

Seeing the opportunity, the girl immediately returned to her offensive stance, and brought her sword upwards to strike down upon Cross. With a quick step forward she returned the man's advance, driving a heel into the sand before arching downwards to maximize the power behind her cleave.

The grimace flashed back to a smile as quickly as it had appeared. Cross reached up with his left hand and caught the blade with the sound of metal on metal. A twist of his hand snapped the blade where it had previously been damaged. His other hand came up in a swift uppercut as he stood, meeting her momentum with his own.

With a whoosh, the upper half of her saber found its way upwards and then into the sand with a dull smack. Immediately noticing her error, she could only wince in anticipation of the strike, which landed square under her jaw. With her small weight and Cross's superior strength, she was sent practically flipping backwards onto the sand. Her lack of movement signified unconsciousness.

Cross exhaled slowly and approached the motionless form, not without a bit of caution. Once satisfied that the pirate was out of the fight, he turned to shout over his shoulder at the two local girls. "Be ready. They'll be here in a few minutes."

"Well then..." Said the duo in flippant unison.

The two looked west, and began walking away from the dangerous scene, away from the lake in general. Ailis' arm still resting on Una's shoulder, the weight of the girl caused the elf to limp as they paced off-location.

"Do you think he'll manage?" - Ailis

"He's got the guts to knock a woman out. He'll be fine." - Una

Turning from the retreating pair to the motionless pirate, Cross sighed in exasperation. He wasn't exactly in the mood to be fighting that number of pirates. A duel with the captain would have been quite managable but this was a little much. Grabbing his new captive, Cross lifted her over his shoulders and followed the pair, almost not noticing the extra weight as he jogged to catch up.

"Hey now, you're leaving empty handed?"

"Empty handed? Let us list the things we have acquired today." - Una

"Foreign clothing." - Ailis

"Heavily stained" - Cross

"But if cleaned, some nutty collector might pay some coin." - Una

"Una receives a bloody nose." - Ailis

"You didn't even have to get your hands dirty did you Ailis?" - Una

"Nope." - Ailis

"We also have her." Una pointed her thumb back towards the unconscious pirate girl. Shrugging off the fact that it wasn't 'her' who knocked the girl out, or made the decision to bring her, she grinned and cackled.

"Hostages are always good money." - Una

"Well, that's worth the effort then," Cross replied with a hint of sarcasm, "And I offered to buy your Cubi friend. At least then you would have had some hard coin in your pocket."

"My accomplice in crime is not for sale. She's far too precious to me." Una said this with a bland tone, as if saying it sarcastically.

"Oh yes, and my lovely Malach companion is so much better. I have not a scratch on me." Replied Ailis, who seemed to take the sarcasm a bit more personally than you would expect.

Cross chuckled. "At the very least, I'll have to buy a meal from you two." He frowned slightly. "I don't think I've eaten yet today."

"A meal, you realize there isn't a town in a few days travel. In every direction.. The closest one is to the east, and it's a rough walk without supplies. Rather, why are you acting so friendly stranger? Do we know you? What's your name? What tribe are you from? Where are you from? How much money do you have?" Una asked this rather seriously and shot each question at lightning speed towards the red-haired stranger, her eyes unblinking as they scanned him for any sign of weakness.

Cross stared back, thinking for a few seconds. "I suppose maybe the Who would be first. My name is Cross, no tribe and not really any home to speak of. I think it's important to be friendly to people you meet on the road, especially to anyone that has the courtesy to return the favour." He put a bit of emphasis on this last part but continued on without leaving a chance to respond. "I doubt you'd know me as I've been away for quite a while, since the last war." Cross purposefully left out the answer to the question about money.

Una regained her footing, allowing herself to lean off of Ailis' shoulder. The two looked at the man, and then back to eachother. The tucked their heads towards eachother, whispering into eachothers ears, glancing back to the 'Cross' fellow and then to eachother again. They seemed to conclude on something nodding to eachother. "Okay, Cross~ you can accompany us. But there's a few conditions. The first, you have to provide for yourself. The second, you have to provide for us. The third, you have relinquish your ownership of that girl to us." Ailis smiled as she finished their conditions, and nodded to the man with toothy grins.

Cross thought these over for several seconds. "Well that's hardly fair since you seem to have already assumed that I'd be useless on my own and now you expect me to provide for everyone. I suppose i could make the offer to let you travel with me for free, no string attached. I'd help you with any of your efforts and you help with mine."

As if routinely the two looked at one another with awestruck expressions, as if they had just been insulted beyond forgiveness. Una puffed her chest out, stomping towards the man and pressing her chest against his with an almost masculine expression upon her face, almost. Meanwhile, Ailis tapped her forehead with an index finger as if some miraculous migraine had just been afflicted upon her. "Are you an inbred? Let me get this straight, you're saying that we'll have the luxury of travelling with you for the conditions we made. I'm half tempted to march my arse along with you to town, just so I can make this point. Ailis... inform this man of who we are." Una grunted as she pulled her body away from the man, kicking some moist debris from the ground as she scouted the area.

"Yes your highness! Well my newly acquainted friend, if you've been around the last decade you'd already have hard the tales of two scourges that are feared by criminals, murderers, bandits, and any military regime Dis has to offer. The last part is of course a bit of a stretch, but we are indeed the lovely beauties of fame, the two gold-digging, ransacking, renown criminals of our lovely home. Now please don't forget this, Una takes this very personally. I, don't really like the attention, unless I'm hungry.. Then the attention is quite appetizing." Ailis beamed a smile, and then walked quietly towards Una to press her back, getting her attention back to the situation.

Cross was frowning by the end of this speach. "Unfortunately I've not heard of you, but as far as introductions go it was quite well done. It seems to me that you don't know who I am either, likely because the stories of my accomplishmenst haven't reached this Sphere. I am feared by kings and governments. Wars have been decided by my blade and nations have fallen. Tales of my feats have been told in story and song for thousands of years." He held out the hand that was not occupied in stopping his prisoner from falling to the ground. "Pleased to meet you."

"Yeah." - Una

"Okay big guy." - Ailis

The two viewed the man's hand with a confused expression. Una in particular didn't want to touch the man's clad hand, her eyes wincing as it was stretched towards them. Ailis didn't mind much for it on the other hand, though handshaking wasn't really commonplace in either of their cultures, she went with her stomach and grabbed the man's hand. "What do we do now?" The Cubi asked rather out of place. "We'll need to find somewhere a bit off the path to set up camp, they'll be looking for us. But I don't plan on leaving yet, the food on that sky boat.. There's gotta be something valuable on it." The duo nodded to eachother, and without acknowledging the new member of their troupe, they took to the brush and started searching the area for a place to set up for the night.

Cross chuckled to himself, half disappointed. He left the path and headed for a nearby hill, aiming for the far side from the road.

"We can set down on the other side of that, keep watch from the top."

"No no!" - Una said.

"Una's ears are too sensitive. If she sleeps at that elevation.. She'll be complaining for the rest of the next day." - Ailis rolled her eyes as if she was a bit embaressed to say the statement, scratching her head and pulling strands of hair behind her ear.

"The ears of the Malach, are the most sensitive of any elf! It's a curse!" The elf whined, a bit pathetically.

Cross gestured to his own ears. "Not at the top, at the bottom. On the far side from the road we won't be seen and a sentry on the top could see for quite a distance."

"That might work then." - Una

"Did you steal any food Una?" - Ailis

"I shoved some bread in my vest. Why?" - Una

"Hungry~" - Ailis

"Cross, that's your name right?" - Una asked, absentmindedly in fact.

"Yeah?" Cross replied. "You two can share the bread if you want, I'm sure I could find something on my own."

"Only breads?"

"That's hardly a meal."

The two pouted, putting up the facade of starving damsels.

Cross sighed and started walking towards the left hand side of the hill. "I'll take care of her arm and then see about food. I don't think you two will starve to death before then."

Aurora - OOC

Dis, as in the place, and also a way of saying this.
And progress, referring to you having time to get work done.

Aurora - OOC

Dis progress.
↑
U c wut I did thar

Academia Abyssus: More Edgeyness and Despair than 13 Year Old Linkin Park Fans

Asuras said
Oh my god all that bold.Sorella is a legit name? >_>

Sorella is a legit name.

Academia Abyssus: More Edgeyness and Despair than 13 Year Old Linkin Park Fans

ᛄ S O R E L L A ᛄ
"Hate everything you became."

---

ᛄ Died at the age of Eighteen ᛄ

---

ᛄ Female ᛄ

---

Aside from looking older than she is, Sorella is physically identifiable by her strawberry blonde hair and for being bespectacled. With a slim build alongside being blessed with distinguishable female features, even being slightly taller than the average girl her age, she is often catered with the affection of men above her age.

---

ᛄ Negative Traits ᛄ

• Compulsive Liar
• Attention Seeker
• Reckless
• Easily Flustered

When first approached, Sorella often comes across as a cheery high-spirited girl, and because of this it was very easy for her to make friends. She was very social, very open, people were envious of how easy it was for her to get along with people. However, the amount of her admirers and enemies will always remain about equal. You see, Sorella is a girl who enjoys the company of others, and those that hinder her from having this joy are the ones who witness her other-self. She is an actor, a liar, who will go through any means to protect the image others have of her, and will go through drastic means to achieve this. But in the end, she doesn't like this part of herself and can often be found upset with herself for doing these things afterward.

---

Born in a small rural town, Sorella would never be unfamiliar with the bonds of family. Growing up as the youngest child, she was spoiled, even by her older sister who was a few years older. She loved her small tight-knit life, at school her class was small so all of the kids knew each other and for the most part they all got along. But one day, she returned home to find that her sister was no longer home. Nor her father, nor her mother. She was still young at this time, but the strange mind of the girl's twisted just a bit on this day. They returned that night, they had all gone out to pick out birthday presents for Sorella, hitting double digits was a big deal after all. The young girl whined and cried, it was a normal reaction for a girl her age, but the seeds of what she is today were planted at this moment.

Three years later, the family decided to move to the nearby city as the work in their town was continuing to decrease. Here she would learn about things like crowded sidewalks, and even more so, larger classrooms. As she began her new school life in a completely different environment than what she was used to. Though it wasn't exactly hard for her to fit in or anything, Sorella was pretty girl, and people tended to just enjoy being around her. She felt overwhelmed at first, but as time went on, she grew to like it more and more thinking that her closest of friends were even comparable to family. Towards the end of her middle school days, she had grown to be quite popular and Sorella enjoyed this fame.

As her reputation carried over to highschool, even at the very start she quickly began amassing confessions from boys above and below her age, but this had a negative outcome for her. As girls are jealous creatures, friends soon turned to enemies, and with that she began to amass just as much hate and blackmail from some of the shadier girls at the school. And although she wasn't used to this sort of treatment, she didn't let it phase her at first, blowing it off as out of her control. Towards the end of her first year, a girl Sorella was very close to by the name of Mora, asked Sorella to meet her behind the school building the day after. When she arrived to the location she specified, a group of girls who had a grudge for her appeared from out of view and used water balloons to expose her underclothing. Taking pictures, they dispersed, leaving only Mora to laugh at Sorella leave her former friend at the scene.

This event triggered a hatred for people who dislike her.

Through her sophomore year, she struggled to maintain her former self. Her entire summer was spent devoting herself to change how she looked, in an attempt to ward off admiration so she could just focus on making friends. She didn't want to have to be betrayed by someone close to her again, so she tried her hardest to be normal, average looking, nothing special. Many of her former friends had stopped associating with her after her reputation plummeted due to the picture taken, rumors cycled around, but she was resolute about being able to regain her former self without her looks. Which worked for the most part, well, it wasn't even the fact that she changed, it was more so that aura Sorella gave off remained, people still liked being around her, she was still friendly and easy to get along with, and soon everything seemed to blow over.

Junior year began smoothly, though many of her enemies began to resurface. But they were dispelled for the most part when rumors began to spread that Sorella had a boyfriend, someone in college, much older than her, who treats her nicely. Completely fabricated of course, a means for Sorella to quell the men at her doorstep and drive the torches and pitchforks away from her. Mora however did not believe this act however, she constantly prodded Sorella in public to show her friends what her so-called boyfriend looked like. She eventually called in a favor from her sister, who was now a college student at the nearby university. The picture of the boy her sister sent stapled the legitimacy of her plight, shutting the nay-sayers and baffling the believers. "Being a liar is quite convenient. I should do it more often.". Soon Sorella's problems were nothing but fairy tales, if a problem arose, she creates a solution through whatever means necessary, she found herself spiraling down to lie more and more for the people around her's solidarity.

Though this would eventually end up catching up to her..

Before the beginning of her senior year, Mora appeared at her doorstep. Equipped with evidence that her boyfriend was fake, a picture of the exact same college boy kissing another girl. She was caught, cornered, back against the wall, there was no turning back now, so the scapegoat was replaced with another. "He must be cheating on me." That was it, she would perform a mock call right in front of Mora and break up with- no- she couldn't do that, Mora shot a sinister grin at Sorella as the ending result seemed to have the same ending. If she admitted she lied, things would go back to how they were before. If she continued the act, she would end up seeming available again and quickly grow resentment from people who are close to her.

In desperation she reached out to the girl, pulling her face close and planting a kiss on her former friend's lips. Which was surprisingly returned by the latter, Mora was apparently a frustrated girl who had long had feelings for her old best friend and hated her for it. Accepting the results of her actions, the rest of her summer was spent with Mora in a final hopes to clean her slate. But before her senior year could begin, while she was on a "date" with Mora one night, a stalker approached the two and attacked, killing them both before they could return home.

Academia Abyssus: More Edgeyness and Despair than 13 Year Old Linkin Park Fans

ERode said
Well, let's see.....Chances are, Psyker will make an asshole, and Zombehs will make an anti-social baby. Click is most definitely going to make a nerd girl, since that's his fetish (maybe ship gurl, actually), while Anderiel will select from a group of female character traits.So I don't really care about gender balance amongst players, since I can always counter that with NPCs. And honestly, the spectrum is pretty wide as well. I'd recommend not making a crazy psychopathic serial rapist though, or anyone with a large criminal background. After you get to a certain level of 'badness', you can't enter AA.

I was actually going to make a character with as many similarities to me applicably possible.

But, pretty spot on.

Academia Abyssus: More Edgeyness and Despair than 13 Year Old Linkin Park Fans

Psyker Landshark said
>Rodey>not trollPick one.

I choose death.

Academia Abyssus: More Edgeyness and Despair than 13 Year Old Linkin Park Fans

ERode said
It's not like Night Raid or Wild Hunt were any better. XDAnd yeah, I openly embrace those things. It's the reason why I have nudists and pimps and psychos as characters in other RPs. Huehuehuehueheu

Dem are fighting words.
But yeah, I can manage another RP.
Hopefully this isn't too trollesque~

Academia Abyssus: More Edgeyness and Despair than 13 Year Old Linkin Park Fans

'Razor Blade' or 'Dragon Child'

I'm not sure what to think about this.

Aurora - OOC

Una, Ailis, & Cross - Chapter 1: Gust from Another World



"So, that's the metal contraption the guys at the bar were talking about." - Una

"Seems a lot more menacing than I expected." - Ailis

The two standed at the edge of the lake, the silvery water reflected the image of the airship and the bioluminescent light of the trees gave a glowing aura around it's surface. The thick forest surrounding the scene gave the area a twilight feel, small insects that were more adapted to the dimly lit environment scattering quietly as the two made their way around the west side of the lake.

"Seems unsettlingly quiet, menacing isn't really the word I'd use." - Una

"You don't think that emblem on the ship is a bit..." - Ailis

"If I painted my face blood red, and ran around naked with a claymore. Would that be menacing?" - Una

"I get it, forget I said anything." - Ailis

Reaching the opposite end of the lake, they peered at the front end of the ship where a few men could now be seen, high above on the peak of its bow. A number of them clamored over the rest of the ship's surface, though given it's height above the duo, it was difficult to pick out how many were there. They seemed to be clad in similar black and red colors with shanty uniform that seemed bloodstained and tattered. These men were obviously looking for something, and within moments the scent of blood was picked up by Una's nose. The elf's ears perked as she heard the approaching crunch of leaves and mossy soil coming from behind. Ailis set her hand upon the hilt of her sword, standing abruptly as if challenging the approaching noise. While Una a bit less blatantly turned at a slow careful speed, setting her hands on each opposing hip's sheath and awaited for the approaching figure to notice them.

Two men, dressed in loose-fitting and mangled clothing of the sea, carrying curved swords approached their position from along the lakeside beach. Their booming voices indicated they felt little fear in the area, and the duo could easily make out a jar of alcohol swishing in their hands. Their weapons were sheathed and their spirits high; perfect for eliminating.

They trudged towards Una and Ailis unabated and unaware. Some patrol they were.

Ailis smirked, and Una cackled, darting towards some less than concealed bushes. The two followed the awful sentrymen for a short amount of time before Ailis signaled her partner, the signal was of course the impatient snapping of the succubi's fingers as if saying "We don't have all day." Nonetheless, Una quickly and quietly made her way behind the to men, unsheathing the blades that glowed a light-green color. The left sentrymen seemed to notice the vague light, but it was already too late. Flashes of acridium quickly went through the light clothing of the two, opening their lower bodies with ease as they silently bled out. Pressing them to the ground by their necks, their faces hit the wet ground below as the sound of mud and blood gargled within their mouths. Una turned to Ailis and offered her to approach the corpses.

"They were already stained with blood when we got them." - Una

"It's been a while since we've gotten to play dress-up." - Ailis

In the distance, a heavy bell sounded in the air. The booming vibrations it had caused indicated the immensity of its size, and such a bell could only have been located on a single place nearby; on the ship. Commotion picked up in the lake, and it seemed some sort of gathering was taking place aboard the ship. Torches began to light up as darkness set in, and for the moment it looked to be that everyone who was anyone was headed aboard. Pirates from within the forest around the lake appeared from within, on their way to the massive airship out on the waters.

"Is that the dinner bell?" - Ailis

"Good, I'm starving." - Una

The two casually pulled the two corpses into the short bushes, stripping them of their clothing, though not of their shoes. Letting the bloodied pirates roll into the lake, and afterwards throwing the ruined pirate garb over their own armor. Some of it peeked through, though not enough at this amount to be spotted unless inspected carefully. Though after their 'disguises' were complete, the duo casually hopped back into sight following the swarms of similairly clothed shipmen to the airship.

---

Rightfully, they had garnered some powerful stares, but ultimately they went unnoticed. Either their garbs were so horrible that they couldn't possibly have been anything but pirates, or they were not the only attractive females headed to the same place.

Eventually they found themselves boarding small rowboats, packed in with a larger number of burly men, the foremost of whom rowed them to the underside of the airship. Upon reaching it, they had rope ladders thrown down to their rowboat, and slowly each of the passengers found their way up to the ship's deck. It seemed a lot larger from outside and below, likely because it wasn't quite as crowded.

Countless pirates filled the deck, chattering with one another, the sheer diversity of their appearances testament to the strangeness of the crew. Una and Ailis were jammed in amongst them all, overcome with a foul smell of sweat and dirt.

Eventually, all the conversation fell into silence, and for a moment even high above the lake, the chirping of crickets and birds could be heard. Heavy boots quelled the noise of the forest, approaching from one end of the airship. Una and Ailis were further jumbled together as the crew made linear space in the center of the deck.

A tall, rather filled-looking individual walked through the clearing, a tattered red cape trailing behind him in the breeze. His face, for a moment, was obscured by a triangular black cap, but soon Una and Ailis caught a glimpse of his true nature.

His face was but a skull, held aloft seemingly by the upwards draft of ghastly mist that emanated from the hole in his shirt where his neck should be. The ghost stopped in his tracks, and another individual caught up to his greater stride and stopped as well; a black haired girl with a blue scarf tied around her neck. Despite her petty size in comparison to the ghastly captain, she exerted a stern visage that commanded respect and caution.

With a shift and slide, the captain turned to face the side of the ship Una and Ailis were crammed on. He took no notice of them, however, and only spoke to everyone as a whole.

"Men, I'm sure you've all heard rumors bout' where we're headed. You've been taking bets and losing all yer' hard earned cash it seems," the captain threw out a finger to an individual the duo could not see, and smiled before continuing. "Some of you were right. Better cough up the coins to yer' mates soon." A bout of laughter and cheering filled the deck, and died down when the captain hushed them with waving gestures.

"On this remote Sphere, we got our means of escape! Things fell through with a certain someone, and now we got ourselves in a bit of a mess, yea? In all my years, never thought we'd be coerced into doin' somethin' so impossible. We got close..." he trailed off, "But nevermind. What's under these grounds is somethin' no one's ever used in a long while, so I hear. Once we get it, no more runnin' from the authority! We'll go where we please, take what we please, and get our arses out of it just as soon as we had gone in!"

"For now, after layin' down our own law to the nobodies out there, we can rest a little easier for the night before settin' out." The captain threw his arms up to the crew and boomed, "So eat hearty, drink well, and rest well! Got a lot o' work to do come tomorrow when the sun ignites!" The crowd once again cheered and began to disperse. As room began to clear on the deck, Ailis and Una caught one final leer, this time from the girl that stood at the captain's side.

When she turned away to follow the ghost, however, it seemed that for the time being, they were still safe.

"Skull-faced Sailor, fake, myth, right Ailis? You'd better hold-up your end of the deal." - Una

"Yeah-yeah, what are the odds?" - Ailis

"The odds? In my favor, as always." - Una

Una stared at the raven-haired girl as she sunk back into the darkness behind the captain of this ship. Once the figures were no longer able to be seen, the vibe of the ship seemed to be less tense. Though, the scent of it didn't get any better, it was like like expired fish, bathed in prehistoric cheese with a side of welted crops after a day's rain. Both of the girls' faces seemed to turn green with disgust and ran to the dining area where they hoped the scents of food would masque it. When they pressed deeper into the ship however, the scent did not change, though that was the least of their worries as drunken pirates nearly filled this entire area to the brim.

"This is going to be difficult. I suppose we'll have to act like these imbeciles for a while, until we have an opportunity to search the ship at the least." - Una

"They're gambling, I can do that." - Ailis

"Just don't win too much, you'll draw attention to yourself." - Una

Pressing past the grog-soaked sweaty men and women of the ship, they finally reached the large dinnertable at the center of the dining area. Ailis quickly took a seat where the pirates were playing some foreign game of cards, Una on the other hand just stood quietly behind her and observed their surroundings.

The men welcomed Ailis, albeit reluctantly, sliding but slightly to allow for the cubi to take a seat at their side. Putting down their cards for a moment, they turned their attention to the peculiar new face. The crew was large, but it wasn't often a pretty face like hers found its way into the ranks.

"Don't recall seein' you on the Windy Mare before. You a new hand?" one of the pirates asked, placing a bracing hand on his knee as if resting from a long stand.

The cubi perked up in alert as the abrupt question caught her off guard. "A-aye! Jus' got recruited a day'er two ago." She visibly grimaced towards the man, looking back to the cards.

"Fond of games, huh? I know that look," the same man responded. His group too seemed to realise how intent Ailis was on playing cards, and they quickly halted their game in progress in favor of introducing another player. The pirates shuffled the cards up and slapped the deck down at the center. "What game you itchin' to play?"

"Got anything to offer, lass?" another asked, leaning forward on his elbow.

"You choose the game, just don't get upset when you lose." said Ailis as she reaches to her side pulling a small leather satchel full of golden coins towards the table, slapping it to the wood and smiling to those around. "The real question is, what do you have for me?" She winked with this response, working some of her charm magic.

"Oho, that's quite the bank there, that is. Where'd you work your magic on before comin' aboard this messy place?" The pirate grabbed the cards and began fiddling with them, a smirk on his face. "We'll play somethin simple. First games with one another should be simple, I think." He began to hand out cards, face down, to each of the players present.

"Blackjack," he stated, having set the initial board, "Throw in your bets." The other pirates brought out a few coins, but certainly nothing of Ailis's comparatively grander wealth.

As the cards were handed out, Ailis gave a quick glimpse to see her comrade nod to her. The succubi smiled confidently, watching the others around her she tapped the two she currently had beckoning to be given another card. Clueless to the rules of what she was playing, she flipped the three cards over obliviously asking. "Did I win?" The three cards happened to be a 7,4, and 10.

The pirates grunted in failure, most of them bowing their heads in failure. Before the pirate that had dealt the cards could acknowledge her sudden, peculiarly lucky victory, a feminine but stern voice called them all out from the other side of the room.

"You goons. A fire's been spotted out in the forest. We need a team to go investigate it." Turning to meet her stare, Ailis and Una found themselves faced with the dark-haired girl that had stared them down earlier. Even still, however, she seemed to remain oblivious to their novelty aboard the ship. Her pointed finger and sweeping gaze indicated the two, and their gambling pirate partners, were the ones to take up her command.

"Grab some gear and head out there," she demanded. The pirates about the duo immediately rose from their seats, shuffling together the cards as quickly as they could, and promptly retrieving their own cash before Ailis could snatch it up.

"We'll see if you're as lucky next time. Then maybe we'll part with our coin, lass," the pirate stated before passing beside the raven-haired girl, who merely returned their downward glances with a leer that could light the ship's wooden structure aflame.

---

It had taken a bare handful of conversations to get the information he'd needed and a few minutes of bartering to secure supplies for the trip. Cross had spent less than a half hour in the town before leaving for the ship's reported position. He arrived shortly after nightfall, creeping through the trees that he barely remembered from his childhood. Surveying the area, he noted that most, if not all of the pirates were aboard, leaving him without any easy way onto the craft.

Something caught his attention and he inhaled through his nose, scenting blood on the air, much too strong to be coming from the pirate ship. Tracing his way around the shore, Cross eventually came across a pair of bodies floating in the shallows and stripped naked save for their footwear. He grabbed them by their hair and pulled them across the shore and into the tree line, before crouching down to think.

After a moment he stood up again, leaving the pair of corpses for the moment and walking off into the trees. Returning with a bundle of dry wood under his arm, he dropped his load at the base of a tree, making several more trips until he felt that the pile was large enough. He left again and after a few minutes of searching found the bloodstained patch of ground where they were killed, along with their weapons.

Returning for the last time to the pair of bodies, he lifted them each in turn and used their own swords to spear them through the chest, fixing them to the tree. Stepping back, he double checked the distance from his chosen trees to anything nearby, not wanting to start any forest fires. Pulling off his left left glove to reveal the metal forearm and hand underneath, Cross picked up a piece of the gathered wood and gripped it in the hand. A second later the stick burst into flames and he threw it onto the rest of the pile, setting it alight and illuminating the two dead pirates in the tree.

Standing for just a second to admire the effect, he turned around and moved quickly along the shore to watch from the treeline.

The two trailed behind the pirates as they made their way to the upper-deck of the ship. Ailis took a few moments collecting her earning, but quickly returned to Una's side before she could fall behind. The elf gave the raven-haired woman a smirk as she passed, returning the leer of the woman with a broad smile and squinted eyes as they exited the crowded area.

The pirates clearly led the imposters, and rightfully so; with what little time they had on the boat, the two might as well have gotten lost in its sub-deck depths. The three pirates walked silently -albeit with intermitten quips on something irrelevant- followed closely behind by Ailis and Una. Eventually they found their way to another hanging rope ladder that led down to a rowboat.

The group rowed back to the forest by the beach, following a trail of smoke rising from the canopy, as well as the barely visible glow of a fire behind the rows of trunks.

"This better not just be the leftovers of one of the crew's torches," one of the pirates moaned. The boat brushed on the sand ashore, and the pirates disembarked, unsheathing their curved blades in preparation. They walked with attentive eyes, but their stances and careless move forward indicated they weren't quite as worried as they ought to be.

Cross sat in the bushes, hidden in shadow but near enough to the fire that the contrast between light and dark would ruin any chance of spotting him. He drew his sword with an almost painfully slow movement, the noise lost in the crackling of the still 'cheerfully' burning fire. He kept his eyes averted from the blaze. He knew it was there and staring at it would ruin his night vision.

The pirates got close enough that Cross could get a good look at them. The pair at the back appeared to be remarkably more alert than the rest. Even as they neared the pinned bodies, the pirates took little extra precuation. The corpses had since been singed so strongly that they no longer appeared as the remains of men to the pirates, and so they did not stir into fright and confusion. As far as they were concerned on the approach, the tree had simply been set aflame by some means. The two women seemed a bit confused by the burning pike, staring at the charred husk with inquiring eyes. Off to the side, Una's eyes drifted to the bushes and dropped to the sand below searching for tracks in the area. In the end however, she did not act upon her instincts and followed the pirates without a care.

The pirates said nothing, only continuing to move closer to the flame, passing beside the bush Cross hid himself within unawares. Cross stood and stepped into the path, grabbing the rearmost of the group with a strong hand over their mouth and nose and pulling them into the bushes. He whispered into their ear.

"Be quiet now. All I want is a ride on your ship."

The succubus willingly fell into the bushes, attempting to muffle the sound to the best of her ability as she broke branches and landed on the wet sticks below. She glanced quickly at her assailant, and, noticing his ears, she marked him as a local which was less of a threat than their current pirate act.

Una, who quickly noticed her partner vanish into the great green yonder, whispered nonchalantly before reaching for a pebble on the ground, wiping the sand from it's face and tossing it with swiftly into the woods. The force of the stone caused a nearby tree to shake, a few local birds flew from their nests and caused a noisy ruckus in the opposite direction in which her partner "vanished".

"Look! I just saw him! That way! Go go go go! He's quick!" Una shouted, faking a sprinting motion towards the direction she pointed before dropping down to appear as if she had miraculously took off into the darkness.

The pirates fell for her trick, taking immediate notice of the loud thunk upon the tree and disruption it caused. Before Una could even finish her motion, however, the pirates had made off into the darkness, more convinced by the sound than her faked disappearance. Within moments they had disappeared from sight.

Cross almost chuckled at the ruse but still held a firm grip in Ailis. He removed the hand from her mouth but still kept a forearm around her neck. Glancing between the two, he smiled.

"You two smelled far too nice to be pirates."

Struggling to release herself from the man's grip, Ailis reached outwards like a dying soldier attempting to give off his final words.

"Una... I can't breathe... Keh!" With this act, she feigned unconsciousness.

"Release the princess or be slain!" Announced the elf woman who twirled from the darkness of the lakeside jungle, with daggers unsheathed she seemed to fall from the sky behind the two and posed valiantly after this facade was completed.

Breaking from her own play, Ailis opened her eyes as if her role was being called upon. "My hero, you've come to slay this defiler of maidens." Said the succubi who continued to wriggle and squirm under the man's arm.

"Of course. Now... Hand over your belongings please... If you'd be so kind." Una said, in a slightly more serious, darker, tone.

Cross sighed and turned around, still keeping a hold on his hostage. His free hand reached under his cape and withdrew a heavy bag of coins.

"I've always wanted a princess, how much?"

Cross's question was met not with an answer from Una, but in the form of an intimidating screech. The flames growing up the tree cast a light upon the immaculately white down of a massive bird, an albatross, which to anyone familiar with the area, was certainly out of place. It stared down at the group with beady eyes that indicated more intelligence than their blackness initially implied.

It screeched again, extending its massive wings in a flurry of movement, brushing leaves from the tree branch it stood upon. Their gazes upturned to its position, the group only heard as someone approached from underneath it. The girl from earlier, of black hair and stern expression, stood beneath the tree the bird perched upon. Her face, once but leering, had turned to one of both disgust and anger.

"My hunches were correct," she growled, The albatross screamed and dropped from its perch, landing upon the girl's outstretched arm, seemingly able to hold its weight despite its size. From the direction of the forest, the pirates that had run off returned once more looking quite confused, but still at the ready. Tracing the girl's eyes to Cross, Una, and Ailis, they seemed to comprehend the situation.

"I'd let you leave, you seem like pretty girls. But there's quite a bit at stake here," she explained. With her free arm, she reached to her side and unsheathed a saber. "Seize them."