Jakeozzy

KHR: The Mafia War [Jakeozzy|Demon Shinobi]

“It’s... not what my dad wants for me,” Ringo said, her quiet voice shaking as she tried to find a reason for her weakness. “I only have myself to blame for slacking off, but he always hints toward me moving away, studying, being better off in some peaceful life.”

She paused, and exhaled, trying to compose herself. She’d never really witnessed Mamoru get angry like that, so it took a while to process. It was easy to understand his point of view. “I’ll try harder! I just can’t find a ‘resolve’ to push myself with. I don’t know what I’m aiming to become, or what I need to do to reach that point. You know?!” she tried to explain. “I keep being kept in the dark with all this mafia stuff...”

“Maybe giving the rings to me is dad finally giving in,” she thought aloud, visibly nervous, and hesitant to look Mamoru in the eye. There was nothing worse than the fact that she’d let him down, and not come through on her side of their promises.

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

“It’s not something any one or few people could pull off, I think. To fight the Thalmor is to fight the Dominion, and you’d need to somehow put the Empire back in good fighting condition for that. Gets real complicated with all the work we’d have to do - and yes, I’ve thought this through~” Aria chuckled. “I was a rebel once, but the results of combat with the Thalmor were... Bloody.”

Yuki entered just then. Having spent her time well exploring Whiterum, she looked quite tired. The girl was carrying two books, both with alchemical symbols on the front covers. She went to wave at the three, nearly losing one of the books before holding them tightly again.

“This land is so interesting!” Yuki remarked, cracking a big smile.

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

Aria couldn’t help but wear a smug grin as Serena explained herself. Cronic wasn’t exactly complaining, and Serena was happy to admit she needed the comfort he provided! All she could think was how they might make a cute couple in the future. Still, she worried about income now that there were two more ‘employees’ at the shop.

“How about it, then? We could head out tomorrow morning at first light and scout the west plains. Allegedly bandits took a castle in the area, and keep using it to mess with travellers and caravans.” Aria said, clearing her throat, “The castle is worth a lot to Mr. Balgruuf.”

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

“All this pent up aggression needs an outlet, and I figure Jarl Balgruuf wants bandits killed, dead.” Aria deadpanned, turning to look at Cronic with a sweet smile. “And so, we’ll get that done tomorrow if Serena is okay with it! I have a location already,” she suggested, looking to Serena again.

“How about it? Just... imagining they’re Thalmor, so we can let loose for a while.”

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

Aria sat quietly and listened to Serena, half expecting to hear something like this. Cronic did say that she had reasons to hate the Thalmor... They wanted her power, and were willing to destroy her whole world in order to gain control of her gift. She’d escaped, but even now she might be one of the many dossiers locked up in the Thalmor Embassy - a woman with an enchanting voice, to be captured if located...

“Nice to know you’re strong, ...guess you have to be.” Aria commented, before breaking into a quiet chuckle. “A girl hounded for her power, huh? I take it that’s the case with Snowy,” she said, nodding at the window as young Yuki ran by the shop yet again, with bags full of herbs, jars of specimens, flowers and the like. Seemed like Arcadia had found a tireless apprentice!

“Poor kid.” Aria mumbled.

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"Not trying, ...but definitely succeeding! To think, I opened this place for a chance at peace and quiet. Or maybe not that, but, normalcy, you know?" Aria chuckled. "Little pieces of odd work. Instead, the Odd Jobs name has a dragon to it, bandits, monsters, vampires, cultists... Well, the dragon was us, but we preferred the credit go to Jorrvaskr. Too big a name will attract all kinds of people wanting us to do mercenary work."

Aria took a seat at her desk and kicked her legs up on it like usual. "Shouldn't be what we're all about... I figure its nicer to spill blood for good. They say that's hypocrisy, but bad things don't just go away. IE, I'm thinking that we find vampires, kill them, find cultists, kill them, and anything equally scummy we find along the way can get killed, too. Jarls like to be rid of threats, and they're usually happy to pay for that service..." she explained.

"But I wouldn't take our youngest addition on any jobs like that... She seems interested in magic, and I can feel a little of her power when I really focus on it... But whether she's strong or not, she's just a kid. And kids don't..." Aria frowned for a moment, something crossing her mind that cut her off. "...shouldn't fight."

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"I had an eye open. You're pretty strong, even when you're tired!" Aria chuckled as they approached the shop entrance. She thought for a moment before going inside and nodded along, "I guess we've both been tired recently too. Before we met you and the kid, we had some pretty violent jobs. While we're all for that, it takes its toll. That, and mild paranoia makes me lose sleep - between assassins and Thalmor agents..."

KHR: The Mafia War [Jakeozzy|Demon Shinobi]

It didn't take long to throw the proper clothes on, the ones she wished she had time to change into before this failure of a spar. Ringo's outfit was made up of a pair of boots, jeans, and an orange and black hoodie with the Vongola insignia on the upper right arm, like any army unit would have their own. She flicked her hair out of the hood and finally began to calm down. She cleared her throat and called over, "You can look now..."

Ringo started walking over to her friend, still slightly red in the face. Less because he might've seen her all over, but more because she wasn't ready for the training. She could see in his expression, he wasn't overjoyed. Had she really gotten to a point where she was completely vulnerable?

"I uh, ..." she held her arm, "At least you're strong enough for the both of us?" she tried to joke.

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"There's this.. 'Harkon' character. Didn't manage to get anything else out of the vampire me and Cronic fought before an arrow turned him to ash." Aria explained, sighing as the two stepped out of Dragonsreach. Behind them, a confused Farengar could be heard asking around about his collection. Walking faster to avoid an angry bookworm, Aria would lead the way back down into the market, and toward home.

"We'll make an evening out of it - I'm sure Yuki and Cronic could join in. We're after a 'Harkon' and a 'Miraak'. One's a supposed high-ranking vampire in Skyrim. The other is apparently the 'true dragonborn' according to some cultists we messed up."

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

Aria gave a nod as she peeked at Serena's find, but remained silent while they went about 'borrowing' the books. She couldn't find a anything relating to a Miraak, but grabbed a couple of notes on Solstheim. Farengar was still lost in his apparent genius when Aria gestured toward the exit.

Once they'd made a break for it, Irileth gave a single chuckle as she saw what the two were carrying. They passed through the great hall, and went straight for the doors.

"Nothing looked like information on cults..." Aria shrugged, "Find anything you liked?"