Final Fantasy: Darkness Descends

[Crystal Tears]

FINAL FANTASY
Darkness Descends

If only it were so simple,
to cruise through life smelling roses;
but the obstacles blacken the countryside,
and we unwittingly crush them beneath our boots.

Dreams sustain us through the madness;
goals give a finish line to our race.
Yet they change with every turn, around every wall,
and remain elusive throughout the quest.

Mistakes are made, and regrets are our luggage;
we will drag them with us to slow us down.
The victories are flashes of light, sudden and unlasting, which allow us
to glimpse the road ahead before darkness descends.

Love is bitter, yet it is the bread that keeps us.
Over and over it fills us up, only to starve us.
The people whom we love shape our destinies and our strengths,
yet leave us cold and alone in the darkness.

There are others trying to race to the end;
occasionally, we bump into one or two.
The bonds we form help us down the path less lonely
but eventually, we lose each other in the darkness.

Alone is not a bad way to be;
it clears your head and focuses you on the journey.
Cherish the short intervals during the quest you have with others,
but be prepared to walk alone in the darkness.

Long ago, it was said that a Summoner by the name of Yuna banished the creature Sin from this world. The Calm came then; one that was said to be everlasting. Though it only lasted for three years, in reality; until the now High-Summoner Yuna was forced to come to Spira’s rescue once more. But this time, from an undead threat that had long been tormented. It was then that the continent known as Spira and all its people began to get along. Governments formed alliances, and the everlasting Calm did exactly what it was meant to do.
Last seemingly forever.

It has been four hundred long years since Yuna and her Guardians saved our world for a second time. We have continued to live in peace with each other. Every uprising has been peacefully subsided, each near outbreak of war avoided and put to rest. Temples of the ancient Yevonites crumble as we become more advanced, and forget the old ways. It has taken us four hundred years to completely forget the horrors that Sin and the undead Shuyin once brought upon us.

We live on a planet named Gaia, though this is not often mentioned. It is not strange that our continent, though it is vast and supreme, isn’t the only one on our fair Gaia. Across the sea there lies another. Like us, they have been forged into a vast alliance. Ivalice is what they call their lands. Aggressive would be a kind way of expressing their leader’s personality. He sees us only as a nuisance; and honestly, we think of him and his followers as the same.
His name is Vayne Solidor, the Emperor of Ivalice, a continent about the same size as ours. Though he and our leader, the High Maestress Yunalesca (named after the first summoner to defeat Sin) have agreed on peace, everyone can feel the tension. Our warships patrol our borders constantly, and it is even rumoured that war machina have been produced.
I am a firm believer that war has merely been suspended by this treaty, not avoided.

Oh, do forgive my rudeness. My name is Maechen, and I am a scholar. For a very long time, I have recorded the history of Spira both on paper, in spheres, and in my mind. Although at this moment in time, I am not in Spira, and nor am I in Ivalice.

I am on a newly discovered continent that has no real name, for both the Emperor and the High Maestress discovered it at the same time. Both myself, and the settlers from both sides have found this place to have a different feel to it. Magicks of all varieties are here; entwining themselves around each other and those who have newly arrived. At points, the feeling is grand, and powerful. Something to be admired and respected. While other times, in other areas, particularly around the coastal mountains and central forest, it feels horrid and evil.
I fear the darker feeling has been spreading. The creatures all around have become violent, and the mortality rate is rising. People have become aggressive, especially the leaders. Both on the island, and off…

Darkness is descending upon us… I can only hope that High-Summoner Yuna hears my prayers for peace. Before it is too late.

~Maechen

Maechen died two days later in a night raid believed to be carried out by the Ivalice Empire. Emperor Solidor denied any responsibility for the act. That afternoon, the High-Maestress met with the Emperor. It was there that Spiran friendly forces (including the Maestress) were attacked, leaving the Empire relatively unharmed in the action. The war that had been avoided for four hundred years had begun.

As the Warship Auron escaped the Ivalice capital of Archades, the massive and powerful 7th fleet of the Empire made a swift and crippling attack on the New Home City, situated on Bikinel island.

Bevelle, the rival capital of Archades, revealed its new weapons about a week later. Long-ranged missile-Machina were unleashed, flattening the fortress and metropolis of Nalbina. It was believed that Emperor Solidor’s child was visiting Nalbina at the time, prompting this horrendous attack.

Now the war turns to the un-named continent. Rich with resources that could ultimately decide who wins this tragic war, the settlers of this place nervously wait as the horizon becomes thick with the shadows of airships.

DARKNESS DESCENDS

Name: Selene Raminas
Age: 22
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Origin: Ivalice
Appearance: Selene is a rather attractive girl. Her body is slender and built for agility, to complete the ideal bodily look her skin is pale, but a beautiful moonlight pale, without so much as a scratch on it. Her hair is a light blond colour, long, and cut nicely to frame her face while the rest if tied into a loose ponytail with a deep blue ribbon (basically layered). Her eyes are a deep, mystical blue colour that tends to sparkle when she's intrigued or happy. She stands about 5'6'' (so added on >.>).
She wears a dark burgundy tank top with a turtleneck collar with a silver zipper running down the middle. It is always done completely up, and is overlapped with a mainly black vest that appears to be made out of leather. It too, has no sleeves, with a high collar and a v-neck design revealing more of her lovely sweater-ish tank top. The collar that flips over long the lower part of the v-neck is leather-brown, along with the complete inside of the jacket, and the two semi-large pockets with silver zippers. She also wears semi-tight shorts that are relatively... short. Tied around her left thigh is a black leather holster that holds Calypso. Her boots are black, with silver buckles and black straps that come up three quarters on her lower-leg. She has a deep blue cape thrown over her shoulder that bares the Ivalice Crest (Two light-blue meteors like objects twirling around each other until the heads touch just barely at the top), the cape is also clipped on by a brown piece of leather.
All around, Selene is a fairly attractive woman who usually has a slightly curious and confident expression on her face.
Personality: Selene, though she doesn't know it, has two dominant traits from her mother and father. From her mother, is an unwillingness back down, and accept an outcome that doesn't fit her liking; which can also be called stubborn. The trait she inherited from her father is a little less direct. It's the ability to manipulate, be secretive and lie. Selene inherited the dark trait of selfishness. Though she won't openly flaunt it around, as she hides it behind a selfless, positive (yet stubborn) attitude, usually she's looking out for herself.
Weapon Style: Ivalice
Weapon Type: Firearm (Pistol Design)
Weapon: Calypso is a silver coloured pistol with an elongated muzzle. Engraved in blue on the sides is an elegant picture of waves with a demonic looking sea-serpent leaping out and wrapping itself around the beige handle.
History: Preferring to keep her history to herself, Selene states that she’s from Rabanastre, the capital city of Dalmasca. The city itself is dizzyingly large, with buildings that tower over the inhabitants. Selene will talk about how the Seeq, and most of the Bangaa were locked down in the lower city, a show of racism enforced not only be the horrid Imperial guards that line every pathway and door, but by the government itself. Though it bothers her a bit, the Archadian way has rubbed off on the Dalmascan, the sight of another race locked below with little food and clean water really fails to get at her anymore. She wishes to change it, but knows she’ll fail.
She was also at Nalbina three days before the Spiran missile strike. She remembers seeing the smaller 9th fleet of Archadia docked there while they loaded up on supplies. This all more of her recent history, but she loved Nalbina and its culture. Hearing that it had been destroyed makes her boil at the thought of Spira winning this war.
Other: She has deadly accuracy with her gun.


Dear Father,

It has been hard to get word out ever since the destruction of Nalbina Fortress, and I am deeply sorry for that. I wanted to let you know I was alright, and that Seta is alive as well.
Currently we’re on The Silver Zephyr over the unknown continent; I know you warned me never to come to this place… But my curiosity gets the better of me sometimes and I just need to know what’s here. If it’s any consolation, the only Spiran airship we saw quickly left, having minuscule firepower compared to its Ivalican rivals.
Don’t worry father, I can take care of myself and Seta is here to protect me if worse comes to worse.

~ Selene

Selene looked up from the letter with a slight frown. There wasn’t else much to say, nothing that could be conveyed through a letter anyways. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she put the quill down and rested her head in her hands. The woman just wanted to go home, was that really to much to ask? At least home was the next stop, and than she would vow never to leave Ivalice ever again, let alone Archades.

Music from a recording floated into her ears than, she had forgotten she had left it on. It was soothing, calming if a little dark and saddening. Better than no sound at all, that was for sure. Selene stretched, groaning a little as she brought her arms back down and brushed her blond hair from her face.

The woman stood then, turning to scan her room for an enemy that wasn’t there. Ever since this war began everyone’s constant warnings had gotten her a little on edge. At least they would be a little more interesting than nothing at all. Selene took for its holster her pistol and spun it on her finger for a minute as she paced around the room. Eyeing the letter every now and than.

I wonder if he’s worried about me… She mused, stepping towards the desk and scooping up the letter. The parchment was tan, and the link a deep green (almost emerald) instead of the normal black. Selene had always loved the way the emerald green shone in the light while the black just glinted. He’s probably trying to convince mother I’m fine. She always loved to worry and blow things completely out of proportion…

As the dark melody switched to one considerably lighter, there was a dock at the door. Selene blinked, slipping the letter into her pocket and putting her gun away.

“Come in.”

Entering the room was a Viera, a very tall individual Selene smiled a little as he appeared, looking quite disciplined and rigid.

“Seta; right on time.” She smirked, moving the ink and quill so she could lean against the table. He nodded to her respectfully before closing the door. “Tell me, is there some sort of catastrophe we could avert for the captain and his crew?”

He shook his head. “No Miss.”

“Damn it…” Selene cursed under her breathe before looking back at Seta. “Come to guard me against the shadows?”

He blinked, having hear d familiar comments before, he didn’t reply until a moment later. “No Miss.”

“I’m sure you’ll be awarded some sort of medal for ‘greatest conversationalist Seta.” She rolled her eyes.

That was when the lights all over the ship began to flicker. Selene’s expression lit up as this happened, and looked at Seta in a devious manner. It was reason enough to leave the room, and that made the woman extremely happy. She smiled to her bodyguard and headed for the door.

“Come Seta!”

“Yes Miss.”

They were heading for the lift when something very strange happened. The main lighting in the hall shut off, and the red glow of the back-up system was all that illuminated the hallway. Selene figured it was only a malfunction of the system when the yellow warning lights flicked on; they were on a separate system, so she supposed that made sense. But Selene had a gut wrenching feeling something horrible was about to happen, especially when guards push past them.

“Seta…” Selene gulped, turning fully around. “I think we should stay in the dorm-“

The entire ship began to shake, and suddenly the hallway was no longer level, but a very steep, very smooth incline. Both she and her Viera friend stood there for a long second before sprinting up the hallway as fast as they could. It was ten times harder than Selene had originally given it credit for, the incline continued to grow almost becoming a sheer drop.

Seta leapt for a side hall, as did the human. But she wasn’t quite as athletic as her companion and missed. Selene felt her free fall come to a sudden halt as the Viera’s grip tightened around her forearm.

People and things were beginning to tumble down the hall now, and the shaking had turned into something that rivalled an earthquake. The airship groaned, which echoed through each and every hallway it could before it was drowned out by people’s screams.

And there, heading for the back of her bodyguard, was a table. Selene reacted the only way she could, with her free head she grabbed her gun and aimed. The shot loud only for a millisecond before the groan of the Silver Zephyr overwhelmed it. The table however, burst into splints that fell harmless around either of them.

“Thank you Miss.”

“No problem,” Selene smirked as Seta began to pull her up.

That is, until a random object hit Seta on the back and his grip loosened. The earthquake that had erupted in the ship seemed to hit its worst point, and the loosened grip became no grip at all as Selene’s body slammed into the corridor wall and her hand let go.

Free-falling, not something Selene Raminas had done for quite a while. She wasn’t quite sure if fear had crossed her face, but she was glad about one thing.

She wouldn’t see the end coming.

* * *

The Silver Zephyr, one of the proudest ships in the Ivalican Fleet, last reported experiencing technical difficulties at high altitude.

In an attempt to correct this problem, the Captain ordered the ship below cloud cover; unknowingly it forced a smaller ship that had been flying below it, under the clouds as well.

However, below the clouds were the raging northern wastes, high winds, unusual concentration of Mist and other variables no one has ever encountered before run rampart here. The systems of the Silver Zephyr collapse under the pressure of the Mist, and suddenly the airship is being dragged downwards on an angle that isn’t safe for anyone.

It command center, and bridge slam into the icy canyon wall, the force of the airship crushing, and dragging the entire front end off the wall until nothing is left by a smear of metal and glass.

The Zephyr hits the canyon bottom in pieces, the main body splits in two and the back half drives deep into the ice while the frontal half falls into pieces and is ablaze. Other random parts of the airship continue to fall down from the night sky, which isn’t visible from the canyon floor.

* * *

Where am I? Selene wondered, as the darkness of her sleep fell away. Had she been sleeping though? Maybe, the day before seemed like quite a blur, of course, she recalled the horrible feeling of free falling and someone calling her own as the feeling overwhelmed her, but everything was just a mess of confusion and…

Why was it so bloody cold?

Selene’s eyes slowly opened and she found herself starring not at the ceiling of her room but to the sky. Well it was actually a much of swirling, grey clouds moving at a remarkable pace but it wasn’t the airship for sure. Exactly where was the airship? And why did her body ache like she had hit the ground with more force than behemoth ramming some poor hunter who was just a little too cocky.

Snow began to fall as the woman lifted herself up and found that her head was spinning. But as her head cleared she blinked, and her heart sank. The wreckage was strewn all around her: twisted pieces of metal, battered and broken bodies; plus large fires. The Silver Zephyr had crashed, but why? When had it happened? Had she slept through the entire thing?

“Seta?” She coughed, getting to her feet faster than her body liked. Selene tumbled back down to the ground, resting on her hands and knees. “Seta?!” She called, louder this time as she tried again to get to her feet.

Failure.

Oh to hell with it… She growled inside her mind, crawling over to a piece of metal for support. She finally stood, though she found herself leaning on the plate for help more than she’d like. Selene smirked for a minute. I know he’s not dead, that damned Viera wouldn’t die unless someone ordered him to….

MISSION TIME

It would seem that The Silver Zephyr and the Wolfstar have both crashed in the Soca Rift, a currently unexplored, dangerous canyon in the Northern Wastes. Survivors must currently rally together if they’re going to survive the unforgiving northern climate of the continent.
CHOOSE: Whether you’re from the Silver Zephyr or the Wolfstar. The Silver Zephyr is open for anyone, if you wish to part of the Wolfstar’s crew; you will have to ask Weasel Overlord.

[classy_cat18]

What if you hadn't planned for your character to be on one of the airships?

[Pichu Luver]

Boogie down!

Name: Adair Stroud
Age: 25
Race: Human
Gender: M
Origin: Spira
Appearance: Long light brown hair that is as straight as an arrow when he let's it out of his tail. Just as well as some strands are always free draping next to his face. His skin is very tanned as he spends practically all his time outdoors. Thin sideburns reach down to just past the edge of his jaw. Almost always has sunglasses on, behind which are rich brown eyes that are nearly always filled with humour. A smirk or smile, choose which offends you less, is most often on his face. Like he is privileged to the best joke in the world and no one else gets it.
He is 6'0 and walks with a slight swagger, but not one to make him look cool. He looks exceptionally odd in fact and gets many looks by people wondering just what he's on. The more pleased he is, the more pronounced the swagger. He wears a loose light green silk shirt and dark canvas pants of an indeterminate dark hue. It could be brown, green or black; no one is quite sure, not even him. A frayed, thin trench coat dirty dark brown in colour with many pockets is over his shirt. All the buttons but the very top one is missing. A light green bandana covers his hair and he has one crystal blue ring on his left pinkie. He has a navy blue sash and his long sword is kept on his back so he has the strap going across his chest. His fiddle is kept on a case hanging from his waist and he wears leather boots with a small heel.
Personality: Very cavalier and selfish. He almost always has his own goals in mind, even if he saves your life, there is probably some way he can profit from it. He doesn't quite lie, but nearly everything he tells you is a half-truth. Any honest words are so muddled in amongst his tales that you'd be lucky to pick them out of the verbal jumble.
Consistently cheerful, even when the shit is hitting the fan, he can say something that will at least make you roll your eyes. He has no problem screaming in a most ridiculous manner, and diving, rolling and any number of stunts during a fight. It adds up to be very distracting to his opponent and anyone who watches him fight realizes how useful this madness can be. He also has absolutely no problem running away from a fight. Not quite a coward, but he'd avoid fights whenever possible.
He often throws in long/eloquent/not often heard words into everyday speech just to confuse people as he thinks it funny. He'll flirt with women but it's often nothing more then words, as he just can't be bothered with all the responsibility with getting too close. For all his flippancy he has a high sense of honour and when he thinks its necessary will stand and fight for what he believes in. Well . . . usually.
Weapon Style: Spira
Weapon Type: Longsword
Weapon: The blade is three and quarter feet long and half a foot wide. The sword is only sharpened on one side. It curves slightly but noticeably from pommel to tip. The top unsharpened part cuts down halfway through the blade so the end is thinner slightly then the base. It does not have a point however as it abruptly cuts off. It is dark blue at the pommel and fades to a greenish blue. At the base there is an extra loop of steel that Adair has attached red feather to. The pommel and bracer is gold with red fabric on the handle. There is words written on it but he has no idea what they say.
History: He was born in Luca and grew up loving blitzball. He didn't know his father as his mother was er . . . a seller of pleasure shall we say. He ran away from home at 14 and joined a blitz team. They made it fairly high in the standings but after a couple of years of never getting past the quarterfinals he left.
He joined an airship that traveled around Spira transporting goods of a dubious origin; for a while anyway. He became a rather adept at flying ships and many times kept them in the air by what should have been impossible manoeuvres. When he was about 20 he meandered about avoiding someone who sincerely wished him to join the earthworms. In that time he has done and pretended to do nearly every job imaginable. He was back to transporting illegal things of every denomination when he made it to Ivalice. The ship was caught and he of course scarpered in his highly flamboyant way. He tied a rope to his sword, flinged it at a building and slid down said rope in a bucket. Waving all the while at the authorities saying he 'gave them his condolences for this grievance but a stint in the brig would be most contrary to his wishes.'
He then heard a rich gentleman was running away to be a pirate and was looking for crewmen to leave pronto. He presented himself and was accepted on the condition all ladies go to Sirius first (recognizing a fellow charmer if not nearly as good at it). This was no hardship for Adair and he heartily agreed. They have come to an understanding that while Adair would have no problems leaving him in dire straights, if it's of profit to him, he can be most dependable. They could almost be called friends but it's more of a continuing of similar goals. He can often be heard cursing Ivalice technology and all its 'infernally ludicrous complexities.'
Other: Rather good at playing the fiddle.

WAH HEY! *waves* Lookie I got your attention. ^^ Anyway in case you don’t want to look at Adair’s history there's a part that says, ‘When he was about 20 he meandered about avoiding someone who sincerely wished him to join the earthworms. In that time he has done and pretended to do nearly every job imaginable.’

So you all get to have a bit of fun. Any job in Spira or Ivalice you can think of, that Adair could have done or pretended to do, he has. ^_- This probably won’t matter much now, but later it might. Judge is off limits though, as I already have an idea for that.

Now on to the post!

Adair Stroud

“…we all enjoy letting loose with a little "lada dum dum dum!”

Adair was ever so pleased. Riding the wake of the ‘lug-they-called-The Silver Zephyr‘ was saving him great amounts of fuel. This of course meant more rum as they saved on fuel costs. Sirius would indefinatly call him brilliant (he of course was but having others agree was always good fun) and he’d get even more rum; on Sirius’ dollar too. The Captain must always reward such magnificence.

“While we're navigating this airship it's such fun to hum a happy working song. Ooo oh! A happy working sooooong!”

WARNING WARNING WARNING

“Oou.” Adair winced. “Not so happy are we my darling.”

Sirius was of course used to Adair’s exceedingly odd habits. And he had never said he was a bad singer. It was amazing the heights of the notes he could reach and not have his voice crack. It was a secret how he did it, but he would keep it to himself thank you kindly.

No. It’s not what you think.

“Adair?”

That tone was not a happy one and Adair strived to get Sirius back on happy-duck footing.

“No worries me lad, all will be well, all will be—WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO THEY THINK THEY’RE DOING!?!”

Sirius jumped, (Adair knew by the soft thump behind him) but that was the last he truly heard of the noises around him as he was then severely preoccupied by the insanity of the Silver Zephyr’s flying. It seemed they had suddenly, inexplicitly, decided to land RIGHT NOW.

Curse words started flying as Adair slammed the steering to the left and the Wolfstar sluggishly responded. Now the Wolfstar was Sirius’ pride and joy and he would never have owned a laggard (besides Adair, but he had hired him) so the Wolfstar should have immediately flung to the left, sending everyone but Adair—and anyone else smart enough to be strapped in—flying.

“Girly, now is NOT a good time to be a tease.” He said through gritted teeth.

Someone was yelling behind him but he didn’t hear who, as he was much too preoccupied trying to save his own skin. Anyone else was simply alive because they happened to be on the same ship Adair was. Said ship was also starting to do weird things. The lights were flickering and the signals coming from the ship were reading that everyone on board was Chocobo’s and they were laying eggs.

Which may haven been accurate in a certain sense.

So visuals were all he had, and sluggish controls. He looked up and noticed the Zephyr was starting to do a barrel roll. The underside was rapidly coming up to meet them and he slid his gaze down the side of the ship, looking for any way to keep them from being swatted like a fly.

“Ah ha!” he cried and flicked a few switches. The power drained from the lights and the gravity suddenly left, but his controls came back. He slammed the breaks on the right hand side of the ship (ducking as a something came flying at his head) and the ship spun around to the right. He flicked the engine again as they faced the Zephyr and powered forward.

“ADAIR! Flying AWAY might be wise!”

“The fat elephant is rolling in its death throes chap! Gotta slip through the covers!” He didn’t know who had spoken and didn’t rightly care as he powered up the weapons. The ship was swiftly coming to meet them and he hoped in its demise a few other things would fail.

He pushed the fire button when the ship made its cheery ring, marking the weapons ready and he shot at the left side of the docking bay on the Zephyr. The shield around the bay faltered then disappeared. The solid cover came sliding out and Adair cursed.

“Shiiiiiit, shiiiit, shit, SHIT… AIYEHAHAIII!” Adair screeched as he flung the Wolfstar on right side and slipped past the doors. He felt the ship rumble and a horrible screech reverberated through the ship as the underside slid along the door.

There was just the matter of the other shield, which Adair hoped would fail of its own accord. Otherwise he was going to find he had multiplied as bits of him separated from his body.

He didn’t even have time to shriek as the nose of the Wolfstar met the shield, sheering off before the field blessedly failed and came down. They flew through the other side and saw… absolutely nothing as the blinding snow made him sightless.

“ADAIR ARE YOU TRYING KILL US ALL?!”

“I JUST SAVED YOUR BLOODY ARSE NOW SHUT IT!”

All the systems were going now and Adair did the only thing he could think of. He turned the ship into the wind and threw the spazing engines into emergency landing mode. Then he turned, saw Sirius face. It was a curious mix of white with fear and red with rage. He grinned, trying to restore faith from his Captain (as the Wolfstar was shutting down and Adair had no idea why) and yanked the communicator out of his hand.

“Prepare yourself, the earth is about to kiss us. Mwah.”

That was then all power was lost and Adair handed the com back. Sirius looked like his head might explode—not very flattering—so Adair turned around and gripped his seat handles. The ship started to fling back and forth, like a piece of paper drifting to the ground. Just, they weighed quite a bit more then a sheet of paper. Through the blinding snow and dizzying swings he saw the Zephyr zoom past overhead, nose first for wherever the ground was. Pieces of it were raining down around them and a few slammed into the hull.

Then he saw a great orange light through the white and dim grey pieces flying back up.

“So there’s the ground. Good to know.”

He felt a smack to the back of his head but didn’t have time to turn as then they crashed into said ground. Adair flung forward in his seat, profusely thanking the straps keeping him from going through the windshield. The Wolfstar shrieked and groaned all around them as it bounced, slammed the earth again and slid to a halt.

“Ahhh, wasn’t that fun?”

[Crystal Tears]

What if you hadn't planned for your character to be on one of the airships?

Then you must in some way or another, be in said canyon. :3 creative details up to you.

[Bulbasaur4]

Name: Laevra (Lay-vrah)
Age: Appears to be mid to late twenties.
Race: Viera
Gender:Female
Origin: Ivalice

Appearance: Like this, here!! The differences are however, that the armor/clothing she wears is darker, more of a silvery pale green/blue combination. Also her hair is shorter, reaching just midway to her shoulder blades (she cut it) and her hair raven black, but has a silvery white gleam to it (due to her dying her pure white hair completely black a few weeks after leaving her people). She also has black, swirl, tribal-like tattoos upon the right side of her stomach and upon the bicept of her right arm that she acquired also at the capitol of Ivalice. She has a 'rebellious' thing going on. Her eyes are also an ice blue, not red. (I decided to save time and not draw her due to my schedule. O.o; )

Personality: Laevra's personality can almost be taken in completely upon first meeting, or at least a good chunk of it anyway. She's extremely confident in herself and doesn't hold an ounce of uncertainty about who she is or any decisions that she makes. She's not quick to judge people as a whole and actually is pretty open-minded at what people can bring the table- HOWEVER - she's very quick to judge their intelligence level. (Hey, stupid people have places in the world too.) She's sharp tongued and will gladly share a brutal and honest opinion about anything and has no knack what-so-over for putting things lightly. On the other hand though, she's extremely truthful and puts people at ease knowing that she'll let you know how things are exactly as she sees them. She's also a bit of a wild card, being that she loves to try new things and can't resist a challenge from someone. Her curiosity is her biggest weakness and strength, as it is the only thing that leads her through the world. She's also stubborn too.

Weapon Style: Ivalice
Weapon Type: Bow & Arrows
Weapon: Her weapon is called, "Sorrow". It's a very small bow, only being about the length of her arm when extended, perhaps a bit shorter. It's strung very tightly with a string that is semi-transparent and usually only visible in the light. The bow itself is made out of an durrable material, that looks and feels like ivory and matches the same faded white appearance. Carved into this "ivory" looking substance is an intricate scene of apparently people riding on birds, spiraling upwards into the sun. The arrows that she uses are very small, the heads being made out of an obsidian-like material with gray feathered tails. It is notable that her quiver matches the same material as the actual bow itself, except for the white strap that binds it to her back. She rarely uses the bow and rather keeps it because she feels as if it enhances her natural power- although she doesn't inform anyone of this. Her true asset or "weapon" is her magic- although it is White Magic. So far I'm thinking she knows [Cure/Cura, Blindna, Esuna, Vox, Regen and Stona. I'm thinking Raise should be kept 'til later... for RP purposes, ne?]

History: Laevra grew up as most Viera do, in the jungle listening to the Wood and being distant from all other races. Growing up, Laevra was very close to her sister Baorna, and the two often would venture out into the forest together for either work or play. A few of their adventures were rather hazardous amongst some of the nooks and crannies of the forest, but the two of them were quite sure-footed of themselves which eventually led to Baorna being badly hurt. Through this little incident, Laevra discovered her "healing" gift and was able to heal her sister's wound.
When it was found out, Laevra was tutored by a handful of other Viera who possessed talent in magic. Still, as time went on... Laevra found herself quickly becoming bored with the ways of her people, the magic that she trained and even the Wood itself. One fateful day, an airship managed to crash into their jungle. Of course they were all ordered to stay away, but Laevra couldn't contain her curiosity and went off to investigate. It was there she met a Sirius and his crew and she helped them obtain things from the forest to repair their ship. Doing this made her realize that her desire was not with her own people anymore, so she left with the humans- leaving her people behind.
For about a quarter of her life now, she's traveled Ivalice in the airship Wolfstar - usually hanging around the capitol Archades on her off time. It was there that she cut off her hair and dyed it and also explored the night life and tattooed her arm and stomach. She finds that there is still much of her to try in the world and she finds she rarely grows bored- a lovely change from her original home.
For the past year or so she's been stuck on the un-named continent with the remaining Wolfstar crew.
Other: Laevra doesn't like using her magic at times, even though she's extremely talented with it. In fact, it has been known that people have had to beg her to heal them, because she dislikes healing people who got hurt stupidly. Accidents are a different story. :3

Laevra
[Viera |F | Location: On the Wolfstar]

Laevra sat in her quarters with her bow in her lap armed with cloth and some sort of ointment. She had recently made some minor modifications to the tautness of her bow, and after a day's worth of practice on the Wolfstar, she decided some needed cleaning was in order. The smooth, almost ivory-like surface of the bow quickly took to the ointment she applied and began to glisten and when it was all said and done, Laevra felt accomplished.

Then the jolt occured and Laevra practically flew out of her seat. She caught herself just before her face was to smash into the wall, and her ears twitched lightly as another jolt occurred.

"Addaaaaiiiirrrr...." She practically growled, wondering if perhaps this was one of his stunts again but the lights began blinking and the atmosphere around her body suddenly made the very hairs on her body raise. Something was not right- something in the air was different...

Instinctively she grabbed her bow and reached for the door handle, but her hand missed as yet again there was another lurch and Laevra's back slammed into her back wall, causing a rather pointy corner of a tablet to jab nastily into the side of her lower back. Laevra clenched her jaw and hissed, pressing her head to where it had jabbed her to see a dab of blood smeared upon her palm.

"Well that's just fantastic.." She thought bitterly, turning her head to eye the door handle again. She lunged for it this time, her hands grasping about it as she flung open the door. It was at that particular moment however, that another large lurch occured followed by Adair's voice over the com.
"Prepare yourself, the earth is about to kiss us. Mwah."

Laevra perhaps was about to think a bitter comment or even imagine herself hitting Adair upon the back of the head for good measure, but she had no time. A roaring sound occured from seemingly on top of her, as the back half of her room seemed to suddenly cave in and split upon itself. Laevra let out a yelp in surprise as her eyes widened in disbelief as some sort of... debris seemed to carve into her room and mangle it away. So now she was madly clasping her door handle and praying the ship would not lurch again, for now the back of her room had been replaced by a horrifying view of the un-named continent below them.

The wind madly lashed against her face, causing any and all of her personal belongings to fall out of the room and drizzle to the earth below. Laevra's eyes widened as she looked to the inner wall of her room to see her quiver dangling by a mere hook- threatening to fall to the wind and out of the Wolfstar as well.

"NO! Not them!" Laevra's mind screamed, and she absently bit her lower lip. The flooring of her room was level for now... if she could just quickly let go of the door, grab the quiver and return before anything could happen. There was little time to think and Laevra prayed that it would work. Quickly she slid her fingers from the handle and snatched the quiver. Turning she lunged for the handle but a snapping jolt occured, followed by a rumbling groan-like roar as the Wolfstar made contact. Laevra let out a cry as the handle slipped through her fingers and she tumbled onto the floor. Madly she clawed at anything, but there was nothing to grasp as she fell out of the Wolfstar. For a moment she was airborn, and then she felt her back smash into the hard ground.

Her body crumpled into a fetal position as she rolled, smacking into various rocks and debris before finally her body slide to a beaten and bashed halt. the Wolfstar groaned onwards as it slid along the dirt, coming to a halt some distance away.

Laevra opened her mouth, struggling to breath from the wind being knocked out of her as her wide gazed stared up at the sky above. It was as if the world was drizzling around her, pieces and fragments leaving small trails in the sky.




Name: Batilis Aureaon (Bah-til-is Arr-ee-ay-on)
Age: 24
Race: Garif
Gender: Male
Origin: Ivalice

Appearance: Like this. The black fur around his hips, wrists and neckline seems to be apart of his waistline, wristguards and necklace. Also his pants are the same red color as his mask, and his belt-like thing around his waist matches his "necklace" persay.

Personality: Batilis is a pretty calm and easy-going guy with others, although he tends to get into mischief with good intentions. He's not the brightest crayon in the box and lacks a proper education, but if people get used to his appearance and his lack of education, they usually are quite charmed with his subtle demeanor. He's a great deal like a dog- he loves to learn new things, he enjoys a good compliment and he absolutely loves being around people. He's very thankful for all and anything anyone gives him and surely would treasure it 'til the end of time. He remembers things perfectly and learns really quickly, so while he doesn't know much... he'll learn a great deal eventually. Also, may it be noted that he speaks really oddly which also puts people off. (See other).

Weapon Style: Ivalice
Weapon Type: Axe
Weapon: Look at the link above, I sorta drew it there. The axe itself has a mahagony-hued handle, but a rust-tinted cloth is wrapped about it in little strips. The metallic blade part of the axe glints a copperish brown color, with some roughly rust-colored painted symbols on it. Overall, the axe looks like a piece of crap. :3 It could give you RUST!

History: The Garif never knew a proper village life, nor will he ever know a proper village life. His father was sent out of the village to be a merchant, merely because his father had started to become "odd" and wasn't following the proper conducts or traditions of the Garif people. Luckily enough, Batilis' father had an extremely loyal wife who left with him, and the two put together a merchant wagon and started to journey about Ivalice. Somewhere along the way, Batilis was born, although his birth was the reason for this mother's death.
Due to Batilis' father's special condition, his father had failed to remember to purchase or acquire a mask for Batilis. Being that his father was hundreds of miles away from the village, he couldn't even purchase a proper mask for his son. So instead he had to make due, and took one of the linen bags and put it over his newborn son's head. This served as his "mask" until about three years later, when they arrived at the capitol and actually could acquire a mask to be made.
Now it should be mentioned, that as years progressed Batilis' father began to forget more and more things. His father had a degenerative disease that affected his brain, which explained his increasingly odd behavior and ability to remember things. (It also was the reason Batilis never met any of his own people or went to the village, being that his father forgot where it was).
Batilis was never educated and because of the way he looked, he often didn't communicate with many people. For some reason, wearing a mask was "odd" despite how many curious creatures there were in Ivalice. Batilis also was very busy helping his father with his merchant works- as his father increasingly forgot where he put things, who he sold things to and important paper matters. His father also grew to be more crazy - forgetting Batilis name and inventing that he had seven sons, all who looked like Batilis and their mother was a human who lived in a castle. His father also told many amazing tales, none of which were true and eventually they didn't make sense anymore. Eventually his father became paranoid as well, but that was towards the end.
The end of a merchant life, came when Batilis' father went bankrupt. Not knowing where to go, the father simply left- finally forgetting his son all together. While Batilis was smart enough to know it was coming, it still shocked and pained him for a while although he was accepting of it. So Batilis worked many make-shift jobs- usually manual labor, being that Batilis was extremely well-built and suited for it. (Plus with the mask at all, he wasn't great with customers... nor was he very bright and no one wanted to waste time teaching him anything).
Eventually he ran into the moogle, Sori. Sori perhaps felt sorry for Batilis or maybe was drawn to him, regardless the two formed a little team and began doing make-shift jobs around Ivalice. Some of it was monster hunting, some of it was finding lost pets or running "blah" errands...

Other: Batilis speaks really strangely which we will call, "Quasi Second Person" He doesn't ever refer to himself, but rather calls himself "this one" and if he is talking to anyone, he doesn't refer to them as "you" but rather as "he/she". For example:
If he wanted to say, "I don't understand what you're saying. Can you tell me again?" He would say it like, "This one doesn't understand what she is saying. Can she tell this one again?" If he's in large groups where there are more of one gender, he uses names.

Batilis Aureaon
[Garif | M | Location: Currenly with Sori aboard the Silver Zephyr]

Batilis was snoring rather loudly against some sort of cargo, his body curled up around a few barrels like a cat as he did so. His blonde hair was splayed out over the ground where Sori's head was, resting against the silken, rather fur-like feel Batilis' hair had. He was sleeping as well, although their room of sorts was more like the cargo area of the ship. Through some underhanded means, they had managed to gain passage on the ship, the Silver Zephyr. They had a little odd job that happened to pay a decent amount of money, involving the un-named continent and acquiring a few bits of information about it to return back to the hirer. While there weren't enough rooms, they had managed to use diplomacy (no one really knows how) to gain a place on the ship.

The dim lights of the cargo hold began to blink however, which was enough to stir Batilis and cause him to sit up. Sori's body pulled against his head however, but Batilis didn't seem to notice as he ignored the jolt that he caused upon pulling his head up regardless. Sori's head gave a light thunk as Batalis did so, causing him to wake as well.

"What the heck are yo-" Sori began rather rashly, the grumpy haze of sleep still about him. However the blinking lights soon caught his attention and the two of them looked about with a rather oblivious stupor.

"Something isn't right. Batilis, we should get out of here and see what-" The ship was tilting, or at least the floor was beginning to grow uneven. The boxes on one side of the ship were starting to come towards them, slowly at first... "Batilis, run!" Sori said suddenly, realizing how many boxes were now sliding rather swiftly towards them. A squashed Garif and Moogle was not something that seemed appealing to either of them.

With surprising speed, Batilis leapt to the tips of his toes and began running with Sori to the front of the cargo hold, where there was a little nook in the wall where apparently nothing was being stored. The incline became even steeper now however, and it was difficult not to slide along the floor as boxes began to fall.

"This one thinks they will not make it!" Batilis said loudly- louder than he ever would normally speak almost in any conversation and while his mask prevented any sort of expression to be shown, it was clear by his voice that he was worried about their predicament.

"SLOW!" Sori suddenly yelled, pausing for a moment to do so and the boxes above their particular area started to only crawl towards them, rather than cave. The boxes behind them smashed into the opposite wall and splinters flew everywhere.

Without hesitation, Batilis ran past Sori and managed to scoop the moogle up with one arm. Hoping over one of the sliding boxes, the two of them reached the nook in the wall. Batilis backed into the wall so that he could see outwards with Sori and they watched as the effect of the spell wore off and more boxes splintered against each other.

"What is going on..." Sori muttered, as the whole ship suddenly began to shake violently and there seemed to be little direction on anything that was going. Then the back of the cargo hold suddenly groaned and an eruption of debris occurred as the pair watched in horror as the ship seemed to split in two in front of them. Sori squirmed, as the wind caused a wild piece of wood to hurl straight towards them in a spiraling fashion. It was too quick for a spell and Sori was about to call out-

"THWUMP"

Batilis had managed to shift himself so that he freed his fore arm enough to hold up in time to block the wood. It snapped harshly against his skin and ricocheted off, falling away from them. Batilis apparently did not seem hurt as he tucked his arm back against his body.

"This one will make sure he is safe." Batilis said quietly and in an eeriely calm manner right before they crashed into the earth below.

[classy_cat18]

Name: Nii (short for Niosa) Tiera
Age: 18
Race: Al Bhed
Gender: Female
Origin: Spira
Appearance: Nii stands at 5'2", with a slim yet slightly muscular build and tanned skin. An unusual trait of hers is her white hair that is clipped very short so that she looks more like a boy. She has the spiral eyes of her race, which are sometimes behind her pair of black goggles. The goggles are worn around her neck when not in use. There are a pair of twisting blue lines that are tattooed on her arms, trailing down from the shoulders to the wrists and ending in spirals on the back of her hands.
This Al Bhed wears a navy blue sleeveless shirt that hugs her form, as well as baggy black pants that tuck into her blue work boots. She wears a pair of black, fingerless gloves and carries around a heavy messenger bag that holds essential tools as well as other essential items.
Personality: Niosa is a carefree spirit during times of peace, including when she's knee-deep in her work. But others seem to notice that she's a lot friendlier towards machina than people. She goes ecstatic over any piece of tech, and has a knack for repairing machina no matter how big and complex they are. She tends to be mistrusting toward other people since she has experienced discrimination in the past. Although not bloodthirsty, she does see battle as a break in routine. During battle she gets very excited and will play with her enemies a little. Despite the war, she treats everyone equally. Once she warms up to someone, she'll consider herself their "guardian" and will help them with repairs. She almost always speaks in her Al Bhed language although she'll correct herself if she's not understood.
Weapon Style: Spira
Weapon Type: Rifle
Weapon: Simply named Vena ("fire" in Al Bhed), her rifle is red with black barrels. The ammo that Niosa makes for it with items that she finds/buys/steals is elemental and packs a powerful punch.
History: Niosa's home was the beautiful New Home City, where she was born and raised in a family of salvagers. She spent a lot of time with her older brother, who found his own airship and gathered his own crew for a job as a merchant, importing and exporting goods. Recently they had been on Gaia, roaming the land in search of new goods. Nii's brother and most of the crew left for New Home in time for the attack. It's unknown whether they escaped death.
Other:
- Nii has salvaged something important as well, a robot-like machina she has named Kumas ("Golem" in Al Bhed). It's blue and yellow in color, and is only a couple of inches taller than her. Right now it does little more than follow her around but she thinks that it's capable of something more since she hasn't fully fixed it yet. The strange energy in the air has caused it to have brief moments of weirdness, usually having it go off on its own.
- Refers to herself in the third person.

"Kumas!" The howling winds of the frozen north drowned out my cries, making it nearly impossible for the machina to listen.

"Kumas! Kuuuuumaaaaas!" I sighed and stopped for a minute. Despite the clothes that I had gotten from the small crew that I was once with, every piece of me was numb and frozen.

I wouldn't have been up here if it wasn't for my machina's disappearance. He pulled his weirdest act yet and walked off while I was sleeping. When I woke up, it took an hour of running around to find him at the edge of the forest. He stopped at certain moments during his trip as if he wanted me to follow him. I finally lost him among the ice and snow.

"Why would he be here?" I asked myself. "KUMAAAAA-AAAH!" I tripped on a hard lump and fell on my face. Something that made a clanging sound when I kicked it. I dug until I fully recovered the still form of Kumas.

He didn't seem to respond to my movements. I guess you finally got too tired to move. Maybe your controls got frozen. I pulled him to a sitting position only for him to turn back on. His glowing eyes looked at me and then at the canyon that was only a few yards from us. Two pillars of smoke rose from there, about a mile from each other. "Did you wanted Nii to see this?"

Kumas stood and lumbered to the edge of the canyon. I ran to his side and looked down to see something unexpected. "An airship!" I laughed despite the shape of it. It was pretty advanced. "If there is an airship, there are people! If there are no people, there are at least extra supplies! And parts she could sell!"

My machina looked over to the other source of smoke, probably another airship. "Why two airships?" I slid closer to the edge as I surveyed the safest way down. "We will stock as much as we can and then find the other airship. It could belong to Nii's brother."

The trip downwards was very rough but Kumas had an easy time following me. The airship was clearly not my brother's, but it looked familiar. Once I got to the bottom, I started to check the wreckage. The thing had one big piece left, along with many smaller pieces. A few bodies were strewn about in the snow. "Nii does not like the looks of this..."

[Weasel Overlord]

Temzi post upcoming! With more character-interaction. Hurrah!

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

crashy crashy crash crash

Riding the wake of the Silver Zephyr had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Why waste the Wolfstar’s fuel, when you can basically run off next to no power and hitch a lift? Fuel was expensive, and Sirius was stingy, a side-effect of only having whatever money you can nick off someone else. Wake-riding fitted pretty well with Sirius’ work ethic, anyway; do as much as you can with as little effort as possible. All the work that was needed was Adair’s somewhat dubious piloting skills and Sirius’ nice big shouting voice to issue instructions on the fly. Captaining was the perfect job! All you had to do was order people around. Sirius always felt that he was born to be a Captain.

Sirius’ sunny outlook on their wake-riding was shattered into a million tiny, shardy pieces as soon as things started going wrong. And, he’d always found, when things went wrong for him, they went really really wrong. OH the stories he could tell! The merry tales! The scrapes! Yes indeed. But right at this moment in time, his most pressing engagement was trying to stop himself falling clean off his airship, having completely overlooked the usefulness of harnesses is stopping such things from happening. Adair had snatched the intercom from his hands, and the sound of his announcement filled Sirius’ ears as disaster struck him in the crotch with a steel-bound foot.

“ARRRRRRGH!” He shouted, as he went flying through the air. His aerobatics were only halted by the sudden appearance of a parse crystal to the face, and he immediately blacked out.

Upon waking, he noticed that they no longer seemed to be in the sky, which obviously meant that his airship had crashed. His airship had crashed… precious Wolfstar, smacked into the ground. What if she thought he didn’t love her any more!? He staggered to his feet, determined to remedy the situation and then caught sight of his reflection in the mirrored parse crystal.

He stopped dead and raised a hand to his face, numbly. It was covered in a marvellous purple bruise that encircled his eye and smushed his nose in, so that it bent crookedly to one side.

“Oh god, my face…” he sat down again, the shock weakening his legs considerably more than they already were. “I’ll never get a shag again…” He slumped back against the hull of Wolfstar and moped, one hand caressing the curved hull that was now stuck fast into half a metre of dirt and snow.

As he gazed around, morbidly, he noticed that the Zephyr had also crash-landed, and a small but extremely smug smile spread across his purpled face.

“Never mind old girl, at least she came down with us too!” He patted Wolfstar and stood up once more, determined to have a wander around and see what he could salvage. A crashed airship was not to be sniffed at, no sirrah!

Various people groaned on the floor, and Sirius caught sight of a pair of legs sticking out from underneath a broken piece of Wolfstar. He rushed over as quickly as his jellied legs would allow him, and set to work hoisting the beam off the unknown legs.

“Adair,” he shouted, hoarsely. “Get your arse over here and help me with this!”

Between them, they managed to heft the wood to one side, revealing a mysterious, armour-clad person beneath. Sirius scratched his head, taken aback.

“Uhhh, Adair? Do you know who that is?”

“Nope! Never seen the fellow before in my life. That armour’s quite shiny though…”

“Yes, we’d have remembered it, that’s for sure.” He bent down and poked the person in the chest. “Hey! Hey you,” he scowled and then winced at the pain in his face. “Wake up, armour-man!”

“Reckon he’s a stowaway, Sirius my man. What shall we do with him?”

“Well, he’s alive for now, I saw him breathe just then. Let’s leave him to come round and help some other people for now,” he nudged Adair with a sharp elbow. “If you know what I mean.”

Adair snickered. “The poor Zephyr and her crew must be sorely worried, Captain. We should go see what we can… do. Yeah, do.”

As Sirius and Adair wandered off, their thoughts firmly on loot, the unnamed armoured man stirred from his slumbers. He peered down at the huge dent in his chestplate and groaned emphatically.

“That’s going to take an age to beat out…”

[Emotional Faun Chiko-sai]

Interaction with the inmates of the Wolfstar when I post Seta (unless there are other Plans, in which case ignore me), for now I offer a mere-smear crappy intro post for the other.

Chironu Twice-Born

The shaggy figure crouched at the edge of the low-hung precipice has seen everything fall past her, people, debris, burning pieces of airship, has even had one nearly hit her on the head when she poked her head out too far. At the time she had been holed up as comfortably as one could be in a narrow cave in the middle of a freezing waste. There was a fire (by her own hand) and water (melted from icicles by the fire). She is middling along without food so far, although it would probably become a concern when her body started failing on her.

The sky is falling!

As the airships plummet past her cubbyhole, she traces little tallies on the icy wall of the items that fell. Airship pieces 389 in number and most likely more if you wanted to count the particles. People, about 40 bodies intact but soulless.

It is when the live people started careening past that her ears prick and nose twitches. She'd been waiting for this. Admittedly, she did like the cold weather, it was almost like home, like Gagazet; but she wouldn't have taken the trouble to come doozying out here if things like this weren't going to happen.

When she is fairly sure that most of the inanimate objects have already settled, especially the flaming bits, she emerges from the cave and stretches languorously. Aaahh to be back in the open, the wild winds, the raging blizzard, the enveloping Mist:

with the Mist around she need fear nothing, she could dance on thin air, play with Tonnatara, make fire by willing it. So with the Mist, thick as it as now, she could walk down through the air as if on steps if she wished.

She does so in a purposefully mincing fashion, blown about by the gales, yet not colliding with the walls. She sings a song to herself, a ballad from one of the numerous maudlin plays put on by her old company. It is a long way down and she does not need to hurry; how fast can those hothouse creatures that survived go in the snow anyway.

- The last starry sky that we saw, made me lonely, made you docile...

Her warbling echoes down the gorge, entwined with the wind.

[classy_cat18]

Name: Sori
Age: 20, or the equivalent of 20
Race: Moogle!
Gender: Male
Origin: Ivalice?
Appearance: Sori stands at a very modest two feet tall, 2'8" if you include the pom-pom. His fur is a faint gray, his ears black and his bat-like wings black as well. His pom-pom is the usual red but is a little ragged from incidents with monsters trying to eat it. He wears a long green vest that looks like a dress since it goes down to his knees, with an orange shirt with long sleeves under it. Completing the outfit is a pair of brown capris.
Personality: No one would know from looking at Sori that he has a short temper, mainly because he hangs around the titanic Batilis and manages to keep his cool around him. But he has a hidden Napoleon complex that springs out the moment someone points out his height, whether it's meant as an insult or not (think Edward from FMA). He's also sensitive about the state of his pom-pom and doesn't want anyone shooting at it or touching it or even breathing on it. But when it comes to Batilis, he's like a big brother, explaining things that need explaining and teaching him about new things. And comments that earn most people a bump on the noggin (or worse) go unpunished when Batilis says them.
Weapon Style: Ivalice
Weapon Type: Magic rod
Weapon: A pole made of ivory white stone with a glowing globe at the end of it. The globe will change color depending on the spell that's being used. Sori can use Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, Haste and Slow. He would know more powerful spells but they backfire on him whenever he tries to use them.
History: Although most Moogles are into technology, Sori and his family lived away from most tech. He learned black magic from his grandfather in absence of other activities he was interested in. But his training went unfinished when he met Batilis. The poor Moogle had a run-in with a Mooglebane and had a field day trying to get rid of it while not having his rod. Not how he ruined his pom-pom. Batilis saved him before it was too late and was fascinated with the little red ball of fluff. It was the only time Sori got angry with him. Seeing as he could use someone to help him with odd jobs, he left his home and started traveling with the Garif.
Other: Kupo!

An eternity of weightlessness followed by a hard thump and silence. I stayed curled up in warm arms, wanting confirmation of my belief. "We're not dead?" I quietly asked my partner.

Batilis grunted before he squeezed himself out of the nook of the now destroyed wall. "This one is sure that they survived the fall," he told me. "But...this one is not sure where they fell."

I sighed. It hadn't taken long to understand Batilis's manner of speech. "I don't have a clue either." I squirmed out of his tight hold and away from his warmth, instantly regretting it. "Cold! Cold! It's freezing, kupo!" I hugged the Garif's leg for his warmth.

Batilis merely shifted from foot to foot, not as affected by the low temperatures. "Are they in the right place for the materials they're supposed to collect?"

"Don't think so, kupo. But we should worry more about how are we're going to survive." I slowly let go of his leg and dug through the debris until I uncovered my staff. "Could you gather some wood, Batilis? We need a fire to warm us while the wind isn't blowing."

"This one agrees." He left and gathered a nicely sized pile of wood, gathing another pile by the side to use for later. "Is this enough?"

"More than enough. Thanks, kupo. FIRE!" I smiled as the wood ignited. Looking to the side I saw that more survivors were stirring and getting their senses together. It wouldn't be long before they would come over.

"Is he still cold?"

I slowly nodded and huddled close to him. "No one had better say anything about this," I grumbled.

Niosa Tiera

"Nii knows this ship!" I exclaimed once I had a better examination of the fallen airship. "It's the Wolfstar! This is a pirate ship!"

I ignored it for now and ran over to the other airship, which was named the Silver Zephyr. "This is an Ivalice airship," I told Kumas as I looked among the wreckage. "Not as colorful, more machina than style. But it works!"

I pulled things out of broken crates, from food and water to ammunition for guns. I was in the middle of stuffing a half frozen loaf of bread in my mouth when I heard shouting.

"Hey! This is our loot, I mean cargo! Back off!" Two men approached me with their weapons.

I narrowed my eyes. This was an Ivalice airship, but these two donned Spiran clothes. "Pylg uvv (Back off)," I growled in my native language. This way they knew I meant business.

"Um...say what now?" the one with the bandanna asked.

I put down my heavy bag and pulled out my rifle. "E cruud oui (I shoot you)," I threatened as I pointed it at them.

The man in leather took a small step closer and peered at my goggles. "Ah, an Al Bhed! And by the voice, a lovely one!" He held his hands up in surrender. "We mean you no harm! Uh...you speak English?"

"Oac, I mean yes." I lowered my rifle.

"I couldn't really tell with your hood up and everything if you were part of my crew. But I know I haven't seen this wonder on my ship." He pointed to Kumas. "I say, do you want to help us? We'll split everything 50-50!"

I looked back and saw that the survivors of the Zephyr were also waking up. "You should do that at your own risk. While you do that, Nii and Kumas will check out your own spoils." I headed back towards the Wolfstar.

[ChobiChibi]

Name: Shayna Xanthrope (people call her Shay)
Age: 18
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Origin: Spira
Appearance: Like the picture, only she has a large black messenger bag going from her right shoulder to her left hip. Obviously her head would also be attached to her body... Shayna’s hair is a really dark brown with red tips, her fringe being quite long and the rest being layered, not touching her shoulders and flicks out to the side a little. Her eyes are bright blue and seem to sparkle when she’s in a good mood. Her gloves reach her elbows and are fingerless, including the thumbs. She’s quite short for her age, standing at about 5’3’’, although she is stronger than she appears to be. In her messenger bag, she also keeps a woollen jacket that goes down to just about where her shorts stop. Her Shuriken are strapped to her back, lose enough that she can get to them quickly, but tight enough that they won’t come flying off. The rest is pretty much as you see in the picture, really...
Personality: Shay is a bubbly young girl that enjoys the company of others. She is very much a tomboy, enjoying blitz ball and hanging out doing “guy” things. She is quite talkative, seeming to know exactly what to say at the right time, but if she doesn’t really know you, this is usually just a distraction. Shay is a thief, using her innocent looks to her advantage. She is quick witted, sharp minded and cunning. However, she doesn’t always know quite when to stop, and has been nearly caught on numerous occasions. In this respect, you could call her quite the adrenaline junkie, feeding off the excitement and possible profit. In general, she is quite a pleasant person to be around and despite the fact she hates to share, she does care deeply for those she finds deserves her sympathy and friendship.
Weapon Style: Spira
Weapon Type: Shuriken x2
Weapon: Like this, except they are about 60cm in diameter, the same silver colour as pictured, but with blue tips (similar colour to her eyes). Also, the hole in the middle is bigger in diameter, with another ring in the center, with thin spokes to hold it together, for grip.
History: Shayna grew up in Luca, the heart of Blitz ball and urban life. Being the eldest of 5 children, her parents found it rather difficult to provide for them all, taking Shay’s adorable talkative charm to distract people, whilst either her father or one of her siblings robbed them. As she grew older, she learnt to do it by herself, often targeting the harbour and unsuspecting blitz ball spectators. Hearing that things from Ivalice sell for a much higher price in Spira, she persuaded her friends to join her on a little adventure. Having been there for about a month now and happy with her spoils, she has boarded the Silver Zephyr, convinced that it is heading back to somewhere in Spira and completely unaware that is a warship. Her friends, unsure of the Zephyr, are likely to be still in Ivalice, or on the right ship back to Spira. Currently, Shayna is stowed away with the battle Chocobos aboard the Silver Zephyr, blissfully unaware of their destination.
Other: Erm...



~ Shayna Xanthrope – Babysitting Chocobos~

The stowaway sits quietly and reasonably comfortably, hidden nicely behind bails of straw meant for feeding the chocobos, having created herself a chair out of it. At first, they showed hostility towards her, the shuriken looking particularly threatening to the war-trained birds, but they soon got used to her, even if she had to use her supply of apples to persuade them. ‘People are so much easier to gain the trust of.’ She thinks to herself, petting the beak of a particularly friendly chocobo.

Shayna yawns, the light in the room beginning to dim from the small window near the ceiling. This journey was much more boring than the one going to Ivalice, especially as her friends had decided to ditch her. What was wrong with this ship? It flew, didn’t it? Of course it would be heading to Spira, where else would it want to go?

She really had made this place her own for the journey. The straw was perfectly shaped for her to stretch out and be comfy, her shuriken lay next to her and a few of her more exciting treasures are scattered around her, catching her eye every now and again. She closes her eyes, a little tired, although mostly of boredom. ‘I swear the journey to Ivalice was shorter than this...’

Her eyes open abruptly as what she guessed was the ship’s warning alarms begin to sound. Confused, Shayna scrambles to her feet, climbing the straw bails to get a better look out the window. Her eyes widen in shock as she gets a glimpse of the sheer amount of Mist and the high winds battering the airship. Suddenly, she looses her footing as the airship suddenly drops to a nearly vertical angle, crashing into the wall, her shuriken barely missing her legs. The chocobos cry out in panic, also unable to stand at such a strange angle, flapping their wings and looking flustered.

“This can’t be good...” She says aloud, reaching out and grabbing her messenger bag, attempting to stash her spoils back inside. She freezes to the spot as she hears a loud CRACK from above her, noticing a series of cracks appearing along a wall and across the ceiling. Carefully, she straps the first Shuriken to her back, grabbing the second and hurrying to secure it as the cracks deepen, visibly dividing the room.

She hurries to the nearest chocobo, stumbling as the ship lurches forwards. She climbs onto it, clinging to the feathers around its neck, talking to it in an attempt to calm it. As the floor gives way beneath them, it is only then that Shayna begins to worry about the situation she is in. “Chocobos CAN fly, right?”

The next few moments become a blur as she tumbles from the sky, her knuckles white as she grips hold of the chocobo, passing out seconds before hitting the floor. As she regains consciousness, she groans, her head gently throbbing, the cold suddenly hitting her, unsure how long she has been asleep. She sits up slowly, her face draining of colour as she sees the sheer amount of blood covering her body. Realising she isn’t really in pain, she checks her stomach, finding that there is only a small bruise forming. ‘That’s a relief...’ Slowly, she stands up, her legs shaking, looking beside her to find the chocobo that she had tried to hitch a ride on splattered against a rock. “Now I know... Chocobos can’t fly...”

She looks around, gasping as she tries to take in the sheer amount of destruction. Bodies litter the rocky ground, bloody and battered, most dead or dying. There were a few others as lucky as she was that seemed mostly unhurt. ‘At least they’re alive.’ She thinks, taking her jacket from her messenger bag and putting it on, noticing that one of her Shuriken is missing.

She frowns, scanning her surroundings for her missing weapon. Spotting it, she hurries to where it is lodged, hoping to beat any scavengers. She cringes as she finds it stuck quite far into someone’s back, a crew member by the looks of things. Taking a quick look around, she swiftly removes it, strapping it to her back. The man’s pocket catches her eye and she carefully removes his wallet, opening it to find a fair amount of money inside. “Sorry... It was an accident... Thanks for your money... Have a nice time at the farplane.” She says, trying her best to at least try to sound mournful.

Shayna’s head turns as she hears a voice calling out and the sound of the person falling over. She watches carefully, a young lady coming into view, holding onto a piece of metal to support herself. Glancing back at the dead guy, her subconscious speaks to her. ‘You just stole a dead man’s wallet, the least you could do is go help someone, even if she is from Ivalice’. She sighs, guilt sinking into her stomach. She hurries over to the girl, extending a hand out, gesturing for her to take it.

Shayna frowns as the girl just stares at her, a confused expression lining her face. She rolls her eyes, a little annoyed that her rare feeling of generosity is being ignored. “I’m just trying to help. You look hurt, I am taking pity on you. You should be grateful.”

The girl’s expression turns to one of annoyance and, much to Shayna’s surprise, takes her hand. Shayna supports the girls’ weight, noting that her wrist also looks quite badly damaged also. “Thank you...” She mumbles, her eyes darting to Shayna’s feet and back to her face. “Although I don’t know why you pity me, have you seen yourself lately?”

Shayna looks confused, only really having seen the blood on her shirt. “What do you mean?”

“You look like you’ve had a fight with a chocobo.” The girl replies, a small smirk appearing across her lips, removing a small clump of feathers from Shayna’s hair.

“I did.” She replies, grinning. “If you think I look bad, you should see the chocobo.”

[Crystal Tears]

Selene

Selene, whether she wanted to or not, had to lightly chuckle at that last remark and kept the smirk on her face. The girl didn’t seem to mind, laughing a little herself as she and Selene made their way out of the wreckage. The gunner was limping, and her right wrist looked like it had seen better days. It was throbbing, with a mixture of black, blue and purple bruising. That was alright though; Selene was equally good with her gun in either hand. The thought of her weapon, made her check the holster. Somehow in some way, it had remained there.
Odd… She thought. Why do I think I took it out before the crash?
Of course, knowing Selene she probably slipped in back in before the airship decided to meet its unfortunate end simple because without it, she wouldn’t be able to shoot people.
Err.. Monsters…

“How’s your wrist?” The girl questioned, Selene looked at her, broken from her train of thought.
“Could be better.” She replied. “That’s alright though; I never needed this hand anyway.”
“You’re left handed?”
“ Ambidextrous.”
“You don’t say…” She smiled a little. “I’m Shay, by the way.”
“Selene.”

They were quiet for a minute as Selene took a break, even with help, her left leg really didn’t like the idea of moving around. She stood still for a moment, looking back up at the swirling, grey covered sky.
“So, were you a passenger on the Zephyr or…” Selene broke the silence as they continued to walk.
“A… Passenger.”
“Really?” She looked at Shay curiously. “What level were you on?”
“Eight.”
Okay, now I know she’s lying. I was on the highest level and that was five. Selene mused, though she wasn’t going to call Shay on it. What did it matter now? They were stuck on an icy canyon floor that was bitterly cold. Where the hell is Seta?
“Aren’t you going to the fire?”
Selene looked at Shay with expressionless gaze and shook her head. She didn’t want to appear worried, and she shouldn’t be. Seta was more than capable of surviving such a horrible crash, but a tiny voice in the woman told her to keep searching. “I have to find someone.”
“Who?”
“His name is Seta.”
“Well, what’s he look like?”
“He’s a Viera.”
Shay looked confused, “A what?”
She doesn’t know what a Viera is? Selene blinked, fixing her coat a little. That’s to be expected, she doesn’t look like she’s from Ivalice… How to do describe a Viera anyways? “Um… He’s tall, has long rabbit ears, and would be wearing clothing that’s red, black with a little white in the mix.” He’s my super tall shadow and he’s missing…
“Oh yeah!” Shay beamed, Selene didn’t comment. “But you’re in no shape to search for him…”
“I’m fine.”
“You should sit-“
“I’m fine damn it.” She snarled, more on accident than anything else. She hated when people insisted on helping her.
“Alright!” Shay backed up a little. “I’m sorry, don’t kill me please.” That ending comment was rather sarcastic, Selene rolled her eyes.

Both were quiet again, searching through the debris. Either had split up, though Shay had commented on how she wouldn’t let Selene out of her sights ‘just in case’. Oh how wonderful… Selene growled inside her mind, gritting her teeth. I have a ninja Spiran who picks fights with chocobos as my guardian…
“Selene!”
She turned, tilting her head somewhat as Shay came running back to her. A gleeful, childish smile plastered on her face as if she had just won some sort of contest. “I found someone! Come on!”

Definitely not Seta… Selene blinked, approaching slowly as her companion knelt down beside a Viera, but a woman. She looked dazed, and from the slide mark on the opposing side of her, she hadn’t come from the Zephyr. Selene’s eyes traced the skid mark, and there in the distance was another smoking wreck. Much smaller than the Silver Zephyr, it looked like it was bordering on the fine line between worth restoring and not.
“Hey!” Shay spoke loudly. “Are you alright?”
When the Viera woman didn’t reply, Selene reached into her pocket and pulled from it a small tubular container. It had a wooden cork in the top and inside a dark blue liquid, she handed it to Shay. “Here, this might help.”
“Is this a potion?”
Selene nodded. “It will help clear her head.” I could use it, but it won’t do much for my wrist so it’s not really worth it.
Her friend tilted the Viera’s head back, pulled the cork from the top of the tube and poured the small amount of potion into the woman’s mouth.

Quickly the glaze over her eyes began to fade away…

~ ~ ~

Tag B4 and Beckerz. :3

[Pichu Luver]

Adair Stroud

He had crashed.

Adair never crashed.

It was his one pride point. Well… chiefest among his numerous, lengthy, all exceedingly important pride points. He could fly any airship worthy of the word and never crash. In fact he had saved his handsome self many a time performing exceptionally improbable aerobatics. Sirius may doubt his skills but that was merely because he was unconventional. They were still alive and free were they not? Wolfstar was quite worthy of the word airship and he had crashed her.

He decided extenuating circumstances were to blame. Adair was not.

He had no idea why the ship went screwy before the power cut out. Maybe if he had gotten exceedingly drunk and wanted to impress the ladies (for there was always more then one), he would have made the Wolfstar jig like jumped up Moogle. Not when he had been at the helm for hours AND singing his ‘Happy Working Song’. Not possible.

So for the briefest of moments Adair was irritated. He released himself from his seat and stomped out of the ship (yelling at anyone who complained that they were still alive so they should shut their yap) to survey the damage. It was not looking good even before he got out. He could feel cold air drifting through which meant there had to be a massive hole somewhere.

He was surveying the damage, assessing how much work he could bugger off on the crew, when he saw Sirius.

His day instantly got better.

His chief contest for ‘sexiest man on Wolfstar’ had always been Sirius. Now it was most definitely him. If only he didn’t have that ‘all ladies got to Sirius first’ clause in his contract. Oh well, knowing Sirius he’d find a superb healer would make him look finer then before his fortunate collision. Until then, the damsels would find him infinitely preferable. And by the looks of the Zephyr, there were lots of distress damsels in need of saving.

Not to mention shinies.

After helping Sirius save the Tin-Man, they started on the Zephyr. It was in an even more despondent shape then the Wolfstar and there were plenty of things to commander. Adair was also eying anything that looked like it could be used to fix the ship. The less time they spent here, the better. He REALLY wanted his radio back. Having the nose shear off resulted in that unhappy happening.

While in the middle of their loot looking a strange spoken Al Bhed came over. She also had a fearsome looking machina with her. Adair didn’t like robot-machina as they seemed to have an aversion to his continued existence. Her last sentence was much more distressing though.

“Eh! Yeh think you’d be stealin from Wolfstar? Sirius here will have something to say about that!” he slapped him on the back and grinned.

“Yes but Adair would have even more problems.” He replied, glaring at him.

“Not really. I’m the pilot, and that (he pointed with unneeded flair) does not currently fly. I have to fix her. Therefore as captain her well being is chiefly your concern. Besides you bought the bird.”

“YOU crashed her!”

“I bloody well did not! Mitigating circumstances initiated our spontaneous need to make the acquaintance of terra firma. Not I yeh distressed popinjay. And… she’s left. Go do something about that.”

[classy_cat18]

Niosa Tiera

The two guys who stopped me were so busy arguing with each other that I had enough time to walk through the huge hole in the hull of the Wolfstar and survey the damage. The engine looks like it's still intact. They could still use it. Then I looked around and saw that most of the wires that connected the engine to the other parts of the ship were cut. Neither was there any air or heat, but a little rewiring could fix that. Well, the chances of this leaving the canyon are severely reduced.

"You there!" I turned my head to see the two looters that were bugging me earlier. "We would appreciate it if you wouldn't steal anything important."

I sighed and removed my hood and goggles. "Your airship has little chance of flying. Nii thinks you should just gather all the food and supplies you can find. You can climb out of this canyon."

"I'm not leaving her!" both men shouted at the same time.

"Relax. Your airship was surprisingly durable. It should've been in the same shape as the Zephyr." I turned to the engine. "If you have the supplies, Nii might be able to fix it. Nii won't know until she looks at the whole thing. But it will not be cheap."

"I'm sure we can negotiate a price."

"And even if Nii gets this fixed, it is very low on power. It will make it out of the canyon and no further." I gave them a reassuring smile. "On the bright side, Nii has never seen a tougher hull! You have salvaged a fine airship!"

[Bulbasaur4]

Laevra
[ Viera | F ]

It happened slowly at first- Laevra was staring up at the sky, and then slowly she felt her mind began to drift before the sky faded to white. Then slowly her vision came back again as she blinked away a haze, to find herself staring up at the face of a young human with curious blue eyes.

"She's waking up!" The voice said enthusiastically, leaning back as slowly Laevra sat up. Her head seemed surprisingly clear, but her back ached horribly no doubt from the abrupt fall. Flexing her toes for a moment along with her fingers, Laevra found that the rest of her body- besides a few bruises- seemed to be in good shape.

Turning she noticed there was another woman, with pristine pale skin and blonde hair that made her deeper blue eyes stand out rather vividly. At the same time however, the woman seemed to have an aura that reminded Laevra of someone... although at the moment Laevra couldn't figure out who it was quite yet.
"Are you alright?" The woman asked, to which Laevra gave a light nod.

"I don't believe I have sustained a major injury..." Laevra pressed her hand to the cold ground and pushed herself slightly. There was a little wobbling at first- her lower back groaning in slight agony, which caused Laevra to wince slightly.

"Oooh... blood..." The energetic voice said, and Laevra looked down to see her imprint left a blood splotch. Then Laevra remembered how the edge of the table had harshly jabbed into her earlier. She took her right hand and pressed it to her back, removing it to see a hint of red blood. Not too much- which led Laevra to believe the cold the snow had prevented the wound from bleeding too badly.

"If we look, I'm sure we can find something to bandage that up." The woman's wrist was injured and by the way she leaned, her leg wasn't in the best of shape either.

"Hmm.... that won't be quite necessary. " Laevra nodded, looking to the darker haired girl.
"What is your name?"
"I'm Shay, and this is Selene!" Laevra nodded to both of them in a polite greeting.
"My name is Laevra... now Shay, if you could just perhaps back up for just a moment."

Shay looked confused for a second, but nodded as she scampered several feet back as Laevra bent over again, wincing. She scooped up her bow and quiver, which were strewn about her body mark in the snow and then swiftly strapped them to her back.

"What are you doing?" Selene inquired, shifting her standing position slightly.

"You're injured as am I. It's easier to concentrate if Shay stands away..." Laevra took her hands and made a few, graceful swirl-like traces in the air. Each swirling motion was slightly different- as if she were drawing a few small symbols in the air until a faint silvery glow began to hum around Laevra's hands. The glow intensified for a split moment, before dying down to a fainter glow as before. Frowning slightly, Laevra swiftly stopped her hands and splayed her palms so that they pointed to the sky. A few glowing sparkles formed about both Laevra and Selene for a few seconds before vanishing- like a drizzling snow melting as it hit the earth.

Selene looked to her wrist and moved her hand slowly and Laevra stretched for a moment- testing her back. It was still sore, but the agonizing pain had died down considerably. Touching the small of her back, she felt the wound had closed so it wasn't a worry now.

"Depending on how bad your leg and wrist injury were, they may not be healed fully. I'm afraid I'm exhausted and can't bring myself to form a better spell. After some rest, I'll be able to finish the job-"
"No, no... that's fine. It feels pretty good." Selene said quickly as Shay ran back over to them with a grin.
"That looked pretty neat!" She grinned, looking to Laevra. Laevra wasn't quite sure how to respond, but Selene quickly spoke up.

"So Laevra, did you come from the Zephyr?"
"No, I was aboard the Wolfstar... speaking of which..." Laevra frowned, looking at the wreckage before them. "I should be trying to find my crewmates... " Laevra was worried about Sirius and Adair, along with a few others she had met although her composure refused to show it blatantly in her features. Selene nodded as Shay looked about curiously, before suddenly a few distant loud exclamations could be heard.
"Sounds like someone is having a bad day..." Shay commented, as a grin flashed across Laevra's face as she looked to the two of them.

"I could recognize those voices anywhere... "

[Weasel Overlord]

Temzi :: Dragoon of Justice

:: before the shadows fade into light ::

“That’s going to take an age to beat out…” he groaned, poking at the huge dent in his chestplate. “And I didn’t bring any tools with me.” Sighing, he felt around for the spear that was his life. “Well Whisper,” he said to it. “At least I’ve still got you.” He used the spear’s pole as a prop to get himself off the floor and standing, and then, leaning heavily on the long weapon, looked around in an effort to get his bearings.

Huge pillary jib-boomy thing of wood, or whatever it was called. That would be the armour-denting culprit, he was sure of it. He was slightly disappointed that the denter was inanimate, and therefore spared a lecture on Justice, but you can’t win everything.

He espied the Captain of the Wolfstar sauntering off towards the other airship, which was good. His First Mate was in tow, which was also good. He was sure that some mention of his stowaway-edness had filtered through the unconsciousness, and he thought it best that perhaps he scarpered from the scene.

That wasn’t really the Honourable thing to do, though, so Temzi told off his inner self, straightened his back and marched off in a direction, with the intention of helping out some other poor crashee. Unfortunately, he had failed to take into account which direction he was going in and he came perilously close to the very pair he was trying to avoid. Swerving quickly, he saw a likely target lying face-first in the snow and looking altogether rather bedraggled.

“Ahah,” Temzi thought. He gripped Whisper all the more firmly with the heat of the mission flowing through his veins, and made all motions full speed ahead to helping the poor soul.

He placed Whisper carefully on the ground next to the legs, and crouched down to survey the situation.

“Wearing some sort of heeled footwear… hmm, might be a woman!” he muttered to himself, oblivious to the struggles of the unknown before him. “Helping women is Gallant though,” he said, pensively. “Hm yes, I remember the Academy being very specific on that matter. What a to-do!”

A muffled groan cut off this diatribe and Temzi rocked back on his heels, startled. “So the heeled-one moves! It’s alive!” He reached forward and in one swift movement, turned the prone figure over onto its back. “And not a woman,” he noted, a look of perplexity on his face. “But what, then?”

The figure narrowed his eyes - for it was a he - at Temzi in what he perhaps thought was an expression of annoyance, but came out rather more like a rather neutral, slightly-blinded-by-the-sun face.

“I am a man,” he said in a bland tone. “But thank you for your endearing wonderment therewith.”

At this, Temzi grew rather embarrassed. None of his training had specified how to deal with a situation such as this, and he felt in rather deep water. An apology! Yes, that was the way to proceed. Surely…

“Ah, um, I do humbly offer my apologies,” he stammered. “Sir. I could not discern your gender from behind. Forgive me!” He bowed until his helm scraped the snow, sincerely hoping that it would be enough and satisfactory to the strange sir.

“Well then,” he seemed somewhat perturbed by this display, as if not used to people acting that way towards him. “I forgive you.” His voice was gruff as if through lack of use, but Temzi sat upright and beamed at the response, delivered though it was with as little of emotion as a rock would show.

“I am named Temzi,” he bowed again. “May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?”


TAG SETA.

Sirius post forthcoming, wanted to get this done first.

[Emotional Faun Chiko-sai]

If I have taken too many liberties with Selene, prod me but lightly and I will untake them. Same with Temzi. It's late (early), my brain is dead, I'm sorry.

Seta Close-Mouthed
Nice Dream

After he lost sight of his mistress in the ensuing confusion, after his stoicism had been broken apart far enough by shock and concern and the fear of loss for him to cry out her name, Miss, Miss, Selene, Selene..., Seta hit his head on he knew not what, and lapsed awhile into oblivion.

A child with a sulky face and a part-closed heart. In the years of their acquaintance Seta had not known Miss Selene once to show excessive amounts of emotion. Among the numerous other things she had done included demanding amusement from people ill-equipped to give it (i.e. Seta); sneaking out of the palace grounds and on certain occasions running away only to return when she ran out of money; presiding at state occasions with a smirk behind the smile on top.

As far as Seta could be said to like anything at all, he liked the smirk of Miss Selene. The first time he had met her she had smirked and curtseyed, the smirk making the curtsey mocking. He did not take offense - he never took offense at anything she did, then and after. It had appealed to some inner shard of cynicism, long buried under the decades of blankness ingrained into his personality.

The dream was about personality, and lack thereof. The Mist in the canyon (was it a canyon?) had gone to his head, and made his dream non-literal and a mass of feeling. He had a continual sense of wanting to clear his head of the whisperings of sylphs, of Woodword that wasn't Woodword, and somehow though he was conscious, in a way, this drifting ambivalent self of his knew that in the physical world he was still out cold.

He came to at the behest of someone he supposed his mistress would have termed a fool. So earnest, this armoured one; wanting forgiveness, and names, and such. Seta having been a servant for years on years was more familiar with commands than apologies. By the looks of him he was a dragoon-knight, and despite the choice of profession, not local to Ivalice, to not recognise a viera when he saw one.

Granted, those of the male gender were rare. Seta had never seen another male viera in all his life, and they were not spoken about by the females he had met.

He watched unblinking as the dragoon-knight bowed yet again. There was a little silence until the other, fidgeting, repeated: "Your name?"

"Seta."

More silence. More fidgeting. Meanwhile, Seta put his effects in order. His katana had become a little disarranged, and his hat jammed onto his skull.

Then: "...So, sir Seta, we are both most blessed survivors of this most regrettable incident... it must be due to some passing vagary of sweet Lady Fortune!"

Seta saw no reason to add more to this, so he stayed silent. Something that had been screaming and kicking at the back of Seta's orderly brain finally got the attention of the other neurons, and clicked.

He cut into the monologue that he was being given on the great advantages of helping others according to the principles and codicils of Chivalry, and stated, plainly: "There is indeed a lady I wish to help."

The dragoon-knight Temzi reeled slightly, derailed in the midst of his speech, and not least because the fairer sex was involved in the point that the viera so casually brought up. "S-Splendid! You have a lady you wish to help? Who might she be?"

"Her name is Selene Raminas."

"A noble name! No doubt gracing an equally noble and lovely countenance - might I be given any form of description-"

"She is pale and blonde." A pause as Seta weighed up considerations. "Quite beautiful."

"Ahah! Concise - and yet that is all we need to begin! We must sally forth, in the name of Justice!"

Seta nodded.

[Weasel Overlord]

Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn
[Captain and General Ruler of the Wolfstar]
ultra violet

Sirius snapped his fingers as he thought. Wracked his brains, no less. Stealing and salvaging and all that were all well and good, but unless he got his face fixed, no-one would ever want to sleep with him again, and that was, frankly, a crime. Something he intended to never happen. Ever. No sirrah. Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn intended to get laid at least twice a week for the rest of his life.

The chattering of the Al Bhed faded into background noise as he thought. He thought hard. There was something there, in his mind, on the very tip of his incorrigible tongue. Some fact that he was overlooking that would save his face - nay, his very reputation. A Dashing Sky Pirate was nothing if his nose was broken. Wonky. Disfigured. He shuddered internally at the thought of carrying on this disfigurement any further than this moment, and then looked up at the voices he heard in the distance.

The voices of one magical, magic-using Viera, no less. And what seemed, on further squinting, to be a scruffy ragamuffin woman.

Excellent, a woman. Wait a minute! The Viera!

“Adair!” Sirius poked him sharply in the ribs. “The Viera can heal me!”

Adair looked at Sirius as if he’d just gone mad. “Sirius,” he glanced significantly at the Al Bhed. “Negotiations.”

“You’re a capable man, Adair! I’m off,” Sirius clapped him on the back heartily, dropped one hand to Durrandal’s hilt and swaggered off with his best manly pose.

He hailed Laevra with his best “I am a handsome, sexy man” voice and smarmed over to the party of, what ho, women.

“Hell-llo,” he grinned, showing all of his perfectly straight, white teeth. The grin had never failed him before, and the voice especially had never failed him. Once, a girl had described it as chocolatey, and he’d always felt rather attached to that thought. After all, chocolate was good to lick off a woman.

Both of the new women, he noticed, were Humes like himself. Obviously, Laevra was the exception, but she’d made it crystal clear long ago that he wasn’t getting anywhere with her, so he stopped trying. One of the women was blonde, and the taller of the two - built slender, but with a look on her face that said she wouldn’t take any crap. The second woman was brown-haired and shorter, and she looked like the younger of the two and therefore she was probably more open to… persuasion. She had shuriken strapped firmly to her back, however, and Sirius was wary of the ninja-types from long experience. He would tread carefully with these two.

“Would I be right in guessing that you two were aboard the lovely (yet sadly deceased) Silver Zephyr?”

Laevra stared straight at him with an amused expression on her face. “You would be correct, Captain.”

“I’m Shay! And this is Selene,” the brown-haired one said. Her hair was tipped with red, and Sirius approved heartily. The one she’d called Selene flicked a look at Laevra, as if she were unsure that he could be trusted, then she stepped forward slightly.

“Laevra said…Captain.” The question wasn’t obvious, but Sirius picked it up from her curious expression. “Captain of the Wolfstar?”

Sirius swept into a deep bow, one hand on the clearly displayed Durrandal’s hilt, and the other clenched in the small of his back. “At your service, madam!” He stood upright again, back straight and head held high. “Captain Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn, no less. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”

TAG Selene & Shay & Laevra, lol.

[Crystal Tears]

Selene

“Captain Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn, no less. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”

Had she? Maybe, Selene looked at him with a curious, yet cold gaze. She could recall some tales of some pirate duo stealing airship Magacite, but could that be him? Selene smirked, with his crooked nose…. probably not. There had been something in that tale about handsome, and that nose… well…

“No.”

“Well then I will have to regale you with my many exploits.”

“Thrilling...” Selene’s voice came out colder than she expected. Laevra spoke then, but Selene didn’t pay attention, turning from the trio as she’d rather not talk to a damn pirate who seemed to think he was charming…

I don’t think there’s an Ivalican outpost nearby… There isn’t anyone else out there, we were looking for- She turned back and found a surprise that tore her from her very train of thought. Sirius’s face is fixed. As abrupt as that thought was, it was true. His nose was no longer crooked and Laevra held in her hand a small bottle that appeared to be labelled ‘ether’. Selene blinked, she never knew that a nose could make such a difference, but Sirius had gone from nobody to a man who fit the description of the magacite thief perfectly. Well… She mused. One of them anyway…

"Doesn't he look handsome?" Shay smiled gleefully, clapping her hands. Selene looked at her and frowned.

The woman looked at the Captain for a minute before rolling her eyes tiredly at her friend. "Sure." Despite the coldness of the reply, Sirius didn’t seem to let it affect him at all. He smiled, for a millisecond, faster than most to catch, Selene looked off guard. What the hell is he smiling at?

“Are you sure your wrist is fine?”

Selene looked away from Sirius. “Pardon?”

Laevra looked at her questioningly. “Your wrist…”

“Oh.” She looked down at her wrist and turned it, it was clicking… Was clicking normal? No… Probably not… “It’s fine.”

“It has been in my experience that whenever a woman says ‘its fine’, it’s most definitely is NOT.”

Selene spun around; anger and frustration suddenly became the two most controlling emotions of the day, along with a sudden urge to KILL the bastard who had said that. Her eyes fell upon a… Well, she didn’t exactly know WHAT to call him, as he seemed to sway in the wind and walked with the grace of a drunken chocobo… Whoever he was seemed to catch on to Selene’s sudden anger…

And smiled.

No, grinned… That smug son of a… He bowed, Selene blinked. It was perfect, Ivalican to the core and had the ‘I’m better than you’ attitude of the nobles from Archades. Oh lord… She thought as she gritted her teeth. A drunken, Archades noble…

“Adair Strode my lady, yours to violate.” He paused. “Unless Sirius has claimed you for himself, tis in the contract my dear.”

She fumed, unintentionally her fists clenched. Never before had someone said something like that before to HER. She was above him, and yet here he was…

CLAIMED BY SIRIUS?!

She pivoted, facing the now slightly frightened Captain. She didn’t notice by her right hand had turned ablaze with magic and fury.

“Oh… Captain, she seems fiery.” Adair spoke from behind.

Sirius shot a glare laced with death at Adair as Shay and Laevra didn’t know what to do. Her ninja friend seemed to be quite content, laughing as Adair only grinned back at his captain.

“That’s…” Laevra looked at her Captain with narrowed eyes. “A Fire spell...”

“Perhaps you’ve noticed the way Adair…” Sirius paused for a moment. “Waddles… Drinking problem you see, don’t trust anything he says.”

Selene looked over her shoulder at Adair, who was lying in the snow, making an angel. Immediately the potential fiery death of Captain Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn was snuffed.

I’m going to murder… No, that’s not the right word. Execute… They were pirates, and thus criminals. Somebody… Both of them? Maybe…

Selene shot a glare Adair, as her composure began to return to the normal cold façade.


A loud, disturbing groan echoed through the canyon then. Selene blinked, drawing her gun from the holster as a moan, equal in the ability to raise the hairs on the back of your neck answered the first. The sound itself seemed to loom over the ground (which was larger than Selene realized) before the horrifying sound of ice cracking caught everyone’s attention.
She turned in the direction of the cracking, watching as the ice moved up a couple of inches before sinking inwards.

Only a couple seconds afterwards chunks of ice, and freezing water flew from the hole. Everyone scattered, desperately trying to avoid the sudden, very large pieces of hail coming down on top of them. Selene slid, using the ice to her advantage she disappeared under a plate of metal that graciously took the hit for her.

Wind swirled around the hole, and for an instance, Selene swore she saw a person there. But the blur of snow and sudden rain wiped the image from her mind.

Then something huge appeared. It clambered out of the hole, standing easily at eight feet tall it paused. Another came after it, just as big, it handed a crude looking sword to it’s partner before revealing it’s own.

Selene blinked, dumbfounded. Where’s their heads?

~~~

Two fearsome beasts native to Ivalice have emerged from the ice of the Soca Rift. They are known as Anchag, headless, bloodthirsty monsters that wield crude blue blades easily the size of a person.
Anchag are slow, but powerful, together they form the perfect team. Despite their apparent lack in agility, they can easily turn on a dime to face an opponent.

Even in Ivalice though, Anchag are rare, not many have seen them, many more never will. Some who had sighted these beasts, never live to tell the tale…

~~~

MISSION TIME

It would seem that luck refuses to join sides with the survivors. Amidst the chaos of the crash, two Anchag have risen from the depths to deal with the unfortunate group.
* DEFEAT THE ANCHAG
Tip: Beware of the Anchags' deadly skills with a blade, and their nasty ice element spells.

[classy_cat18]

Niosa Tiera
Al Bhed - About to strangle Adair

I shot a glare at Sirius's back before turning back to Adair. "He is the captain of this airship, right?" I asked him curiously.

He only showed a second's hesitation before answering. "Uh...yes. He's just so busy with gathering his crew. Fortunately, I am the pilot and am also responsible for the condition of the Wolfstar. I assure you that you will be well compensated for your work, fair lady."

I rolled my eyes. The captain was obviously more concerned about his face, and the pilot seemed to be concerned about the women he was approaching. I changed my voice to that with an icy tone. "The name's Niosa Tiera, not fair lady."

"Of course. What an elegant name you have."

"Flattery will not lower the price, Adair." I noticed that he kept glancing at his captain and growled to get his attention again. "If you leave before negotiations are complete, Adair, then they will get even more difficult. Nii does not tolerate men that hold certain pleasures at a higher priority than their machina."

"It's important--"

"We'll finish later but Nii could use free meals and access to your materials that Nii can use to make ammo and fix your machina, as well as keep Kumas moving. Of course, it's just a start to Nii's bill. Money is always useful."

"Shrewd. Okay, you got a deal." He left me and hurried over to Sirius and the females.

I sighed and looked back at the engine. How those two fools managed to get their hands on such a fine airship is way beyond me. I glanced at Kumas and noticed that he was looking outside, like he was actually watching something. "Kumas? What's wrong?"

Kumas made a strange beeping noise before taking a few steps from me and concentrating on a piece of icy ground that seemed to be cracking. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched the same thing. My eyes grew as ice chunks and freezing water erupted from the hole that was created. Everyone scattered to avoid the falling ice while I stayed in the airship shell.

Adair and Sirius retreated into the airship as well and stood beside me. "What are those things?" I asked out loud as something else emerged from the ground. Two creatures with huge swords. Headless creatures.

"I'd wager they're not friendlies," Sirius commented. He and the pilot pulled out their weapons.

"It's a good thing that Nii prepared fire ammunition in case of something like this!" I lifted my rifle at the nearest one and shot at his arm as he raised his sword to one of the survivors.

[Bulbasaur4]

Laevra
[ F | Viera | Music Start: Icy Wind

Laevra had tried not to turn her calm, forward expression into one of amusement but it was quite difficult. Seeing her captain with a bent nose was something to behold and it seemed to perfectly ruin the otherwise pristine features that he held. It was as if someone had created a wonderful masterpiece and then thrown black paint all over it.
It was incredibly amusing to Laevra, and in fact was so amusing that she tolerated his efforts in charming Selene and Shay. Obviously he made no effort in doing so with Laevra, although she couldn't have helped but notice that he had used a rather cooing tone towards her... which meant one thing.

He wants something and no doubt it is to fix that nose of his. She felt her eyes narrow further, as the rising urge to belt both him and Adair rose within her- and here, they hadn't done anything yet.

Well... they had done plenty things in the past and had a record of bruising upon their sternum to prove it, but it was always deserved- at least, it was to Laevra. Like the time they needed some freebie parts for the Wolfstar and the only one who had such parts was from another womanizing Hume...

"Oh Laevra, dear..." Sirius began as his attention - for the mere moment- was taken off of Selene.

"Yes, my dearest Captain?" Laevra fluttered her eyes at him- an entirely mocking response which clearly stated: Yes, I know what you want and no I'm not going to fix your nose.

"But Laevra, darling, it was from the accident." His eyes seemed to enlargen and moisten somewhat, as he gave a heart-warming performance of the "puppy eyes" which was known to melt even the iciest of man.

The corner of Laevra's mouth twitched, as she recalled the several times in which both Adair and Sirius had gotten 'bruises and boo boos' from things that were accidents.
"Are you telling me that the Wolfstar, crashing into this icy forsaken dirt had NOTHING to do with you or Adair? And really, a crooked nose is not life-threatening... I'm not quite so sure I should waste my energy in something that won't hinder you at all." She crossed her arms for good measure and waited for his response.

"I assure you Laevra, it was not by my error!" Sirius proclaimed with earnest, but then he moved on to the more important point. "And the tragic condition of my nose here will be the utmost hindrance to us all! For without it, surely my-" He hesitated, remembering that he was in the presence of two women who had not denied him and very well could be the only two women he'd meet for a very, very long time.

Well, of course there was Laevra but the whacking upon the sternum and the bruises...

"FINE, but may I remind you that I'm not your beautician." Laevra pulled her quiver from her back to her side and opened up the bottom which had a small compartment. In it were various small containers and one of them marked "Ether" was full and available. "I'm only doing this because I don't want to deal with your tragic story that would be sure to develop from this trip..." Laevra muttered, opening up the ether and dabbing a few droplets upon her fingers. She then, quite hastily, grabbed Sirius' nose with her wet fingers and with haste, snapped it back into place. It was almost instant, although it caused the man to wince.

"Doesn't he look handsome?!" Shay exclaimed with glee, having watched the whole thing with utmost fascination.

~*~*~*~*~*~
- Elevator Time Skip Music -
~*~*~*~*~*~
CUE MUSIC START: Battle Theme VI - The Black Mages

The ice was falling around them- most of the shards being rather large and looked as if they could impale someone. Instinctively Laevra leapt out of the way, doing a sort of backwards somersault to do so but the moment she stopped, she noticed her shadow growing quite large and within an instant she leapt to the side to avoid another large piece that stabbed into the ground.

"Oh now this looks like fun..." Laevra muttered to herself, as immediately she glanced about her situation. Two rather large and rather commanding monsters had appeared and in their grasp were massive, domineering swords. But they don't have heads... why don't they have heads? Laevra thought, but she shook her head. There were many odd tales in Ivalice and she couldn't help but feel that she should know the names of these creatures, but she shook the feeling away.

For now it seemed that everyone in their little group was alright, although judging by the size of those swords... Laevra was hoping that no one was going to take any injury. That thing could cleave someone in half...and crap, I still haven't fully recovered from the crash.

Laevra pursed her lips together, looking slightly perturbed at the thought. Best to save what energy I have left then... She supposed that she'd wait to judge the two creatures a bit more before engaging them. If they proved to be slow, she had an idea that perhaps annoying them with her arrows while staying out of reach would be a good enough distraction for the others to attack. Laevra was confident in her agility to keep out of sword's reach... but then again, she wasn't quite sure what they were capable of.

[classy_cat18]

Sori - Male Moogle
Currently hanging with Garif

Our moment of peace and quiet was broken when everyone's attention snapped to the same place. What's happening to the ground? My question was answered when ice burst from a hole in the ground. And whatever goes up...

"RUUUUUUN!" I screamed as it came back down. Batilis and I were separated while we were dodging. I was separated from my rod again and had a few pounds of snow dumped on me.

When the sky was done falling, Batilis pulled me out of the snow, making sure it was by my shirt and not my pompom. "This one saw something in the mist...but it's gone now," he informed me.

We were more worried about what came out of there next. My ears drooped as two giants climbed out of the hole that was created. "Anchag? Anchag are from Ivalice! What are they doing here?" I jerked my eyes from them and scrambled to look for my rod. "Batilis, where's your ax?"

He looked around himself before telling me, "This one lost it!" Somehow he was still calmer than me.

"Well, he'd better find it!" I returned, mimicing his speech. I kicked at a snow drift and yelped as my tiny foot brushed against something sharp. My hands dug in the snow until they closed around the handle of a weapon. "This one found it!"

He ran over and grabbed it, handing me my rod with his other hand. "One is coming here!"

My attention was diverted to the other one. It had already been shot by an elemental rifle, and was now being attacked by some of the others. More were coming our way. I pointed my rod at Batilis. "Time to speed up! HASTE!"

[Weasel Overlord]

Temzi :: Dragoon of Justice

:: and wild horses couldn’t drag me away ::

In the name of Justice! A Quest of great importance! Temzi smiled underneath his great helm. He felt as if his life had meaning again, and he gripped Dragon’s Whisper with new zeal and fire and general white-knuckled grippiness. This Seta was his companion - they would complete great deeds together in the wide unknown! Yes, and they would find his fair maiden and then… well, something. But the finding was the key!

And - suddenly - Temzi was grabbed underneath the armpits and hauled roughly to one side. He hit the ground with a resounding “oof!” and stared wildly at the chunk of ice that had hit the space he had been occupying, and then confusedly at the lump of Seta that had landed on top of him.

“That’s a big lump of ice, isn’t it?” He gently pushed Seta off his chest, and sat upright. “I wonder where it came from. Did you see?”

Seta pointed; Temzi followed the line of his finger and then his jaw duly dropped at the sight of two giant monsters with gianter swords, and no heads to boot.

“Ah. Well, never fear good Seta! You are in splendid hands. Forward for Justice!” Temzi sprang to his feet and gripped Whisper enthusiastically. “What ho!” He raised his voice and was gratified to hear a somewhat distant echo coming from the Captain who’d hefted the wood off him earlier on.

He hauled Seta to his feet, dusted tiny snowdrifts off his shoulders and, with a dramatic pointing gesture, set off at a dead run towards the two very beasty, extremely headless brothers Anchag.

Seta stared at his back for a second before uttering a tiny, almost imperceptible sigh and setting off in the wake of the Guado, who by now had gathered enough speed to be kicking up snow left right and centre.

Temzi, far enough in front of Seta and full enough of adrenalin to forget about anything other than his foe, had gained momentum. Enough momentum, you could say, to power a small steam engine, should this be possible. His feet moved almost at a blur, and snow sprayed out from either side of him as he ran, Whisper held diagonally in both hands, point facing behind him and one fist firmly clenched in the chain.

He crouched lower and lower as he ran, in a movement reminiscent to that of an animal about to spring and then, suddenly, he wasn’t on the ground any more. He left behind a neat circle of compressed snow, two large bootprints and a double hole in the ground where the points of Dragon Whisper had dug in briefly, before the Jump.

He grinned as freezing cold wind rushed through the gaps in his armour, as he gained more and more altitude. Temzi had always loved the feeling of freedom this attack gave him, and the way that people down below got smaller and smaller as the move went on.

Reaching the arc of his Jump, Temzi angled his spear downwards, point-first this time, and streamlined his body for speed. The holes in his blade stayed true to their name, and an eerie whispering sound accompanied his rapid descent, leading to a few upturned heads as he plummeted closer to the foe.

“For Justice!” He shouted, gathering his muscles and springing off the air, driving Dragon Whisper straight into the sword-shoulder of the closest of the two beasts and landing lightly on the ground, sending up a flurry of snow and grit.

The Anchag yowled in fury (although how it managed that without a head Temzi would never know) and grabbed him by the neck with its other huge fist. It plucked him off with barely any effort, flung him to the ground like a ragdoll then turned its attention to the great bloody spear stuck through its shoulder.

With a pained roar, it drew Whisper out and tossed it at Temzi almost contemptuously, and he reached up and plucked it from the sky with a grunt. Heaving himself up, he straightened his helm and narrowed his eyes at the foe. Jaw set, he went into a low crouch, Whisper held two-handed once again, only this time the wicked points faced down Anchag.

He chanted a few words under his breath, and then spun Whisper in a perfect figure-of-eight. The snowfly charm made a faint tinkling sound and then a cold wind blew, seemingly originating from the tiny holes in the blades of Dragon Whisper.

Temzi felt the effects of Reis’s Wind before his fellow fighters did, and he breathed in its rejuvenating breeze with a smile. That would help their cause, no doubt about it. He took a moment to thank Reis for his foresight in creating such a spell, and then squared off with the now-swordless Anchag.

“Prepare to meet Justice, foul beast!”

-----

EDIT: OHSHI- I forgot to mention in signups... at this point, Temzi knows;

1) Jump - Leap into the air, removing the self from battle for a short time, then delivering a powerful attack
2) Reis's Wind - Cast Regen on party
3) Lancer - Cause damage to HP and MP and heal self equal to that amount

And maybe at some point, will learn either;

4) White Draw - Restore MP for the whole party equal to a range of 0 and enemy's level
or 5) Dragon's Breath - Cause damage to all enemies equal to amount of HP target has lost.

[Pichu Luver]

Adair Stroud

‘The sodding GIT! He’s the Yevon damned Captain! It’s his ship! He’s lucky I was good at maths!’

“Uh…yes. He's just so busy with gathering his crew.” ‘Why I am I defending him?’ he thought, ‘Gotten too reliable of late I have… must fix that. RUM.’ “Fortunately, I am the pilot and am also responsible for the condition of the Wolfstar. I assure you that you will be well compensated for your work, fair lady."

Adair watched as she rolled her eyes. Alas another damsel on which his flattery would not work. But Adair had a philosophy when one failed,

Try, try and try again.

Still it did not work so he decided to leave her be for now. Never was sure what Al Bhed would do if they took an irrational dislike. He was a bit preoccupied it was true so his charming skills were not up to their usual par. He rather not have Sirius become healed and he wanted to see if the Viera ‘radioactiveskinbecauseeverytimehehadtouchedherane xplosionofepicproportionshappened’ Laevra had managed to survive. He both hoped she had and hadn’t because she was vastly amusing when directing her anger at Sirius, but she would fix his nose…. Probably anyway.

“It’s important-“

She—being female—of course cut off his grand explanation on the need to be ‘entertained’ and that he did care for the Wolfstar, (it was in better shape then the Zephyr wasn’t it) with what she wanted. He sighed internally, ‘Women.’ as it was what the correct amount should be. No fooling her it would seem.

“Shrewd. Okay, you got a deal.”

He then took off for Sirius and the trio of woman he had around him. He cursed Sirius’s luck with finding the attractive ones. However Laevra was one of them so she was already off limits… for now. She had apparently fixed Sirius’s nose and Adair walked in on the decidedly distressing comment of,

“Doesn't he look handsome?”

He frowned and pursed his lips. No way he was going to let that pass without some effort to have Sirius loose dignity. Women to him first, never said he couldn’t insult the man.

“It’s fine.”

‘Thank you luv, and here’s my entrance.’

Ooooooouu Ou! She was a fiery one! Adair grinned, she looked puzzled, and he guessed most men did not insult her and then smile. Or insult her at all frankly. So he used a few tricks his dear ol’ mum had taught him. Then of course directed the anger at the one he was irritated with. Life was good.

He flopped and decided to make a snow angel to celebrate his victory.

He might loose a few points in dignity but pride was his concern, dignity was not. Besides keeping the ladies off guard kept the number of slaps he had to avoid to a minimum. The blond glared at him but the preposterousness of his current activity kept her anger in check. And saved Sirius because he was a drunk, so denying it would be ridiculous and without a Captain he didn’t get paid.

And he knew the pass codes, Adair did not.

Then there was a groaning, creaking and ice shards were flying through….

Adair yelled so high it was nearly a scream as he rapidly back pedalled. The shard of ice destined for his chest smashed into the field a foot below… well lets just say he’d hit the high notes for a whole new reason.

“Eh! YOU!” he yelled, scrambling to his feet. He leaped aside as another ice shard skidded past. The two monsters turned to him. “You nearly cost me my way with women!”

“Yes because that would be a loss to the world Adair!”

He turned and spied Laevra as she took aim with her arrows.

“It would! I couldn’t rav—eh I deal with you later!” he shouted back as one of the monsters came trudging for him. The other had Rust-Bucket screaming Justice at him. Adair shook his head at the man’s insanity (a first considering most classed Adair as insane) before he was preoccupied with his saving his own skin.

He wasn’t a fighter, he’d be the first to admit it but his flamboyant way of bouncing through life served him well on the battlefield. He did the limbo under the sword and ran forward. He did a terrific slide between the creature’s legs, slicing at its right leg’s massive bulk. The headless-wonder roared in pain and Adair stumbled to his feet, blundering into the blond he’d so irritated before.

“Sorry my liege.” he said with a sketchy bow before scampering off to the right. She looked like she wanted to shoot him with those wicked pistols of hers when the loaf managed to turn around and swung at Adair again.

He leaped and did a forward tumble over the blade before getting a face full of snow. “Gotta work on my dismount.” He groaned, turning over. “CRACKERS!” he yelled as he spied the blade coming down at him. He rolled rapidly to the left, becoming covered into snow. He heard a massive smash to his right and he thought someone jumped over him before he unsteadily got to his feet.

[Crystal Tears]

Selene
Short post, my apologies..

“Sorry my liege.” He then bowed and took off running, Selene considered for the briefest of moments of shooting the man, but she decided against that. That would be a waste of precious ammo and such things shouldn’t happen at a moment like this.

There were two, and that posed quite the problem. One enough seemed to keep most busy while the other, slightly hindered by random attacks from a larger group of people Selene recalled seeing; it was having a good ol’ time shooting blizzards and other ice-elemented things at people.
And then it turned its attention to Shay.

Note, Selene didn’t like Shay, but she didn’t hate the Spiran either. In fact other than a slightly too upbeat attitude, and the fact she was from the rival continent, Selene had absolutely no problems with her.
This was probably the reason she was charging for Shay only making it in time to slide between the girl and the monster. The headless wonder groaned, about to swing its sword and finish either of them off, Selene fired. The first shoot seemed to do little, the monster only seemed to respond with an angry gurgle, and however, Selene had learned a valuable lesson from a family friend once.
If one shot doesn’t work, try many.
So she did, Shay was recovering from slipping on the ice as Selene went trigger happy, all the shots aiming for the large black plate on its upper chest. The monster roared in fury, forced back at the suddenly fray of bullets.

“Are you alright?” Selene asked; having to stop and reload, she did so while on the move, closely followed by her friend.
“I’m… Yeah! I’m fine!”
“Good.” The gunwoman replied, “Now help me kill it.”
Shay nodded, and holding tightly onto Selene’s arm, as she seemed to have bad balance, whipped the shuriken forward.

It hit, slicing open the Anchag’s back so make it howl, as the weapon came back round to it’s master, Selene opened fired again. Only the monster kept coming, it knocked Shay clean away from the gunner and body-checked Selene roughly into the ground. She slid across the snow and ice for about five feet before coming to a stop.
Selene looked up in horror as the monster came at her, sword ready to cleave her in two…

Until a fire spell flew over her and slammed the monster back, long enough for her to stand and retreat back to her rescuer.
“Thank you…” Selene huffed, as she regained composure.

~ ~ ~

Tag somebody who knows magic, and Beckerz XD

Standings (roughly):
Anchag 1:
Health: 87%
↑ Will start using (basic) magic more often

Anchag 2:
Health: 91%
↑ Sometimes uses (basic) magic

[Weasel Overlord]

Shitty place for an ending. Shh, it's getting late.

Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn

[Captain and General Ruler of the Wolfstar]

a violent encounter

The onslaught of the two beasts wasn’t exactly unexpected to Sirius. For some reason, bad luck seemed to follow him around, and two giant sword-wielding buggers weren’t exactly the worst thing he’d faced. Oho no, not much could compare to the pure, dark evil incarnate that was the Magic Pot. It gave him shudders just thinking about the thing, rolling around in the dark, cackling. Well okay, maybe it didn’t actually cackle per se, but it rolled! And the rolling noise was probably the worst thing. Well okay, the getting smote with fiery wrath, that was the worst thing, but these two? Hah! Sirius could almost laugh in their… well, not in their faces, that was for sure. Their chests? No, no ears there. Swords? No, too… swordy. Blunt. Hitting-you-in-the-face-y.

Sirius, laughing in the face of danger, saw this battle as nothing more than an excuse to show the fair maidens what he was made of. Mostly, extremely dashing sky pirate. They didn’t have to know about the running away (oh, running away, Sirius’ best friend). All they had to know was what they saw - which Sirius was determined would be valour in its extremity. Braveness in the face of danger! And not to mention his amazing swordmanship, oh yes indeed.

He drew Durrandal with a bloodthirsty growl, whipped off a swordsman’s salute and charged headlong into the fray. He’d seen the stowaway spring from the clouds and stab one of them through the bloody shoulder, and figured that might be the way to go. Plus he saw Adair leaping and limboing and looping and generally kicking arse over at the other Anchag, so he reckoned he’d help out with this beastie.

“What ho, tin-man!” He slapped the blue-armoured man on the back heartily, then immediately regretted it. “You’re forgiven for stowing away just because of that marvellous jump, sirrah! That was you I heard before, wasn’t it?”

“Oh, thank you Captain de Famfræn sir! And yes, yes it was. Not really much for a battle cry, but it suffices I suppose. Do you intend to join me in this fight, sir?”

“No more of this ‘sir’ nonsense. I insist that you call me Sirius, near everybody else does. And certainly! You cannot surely have thought to keep this beastie all to yourself, now.” The Dragoon looked slightly abashed, from what Sirius could see under his helm, and he hung his head. “Now, no need to look like that. What’s your name, then? I don’t fancy going into battle without knowing my bold friend’s name!”

“It’s Temzi, sir, I mean… Sirius.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Temzi. And what an unusual name! But alas, no time for frivolities, my young Dragoon. Forward, and into the fray! What ho!”

Temzi shook his head with a bewildered look on his face, but he followed the Captain with a will, taking up the unlikely battle cry of “What ho!”

Durrandal glimmered with snowlight, and Sirius raised it above his head. He dashed in underneath the Anchag’s reach and slashed it across the vulnerable belly. To his left, Temzi was worrying the beast with his mighty spear, and Sirius was suddenly glad to have what looked to be a great fighter on his side.

He’d never seen a Dragoon in battle before, being as they were rather less inclined to a life of crime. In fact, he’d only ever seen two Dragoons in his entire life and both of them when he was very young, and still a part of his left-behind family. All he remembered was that they were stiff in manner (much like Temzi, here), big on things such as honour and valour, and that his father had told him, solemnly, that Dragoons were the best of fighters because they were capable of true creativity on the battlefield.

With what glimpses Sirius saw of Temzi as they fought, side by side, he knew his father to have spoken the truth. If the Jump attack he’d seen earlier was an indication of power, then the healing Regen spell was an indication of versatility. And that armour! Sirius was willing to bet that it was worth a good million gil, at the least. He could see training in every movement Temzi made, which served to highlight the lack of training Sirius himself had. His swordmanship was instinctual skill, honed by necessity, and many years worth of scrapes. The Dragoon’s was the steady, unflappable skill of someone who’d drilled formations and moves until perfection.

[Emotional Faun Chiko-sai]

Chironu Twice-Born
I came to them out of Mists and snow

Chironu halted her descent when the shouting and monster-groaning and ice-chunks-flying-about began. Wouldn't do to be smacked sideways by errant icebergs now would it.

Instead she maneuvered about on Tonnatara until she was out of the radius of anything the headless ones could throw at her and of anything the other people could throw at the headless ones. Plenty people down there doing the fighting, including a Time-Mage of a species she could not place, some swordies, a dragoon who evidently thought himself an agent of Justice, an interesting character in an interesting sort of mask (if his awkward movements could be considered fighting), and a few nimble ladies.

She watched for a while. She had begun to experience an exquisite form of ennui, usually limited to those who sat on the sidelines of Blitzball matches who had followed their friends who were ardent fans of the sport but who were not in actuality cognizant or interested in it and were only there because of promises made by said friends that said sport was 'brilliant!' and 'awesome!' Of course there had been fights in the theatre, but those were mock-fights and punctuated with lines of dialogue, witty or cheesy, depending on the genre of the play they were performing at the moment.

She smelled the magic welling in the headless ones before it came. Magic made physical fights so much more compelling. Especially when she knew what to do with it.

Descending again, she narrowly missed being hit by a fire-based spell meant for one of the misshapen beasts, added one of her own with a careless flourish of the fingers, and turned towards the caster of the first spell. By the concentration of it, it was a... Fira.

There was a horrible groan behind her as the minor conflagration connected with the monster. She ignored it. The people in front of her were of considerably more interest.

"Good eventide," she began, then danced nimbly out of reach of the furious headless-one as it lunged. The interesting mask, who seemed to work as a team with the mage of unknown species that at close range began to look, to her, something like the moogle dolls at home in Spira, sunk his axe deeper into the wound in its back; the lady gunner, almost simultaneously, emptied a few rounds into it.

Amidst other sundry interruptions initiated by the recalcitrant creature, she continued, hopping onto its where-the-head-should-have-been and causing it to contort rather amusingly as it tried to reach her (and in one instance did - the flat of its sword smacked a thigh, leaving a very unpleasant bruise, in response to which she started balancing on a single leg): "I realize this is a most unfortunate time to cultivate acquaintances, but I believe that meaningless physical violence, such as advocated by our no doubt in its own view beauteous and scintillating friend here, is a waste of time, yours and mine-"

She leapt, as a shower of ice cascaded over where she formerly was; the headless-one emitted unpleasant roaring noises as it discovered that the Blizzard spell had merely hit itself. The roars desisted as the ice element was absorbed into its wintry bloodstream. Chironu tch'ed.

The others resumed combat, but not before two sharp comments, the edges of which would have drawn blood if they had been projectiles, rapped out, one from the gunner and one from the possible moogle:

"Stop jawing and out with it."

"If you would just quit playing around! Some of us are trying not to die here!"

"Now, now (Chironu narrowly stopped herself from tacking 'children' on to the end of that - she was trying to remember to be slightly more polite these days), I was merely going to suggest dropping a couple of pieces of icy cliff onto these lovelies. Or maybe just this one. Try everything once except folk-dancing and incest, don't-cher-know."

"No, I didn't, actually," said the lady gunner drily, reloading.

"Oh, all we need to do, or Master Adorable-scarlet-bobble (may I pet it after all this is over?) and me, perhaps someone else with a thingummajigger that melts things, is heave away with the flamethrowers, I mean fire spells, at cliffside, add a leetle bit of aiming, and away we go, and then maybe we can end this all before suppertime. I've been holed up in this rift for longer than I care to remember, and I have it on good authority, that is to say mine, that a very large part of it is indeed frozen water. What say you, Master Adorable-scarlet-bobble?"

"I'll roast you to a crisp after I'm done with these Anchags," snarled Master Scarlet-bobble, with a dangerously homicidal glint in eye.

"This one would like to end this before suppertime, too," the interesting mask said, wistfully, wielding the axe that in Chironu's opinion was going to fall apart after not many more swings surprisingly expertly.

"Capital! Dear Mister Interesting-mask, I do believe you are quite a lot more intelligent than you move! All right, so it will kill all reserves of magick in our person and exhaust us both terribly, but risks are made to be taken! Shall we?" and, smacking a fire-imbued Tonnatara into the headless-one's torso, "or shall we not?"


Tag everybody I mentioned (CT, Kalah, classy and maybe others) and I apologize for taking over many characters.
Also, please assume for all purposes that Seta is hacking away, katana in hand, somewhere. I am currently mentally unable to write a separate hacking away, katana in hand post because I fail that way.

[classy_cat18]

Sori - Time Mage Moogle
Who is this nut?

We quickly found out that the two Anchag (like all Anchag) were tougher than we thought. They were very resistant against the metal weapons and even the fire spells. We only had so much energy left, especially since some of us were injured from the crash.

I was mainly providing backup for Batilis while he ran, sliced, and dodged at a higher speed than normal. When one of the Humans nearly got bisected by one of the Anchag, I blew it back with another Fira. She retreated to me. "Thank you..." she huffed.

"No problem. Whoa!" The thing swung his sword down, separating the two of us. The woman went back to the gunner's side and I stood beside Batilis. These things are solid."

Then someone else jumped in. The girl greeted us before dodging one of the ice beasts and then went back to talking while perched on the thing's head. "I realize this is a most unfortunate time to cultivate acquaintances, but I believe that meaningless physical violence, such as advocated by our no doubt in its own view beauteous and scintillating friend here, is a waste of time, yours and mine-"

What in Gaia is she talking about? Physical violence is the only thing keeping us from being killed! She dodged again, avoiding being hit by a Blizzard spell. I groaned and tightened my grip on my rod. "If you would just quit playing around! Some of us are trying not to die here!" I yelled in frustration.

"Now, now, I was merely going to suggest dropping a couple of pieces of icy cliff onto these lovelies. Or maybe just this one. Try everything once except folk-dancing and incest, don't-cher-know."

Who is this nut? She makes some kind of sense; I can't keep this up forever. I missed what the gunner told her.

"Oh, all we need to do, or Master Adorable-scarlet-bobble (may I pet it after all this is over?)--"

My attention was as good as grabbed. I know she did not just call me that! And she is going nowhere near my pompom! The fluff just now started to grow back in!

"and me, perhaps someone else with a thingummajigger that melts things, is heave away with the flamethrowers, I mean fire spells, at cliffside, add a leetle bit of aiming, and away we go, and then maybe we can end this all before suppertime. I've been holed up in this rift for longer than I care to remember, and I have it on good authority, that is to say mine, that a very large part of it is indeed frozen water. What say you, Master Adorable-scarlet-bobble?"

There's that name again! I grit my teeth and glared at her. "I'll roast you to a crisp after I'm done with these Anchags," I snarled, fighting the urge to add "kupo" to the end.

"This one would like to end this before suppertime, too," Batilis agreed.

I couldn't argue with that.

"Capital! Dear Mister Interesting-mask, I do believe you are quite a lot more intelligent than you move! All right, so it will kill all reserves of magick in our person and exhaust us both terribly, but risks are made to be taken! Shall we?" She smacked the monster with her interesting weapon. "or shall we not?"

A woman emerged from the crowd, carrying a rifle with her. Her machina followed her for a few steps then stopped. "You have spiral eyes like Nii! Nii will help! Nii has fire ammunition!" she said excited.

Spiral eyes? So she's an Al Bhed. And the newcomer's part Al Bhed. "Fine, I'm in too. I'm running out of magic anyway."

[ChobiChibi]

~Shay- As elegant as a figure skating elephant~

After sliding a rather long distance on her belly, Shay crashes into a snow drift head first. Feeling a little colder and possibly bruised, she shakily gets to her feet, brushing off the snow. I miss Luca. It was warm there. She thinks, before concentrating on the battle in the distance. She notices the big monster thing going after Selene, so she quickly picks up a shuriken and throws it as hard as she can at it. Fortunately for Selene, someone else cast a fire spell at it, making it stumble backwards. Her shuriken came flying back towards her, having not hit the monster at all, causing her to fall over as she caught it. Bloody ice...

Standing up again, she carefully made her way back to Selene and whoever her rescuer was. About half way there, she changed her mind, throwing both Shuriken at the monster, one after the other in quick succession, to give it a little surprise. The first hit the shoulder of the arm holding the sword, causing the monster to flail a little. The second, supposed to hit not far from that point, was instead deflected by the sword as it flailed around in rage, landing about 7 feet in front of it. She catches the first with ease as it returns to her, staring at the second.

“There’s no way you’re having that.” She mutters, sprinting the best she can towards her lost weapon. Unfortunately, the creature noticed her, stamping on the already cracked ice as she takes hold of the weapon. The ice tips, water running down it as Shay clings to her shuriken, thankfully lodged firmly enough in the ice for her not to slip down into the icy waters below, the piece of ice now nearly in a vertical position.

With both hands holding onto both her shuriken, she was unsure exactly what she would be able to do. She hung there, her right hand clinging to the one lodged into the ice, the one keeping her from her death, whilst she attempted to strap the second to her back. Failing, she swings, sticking the second one into the ice, and hauling herself up onto the first, using it as a platform as she frees the second. I don’t like this... She thought, almost face to face (if it had a face) to the creature before her, the sword very much too close for comfort.

The monster roared with pain as more bullets hit it, stumbling around on the spot, causing the ice to move around as its foot moved. Shay miraculously managed to stay upright and standing, her feet firmly in the gaps of her shuriken, the other one helping her balance. As the creature’s sword sliced the ice below her directly in half, she places one foot on the ice, the other still in the shuriken and kicks off it, dislodging it. Using the momentum, she back flipped, throwing the free shuriken at it, slicing its stomach, before grabbing hold of the second one off her foot and throwing that. She landed perfectly on her feet, catching her weapons as they returned to her.

She turned around to look for Selene. She began to walk towards her, only to slip and fall after a few steps.

“How is it that you can land on your feet, onto ice after falling about 8 feet and not fall over, when you can’t even take three steps forward on ice?” Selene called, firing a few more shots as a distraction as Shay crawled towards her.

“I don’t know...” She whined, rubbing her back as she stood up. “It hurts to fall over!”

She looks around, noting that a small group has formed now. Other than Selene and Laevra, there were now two Al Bhed girls and a Moogle. Bah... Al Bhed... She thought, the expression on her face remaining deceivingly friendly. They’re only useful for selling things to. Her reaction to the Moogle, however, couldn’t be much more different if she had tried.

“Moogle!!” She squealed, reaching into her bag. “You look just like Mr Mogg!” She finishes, pulling a scruffy looking Moogle plushie out from her bag. She stuffed it back in as she saw the Moogle’s expression and Selene rolling her eyes. “Okay, okay, back to battle.” She grips her shuriken, getting ready, before adding “... Kupo!”

They spread themselves out a little bit before attacking again, all at the same time. Shay stayed close to Selene, she felt safer that way, plus she was starting to laugh at her when she fell over rather than frown, which, to her, was a bonus. In a small moment of silence and during one of those rare moments where Shay was on her feet, she heard something that frightened her. That same cracking sound as before, only quieter and slower.

“What’s wrong?” Selene asked before firing again.

“Did you hear that?” Shay questions, staying as still as she can. “I don’t like that sound...”

[Crystal Tears]

Selene

Selene paused, could she hear it? Hear what? She concentrated, and through the wind and the yelling, something else was there. It sounded like when you stand on a frozen puddle and the ice begins to chip and crack under your feet. She had only ever heard the sound once before, when it had turned very cold in Archades once. She had always found such a sound cool, and playful.
This sound, though similar, wasn’t playful. Not in the childish sense, it was eerie and mortifying. Selene’s heart began to pound as she brushed some of the snow away with her boot and looked down. A crack, subtle at first was running right by her. Quickly though, it began to turn more and more noticeable.

And then, like all horrible moments, there was that dreaded, resounding…. Crack.

“Selene…” Shay muttered, pointing slowly towards the back half of the Zephyr, it groaned, accompanied by more screeching, and suddenly it gave away. Some of it slid deeper into the ice while the part in the air force it’s to become level with its bottom half. The belly smashed into the ice, easily tearing through. The group watched in relative silence as the ice tore itself apart.

“Shay…” Selene gulped; watching as emerging from the sudden sinking of Zephyr was a wave, with no where to go but towards them. “Run…” The gunner turned, watching as the ice around them also broke apart. One of the monsters tumbled, falling into the water which was notably picking up pace.

Everyone was moving, in every direction, whether it was because of the sudden current or themselves, except for Shay.

“Shay!” Selene called, taking a quick step onto the Spiran’s ice float. She pulled on the girl’s arm which seemed to snap her out of her terrified daze. “We have to move!”

The duo leapt and ran. Shay having a considerable amount of trouble keeping on her own two feet as the ice floats spun moved and occasionally flipped. They crashed into each other, and bitterly cold water sloshed and splashed onto the slick surfaces, making them ten times more difficult than they already were. Selene slid to a complete halt on one of the ice floats and turned, seeing Shay looking particularly nervous about this entire ordeal.

“Come on!” Selene urged, noting how pieces of the zephyr were beginning to zoom by them. “You can do it!”

“N-No I can’t!” Shay replied, nervously. “It’s too far!”

“Damn it Shay!” The gunner growled, daringly stepping closer to the edge of her ice chunk, extending her hand to the ninja.

She slipped, of course she slipped. Why would she be able to stand on her own two feet when it really mattered?

“Panic panic panic panic panic-“

Both of them looked over curiously at Adair who was quite skilfully though a little wobbly leaping from ice chunk to ice chunk towards the floating away Wolfstar. Selene glared back at Shay whose face had paled from suddenly hearing the word panic.

“Shay don’t panic!”

The spiran gulped and Selene gritted her teeth as the ice float Shay was on began to break apart.

“SELENE!” Shay cried, looking particularly distraught. “I’M PANICKING!”

Selene, heart pounding and mind racing could only think of one, very odd solution. She reloaded the Calypso with magical ammo. Taking great care not to shoot Shay in the head, which the Spiran obviously thought she was going to do. She fired. The shot had wind roaring around it when it slammed into the water below Shay’s abdomen. The water erupted, a wave of it careening the poor girl into the air. Much to Selene’s surprise Shay landed perfectly on a float near her.

They continued their leaping game. Selene would jump, then Shay, who would practically land on the gunner as to make sure she wouldn’t hit the water. Selene glanced back for a moment and saw the wave of water catching up, carrying chunks of ice, metal and God knows what else in its deep blue stomach. For an instance, Selene and Shay landed on an ice float that was carrying another person.

“Seta?” Selene blinked, reality fading away as he turned.

“Miss.” He spoke; his voice seemed to contain a hint of surprise to see her.

And then the ice float was thrown when a chunk of the Zephyr slammed into it, separating the three. Selene went flying; flying over three chunks of frozen water before slamming into the forth and nearly sliding clean off. She flipped over, dazed and bewildered, not to mention suddenly cold from half of her being in the water. Her fingers dug into the ice just barely; desperately she tried to pull herself back up. Her arms trembled, she was exhausted, her body wanted to quit and her mind was getting to that point.
When a shadow came over her, she looked up; unable to look angry she managed annoyed at the famous Captain Sirius.

“Swim naked with me, madam?”

She couldn’t manage a reply, only a glare that spoke thousands. He smirked, kneeling down, horribly calm in this sort of situation, and grabbed her hand. In one rather easily manoeuvre the pirate had her out of the way and on the ice float. She panted, the cold air making her shiver. Slowly she looked up, perhaps to say thank you, but her mind went blank when her eyes became fixated on something

“Hole..” She panted, trying to catch her breath.

“No, there's no holes in your clothes. You're still decent! Alas" He smiled as she looked at him. “although I could help you with that, if you wish”

Selene, exhausted laughed. It wasn’t much, but it seemed to relieve the tension between them. Sirius’s smile turned into a grin (which she found secretly charming but she wasn’t going to let him know that), and she pointed towards the canyon wall, about fifteen feet up. “No… Hole.”

The Captain turned, tilting his head slightly at the archway in the wall. It looked more like a doorway than a hole, but Selene was too tired to care at this point. It was a shelter from the cold, and the giant wave of water she had temporarily forgotten about.

They needed to get to that archway...

~ ~ ~

Tag WO! I would put a “Mission Time” but I think it’s fairly obvious what we need to doing XD

[Pichu Luver]

Adair Stroud

“Oh let’s all gang up on the Anchie.”

“Let’s all save each other’s backsides by working together.”

“Well where the bloody hell is MY BACK-UP?"

Adair was quite busy playing the carnival fool. Trying desperately not to get himself killed, so far successful, but everyone seemed to think he was quite all right by his lonesome; kicking ass as it were. So they all gathered up to kill the other Antie leaving him to play ‘bait’. Or so he supposed. Yes there were the random arrows by Laevra and Fire spell now and again from someone but he was getting quite tired of dancing around.

“Foul ingrates! THIS is what happens when you leave Adair to his own devices!”

With that impressive declaration he tumbled to right, feeling the frigid air of the sword passing over him. He sprung to his feet as soon as it had cleared the area devoted to his head and ran; AT the other Anchang.

It was then, as he approached the joyful gathering, he heard a sound that made most unhappy hearing.

Cracking.

LOTS of cracking.

Of course everyone else was staring at the Zephyr as it made it demise known. Adair didn’t, he currently had an Anchovy on his ass declaring death was upon him. He did hear an impressive roar though, sounding remarkably like a storm surge.

Then there was another sort of roar behind him and Adair spared a glace to notice the Anchang who had targeted his head for splitting had stomped on a crack, stumbled and fell beneath the waves.

“It will NOT be my funeral party!” he announced to the others, a grin as wide as the canyon upon his face, when finally made it to them. Stowing his sword, the few who spared him a glace declaring him insane right on the spot as the ice beneath their collective feet had started to move. The roaring water sound wasn’t waiting for celebrations either.

“Party poopers.” He declared as they turned and ran. Then he looked behind him and saw why, that noise HAD been a wave.

“Would you stop trying to KILL ME!!!” he cried to the heavens, his ice piece moving of its own violation, “Thrice is enough for a day don’t you think?!?”

Spinning on his heel he floundered after them. His arms were flailing wildly, legs to far forward, leaning to far back as he leapt from ice flow to ice flow. He blessed the steel prongs in the bottom of his toes. Ever since that encounter with an errant Blizzard had made him spin in all manner of unwise body movements he had them installed. Solid ground and Adair didn’t agree with each other, never mind ice.

He spared a glance ahead and noticed that the Wolfstar was floating away.

“NO! BAD SHIP!!!”

He doubled his speed, arms flailing in circular motions as he leaned forward, wobbling to the left or right on each landing. He made impressive time, passing quite a few people considering he looked like he was going to kiss the ice any possible second.

“Panic, panic, panic, panic, panic…” he said as he pasted the unsteady ninja and gunner. It was ironically making him calmer as he repeated his mantra, increasing his speed even more as he got used to the way the ice tiled as he landed. It was almost like the airships of his past when he was avoiding things.

That gave him a thought and he touched a cracked sphere in his jacket pocket and music floated out. Techno music, just what he needed. He timed his leaps and bounds to the song and no longer looked like he was going to crash any second. In fact he would guess he looked quite impressive.

Making it to the Wolfstar he saw a most unhappy thing that she was sinking. So he shut the hatch to slow the water intake as he ran inside. He tore through the ship, skidding to his room, grabbed his pack and ran to the hatch in the ceiling. Leaping, he grabbed the handle and pulled down some stairs leading to a hatch in the top of the ship.

“Ship’s lost. Rum’s not.”

[Bulbasaur4]

Laevra
[ F | Viera | Currently: Assessing the Wave of Doom ]

Laevra had been shooting arrows at the large, frozen beast on occasion to annoy the hell out of the bugger in hopes to distract the lumbering creature so that Adair could get some freebie hits off of it. She also threw a few arrows to the other one as well, and especially did so when Adair suddenly ditched one creature and went for the other. She could hear his rather loud, boisterous calling and exclamations even from her far distance away.

Then came the cracking, the shifting "ground" beneath her feet and the sound of something rather large plunging into the water. Whirling about swiftly, Laevra's eyes widened as she saw the Zephyr diving into the depths below and a huge, swelling wave start rippling outwards. The wave was growing in size as it began to come at them- ice chunks and various debris surfing along with it. The ice beneath Laevra was beginning to crack from the pressure, as was the ice in the whole area.

"Oh this day just makes me feel so... lucky," Laevra sighed outwardly.

Laevra saw the others start to run as one of the beasts plunged into the water- shards of ice flying into the air along with bits of freezing water. Laevra starts to run as well and eventually the running became more of a "hopping" motion as the ice cracked and became more like large ice burgs. She ran at what some would deem a 'leisurely pace' for a Viera to make sure that she did not slip. While she was quite graceful and adept upon her feet, she was NOT entirely accustomed to ice and made note to definitely be careful not to fall. The last thing she wanted was to face plant into the ice and risk sliding into the water.

She noted Shay and Selene were having difficulty and Laevra was catching up to them with ease. However, suddenly the sight of the other Viera came to her vision and she saw them meet up with him. She didn't bother to analyze it further as she almost lost her footing and had to carefully leap several times across a few large gaps into the ice to avoid falling.

It was at that moment about, when she heard the sound of obnoxiously upbeat music that reminded her of the clubs back in Ivalice that she had graced a few times. Her eyes narrowed in slight annoyance as her ears twitched and she looked to see the figure of Adair dashing into the floating remains of the Wolfstar. The ship was sinking, and while it wasn't going down as fast as the Zephyr had, it still was descending.

"What on Gaia do you think you're doing?!" Laevra yelled to him, but he had disappeared into the ship.

Now, at this point in time Laevra had to make a moral decision. She either could realize that Adair's reckless behavior (she wanted to label it stupidity) finally had killed him or she could head over to try to promote the idea of life and that all creatures indeed, need chances (some several) at life.

"Curse you Adair... curse you..." She muttered, wishing for once that she had the talents of a black mage so that she could throw a nice fire ball at Adair's precious face.

Dashing towards the sinking Wolfstar and noting that the wave was getting ominously closer, Laevra continued to yell for Adair in her usual fashion.

"You IDIOT, get out of the ship!" "If you die, I want you to know that I CAN'T resurrect you!" "If you break your nose, I'm not fixing yours!" "Damn you Adair, get out of there!!"

Finally the pilot emerged in a rather triumphant pose, a few bundles in his arms as he hastily took a few leaps and finally landed rather neatly back outside.

"Oh my, Laevra, your heeding calls have begun to make me think that you care!"
"Idiot, I was just here to confirm your death for humanity's sake."
"Well I have survived most gallantly!"
"And here I was hoping you would have at least broken a nose," Laevra said with a smirk.

A large cracking sound however broke their conversation as the ship suddenly groaned and took a further plunge below. The groaning sound of the ice grew louder as the impending wave of doom reminded them of its presence.

"Let's go!" Laevra cried, dashing off again. Adair, much to Laevra's annoyance, kept up with her and seemed most in tune with the ice.
"What did you need back on the ship anyway?" Laevra said through breaths as she hopped from one ice chunk to the next.
"The elixir of life, of course!" Adair held up the large container, "the rum!"

If they had not been running from a large wave of death, Laevra would have shot him with one of her arrows or at least kicked him swiftly in the chest. Instead, she resulted to her verbal spurning.

"You... went in the ship... for alcohol?! That is the absolutely most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! You know my policy for healing does NOT cover injury - no matter how life threatening - on account of stupidity, right?"
"Ah but Laevra, you do not understand the wondrous properties of rum!"
"I'll show you wondrous proprieties.." Laevra growled as she shook her fist at him amidst her running.

The two of them spotted others dashing for what seemed to be an entrance into the cliffs that could serve as a shelter. Laevra didn't say a word as she darted off in the same direction, glancing back at the now rather roaring wave behind her.

Batilis
[ F | Garif | Currently: Fighting ]

During the course of the battle, Batilis had been fighting with his rusted axe in hand. His large, muscular body - when in battle - leaned over slightly in a way that would perhaps remind one of an animal of some sort. His charges at the headless creature seemed to be rather slow, but surprisingly the ice shards that fell from the sky or the crushing sword was nimbly dodged by Batilis. The odd thing was that Batilis did not make extravagant leaps or rolls to avoid such damage, but rather made only minor shifting movements in his stride to seemingly "slide off" the damage.

Then, perhaps by sheer force of will, Batilis took his large axe and swung it around so that it cut into the creature despite the resistance of the frost-like caliber skin. At one point a human came sliding in and it was only at that time that Batilis had to leap over them slightly.

Then an odd woman of sorts had come and pointed towards the cliff, mentioning how she really wanted to pet Sori's red fluffed pompom and also how she wanted to blow the cliff up on top of the creatures. Batilis immediately thought that the idea was a good one, despite not knowing the girl or how she so nimbly climbed up the creature that he had had been hacking at. Still, Batilis knew that Sori's fira spell was an impressive one and thus he was inclined to agree that finishing the battle as soon as possible was, well, possible.

Batilis smashed his axe into the creature again and for a moment, Batilis thought the axe would surely break this time against the grind of the creature's body, but it did not. Instead, the sound of cracking reached Batilis' ear. With quick assessment, he realized that the ship had plunged into the water and the pressure of the shift in the ice was now having a rippling effect around them.

"This one thinks they should run..." Batilis said softly, running back to Sori who just now had noticed the new predicament that they were in.
"Oh yes, run, kupo!" Sori exclaimed.

Batilis and Sori ran, before it became quite apparent that while Sori could pack quite a powerful spell, he was a bit slow in the running and leaping on ice department. So without much effort, Batilis grabbed Sori and promptly placed the Moogle on his back for him to get a sort of 'piggy back' ride. Batilis was rather hunched as he ran- occasionally running his hands along the ice and scraping his fingers into it for an extra burst of speed before assuming a more normal 'running' posture.

"Look! We can get shelter there!" Sori exclaimed and Batilis gave a nod and started to dash off in that direction. As they ran however, they saw as a large chunk of ice smashed into a group of three. The strange rabbit man, the ninja girl and the angry lady with a gun went flying in there separate directions.

"Oh dear, kupo!" Sori commented, but they saw as the Viera was being helped by the impressive Dragoon (Batilis admired his fighting ability and large leaps) who had easily leapt over many gaps in the ice. The gunner was too far to reach, but the other girl was in range. "Let's help her!" Sori directed.

Soon the duo was near the sprawled out Ninja, who seemed thoroughly distraught at the ice and the rather rude landing from the earlier collision.

"Ah, Mr. Moogle!" The girl exclaimed, her face brightening perhaps at the red pom pom upon Sori's head. Sori opened his mouth as if to say something, but surprisingly was interrupted by Batilis low tone.

"This one is here to bring her to safety."

The girl, Shay, blinked for a moment- not quite understanding Batilis' odd speech but soon she understood as Batilis swiftly wrapped an arm about her waste and once again took off. It was there that perhaps it was determined that while Batilis was not super fast nor was he super agile, he was quite strong and it was that fact alone that allowed him to manage his way through the ice with girl and Moogle in tow.

"Wow..." The girl giggled somewhat, looking up at the moogle and at Batilis' masked face. "This is a lot easier than running!"
"This one noticed she had bruises on her knees. This one believed it was from the ice." Was all Batilis remarked quietly.

[classy_cat18]

Niosa Tiera - Female Al Bhed
Whee! Ice jumping!

I clung to Kumas as the ice started to break apart. My machina couldn't float, let alone swim. But I couldn't let him sink either. "Kumas, try to move!" I pleaded.

Kumas looked down at me, at me, and replied, "Sensing danger. Switching into Agility Mode."

I gasped. Kumas couldn't talk before; he didn't even have a mouth!

His eyes started to glow again. Then the etchings along its body glowed the same color. I could hear buzzing and clicking inside of him. His chestplate sunk into his body along with other plates of his armor, leaving him thinner. "Kumas?" I whispered.

Without warning, Kumas quickly ducked and sprang to a nearby ice flow in a long jump. The momentum sent the piece that I was on into the other direction, prompting me to jump to another one as well. Kumas kept jumping towards the hole that the others were heading to. The Moogle, as well as his partner and those he rescued, were already there. Others were quickly getting there. I picked up speed and managed to catch up to Kumas.

I know it was dangerous and also very cold, but still...

It was so much fun. The adrenaline heated my body and gave me energy.

Kumas changed direction slightly and stopped next to the gunner and Sirius, who were nearer to the far side of the canyon. "Kumas, help them get up there!"

The machina grabbed the collar of Sirius's shirt and flung him all the way to the hole. It looked like he skidded his way in there. Selene scrambled away before he could do the same to her, not needing assistance to the shelter.

Nii should've specified how to help them. I shook my head and kept running, finally climbing up with the others.

One of the Viera was bickering with Adair. "You almost got us both killed for rum!" she growled. "I oughta--"

I gave Adair a smack upside the head before she could finish her sentence. "Captain should go down with his ship!" I told him.

"I'm the bloody pilot!" Adair corrected.

"Then you both should've gone down," the Viera retored with a smirk.

[ChobiChibi]

~Shayna- Chopsticks!~

As the three of them got to the safety and shelter of the cave, Shay couldn’t help but stare at her rescuer. Not only was he not wearing a shirt, the mask he wore intrigued her. She had never seen anything like it before and was pretty sure it would fetch quite a nice price if she sold it back in Spira. Now’s not the time to be thinking about that... She scolded herself, her eyes darting to the ground. You have no idea how long you’ll be spending with these people, getting in their bad books so early is not advisable...

“I feel rude.” She began, looking back up at the man and his Moogle. “I don’t know your names...”

“This one is called Batilis.” The masked man replied simply. She was beginning to understand the way that he spoke, but mostly she just wanted to know why. He was obviously from Ivalice; there was no way anyone in Spira would go around looking like he did.

“I’m Sori, kupo!” The Moogle introduced himself. Shayna really did think he looked like Mr Mogg; his little red pom-pom looked just as battered as her favourite plushie.

“Well... Um, I’m Shayna, but call me Shay...” She told them, her mind still focused on Batilis’ mask. She found herself reaching up, her hand hovering a few centimetres away from what would have been his cheek. She paused for a second. “May I?”

She stood on her tip-toes, her fingertips just grazing the edge of the mask before he took hold of her wrist, moving her hand away. “This one thinks she should leave that alone.”

Shay almost felt like she was dangling, her toes only just touching the ground as he held her there. Idiot, idiot, idiot... She wriggled free, avoiding eye contact with him. He must be one of those Garif things I’ve heard about... You’re so stupid, you know that?

“I’m really sorry...” She mumbled, her hand reaching into her bag and pulling out a chopstick; the necklace he was wearing had now started to appeal to her, she had to do something to distract herself. She spun the chopstick through her fingers, something that she would do to practise using her Shuriken when she couldn’t actually use them. She was actually quite good at it, she didn’t have to look, she could swap hands, do two at once, throw them and many other neat tricks.

“This one wants to know how she does that.” Batilis spoke, his head tilted to one side in curiosity.

Shay looked up at him as she threw the chopstick behind her back, catching it with her other hand. Noting that he was still watching her, she figured he was serious. She threw it again, catching it in her teeth as she reached into her bag, pulling out a second one. “Well then, this one will have to show him!” She grinned, tossing it to him, taking hers from her mouth.

She began with the basics, but found that Batilis was a very quick learner, so quickly progressed. As she was teaching him to throw it from one hand to the other and still keep it spinning, he threw it and hit Sori square on the forehead. Shay couldn’t help but laugh, watching Batilis apologise to the Moogle and pick up the chopstick.

“What are you doing?” Shay nearly jumped as Selene spoke, standing right behind her.

Spinning around, she tapped Selene gently on the nose with the chopstick. “Having fun, silly!” Shay grinned as she glared.

“This one thanks her for showing this one how to spin chopsticks.” Balitis says as he holds it out, trying to give it back to her.

Shay shakes her head, throwing the other one to him. “No problem! Keep them!”

Although she couldn’t see it, Shay guessed there may be a smile under that mask of his. She hoped so anyway, it wasn’t often that she felt like she could give things away, even something as insignificant as a chopstick. “Everything has value” is what her father kept telling her, something she couldn’t help but agree with.

The smile soon disappeared from Shay’s face as she remembered just why she was in this cave. The rumbling of rushing water began to grow louder. She looked around, noticing that everybody had managed to get to the cave. At least everyone is okay... I hope this cave can hold out...

What a random post! XD
I apologise if I got Batilis' speech wrong... One thing he said confused me so much, it took me ages to figure out how he would say it XD

[Crystal Tears]

Selene

She would not be thrown.

That was the last thing on her lists of to-dos, even after being washed away by a giant wave of death and destruction. In her mind it was better to die then suffer the indignity of being thrown into the hole. That in her mind propelled her to leap away from the machina and its controller, sliding (rather nicely) across the next ice float before bounding and grabbing a hold of the icy cavern wall.

It was harder to climb an icy wall when your dead exhausted then she had given it credit for. To her surprise though, who was the one to help her? None other then the damned pirate captain, Selene held in her groan of frustration and grabbed his hand. She was lifted into the archway with the others who had already made it in. Whoever was left clambered in shortly after.
And then it started, the hole, which turned out to be a small cave/hallway that led to crumbling staircase, began to shake. It felt very much like an earthquake, everyone listened, wide-eyed and scared as the sound fluttered in. It sounded like somewhat thunder, so loud and booming that everything else drowned out under its immense roar.

Selene dared to look at the entrance and saw pieces of the Silver Zephyr break through the water’s surface, ice and rock slammed into each other, and a ton of bodies. The water level was growing rather quickly and she began to wonder exactly how safe this shelter was. A chunk of ice slammed against the archway wall, right next to Leavra’s head.

Over the roar and the chaos the captain spoke up. “I believe it’s time to leave!” Though barely anyone heard him.

The group was moving again, the quaking of the hallway making it rather difficult to stand. Selene was about the third person on the staircase, Sirius in front of her and a girl with a machine in front of him. Just behind her was Adair, behind that she had no idea. Not that it mattered; the rumbling had abruptly stopped as a rush of water swept into the cave.
The water was just as frigid as Selene remembered. It wrapped itself around her and threw her forward. She opened her eyes too see a dark, blue tinged world that was whirling around her so fast she was lost.
Oh hell which way is up!?! She thought in anger, fear hadn’t exactly settled in yet. Of course, it dawned on her about a second later that up didn’t really exist. The water was right to the top of the tunnel, oxygen wasn’t available, and swimming wasn’t an option, everything that seemed to go wrong at that very instance.
Selene’s head made hard contact with a wall and then the water vanished.

Vanished wasn't the correct word, but she didn’t care at the moment. She was lying face down on the hard floor. She groaned, slowly lifting herself up. People were scattered around her, also recovering. Selene coughed, touching the side of her head gently to find blood on her fingertips.

“Oh joy…” She muttered, slowly getting up. “Oh bliss..”

The room itself was rather large, with an elaborate tiled floor and strange statues that resembled humans for the most part, only they looked a little… The only word that came to Selene’s mind was demonic. They stances, facial expressions and even their clothing. What else was strange about this place was the lighting, the walls were soaked with water but the fires still burned.
She wandered over to Laevra, who seemed to be recovering easily from the rush of water they had all encounter.

Selene offered her hand, and she took it.

“Your head…” Laevra gestured as she got to her feet, Selene shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t like people helping you, do you?”

Selene smirked at the Viera. “I only accept help when I need it.”

“Which is…” She raised an eyebrow, and gently touched the wound. Selene held in her wince, and looked at the blood on Laevra’s fingertips. “Not now?”
Selene turned from the Viera. “Exactly.”

“Hmmm…” Was her reply, Selene watched the woman walk up to the walls, noting the inscriptions. “Curious… I’ve never seen anything close to this in Ivalice…”

“GET OFF!”

Both of them turned in surprise to see the moogle pounding his little fists as Adair rose to his feet.

“Sorry, I thought if I incubated you long enough you’d pop out chocolate eggs.” The pilot spoke, standing up and wobbling a little.

Instant anger rose in the moogle’s eyes and he flew up to Adair’s eye level. “I am NOT the damned Ivalician bunny!!”


Selene blinked. “I’ve heard of death wishes but this is ridiculous…”
Laevra sighed, shaking her head. “You have no idea…”

“I’M WOUNDED!”

Everyone turned, rising from the farthest part of the chamber (Selene wasn’t quite sure how he had gotten that far), was Sirius. He turned around and once again his nose was broken, crooked, to the same side it had been before. The captain was most displeased, setting forward in a manner that made everyone take a step back as he stomped towards them.

“My nose!” He exclaimed; Selene smirked though it was threatening to turn into a smile. As far as she could tell, everyone who had learned of his previous facial fiasco was also amused. Adair stepped forward, slapping his friend on the back.

“Might aswell just accept fate lad, I’m destined to be the hottest man on the ship… Err atrociously dismal soggy chamber…”

“This one thinks this one can fix it.” The Garif added in, holding up his axe.

The look on Sirius’s face was enough to get everyone to laugh, even Selene. She had never seen pure horror on someone’s face until now.

“How does that work?” The girl with white hair spoke, looking up from a sparking machine that looked as if it had had better days.



Appearing to the right of Selene was Seta, who she smirked too as a greeting. He nodded his head to her.

“Miss…” He murmured, and took note of the wound. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.“ Selene replied. “You?”

“I am able to serve Miss.”

She looked at him with a frown. “That’s not what I asked…”

He kept quiet, but nodded; their hushed conversation was interrupted by the larger one happening.


“Nose broke one way, this one breaks it the other.”

“I think NOT.” Sirius crossed his arms.

“I don’t know…” Selene smirked, narrowing her eyes a little at the pirate. “I say we try it.”

“I completely agree.” Leavra smiled.

Adair stepped forward with his familiar swagger. “Thirded!”

~ ~ ~

Hidden in the cavern walls, is the long forgotten temple of Izlek. It is unknown what Izlek represented or stood for, but many have come to assume that it was darkness. The statues along the walls are of those who long served the dark God. Though it is believed no one has wandered through the labyrinth for a long while, the walls are lit with ever-burning flames, and strangely, the water from the wave seems to slither down deeper into the temple on its own accord…

CHAPTER ONE

SOCA TEMPLE
First Level

I’m sorry if I took anyone’s char OOC. And Weasel I’m sorry if I wasn’t allowed to hurt Sirius’s nose again. >> But you know he’ll get it fixed one way or another…
Woohooo for getting this far XD We got to chapter one~

[Pichu Luver]

Adair Stroud

In a remarkably good turn of events considering the last few instances had been of the decidedly deplorable kind his bottles of rum had survived their swim in the grape producing frigidity of the river. Not to mention the run over here, the climb (which was most masterly) and the next run down the cave. Adair understood why they had run down but he has wished there was a wiser course of action as water liked to run they way they ran. Given no other option he followed without complaint, merely clutching his precious bag. For it held more then rum. It held something that had seen him through thick and thin.

Really, it held more then rum!

When the water came in he sighed. It was only the just amount of punishment due to his astounding self and his grandiose adventures. The rest of this crew were merely along for the ride of his heroics. He had survived three strikes against his life today; the forces that made manly men must of course try again to see if he truly fulfilled the ideas every woman had of heroes. He understood now. No use cursing them or they might try harder to test his unlimited abilities.

It was better then calling his self a cat minus three lives.

So as the water poured he took a deep fortifying breath and securely tied the bag to the strap across his chest. He nearly um… made a noise not of the mannish definition when the water hit a certain party of his anatomy, but otherwise he took the flooding much more calmly then the others. The benefits of being an ex-Blizball player were many.

He swam down, as there wasn’t much else to do in the stuff. He hoped this thing opened up somewhere or well, he would of course survive but he didn’t know about the others. It was no fun parading about with no audience. Mind it had its merits but it wasn’t the same as the incredulous looks he had come to expect and need like…well rum.

So when he felt the pressure change and the water gush out sideways he grinned and swam up to ride the wave.

“Whoo!” he cried, flopping backwards and backstroking to a stop. He even had the benefit of landing on something soft. He didn’t think about it until the cushion started beating on him. He stood, surprised and wondering what foul fiend would masquerade as a cushion when the Moogle flew up and yelled at him.

He would never state his mistake and instead came up with something ingenious on the spot, gaining a furious look and a few of the incredulous ones he so craved. Every hero needed to have people look askance otherwise they’d be forgotten and no true hero was ever forgotten.

THEN, oh then he found himself most wonder of wonders, handsomest man once more. Sirius really should accept that fate had decreed Adair to be of the better sort then Sirius and he rightly told him so.

Of course a tad bit of help from the excellent creature Batilis, would not go amiss. Adair was loving this and as an added bonus even had people agreeing with him! Marvellous!

“Have I told you two lately that you truly are wondrous creatures?”

Laevra gave him a long suffering look of ‘why me?’ and Selene only spared him a glance. Alas, the Captain had claimed her he must not tread there. He had his work cut out for him anyway; Adair would enjoy watching the fireworks. Laevra may never be won over but it was good fun to try, even if it earned him a slap now and again. Must keep life interesting he always said.

Just not of the ‘forces trying their mightiest to kill me kind’ of which there seemed to be an overabundance today.

Adair turned his back on the proceedings to fix Sirius’s nose. If they did it nicely or not it wasn’t his concern, he’d had his input. Either way Leavra would most likely help, it not being Sirius’s fault and all. So he peered at the statues, trying to copy their wild grins and other such expressions. A few of the new crew (whether they realized or not they had been commandeered by Sirius) looked at him like he was ‘not all together there upstairs’ but he wasn’t the brains of the operation. He was just the dashing pilot with a saddening lack of anything to steer but himself.

When they were preoccupied with something other then Sirius he took a peak in his bag and assured that the ‘not-rum’ was quite well and then turned back to the conversation.

[classy_cat18]

Niosa Tiera
Treating her robotic partner

"I'm cursed! CURSED!" Sirius whimpered as he nursed his broken nose.

"Nii calls it poetic justice," I said softly with a grin.

The Viera kept saying "no", each response stronger than the last. And there was no way he would take up the Garif's offer of trying to fix it by breaking it again. He finally gave up for then, looking somewhat pitiful.

I turned my attention to Kumas, who was sparking a little from the water. Although he should've been waterproof. The shift in his armor must've allowed water to enter. I jumped as his form shifted to his usual bulky self and stopped sparking. "Are you alright?" I asked him although I didn't expect a response.

He didn't respond like last time. But the markings on his body were still glowing. With a little hesitation, I removed his chestplate and checked the circuitry. When I first salvaged and activated him, some parts of his circuitry weren't working. Now some of those parts were activated. "Strange..."

"Something amiss in your metallic comrade?" Adair inquired curiously.

I leaned back a little from the smell of rum breath and pointed to Kumas' inner workings. "Kumas used to be half working," I explained while dumbing it down for him. "Now parts of him that used to be not working are working now."

He nodded, seeming to think about it. "So is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Nii thinks it's a good thing." I reattached the chestplate.

Kumas began to move again. "Target has been detected." He turned and walked down the mysteriously lit hallway.

Adair, as well as most of the others, stared at the walking golem. "What target is he talking about?" the gunner asked me.

"Nii doesn't know, but Nii bets it's whatever got him up this far north in the first place." I cautiously followed Kumas, ready for any traps or whatever.

[Weasel Overlord]

Sirius fir Sterrl de Famfræn

[Captain and General Ruler of the Wolfstar]

N/A

Being chucked by a bloody shiny metal toy was not part of Sirius’ master plan for getting all the women, and he’d landed clumsily and most inelegantly inside the precious, shelterous cave of wonders. He still smarted about being lobbed by a tinny, in more ways than the metaphorical, and not to mention his newly broken snozz, which would probably never be the same again.

But at least it was causing entertainment for the women? Sirius sighed as Batilis once again offered to re-break the offending hooter into its rightful position. He supposed that he should accept the honourable Garif’s help, and he screwed up his eyes as he acquiesced.

“Make it quick, Batilis old boy. I don’t think my snout can take much more batt-ARGH-ering.” He felt carefully around the tender area, probing gently with fingertips, a lopsided grin on his face. “Much obliged, my good Garif friend. Although if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were just looking for an excuse to break my handsome beak!”

“This one does not understand.”

“Never mind old fellow,” Sirius said jovially, clapping Batilis on the back. “Now then. Where exactly have we ended up, hm?” He cast about the cave, examining a wall here and a crevice there until he was satisfied.

“Yes indeed, this is a cave alright. Wait a mo, what’s the little tin-man doing?” He peered after the machina as it toddled off down the corridor which lead off from the very back of the so-called cave. “Not a cave, then. Oh well! After the blighter! Treasure ahoy! Adair my man, we have some hunting to be doing!” Sirius’ strides quickly caught up with Adair, who was walking just slightly behind the Al-Bhed girl - Nii.

“What makes you think there’ll be treasure, Mr Genius Captain?” Selene piped up from Sirius’ left.

“Tis a corridor my good woman. And corridors all lead somewhere, yes indeed. And in our extensive experience, we have found that a good corridor is one which leads to treasure.”

“He’s right madam! Most corridors have something shiny at the end of them.”

“Well put, Adair my man. Something shiny! Although… if there’s any mysterious pots, I think we’ll leave well alone, yes?”

Adair gulped and looked around, worried. “You don’t think…”

“You never know, you never do know.” Sirius looked darkly at Selene. “If there is a pot, I’d advise you to keep well clear, fair lady, lest it singe those precious eyebrows right off your face.”

“It gives me the shaking heebie jeebies just thinking about it, Cap’n.”

“What about the willies?”

“Those too. Not to mention the wobblies, sir.” Adair shuddered.

“Okay okay no more pot talk,” Sirius said. “Hey, what’re you smirking at?” He glared at Selene, who attempted to stifle a grin and failed miserably.

“Nothing, nothing.” She sniggered.

“I’ll have you know, pots are not to be sniffed at! Or sniffed at all for that matter… And you can stop looking at me as if I’m crazy, too. Hunting Marks isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, you know.”

“Oh, I’ll certainly take your word for that!” Selene giggled once, then forcibly made her face straighten. “So what about these statues, eh?”

“They’re a bit big to nick,” Adair said. “Oh wait, you didn’t mean that, aheheh,” He looked shifty then scarpered ahead.

“He’s right, they are a bit big to nick.” Sirius looked around pensively. “I wonder where this leads to…”

-----

HINT HINT. Hope I didn't OOC anyone...

[Crystal Tears]

Selene

Though she didn’t particularly like either of them, she did share both pirates’ curiosity of what could possibly be at the end of the corridor. Fighting off a limp she moved forward, wincing only slightly as her foot protested against the movement. Selene was used to pain, and after this mission (which consisted of getting home), she would probably have a very HIGH pain tolerance for nearly anything. Not to mention anywhere would feel warmer than this place. It was cold and damp, and the farther they moved away from the larger chamber the more the cold seemed unnatural and ethereal.

She didn’t like the idea of ghouls, ghosts, and whatnot. Selene never had, the stories others had told her about headless monsters or vengeful spirits had fuelled her growing dislike for the unknown. This temple was probably one of her worst nightmares come true, and soon enough it would prove this horrible fact. Selene’s hand rested nervously on her gun. If anything came charging out at her she’d be sure to shoot first and ask questions later.

“Hey again!” Came a cheerful voice from behind her. Selene turned, seeing Shayna standing there with a silly smile on her face.

“Hi.”

As they continued walking, it became ever more apparent that others were feeling the effects of the creepy corridor. Laevra and Seta seemed to be on edge, Laevra more than Selene’s bodyguard but that was also probably to do with their very different personalities. The gunner frowned and kept going, trying to ignore that feeling in the back of her mind that something was going to go horribly wrong, very quickly.

“Something wrong midear?” Sirius questioned.

“I don’t like this place.”

“Why not? Surely a fiery woman such as yourself doesn’t get the heebie jeebies.” He replied with a smirk.

“Or the willies.”

Selene glared at the pirate duo before they could go on another random tangent of different ways to say you’re nervous about some place. The woman just sighed and waved it off. “Nevermind.”

The corridor lead to another room, not nearly as big the group slowly filed in as they were faced with a dilemma. The machina was gone; there were no other doorways to this room other than the one they had entered so they had come to the conclusion that the machine was smarter than it was letting on, Selene could only hope it was the same with Adair... The only thing in this room that was of any interest was the yellow crystal held on a small circular table in the middle of the chamber.
Shayna gleefully went up to it, probably to snatch it or to examine it. But her arm was promptly caught by Selene’s hand.

“Don’t touch it.”

“Oohhh…” She pouted. “Why not?”

“It’s a teleport crystal.”

“A…” Her eyes seemed to light up at the words and she looked at it with new found amazement. “Oohhh…” Shayna looked at Selene with big puppy-dog eyes. “Can I have it?”

“No.”

“Aww why not?”

“Unless you know how they work, it will teleport you.” Sori piped up, crossing his arms. “There’s no way to move it.”

“Surely there has to be a way!” Adair called from the back.

“Maybe if it were broken, yeah…” The Moogle fluttered closer to examine it before retreating back to his Garif friend. “But it’s in mint condition.”

“Where’s the machina?” Shay questioned. “Could it of used the crystal?”

“Nii doubts this.” Came the reply from the woman who had been tending to the robot. “Kumas wasn’t exactly intelligent.”

“Meaning if it did use the crystal,” Selene looked back at the shining object. “It was an accident.”

“We should go looking for it!” The ninja exclaimed happily, clapping her hands a little, but found most of the group was looking at her like she was insane. “What…?”

“It’s dangerous to use a crystal when you have no idea where it goes.” Laevra stated. “It could teleport us to our deaths.”

Adair snorted. “How is that different from what the rest of the day has been like?”

Selene looked over at him. “We saw it coming.”

“Maybe YOU did, I didn’t exactly see a big ass ship falling on my head. Today I was quite HAPPY.” The reply was amusing in a sick sense. “Are you a fortune teller able to see your ship CRASHING?”

The group began to grow silent as Adair and Selene grew louder.

“Maybe if you weren’t DRIFTING underneath the ship ILLEGALLY you wouldn’t have had that problem!”

“You weren’t complaining!”

“I shouldn’t have too!!!” Selene clenched her fist again as she and Adair neared the point of murdering each other. “IT’S ILLEGAL DUMBASS!”

“PIRATE!” He exclaimed, pointing at himself.

“POINT PROVEN!!!” She gritted her teeth. “You’re a living violation of the law!”

Adair seemingly had no come back for that, only glared at her until he spoke. “At least I don’t think I’m above it! I don’t have to have a pretty-boy bunny following me around ‘cuz Daddy doesn’t want me to get hurt!”

Seething rage was the only thing in her mind now. Adair must’ve caught onto it, but he didn’t seem to care. “What you gonna torch me now? That’s MATURE!”

Don’t kill him, Don’t kill him, Don’t kill him… She thought, hand tightening around her gun’s handle as reason began to fade away. He’s the pilot, we need him. To fly the ship. Yes. That makes sense.

“What you gonna shoot me now!? Is that how you’re going to handle the situation!?”

DO NOT KILL HIM.

Selene stopped, and smirked. To fly the ship we don’t have…

“I’m handling this situation much better than how you handled crashing the airship.”

She had hit a nerve, probably several. The rage in his face seemed to scare Sirius, as Adair had never looked that angry. Selene was smiling; Adair was doing numerous movements of rage, wanting to strangle her, throwing his fists around, clenching the hilt of his sword… All of which didn’t seem to help the fact Selene Raminas was smirking, no smiling at him.

She had won, and he knew that.

[Pichu Luver]

Adair Stroud

“BLOODY woman! You are DAMN lucky I have principles! If I didn’t have a thing against killing women who haven’t shot me first—usually— you’d be… well it’d involve PAIN! LOT’S of PAIN. And Pots! Those statues falling on your baby toe! And more pain! And thing so horrid as to be indescribable for you uppity delicate ears! Oh yes I know your uppity! Don’t deny it! No one has clothes that nice and a tree hugger following them around to make sure their just dandy that ISN’T from some high fault’in family with more money then common sense!”

“Beside’s that I DID NOT CRASH THAT SHIP! Least everyone survived my landing! I landed more or less in one piece! Power was shutting off in EVERYTHING. Least I got us on the ground without some spectacular theatrics of nearly KILLING someone else! Without CRASHING—for that WAS a crash—halfway to my ass in the water! This then COLLAPSED with a wave bigger then ANY woman’s fury and killed everyone who had survived but us!”

Adair would have of course gone on, perhaps getting quite rude and maybe even uncouth except that Selene turned away. Now Adair was ranting so turning away would only raise his ire even more. He would like to finish his very vital thoughts on the topic of Selene after being insulted so.

“EH! I’m talking or hadn’t you noticed!”

She spared him the briefest of glances, clearly dismissive.

It was a good thing Adair couldn’t do magic (there had been some less then dignified experiments as a youth which involved him looking like he was trying to have shit) or he would have promptly defeated his earlier argument of maturity and setting someone on fire. So… he continued to rant.

“Oh! So now you ignore me! Figures! Wouldn’t expect much more from someone like you who takes hits at someone who SAVED lives when she did nothing but survive. Least I did something!”

He continued like this, the others with varying expressions of incredulity on their faces. Adair was mostly just tired of nearly getting killed and now his chief pride point was wounded. His day was definitely not going well. While he was ranting and not paying much attention, Selene had decided to further ignore him by leaving the room.

Before Adair could say anything Selene touched the crystal and Shayna, wondering what she was doing, touched her sleeve and somehow or another, the entire group besides Adair was touching and they all disappeared with a flash.

Adair sputtered… blinked and then,

“YEVON DAMNED BASTERD CHILDREN OF RAGGED FEATHERED CHOCOBO’S!”

His yell echoed around the now empty chamber. He took a couple deep breathes, the air coming out in hisses. Perhaps he shouldn’t have gotten so angry but hey, he was on a roll, might as well continue until his money… or ire ran out.

“They don’t even let me finish my sentences. PITIFUL! The least they could do was hear me out THEN I’d be done, feel bad and give them some rum… possibly. Well it was more likely then, then it is now!" He snorted. "They have probably all gone to their deaths. I should let them. Screw being the hero!”

Adait glared at the spot they had been, groaned and stomped over to the crystal. He slapped it, for surely dying wouldn’t exactly be a surprise, hell he practically expected to meet his maker on the other side, his luck was that bad.

Then… it didn’t work.

“OH FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS SHINY!” Adair now looked to the ceiling for the lack of anywhere else remotely interesting to look. “Least let me choose to die with dignity! Now I’m being denied by a ROCK! YEVON—”

Then the crystal decided to work, either taking mercy on his pathetic soul (unlikely), wanted his yelling to stop (possibly) or had charged up finally after teleporting all those people (correct assumption).


“—DAMNED INANIMATE OBJECTS! I— oh. Where am I?”

“Is he usually this angry?”

Adair looked down and saw the group staring at him again. Well besides Selene who was looking everywhere else. He seriously thought she had ADD.

“No.” said Sirius, and then he looked speculative. “Though he hasn’t had rum in a while.”

“Damn right I haven’t!” he then dug into his bag, took a bottle and had a long swing. “Pheh, I need to hurt something that may deserve it, where are we?”

CT’s Delightful Message

I’m stealing the ending of my sister’s post to update where we are.
We’re in a rather large room with pillars and statues here and there. Along with a tablet with a fancy looking rock keyboard. Post whatever you want until the next wonderful update from either Selene or Adair.
The keyboard doesn’t seem to react to anybody. Ha ha ha! For being stuck in a room with no way out! (not even a teleport crystal)

Have a nice day~

P.S: Kumas is not there. He’s made it past this part. :3 We should stop doubting his intelligence. Doubt Adair’s instead… *sagenod*

[Emotional Faun Chiko-sai]

Seta Close-mouthed
I have just been all round the world and formed a very poor opinion of it.

"By all that's honourable-! The very ground is splintering beneath our feet!"

And it is. Seta, being several degrees nimbler than Temzi despite his wound, leaps onto a solider-looking piece of ice and drags the dragoon along with him. Combined weight breaks their precarious foothold, Seta leaps again, this time away. They play this game for as long as they have to, ie. until the cavern is sighted. Once Seta landed on a stray ice floe and met his mistress. The next moment it had split apart and he was back to avoiding freezing to death in the melted glacier.

All this while Seta has not said much. This is fine, because his companion had said, and is saying, plenty. Apparently Temzi had opinions about most things, and expressed them best when lost and panicking in frozen wastes, Seta reasons; alternatively, Temzi had accepted him as a friend, and was making idle conversation (not so idle, really, the way Temzi says things: so very earnest about everything).

Somewhere along the way they pick up a floating personage bedecked with furs and fairground ornaments. She follows them a while amongst the ice floes, talks to Temzi, bids farewell at the mouth of the cavern and vanishes into the dark holding her finger to her mouth.

Actually they are the first ones there, and should really have stayed in the so-called entrance hall to await the inevitable appearance of the others, but because Seta is determined to do stakeout, to eliminate any stray monsters that might be there, so Selene would not have to deal with them, and because Temzi seems excited at the prospect of exploring hitherto unknown and uncharted caverns of undeniable mystery, they wander a little into the perimeter of the catacombs.

"These catacombs look fairly substantial, don't you think? When I was at the Academy they taught us that dangerous fiends made the innermost chambers of such places their homes. Especially dragons, like the Wyrm reputed to live in the deepest reaches of Sochen. I say! If there's a dragon in here, we should rid the land of it, sir Seta!" Temzi turns to glance at his friend. "Sir... Seta? Your ears are twitching."

Seta, who is staring fixedly at a particularly malignant-looking statue in an attempt to steady his vision, does not reply immediately. When he does, it is drawn out and stoic. "Is... that so."

This place is undoubtedly full, no, overflowing with Mist, to unsettle me so... I never bat so much as an eyelid when we make the occasional visit to the Mines, but here...

Suddenly not only his ears are trembling, but also the very walls. Something is happening behind them, something violent. They turn back and witness the wet and noisy arrival of the rest of the survivors, who do not seem hurt, judging by the way they are chattering, and in the case of Selene and the pirates, bickering. Water throws itself against the hole that was the entrance, and they retreat quickly into the inner pathway.

*

They have followed a machina into a room with no exit, and at the finish of it, no machina either, only an angry pirate and an angry mistress, and the others growing quieter as the pair grow louder.

Well, the only part that really matters is the part where he is reunited with the angry mistress; for Seta, anyway. Insults bother him about as much as water bothers a duck's back. Nor is he the type foolish enough to threaten violence every time their ward was insulted. Selene is always pissing someone off in some way. She does it about as well as Seta does his valet-bodyguard-silent-shadow job. The best affirmation that Selene Raminas is normal, healthy, and in full working order is to see her bringing out the worst in other people.

Temzi sidles up to him, as much as a Guado almost seven foot tall in a suit of clanking armour can sidle. "Your lady is in full voice."

"So is the other."

"That is, until he started" - here Temzi coughs discreetly - "drinking."

Seta shrugs, then turns his attention, abruptly, to the obsidian table in the middle of the room. He does not like this place, at all, not least for the half-garbled voices reverberating in his skull, voices not heard since he was - since forever. It is not a pleasant sensation to have a consciousness other than yourself tinkering about in your brain. He has an inkling, that when he was very, very young, little more than a leveret, he might once have heard such voices, and welcomed them.

But even then he did not think that the voices would have been malicious, or ominous.

Rule one when you find yourself in a situation you would rather not be in: look for ways to escape: and so Seta heads for the stone table. It is inscribed with illegible symbols - he would have expected nothing less - in small raised shapes, intricately designed and cut.

He taps a few at random. No response.

He unsheathes his katana, and before anyone can say anything strikes at the table. There is a jarring sound as the attack reverberates off its target, which emerges unharmed.

Seta's eyebrow twitches, uncharacteristically.

Selene's voice filters in through the others deluging his mind: "Seta, what the hell are you doing."


N: Chironu... is somewhere else. I'd like her to have met Kumas somewhere in the deep dark reaches of the mysterious cavern, actually, but that depends on CT~