Final Fantasy: Darkness Descends

[Crystal Tears]

.: + ♦ Selene Solidor ♦ + :.

Selene looked at the Spiran soldier with some surprise; she had just betrayed her side beyond what most soldiers would’ve done. The Judge moved forward, helping the girl off the ground as there was a brief, cherished break in the fighting since the Spirans were reeling from the sudden loss of men. The woman bowed her head respectfully, as if knowing exactly who the Judge was.

“Judge Luna, I’m at your service.”

“… Who are you soldier?”

“Kaida Liena, former Lieutenant of Spiran invasion forces.” She smiled at the end of that.

“Yes…” Selene looked at the range of dead bodies. “I can see that…”

“Oh! Right… Here…” The girl handed Selene a piece of parchment. She read it quickly and raised an eyebrow.

‘Just how many spies does my father have?’ She thought before looking at Liena. “Well… I’ll put your mission down as a success.”

The girl beamed. “Thanks!”

“Miss, how do you even know you can trust this woman?” Lisettte’s voice cut into Selene’s mind just as the group was beginning to ready themselves again. She looked over at her new bodyguard and then at Sirius, Nii, and the others who were not blatantly aligned with her beloved country.

“We trust them, don’t we?”

“Correction Miss, you do.” The Viera commented.

Selene rolled her eyes. “Alright, I trust them… To an extent..” she turned her attention back to Kaida. “How many more waves are there?”

“One more to my knowledge. It’s larger than the one I exterminated… And it has a tank.”

“Great…” Selene looked to Lyra and Shayna who were approaching. “Lyra get the men ready, another wave is coming and it has tanks.”

Lyra nodded quickly and left Shay’s side to run to the men.

“Oy!” Adair piped up over the commotion of everyone readying themselves. “This band of moderately armed riff-raff is inordinately inadequate to deal with rolling death carts. Unless Sori is hiding an inner Duracell bunny, unlikely, our Spiran friends will be passing the maple syrup.”

Selene raised an eyebrow at the swaggering pirate. “Go get the ship.”

The pilot looked before confused. “Eh?”

“The ship has guns.”

“Aye.”

“You’re a pilot…”

“Of esteemed quality.”

“You can fly the ship that has guns…” Selene trailed off, and suddenly the man clued in.

“Ah. My faculties have been slowed by the progression of electricity through my form. I WAS FRIED.”

Despite the inappropriate time to snicker, Selene couldn’t hold back a chuckle at that last exclamation.

“Oh…” Lisette gave a sideways glance. “And what a tragedy that was…”

He looked her up and down. “Listen missy just because you’re-“

“ADAIR.” Selene snarled, and suddenly the man was back to paying attention. “GO.”

“Right… I’ll be back!” He ran off, down the street towards where the ship was anchored and out of sight.

“Lady Selene!” Temzi’s voice surprisingly broke over the soldiers chitchat; the Dragoon hit the ground as suddenly there was a massive explosion. Pieces of the building next to him went flying every which way possible and everyone was sent reeling for cover. Selene uncovered her eyes to see Spiran soldiers pouring in again, with the loud rumble of a tank behind them.

Temzi looked up at her. “They’re here…”

* * *

Selene didn’t exactly like hiding in cover, it wasn’t her style. But many of the men fighting for Ivalice who had dared to run out were either gunned down by the sheer amount of Spirans now pouring in, or blasted into pieces by the rampaging tank that made holding the enemy back a pain. The Judge grumbled, waiting for that accursed Wolfstar and its pilot weren’t going to keep them alive for long, and if that tank reached the castle…

‘Alright…’ She thought as she took a quick glance of her surroundings. ‘Need a plan… Need a…’ She dared to look again and shot down a soldier while she was at it. ‘The square is falling apart under that heavy fire…’

“Kaida!” She cried, and the soldier moved over to her, barely dodging a barrage of fire.

“What’s up?”

“How did you blow up that entire line of soldiers?”

“Grenades Miss, they’re incredibly handy.”

“Right… See that pillar on the opposing side of the square?”

She took a quick glance. “The crumbling one?”

“Yes, that would be the one… Can you throw that far?”

“Unfortunately no, and it’d be suicide for me to head out there. They’ve blasted much of the cover.”

Selene frowned, that was a considerable hole in her plan. The only one who probably had enough luck to run across that square and not receive any sort of accountable wound would be Adair, and he was getting the ship. Either that or he had abandoned them here, and that meant it was up to them to stop the tank, without any sort of air support.

“Right… Temzi!”

The armoured clad man appeared next to her, the sharp sound of a bullet ricocheting off his armour made the Judge wince a little. Then she blinked, and looked back at the silent Dragoon with new hope.

“That’s it!”

“Pardon madam?”

“I think I’ve missed something…” Kaida noted.

“Temzi do you see that pillar?” Selene risked it and pointed towards it before ducking down.

“What about it milady?”

“I want you to blow it up.”

“I have no explosives-“

Kaida abruptly shoved a grenade into the Guado’s hand; he stared at it curiously before tightening his hold on it.

“I will succeed madam, that pillar will fall.”

“Is that the plan?” Sirius called over from another point of cover. “Send in the damn anchor armed with a lance and a grenade? Selene did you bump your pretty little head again when I wasn’t looking?”

“Sirius another comment like that and I break your nose!”

“Right my fiery beauty, what are our orders then?”

“Covering fire!” Selene called, as suddenly the Ivalician side of the battlefield erupted, magic and bullets flying towards the Spirans who were getting a bit cocky. Temzi moved out, his armour deflecting the shots as he prepared to mow down anyone in his way.

* * 1026 / 30 * *

Challenge: Post at least once before Rio posts on Thursday. There may be a reward in involved for those that do. It’s open right now to do what you want in this fight, so have a ball killing Spirans. But no, you may not destroy the tank, but you can wound it XD

[Samchu]

Lyra
~~~~

I couldn't believe that my sister had sunk so low as to make friends with an Al Bhed. Al Bheds were scum. A filthy, pathetic race of barbaric beings who tried to hide their savagery behind complex machina. The prospect of being trapped on a ship with one of them was bad enough but, I discovered with disgust, they were multiplying. And what was worse, it was the traitors who were bulking our numbers.

“Lyra get the men ready, another wave is coming and it has tanks.”

I nodded to Selene and ran to the men. Our ranks had been thrown into disarray following the first assault and now, in the break that battle had allowed, the wounded were being tended to at last. "Everyone, back into formation! The enemy is coming with a second wave and we must be ready for them. Get the wounded off of the battlefield and we will use them as additional defence once they are ready to rejoin the fight." They weren't happy with what I said but they obeyed.

I watched them scatter into position and hoped Selene would be ok. I didn't trust an Al Bhed spy, regardless of any papers they carried or any words that they spoke.

* * *

A deep roar pierced the battlefield as the tank rolled into action. Mages moved the earth to give us cover but the tank's shells tore through them as though there were as thin as paper. We took shelter in the buildings when we could but even that was falling. The major problem was protecting the road, without giving the tank and the overwhelming number of Spiran soldiers easy targets to aim at.

"Need to do something about that damn tank..." My grip tightened around the handle of my blade. The blood in my veins was boiling. I needed to act. "Cover me," I said to the mage beside me. "I don't care how you do it, just keep that gun fire off of me for a few minutes."

"What are you - Captain Xanthrope!"

I was away. I sprinted with my legs, bent low to the ground with my sword at my side. Spiran soldiers in my way were cut down before they knew I was even there. I grinned. The little bast*** had cast haste on me. I was at the tank's side in moments and pulled back my blade, charging the only technique I could think of. I needed to give this damn thing a weak point, something for us to aim at. I brought the blade down and the technique pierced the side of its armour, exposing the darkness of the core beyond the thick metal shell.

I prepared to attack but their attention was on me now. The fire of their guns drove me back under cover. "Dammit, I was so close to making an opening." I stretched the muscles in my hands and prepared to brave the danger again.

"Captain, look!"

I peeked round the edge of the wall against which we were hiding and saw the Dragoon running across the square, his armour deflecting the Spiran bullets, sometimes right back at them. I smiled, sensing the plan to be of Selene's creation.

"Cover fire for the Dragoon!" I shouted above the storm of battle, hoping that my men could hear me. I switched from sword to gun and opened fire. Gods let this work. We're ****ed if that tank gets out of this square.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#4
582 words
(yeh its short but im exhausted!)

[classy_cat18]

Sori – Moogle Time Mage
Currently listening to “B.O.B.” by Outkast

It was supposed to be pretty simple: zap, burn, freeze, or drown the nasty Sprian soldiers. Avoid everyone else. Make sure no one advances. Somehow, defending myself was nowhere on my mind.

That is, until I heard someone groaning in pain.

As he was about to fall on me.

Dead.

I was too surprised about the dead body to escape from its weight, only able to let out a squeak. Fortunately, it was knocked away from me by some female stranger. I was still too surprised to say anything to her, although it would’ve been fitting to at least say “thanks”.

Gratitude was further delayed when we all heard an explosion, as well as the cries of many soldiers, ring from the line that the stranger had jumped from. My surprise was now blended with gratitude, amazement, and amusement. Those feelings grew when we heard a second explosion, followed by bits of enemy ship raining from the sky. She proclaimed proudly that it was all her doing. Where did this girl come from? She is one certifiable nutjob.

My ears sprang up when what looked like a Hume arm landed near me from a sky. I sighed. I’m impressed. Not a lot of people can pull off so much destruction on purpose.

My answer was answered as introduced herself as “Kaida Liena, former lieutenant of Spiran invasion forces”. I silently commented on how easily people were swayed to the other side these days. Feeling my wings get tired, I landed on a fallen lamppost near Kaida for a better look. She was wearing green goggles, not too different to Nii’s black ones. Kaida temporarily slid them up, giving my first good view of her blue eyes.

With spiral pupils.

“Well, I’ll be. Another Al Bhed,” I muttered to myself.

Kaida informed Selene that there was only one more wave of soldiers, and that they had a bigger tank than the one she blew up earlier. Just hearing that seemed to drain any mana that I had left. Nevertheless, I stood on the lamppost and got ready to give whatever I had.

Lyra went to tell her men to get ready. “Oy!” Adair shouted over the commotion. “This band of moderately armed riff-raff is inordinately inadequate to deal with rolling death carts. Unless Sori is hiding an inner Duracell bunny, unlikely, our Spiran friends will be passing the maple syrup.” I nodded in agreement.

Selene gave another one of those ‘don’t make me kill you’ looks. “Go get the ship.”

The pilot looked before confused. “Eh?”

“The ship has guns.”

“Aye.”

“You’re a pilot…”

“Of esteemed quality.”

“You can fly the ship that has guns…” Selene trailed off, like she was talking to a retarded Seeq.

“Ah. My faculties have been slowed by the progression of electricity through my form. I WAS FRIED.”

“Damn right,” I commented with pride.

After a little more squabbling, Selene got Adair to get the Wolfstar. Temzi’s voice roared out, very shocking since I had never heard him speak above his “bold chivalry” speaking voice. My sensitive ears picked up the sound of something whistling through the air. At that moment, the building next to him exploded, sending debris everywhere. I took off to avoid shards of glass and took cover.

The last wave of enemy soldiers was approaching, accompanied by their tank. I looked back in the direction of where the Wolfstar was supposed to be docked. Adair, if you don’t come back soon, I’ll drag your sorry ass corpse back myself.

While I was worrying and seething, Selene had come up with a crazy yet brilliant plan: use our own living tank to charge in and blow up a nearby pillar, probably able to take out the last line and damage if not incapacitate the tank. Temzi was all for it, and he charged in like Kumas did a little while ago.

It seemed to do well, but I couldn’t help but noticed that there were now enemy gunners on the roofs of nearby buildings, armed with long-range rifles. And one of them was aiming for Temzi. If he had strong enough ammo…

“Hold up!” I called out as I flew as fast as I could. I had no mana so I did the only thing I could think of. I kept out of sight of his scope and circled around, then gave him my hardest headbutt. The Hume soldier grunted and was knocked off-target.

His new target? The nearest sniper.

Not intended, but a nice bonus.

“You little rat—“ the Hume started.

“THAT’S IT!” I screamed as grabbed his hair and bit his ear. The guy screamed in pain and flailed around, trying to throw me off. I let go and raised my rod. “Say goodnight, pal!” I clocked him upside the head with it, knocking him out. Hey, who said that rods were just for magic?

I searched the man’s pockets and found a half-empty bottle of Ether. Not caring to know what a Gunner was doing with Ether, I drank it then looked down at Nii and the new Al Bhed, Kaida. The two were together behind a wall of the ruined building. They could help with the rest of the gunners.

882 words. 17 Sori posts.

[Weasel Overlord]

Temzi :: Dragoon of Justice
:: a quest of some importance ::

Temzi found himself unable to believe his helm-covered ears. An actual Quest! A Quest of Great Importance, no less! And he had the memorabilia to prove it, he thought, clasping one hand tightly around the foreign contraption.

His other hand, as usual, bore Dragon's Whisper, his lance, which he twirled in anticipation as he set off at a dead run – or as much of a dead run as one largely-armoured Guado Dragoon could, anyway.

Somewhere deep within his heart, Temzi had a suspicion that slaying his kith and kin was against some sort of rule, but so many years basically being brought up by the Academy had left him somewhat more loyal to his Dragoon path than to his own race. You didn't see so many Guado here in Ivalice, and as a matter of course, Temzi had almost forgotten what the rest of his people looked like. He had only fuzzy memories of children his own age laughing at his hair for, he assumed, being the wrong colour. Having no reference point to compare himself to had only done wonders for Temzi's confidence, however, and that particular sting of crying in a corner had left him with no fondness for his own race.

And so it was with great satisfaction that Temzi clutched the metal ball. Only... well, no-one had thought to tell him how to work the device. He was certain that he would figure it out, or at the very least that Kain would show him the way. But until then, he still had Whisper, and it was calling out for the blood of his enemies.

One of the remaining Guado mages flung himself in futility at Temzi, screaming his anger as he brandished a long, slender staff. Temzi swayed out of the way, surprisingly fluid for one in such heavy armour, and severed the staff with a flick of his halberd. The imbued-half of the staff clattered to the floor, sparking as its magic drained into the ground, its light finally going out – drowned in the blood of its owner.

Stepping over the body, Temzi glanced around at the muted carnage. One major advantage of his helm was the added peace it gave to the midst of a battle. His ears did not ring with the dying screams of enemies, and his mind was becalmed, giving him room to think and plan and react. He supposed that others would find it restrictive, or even deadly, but Temzi was thankful.

He was also thankful for the armour which protected his fragile body from bullets – which ricocheted around him like hailstones, bouncing off but never quite making a difference. He had trust that the crew would cover him, so when Sori came flying out of nowhere to take down a sniper, he tipped his spear to him in gratitude.

His charge had been hindered slightly by the piles of bodies which he had to pick his way over, but he'd always been good at obstacle courses, macabre as that sounded, the battlefield was most often highly reminiscent of an obstacle course from the Academy. Perhaps the professors had done that on purpose, he pondered, while leaping a pile five or six high.

And then, suddenly, the gloried pillar was in his full view. It loomed into his eye-line like one of the thick tree trunks he remembered from his first home in Guadosalam. And he supposed that he should feel nostalgia and warmth at that thought, but suddenly he was filled with an almost uncontrollable rage. The answer to the puzzle of the explosive contraption opened in his mind like a flower, and the battlefield seemed to almost slow down in anticipation as Temzi yanked out the tiny hooked pin and stuck the grenade at the base of the pillar in one smooth movement.

He flung himself backwards, ploughing into that pile of bodies he'd previously scaled, thankful for yet one more thing in his life – soft landings – no matter how grisly.

His vision exploded, then, into fireworks of red and shards of stone. Temzi covered his face with a gauntletted hand, thankful, once again, for the Lea Monde-crafted armour that was his livelihood. His face was shielded from the vast majority of the debris, but he still wound up with more than a few chips of stone slicing into his skin.

He felt his face gingerly. It was lucky, he supposed, that he didn't have looks like the Captain to be worrying about, or like the Lady Judge Selene, for if that were the case, he was certain that by now, he would have broken down or gone into shock.

As it was, he slumped backwards, blood slowly draining from his face from a dozen places. Even a mighty Dragoon of Lea Monde cannot stay conscious in the face of such bloodloss, but Temzi was certain that he would be alright. He had friends, after all. His faith shone out like a beacon – his crew would rescue him.

The last thing he was conscious of was his helm tumbling away and blood mingling with his hair. He tried to keep holding on to Whisper, but his strength finally failed him, and his consciousness went out like a candle.

~890 // #6

[Samchu]

Because it's too perfect an opportunity to pass up.

Lyra
~~~

Our bullets poured onto the enemy as they sought to take down the lone dragoon streaking across the battlefield. Death flew from all angles. We lost men, but so did they. We attacked them for so long that we could hear nothing else but a never-ending roar above the beat of our hearts in our ears.

Then came the explosion.

We were close enough to admire its destruction. The thunderous boom that errupted tore through the battle-sound, as chunks and pillar tore through air and Spiran alike. The defensive was left a moment to admre the achievement of the manouever but whatever that was escaped me. The dragoon had fallen, and I could not take my eyes away from him.

He has her hair...

There was only colour. The grey surface of which they stood was fading rapidly, devoured by the red snake that weaved between them. There was no end to its hunger. It would not suffice until it had consumed everything. Everything but the hair of which she had always been proud. Red on red...and the darkness that had caused it.

I was trembling. I took my gun in both hands until I could hold it steady. Then I ran.

To run out into an open battlefield was foolishness but to do it twice...I knew it was stupid and risky but I couldn't hold myself back from it. I had to get to him, had to pull him out of that field of death. Red...red...red...red...

He weighed more than I could carry - I knew just by lifting his arm. But I was resourceful and logic had become a slave to instinct. There was no time for thinking. I grabbed his helmet and returned it. A bullet grazed my hand. I shot a jet of fire in response but failed to see if it hit. I sunk low into the bed of bodies, hoping to hide myself from attackers as I worked.

I grabbed the dragoon's body and began rolling it towards me. As his side was about to drop, flipping him over, I slid beneath him. The man in the armour fell onto my back and I gasped for wind. I had never had to deal with such heavy armour before. I pulled his arms over my shoulders and began crawling across the ground. Bullets bounced off of his arm and started a ringing in my ears that wouldn't cease. Dust pillars exploded from the ground, leaving tiny bullet holes in their wake.

Poor fortune direct my travel. His weight was too much for me to alter my path by more than a few millimeters and I ended up further from my men that I would have liked. Fated also decide it wanted to play with me. I found myself with the moogle...and both Al Bhed girls.

There was a demon's glare in his eyes. She could see the bloodlust in his irises, and the spiral descent from bloodlust into maddness.

My training replaced the emotions of my past and the order came out before I could even think of what to say to them. "Get him off of me and prop him against a wall before we're both dead."


~~~~~~~~~~
#5
540 words

[Kurosakura]

~*Lisette Rosencrantz*~
Extremely Fatigued

Spirans. The Viera never really had much trust in anyone, except Selene and, but Spirans were a completely different story. She respected Temzi for his devotion and chivalrous nature and confided in Lyra once in a while, but for mostly everyone else, Spirans were scum. And she especially didn't appreciate having to rely on them in the midst of battle.

Lisette's mind was focused on only two things, protecting Selene and Sori. As soon as she and Sirius cut down the blessed few whom avoided the barrage of bullets shot by Selene, Sori sent down a well-aimed Thunder at the Flan encompassing that blasted pirate's body, nearly frying him in the process. She chuckled to herself, but barely dodged a stray bullet. Her attention returned to her most important mission: protecting her mistress.

She made quick work of the close combat soldiers within the Spiran army, the ones Selene and Sori didn't manage to pick off with bullets and magic, respectively. Her swift movements and precise swordplay left many incapacitated with one thrust, and those who weren't dead within one hit were met with a Swarmstrike, leaving them at the mercy of the venom that flooded their bodies. The Viera didn't particularly fancy working together with the two craven curs, Sirius and Adair, and have to rely on them, but she bore with them and, much to her dismay, covered for them as they did for her, although grudgingly.

The upcoming explosion caught her completely off-guard, and Lisette shrieked in pain; the sounds of of screaming men and bursting metal ringing through her sensitive, rabbit-like ears. Her hands gripped her long ears and her rapier fell onto the blood-stained ground with another resounding clatter, the vibrations piercing through her still-throbbing eardrums. Suddenly, she grabbed her rapier off the ground as a dead body blew toward her and jumped back a few paces, regrouping with the others, but not before sustaining minimal damage.

A surprisingly unscathed Spiran soldier unexpectedly killed one of her “comrades” and saved Sori, then she made her towards Selene. The Viera instinctively rushed toward her mistress' side and held up her rapier as the zapped pirate spoke up. “An' jus who the hell d'you think you are, missy?”

“I just happened to help take out an entire line of the offensive on your position, as well as a giant indestructible Machina headed for the castle,” the girl replied rather pompously, irking Lisette, since she made an undeniable point and helped them out immensely. The Spiran's sly smile aggravated her further as she added, “Oh, as well as a Spiran drop ship.” She then bowed in front of Selene and stated, “Judge Luna, I'm at your service.” The Viera noted her noticeable spiral pupils and frowned. “An Al Bhed?”

Lisette shot a glance at Selene and frowned once again. The whole situation was too good to be true. Why would a Spiran soldier defect to the opposite side?

“Who are you, soldier?” was Selene's immediate inquiry.

“Kaida Liena, former Lieutenant of Spiran invasion forces.” Emphasis on former.

“Yes... I can see that...”

“Oh! Right... Here...” the girl handed over a piece of parchment to her mistress, and the latter seemed to understand right away, but not before raising an eyebrow.

“Well... I'll put your mission down as a success.”

“Thanks!” This girl was way too happy for Lisette's tastes. She could act... more professional, couldn't she?

“Miss, how do you even know you can trust this woman?” the Viera cut in almost rudely.

“We trust them, don't we?”

“Correct, Miss, you do,” she responded coldly.

Selene and the new girl, Kaida, exchanged some more military information, and it was decided that the local idiot fly the armed ship and the Guado Dragoon perform a suicide mission and blow things up. The group went for cover, and Lisette looked on in horror as bullets ricocheted off his hefty armor. His lance was more than enough to plow through the last of the Guado mages, and Sori thankfully saved him from getting sniped. The explosive was thrown, and Temzi was thrown backwards as well from the blast, suffering from increasing blood loss, and eventually passed out.

Lyra was close enough to the Dragoon, managed to drag him back to the rest of the group, and started her idiotic banter. “Get him off of me and prop him against the wall before we're both dead.”

“You, pretty-boy or whatever, get Temzi off of Lyra.” Lisette glared at Sirius.

“I only take orders from my lady love!”

“SIRIUS, DO IT!” Selene roared.

“Yes, my love and soul!” he piped up and nearly crushed himself trying to hold up Temzi and his heavy Dragoon armor.

The Viera held up her rapier and a faint white glow surrounded Temzi and Lyra, healing some of their wounds. “Well this is convenient, I'm out of mana.”

~*831 Words/2 Posts*~

Rio didn't post yesterday, does this still count? XD

[classy_cat18]

Niosa Tiera – Al Bhed Gunner
Not feeling the love

I hadn’t had enough interaction with Lyra before to get a good opinion of her, mostly because we were too busy with other matters. My matter being surviving and hers being surviving and Selene. But while she was hauling the heavy Temzi over to us, her eyes locked onto mine for just a moment.

I didn’t like what I saw in those eyes, even though I had rarely seen it in my life. It was the look that older Spirans would give me when I went anywhere outside of New Home.

Even after three hundred years to redeem ourselves, we were looked upon with prejudice.

“Al Bhed belong with Al Bhed and machina. Nothing else.”

“Nii!” someone’s voice rang, shattering my reverie.

I shook my head and attempted to smile, probably only succeeding in a grimace. “Nii is fine,” I said wearily. “Nii just needs rest.”

At first I thought it was Selene that had shouted out to me, but my mind wasn’t entirely back to the present yet. But a metallic hand shook my collar and I looked up at Kumas. “Nii!” he shouted again, his robotic voice now clearer.

It was him? No, I must be imagining things.

Everyone was starting to run away from the area, split into two groups. Confused as to the cause of panic, I scanned the area and quickly found it.

I swallowed heavily. How could such a beast stay out of my radar? And why didn’t anyone make a plausible effort to warn me?

Seeing that Lyra was following Selene without hesitation, I followed Shay to catch up with Adair and Sirius. The only reason that she hadn’t disappeared from my sight yet was because she was helping along Temzi. But my vision kept getting fuzzy and I didn’t know why. My memory of the last few minutes of the battle was also fuzzy. Probably took a nasty blow to the head.

Then it happened. I lost sight of them. My feet almost tripped over each other as I slowed to a stop. “Where did they go?” I asked myself. I leaned on Kumas as everything went cloudy.

And black, for a moment.

Vena fell from my hands and clattered on the ground. “Kumas… get Nii’s gun. Nii can barely run.” As the machina bent over and picked up the weapon, I climbed on his back. “Kumas, can you identify Sirius without Nii’s help?”

“Sirius. Captain…of…Wolfstar,” Kumas replied. The way he spoke made me doubt I heard his voice earlier.

“Good. Try to find him, and avoid that Behemoth in the process.” I clung to him as he started to walk, then slowly sped to a jog.

I couldn’t tell where everything or anyone was, but my ears were just fine. The roar of the monster as we got closer was unmistakable. Kumas had managed to go around the buildings and the alleyway where Sirius and his group were hiding, so now we were running towards them as they were running away from the Behemoth.

“My dear Kumas, I didn’t know that you offered piggyback rides!” Sirius exclaimed as Kumas turned and ran beside him. “But I believe the dear girl could be a little more comfortable on her own two feet.”

“Crid ib…” I groaned at him in Al Bhed, my vision so fuzzy that I couldn’t tell if I was talking to Sirius or Adair.

“Are you feeling okay?” He waved a hand over my face.

“E tuh'd ghuf…” I was too tired to try Hume or the third person. My vision blacked out again, and my grip on Kumas started to loosen…

612 words. 18 Nii posts.

[Samchu]

Lyra
~~~~

My face throbbed with the sting of Kaida's hand. I rotated my jaw, trying to ease the sensation that part of my face had solidify. My fingers went for the hilt of my sword, their tips pressing the necessary button as I pulled it from my sheath. I glanced across at Lisette, who liked as though she wasn't sure whether to laugh or be shocked. "And you wondered," I growled, pointing the newly formed gun at the fleeing Kaida, "why I dislike Al Bheds."

Selene placed a hand on my gun. "I think this one would be better dealt with in person."

"It would seem Lady Selene knows of a plot of which we are not aware."

“Perhaps…” she had that mischievious tone that always drove me crazy.

She knows something I don’t. Gods damn this game that she plays! I watched Kaida disappear with a grunt. "Very well."

We gave chase, dropping from the rooftop and continuing our pursuit on the ground. I imagined getting my hands on Kaida and blowing her brains out. I killed the last Al Bhed that laid a hand on me. He screamed for over an hour; I won't give her the chance.

"You know," Selene said, as we neared a corner, "you're not allowed to kill her."

I tried to hide my irritation but I could sense that I failed. "I expect you have a good reason for this decision?"

Selene grinned. "Because it's funny."

We pulled round the corner and there stood the tank. We skidded to a halt and ducked back behind the building, peeking just in time to see Kaida jump into the safety of the tank.

"It would appear that Kaida has betrayed us."

Selene had that glint her eye that meant a plan was coming together. I’d seen it too many times not to recognise it. "Don't be so sure..."

Gunshots echoed across the air. We waited, anxious, until the hatch opened and the former spy poked up her head and shouted, "The tank has been acquired!"

Selene led us over to the vehicle. By the time we arrived, Kaida was hoisting a body out through the hatch. She dropped the disfigured body to the ground.

"A little help?"

We climbed up. Selene jumped inside to look over the controls, Lisette went to help with the bodies.

I glared at Kaida. "I should leave your corpse with those of your fallen comrads."

"You're just annoyed because I had to embarass you for my plan to work."

I put my blade to her throat. "Selene's orders protect you this time but if you every lay a hand on me again I swear to the Gods that I will personally cut off that arrogant little face of yours, shove one of your precious bombs down your throat, and watch your body get torn to pieces."

She just smirked. "So which part of me bothers you most? The fact that I'm Al Bhed? That I was spy?" She leaned a little closer. "Or is that I'm already closer to Selene than you are?"

I took a step towards the hatch. "Honestly? It's all of them." I dropped down and started to help Lisette remove the soldiers' bodies.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#6 / 538

[Kurosakura]

~*Lisette Rosencrantz*~
Back and forth banter is fun...

Lisette cursed under her breath as almost everything around her blew up into smithereens. Such a nice, simple easy task turned into something along the lines of bracing themselves and ducking for cover. She downed the Ether that... Spiran Ninja tossed her in one gulp. Although she was a little suspicious, the Viera squashed those feelings, she had to place some faith in her Spiran... comrades(?) for the time being. She felt some of her magical energy return and breathed a small sigh, only to flinch as a bullet whizzed by her ear.

How long did the local idiot need to get a ship, anyway? A sentiment shared by Lyra as the explosions ensued. Adair ran to Selene screaming, and Lisette mentally facepalmed. Surely he could be more... mature about this ordeal? The only logical course of action was to run of course, and Lisette lifted Sori up and put him on her shoulder as he clung on tightly. “Orders, Miss?” she asked her mistress and the cringed as the monster inhaled.

“Orders haven't changed,” was her response, and she casted Float briefly, however the spell ended abruptly and it seemed she was the only one with a smooth landing, save for Sori who flew.

After a rather lengthy squabble, Lisette was relieved that Selene ended the argument, but a new problem arose: how were they supposed to get to the tank at the harbor safely? The discombobulated party jumped a few more roofs, with a few mishaps from the Humes due to the angular roofs. On the latest roof, a foreign shouting was heard and the only thing she could make out of the brief sentence was Liena, Kaida's surname, which didn't settle with her at all. Lisette glared daggers at the half-breed, absolutely miffed and trusting her less than she already had, if that was possible. Fortunately, Lisette thought wrong, and Kaida not only knocked them off the building, but shot all four offenders in the head, effectively killing all of them.

Soon enough, the tank that was supposedly in the harbor was, in fact, shooting at the Behemoth? She chuckled a bit as soon as Lyra looked away, seeing the new girl hit her old rival across the face. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. Kaida left to commandeer the tank, and after a while, the hatch opened and her head popped up from the opening yelling, “The tank has been acquired!” The Viera had to admit, this Hume was quite useful, half-breed or not.

...although dragging bodies out of a vehicle was never a fun thing to do. The stench of bodily fluids was at least one thousand times stronger, due to her overly sensitive nose. Lisette eavesdropped on Lyra's spat with Kaida and chuckled when she came back up to help haul out the bodies. “Well, well, Captain. I've never seen you get so riled up before. What happened to being that Iron Maiden everyone feared so much?”

“Shut up and grab his legs,” Lyra grumbled as she began to shove the the man's body out of the hatch.

Lisette grabbed the corpse's ankles and dropped him onto the ground, where the rest of the other bodies were beginning to pile up. “Lyra, I'm rather disappointed in you. I would've expected you to keep your demeanor, half-breed or not,” she continued coolly, dropping the formalities.

“I told you to shut up, now do as I say.”

“Or what? You'll report me for insubordination?” she smirked.

"Even better, I'll shove that precious little rapier of yours up your backside."

“You may do as you please, but you would be stripped of your ranking, discharged from the army, and executed within moments.”

“At least I wouldn't have a sword up my ass-crack.”

“At least I would have my life intact.”

“If you can call what you have a life...”

“As if you're not in the same situation I am?”

“Oh? Last I checked I was a captain in the Ivalician military and you were still running around after Selene playing soldier.”

“Last I checked, I never sold out my country to the enemy.”

“No, that would be considered an intelligent move, and you're clearly lacking in that department.”

“Intelligent as in in pig-headed stupid and incurring the distrust and loathing from all around the world?”

“Well, if that's how Viera are perceived...”

“It might be nice if my two oh-so-loyal and attentive guards would shut the hell up and get inside the tank before I rip their heads off.”

“...damn.”

“As you wish.”

~*778 Words/3 Posts*~

Effing internet. *kills*

[Crystal Tears]

. : ♥ Selene Solidor ♥ : .

The bodies were quickly removed and the gang slipped into the tank. Selene gazed at the controls in front of her with mild curiosity. Ivalician machines and Spiran machine were not so different, though obviously the princess preferred her own continent’s technology over the enemy’s. There was a rather attractive simplicity to the tank’s dashboard and flashing lights that made Selene almost wish Ivalician’s would design their own machines this way.

Almost thought, as obviously no self-respecting Judge and Princess of Ivalice would ever admit Spira had designed something better than her homeland. Gently she grasped the controls, and the machina seemed to sense someone was taking control. A crude display screen appeared which made her frown.

“Impressive.” She murmured sarcastically, pushing both handles forward.

The tank groaned, and slowly began to move forward. Speed was something to be desired apparently, as it seemed to take the contraption a good few minutes to get going at a somewhat decent pace.

“Where are we going?” Sori questioned, trying to make heads or tails of the radar. “Man this crap is old.”

“We’re going to find Adair.” Selene answered, which made Lisette and Lyra look over questioningly.

“We... What?”

“Miss I don’t believe saving the criminal is a wise course of action.”

Selene frowned, honestly she couldn’t really believe the words had come out of her mouth, but the pilot was worth keeping around. He was going to fly them back to the other continent and help her find the pieces of some damn doom thing. Honestly unless any of them knew of a better pilot then the drunken moron with a behemoth on his tail, he was their only option.

And she would prefer if he were alive when it came to the piloting bit.

“That’s amazing…” Selene glanced over her shoulder at the two. “You guys can agree on something?”

“Hey uh, Selene?” Sori tapped the radar screen. “There are dots on this thing now. Some red, some green.”

“Green is the Spiran army.” Kaida informed them. “I would switch it over, but all the machina have a fail-safe, if we make the Spirans the target instead of the Ivalicians, this tank will be red flagged.”

“Joy.” Selene grumbled, gently pulling one of the levers back so the tank turned with a groan. “Lyra.”

“Yes?”

“You’ve got the cannon.”

There was a brief moment of happiness that seemed to shine on the girl’s face before she rushed towards the cannon controls. A loud rumble came as it turned active, rising a bit out of the outer hull and the tube of the gun itself growing a foot or two.

The tank rounded another corner, and everyone jolted as Selene abruptly stopped the tank. The Ivalicians were already dealing with one tank; it was about the size of this one, though it had a dual barrel and looked a bit fiercer. Selene gritted her teeth, and watched as the Spirans seemed to cheer and motion her forward.

“Lyra…”

“Locked and loaded.”

“Kaida where do we need to hit that thing?”

She frowned, looking at the display before slamming it as the picture fizzled in and out. “Um… Honestly I don’t know; it’s named Adamantoise for a reason.”

Selene gave her a strange look before Lyra spoke up.

“Giant armored turtle.”

“Oh…” Selene slammed the controls forward and the tank began to move again. “Alright then, plan B.”

“Miss?” Her Viera companion seemed a little concerned when the princess gave the driver’s seat to Kaida. “What is ‘plan B’?”

“Selene!” Sori cried. “What the hell are you opening the hatch for!?”

“Sori look through the boxes in there and find me an ether!”

“A… Why?!”

“Just do it!”

Selene cautiously peered over the rim of the hatch; the turtle tank was even more intimidating now that she had a clear image of it. It was sitting in the middle of the road, having just come over the hill before stopping and giving support to its little soldier friends. The judge gritted her teeth, this plan, even with an ether, wasn’t guaranteed to work. If that thing saw her and recognized her as the enemy, they would maybe be able to take one, maybe two blasts before they were gone.

“Found one!” Sori’s cry came, as he fluttered over to the hatch as she ducked in, taking the half empty bottle with a frown. Selene gave him a look. “What? No, I didn’t drink the other half, I found it like that!”

“…”

“Seriously!”

She rolled her eyes and chugged down the rest, noting how the Spiran ethers tasted distantly of a mix of strawberry and banana.

‘Odd.’

“Alright...” She clambered out, holding onto the hull and keeping low as bullets and magic shot back and forth from either side. “Kaida put us between the Ivalicians and the tank!”

The tank swiveled harshly, causing Selene to lose footing for just a moment. She held herself over the treads, looking down in surprise to see the belly of the mechanical beast roll right over a mound of bodies. Grinding her teeth together the woman hauled herself up, still managing to keep out of sight from the Spiran armada.

“AIM!”

The barrel of the tank began to turn, and the Spirans seemed to falter as it slowly turned to aim at the Adamantoise. Selene concentrated, outstretching her hand slightly. It was remarkably heavy the tank, her mind just now beginning to realize just got tough these things were built. The mana sparked from the usage, making her eyes glow and blue wisps emanated from her arms. Her mind began to ache, struggling against gravity and the weight.

As their tank’s barrel locked into place, the enemy’s was beginning to turn and glow.

“Selene…” She heard the nervousness in Sori’s voice.

“I know…”

“Come on…”

“Sori…” The Judge groaned, sweat rolling down her skin.

“Any time now…”

‘For the love of Venat…’ She growled in her skull, watching the enemy vehicle begin to shake. ‘Just… Float.
’
The tank roared off the ground, hovering clumsily in the air. The Spiran soldiers looked at it wide-eyed, taking steps away from it as it wobbled and tried to touch the ground again.

“Fire!” Selene cried. “Lyra fire!”

There was another strange moment of hesitate before their cannon let out a deafening boom, the blast slammed into the Adamantoise and sent it spiraling through the air, off the hill and down towards the bottom of the road. There were cheers from the Ivalicians who were moving up, and Selene watched with a certain satisfaction as the enemy tank bounced, rolled and groaned to a crumpled stop at the bottom of the hill.

She slipped back down into the vehicle and slumped against the back wall.

“So…” She looked at Lisette with a smirk. “What did you think of plan B?”

“Most effective Miss, if not a tad bit rash.”

“Plan B is always rash.” Selene countered, noting how she would probably do anything for an aspirin at the moment. “You should see some of the plan C’s we’ve head.”

“Very rash.” Lyra threw in from the side.

“Fun though.”

“That is also true.”

“Uh… Commander…” Kaida’s shaky voice got Selene to her feet and back to the front. “I think I found Adair…”

The buildings in the small viewer were demolished as a giant purple beast stomped through, just in front was a group of very familiar soldiers trying to keep themselves alive. Adair notably, was at the front, leading the way with crazy dodging antics and what looked like a strange form of dance.

“Shit…” The gunner murmured under her breath. “Kaida prepare to run, Lyra fire on the Behemoth.”

“Miss that will attract the beast’s attention towards us.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“I don’t like this plan…” Kaida remarked nervously.

“Lyra.”

“There’s too much smoke, I can’t get a clear shot.”

Selene frowned; she pivoted on her heel and walked up to the gunner’s seat. Promptly she replaced her guardian and took aim herself, taking only a few seconds to adjust to the foreign controls. Biting her lip, she aimed, and fired.

There was boom, an explosive, and a howl of rage that she would never forget.

* * *

The Behemoth turned its attention from the people it had been chasing, its crazed eye focusing on the mechanical abomination sitting on the top of the hill. Its left eye was useless now, blood and pyreflies pouring from the wound. It snorted, taking a quick glance back at the strange dancing human before turning, and stomping towards the tank that was already pulling away.

* * 1447 / 32 * *

[Pichu Luver]

Adair Stroud

“Hello girly.” Adair quickly grabbed Nii before she collapsed and did anymore damage to herself. Her robot buzzed angrily (or so Adair assumed, safer to presume irritation then relaxation when it came to bucket-headed-malfunctioning-gun-toting-mechanics). Normally he'd be out front of the running crew but he'd done a lot of running today and was not feeling up to his usual stellar running self. It really had nothing to do with two women in front of him. He really was tired and wasn't quite sure where danger was going to come from. So a nice view is a good way to go... no?

Anyway Nii decided she'd had enough of a free ride and promptly fell off. Adair, in a rather stupid maneuver, decided to catch her. The fact that it was the honorable thing to do did not stop his legs from flailing like a dog on ice. His endeavors to remain upright and running however, were successful.

“And if I swoon will you catch me?” Sirius asked, grinning.

“No. As my hands are currently full.”

Adair was also likely to fall over within two seconds. So he stopped and Kumas promptly snatched Nii out of his arms. There was a great deal of gear grinding muttering. Adair was miffed his manly heroics were dismissed so easily. He had a brief moment of Sirius like irritation before dismissing it. To much caring involved seriously overblown pain, and torture, and lasers, and guns, and PAIN and... oh right life and death situation here.

Well not currently, but looming somewhere was a drug induced nightmare of a violet shaded beast made up of sparkly spheres. Rather sadistic Spiran thing that, beautiful sparkles become rampaging moronic pieces of destruction and DEATH. Honestly. What God thought that piece of irony up?

Moving on Nii was moaning (slightly out-played by the grumbles of a purple violent confection) and Adair really didn't want her to start crying (moaning always leads to crying, Adair has much experience in this). So he reached into his bag of tricks (avoiding the spoon flung out by Mog) and pulled out the ever present rum. This was a special concoction of Adair's though... had a potion in it to avoid all hangover effects. Made one slightly ecstatic and everything was a tad more vividly coloured. But it was all he had.

“Adair says to open wide, he has medicine.” He shook the bottle and Nii blearily opened an eye.

“Of a sort.” smirked Shay.

“You doubt me? Alas you may have reason but this in infused with the spirit of life.”

“While rum can make one loose their inhibitions I don't see how—”

“Temzi, I am a life long drinker. There are many thing you can do to rum.”

“Alas, running in a straight line doesn't seem to be one of them.” Sirius mused, “Though that might be a boon right now.”

Nii just looked doubtful and Kumas... statue-y.

Adair rolled his eyes, and noticed the grumblings of a terrifying burgundy beasty were growing near. “Honestly, there's a potion in it. Hangovers are just not in vogue right now.”

Nii weakly reached for it and Kumas snatched it from Adair. It gently tipped it up to her lips. She drank slowly, then with increasing vigour as her headache eased.

“Side effects are giddiness and vivid colours so,” Adair handed her his sunglasses, “You might need these. Moving out!”

Adair was pleasantly surprised they all moved when he said 'move out', he thought that only happened in Sphere's. He was out in front again, now knowing the deep lilac lunatic was behind him he did not want to be in the back. No matter the view.

They sped along, dodging this attack and that attack. Joining with either army who were also running their asses off. There seemed to be an embargo on shooting at people tear-assing away from all engagements with any enemy. Or perhaps they were moving so fast it was just too much bother... Either way Adair, while tired, was moderately pleased his direction of travel had remained in the more or less direction of the secondary airport of Archadia. And if that was the country and not the city name Adair couldn't give a rodents fur-less tail right now. He wanted something that flew. Preferably Spiran as they just made more SENSE then Ivalician shi—er weaponry.

Then OF COURSE the THING FROM BEYOND the ocean, decided to make an appearance. Or a very violent magic trick that made a building disappear in front of them. Replaced by a falling fushian fiend.

“Guess he tripped!” shouted Shay, utterly terrified, so obvious things must then come forth from her mouth.

“The building was inconvenient!” Sirius replied, and Adair skidded around a corner, his 'followers' deciding this was a ok deviation.

“Where are we going?”

“The airport!” replied both Sirius and Adair.

“Nii would note it's behind us!” said the Al Bhed, sounding much more healthy.

“The other one!” they said simultaneously. Then looked at each other surprised at their unintended, though highly useful, impromptu agreement.

Agreement meant nothing however when the monster would-be mobster decided their little group was good for chow down. Adair then really put the motor on and ran in, well not a straight line, but it kept him alive and was getting him to his destination. Mostly.

Then, glory, glee, golly-gee giddyness with a side of God damn goodness, some idiot shot at the Behemoth.

It roared its rigorous refusal to be refuted in its righteous wrath and decided tank was terrifically tasty.

Adair grinned as it turned away from his group (yes it was his group, he was leading this madness wasn't he?). They were only a few blocks from the other airport now and without a grape-tainted terror on their tail, they could get there.

There were of course many heroic leaps, bounds and flights of fanciful aerobatics. No one wanted to fight, everyone (more or less not including Temzi) wanted to get into a bird and fly away from this madness as soon as they could. Well Adair chose to believe that anyway. He would decide if Selene and her cronies would be saved when he was in flight. Her bodyguards seemed to have taken an irrational dislike. He couldn't understand why. He was a pirate, not a kidnapping fiend wrapped in a decidedly handsome hide(though he was a handsome hide). Really, Sirius had claim, didn't they know what that meant? Perhaps Selene hadn't told them yet...

“Ah ha! We are in good stead! There's a Spiran bird ahead!” In front of the group was a Spiran drop ship. Not the most beautiful of ships, but serviceable and reliable. It was empty and no one was currently busy with it as it had unloaded everything of note, and waiting for the items/soldiers to come back should they have need to retreat. There might be pilots aboard but that wouldn't be a problem.

“Spiran?” asked Sirius. “But aren't they—“

“I may note you are in the company of three Spirans and one seriously confused Guado. It would be wise not to impune the good aircraft in front of their native fliers.”

“—Er. Behind the times?”

“Behind perhaps, but not NEARLY so infuriatingly confusing to my good mind.”

“Damaged mind maybe.”

Adair shot Shay a look but said nothing. She was a thief-ninja and a most deadly combination. Evil little tricksters when they wanted to be. Wise to say little, and all of it pleasing.

“Aboard! And someone should do something about the pilots. I need to fly this thing, not play hide and kill.”

1291/23

[classy_cat18]

Sori – Moogle Time Mage

I really thought we were turning into pirates ourselves. I mean, our plan seemed to benefit ourselves more than anyone else. We stole – or commandeered as pirates say – a tank. And now we were looking for our fellow pirates, something that really surprised me.

What? Sure, we needed Sirius and Adair…

Actually, we needed the Wolfstar more…

Wait, couldn’t we have just gotten a new airship and crew? Less headaches for all of us.

Better not tell Selene that. She might throw me to the Behemoth.

While the judge was fiddling with the tank controls, I perched near a beeping, blinking thing. I didn’t want to tell anyone that I knew jack crap about this machinery, especially since most Ivalicians assumed Moogles were experts of it. “Where are we going?” I asked her. “Man this crap is old.”

“We’re going to find Adair.” she answered, granting questionable glances from Lisette and Lyra.

It took me a moment for that to fully register in my brain. I didn’t think that she would be so sure about that. Apparently, Lisette was thinking the same thing. “We... What?”

“Miss I don’t believe saving the criminal is a wise course of action,” Lyra agreed.

“That’s amazing…” Selene glanced over her shoulder at the two. “You guys can agree on something?”

I snickered and went back to the beeping, blinking screen. Now it had dots on it. “Hey uh, Selene?” I called out to her. “There are dots on this thing now. Some red, some green.”

“Green is the Spiran army.” Kaida explained to me. “I would switch it over, but all the machina have a fail-safe, if we make the Spirans the target instead of the Ivalicians, this tank will be red flagged.”

Meaning this tank and us will be filled with holes in no time. I groaned and studied the dots, making sure that no one tried to gang up on us.

Selene grumbled in sarcasm, and then assigned Lyra to the cannon. The soldier looked happy to be able to handle the weapons.

The tank rolled down the street and through any obstacles in the way. It was a good plan; why act like ninjas when we can just plow through everything? The problem was how to deal with the Behemoth.

And the bigger tank that wasn’t on our side.

“Lyra…”

“Locked and loaded.”

“Kaida, where do we need to hit that thing?”

“Um… Honestly I don’t know; it’s named Adamantoise for a reason.”

“Giant armored turtle,” Lyra clarified.

“Oh…alright then, plan B.”

Okay, she never mentioned a plan B. I looked up and saw Selene doing a very risky (and stupid) move.

“Selene!” I shouted. “What the hell are you opening the hatch for!?”

“Sori look through the boxes in there and find me an ether!”

“A…why?!”

“Just do it!”

I huffed and fluttered over to the boxes, nearly climbing into the nearest one as I searched for an ether. The bottle smelled like strawberries and bananas. “Found one!” Resisting the urge to take a sip, I carried it over to her. She eyed the sloshing liquid and gave me an accusing look. “What? No, I didn’t drink the other half, I found it like that!”

Her eyes narrowed. “…”

“Seriously!” This really wasn’t the time to be pointing fingers.

She finally rolled her eyes and drank the liquid, then crawled out the tank. I stayed near the hatch at first, and then flew up to the hatch to peer outside. Our tank’s cannon swiveled to aim at the enemy’s, making the Spirans take notice.

Selene had her arm stretched out at the Adamantoise, and concentrating on some serious magic. She’s floating the TANK!? I quickly dropped back inside and watched the view screen instead.

The enemy tank’s cannon turned to aim at us. “Selene…” I whined nervously.

“I know…”

“Come on…”

“Sori…” She groaned in frustration.

“Any time now…”

The Adamantoise finally started to shake and lift off the tank. She did it!

“Fire!” Selene cried. “Lyra, fire!”

Our tank shook as it fired at the opponent, and a loud boom could be heard when it hit the other tank. I watched as it tumbled down the hill. Selene dropped back in. While she and the other girls talked, I sneaked back to the box and took a sip from another bottle of Ether that I had found.

Then the psycho had the balls (figuratively) to fire at the freaking Behemoth herself. To save Adair.

“Well…we got its attention,” I commented calmly. “I need a drink.”

Selene snatched the bottle of Ether from me. “No drinking on the job!”

“I need that!” I shouted in protest.

“I floated an entire tank! You do not need it more than me!”

“Have some respect for your superiors!” Lyra scolded.

“Hey! I do not want to hear anything from the squawking Chocobo!” I shouted at her.

“WHAT!?”

818 words. 18 Sori posts.

[ChobiChibi]

Shayna
Sneaky sneaky time

As they stood near the airship, the ninja plotted. It seemed like a fairly common Spiran airship, albeit old, but the layout shouldn’t be surprising. She could easily just sneak her way inside past everybody, get the pilots to leave and evacuate the ship in the process. Or just kill them all.

The latter seemed less appealing. It would be messy.

“I’ll do it.” Shay volunteered, raising her hand above her head.

“Do what exactly?” Sirius questioned, frowning slightly.

“Get the airship.”

“Little miss, you are not a pilot.” He informed her, folding his arms. “Adair would be better suited-”

“I never said I was gonna fly the thing!” She shot back at him. “And look at him! Poor little guy is exhausted...”

Adair nodded in agreement, pouting and looking generally sorry for himself. She was surprised that he didn’t even have enough energy to retort to the “little” remark, since Shay was the smallest here, other than the Machina and Sori, but they didn’t count.

“Should we not stick together?” Temzi asked, bringing a nearly empty potion bottle up towards his lips.

“I’ll be fine.” She smiled at him, gently prizing the potion from the Guardo’s hand. “You shouldn’t drink too many potions, sweetie, you might get cavities.”
Temzi blinked at her, confused, whilst the slightly intoxicated Nii giggled.

“How do you plan on going about this, exactly?”

“Hold please.” Shay unstrapped her shuriken and handed them to Temzi, who obeyed without question. She pulled out her black ninja uniform from her bag and slipped it on over the clothes she was already wearing. All they could see of her was her bright blue eyes and her scarf poking out. “Just wait here, it won’t take long.”

“Shayna!”

She had already started going, but stopped and turned back to look at Nii.

“Come back safe or Kumas will miss you and this will make Nii sad.” She told her, still in her Machina’s arms.

Although they couldn’t see it, it made Shay smile. She couldn’t think of anything to say, so simply waved and went on her way.

It didn’t take her long to get close to the door, hiding beneath the gangway. She watched carefully, waiting for the perfect time to get aboard. She watched a small group of soldiers leave the airship and quickly climbed up, walking quickly, but quietly inside.

Too easy... She thought, taking cover behind some crates whilst she took in her surroundings. She was trained for this, if she got into trouble she would only have her stubborn little self to blame. Now... the airship was facing that way so the cockpit should be...

She didn’t even need to think. She spotted her answer a little further down the corridor. Attached to the wall was a floor plan of the ship, detailing the locations of basically everything. Checking that the coast was clear, she went over to it, her finger tracing the route she would take. It wouldn’t take long, but she had no idea how many Spirans were aboard... Or where they were most likely to be...

Thankfully, it was mostly clear, with a few occasions when the girl had less time to hide than she would have liked, but the point was, no one saw her.

The cockpit’s door was open, giving her the chance to get an idea of the situation ahead. There were two chairs, a man sat in each of them. Only a few of the consoles were alight, giving her plenty of shadows to hide in. One of the men couldn’t seem to keep still, swivelling the chair from side to side, whilst the other had his feet up on the console, his arms behind his head. Both were facing away from the door, but both had guns.

Time to steal some guuuuuns~ She thought, a singsong-like voice in her mind, choosing the time when the fidgety man was facing away from her to hide behind the stationary man’s chair.

These guns were pretty. Obviously hand made, the metal work interweaved with a bright red flame pattern along its handle, spreading along its barrel. From what she could see of the other man’s gun, it had lightning patterns. Typical Spiran weaponry.

“I don’t really know what we’re gonna achieve from this.” The fidgety man played with a coin, running it through his fingers. “The Behemoth wasn’t exactly the brightest of ideas...”

“You’re just annoyed that you have to sit and wait in here rather than being out in the fray.” The second man sounded tired. Perhaps he was the one that had piloted the ship there in the first place?

Stay still, sleepy man... Carefully, she reached for the gun, gently prying it from its holster.

“No! That’s not true!” The man let out a small outburst. Shay flinched, snatching her hand back. The man was far too outraged to notice. “I’d just like to be flying this ship outta here!”

She imagined that the lazy man would have rolled his eyes at this comment. She liked this guy. “Just calm down, it’ll soon all be over with.”

A third voice came in as she took hold of the gun again, this time from the radio. “Airbird 6, this is groundhog 9, do you copy?”

As the lazy man moved to answer the radio, it gave her the perfect chance to yoink his gun away. She was forced to move slightly, so that the other wouldn’t notice her.

“Airbird 6 here, what’s up?”

“Judge Luna is reported to be alive. Alerting all units. Over and out.”

Selene...

Grabbing her small dagger from her boot, she stood up quickly, holding the blade to his neck and pointing his gun at his companion. He instantly put his hands in the air.

“Take your gun and slide it across the floor to me.” Shay instructed, her voice a little muffled by her clothing. “Do it!”

The once lively man reached for the gun, sliding it across the floor towards her, his face white with fear. She reached out with her foot and moved it closer, standing on it so he couldn’t try and lunge for it.

“Tell your crew to evacuate over the coms.” She waited, the man stayed still. She cocked the gun. “Do it or I’ll shoot you.”

He hesitated only for a second, pressing a button on the console. “This is your pilot speaking, we have been called into battle. Evacuate the ship immediately.”

“Why are you doing this?” The man she was holding hostage asked, keeping as still as possible.

“For Judge Luna...” She could feel the man tense up. “I want you both to leave now. Get your men away from the ship and let mine aboard.”

“Ivalican scum...” The other muttered.

“Shut up!” Rage boiled inside of her, her finger quivering by the trigger. “I fight for Judge Luna, not for a country. Now stand up and take me to the exit. Your friend here is coming too.” She crouched down for a second, putting her dagger away and picking up the second gun, pointing one at each of them. “Off you go!”

The pair reluctantly complied, leading her to the exit.

“You’re short for a ninja...” One commented just before she forced him down the ramp.

There was a little glint in her eye. “Girls make better ninjas!” She called back, waiting until the majority of the crew were out of sight before waving her companions aboard. “Lets go!”

[classy_cat18]

I wasn't going to let you hog the rest of the action!

Sori – Time Mage Moogle

“WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING?”

“Saving the day, I’d wager,” Adair said calmly.

I clenched my small fists. Like hell they were going to steal the action from me! I grabbed the bottle of Ether that Selene and I were fighting over earlier and drank the rest of it. “Open the hatch!” I yelled at Adair.

“And what are you planning to do from all the way over here?”

“I don’t know! But I’m not just going to sit in here and think about it!”

He gave a thumbs up and opened the hatch. “Have fun committing suicide!” he said as I flew/was sucked out of the ship.

I tumbled through the air before righting myself just a foot above the ground. Seconds later, I yelped as I heard a loud thud behind me. I whirled around with my rod raised to find Kumas standing there. “Did Nii send you to defend me?” I asked him.

“KUMAS!” Nii hollered as he hung for dear life onto the ship near the hatch. “GET BACK UP HERE! THAT IS AN ORDER!”

“Guess not.”

“Re-entry is impossible at this point,” Kumas informed me.

I had never tried to order Kumas, and I didn’t know what would happen if I tried. “Try running ahead of the Behemoth, and we’ll see what we can come up with.”

After a quick Haste, I flew to circle around the Behemoth and the chocobo. Adair was right; I had no strategy. But the best things in war came from ad-lib, I guessed, so I brainstormed while fluttering as fast as my bat-like wings could carry me. It’s not going to focus on me, not when it has a princess, a ninja, and a chocobo to snack on.

Kumas and I were fast enough to weave through all the obstacles and still be fast enough to get ahead of them. Still no plan… but it seems that they were heading towards a bridge.

A bridge.

A bridge!

“A BRIDGE WITH THE MIDDLE MISSING!” I screamed in a panic. Kumas calmly looked at me (I guessed), with who-knows-what going through its electronic brain. “Will the chocobo make it? There are two people on it.”

“The probability will be raised with a speed increase,” Kumas said.

I looked under the bridge at the water, doubting that the Behemoth could swim. A plan finally came to me. “I wonder if I can do a Haste from this distance. Once they’re safe on the other side, I can blast the bridge under the fiend.” My body glowed as I casted Focus, then aimed my rod ahead of the chocobo. “HASTE!”

The chocobo suddenly went twice as fast, making its two passengers hang on even tighter. The oversized bird raced towards the edge, jumped…

(cue Dukes of Hazzard moment)

And landed right on the edge of the other side. It flapped its wings frantically for stability until it got both fully right.

“THUNDARA!” I shot an orb of lighting for the beams under the piece of bridge that the Behemoth was on. They cracked but didn’t crumble. “Crap! That’s all I got!”

A beam of red light then shot out and blasted the cracks in the beams, finally destroying them. I grinned at Kumas. “Nice shot,” I commented.

The Behemoth roared angrily as it fell and plunged to the watery depths below.

Oh, wait.

Damn.

“THE WATER’S NOT DEEP ENOUGH!” I pulled at my ears, but was slightly soothed by the fact that the Behemoth was too far down to reach Selene and Shayna.

595 words. 19 Sori posts.

[VirtualPlay]

Kaida Liena - Al Bhed Gunner
Disaster is just commonplace here, isn't it?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
So for some reason, even though we find a perfectly good ship, everyone suddenly decides to fall or jump out of it to have their own little adventures. I mean, sure the Behemoth didn't exactly help at first, but that doesn't give everyone the right to just mount their own rescue mission. I sighed, moving from the drop hatch to the cockpit. Sirius and Adair seemed to be the only ones fully intent on actually staying inside the ship.

Of course, if they knew how to actually run the ship that might've been a little better. Sure they obviously knew how to fly it, but that seemed to be the extent of their knowledge. "Oh good," Sirius said as he noticed me, "someone else with the good sense not to jump out of the nice, safe flying machine."

"I was thinking the same thing myself," I said as I slid in between them. I looked over the panels, then quickly flipped a couple switches to turn off the landing gear. Immediately the ship's movement became smoother. "Now how about we bring this nice safe ship to go and pick them up?"

"And just what do you think you're doing, touching my ship AND giving out orders?!" Adair suddenly demanded.

"Your ship now, hm?" Sirius slipped in a comment.

"Yes, I took control of the ship so that makes it my ship," Adair responded. "That is usually how it goes in these cases." I could tell immediately that this kind of argument was commonplace, and an argument was definitely NOT what we needed now.

"SHUT UP!" I shouted, getting between them. "Which is more important, establishing your ownership on a stolen ship, or saving the lives of the people on the ground being chased by that creature?!"

Apparently they didn't know quite how to take being yelled at. Or maybe it was the fact that I was yelling at them and we didn't even know each other that well. In any case, Adair was dumbfounded, barely being able to stutter, "Well, obviously we should, um…go after…"

"Your 'dear Selene' is down there."

That kicked him into motion. "Right we are, off rescuing monster-chased people we go!" he cried as he turned the ship towards where the Behemoth had run to. By the time we got there, though, the Behemoth wasn't moving very quickly at all. In fact, it was stuck in a shallow river (well, shallow to it) under a broken bridge.

The ship lowered itself to the ground, and the hatch was opened once again, this time to a loud "WAWRK!" Judge Luna and the ninja were sitting on top of a battered but steady chocobo. Not two seconds later, the ground shook slightly as Nii's machina robot landed after apparently clearing the entire gap caused by the broken bridge. The Moogle floated over not long after, and everyone piled into the ship.

Sirius appeared from the cockpit. "Well now, since everyone has decided to come aboard again—and I see you've made a new friend as well—could we possibly get ourselves…"

A loud crunch came from outside, and we all turned to see shards of broken bridge suddenly hurtling our direction. The ship lurched and spun as a particularly large piece flew by and, I assumed, hit the wing (at which a loud "MY SHIP!" could be heard from the front).

Everyone rushed into the cockpit, and we could see the piece of the wing that was taken out by the bridge shrapnel. "Can you get this thing in the air?" Judge Luna yelled.

"Considering that we can all see one of my ship's wings over there, it's going to have to be a resounding 'no' on that one," Adair said, even as he fiddled with the controls. Finally he gave up with an exasperated sigh, "It appears we may be hoofing it."

-=-=-=-=- 646 / 05 -=-=-=-=-

No, that was not recapping, it was showing an alternate perspective. Keep your mobs off'a me.

Also, sorry if I misplayed anyone, but I didn't want to be left out either.

[Samchu]

The one night I don't check TPM, lol.

Lyra
~~~

It was the first time I'd ever been happy to see pirates and, Gods willing, the last. The tank rolled into the ship as Lisette and I continued to work on repairing the canon. Everything seemed to be going well until the tank shuddered. Time slowed. I saw Lisette begin to slip and grabbed her hand, leaving her dangling over the side of the canon where the floor had vanished. The fire in my arm was raging. I tried to move but I was caught against the back end of the cannon and staring down into the jaws of the Behemoth as the tank began to slide towards it. My grip failed me.

"Lisette!" I heard Kaida's shout before I realised what was happening. There was panic in the air but I couldn't see it, just the space around my hand where Lisette's hand had been. All those years. All that training and still I could do nothing. I'd let her fall...I'd let her...

The Temple had fallen into disrepair in the years I'd been away but the graves were still intact. I knew hers by heart even though I hadn't seen it since the funeral. Hayden's gift was still there, rotted to a skeleton of itself by time and the elements. I knelt at her graveside and prayed, the way I hadn't prayed since I was too young to understand what a prayer was or why I should make one. I prayed for her peace - as I should have done at her funeral - and said the words I should have said that day.

"It was my fault."

"Yes it was."

I looked up to see Shayna standing on the other side of the grave. She looked older than I would have expected. I got to my feet. "I was just -"

"Leaving?"

"Shayna..."

She knelt so I couldn't see her face. "You shouldn't be here."

"Are you ok? I sent letters-"

"We don't want your help!"

I stood silent as the words sunk in. "Is this because of Cole?"

"It crippled us - getting him out. We barely ate. Hayden...Hayden got so sick. We didn't think..."

I hugged her tight, not caring whether she pushed me off or not. I couldn't bear to see her like this; knowing that I was the cause. "Everything's going to get better." I slipped the money pouch from my belt into her hand. "It's not much, but it's a start. There'll be more, much more. You'll see. I'll get us back to where we belong, just like she said I would."

I felt her return my hug.

"It's going to be better," I said. "This is just the beginning."

It was the beginning. The beginning of the end of us. It had been the last time I'd seen Shayna, the last time we had been sisters. I had promised her everything but I had failed. I failed her just as I had failed my mother and now...just as I had failed Lisette.

I thumped the cannon with my fist. "I'm sick of failing!" The words echoed in the empty tank. Everyone had vanished. I had been abandoned, trapped and helpless. Still that weak child from all those years ago...

The tank shook and the debris trapping me loosened. I slid out of my prison and towards the sound of voices. Everyone was gathered round. There was a chocobo. And Lisette...I pretended not to be relieved that she was alive.

"So you're saying that the ship we just stole to fly us out of here, won't fly?"

"Yes, I would say that sums the situation up quite nicely."

"Shit..."

"Uh guys..."

I saw everyone staring at the moogle as I stumbled into the cockpit.

"Behemoth!"



~~~~~~~~
625 words
# 7

[Crystal Tears]

Selene Solidor

The Behemoth bellowed; it didn’t take to kindly to being stuck down in the river. It snorted, staring up at the wounded airship and the numerous targets. They had been growing into quite the pain, whether it was shooting it in the face with a cannon, killing fellow beasts or just generally living when they should be dead like every other group of weirdos that chose to cross its path.

Angrily it began to think, staring at what was left of the underside of the bridge thoughtfully before stomping forward.

It would end them, or it would die trying.


The group was arguing, not exactly a surprise. Though Selene had decided to stay out of it for the most part, the creature was stuck down in the river.

“It’s in the trench.” Lisette stated firmly, moving aside as the princess chose to exit the cockpit. “Is it safe to assume we have finally be rid of the monster until proper help arrives?”

Selene wandered back to the chocobo, who was looking back at what remained of its tail feathers sadly.

“Kweh….”

“They’ll grow back.” Selene smiled as the bird looked back at her, cocking its head to one side. “Don’t worry.”

The chocobo cooed softly as she approached and patted it on the head, watching it ruffle its feathers and shake the saddle still strapped onto it.

“I hope you don’t intend to keep that.”

Selene pivoted, frowning at Sirius who approached.

“And why not?”

“My lady, the Wolfstar is quickly running out of room for people, let alone large birds. And I for one am firmly against animals on board.”

Selene raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because they’re unpredictable, panicky, and dirty.”

She rolled her eyes and went back to petting the chocobo who was now glaring at the pirate for the last comment.

“I’m not saying you in particular my good bird friend, but it is reasonable to assume you will get dirty eventually and that tends to lead to scuff marks on the floor, stains and-“

Selene moved closer to Sirius, pressing her body up against him for a moment and watching him suddenly stiffen. It wasn’t a normal occurrence that the woman ever dared to show her obvious undying love for him (she’ll let him think that), so there had to be a reason she wanted his suddenly undivided attention. She looked up at him fondly, biting her lower lip a tad.

“Please can I keep him?”

“I.. Well.. No, I am staying with my answer-“

“Please Sirius?” the way his name slid off her tongue made his defense wobble.

“And who will look after him? Hm?”

Selene didn’t much desire looking after her pet, she never had to before. Innocently she shrugged and wrapped her arms around his neck as she stared into his eyes.

“Fredric…”

“Who? Oh, the hypello… Well at least you’re honest…” He frowned. “You have no real intention of truly looking after the bird…”

She shifted her weight and watched him bit his lip as their bodies touched again. “You would make the dear princess, who got you your freedom and your lovely Wolfstar back, clean up after a chocobo?”

Sirius faltered, mulling over his options. “No… I suppose I wouldn’t…”

She smiled happily. “So I can keep him?”

“Hm.. Fine, my darling Selene, you may keep your bird. He needs a name though, yes?”

“Rusty!” Shay cried, rushing over to the duo and grinning. She looked over at Selene almost child-like. “Rusty right? We can name him Rusty!”

Selene smirked, and pulled away from the captain, she looked at the chocobo. “Do you mind Rusty?”

“Kweh!”

Shayna squealed, giving Selene a quick hug before rushing over to the bird. Sirius looked a bit disappointed, and the princess found herself feeling a tad bad for manipulating him into letting Shay and herself keep Rusty. She approached the captain, and gently placed a kiss on his cheek. The action made him look over in surprise, blinking in astonishment.

“Thank you Sirius.” She half smiled; turning and hopping outside of the ruined craft.

She had just stepped onto the concrete when the ground shook. There was the very loud noise of things collapsing and the screech of metal scrapping and bending before the entire floor below her seemed to give out. Selene yelped, grabbing hold of the edge with one hand as she looked down.

The Behemoth was glaring up at her, mouth twisted into what could only be a smile.

“Shay!” Selene cried, slowly clambering back up onto the bridge. “We need too-“

About ten feet away, she watched as a good sized crack began to form in the concrete. The bridge groaned, and suddenly she was no longer trying to climb onto even ground, but a quickly increasing slope.

* * 787 / 36 * *

BOSS BATTLE: The Behemoth
Battle theme: Otherworld

Brought all the way from Mt. Gagazet in Spira, the Behemoth is a massive purple beast that is incredibly difficult to combat. It’s smart, having perhaps the intelligence level of an average person; it learns quickly and has devastating moves. For the majority of battles, it uses its powerful limbs (tail included) to crush fighters into oblivion. If you get to close or it has the opportunity, it will snap at you with its jaws. Its most powerful moves are ram and energy blast, look out for those.

OVERDRIVE: Sirius, Nii, and Shayna

And yes, we're literally falling into our arena. XD

[classy_cat18]

Sori – Moogle Time Mage
Free…freefalling…

“Please let that monster stay down there. I’m too tired to fart out any more spells,” I groaned as I sat in a nearby chair on the bridge.

Adair cocked an eyebrow. “Surely you’re not too tired to move out of my seat.”

“You weren’t sitting in it.”

“But it is the pilot’s intended seat.”

“But you weren’t sitting in it.”

“Get out, you little furball!” He lurched forward to grab me.

I pressed myself against the seat and glared at him. “Forget it! I may not have any mana in me but I can still club you with my rod!”

“That sounds strangely wrong.” But he quickly got on track. “Ha! My sword will beat your rod!”

That sounded even more wrong than the last one.

“The ship’s tilting,” Nii interrupted calmly, still wearing Adair’s sunglasses.

We braced ourselves as the ship tilted more.

And more.

And more.

“WE’RE GOING TO FALL!” Adair and I shrieked together.

Lyra, Lisette, Temzi and Kaida immediately left the cockpit to look for Selene, but Kumas rushed to the window at the cockpit and smashed his robotic fist right through it. “What is he doing?” I asked Nii.

“Nii doesn’t know,” the Al Bhed replied. Then the machina jumped out onto a crumbling piece of bridge. “Get out this way! Or did you like falling while in an airship?”

I flinched at the memory and flew out, followed by Adair and Nii who climbed out.

Into air.

No land. No bridge. Air.

Everyone was falling. Except me, who was flying until Adair grabbed me by the shirt. “Damn you and your wings!” he cried out. “Well, do something!”

“Like what?”

“LIKE WHAT? YOU’RE A TIME MAGE!”

“WHO’S OUT OF MANA!”

He silenced me by shoving a bottle in my mouth and turning me up, forcing me to take large gulps of a strange tasting liquid to keep from drowning. I coughed roughly while feeling my mana reserves fill up again. Then I hiccupped. “What was in that drink?” I questioned.

“Shut up and slow things!”

I growled and started with Adair since he was adamant on dragging me to his grave. “SLOW!” Nothing happened. "WHY AREN'T YOU SLOWING?"

"Oh, I forgot I was Slowproof," Adair replied too calmly for me to bear. I groaned and cast Slow on a nearby rock, which he grabbed before we could all past it.

The others were out of the airship too, and I could only slow one person at a time.. “SLOW! SLOW! SLOW!”

“Ground’s coming up!” Adair shouted.

“That’s not the ground!” Nii cried as she held onto Kumas and her bit of bridge.

The Behemoth had his mouth wide open for us. But right now the ship was falling faster than us, so it was the first thing to reach its gaping jaws. So we still fell while the fiend got pacified by the ship’s remains.

SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH! One by one everyone landed in the river with the debris of the bridge.

“We’re safe!” I said with relief.

The Behemoth spat out the ship and let out a roar that might’ve wet someone’s pants.

“We’re screwed,” Nii groaned.

506 words. 20 Sori posts.

[Weasel Overlord]

Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn
[Captain and General Ruler of the Wolfstar]
♫ I can hear you! ♫

A kiss! Well, an epic kiss, but it was what preceded the kiss that would stay with Sirius for quite a few nights (and days) to come. He desperately stifled a crazed laugh at this last. Laughing like a madman just before a battle wasn't exactly the best way to help the morale of your team-mates. But then again, there were lots of things that were on the list of ways to not help the morale of your team-mates.

This list included (and Sirius had kept count);

- doing a wild jig (twice) with a bottle of ale in each hand
- falling over as you charged into battle
- performing an epic rendition of The Quest of the Four Bananas in your best singing voice
- realising that you need the toilet, and proclaiming this fact at the top of your voice
- pointing out the shortcomings of said team-mates
- pointing out just how short on provisions and Potions said team-mates actually were
- Adair swearing
- Adair again
- Adair in general
- having a very loud and prolonged argument with Adair about how they were going to split the loot
- pointing out just how large and pointy and deathly-looking the fangs are, exactly, on that there enemy...

oh dear. Like that enemy. Right there. The big purple one. Sirius had, for a conveniently Selene-tinged few minutes, forgotten about that bloody Behemoth.

However, the more pressing problem suddenly struck Sirius in the face like Adair slapping him in the face with a wet fastitocalon. Only it didn't smell like fish. And it sort of reminded him, somewhat, of those damsel in distress novels he was so secretly fond of as a boy. Selene would not appreciate the comparison, however, and he wasn't so sure that he'd ever actually read a damsel in distress novel where said damsel was just as likely to kick him in the unmentionables as to give him a kiss on the cheek and rub herself up against him like a coeurl in heat. Damn that woman, she sure had her claws in him. But he'd never get a chance to have her actual claws in him (ohoh that was a nice thought, he'd save that for later, yes indeed) unless he jumped straight into some sort of action right now.

Of course, flinging himself forward in a sort of... sliding floor tackle of doom, among broken shards of concrete, and with nothing to hold on to, may not have been the best of plans. Then again, much of Sirius' plans weren't exactly the best ideas. And that's how he made them work.

By flinging himself on top of Selene, apparently.

“Hallo,” he beamed down at her. “This is a sticky situation and no mistake. Sort of reminds me of- ow!”

Selene elbowed him sharply in the ribs. “This is a great plan, oh worldly Captain. Now that you've squashed me to a pulp underneath your hefty,” she paused, looking sideways at him as if to judge his reaction to the next, “bulk, what is it you plan on doing?”

Sirius almost squealed in indignation. “I am not bulky, my good woman!” He pouted, seemingly oblivious to the danger they were in as the slowly tipping concrete slab turned, not-so-slowly, into a quicker tipping concrete slab. “It would be impossible for a Sky Pirate such as myself to be bulky.”

“I agree,” Selene replied. “You spend so much time running away from things, it would be nigh impossible. It must be the weight of your ego crushing me, then. Oh, and the question still stands,” she added, sweetly. “What the hell are you going to do to get us out of this situation?”

“I was thinking we hang on for dear life, oh love of mine, while I guard you with my very life.” He attempted to thump his fist to his heart, but only succeeded in clobbering Selene in the arm. “Or at least, I intend to guard you with my flesh, which is much the same thing. If you know what I mean.” He chuckled dirtily, and Selene glared at him.

“You'd better not grope me, Sirius, or I swear by Venat that I will end you.”

“The thought never entered my head, damsel.”

The faint strains of Selene shouting something along the lines of “I AM NOT A DAMSEL” floated above the sound of their concrete slab finally connecting with the floor, the water and the giant purple Behemoth of doom.

#15 // 784~

[Kurosakura]

~*Lisette Rosencrantz*~
Confounded

The past few moments went by like a blur to Lisette. Something as seemingly harmless as making sure her charge was alright and fixing a dysfunctional cannon with her nemesis, lyra, turned into the Viera (or bunny-kite, as Shayna called her) getting flung off the ascending vehicle and clinging onto her mistress for dear life… which was met with yet ANOTHER fall.

All in all, this was just a typical day in the illustrious life of an Ivalician guard.

Lisette let go of the bit of broken railing she clung onto and before landing more smoothly than most of the others she could see, hearing and feeling droplets water splash onto her as mostly everyone else basically crash landed into the water. Bunny-kite, as Shayna had called her amusingly, hopped around quickly from chunk of debris to chunk debris, casting Cure on whoever needed it at the moment within her immediate surroundings. She scoped around quickly to search for the others amongst the rubble and chanced upon Selene and Sirius, Sirius being a little more than a tad too close to Selene. Just as soon as the giant bunny found them, she delivered a swift kick to Sirius’ shin, knowing well enough that Selene wouldn’t take kindly to her damaging his man parts. Her heel dug into his flesh and left a gaping gash on his otherwise unblemished skin.

The man let out a yelp and hobbled around on one leg, holding his onto wounded shin as a child would, babbling in pain. “Dear Gods, woman, what are you doing?!” he demanded shrilly, garnering some giggles and a chuckle out of the other female.

“A reminder not to get too close to Miss,” she stated curtly and healed the wound in a white-colored flash. “And as for you, Miss, you’re not allowed near this… conniving knave unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“… why not?” Selene questioned her, confused.

“You cannot control your hormones! Please remember your position as Princess and Judge!”

Her mistress raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“I have decided that for your own good, you must stay away from this man, for he is detrimental to your health.”

“Uh-huh… and for your own good…”

The Behemoth let out a deafening roar.

SPLASH!

That lunk of a dinosaur pivoted and swished his over-sized, Barney-colored tail at them, missing them ever-so-slightly as they dove for cover and got themselves soaked further. “Well, this isn’t the most desirable of circumstances, your orders, Miss?”

“JUMP, DODGE, DAMMIT! GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!”

Just as Selene screamed her command, Lyra skidded into a halt and nearly flopped over, panting.

“Captain, just what in the name of Venat do you think you’re doing?” Lisette groaned, crouching behind a slab of concrete to keep from getting flattened.

“Ehehehe… funny thing you should ask…” she stated nervously.

“Oh out with it already!” the Viera demanded impatiently.

“Y’see the Behemoth… Well, let’s just say I think I had a little too much fun and…”

“And?”

“I set his mohawk on fire.”

“…what!?”

~*506 Words/4 Posts*~

[ChobiChibi]

Shayna Xanthrope

The ninja wasn't enjoying the temporary come down from the adrenaline rush she'd had earlier. She was stood with Rusty on nice dry land, since she'd jumped on him once her airship started going down... And yes, it was hers. She'd overheard Sirius and Adair arguing about it earlier, but they were both wrong! She'd stolen it! It belonged to her! Finders keepers!

Shay leaned against her feathered friend, giving herself a chance to catch her breath for a moment. Everyone was now in the water, or stuck on the concrete that had fallen into the water. She had to help, but she didn't want Rusty to get hurt...

“Stay here, okay?” She rubbed his beak before taking off her bag and slipping it around his neck. “Don't loose that either... I'll come back for you.”

“Kweh!” He squawked, grabbing onto her top.

“I'll be fine...” She smiled at him, brushing herself off. “It doesn't hurt a bit, I promise.”

The Chocobo frowned in a way only a Chocobo could and reluctantly let go. She ran to the edge where the bridge had been, reaching behind to grab her shuriken...

Oh, that's right... They weren't there...

She watched the Behemoth splashing around, going to attack the others. They needed a distraction, and now.

She ran back to Rusty, putting the scale back in the bag and grabbed the guns. She hurried back to the edge, took aim...

BANG! BANG! Click…

She pulled the triggers in disbelief. She was out of ammo now?! She'd completely forgotten that these things required refilling every now and again. She hadn't thought to steal any either...

Just wait a second... These weren't her usual weapons... Where were her Shuriken?

She traced her mind back... The last she'd used them was as platforms on the ship... The ship that was now underwater... She glanced between the Behemoth and the water, the concrete and her friends...

“Oh for fucks sake...” Shay muttered, going back to Rusty and this time dragging him to the edge with her. “You stay right here, don't you dare to anything stupid...” She told him, rummaging through her bag. “Where is it...”

Finally, she found what she was looking for. It was some snazzy Al Bhed device she'd stolen for the purposes of playing Blitz Ball that helped the user breath underwater for a long time. She had a horrible feeling that she would indeed be down there for a long time.

“Bye Rusty!” She said before putting the device in her mouth and diving into the water, the sheer drop providing the adrenaline rush again that she so desperately needed.

Ergh... I wish I had goggles... She thought, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the water and the lack of light. It wasn't the cleanest water in the world either, but she pushed that to one side in her mind. She didn't need to worry about that now. She swam as quickly as she could, desperate to find her missing weapons, or the ship at all.

There it was, thankfully. She swam towards the back, pulling them out as fast as she could.

The water trembled around her, the Behemoth was getting closer, its huge stompy feet looming ever closer. She looked up, her shuriken now safe in her hands... It was far too far to swim... The Behemoth would slam into her if she tried to go up... But she wouldn't be fast enough to swim to the edge...

She had an idea... But it wouldn't work underwater, would it? She water shook more as it got closer, so she figured she didn't have much choice in the matter... Her limited Blitz Ball training would help her... After all, what sane person hailing from Luca didn't practise Blitz Ball?!

She danced in the water, spinning her shuriken as fast as possible against the water resistance. She threw them between her hands, over her head, all the while still moving to the imaginary beat in her mind. The water moved with her, as well as shrapnel from the ship and other pointy objects on the riverbed, just as the spell was supposed to. Finally, once she'd built up enough speed, she threw her shuriken at the monster's knees, the two of them together making a whirlpool, the shrapnel and other sharp items getting caught in them.

They split off, two smaller whirlpools of pointy things wrapping themselves around the Behemoth's front legs, cutting and slashing away at them. It stopped moving, she could tell it was flailing around in anger above her, she could feel the water on the surface moving around more than it was down below. Her shuriken came back to her, leaving her whirlpools going a little longer, so she strapped them to her back, giving herself enough time to swim to the surface.

“Oh my god...” She gasped, real air entering her lungs for the first time in ages. Unfortunately, she hadn't quite come up where she had planned. She was far too close to the Behemoth for her liking... Her energy levels began to falter, since she now had the added weight of her weapons on her back, she struggled to keep her head above the water. Her muscles screamed out in agony... She couldn't take much more...

She used the last of her energy to throw her shuriken, lodging them in the nearest slab of concrete, the waves making her aim way off than it should have been. She gave up trying to swim, letting the giant waves carry her, praying for a miracle.

No 17, 942. OH and overdrive gone~

[Crystal Tears]

Selene Solidor

Another swift swipe from the monster caused both Sirius and Selene to dive out of the way. She landed roughly, though she noted whatever she had indeed, landed upon was much softer then the concrete and rubble she had been expecting. Groaning she opened her eyes and found a very familiar pair staring back into hers, and that stupid smirk plastered on his face. Selene’s eyes narrowed.

“Remember that threat from before?”

He nodded, but that smirk was turning into a giddy smile.

“It still applies.”

“I’m it sure my lady, but that doesn’t change how the Gods keep throwing us into this predicaments...”

“Stop smiling.”

“Oh but-“

Selene shifted her weight and quickly lifted herself off of him. Lisette had vanished, and she had quite the nerve to tell the princess who she could flirt with and who not. She was well aware she was fraternizing with a criminal and if she wanted to, she damn well would. So in thought she was that the poor girl bumped right into a man in armor.

“Ow..” Selene grumbled, stepping back and glaring up at Temzi. “Where did you come from?”

“Miss Lisette sent me this way to protect you from all enemies.” His voice almost seemed to gain an edge as he turned his head in the direction of Sirius.

“I assure you my dear metal-clad friend; I am no enemy of her highness.”

“Yes well belay that order or whatever the hell the term is, I order you to defend me from the damn Behemoth not Sirius.”

“You’re too kind milady.” Sirius moved up beside her and smiled. Selene just rolled her eyes and looked at the flailing beast.

“It’s hairs on fire…”

“I believe that was the work of Commander Lyra.” Temzi added on, readying himself.

“No doubt.”

“I believe that’s evidence your little follower is unstable in the brain.” Sirius grinned. “The other is no better, kicking innocent ship captains.”

“Oh yes,” Selene shot him a glare. “As innocent as a kitten, I’m sure.”

“Just as easy to love too.”

Selene snorted in amusement and went back to planning how to end the Behemoth. It was much too focused on killing something in the water to pay them any mind. That was until; it seemed to be satisfied with its angry flailing and stopped, its gaze falling on the trio.

Selene’s body began to move before she spoke. “RUN!”

The beam the creature shot slammed into where they previously were standing. It rocketed Selene though the air, a feeling she had become used too, before she splashed down into the water. Underwater she was dizzy, bubbles zipping by her everywhere until she figured out which was up and followed suit, rushing to the surface.

Selene broke the surface with a gasp, coughing and spitting up water as Sirius slowly recovered from being thrown onto a concrete slab. Slowly he pulled away from the piece of rock and faced her, his nose once again bleeding.

She coughed. “You d-didn’t…”

“I broke my beautiful nose.”

“Again.”

“Yes…” He shot a glare over at the trying to hide her smile Selene. “Again.”

“I’ll fix it later.” She told him with a smirk, clambering out of the water before watching in curiosity as Nii dragged herself out of the water, coughing up water in a similar fashion Selene had before hauling a dazed and soaked Shayna onto the ground. “What the hell happened?”

“Ahahaha….” Shayna laughed, twirling her hand weakly in the air to signal victory. “Sliced up his calves, yessir, Selene aren’t you prroouud of meeee?”

All the Judge could do was raise an eyebrow. “Uh..”

“Nii suspects she hit her head…” They all watched Shay just break out into a giggle fit. “Hard.”

“Seleneee, she’s takin’ me away from da battle!”

“I see that…”

“But I neeeed to fiiiight…”

“No, you ‘neeeed’ to rest.”

“Oh, yes ma’am. Sounds like a good order to mee… Ha ha HI CAPTAIN SIR!”

Sirius just nodded, holding his still bleeding nose.

“Ooohh…” Shay laughed, as Kumas picked her up. She leaned her head back so she was staring at them upside down. “You break your snout again!?”

Sirius looked horrified. “SNOUT!?”

Before the poor girl could insult the captain further, Kumas and Nii carried her away from the fighting. That’s when Selene looked around, frowning in confusion, she stepped up to the edge of the water.

“What’s wrong?” Sirius questioned, though he seemed much more concerned about his noise.

“Where’s…” Selene’s eyes widen as she spotted continues stream of bubbles, and just under the surface she could see an armoured figure, waving his arms madly. “TEMZI!”

* * 782 / 37 * *

[Weasel Overlord]

*DOES THE PAGE 5 JIG*

Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn
[Captain and General Ruler of the Wolfstar]
sworn through swords

The madly waving arms of Temzi stood out to Sirius like a sore thumb, or in this case, a bloody thrice-and-more broken nose. No-one could manage in water that deep, and especially not Temzi the Guado, so attached to his armour that nothing and no-one could make him remove it. Sirius had supposed, back when they hardly knew the Dragoon, that underneath that overlarge helmet was a spotty, ugly youth who daren't show his face to the ladies. He'd also supposed that this was the reason for the man's reticence around the aforementioned ladies. Upon actually getting to know Temzi, he had been almost shamed by these assumptions. The man was kindred spirit with Sirius, really. Grown up on history and tales, secret novels about damsels in distress and epic adventures. They just dealt with the outside world differently; Sirius, he put on a face (although these days, it was much less of a face and more a personality he'd grown into), whereas Temzi simply hid his away. In, as it happened, the armour that was the least likely to float.

His arms thrashed and water went everywhere as Sirius splashed in to help him out. He had a flash of pride as he realised that he hadn't even had to ask Selene to help him – she was just a step behind, a concerned expression on her face. “Do you think we can manage to get him out?” she said, biting her lip, and obviously unconcerned at getting soaking wet.

Sirius placed a hand firmly under Temzi's right armpit, and the other on his shoulder, nodding towards the left for Selene. She took her position willingly, and Sirius bent his legs, bracing for the effort. “On one,” he said, and stood upright sharply, pulling the still thrashing Temzi with him.

Temzi gasped in some air, before falling backwards again, this time pulling Selene with him, her arm caught in a gap in his armour. “Shi-” she yelled, the word cut off with a splutter as her mouth filled with water. Sirius gaped, was thankful for a second that quick-thinking was something that came naturally to him and immediately dived under the water. It was cloudy, but he managed to take in the situation: Selene's arm was stuck fast, Temzi's leg was clogged around with mud and both their air was running out, fast. He directed himself downwards, and scraped away a good quantity of the mud with his hands, but it wasn't enough. Selene was struggling, her free hand desperately tugging at the armour, and Temzi seemed to have gone still, his limbs limp and unresponsive. Sirius, now frantic, dug away more clumps of the mud, mentally cursing it very loudly as yet more flowed into the gap he'd made.

After what seemed like an age, he seemed to make some purchase, and tugging at Temzi's leg he managed to get it free of the cloying mud. Selene's actions were becoming sluggish, and desperation fuelled Sirius' last bid as he pushed off the floor, a chunk of concrete providing a hard push-off surface, and broke the surface of the water. He took quick hold of Temzi's shoulders and, using the concrete (thank god for that fallen bridge), he levered the three of them onto the nearby water's edge.

Selene, her arm still trapped, slid out of the water after Temzi and lay on the ground like a still doll, her lips slightly blue-tinged and, in that second, Sirius realised he had to make a choice. Luckily, it sort of made itself as the Behemoth chose that moment to send a chunk of rock flying through the air. That lucky rock landed right on Temzi's breastplate, acting as the perfect jolt to bring him coughing and spluttering back into the world of the conscious.

Sirius sent a prayer of thanks to whoever was listening, and immediately clamped his lips around Selene's. He pinched her nostrils together and blew, hard – satisfied when her chest inflated from his air. He did this once more, made a fist with both hands and then brought them down, hard, where he approximated that Selene's heart was.

Where he approximated that Selene's heart was, however, was perilously close to her breasts, and fortune chose that moment for her to sputter awake, nearly bent in two from the coughs racking her diaphragm. Her first conscious thoughts sprang to Sirius, looking like a swamp monster all covered in mud and wet, with his hands caught, well, red-handed on her chest.

She shot him a tired glare and coughed up some more of the foul water. “Those had better be there because you were saving my ass,” she said, hoarsely.

Sirius snatched his hands away like a child caught stealing a fresh-baked cake. “Of course, my dearest Lady!” He didn't even have the heart to sound affronted, nor the time, since the Behemoth, always on fortune's side, chose that moment to interrupt with a thrashing tail coming to land a hair's breadth from Sirius' bent head.

“Argh,” he spluttered, springing to his feet. He held out a hand for Selene, and tugged Temzi upright with the other one. He narrowed his eyes at the big purple, and placed a hand on his sword pommel. “It may be time to kick some furry purple arse, my darling.”

“Couldn't agree more,” Selene said, her face the picture of someone who'd just near-drowned and was not happy about it.

Sirius felt the years of training with Durrendal spring to the forefront of his mind and he drew the longsword, bringing it up in a soldier's salute to kiss the crosshilt. His vision tunnelled, until just the Behemoth remained, rampaging around their makeshift battle arena. He was vaguely aware of the presences of the crew, but they moved at his peripheral, flickering like ghosts. Tangible enough that he could avoid them, but nothing else.

Trailing his free hand out behind him, he set off at a spiralling, seemingly-random run. He avoided the target at first, but never took his eyes off it as his speed increased and he seemed to gain a shadow that followed him as if stuck to his back, growing ever taller. The ghost of his longsword sprang outwards from the shadow's hand, and Sirius let out a blood-curdling yell. He brought his hands together as his spiral converged on the Behemoth – the ghostly shadow became an extension of himself, working with his movements in perfect unison as he brought Durrendal down on the target's weak-spot, the great, thrashing tail.

The combined power of shadow and Sirius sliced through the thick tail near at the base, severing it clean off. Pyreflies streamed out, flashing brightest white, purple and pink, and Sirius fell to his knees, exhausted.

Selene put her hand firmly on his back, just as he was about to sway and collapse backwards, and he blinked as his vision returned to normal.

“That'll teach it to interrupt our precious moments of fairytale gratitude,” he grinned. Water dripped from his hair and rolled down his nose, and he blew upwards indignantly, dislodging the droplets.

“You look a mess,” Selene smirked.

“And I suppose that's all the gratitude I get for hacking off that beastie's tail.”

#16 // 1237~

will explain his overdrive in the Lounge topic at a later date.

[Samchu]

Lyra
~~~~

I joined Kaida as she helped pull Shay out of the rubble and threw one of her limp arms over my shoulders.

"I didn't expect to see you helping."

I snorted at Kaida's comment. "I'm not doing it to help you."

"The theif? Isn't that against your almighty belief code?"

"Maybe. But she's close to the Judge. It would reflect badly if anything was to happen to her." I caught her smirking. "What?"

"Are you sure that's the only reason?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I saw your face when that rubble fell - you were scared for her."

"KWEH!!!!"

The chocobo ran over to us and began nudging Shay's face with it's beak, "kweh"-ing in a mix of panic and worry.

"Rusty..." she smiled and moved to pet him. I ducked to help her move. "I'm ok..."

'Rusty' gave another worried "kweh" and nudged her some more.

"Maybe we should put her on the chocobo," I suggested. "We don't want to anger our feathered friend."

Kaida nodded.

We carefully lifted Shay onto the chocobo's back. The bird behaved, walking slowly and carefully as we led the two of them into the waiting airship.

Lisette slotted in beside me as we walked. "Do you think it would be a good idea to get the little ninja seen to?"

"I heard that 'little' comment," Shay groaned and Rusty had to move to keep her on his back.

"Nursing couldn't hurt. Who would you recommend?"

"Well...last I knew, you were trained in basic field medicine. I don't think her injuries will need more than that."

I shot her a sideways glare. "Are you meddling, Lisette?"

A sly grin crossed her face. "I have no idea what you're implying, Captain."

"Of course you don't." I let go of Rusty's reign. "Kaida, can you get her to a bed please?"

"I'll be sure to meet the expectations Lady Selene desires."

Her tone made me uncomfortable. Did she know? Shay had blabbed to Nii but as far as I was aware no one but Selene knew. Lisette I would have expected to find out - she had that ability in her - but how would Kaida have found out? Just what kind of spy was she?

"You're not going to see her inside?"

I breathed deep to cast aside my worries of Shayna and waited for the others to enter the airship before turning to the Viera. "Are you ok?"

She seemed surprised. "Me?"

"The fall - I couldn't see what happened and I -"

"Apology accepted." She smiled and nodded. "I'll see you inside."

I bit my lip as she headed inside. It didn't feel right, doing it like this. "Lisette-"

"Hm?"

"Can my Lady's oh so lovely guardswomen please come inside so that we might vacate this unpleasant battlefield?"

I silently cursed the voice and the idiot behind it. "We should get going," I said, casting off my earlier attempt to speak to her. "Need to make sure the 'illustrious' captain doesn't try to slip anything by Temzi whilst we're gone."


~~~~~~~
#8
510 words

[ChobiChibi]

Shayna Xanthrope

Shay wasn't quite sure what it was about her current clothing that had made Temzi cringe in such a way. She knew he probably didn't mean to, but that wasn't the point. She was wearing a creamy white coloured night dress, cut with a slight v-neck with thin straps. Red lace ran along the top and bottom and the dress itself was patterned with cute little strawberries. This attire wouldn't be so much of a problem if it weren't a little too small for her. It was a couple of years old, hardly worn, but she had grown (hard to believe, but true), so it showed off her cleavage and where it used to come down to her mid thigh, it now barely covered her bottom. This wasn't an issue, she had cute matching panties on, but alas, this was far too much for Temzi to take in.

She liked it though, and that's what mattered.

Taking another swig of her bright pink drink, she found herself gazing up at Temzi. Her head was not in the right place right now. Normally the girl was pretty good at being responsible with her drinking, surprisingly, but tonight she saw no reason why she shouldn't get hammered. Now this would be very problematic for her. Along with Selene, she had done a VERY good job with the Guado's hair and as he was drinking too, it was unlikely that it would stay in such a condition for very long. That, and when reaaaaaally drunk, Shay was unlikely to remember anything at all in the morning.

“Piiiicture time!” Shay announced, carefully placing her drink on the floor and pulling her bag towards her. She rummaged through it for a few moments before pulling out one of those instant printing cameras, grinning.

“That's not yours, is it?” Selene asked, her brow creasing into the tiniest of frowns.

“I saved up aaaaaaaaall my pocket money for this.” Shay nodded. For a moment, it looked like that pair had believed her. “Pfft, of course not. I stole it off a Ronso.”

Temzi seemed impressed, but Selene wasn't buying it. “Yeah? Right from underneath his nose?”

“Y-yeah!” Shay beamed. “Whilst he was having a fight with another Ronso. CHEESE!”

Without warning, Shay pointed the device at Temzi's face, clicking the button, flashing as it took the picture. The flash must have blinded him for a few moments, because he stared blankly at her, his eyes wide in shock. Selene waved her hand in front of his face until he finally blinked, snapping out of his little daze. Shay giggled, waiting for the picture to develop, taking another rather large swig from her glass.

“S'lene?” Shay swayed a little.

“Hm?”

“S'lene? Why doessit taste so... Pink?”

Selene chuckled, smirking a little. “I'm not telling you! It's a secret recipe of Ivalice!”

“I tried lots and lots and lots and lots of drinks in Ivalice and-” She stopped mid-sentence, staring at the photograph in her hand. “OhmyYevon...”

“Lady Shay? What is it?” Temzi asked, curious. He leaned forward to look, but the little girl turned it away, showing it to Selene, who nearly spat out her drink.

The camera had managed to capture the precise moment where Temzi was staring in complete shock. His pupils were tiny, his mouth wide open... In fact, the only part of him that didn't look surprised was his hair, which sat perfectly in place. The two girls creased up in laughter before letting Temzi see. For a moment he looked a little offended, before relaxing a bit and laughing too.

“Leeeenie!” Shayna whined, passing the camera to Temzi, stumbling to her feet. “We need a picture of us too!”

“Leenie? What kinda name is that?!”

“One comprising of the last couple of syllables of your name, then adding I and E to the end to make it sound cute, Lady Selene.” Temzi informed her.

“What he said.” Shay pretty much fell onto the bed, tripping over it or something. She hadn't even finished that glass! Why on earth was she so drunk?!

Oh, that's right. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. She had eaten a lot for breakfast, but her metabolism could run just as fast as a Chocobo. Possibly just as fast as a Chocobo running away from Behemoth. Anyway, this meant that her not so good friend, alcohol, was playing games with her mind and making things seem much closer than they were.

Maybe things would seem a lot more clearer if she finished the glass...

Oh yeah! Photo time!

She knelt up behind Selene, putting her arms around her, her head resting on her shoulder. The camera flashed, the picture developed and the three of them crowded around to see.

“That's not a bad picture...” Selene mused, taking a sip from her drink.

“You both look very nice.” Temzi added, blushing a little. He seemed to have a little more courage than usual.

“Nono, Leenie, we look hot.” Shay carefully pried the picture from Temzi's hand and hid it away.

“Heeeeey! What if I wanted the picture?” Selene pouted.

“I will give you one! But I have to shows it to someone first!” She smirked, leaning down to pick up her drink, loosing balance and tumbling to the floor.

23/905

[ChobiChibi]

Shayna Xanthrope

The little Ninja didn't have a lot of experience of fighting. Well, she did, but mostly humes, but the occasional fiend here and there, now a small list of big bad monsters... If she were to keep a record of her encounters, it wouldn't be a very thick book at all, so she was grateful when the opposition at hand were ones she had dealt with before.

In fact, by the looks of things, this was almost the exact group of Natives that she'd encountered before, with the addition of a few members, and the distinct lack of the Chief's hat. Now the angry looking man wore what looked like a makeshift replacement, with feathers not quite perfectly in place, and occasionally, it would slip down over his eyes.

Her fingers twitched. She wanted that hat. So badly. The previous hat had looked so good on her, but Adair had successfully hidden it away, and even though she'd searched everywhere she could think of, it was no where to be found. She hoped that he hadn't lost it. It wasn't often that she was willing to just give something away, so loosing it would possibly be the greatest insult that he could ever give her. Even more so than pointing out that she is vertically challenged and probably shouldn't be a Ninja due to reoccurring balance issues.

At least she often received positive comments on her thieving ability.

She'd kinda drifted off, staring a the Chief's new hat, whilst the others had started fighting. That was, until she felt the beating of some little wings on her ear and a swift bonk on the head.

“Ow! Sori!” She flailed her arms at him as he flew just out of reach, casting some kind of Thunder spell at one of the Natives.

“Pay attention!” Sori barked at her, frowning and folding his arms.

“But I want-” Bonk! “OW!” She reached up, gingerly rubbing the back of her head. “Mother fu-” She stopped, noting Sori's expression turning to one of shock. “Ducker?”

The odd, shorter-than-she-was creature chuckled. She honestly had no idea what it was. Just that the big wooden staff she somehow managed to carry bloody hurt when you were hit with it. Shayna did not approve.

“I want that hat.” Shay explained to the thing with floppy ears, motioning towards the Chief, who was out of the way grunting orders at people. She turned to Sori. “But there are too many of them.”

“Then surely we should just dispose of them?” Sori questioned. She couldn't help but think that the Moogle wanted to add “Idiot” onto the end of that sentence.

“Adair and I met these Natives in the temple. Remember the temple?”

“How could I forget...”

“We did this awesome dance, some kind of tribal thing. It was really fun! But it stopped the Natives attacking so I could steal the hat.” Shay explained, quickly throwing a Shuriken at a Native that was about to attack her sister from behind. I'm not gonna get thanked for that later...

“So you want to do the dance?”

“Yes.”

“Then why don't you?”

“Because I've forgotten it. And I need a dance partner.”

“Why don't you use the Nu Mou? Oh...” Sori sighed. “She's gone...”

So that's what it is...

“Adair!” She tapped the communication device in her ear, creating some kind of squeaky noise at the end. “Adair, there are Natives down here! Tell me how to do the dance.”

“Little Ninja, are you sure this is the right time to be negotiating?” Adair replied. She could hear some kind of odd beeping noises, maybe a few warning sirens in the background. “I'm sort of busy...”

“Adair, I have to know, I want the hat.”

Just the mention of the word seemed to set a little enthusiasm into the pilot. He knew exactly what she meant. “Alright, are you in place?”

The answer was no. There was no way the Chief could see them from here. Shayna grabbed Sori's paw and dragged him closer. “Yes!”

“Jump up and down, and move it all around.”

With very little hesitation, Shay jumped, jerking the poor Sori around with her as she did a little hip wiggle.

“Shake your head to the sound, put your hands on the ground.”

Sori tried to make a vain attempt of freeing his paw from her grip as she dragged him down to the ground.

“Sori! He said put your hands on the ground! Not flail around!” Shayna scolded.

It was enough to start attracting the attention of some of the other Natives.

“Take one step left, and one step right. One to the front, and one to the side.”

Shay came face to chest with the Chief as she took her step forward. This really wasn't working. None of them were dancing, the Chief was beginning to realise just who she was and raised his hand to his hat, so she was pretty relieved when she took the step to the side.

“Clap your hands once!”

Clap!

“And clap your hands twice!”

Clap-clap!

“And if it looks like this, then you're doing it right!”

The pair stopped dancing (well, Sori stopped being thrown around, at least), staring up at the Chief, who had some kind of club in his hand, with a couple of the bigger, scarier looking Natives standing either side.

“Adair! Are you sure that was the right dance? Sori! It was because you didn't touch the ground with your hands!” Shay accused, panic clearly setting in as she grabbed both her Shuriken from her back.

Then something unexpected happened.

Adair burst into song:

“A little bit of Monica in my life! A little bit of Erica by my side! A little bit of Rita's all I need! A little bit of Tina's all I see! A little bit of Sandra in the sun! A little bit of Mary all night long! A little bit of Jessica, here I am! A little bit of you makes me your man!”

“ADAIR!” They both yelled, Shay quickly moving Sori out of the way of an angry Native's club.

24/1059
MAMBO NUMBER 5! *trumpet*

[ChobiChibi]

Shayna Xanthrope

“Hey, Sori?” Shay began, pausing for a moment to elbow a native in the stomach, making him stagger back, giving a couple of complimentary deep slashes across his chest. “Sori, will you teach me how to do thunder sometime?”

Not exactly the question Sori was expecting, nor one that he felt like having the time to answer. “Right now?!” He flapped out of the way of a swinging club, sending another thunder that hit the guy square in the face. “Now's not the best time...”

“I know, Sori, it was just a thought...” She quickly ducked and rolled out of the way of two of the natives, who were trying to grab her from either side. “Maybe, in return...” She winced as she blocked a club with her shuriken, it had hit her fingers. “... I'll teach you some thievery tricks...” She tripped the guy up, planting the spikes in his back. “Or some ninja skills.”

“I'm fine, thank you Shay...” He set the other one alight, Shay resisted the urge to chuckle as the fur caught fire.

“Are you sure? I'm wanting to give something in return, that doesn't happen often...” She began brushing herself off in a small gap in their fighting.

“Moogles don't train themselves in the arts of...” Sori went quiet.

“Are you saying that my arts, as you call them, aren't good enough for the Moogle race?”

He ignored her, much to her annoyance, and started casting more spells over her shoulder. “Hey! That one nearly hit me!”

Something big and heavy hit her in the side, sending her tumbling to the ground, her precious feathery headdress toppling off her head. She half expected it to be that Nu Mou creature, but once she looked up, she found that the lovely Chief was coming towards her, holding a rather large heavy staff with some kind of sharp looking blade on the end of it, raising it above his head.

“No!” Shay called, rolling out of the way as it came crashing down where she was previously, grabbing her hat and placing it defiantly on her head. “You're not having it!”

The man made a threatening growling noise as he came towards her again. Scrambling to her feet, she desperately looked around for her Moogle saviour.

There he was! At the top of the staff, clinging on to it, desperately trying to pull it out of his grip so he did not smash Shay. However considerate this was, it wasn't working, and the Chief flicked him off, Shay jumping to catch the dazed Moogle.

“Sori, I know you're dizzy, but could you please zap my shuriken with some thunder?” She asked him quietly, holding him in one hand and only one of her shuriken, having discarded the other. Zap! “Ow! That was my foot!”

“There's a pointy star down there...” Sori shook his head, trying to clear his vision.

“The one in my hand...” Shay gulped as she continued to back away. “After three.” Why wasn't this guy battering her already? He liked to see her run away? Oh no... Now he was gonna get her... “Onetwothree!”

As she released her weapon from her hand, thunder danced around it and electrocuted the brute as it lodged itself in his shoulder. Shortly after, Shay heard gunshots, two to the chest and one to the head. She turned to see both Selene and Lyra's guns smoking as the Chief fell forward, her shuriken slicing his arm off as he hit the ground.

“Owch...” Shay and Sori said in perfect unison, wincing a little.

“And finally, all the natives were dead and the adventurers were never bothered by them again!” Sirius stated, meandering over from wherever he had been to join the rest of them. “Or so we hope, but since the dear little thief insists on keeping the hat, there is no guarantee that we won't wander into another group of them, therefore dooming us to yet another random encounter with scantily clad men.”

Deities... I'll give him deities...

With swift movement of her hand within the blink of an eye, Sirius found himself with no belt and his beautiful leather pants sliding his way down his legs towards his ankles. Not so tight around the arse today, were they Sirius?! What lovely underwear he had...

“Deities? I'm also rather good at stealing so called innocent peoples' dignities.” Shay giggled as he snatched his belt back in a huff.

OhgodKirstdon'tkillme XD 25/768
Tag!

[Crystal Tears]

Selene Solidor

Thief

Shooting a harsh glare towards the pirate, Selene stomped off, thankful for the ninja’s interference. Their bicker had been steadily escalating, because Sirius was jealous and, according to him, Selene had no concept of the idea. She gritted her teeth as she reached the younger woman, who was looking at her inquisitively.

Perhaps I have no knowledge of it because there’s no reason to be jealous…

That thought gave her some comfort, but not nearly enough to wipe that irritated scowl off her features. She looked at Shay, clicking her tongue.

“Yes.” Selene spoke, only really to the girl who she had at that moment, decided to fully forgive and be friends with again. “Let’s go, if they fall behind let them die.”

“So Sirius is being an idiot?”

Selene snorted, taking the lead as Shay followed. “I fail to see when he’s not an idiot.”

“Oh, good point. What he do now?”

“Nothing.” The woman’s eyes shot away, taking in the cave walls and what not. She could hear the other’s following, noting how they all got a strange feeling from this place. “Nothing worth discussing, anyways.”

It’s not like she would be able to help the matter anyways.

The cave kept going until they reached a single, massive chamber. It wasn’t like the temple, there was no teleporting pad or magical runes, it was just a cave. The only odd thing about it was the hole in the ground, off to the far left corner. Shay immediately bounded up to it, plopping down onto her hands and knees to peer down the hole.

“Whoa…” she blinked, looking up at Selene, who had her arms crossed and was standing in the center of the room. “It’s dark down there.”

“Of course, how would any light get down there?” Lyra sneered from behind, fiddling with her gunblade.

“Meaning don’t fall,” Selene added it, with a slight look of concern on her face. “I don’t want to go down there after you.”

Shay glared at her sister briefly. “At least you would. I can think of somebody who’d leave me to die.”

“You little-“

“Oi!” Adair floundered in, pausing to look at the dark, boring cavern. “Don’t go barking in the cave, it tends to echo. Not good for my hearing.”
“I’m disappointed to see my dragon failed.”

Weapons were out and at the ready, much to the confusion of Cid and his traveling companion. The group stared the darkness warily; all ready to attack anything that seemed out of place. The voice seemed to spawn from all directions, echoing off the walls and making a confusing pattern.

“Then you kill more of my men…”

There was the briefest flash of light, and Selene swore she saw the witch in that second. But it didn’t last, the ground rumbled and pieces of it began to give away. There were cries of shock and terror all around as the lot of them plummeted down into the darkness they had been commenting on before.

The darkness engulfed them all quickly, like a hungry beast.


When Selene awoke, she found her body protesting to the movement. There was a fire nearby, with the group huddled around it. A few were like herself, a bit farther away in makeshift beds. She supposed they were the ones who were wounded, but her eyes fell on one of the spots. It had a shape of a person; white a blanket was laid over them.

No…

“My lady,” Cid’s cool voice broke Selene’s stare off the corpse. “Are you alright?”

“Honestly, it takes more them a bottomless pit to maim me, you should know that.”

Cid small smile showed in the dim light from the fire. His eyes flicked over to the corpse, and he seemed apprehensive.

“Who is it?” Selene’s eyes were once again locked on it.

“Lisette, I believe her name was.”

Not a thought floated into the woman’s mind. Instead she just cast her eyes to the ground, hiding her sorrow. “Oh…”

“She landed on one of the crystals…”

Crystals? Selene looked up, and found that they were in the center of a ring of crystals. They were dark blue, with strange black roots curling around them locking them in place.

“Did they all cause the issue?”

Cid thought about it. “With the airships, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“No, not these. I suspect a much larger crystal would be the source.”

“And who are you people?”

The strange voice immediately spawned the entire group to go scrambling for their weapons. Selene was lucky enough hers wasn’t far. She took it out of its holster as fast as lightning and pointed it straight at the stranger’s face. She wasn’t one to go for chest shots; people always seemed to be wearing body armour.

The man blinked, watching as suddenly everyone’s eyes were on him, and numerous types of weaponry were pointed in his direction.

“Oh…” He gulped a tad, raising up his hands. “Tough crowd.”

Selene’s eyes focused on his right hand. Or, in this case hook. It was like he was a pirate from the old stories, with a lost limb replaced by a tool of some sort.

“Who are you?” Selene growled.

“I asked you first.” Came his reply, eyeing the group.

“Point good sir, but we have our weapons on you. Forgive us for taking the courtesy of getting yours first.” Sirius replied, a friendly smile on his face.

“Aye, good point. Name’s Arena Tiburon-“

“The desert pirate?” Selene question, surprised.

“Aye, that’s me-“

There was a loud BANG and everyone jumped. Arena himself yelped, cursing as his hook was now bent out of shape.

“What was that for?”

Her eyes narrowed. “For being nothing but a thief.”

Shay shuffled a little.

“Your band of misfits ain’t exactly saintly company. Ain’t that Captain Sirius?”

“Yes,” Selene narrowed her eyes to fuming slits. “But they’ve earned their place, you’re some stranger who’s in a dark cave, with a hook for a hand.”

“Not my fault, I fell.”

“Through the hole up there?” Shay gestured.

“Yeah, that whole. ‘Cept, it wasn’t so big when I fell..”

“Evil witch did us in, or Temzi’s armour. Take your pick.” Adair had meandered up to be between the two side. “Come now, surely we are better then attacking every common folk that we pass by?”

Selene shot her eyes away and lowered her gun, the rest followed suit.
“So…” Shay moved forward and them plopped down next to Selene. “Whatcha doin’ in here anyway?”

“Not important.” Arena shrugged it off as he bent the hook back in shape. “What is important; is I know how to get out.”

Selene looked bored. “Do you?”

“Yessir, this place is a crystal maze. Once light hits everything, it’s like a hall of mirrors. Very confusing, hard to navigate by yourself.”

“Only, now we’re here…” Lyra scoffed, crossing her arms. “Forgive me for not trusting you.”

Cid didn’t have the same suspicion. “Trust him or not, we’re all trapped in this cave. Perhaps it’s better for the time being, that we join forces to escape this place?”

Oh, but I liked my plan of ‘shoot him’ better…

Eyes fell on Selene, who just huffed. “Why do I have to decide? It’s not like any of you listen, anyway.”

Cid smiled, one that the princess found herself returning briefly. “Then it’s decided,” he looked rather confident in everyone. “Join forces, even if it’s temporary, and escape this cave.”

“Good plan!” Adair grinned. “I like him, very logical thinker he is.”

~ + - 1264 / 44 + ~

Alright, Adair sounds mildly normal because my sister didn’t translate into very strange speech.

Our 200th post! Everyone gains a free level up, including our newest player! Welcome Mystic_clown! Arena is his character.

Name: Arena Tiburon
Age: 30
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Origin: Ivalice but has no real loyalty to either.
Appearance: A tall, well built man, around six foot in height. He has ashen, slightly tanned skin, black hair which is slicked back, though with a bit of his fringe hanging in front of his face, and deep, brown eyes. In terms of clothing, he wears a white undershirt (complete with cravat) and a brown leather vest. He wears black pants, completely with matching, slightly worn, boots. He wears a worn, brown coat over his shouders like a cape. His most notable feature is the hook where his right hand should be. It’s uncertain whether or not this is a prosthetic or simply something he wears. Though judging by the fact that he’s constantly wearing it, it may be the former.
Personality: Arena is a man who seems to be without fear, often jumping into dangerous situations with a smile on his face. He feels truly alive during exciting situations, and loves the satisfaction you get from coming out alive. Outside of these situations, he’s a laid back sort of individual, often going with the flow. He lets insults roll off his back and doesn’t hold grudges, though it doesn’t stop him from kicking the asses of those who wrong him. Despite being from Ivalice, he feels they are entirely to blame for starting the war with Spira.
Weapon Style: Ivalice
Weapon Type: Hook
Weapon: Sand Scourge – a large hook, made from a brass type of metal. It has a large, round base where his right hand should be. The hook itself is curved sharply. The hook can be removed from the base and replaced, but the base always remains on his arm.
History: Arena was the leader of a group of bandits that roamed the Dalmasca Westersand, using the sandstorms as cover in order to attack caravans. Not much is known about Arena’s past, or what happened to his right hand. He doesn’t talk about his past much, but judging from what he has said, he seems to have come from a poor family.

His life changed however shortly after the war with Spira began. He and his band managed to get caught by Ivalice soldiers. Impressed with their ability to survive in the Westersand and to avoid capture for so long, they offered them a choice. Imprisonment, or enlisting in the Ivalice army and fighting in the war. Arena refused, believing the war had nothing to do with him. His men had other ideas. Led by Arena’s right hand man, they turned on their leader, feeling that killing him would prove their new loyalty. Arena managed to escape both capture and death, and now wanders the land, committing his acts of piracy alone.
Other: Oddly enough, he has a really good singing voice.

[Pichu Luver]

Adair Stroud

Adair was tired. Fucking tired of RUNNING. It was all he ever managed to do. Now don't get me wrong, he did it well; exceptionally well in fact. He did it so well he may have even made the... wait no he wouldn't. Major sporting events require their athletes to be non-inebriated and not full of suspicious substances of... well any kind really. Irritating little condition... not that Blitzball rules really cared... you could get stoned all you want, it's not like it will help you kick straight (Adair only did it once, he wanted to kick the ball not think it was a school of rabid, rainbow, ruminating, remora's). Oh wait. I'm getting off topic, back to the injustices of aerobic activity.

Adair, after trying his mighty best to be a good pilot and save lives, had manged to put the good, reliable, sturdy, grand, excellent Spiran bird into swiping range of the Behemoth. It of course promptly took advantage of this deviation in Adair flight path and decided 'you are landing NOW.' Then... well... Adair decided, or was STRONGLY advised that to pull a Selene was a wise course of action. He tried to fight it, but most unfortunately he was unsuccessful in his endeavor.

He was knocked unconscious.

When he came too he was chin deep in man-screech inducing water and he cursed the ill-designed seatbelt of this bird. If Adair wanted ONE thing to work on his aircraft it was the restraining devices (and not because of the amount of fun that could be had in them). He would be dead many hundreds over if he had not insisted on this one thing.

So he grumbled, then hissed as the water came up to his mouth, unbuckled himself, took a breath of air and swam out of the aircraft. The windshield was broken and he was thankful the belt had stopped him enough he hadn't flown out of the flying vehicles' crashing maneuvers.

When he reached the shore he saw the battle and decided he was going to get a proper aircraft, and headed off to the Wolfstar. It wasn't overly far away in fact. Which was well seeing as how he was incapable of running with his slightly inebriated, concussed, non-sunglassed head. He er... bobbled would be a good term for his method of travel. He quick-strode with moments of partial earth-kissing and a general side to side to side movement.

In fact the only reason he was allowed into the Wolfstar and start it up was because there was no one around to stop him.

Thankfully, as long as he wasn't the one moving his head he could see with minimal double vision.

So he got to the battle, actually quite thankful he didn't have to do anything except lower the ramp. The second everyone was on board he raised the ramp and auto-piloted the Wolfstar to the unknown continent (not that it was on any maps, he just remembered the Gods-forsaken, piece of sketi, island's location on the mapgrid). Sirius appeared on deck just as the Wolfstar turned to fly away from the now seriously ruffled and rampaged city.

“Captain! I am most unsure if my head in on in a straight-wise fashion so I request you take the controls before I crash the bird in some remarkably spectacular—though corpse-creating—pretzel.”

Sirius looked for once looked exhausted and a little frazzled around the edges. Adair felt the same but was unwilling to show it... much. His eyes pointing in slightly opposite directions might have given it away however as Sirius glared, then peered at Adair.

“Adair... are you quite sure you can see at all? You have a mighty fine gash on your forehead. Most unflattering to your form, though of course gratifying to me.”

Adair smiled, “No dear captain, which is why I request to call for the aid of whatever musketeer of Selene's is the healer.”

“Quite alright.”

“Thank you!” Adair then promptly turned to the exit. I may note here that Adair is... well a fair bit more out of it then normal. He is actually in quite a bit of pain but in unaware due to the fact his head is preventing his 'ouch nerves' in his forehead to confer this to his brain. His quite concussed head is giddy-ly ignoring the fact and allowing Adair to be most chipper about his injury, for he cannot feel it. Or if he can, he doesn't care.

Anyway he made it through the door and headed to Selene's room as that was likely where 'hateful of pirate cronies' would be. He was gloriously glad to find them there. They were slightly miffed as they were currently in the process of being strongly rebuffed by Temzi.

“Hello Rockettes! Temzi will not let you through, ask Sirius if you find my word disbelieving. Not that you would believe his either, for he is a captain-pirate. Perhaps Shay's? Oh no perhaps not she is a thief so not trustworthy either. Nii? Oh no she is a Al-Bhed thus of course questionable. Her robot of evil dementions cannot speak so it is out... Sori might find you worthy of a barbecue for even suggesting that he would not know the answer. Or he would find you stupid and irritable and cause pain for sheer fun. I learn of a Chocobo but he cannot speak but in chirps. Fredric might tell you if he not afraid of you crushing him. Though of course none of you are fat, but quite pleasant to look upon. At least you were if not frowning at me in a most grievous fashion. Anyway I request the aid of the healer among you as I find myself feeling odd.”


980/24

[ChobiChibi]

Shayna Xanthrope

After a few hours sleep, being drugged up on potions, a nice warm bath and a Chocobo companion, Shay was beginning to feel better. Fredric had been told to take Rusty from her room, but he refused to leave, causing many unfortunate injuries to Fredric. He could hear him cursing and swearing away he tended to their needs, but didn't have the strength to laugh.

She was wide awake now though, the pain from before now numbed into a dull ache, even where she'd got hit in the head. I can't just lay here any more... She thought, watching Fredric potter around as Rusty slept in the corner of the room.

It didn't help matters that she couldn't exactly remember that much from the battle... Yes, she remembered running from the Behemoth with Selene, jumping in the water to get her shuriken back... Attacking the Behemoth from under the water... After that, blank. Oh! And something about a broken snout...

Anyway, she had the desire to go and find Selene. Mostly to make sure that she was alright, but otherwise to find out what had happened. So she waited until Fredric was conveniently distracted before quietly slipping out of bed, tip-toeing across her room and out the door. She was bare foot, so that made it easier, but she was only in her PJs: a plain white strap top with lilac short-shorts. She couldn't remember getting in them, and for some strange reason she hoped it was Fredric that did it... Something about him just screamed asexuality...

So she wandered down the corridor, only really passing Kumas, who flashed his lights at her in acknowledgement of her presence. Of course, as she turned the corner to Selene's room, she spotted Temzi outside, so she retraced her steps and decided to take a different route.

Sneaking through Adair's room was easy. There he was, zonked out on the bed, this massive cut across his forehead. It looked like it was healing though, so maybe someone had helped him out.

It was time for Ninja Skills. Shay climbed out his already open window, shimmied along a conveniently placed window ledge, opened Selene's window and let herself in, careful to shut the window afterwards. Leaving a trace of her sneakiness was not an option; she could blame Temzi for letting her in later.

Finding the Judge to be absent, she sat herself down on the bed. My Yevon, it was comfy! She could see now why Selene wanted to take this room from Sirius now...

She's not a bad thief after all... She smiled to herself, crossing her legs and waiting.

Shayna wasn't really expecting what happened next. Selene appeared from the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around her, her hair still soaking wet. Shay tilted her head to one side, a little smirk replacing her smile. Sirius is gonna be so jealous when he finds out about this...

It took a while for Selene to realise Shay was in the room, just sat there, silently watching. She practically jumped out of her skin, readjusting the towel and pulling it tigher. “Shay! How long have you been here?”

There was a naughty little twinkle in the girl's eyes. “Not long enough.”

There was a moment of silence whilst Selene contemplated this comment. It was hard to tell what exactly she meant and how to take it... She didn't get much time to think it over, because Shay started talking again.

“I came to see if you were okay...” She explained, fiddling with the corner of the bed sheets. “I don't really remember much... Something smacked me in the back of the head at some point, I know, cos it bloody hurt...”

Selene just frowned. “Turn around.”

Shay blinked. “Huh? Why?”

“Just do it!”

“Oooh! I see!” She rolled her eyes, facing the other direction. “Come on Selene, I'm a girl too.”

“Your comment worried me.”

“I was joking! Yeesh!” Shay chuckled. “Anyway, you still haven't answered my question. Are you alright?”

“I'm fine... Just tired. I've never wanted a shower so badly in my life...” Selene replied. She was getting changed into her PJs too, a silky nightie. It was pretty, Shay would find out. “You can turn around now.”

She couldn't be bothered, and this bed was just so damn comfy that she just decided to flop backwards, laying across it, only just being able to see Selene if she looked up. “So did the Behemoth die in a spectacular fashion? I assume it died, I can't imagine that we'd outrun it.”

She could just about see her moving towards the bed, but she didn't reply, so Shay decided to keep talking.

“I saw Adair earlier, he didn't look too good... Temzi looked alright though, but his armour looked like it was rusting around the edges... Did he go under too? I can't imagine him doing well with such heavy armour...”

Again, silence. It made Shay feel uneasy, so she talked some more.

“Rusty's been beating up Fredric, it's so funny...” She stopped, a shadow overcasting her. Water dripped from her friend's hair, splashing onto her, making her Pjs go a little see-through. “Selene?”

Her hand reached down, picking up the little pendant that was hanging around her neck. Shay blinked, confused for a moment, before Selene finally spoke.

“... Where did you get this?”

Shayna's eyes widened. “Oh shit...”

Never before had anyone witnessed the thief move so fast. She scrambled to the headboard of the bed, quickly unclasping the necklace and holding it out in front of her, like some sort of peace offering. It gleamed when it caught the light, the silver polished to perfection. One side has some sort of crest on it, the other the initials A.B.D engraved in fancy letters...

“I swear to Yevon and on my sister's life that if I knew this was yours, I would have never touched it, not even with the longest barge pole ever in existence.” The red handed thief babbled, unable to stop her motor mouth. “And I intended to give it back! I swear! That's why I have it right now! So I don't loose it! Loosing it would be worse than not giving it back, right?” She took a moment to catch her breath, scared to look her friend in the eye. “Oh my god, you're gonna kill me...”

Uh oh! 19, 1088.

[classy_cat18]

Sori – Moogle Time Mage
If I could talk to the animals…

Somehow my maneuvers to stay alive took me next to the Chocobo. Fatigue was starting to settle in so I could only fly short distances before having to land somewhere and rest. And now I was resting on the top of the Chocobo’s head, wondering how it had survived this ordeal and why it was carrying Shayna’s stuff. “Kweh!” it squawked when I got too close to it.

“I just need to rest. Can’t I rest on your back?” I moaned. It responded by snapping at me, homing in on my pompom. “Alright alright! How about your head?” It didn’t protest when I carefully sat on its head.

I groaned and scratched my head. I had dealt with Chocobos before; my hometown had wild ones around and my dad was a Chocobo Knight. Of course he also had his own Chocobo.

I shuddered. Oh man, I remembered Chobie. That stuck-up Chocobo stud. He had feathers that would make the females swoon, but he could be infuriating.

And he could stomp like nobody’s business.

And let’s not forget his lightning-fast pecks.

My pompom was at stake every day those days.

“Chobie, you bastard,” I growled.

“Kweh!”

“I’m not talking about you,” I said to the Chocobo even though I couldn’t understand him.

“Kweh!”

“What are you doing with Shay’s stuff anyway?”

“RAWRRRRRR!”

I jumped at the sound of the Behemoth’s roar. “What the hell is wrong with that thing? Sounds like it’s in pain.” The water around it churned violently. Moments later, Shay’s head popped up, gasping for air.

“KWEH!” the Chocobo squawked. It threw me off with a flick of his head and started to run for her.

I panicked and pulled back on its reins. “Whoa! You can’t! It’s not safe!”

“KWEH!”

“I don’t know what you just said but I do not like that tone!” I gasped as Shay started to get carried along by a wave. This only made the Chocobo panic even more. I pulled a trick that Dad would do but usually didn’t work for me.

“I’ll give you grain if you behave!” I said brightly.

“KWEH!” it squawked angrily before snapping at me again.

It didn’t work that time either. I kept dodging his strikes until I caught something else. “Look, Nii’s getting Shay! She’s saved! Do you see her being saved?”

“Kweh?” He cocked his head as he viewed the Al Bhed swimming to carry the ninja ashore. “KWEH!” he squawked happily.

“Yeah, I’m glad too.” We watched as Nii and Shayna talked with Selene and Sirius before Kumas carried Shay towards us. The Chocobo squawked happily again and ran towards its new friend, dragging me along.

“You can swim?” I asked Nii with slight disbelief.

“Of course Nii can swim. Nii lives on an island. It’s the middle of the island, but still an island.” Kumas nodded and set down Shay next to the Chocobo.

“RUSTY!” Shay squealed with glee as she sprang up and hugged the Chocobo’s neck.

“Rusty? What is he, your pet?”

“Yeah.”

“…Oh.”

516 words. 21 Sori posts.

Niosa Tiera – Al Bhed Gunner
Vamping up

“They’ve been under there too long,” I muttered. I moved to get back in the water but was harshly pulled back by Kumas. “What are you doing? Nii wants to help!”

“Hey, they’re coming back up!” Sori said while pointing at the rising figures.

The three of them resurfaced. “Thank goodness. They’re alive.”

“Unfortunately, so is our captain,” Sori grumbled while pointing at Sirius.

“Do you really want that bad karma to come back to you?” I questioned with an edge in his voice.

“Karma my ass. Whatever happens, happens.”

The beast was thrashing around in the water with one of its legs missing, making it a good distraction that we took advantage of by taking a breather. “Nii is surprised that it hasn’t noticed our moment of vulnerability,” I commented.

“Shut up!” Sori snapped. “You’ll jynx us!”

Unluckily, that’s when the Behemoth got over its pain and noticed that we were in one nice little group. Easy pickings. “Nice going,” the Moogle grumbled.

RAAAAWR!

“Not good!” I shouted.

“Everyone scatter!” Lyra commanded. Everyone did what she said.

Kumas, however, stayed put. The Behemoth swung his remaining limbs around at the others, but I was stuck trying to get the machina to move. “Are you malfunctioning? Does Nii have to fix you?” I grunted.

“Must… fight…”

I gasped and froze for a second. “We are fighting.”

“Must… protect… Niosa.”

“Kumas. It’s like last time.”

“Kumas, where are you going? You must stay on the ship.”

“Negative.” He stared at the open hatch after Sori was let out, waiting for it to start closing before running for it. I grabbed at his arm but was surprisingly shoved back. I could only hang onto the ship and yell at him.

“KUMAS! GET BACK UP HERE! THAT IS AN ORDER!”

I clenched my fists. “You wanted to fight, and you wanted to protect Nii, but you didn’t want to get Nii involved. This must go against your programming.”

“Pro…gramming? This does not… go against… programming.”

I looked at him with widened eyes. “You’ve been going against Nii’s orders—“

“That… does not… go against… programming.” His markings started to glow furiously.

Then what were you programmed to do, if not to follow orders?

The Behemoth noticed that we hadn’t run like the little vermin that it saw us as, and opened its mouth for an energy attack.

Kumas and I still stayed where we were. I was shocked that he was talking so much. “I was… programmed… to protect. Programming… will adapt… to situation.”

The Behemoth released its attack.

My feet were swept out from me as Kumas picked me up and jumped out the way. I looked down at my arms, at my glowing tattoos. “Glowing?”

“Need more power,” Kumas told me after setting me back down.

I nodded. “Ehedeyda Overdrive. lrynka.”

Kumas’s entire body glowed like his markings. For some reason it felt like we were synced so I knew exactly what to do. I handed Kumas my rifle. “Yes vun Behemoth.”

He raised the rifle with both hands and aimed right for the Behemoth’s snout. “Hu, yes vun dra aoa.”

The Behemoth swiveled his head to look at us again, seeing the energy that was emanating from Kumas and his gun. Kumas moved the gun and kept it steady. “Target locked.”

“Vena! Fatal Beam!”

A large blast was released from the rifle, seemingly curving to keep on course with its target. It fried the creature’s other eye, sending it into another wave of pain and rage.

“Target hit.” He tossed the rifle back to me.

I caught it and smirked. “Kuut fung.”

608 words. 19 Nii posts.

[VirtualPlay]

Kaida Liena - Al Bhed Gunner
Slowly regaining consciousness…
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The first thing I noticed as my consciousness returned was that I was in pain, specifically my head. The second thing was that my feet were soaking wet. I put a hand to my head, but there was fortunately no blood, only a bruise. I'm sure the Moogle casting Slow had saved my life, but a non-Slowed rock had decided to connect with my head not long after and claimed my consciousness for…well, hopefully only a few minutes.

"Owww…" I moaned, finally finding my voice. A loud bellowing told me the Behemoth had found his as well. I looked over and saw that the monster's tail had just been severed. "Well, we're getting it down," I said, getting shakily to my feet. I had somehow ended up on the other side of the river from where I had started. I started walking along the edge of the river, pulling out my guns and preparing to actually fight again.

I looked straight at the Behemoth with its single eye and decided to take that little vision away from him. I flicked the switch on my guns and cast my Blindshot into it, but before I could fire, my target was taken away from me. By which I mean, a giant blast destroyed the Behemoth's other eye. "Well phoo…" I muttered, clearing the shot and switching my guns back to being loaded.

Despite its lack of eyes, I knew that was still the best target. I held my guns out, then carefully Aimed at both eye holes. I waited, feeling my arms grow more and more steady, then released a huge barrage of bullets in rapid succession. I relaxed as the bullets flew true, lodging into the spaces that used to contain the Behemoth's eyes. I even noticed that a few actually flew out the other side.

Another roar shook the ground as I made my way over to where everyone else was starting to congregate. Most of them were looking quite exhausted, and just about everyone was soaking wet. "Okay, now that he's blind, tailless, and in a lot of pain, can we finally just kill this thing?" I asked.

"I would have to whole-heartedly agree on that…" Sirius said, and he looked particularly exhausted. Heck, he looked like he had single-handedly taken on the Behemoth by himself. "Oh, and you can thank me for the tailless bit…" he added, slumping down again. So my guess had been half-off, he had only taken on the Behemoth's tail.

Another stomp shook the ground as the Behemoth bellowed in pain. "Well, at least it's somewhat incapacitated…" the Moogle said.

"Figures, nobody thanks me…" Sirius interjected.

"…but it being incapacitated isn't the same as it being dead." He turned to Judge Luna, "Selene, what are we going to do?"

"Why does everyone turn to me for what to do?!" she cried out suddenly, and about half the people actually responded, mostly along the lines of her being the one in charge. She threw up her hands in exasperation, "What if I don't know how to kill this freaking thing?! Then what?!"

Silence. I couldn't tell whether it was because people were shocked at her outburst, or whether they were thinking of what to do.

"Well, he's obviously not invincible," I commented. "We've already cut off his tail," (Sirius interjected with an indignant, "I did…") "Maybe if we detach his head next…"

"Great plan," Lyra said snidely, "and just HOW are we going to get up there?"

"Well if you have a better plan, I'd LOVE to hear it!" I shouted back at her, and I relished a little in the fact that she had nothing to say in response.

Unfortunately the Behemoth had something to say, a loud roar to be exact, and our loud argument seemed to have attracted his attention. He was now slowly stomping his way over towards us, cutting our planning time really short.

-=-=-=-=- 655 / 06 -=-=-=-=-

[ChobiChibi]

Rusty and Shay

Rusty was surprised that the girl with the red hair had even managed to stand up, let alone cuddle his neck. He supposed that perhaps she was just that happy to see him. She looked exhausted though and her grip around his neck was loosening.

“Kweh...” He squawked quietly, nudging the girl with his wing.

“No Rusty... I'm not going to... play fetch with you...” She said slowly. Rusty frowned. Why would she say such a thing?

He felt her grip falter, so he lowered her gently to the ground. She laid there, her eyes closed as she shivered. He was only a Chocobo, there was only so much he could do for the girl, but the roaring of the Behemoth made him feel even more uneasy. He did not doubt that her friends would come and help, particularly the kind blonde lady that had freed him before, but could he risk it?

Laying down next to her, he nudged her with his beak. “Kweh!” He said in an attempt to wake her.

“Lyra, leave me alooooone...” She mumbled, opening her eyes. “Oh, Rusty! Hello! Where have you been?”

Who was this Lyra person? He had no idea. He sighed, grabbing her top and pulling her towards him.

“Oh, I get it! I'll sit on you.” She nodded in confirmation, somehow getting on her hands and knees and hauling herself onto his back.

“KWEH!” He yelped. He wasn't expecting her to literally just flop there. Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck again and her head rested against it.

“You make a comfy bed.” She told him, snuggling into his feathers. She seemed to stop shivering, which was a plus, but she didn't seem to want to snap out of this little hazy exhaustion any time soon...

Rusty got back onto his feet, being accidentally prodded by one of the weird pointy stars attached to the girl's back. He heard her mutter something about a machina and how it was clever to have picked them up for her. She began to try and say something else, but soft snores cut her off. He was getting ready to run when he spotted his other owner, the pretty blonde one, arguing with some other humes, the moogle that had irritated him before, a bunny and a fuzzy armoured man. He needed to save her too...

He studied the Behemoth carefully. He had an understanding of this creature. For one, he had quite enjoyed kicking it in the face earlier... But otherwise, he noticed that it could no longer see. Therefore, the only reason it was going towards the group of people was because he could hear them...

The Chocobo started running along the riverside, away from the battle. He had a very cunning plan.

“KWEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!” Rusty screamed, flapping his wings as much as possible without disturbing or dropping the sleeping girl. “KWEEEEEEH! KWEEEEH KWEEEEH KWEEEEH!”

“Sssssh... It's okay Rusty, the moogles won't hurt you... Peck them with your pecking nose...”

“KWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!”

Stomp... Stomp... Yes! It was working! Rusty's beautifully loud squawking completely drowned out the shouts coming from the river and the Behemoth was attempting to follow him.

From what he could see, it looked like his blonde owner was attempting to organise some kind of final attack. So he needed to keep the beast at a distance far enough away that they wouldn't get hurt, but close enough that they could attack. He smiled to himself; he would surely be rewarded for this later.

He gently jogged towards the rest of the group again, stopping at a reasonable distance away.

“KWEH! KWEH KWEH KWEEEH!”

Sure enough, the monster turned to track the noise. Rusty waited patiently, the clever little Chocobo that he was, for the next time he would have to move. He hoped, for all of their sakes, that it would be over soon and that they could go to wherever they were going.

670 words, 18 posts (Of course this counts, she had a very large part in this *cough*)

[Crystal Tears]

Selene Solidor

She was much too tired to think of some brilliant strategy. This monster seemed to have limitless energy, and the only reason they weren’t dead yet was due to horseshoes up the ass and a squawking chocobo. People were still turning to her for help, looking towards her for some plan that would save their hides and allow them to come home. Judge Luna wasn’t known for shining examples of Ivalician tactics, but surprise. Plans that made both soldiers on either side stare in awe as the plan worked.

Now she needed a good plan. They were counting on her.

Selene bit her lip and looked up, eyes focusing on an overhanging piece of concrete that had refused to fall while most of around it had. She glared at it, and suddenly it clicked. Everything made sense and she smirked, reloading her pistol.

“Lyra, Kaida and Nii,” She looked back at them. “You’re with me.”

“Yes ma’am.” Came the sound reply from Kaida.

“As you wish,” Lyra saluted, while Nii just nodded and held her rifle closer.

“What about the rest of us?” Sori crossed his arms, obviously displeased with the idea he was being left behind.

“Be thankful you get to rest.” Selene shot back, as Nii, Lyra and Kaida hurried ahead, getting into position. “And Temzi…”

The Dragoon stood up straight and looked at her, unwavering. “Yes Lady Luna?”

“Get ready to jump.”

He bowed his head, “I shall be ready.”


The Behemoth was quickly learning how to play this game of bloody marko polo. It was getting closer to Rusty and Shay each time, its ears twitching and following the sounds of the bird bouncing back and forth before it even begun to call. The group of gunners stood off to the side, the crumpled, destroyed tank they had so fondly captured and used lay behind them, smoking.

“Aim at the overhanging concrete.” Selene ordered, actually for once, sounding as if she was in complete control. Quickly they raised their guns and took aim. “Use any abilities or tricks you have, it’s not going to come down
easy.”
“Nii wonders why we are shooting at the concrete and not the creature..”

“She’s going to bring the concrete down on its head…” Lyra smirked and looked over at Selene. “Isn’t that right?”

“Indeed…” Selene smirked, waiting a second longer. “Fire!”

A barrage of bullets flew forth from the group, slamming into the slab overhead. Slowly the crack began to grow, and chunks of rock began to tumble down onto the Behemoth. It looked up curiously, sniffing the air as it couldn’t actually see the weakening bridge above it. Snorting it turned back to the squawking bird, roaring defiantly as it stomped its feet and rushed forward, ramming the pile of rubble Rusty and Shayna were hoping around on.

There was a massive dust cloud as everything gave way and tumbled down into the water. Selene’s eyes widened, as the dust settled the creature remained but there was no sign of Rusty. Her arm lowered, eyes scanning desperately for any sign of Shay. She then heard the shrieking cry of the chocobo, madly bouncing around on a pile while calling out.

‘Shay…’ Selene thought, looking helplessly at the pile across from her. “Shay!” She broke the formation, hopping rather nimbly across the pile towards the angry monster and the bird.

But the plan paid off, the bullets and spells broke through the stone and metal, it didn’t really make a noise as it fell. At least, Selene didn’t really hear it; she could see debris and massive pieces of the slab splashing into the water, hell they were falling around her. She ducked, narrowly dodging a portion before leaping onto the jagged edge of the new rubble wall.

The slab slammed into the creature’s back, causing the Behemoth to crash down into the river. The resulting wave forced Selene up against a rough piece of rock, grazing her arms and cheek. Pushing off of it she faltered, looking over as the trusty Dragoon came down on the Behemoth’s head, spear piercing through its skull and slinking easily into what it called a brain.

The creature involuntarily twitched and moaned. Eye’s going a bright, angry white before pyreflies began to pour out of them.

It was dead, the Behemoth had fallen.

Selene didn’t care; she was over by Rusty, throwing rocks into the water as she dug for Shay.

She stopped only when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she swung around, ready to tell whoever it was to back off or help. She managed to stop her tongue from flicking out an insult when she saw Sirius.

“Need help milady?”

Selene blinked, and moved over almost instinctively. Together more chunks and rocks went flying into the depths as people recovered. She could hear others coming, just barely though, she was far too focused on her goal.

“Shay?” She cried, hastily tossing another twisted metal piece behind her. “Shay!?”

“Little ship thief, are you in there?” Sirius questioned.

There was a low groan and Selene felt herself smiling. “Shay?”

“Urgh… S-Selene?”

She smiled. “Thank Venat you’re alright!”

“Uh… Y-yeah I am…”

“You don’t sound too sure miss,” Sirius frowned. “Are you positive?”

“Oh, uh… H-hi Sirius… Um… Selene?”

“Yeah?”

“Who turned out the lights?”

The people who Selene hadn’t even noticed had gathered smiled, all of them laughing. Selene stood up, her body shaking from exhaustion as Lyra took her place digging.

“We’ll have you out in a minute Shay, don’t worry…”

“Is Rusty okay?”

Selene slumped to the ground, looking lazily up at the bird that was standing beside her, cooing softly. “Yeah Shay, he’s fine.”

Coming over the horizon was a very familiar airship; it rocked in the air as it slowed to a hover, moving lower, it made the water tremble and dance in its wake.

“Oi! I finally get the luxurious lady ready to lavishly lacerate and you’ve KILLED the bloody burgundy bastard?!” Adair’s voice boomed out of the speaker system and made Selene twitched as her headache came screaming back. “Ah well, saved me the trouble of trying to save your lives. All aboard would-be winsome warriors, sleep be your next companion…” Selene could hear his grin, “Depending on a certain lady’s will.”

Selene groaned and just collapsed back as the Captain came to join her, sitting down next to her. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “My darling, you look exhausted.”

“I would say horrid.”

“Oh but, you could never look horrid Selene, especially now. As tired as you appear, you are soaking wet. A most delightful detail, don’t you agree?”

She was much too tired to argue with the man. “Hm..”

“Sad fact you scratched your cheek though,” He touched her cheek gently, but she did manage to find the strength to swat him away. “I see; you’ll mend that on your own hm?”

Selene nodded, sitting up slowly and looking behind her to see Kaida lifting Shay out of the concrete cave she had been trapped in. The judge sighed as the Wolfstar’s ramp lowered, she found herself unable to get up.

“… Temzi!” She called helplessly, causing the Dragoon to rush to her side.

“Yes milady?”

“Carry me to my room, I can’t move.”

“Of course!”

“Your room…” Sirius smirked before he blinked and remembered. “Hey! Wait just a moment my armoured friend! That room is MINE!”

Selene snickered, she wanted a shower, and sleep. Definitely sleep…

Before she even reached her (once Sirius’s) room, she passed out.

* * 1260 / 38 * *

ITS DEAD! IT ONLY TOOK FOREVER!!! CHAPTER TWO is officially over! Congrats to everyone! I’ll update the lounge topic probably Sunday or Monday, I have a busy weekend! Take your time and rest, any personal plots or char development… NOW IS THE TIME!

[classy_cat18]

Niosa Tiera – Al Bhed Gunner

It had been a while since we boarded the Wolfstar. For once I ignored everyone and went straight to my quarters. There was nothing for me to do at the moment anyway. Kumas, however, decided to roam the ship for a while.

I stared at the ceiling while lying on my bed. Everything was so quiet, even with the addition of crew members. But the quiet only made my thoughts louder. Kumas has gained an independent personality, if I can call it a personality. Why would he roam anyway? Is he checking to make sure everything’s safe? Could I ask him that when he gets back?

I lifted a hand to take off my goggles, surprised when I found them already around my neck. “What?” I slipped off Adair’s sunglasses. “That’s right. He gave them to Nii. Nii needs to return them. But Nii doesn’t want to disturb him right now.”

It didn’t take long to start drifting off to sleep, but the sound of clanging footsteps put me back on alert. Kumas came back in the room and stood in his usual spot. “Nii was wondering where you went,” I said to the machina.

Kumas turned his head to me. “Patrol.”

I blinked twice. That was a straight answer, but it had a strange edge to it. “Oh. That’s what Nii thought. Is everything okay?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” I fingered the sunglasses and got up. Machina weren’t really good for conversation, and I needed to relax. Fortunately I had memorized all of Adair’s hiding places for his secret stash.

“Where are you going?"

My whole body froze a few inches short of the doorway. Why did I feel tense? It was like I was being questioned by my older brother when I got in trouble. And I couldn’t turn around to face him because I was afraid that Ariosa would be there instead. “Nii wants rum. Adair got her back on the stuff.”

“You become adversely affected when drinking it.”

“Nii won’t drink much.”

He didn’t reply, so I took it as permission. But I could almost feel his glowing eyes on the back of my head as I left. There was a good bottle just down the hall…

Lyra’s room.

“Tysh,” I hissed. It had to have been in the room of that…that…

Stiff bitch.

The door was slightly open, and there didn’t seem to be anyone in the room. I could be in and out within seconds, and no one would know. So I slipped in, found the bottle in a box under the bed, and turned around to leave.

“What do you want?”

I stepped back from Lyra’s intimidating glare, the bottle of rum behind my back. Just keep your mouth shut, just walk past her…

“Hudrehk,” I finally answered, cursing myself for my habit of slipping into Al Bhed when threatened.

Her eyes narrowed. “What is that behind your back?”

Crap. She thought I was stealing! “Rum,” I told her as I brought out the bottle.

“This is my room,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Nii is aware of that, but she needed to retrieve this.” We slowly circled each other, not turning our back to the other. “Nii will leave now.”

“I find it hard to believe that you left that in my room.”

“You think Nii used this as an excuse to snoop.” I sighed heavily. “Nii has no interest in your things.”

“And what about your machina?”

“What about him?”

“It was roaming the halls earlier.”

“Patrol.”

“…I see.”

I groaned and took a swig of the rum. “Kumas is not a hostile machina. If he said he was patrolling, then he was patrolling.”

“It said—“

“Don’t hurt your brain trying to think about it.” With that I left without waiting for her response.

637 words. 20 Nii posts.

[Pichu Luver]

Adair Stroud

Adair was... well he didn't rightly know where he was, but it was a nice sort of place. He was standing in a giant field, with grass nearly as long as the width of his hand. Everything was a brilliant emerald green and covered with tiny sweet smelling flowers of very hue imaginable. Trees dotted the landscape and a thin creek bubbled somewhere nearby. Admittedly he did not have any alcoholic beverage on hand but it didn't seem to matter wherever he was. It was quite peaceful and he decided that over there by that copse of trees he would flop.

Collapsing to the ground without any grace, dignity or any other forms of movement women worried themselves silly over, Adair closed his eyes and was at peace. All his worries had been washed away and here, with these lovely smells and absence of anyone to bother him, was a decidedly grand place to be. His mind for once was not fuzzy with rum and he simply relished being. He had a goodly while of silence before...

“It'z a beautiful day in dis neighbourhood, a beautiful day for a neighbour... Would you bein miiiine? Could you bein miiiine?”

“Mog. Why your voice is quite lovely—as I have stated on innumerable occasions—I am not currently of the sort of mental state to hear it. If I had happened to be drunk and jubilantly jovial I would be up to all grand singing contests. Alas, my mood is of ho-hum and ladi-da.”

That Mog had randomly appeared out of nowhere did not concern Adair. Here, wherever he was, all thing were indeed possible.

“But'n you must sing. For I'ma thinkin she'd bein mighty irritated if ya didn't.”

Adair sighed a sigh of solemn sadness that his satisfactory siesta had been stopped. He sat up and slowly open his yes, not particularly keen on this conversation.

“Who my dea—“

If it wasn't for the fact Adair was so sleepy he might of screamed or reacted with fair bit more energy then to simply blink. For right in front of him was a silver Chocobo. However, this Chocobo seemed to be made of steel. His feathers squeaking slightly as they brushed each other. It's head, chest and along its sides were covered in a overlapping armour that moved fluidly with the bird. It's beak was wicked sharp and it's eyes glowed a baleful red at him.

All in all quite out of place in a giant peaceful field.

“Mog? Did you say something about singing?” Turning Adair could no longer find Mog, he had disappeared. Now perturbed, Adair got to his feet, looking all about him. Fortunately the deadly Chocobo did not seem inclined to do anything as he searched. Seeing as how the land was so flat he could see Mog fly away for a week, there was not much of anywhere he could go.

“Mog?! MOG!”

The bird started to chuckle. A very strangle chuckle it was too; combining a male and female voice. One was Selene's. The other caused him to choke. Adair whirled to face it, rigid with anger and no little fear.

“Where. IS. He?”

The bird said nothing, merely cocked it's head and smiled slightly. Adair felt rooted to the ground like the tree next to him. One side screamed at him to run, the other wanted to throttle a bird made of knives.

“He's... safe. They always are.”

A gentle breeze tickled his nose, smelling like his childhood home. Vague images of arms holding him tight, promising to always keep him safe, flitted across his vision.

“... I'm... a problem.”

It nodded, satisfied he understood. “Yes. You are.”

“I can't give you what you want.”

Lifting one of its feet, it peered at it's claws, as if admiring their sharpness. “Can't you? For him?”

Terror flitted through his soul. Quietly he answered, sinking to his knees, “I can't... I can't. It's... please. You'll find me. You always find me. It's so easy for you.”

“Hmm.” It pondered, considering his plea and placed its foot back on the ground. It began tearing up chunks of the meadow. “I'm afraid that is an unsatisfactory answer. You always do manage to get away.”

It was then Mog reappeared. Torn, ragged and in general very much abused. Tears leaked out from the corner of his eyes, mouth gagged as he stared at Adair. He was just lying on the grass, hands tied, but not his feet. He could run, should run, but he wouldn't. Not without it's permission.

It raised its head in a haughty expression, placing a claw under Mog's chin. “You're sure?”

“Don't... Don't. DON'T!” Adair launched himself to his feet and sprinted at the Chocobo. “YOU YEVON DAMNED BASTARD! LET HER GO!!!”

Just before he reached the pair a giant chasm opened at his feet and he tumbled into the abyss. As he fell he rolled over to face upwards, and watched as they dissolved into a battered older woman at the foot of someone dressed all in metal.

After falling for a indeterminable length of time he slammed into a metal floor. Groaning he got to his feet, slightly wobbly. Looking around he decided he didn't like this place too much. Looked sort of seedy. It was very hard to see through all the gray-brown haze floating about. Not to mention it was a rather dark place with little sunlight. There was pryeflies floating into and out of his field of vision as well. That never boded well for a happy place. What he could see was lots of metal pieces and glowing... things through the fog.

“Good day to you, deary digs of dreamland. Do friendly fascinating fiends await? Or hideously horrifying heathens?”

Nothing answered him.

“Alas you seem a soft-spoken sort.”

Still nothing.

Shrugging, Adair decided to meander. As in the way of dreams he didn't much remember or care about what had happened before. He was here and here was odd, deserving a bit of investigation. Not that he cared for such things, but it was better then standing there being creeped and waiting for doom to descend.

As he fumbled about in his not quite straight, not quite sideways fashion he accidentally kicked a musical stone. Puzzled, he kneeled and tried to pick up the long thin rock, finding it attached to a string. When he flicked it, it made a sound.

“Hmm...” He brushed the dirt around the rock and found others who made musical sounds as well. Only they were all different notes. Grinning, he sat down and decided to play a jaunty tune. Though, with a limited umber of musical stones at his disposal, the song was not quite filled out.

As he was tapping away, two yellow orbs of light flickered into life. A low tone rumbled through the space, shaking the dust into the air. Adair scrambled to his feet and was immediately in tranced by those eyes. A deep resounding chuckle filled the area and Adair rapidly backpedaled, opening his mouth to scream...

~~~

“IT'S GUNNA EAT ME!!!”

Adair jolted awake, finding himself in an upright position, drenched in sweat, eyes gritty, and overall feeling like shit. He wiped his face with his hand, feeling dried blood on his forehead. He groaned and fell back against the pillows. He felt exhausted, even though he'd slept since being zonked out by the healer fairly early on in the evening yesterday. His head was also irritatingly clear.

“Drink, shower and breakfast,” he grumbled and lurched out of bed. He glanced at his clock across his fairly messy room (clothes were everywhere but other wise it was alright as it oddly didn't smell like a drunks room). It glowed 6:00am at him.

“As much as I dislike your habits, for dis I will make an exemption.”

Adair turned and had never been so grateful to see Mog, sitting pretty on his bean-bag chair. He was also holding a bottle of rum, frowning at him.

“You waz moaning a lot last night. Some'in shoutin too.”

He grabbed the bottle and downed a quarter of it before passing it back. “Nightmares. Of a most unlikable sort that did not spell out restful in any language. No matter a healers orders.”

“Hmm.”

Adair merely rolled his eyes and headed for his bathroom. It was decidedly smaller then Sirius's, did not even feature a bathtub. It was quite good enough for him though(there was an exactly copy in layout across the hall or Sirius probably would have snitched it from him) and he washed up, emerging refreshed and on an even keel. Which was of course very much lopsided to everyone else's vision of normalcy.

He pulled on some clean clothes (a white muscle shirt with a blue plaid over shirt and tan trousers), and grabbing a book on the way out (Mog had disappeared), he tottered to the bridge. No one was there yet, so he just gave everything a cursory glance to check it was fine. The sun was just peeking over the water, colouring both the clouds and waves pink and he paused to admire it a moment. Smiling slightly to himself he wandered to the common lounge.

It was a small area centrally placed on the ship. It held the kitchen and a large table (nailed to floor along with the benches). A couple couches, coffee table, and a large comfy chair were also beside the table (also all nailed to the floor). A skylight let all the light in he needed to gather some food. Mog was there, sitting on a couch reading some sort of news. Adair cooked himself up some scrambled eggs, bacon and homefries. Then feeling an impromptu urge to be nice, made a lot of extras and left them next to the stove. Grabbing milk carton he plunked himself sideways on the bench, propped his bare feet up on it and munched away as he read his book. Mog flew over, grabbed a fistful of homefries and a cup of water before going back to his paper.

1710/25

Tags... everybody. Come on in and munch down (its the next day if my post wasn't clear). If anybody's curious he's reading The Veira(Woman) in White. He also in a funny mood, but won't say why other then the Lisette made his head feel funny.

[Crystal Tears]

Selene Solidor
Recovery day.

Selene turned over, slowly emerging from her slumber as his nostrils flared. A scent of sweet food, breakfast, but not one she would ever have in the castle. It reminded her of her jaunts into the lower sections of Archades, where the greasy spoons were hard at work, giving people delicious yet somewhat gross looking plates of food she shouldn’t eat. The princess groaned, cracking an eyeball, she had slept since Sirius helped her into bed last evening. To be honest her spirits were still dampened but damn…

That food smelt good.

With a yawn she sat up and stretched her back, cracking numerous times up her spine. She winced at the last one as she rolled her neck and got up to get dressed.

Her outfit was one of laziness, a loose, oversized dress shirt of Sirius’s, a black bikini top that just showed through the fabric and her shorts. It was far too early to even put effort into looking nice. Selene lazily fixed her hair, thankful for whatever genes she inherited that stopped it from looking horrible in the mornings. She wondered faintly how many of the others could smell that tempting aroma wafting in.

She didn’t wait to find out, she opened the door and found Temzi still at his post.

“Lady Selene,” he bowed his head politely. “Are you feeling better today?”

Her body ached, wrist clicked anytime she used it and her lungs still felt heavy. “Much.” She replied, realizing that it could be much worse.

“Good to hear milady.”

“Temzi, you can stop guarding my door.”

“Yes, if you excuse me, I must change.”

Selene raised an eyebrow as the Guado turned and left, striding off down the hall. Exactly what did it matter if he had to change or not? He always wore that damn armour, no one could see his new clothes or smell his odor even if they tried. With another long yawn Selene stretched and heading into the common area, lazily jumping over the slight edge in the entrance.

The smell of food was so strong, instantly Selene’s stomach quietly grumbled and knotted, threatening to eat itself. Adair glanced up from his book briefly, before going back to it as the princess walked over the coffee pot. She frowned, for the last while she had managed to function without coffee, but since being home and being able to have such a sweet treat in the mornings, she found she was once again addicted to it. Meaning the once grumpy morning Selene was now a demon if you dared to talk to her before she had at least one sip of her almighty addiction.

The smell of freshly brewed coffee filtered in a few minutes later, her mood seemed to lighten even more. She made herself a cup, before glancing at the table. Adair was too busy reading, and the pan with all the food was across the counter. Selene decided the pan was too far, she quickly placed a fork, and two cups of coffee on her plate before walking over to sit next to the pilot.

His feet were in the way.

She coughed, as she put the plate down. Adair looked up at her, and then his feet.

“Oh…” He murmured, sighing as he slipped his feet off and allowed her to sit.

It was then, in a swift movement, Selene stole half of his homefries, and a quarter of his scrambled eggs. He looked up, about to say something perhaps before the woman placed next to his plate a cup of hot, wonderful coffee.

Selene wasn’t much for cooking, but she could make EXCELLENT coffee.

The pilot pondered over the trade.

“Fair.”

Selene shook her head as she plucked a potato off the plate and into her mouth. She happily savored the wonderful taste before looking at him.

“I don’t like bacon.”

“Oh? What would you like then?”

“Sausages.”

Adair gave her a curious look before standing up and moving to the stove part of the area. Selene smiled gratefully and picked up his book, interested slightly in what an always drunk pirate would read. She was mildly surprised it was The Veira in White. A couple of minutes later three sausages were placed on her plate in return for the coffee. He also added some more eggs and homefries back to his plate.

“Thank you.”

His eyes turned wide as he sat down and took a sip of his coffee. “Where did you learn to make coffee like the Aeons?”

She shrugged as she fiddled with a small glowing blue sphere as she munched. With an annoyed slap the contraption began to play a recorded blitz ball game.

“I love coffee; I might as well know how to make it.”

“Yes but Selene, you don’t understand. You posses the divine gift of coffee making.”

“And you for cooking greasy breakfasts.”

“You’re too kind, is that the most recent game?”

She nodded, watching someone almost get knocked out of the ring. “Luca Goers versus Besaid Aurochs, semi-finals.”

“I didn’t picture you one to follow a Spiran sport, I used to play you know, for the Zanarkand Abes.”

Selene smirked, and continued to munch. “One of the few Spiran things that actually interest me... You played?”

“Fun but we never got past the semi-finals, so I gave it up for a life of crime…” Adair grinned.

She gave him a rather odd look, one of disbelief and amazement. She wasn’t sure which related to what fact, if that this drunkard had ever been a blitzball player for the Abes, or that he had once had a legitimate lifestyle.

“You played for the Abes?”

“I went by the name Casanova Franco.”

Selene burst out laughing. “You were the suave, charming young man from Zanarkand?”

“Are you implying I’m OLD?”

“Why no, of course not…” She smirked. “But I see some wrinkles showing.”


He opened his mouth, before shutting it. “I had a comment, but I then realized it would lead to my death.”

“Wise man.”

“Thank you, but… You remember me?”

“Yes.”

“Which is your fondest memory of dear, sweet, captivating, Casanova?”

“The part where you got thrown out of the ring by a Ronso.” She snickered at his expression, one of such mortification.

“It was a Ronso.”

By now she was in hysterics.

“I still recall the fire in that lioness’s eyes as she grabbed me and chucked my poor soul out of the ring…”

“It was hilarious.”

“To you my dear, maybe. I assure you it was not so thrilling on my side of the viewsphere.” Adair was quick to change the subject away from his humiliation in the blitz ring. “Who’s winning?”

“Goers by two…”

“Wonderful, always did like those lads. When they weren’t, you know, trying to kill me.”

“Kill you?”

Before Adair could answer, they both looked over at the door as someone groaned and entered the common room.

* * 1163 / 40 * *

Yes the Zanarkand Abes are back, along with Zanarkand. XDD Before anyone thinks Adair is any more insane then he was before!

TAG SOMEBODY OMG FOOD YUMS *happy*

[Samchu]

Lyra

What happens in darkness and light…

Night

The Al Bhed scurried from my room, her body easily concealing the rum she had taken. I knew she had no interest in my possessions – few that they were – so the interrogation had been a test, a trick to see what I could expect from her. For the moment she was scared with me and with that much I was satisfied. It would be safer in the long run if she was – for me that is.

One by one, I untied the straps of my armour and hung it on the room’s only chair. It felt nice to be out of it; freeing almost. I removed the band that held my hair in a braid and untangled the strands, carefully removing the spiked wire I had tangled into it. Then I fell back onto my bed. It had felt like so long since I had last been able to enjoy a real mattress. So many months spent out over the seas with nothing but a suspended strip of netting to sleep in. You forget comforts like that; even if you don’t realise that you do.

I settled in, eager to escape the madness of the day but I could not. By the workings of the Gods or some unresolved internal weakness, my brain would not allow itself the peace I needed.

“Oh, so when I sneaked into her room, she didn't chuck me out straight away, only because I provoked her. But she didn't invite you, her most loyal guard, in for a little chat.”

There’s too many variables, too many reasons for Selene’s decision for that comment to matter.

“Although, here's the funny thing, I've spent more time with her in the last few weeks than you have...”


Of course she has. They were here together for weeks, they’ve faced almost as many trials side-by-side as Selene and I have faced wars. But…Selene never opens up to anyone. I only just found out she was Vayne’s daughter despite all the years we’ve served together. I don’t know anything about her. Why would Shay know anything? What does she have to say to Selene that could possibly make any difference?

“But you're not as loyal as you seem, are you Lyra?”

I’d have expected Shay to tell her – to tell everyone on this vessel what I did to get here. But why should that matter? Selene knows I’m a Spiran traitor; I was assigned to her command, her Father was the one responsible for my acceptance into the Ivalician army.

“Our family has nothing to do with this...”

“It has everything to do with this.”

Family…

I shot up. “By the backside of Venat…” Selene’s Vayne’s daughter! That makes her Mother Ivalice’s Queen, the woman you were supposed to be guarding the night she was killed. The woman whose killer you failed to capture or even catch a glimpse of. He just waltzed into her room and slaughtered her and where were you? Where the hell were you? I ran, praying to the Gods that I could leave my own thoughts behind me in that room. I found one of the doors to an outside balcony and charged through. I don’t think anyone saw me. It seemed the ship was still fast asleep.

I wandered over to the balcony and gripped the bars. Leaning as far forward as I dared, I stretched towards the heavens. “Are you done yet? Have you had your fill of me? How many more mistakes – how many more hardships do you want to place before me? Why do you insist on pulling me out of death’s hands?”

The wind slapped across me, cold and fierce like a slap of cold water. It spoke whispers into my mind: “Afraid of dying. Begged us, begged us.”

“I’m not that child anymore, I no longer fear death! I would welcome him…if only you would let him come to me…”

“Not for you this life was spared. Not for you do we chain death.”

“Then why! Why keep it from me when I cannot keep it from others?”

“Weakness is not our doing. We preserve pieces. We see the whole that might be; only then do we interfere.”

“What good am I to anyone? I let them all down, all the people I promised to protect I have failed.” There was nothing. “Answer me!”

The wind was fierce. I had to grip the bar before me with all my strength to keep from being forced to the ground. “So much demanded from one so little. Always these mortals seek answers from us, always too scared to walk their own paths. We can’t see it, we can’t see it. Never looking. Always too closed-minded to see.” I felt something touch my face. “Listen then and don’t forget. Your life is tied to the Arcadian princess but your paths can only go so far. Be ready for her decision, be prepared to leave her life.”

“But what about…”

“What the heart chooses we cannot decide. But should Selene decide that you no can longer follow her footsteps, your heart must give up it desires.”

I felt my knees collapse beneath me. I clung to the nearest pole as the harsh, cold wind, swirled around me then disappeared into the night sky.

“When will it end? When will I stop losing the things I’m trying so desperately to hold onto?”

***

Day

I awoke on the balcony, unaware of ever falling asleep. The following evening felt like a glazed dream but still the words I thought I’d heard echoed in my mind. My body felt battered; beaten to the point of limpness and slashed. I stumbled back into the airship.

As I shuffled back towards my room - not knowing why I was going there but unable to follow anything but my instincts – I caught a delicious scent. My stomach twisted beneath my clothes. How long had passed since I’d last eaten? My feet turned me towards the door and with a groan of effort, I stumbled inside.

“My, my, what a stunning and unexpected visitor! And when did you happen aboard this fine vessel?”

I had to blink the cloud from my eyes. “Adair…”

“Ah, the Judge’s Ice Queen. I did not recognise you. Please tell me that you were tempted her by the smell of breakfast and not to persecute me for acquiring Selene’s fine company.”

“Selene?” I hadn’t even known she was in there.

“You look like shit.” She took a sip of what smelt like coffee. “Any deaths I should know of?”

“No deaths, just bad dreams.” I turned back to Adair. “Breakfast?”

“Eggs? Bacon-”

“Everything.”

“A wise choice.”

He was kind enough to make it for me as I grabbed a seat near Selene, who passed me a mug of coffee. “Dreams that bad, huh?”

I nodded. “Blitzball?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Interested?” Adair was holding out a plate to me, which I happily took.

“The pilot here reckons he used to play. Casanova Franco,” she added the name with a smirk.

I frowned at him. “Ah yes. I see it now.”

“Another avid fan? What a fine day this is.” He had a grin on his face that – I hate to admit – I found amusing. “Tell me if you will, your fondest memory of my tenure. And please, don’t tell me it was a humiliating tackle.”

“Tackle? Oh no, it wasn’t a tackle.” I took a cut of egg and washed it down with some of Selene’s delicious coffee. “It was listening to you screaming as my brother stole your favourite money purse.”

“I was not screaming.”

I grinned as I sipped some more coffee. “Perhaps my memory is a little…hazy.”

“Was this the same brother you turned over to the Spiran authorities?”

I was unnerved by Selene’s stare but I had trained enough to hide it. “Different brother.”

“Oh come on!” It was then that we realised that Adair was not following our conversation but the match. It was a blessing, for it seemed to soothe whatever it was that was stirring in Selene.

“Why are you being nice to him?”

“I don’t see the point in making anymore enemies. I have my hands full with Shay and Kaida as it is.”

“What of Sirius?”

“I don’t like him, but that’s my business. He has your interests at heart – or so it seems – and he did save you from the Behemoth. In part that makes me indebted to him; so I’ll play nice. Unless he should give me cause to act otherwise.”

“I expect he will.”

“So do I.”

I took a bite of bacon as Adair celebrated another goal to the Goers. Maybe things won’t be that bad. Maybe I won’t have to lose everything. I shot a quick glimpse at Selene and my stomach lurched at the thought of the conversation I knew would eventually take place. But not yet. It was much too soon for those confessions. Gods I will heed your words but know that I cannot give up on what this heart desires. It has known too much pain to bare anymore loss.


~~~~~~~~~~
Word count: 1,527
Post no. 11
oh! and as Lyra is no longer wearing her uniform I should point out that she's now walking around in a sleeveless tan shirt and a pair of loose, pale grey trousers.

[Weasel Overlord]

Temzi-post coming up. Will probs edit in.

Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn
[Captain and General Ruler of the Wolfstar]
taboo

Sneaking into Selene's room had been, Sirius reflected, a cinch. There was hardly any bloodshed, hardly any kicking him in the shins and certainly hardly any yelling. Although there had been the small matter of his lovely punching him square in the face a few times, but hey, you've gotta make allowances for your beloved. Plus Sirius liked a girl who could take him down like he was a nancy. They made him feel all tingly inside – something that struck him as slightly odd, since he'd spent the majority of his childhood mooning after the maidenly types holed away in towers and lorded over by evil stepsisters or grand viziers and the like.

Selene was a Princess, oh yes there was no doubt about that, but she could also make quite a sizeable hole in a wall, if she chose to. Or his face. So it was lucky really, Sirius thought, that she wasn't exactly in the best state of mind or physical fitness, otherwise he'd be staring down at yet another break in his lovely nosie. Or staring sideways at it, since by then it would no doubt be round by his ear instead of right in front of his face where it should be. Sigh.

But as it happened, he had something rather more important to reflect upon now. And, even better, the most perfect memory that shone in his mind like a jewel. He laid back on his hammock, strung between two large, funny-shaped barrels of rum and stared at the ceiling, hands behind his head. There was a 'this' now. He let out a sigh, certain that he'd never be able to sleep after that kiss. That marvellous, wonderful, long-awaited kiss that hadn't been a reward for saving Selene from something (like you'd give a good doggie) or a bribe or anything like that. It was a proper kiss. A real one. And something that no-one else could know about, or at least, for the time being anyway. He felt almost certain that someone would notice a difference about them – a happy glow or whatever it was meant to be, sappy romantic stuff like that – but he also doubted that Selene would allow that to happen. No, it was best to be on the safe side and pretend that it actually hadn't happened at all. At least in public. In his bunk, well, that was all fine and dandy and what he did with his private time was no-one's business but his own.

He decided, with a moment of clarity, that no sleep would be had by himself that night, and so he swung up and out of the hammock and planted his feet firmly on the floor. There was only one thing for it. Books. Books solved everything – sleepiness, over-active minds – and there had been many an occasion when Sirius hadn't been able to sleep back at home, and he'd made his way to the library and promptly fallen asleep, face first in whatever he'd been reading.

Nights like this made him ever-so-happy that he'd managed to smuggle a load of his books with him onto the Wolfstar right back in the beginning. His own personal library, and completely secret, every inch of it. No ragamuffin crew to ruin his precious books, and no drunkards to spill drinks upon them, and okay, so maybe none of his crew were actually like that, but hey, you can never be too careful. He had a sneaking suspicion that Adair knew exactly where his secret library was located, and occasionally helped himself to a volume from it, but what Sirius didn't know about didn't hurt him, and as long as the books were put back exactly as they were removed, he was perfectly okay with the situation.

He pressed the secret panel on the secret wall and the secret door swung open, secretly, and he stepped inside, closing it behind him with a quiet snick. He inhaled the scent of dry, bookish air and sighed with happiness. A romance story tonight, he thought, and selected one from the multiple oaken shelves. He flopped down on a beanbag, opened the book and began to read.

And then it was morning, and glimmers of bright sunlight were filtering through the gaps in the hull of the ship and Sirius came awake, blinking and groggy, with his face in his book, his arse parked numbly on the floor and his entire body shoulder-deep in beanbag. Rubbing his eyes, he closed the book and put it back on the shelf, and then stretched his muscles out into wakefulness. A smell of breakfast drifted past his nose, and he sniffed appreciatively. His stomach growled a good morning, and he set off at a gentle jog to the ship's kitchen, where, if his nose was any good (and it was) Adair was making breakfast.

He loved Adair's breakfasts. They had a tendency to be greasy, full of meat and to make you thirsty enough to down an entire pot of coffee afterwards.

As he stepped through the door, Sirius noted that quite a few people were at the table already. Selene was sat next to Adair, adroitly stealing bits and bats off his plate as and when she fancied it. Adair was an obvious fixture, and Lyra the shin-kicker was also there – they were all huddling around a Sphere, and Sirius rolled his eyes when he recognised the overly-familiar noises of a Blitzball game.

“Oh no, don't tell me you lot are as mad over that game as my esteemed pilot is?” He sat himself down opposite everyone else, purposefully avoiding the transmission range of the Sphere. Hooking the pan over to his side of the table, he picked up a fork and stabbed some bacon vengefully.

“Don't you like Blitzball?” Selene asked, distractedly. He assumed someone had just scored a goal or something equally dull.

“No. I find it intolerably boring, and a completely unnecessary assault on both my time, my hearing and my intelligence.”

Lyra snorted at the latter, and Sirius glared at her as he poured himself an over-large mug of coffee. “You don't need brains so much as brawn to play Blitzball, as our Adair here could vouch for.”

Adair looked put upon. “Do I look brawny to you, oh Captainy one?” he demanded.

“Not so much brawn in your case, Casanova,” Sirius made a flourishing gesture with his fork. “More... oh, I don't know. Speed, I'd say. If anyone wondered where you got those amazing accelerating feet of yours, no doubt they'd not be surprised to learn that you acquired them in the Sphere.”

“There's no running in Blitzball,” Lyra pointed out.

“No my dear, there is not. But swimming is near as good as running for developing muscles, or so they say. And I hear that it exercises more than just the legs, which could explain away the punishing punch Adair has on him, when he has a mind to it.”

Adair smirked. “There is that,” he said.

“Sirius, shush. I'm trying to watch the game,” Selene said, looking at him pointedly over her coffee cup.

“Your wish is my command, beloved.” Sirius stuffed half a slice of toast in his mouth, and followed it up with two slices of bacon and a large forkful of eggs. “Yumf,” he said, through the mouthful, then winced as Selene glared at him once more. “All right, all right,” he said, swallowing his food. “I'll shut up. What a conversational breakfast table this is,” he muttered to himself. “Camaraderie. It's so nice to see it in action.”

#17 // 1304~

[classy_cat18]

Niosa Tiera – Al Bhed Gunner
Sleep? What’s “sleep”?

“Finally finished!” I held up my finished work up to the light and studied it. “Nii thought she would never get done, but now she can reproduce it much quicker! What do you think, Kumas?”

“The new bullets will make fighting armed units much easier,” Kumas replied.

I grinned widely and looked out the porthole. Funny. The last time I looked back, it was still dark. How did the sun come out so fast? I shook my head and stretched, Adair’s glasses still on my forehead. A good bath and I would be ready for another boring day aboard the Wolfstar.

Kumas followed me out my room to the adjacent bathroom, which was already occupied. A minute barely passed by before the door opened and Sori walked out, in his normal clothes and a towel on his head. “Morning, kupo.”

I waved and left Kumas in the hall, carrying a clean towel and a change of clothes with me. After a long soak and a quick scrub (amazed at how dirty the water got), I climbed out and studied my hair. “Gettting long again,” I grumbled as I took my scissors and cut it back to its usual length. It wasn’t a lot at all, but if I didn’t take care of it now it would’ve been shoulder length before I knew it.

I was paranoid about getting my brother’s hair, still getting nightmares about getting it stuck in the machinery and other things.

When I came out, Sori and Kumas were gone, and I could smell something delicious. “Food!” I said happily and followed the smell. As I got closer, I could hear the sounds of talking as well as a broadcast. I stopped right outside the doorway when I noticed Lyra sitting with the others. She needed to be paid back after the little interrogation she gave me yesterday, plus she was probably under the assumption that I was scared of her. But what?

“MORNING!” I cried out as I jumped out and hugged her from behind, smirking when I successfully made her yelp. “Lyra’s getting lazy! Was Nii too quick for you?”

“Ah! Our resident mechanic has arrived!” Sirius announced loudly. “How strange that your little machina friend actually preceded you.”

I looked over at Kumas. Sori landed on my shoulder. “He followed me down here, so it’s not that strange,” the Moogle told me.

I took Adair’s glasses off my forehead and gave them to the owner. “Thanks,” I told him.

“You’re pretty peppy this morning,” Selene told me as I poured myself some coffee. “You must’ve slept like a log.”

“Nii didn’t sleep!” I exclaimed happily. “Nii was up all night perfecting her new ammo!”

“I should’ve guessed. What kind of ammo is it?”

“Armor piercing. It’s a good change from Nii’s elemental ammo.” The sounds of the broadcast broke through to my ears. “Is that blitzball? Nii used to listen to the Psyches’ games. Nii misses going to them.”

“Can you play?” Shay asked me.

“A little.” I took a bite of my eggs, still standing. “Ariosa used to play when he was younger.”

528 words. 21 Nii posts