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So you live. Catch you on Skype. Garret.

As the figure moved, the shade remained still, not bothering to move. He watched as the apparently female human spun to face him, bringing up her elbow to attempt to harm him in some way. The shade also noticed the flash of a metal, noticing the handgun appearing in her other hand. As the elbow "connected", an eerie laugh issued forth from Strife, increasing in intensity with the passing seconds. The elbow sailed right through him, disrupting his form for a second; scattering his head into an amorphous cloud. For a second, there was nothing. The shades form did not move at all, rather it hung there, motionless; headless. But still the laugh could be heard, echoing from the "corpse". Then the cloud of smoke reformed. And the face gazed intently at the girl. The laughing stopped.

"My my, but aren't you jumpy little rabbit," he stated, a joyful glee in his voice. He reaction was exactly what he was hoping for. Ready for action. Ready for violence. Strife took a moment to study the person. It was strange to see so much activity, yet the face itself was passive and blank. Expressionless. Feeling it necessary to continue, he quickly moved through the tombstone and herself, bypassing all that was within the physical realm. It was a gift he loved to use. 'This human is interesting. Quick to pull the trigger,' he silently thought to himself. Now behind her, though he doubted for long considering her past actions, his voice dropped to its usual whisper. "You never answered my question." Strife let the words hang in the air for a moment, giving it time to sink in, before he proceeded to move back in front of her, his shadows trailing after his form. "If you do, maybe you'll get an answer. To what question, I leave to you."

"Perhaps you are a grave robber, hoping to find riches among the dead. Perhaps you have come to mourn a loved one? Perhaps...you've come to add more to the dead. The question still remains though; why are you here?"Through his barrage of questions, the shade drew nearer to the visitor, his eyes locked onto hers. His gaze never left that of her face as he slowly closed the gap. With his last question, there was barely a hands space between the two. Close enough that he could feel her breath. In truth, despite his recent stream of questions, he had figured out what her intent was. By the guns alone, it was to kill, or in the very least lead to conflict. By her actions, reactions, she was obviously expecting violence. However, he did not particularly care about the information. All he cared to see was her reactions. And if she would even answer. 'Maybe she is a mute, or deaf, or both?' Under pressure, the essence of any creature is revealed, and it always fascinated Strife to find it in the ones he met. The feral, animal-like quality never ceases to amuse him. He was also hoping the human would give him an interesting question to answer. Being in such close proximity only helped to increase his excitement of the situation. There would be little to no time to react.

"So you do speak. Wonderful." The shade watched the captives face, eager for some sign of emotion. Nothing however showed itself. Boring. The specimen seemed to exhibit nothing in the way of actual expression. The only measure for even a hint at her internal thoughts were her actions, which seemed geared for combat and reflexes. 'Maybe it would be worthwhile to fight her?' But then, he had no idea what she was capable of. He'd only seen her sharp reflexes, and nothing more. Obviously she used guns, which would be no problem for him, but if she was capable of anything else the fight may heavily be one sided. Swirling around her to whisper in her ear, he spoke again.

"What will you kill?" Even though he knew his actions stirred nothing in the girl, he still proceeded to do it. To stop now would be even more boring. Her dropping the gun only added to his disappointment. Obviously, she perceived him no threat to her, which he was still debating whether he should become one. Debating only because her prey may be more interesting to toy with. No matter her skill in combat, she was utterly devoid of emotion, which meant no pain or screams of mercy. Maybe she'd be interesting at another time just for her skill, whatever it was, but for now it would not satisfy Strife.

With his luck, it seemed he stumbled across a shell. Had she had a fire, she would have spoken at regular volume, or at least a threatening whisper. Her bland whisper, coupled with the fact of only using one word, showed to Strife that she did not speak much. It was a tragedy, no retorts or anything interesting. No visible personality or emotion. She was more dead than himself. "What is your name? If it would persuade you, I am known as Strife." As he spoke, he shifted back to being in front of her. Though giving his name was not something he desired to do, he doubted the girl would give her name without at least his; she may not even do so with it. It wasn't too much of a bother that she knew his name, as he would outlive her. He only desired her name in case he chose to kill her later, or if he had need of her, which he doubted.


(Sorry for delay.)

"Hiding secrets from your fellow dead?" He laughed, gesturing to all the dead graves around him, and to her; as well as showing he didn't expect an answer. She was as dead as him, maybe more so. In truth, he knew that his question was probably too specific, so she answered it to the same degree. 'Obviously she wouldn't reveal more than what I ask. So unlike others.' Even with her weaponry, it seemed as if she were not here to kill. What purpose she would have for her guns eluded him; unless they held non-lethal rounds. The shades mind swirled into a frenzy at the prospect. 'An easy kill. She may have some live rounds on her, but not too many if she wasn't supposed to kill her target. But would such a fight be worth it?' Ordinarily, if she had been a regular human, or a regular anything and show emotion, he would have jumped at the chance. But now...he was torn.

"Nai...a short but memorable name. Like mine. Especially for our prey." Although she was not providing as much entertainment as he was used to, forcing her to speak and answer his questions was interesting enough for now. If anything, her presence did promise one thing for Strife; combat. Even if she wouldn't kill, watching her struggle would be interesting. 'Hell, I may join in and kill her and the prey.' He had only recently found the scythe, and he was waiting for an excuse to use it. Knowing nothing of the region he was in, and having nothing better to do, Strife figured he would stick around and siphon off as much as he could from Nai.

"I'm touched; you spoke a sentence for me." Strife was actually surprised by the sentence. He hadn't even expected her to speak unless he asked a question. Still, the question was one he was still debating in his own mind. Having her say it, he probably could ignore it and continue. But waiting too long would be boring. 'No point thinking; life is too long for that.' With that, he spoke, letting his mind chose the side for him in a split second.

"For now, no." That being said, regretfully so, he doubted she would even glance his way. Though it was the option he was more inclined to go, in case it fruition-ed later on, that still left the immediate time as boring. For however long it was until she decided to act on whatever her mission was. Which left another issue. He didn't want to be seen. Even in a graveyard, his form screamed for attention. He could always change into a more human-like form, but it would not help him much. If anyone or anything else showed itself, he wanted a decent do over because of his current company. 'Someone with more reaction.' And there was one good way to hide...but it required consent. To a degree.

"May I stay with you?" It was out of his usual character, but then he usually did not make a request. His questions were poised as answer, or you never get a moments respite. His usual voice, and atmosphere he surrounded himself, were still present, but not as strongly as usual. If she said no, he would look for a different spot, or just leave. But it would not be his preferred course. 'Nothing like having a shade jump out of a shadow.' It would be worth him having to ask her this. If no one came, then it would just mean he had a closer seat to whatever she did next.

Upon hearing acceptance, the shade grinned, making certain it was visible to Nai. He also could not suppress a laugh on her condition. 'Even I don't know the answer to that.' So long as she proved interesting enough he would not resort to it. When she ceased to be of any interest, however, he doubted he would even try to restrain himself. 'A hundred of her kind could be born and die, and I shall still be here. The longer you have, the less regrets. And I have eternity.' Still, given her machine like qualities, he did not expect to fight her any time soon. 'If anything, i'll use her to find fights.'

"Thank you." The words were highly unnecessary, given how he viewed Nai to be. Still, if he wanted to leech her for as much as he could, he figured it wouldn't hurt. His plans could only work with her consent. A small flaw, but one easy to manipulate. 'Maybe I can be her voice? I wonder how others would react.' The mere idea of how he could freak out others just by speaking while hidden sent a shiver down his shadowy spine. 'If she proves useful, maybe this'll be a long term agreement.' Done with is mental thoughts, as he would have plenty of time for them later, he smiled again at Nai, and his form dispersed into a cloud. A cloud that converged into Nai's shadow, as if it were being drained into it. His detached voice could be heard, emanating from Nai's shadow.

"Try not too make too many friends while i'm in here."

"Burn away in my flames"

"Drown in my water"

A inter-dimensional portal opened not too far from the two. A figure stepped out, a white robe billowed around him in the wind. Its hood hiding the figures face, in the figures right hand was an elegant golden staff clearly of elven make. Taking a closer look, one would notice that the figure had a gauntlet on the right hand.

Kain came out of the portal feeling his feet settle onto the soft ground. He scanned the area with his hazel gaze. He thought about all those buried that have fallen. Mainly the human King Silver Summer, good man but he was an idiot. But he was not so disrespectful, he would leave an offering to his spirit. Movement out of the corner of his eye attracted his attention. He saw that the woman Nai was already here and was "conversing" with a strange figure. As soon as he saw the strange disperse into a cloud of shadow he knew what the stranger was, a Shade. He hated the antics of Shades, even as Nai readied her guns Kain lifted his staff coursing his energy into the tip of it. A bright light shone forth from it and illuminated the area. This should flush the shade from the shadows. "I am Kain Leingod of the Royal Guard, what are you up to Shade?" Kain said clear and authoritivly as he walked over towards the two.

"Be swept away by my wind"

"Be buried alive in my earth"

The shadows elongated from the presence of Kain's light. While his appearance was sudden, another presence had been there and had been laying in wait the entire time. In fact in plain sight as the elf dispelled her shrouding of light refracting around her body to reveal herself fully for once as she was merely scouting for the dark elf whom was her sister in name. She wore the black robes that were commonly associated with the ninja complete with a mask that shrouded the lower half of her face.

Two swords hung criss-crossed on her lower back, a quiver and her bow slung across her back. Lightly armored with metal plates on her fore arms and shins, she was steeled for what was to come. Coming into full focus, she was in the middle of a chanting as her energy focused around in the area. Within the graveyard the few standing trees glowed with a golden hue for a split moment. The elvish string slowed as the elf looked at each person in the area, only two of which that had been visible but the shade she knew the whereabouts of as well.

Three trees then creaked and cracked as life was breathed into each as they morphed to assume a more humanoid shape to stand tall and true in a three corner triangular formation. Adiel herself hadn't done nothing else as the treants were created with her nature magic, as they towered over all else to be ready to club something or someone should things get too dicey.

"Before something happens, how about we all stop before it begins?" She said in a low voice, noting how she was worried on how the shade would truly react to the blinding light and how the reaper known as Kain took accustom to the potential reaction. Her treants would be the buffer between such a conflict as well as he very presence as the area around her exposed eyes glowed slightly, hinting the potential for Solonor's power ready to become active.

"Kain, kill that light for its very annoying for me and quite possibly the elemental here. We're here for the golems, not a lesser and insignificant species of a shade. Losidren' shall arrive soon. Let us not deviate from our assigned task." she said as she touched the hilt of Twinkle in case hostility would come from the shade or even Nai for that matter. Her suspicions were high yet her duty was bound to completion of the assigned task and should she need to strike a few sensible blows in her comrades in order to get that going, Adiel would and not care.