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Overlord of Night- Shadow
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 Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:40 pm
That hadn't been exactly where he had told her to meet him... but it was good enough. Tura had made his way through the streets, dressed now in a simple brown robe; he blended into the crowd well with the hood up, since none could see the mask he still wore. There was beginning to be quite a morning crowd, going out to work and shop and go about their lives, even though someone else would never again go about theirs. Ironic.
But she was here, and he did need to speak to her. The man slipped into an alleyway unnoticed, striding up to the sage who stood nearby. "Hello, Melethia," he said, voice soft. "I've started the job, as you can tell... it will be complete within the week. Then, Renault will be back... But before then, of course, I am going to need your help. I have a job to do, and I can't be hindered in that job. The Watch is stepping up patrols, just as I expected. And my job doesn't involve killing those men. Engaging them and knocking them out would be too much of a hassle. So, I'll need you to tell me when and where they will be patrolling... Do so for me tomorrow. I can handle another day, but then I will have to avoid them." "Oh, him." The shopkeeper frowned, with mild distaste. "Yes, that's right. He did work for me. I fired him, just recently." Jin had moved into a shop that specialized in tailoring various types of clothing; the shopkeeper was a man that was on the thin side, who seemed a bit odd. Maybe it was because he'd looked at Jin's crotch before he looked at his face. In any case, he was giving the information rather willingly.
"Why did I fire him? Well, to put it simply... he was a lecher." The man paused, then, in case Jin didn't understand, he added, "A pervert." He looked a little nervous for a moment. "I didn't know he was that way when I hired him, you understand. But I began to notice that he was always ogling the lady customers, always offering to fit dresses for them... not in an obvious way, of course, but I notice these things. I don't know all that much about him... He only lasted a few months here before I got rid of him. But other than that, he seemed like a nice enough person, really. Has he done something wrong? I heard a commotion outside earlier..."
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:08 am
"Yeah it's a little hard not to notice the smell of blood." She said. She looked around a bit. "So, now I'm to see where the watch is. That will be easy. I can take a simple stroll and they won't notice a thing." She smiled a bit. With that she slipped her way out of the alleyway and into the streets.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:19 pm
I ain't givin' in,
no matter how hard th' fight
before me looks t' be!
>{Leon}< Leon had rode back and forth between various watch members now, giving and receiving updates on the case, issuing orders, etc.
It would have been tiring for a normal horse, but Anri was trained... born for the battlefield rush. These chores were a just welcome exercise in peacetime.
On his way back though, he couldn't help but notice that something didn't look quite right. Not right at all as a matter of fact.
There were eyes on him and the others. Although he was no thief, assassin, or other shadow dweller, Leon had dealt with the stealthy ones quite enough in his profession... the one thing that made him certain they were spies, is that they were deliberately trying to walk with the crowd.
Only a nobly-dressed woman walking amongst Eyris civilians didn't blend in all too well...
"Oy." He said to her, not knowing the woman's name or anything... but just having an awful suspicion of her waltzing around in the crowds of commoners like she was one of them... "Ya mind explainin' what yer doin' ou'side yer estate, noble lass? Ya know we gave a warnin'. Ya gotta take 'em seris'ly, or tha' crim'nal's gonna get a holda ya too.>{Watch Lieutenant}< If ya just bel'eve, then...
ev'n if th' world be torn asunder,
vict'ry will be yers to hold!
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:27 pm
"Oh I am going for a stroll." Melethia said with a smile. "I'm very well armed." She pointed to the Elfire tome in her hand. "I've been through enough battles to know how to survive. I've got scars to prove my worth." She points to the scar on her forehead. "I'm not some fragile woman Sir." Her grin got bigger. It was big enough that Leon could see her fangs.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:35 pm
I ain't givin' in,
no matter how hard th' fight
before me looks t' be!
>{Leon}< Leon flinched, seeing those fangs. Sure, he'd read enough reports him and Magnet did as a joint effort on Eyris's Laguz, but he'd honestly had yet to see one up close and personal. But one thing struck his mind... even more suspicions arising.
"Yer armed, eh? Ya know, most nobles, they got bodyguards... where ya goin' where ya need a weap'n now?"
If he knew anything... anything at all, it was that an armed person travelling alone was someone... up to no good that they didn't want other people seeing..>{Watch Lieutenant}< If ya just bel'eve, then...
ev'n if th' world be torn asunder,
vict'ry will be yers to hold!
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:40 pm
"I always keep a tome on me. I don't know if I am going to need it. I never needed bodyguards." Melethia said, "I'm not a noble from here. Maybe things are different here."
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:48 pm
I ain't givin' in,
no matter how hard th' fight
before me looks t' be!
>{Leon}< A noble from another country. Sure maybe it was believable, but... that didn't answer the most important question, the one he wanted answers to!
Why was she here?
And she did look vaguely familiar from the battle with the Heroes.
Was she...?
"Yer... a.. a memb'r o' FEF, aren't ya?" he asked her. His memories, although he'd been losing sleep over writing reports of that incident that was the FEF clan's 3rd anniversary were rather vague due to the chaos that was the battlefield on that mountainside. He did see that face before though, that was for sure.
"If ya are parta FEF... I got somethin' t' ask."
And of course he could tell if she was lying! Pointing out lies was part of basic training! He just wanted to make sure his memory of FEF's other members besides those whom had worked closely with the Watch weren't growing fuzzy already, for he'd planned to have a long, sturdy bond with the Guild and its virtuous fighters.>{Watch Lieutenant}< If ya just bel'eve, then...
ev'n if th' world be torn asunder,
vict'ry will be yers to hold!
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:55 pm
Ed took in the contents of the note with a sort of horrified rapture. Her ears were affixed on the voices around her as the message sank into her mind, its words lacing around her thoughts as she listened to the abstract logic in the passage. Some stanzas made little sense to Ed, yet the general message came through to her, a vibe that murmured a wavelength of understanding to her head. And it was rather poetic.
So very poetic.
As the others began to leave, Ed merely shook her head to Isadora. She'd only just heard about the murders after all. The wolf then turned to the fountain and propped her paws onto the edge, peering out to the waters of the fountain as the blood thinned out and into the drain. She angled her head back to view the top of the fountain where the corpse had been not too long ago. The water was due to wash away a good amount of the blood off the stone but the stains would still be there.
The scent of blood was strong. Her head was still aching from the strength of the stench, impeding her ability to pick up any other scents in that area. Ed sniffed around, sidling around the fountain with her forepaws on the stony edge, tail swishing anxiously behind her. Ed couldn't help but bristle as she continued investigating. She was the type to believe an evil spirit was about, especially in cases of murder.
Ed fell back to her fours. She was not willing to be around the fountain any more, especially as she was unable to detect any other scents, and she wasn't sure what scent she was looking for anyway. Perhaps she was sniffing for a blood trail but her head spun too much at the thought.
The wolf instead turned away from the fountain. By the time any citizen decided to walk in, the grisly scene would have vanished and its memory would be engraved only in the minds of those who had seen the morbid gargoyle removed from its bloody perch. Ed took off after Amelia, wanting to ensure the girl was safe. The others seemed as though they could defend themselves well enough
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:08 am
"I am a member of FEF." She answered. "What is you want to ask?" Melethia was curious about Leon. She's been here for a little under a year now and this was the first guard to stop her and ask questions really.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:47 am
I ain't givin' in,
no matter how hard th' fight
before me looks t' be!
>{Leon}< "I was wonderin' if th' guild was 'nvolved at all in th' case ya know? If they are, we could be sharin' information." Leon explained, all the while letting his suspicions ease up just only a bit. Maybe, just maybe his instincts had been wrong for once. Humans made mistakes, didn't they?
He was kind of ashamed at the fact though... that if they were working on the case, it would be old "FEF to the Rescue" again. It made him, it made the Watch look so unnecessary, when the Guild had to solve all of Eyris's troubles.>{Watch Lieutenant}< If ya just bel'eve, then...
ev'n if th' world be torn asunder,
vict'ry will be yers to hold!
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:07 am
"You can't blame yourself. Blaming yourself and falling into depression, it won't change anything.
You have to look →forward→. Remember what you have here now.
Just think; if you hadn't come here, you wouldn't have met anyone here from Elibe or anywhere else!" XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Amelia}Amelia focused herself on her run, weighed down by her still-wet clothing and the Watch armor as she tried to reach her home. The townspeople were giving her funny looks as she barreled past. Why wouldn't they? A small blonde girl in the Watch's uniform, soaked to the bone and smelling faintly of blood? Yeah, that was totally not suspicious at all.
Amelia ignored them and kept going. They didn't matter. Nothing else mattered. She had to get home. She had to get clean. She could hear someone comment as she passed about how she was bloody, wondering how in the name of Ashera a young girl could get that stained by blood, unless...
No! I didn't kill him! I didn't kill him! I didn't... I didn't kill her...
Amelia nearly screamed when she heard the clicking of claws behind her, whirling around and falling right onto the sidewalk. Seeing Ed approaching, however, allotted a shaky sigh of relief as Amelia pulled herself up from her slip. "A-Ahh... goodness, Ed, you sc-scared me..." Amelia laughed a little and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. Thanks for coming along, though... even if it's just for the company. I appreciate it." With that, Amelia continued to run, but this time slowed down enough to let her ragged breathing slowly recover, and to let Ed catch up quicker and keep her pace.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Graceful Spear}XXXXXXXX"What... I mean is... Being a member of the holy order doesn't mean you can't put your own wants first sometimes. The goddess is supposed to be all‑forgiving, right? You've worked hard and you deserve to do some things that make you happy.
I think she'd forgive you for it."
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:19 pm
Fired, just recently? That immediately struck the masked Priest as a bit odd. If that was the case--if the victim was fired BEFORE this morning's attack--then why on Earth was the victim still coming to work?
He could just ask if he'd really fired the victim, but no, that seemed a bit too blatant. What would be a better way to put it...?
"He hasn't done anything wrong..." Jin began slowly. "Except that, well, he chose the wrong time of day to walk the streets. An assassin--the same one from yesterday--struck again on this morning, with your former employee the victim. Curiously enough, though, the route he was walking does lead to your shop..." he left the last statement hanging, as though he sounded puzzled why someone who was so recently fired was still coming into work so early in the morning. He wasn't making any accusations. He just wanted to see how the shopkeep would react. It might have been a bit cold of him to add the last statement, but he got the feeling the tailor didn't care too much.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:31 pm
Ed skidded to a stop when Amelia had whirled around and fallen flat onto the sidewalk. Up to that point the wolf hadn't really been paying attention to people on the streets, but now that Amelia had fallen the wolf couldn't help herself from glancing around at others. Not too many were about, though the ones who had witnessed it wore either perplexed or amused faces.
Head cocked and forepaw up, Ed grinned rather sheepishly back at Amelia as the girl got back to her feet. Ed couldn't blame her for being so startled. After falling into bloodied waters, Ed would probably get jumpy too. And Amelia had probably expected the wolf not to follow, which was also to be expected. She bobbed her head to Amelia before the girl sprinted off.
Wanting to remain by her side, Ed dashed off after Amelia, critically examining the area for suspicious figures. Knowing that a murderer was on the loose didn't exactly calm her nerves. Paws pounding along the ground, tail flapping at her hindside, the wolf sharpened her senses for a sign of a threat as she continued alongside Amelia.
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:51 pm
"You can't blame yourself. Blaming yourself and falling into depression, it won't change anything.
You have to look →forward→. Remember what you have here now.
Just think; if you hadn't come here, you wouldn't have met anyone here from Elibe or anywhere else!" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Amelia}Amelia slowed to a walk as Fefga's manor finally approached them on the horizon. Her ragged breathing eased down to slow, deep inhales and exhales as she got to the front door. She turned her eyes to Ed, then knelt down and scratched behind Ed's ears again. "Thanks... thanks for coming along. You're good company, even if you can't chat with me." Amelia laughed sheepishly and patted her head. "I'd hug you, but... yeah. Blood."
Amelia rose to her feet and entered the manor. She made sure to leave the door open for Ed to enter, but hurried on to the washroom. She would be a better host and make sure if Ed needed something, but priorities were priorities. Shower shower shower oh thank goddess shower
Amelia shed her armor and immediately got the water running. She stared at her armor, rubbing it clean with a wet towel, then finally waited for the water to heat up properly before stepping into the tub, closing the curtain, and letting the blood and stain wash off of her skin and down the drain. Even as she changed into clean clothes later, though, she still somehow felt... unclean. Amelia tried to shake off the feeling and exited the bathroom in civilian clothing, looking for the familiar wolf while her armor dried. "Ed?" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX{Graceful Spear}XXXXXXXX "What... I mean is... Being a member of the holy order doesn't mean you can't put your own wants first sometimes. The goddess is supposed to be all‑forgiving, right? You've worked hard and you deserve to do some things that make you happy.
I think she'd forgive you for it."
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 3:15 pm
Ed mumbled an "mm-hm" with her lupine muzzle as Amelia scratched her behind the ears. She was glad nothing had happened on the way to Fefga's, but that didn't exempt anything happening from inside Fefga's, so the wolf followed after Amelia and sniffed around for unfamiliar scents while Amelia hurried off for a shower. She took her merry time investigating as she slowly followed the girl.
Ed stopped beside the door of the bathroom after determining there was no danger in Fefga's. Her ears perked and swiveled as the water ran and her eyes examined the surroundings. There was nothing interesting to look at in the hallway, so she eventually tired of that routine, content to at least listen to the water running in the bathroom. It was a peculiar sound that her wolf ears served to deepen, just as entrancing as any complex song anyone could devise.
Soon Ed tired of even that and began to patrol the hallway. She remembered the grisly scene back at the fountain and immediately shoved the thought out of her mind. While she had seen blood and seen people actively die before her eyes, the murder was just a bit much. One had to appreciate the creativity of killers like these but it was probably that creativity that sent her bristling.
Following that she realized there was nothing else to really think about, except for perhaps training and what was for dinner. Perhaps part of that was due to her wolf mentality. She entertained herself down the hallway, bobbing her head and marching, humming "let it rock, let it rock, let it rock" as her tail wagged to the tune, rocking her hindside and pacing contently. By the time Amelia had come out of the shower, Ed was at the end of the hallway swinging her head left and right, still humming and rocking and wagging to whatever song had gotten stuck in her head.
As soon as Amelia called out the wolf stopped and turned around, cocking her head. "Urr?"
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