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Shadows of Fear sweep across the soul.....

Azrael saw the irritation becoming evident on the girl's face, though it was only slight. He chuckled and stood up, moving in front of her to distract her. He leaned forward so that his face was a few inches away from hers, a smile tugging at his scarred lips.
"Well then, a better view would be closer up correct Miss Cassandra?" Though he didn't know it, the red in his eyes was fading, with hints of a deep green beginning to show.
"And if you can't ask a question, I have one. Where are the bastards that hurt you?" The blood red hue returned full force as one hand clenched tight. If she answered, he would be taking a little trip to hand out some...Retribution.

....the Shadowknights have risen on wings of despair.

Shadows of Fear sweep across the soul.....

Azrael pressed his lips against her forehead as he straightened up.
"Well then. I'll have to train you until you are strong enough to break whatever conditioning they have on you. Then we'll make them pay together. Agreed?" He pulled one gauntlet off, revealing the scarred tissue of his hand, and held it out to her - an offer for a future free from the monsters that ruled her nightmares, of an everlasting friendship, and possibly something more. The red hue in his eyes had softened once more, until the peaceful green of his youth showed through to the woman in front of him.

....the Shadowknights have risen on wings of despair.

Shadows of Fear sweep across the soul.....

Azrael stepped back so that he could see her, the red filling his eyes once more as he observed her. His hand lowered but remained up in the air.
"How do you mean." His voice was neutral - not judging her one way or the other. It seemed that this was bigger than he had surmised, but even if he had to crush another city for what had happened, the Shadowknight, former Paladin, would.

....the Shadowknights have risen on wings of despair.

Shadows of Fear sweep across the soul.....

Azrael sighed and sat down next to her.
"I suppose I should tell you about my own fiery past then." He glanced once at her before resting his chin on one hand and staring at a nearby ice pillar. "I was born outside of Fronta actually, the Holy City, though that place is only a shell now. But that is not my tale. No, I was born to a family of minor noblemen, barely above peasants themselves. They sent me to a Monastery, it is where I grew up, where I was trained in the art of the Paladins." His own eyes were slightly vacant as he spoke, the blood red hue in them deepening.
"It was only after I arrived at the Monastery that my bloodline activated, that my scales came into being. The Masters of the Monastery, Clerics and Paladins, were very, very strict on inhuman policy. Their view was that inhumans were less than human, and had to be killed. They couldn't have one of their 'star pupils', " the Shadowknight spat the words out in disgust, " showing inhuman traits now could they? But at the same time, having those scales, these claws, was a very, very useful thing for them to have in their Order. So their decision was to tear my scales off one at a time, scale by ******** scale. Then when they had exposed my raw, bleeding flesh, they beat me. Lashed me with canes, whips, spiked boards..." He shuddered and shook his head - he had crushed them punished them for their actions. He shouldn't have a problem explaining this now.
"It eventually reached the point where they had built a trigger in to my scales growing on my body. If I was in a combat situation, then the scales would grow. This came about because any time I was to go into training that day, training being mock-combat, they left the scales. I came to love the days where I fought, simply because they meant less pain." His lips turned towards, tugging on the scar on the right edge.
"Eventually I found the path of Shadows that I must walk now, and strode down it. But I didn't just leave Cassandra." He stood up and tapped the deep burn mark on his right shoulder. "When the time for me to leave came, I poisoned the evening meal of people who lived there. And then I burned the place down around them, I burnt this into my flesh as a reminder of what I did that night. So if either of us is a monster, it is me. Your actions were involuntary, a reaction to the situation. Mine? I chose to burn them for what they did. It was a conscious, willing choice, and one I would gladly do again. You said you left a man alive because he was away? When the survivors, the people who had escaped my night of flames came, I killed them, then hunted down anyone who had stayed away. You must never feel that shame for what you did. Instead, rejoice - you lived and moved on, and in time you will fully overcome what those people did to you."

....the Shadowknights have risen on wings of despair.

Shadows of Fear sweep across the soul.....

For several minutes Azrael was silent as he stared at her. Honestly, the silence was probably getting on her nerves before he responded.
"First, darling?" One missing eyebrow raised upwards. "Second, you had better not. No, what you should regret is not killing that last one. Third, are you sure you want to train with me?" While she seemed sweet enough, that comment held the darkness someone who wanted to be with him needed. This time, instead of holding his hand out face up like he had, his hand was offered normally, as if ready to shake her hand.

....the Shadowknights have risen on wings of despair.

Shadows of Fear sweep across the soul.....

"No, I don't think there is." He leaned forwards slightly and pressed his scarred lips against her full ones, reveling in the soft feeling for a moment before pulling away. He didn't know what had possessed him to do that - he blamed it on his friendship with S and Alice, both of whom would do whatever entered their minds at any given moment.
"Well then. If we're going to train you, we should decide where you want to start. Maybe a bloodline technique? Or would you prefer starting off with a Trickster skill?"

....the Shadowknights have risen on wings of despair.

Shadows of Fear sweep across the soul.....

"That is not a problem. While I don't have the same stipulation, I have made it this far without ever using my bloodline. Until recently, no one even knew I had one." Azrael chuckled and shook his head.
"But in any case, you're going to start with a Trickster Technique. And I happen to know the first technique of that branch off of the top of my head. Why? Because I watched both Alice and S learn it. It's a speed technique, and to learn it you must run about the city as fast as you possibly can."

....the Shadowknights have risen on wings of despair.

((Alright, this should be the first or second technique listed in the Skills list for Tricksters. Sorry hon, but I'm a wee bit tired. You have to post several times throughout a few places in the city as practice run posts. Don't have to be more than one sentence. How many places you have to post is listed in the Skills area. This place can be used as both the first post, and the last post.))

"S"
Kiranu { Novice | Citizen } Yuran

~

After Azrael left him, S couldn't help but frown. He was walking off with that girl. S didn't trust her, he couldn't place why, but he didn't. He felt as if she was trying to steal him away from him. And the constant touching was proving it.

Hopping back up to his feet, The boy subtly moved a bit closer to them, smirking slightly as he realized they were trying to keep out of his range, but apparently didn't actually know what that range was. Bending over, the boy decided to do his training rather than expressly try and listen in. Yeah, he'd keep an eye on them, keep her from doing things to his Shiny, but he needed to get his practice done too.

Starting with the dash, the boy started out by stretching his limbs, twisting and pulling his muscles until he felt sufficiently loose, and then started jogging slowly around the area. After a short time of jogging, he increased his speed, until he was running circles around the area at full speed.

Straightening out as he hit a long stretch, the boy tried to force more speed into his limbs, to gain the instant of invisibility Azrael had mentioned, but instead tripped himself, tumbling along the ground for several feet before he came to a stop. "Ow..." The boy muttered, rubbing his shoulder as he stood up again. Okay, so that wasn't how it worked.

Stretching his legs out again for a few seconds, the boy took off once more, running around until he was up to full speed, darting in and out of the ice pillars, and even running past the two talking before trying again. This time, he tried jumping, adding that little bit of extra force to his motion.

Sadly, the effect wasn't quite as intended, as the boy lost his grip on the ground, and ended up flipping through the air until he finally fell to the ground again, just managing to save himself, skidding along on his feet. So jumping apparently wasn't the answer either.

Spinning around once more, the boy took off at full speed right from the start this time, his body stretching out into a blur as he darted between the rocks once more, finally hitting a straight spot and trying again, just adding extra force to his steps. The boy seemed to blink out of existence for a moment, before reappearing several feet further on, upside down and tumbling across the ground, landing at the feet of an oddly dressed man.

Blinking at the man a few times, the boy raised his right hand in greeting. "Yo." He grinned at him, before flipping back to his feet. "Alright, I think I've got this now." S muttered to himself, bracing himself as if he was about to start a footrace back in the direction he'd come from. An instant later, he was gone, small clouds of dust rising from the ground at regular intervals for a bit, until even those stopped. Several feet further on from when the dust stopped rising, S reappeared, skidding along the ground standing perfectly on his feet. "Alright!" The boy cheered, jumping in the air with his arms over his head.

With the technique learned, S decided to head back to Shiny for more info on the next one, and maybe to break up whatever the girl was trying to do to him. Bouncing through the pillars, S landed right above them, just in time to see the sudden kiss. Frowning, S forced back a growl that built in his throat, keeping himself hidden for the time being, until they were done and had moved on to a discussion of training. When that happened, the boy dropped down right above them, hanging upside down from and outcropping on one of the natural pillars. "I'm done! Well, with the dashing thingy anyways, how does the air thing work again?" The boy asked, cocking his head to the side. An odd sight indeed from an upside down creature.

~

[Energy: 500/550]
[Speed: 11]
[Strength: 6]
[Shells: 55/120]

{ Air Trick appears to be adept only, so I'll need to get another test from May before I can obtain that awesomeness. }