Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kynε

Leah pushed her wrist forwards on the handle. Her motorcycle hummed as her speed increased, whizzing by the small streets and buildings. She could see the towers of the city centre growing up ahead of her, like metallic shards into the sky. The roads widened up the closer she got to the plaza, end everything became much more majestic too. Besides Skyfall, Entei was her favourite city. She remembered living here until her late teens and always having something to do, but it was by far the busiest city in Occulas - which often made it less enjoyable for her these days.
The Central Plaza was a great flat area outside the bridge leading to Merlin Academy, and was surrounded on all sides by tall buildings and small walkways between them. The buildings were line with short grass and a floating plant-pot or two with a small shrub inside it. Benches were dotted about the edges too, made from chrome. The ground was all made from large polished slate, which had a slight dark blue tint to it in the right lighting. Leah recognised the entrance to the plaza when she came in through a wide road and the floor became much smoother under her slowing tires. Above her was a monolithic archway that didn't quite meet in the middle, because between the two points was a gigantic floating blue crystal, at night you could often here it humming from here. It was lighter at it's edges and grew darker towards it's core. She came to a stop at the road's side when she saw the huge levitating black cube in the centre, it lid up in the corners and in lines along it's faces with bright neon blue. It was surrounded by a ring to stop anyone from touching it. But there were multiple people standing next to it and touching holographic panels that were summoned by it.

Leah's Arcaz-plate armour released the fastenings on her legs and pelvis to release her from her vehicle. Standing on firm ground was refreshing after such a long journey. She had been travelling for days across the wilderness to get to Entei from Skyfall. She couldn't take her motorcycle on a zeppelin so an extra day or two of riding had to be worth it. Now the gentle breeze brushed through her white leather trench-coat. Her long back hair stood out against it. She took note of the dark metal pillars that were attached to the corners of buildings. Inside each one it looked like cyber warriors had been placed inside as statues. But Leah knew that these would awake upon the plaza becoming endangered.
Entei was perhaps the most well-guarded and, more specifically, controlled cities in Occulas. Art, invention and absolute knowledge were the key reasons people would live here their whole life, at least in the city centre. The Blue Guild's presence was most strong here.

Leah was walking along the edge but stopped outside a cafe, filled with young students from the academy eating their lunch, when her HALO lit up. A holographic ring around her head expanded in blue, a name written across it. It flashed from front to back as she answered it without much of a gesture. The HALO vanished. "Hello?" she asked, her voice tender and sweet. She let out a sigh, "I don't want an adventure, d'you have any idea what it's like riding through Az'rah clans in the middle of the night - its filled with bovine yelling and axe swinging." she looked around briefly, catching the eye or two of male Merlin students in the cafe. She stepped further into the plaza hoping the people passing by won't pay her as much attention. "Two times, actually. Once outside the syndicate's realm and the second time in the same place as always. They refuse to give up that cave." Leah went up to the cube in the middle and a screen appeared before her like thin glass. She replied with a few "mhm's" and nods whilst gesturing on the panel. Her screen turned white for a moment as everyone else's snapped shut, causing many sighs of distraught as they began step away, giving Leah some space. "And isn't this a job for Team Elixer? They do most of the hunting these days- oh. That's right. The Otherearth Expedition. I thought there were less students in the city than usual." Her screen showed the white symbol of the Injustira Syndicate for a moment before proceeding into more information. Whilst this was usually a hub for visitor information and many other requests, Leah was using it for criminal data the city might have. She shook her head, "nothing here. Travelled all this way and no information" she closed the panel and the other panels all glowed with life once again. "You know" she said, turning around to look again, leaning back against the chrome railing, "I keep getting this feeling that I should be doing something new and exciting - like going on a grand quest for some lost mythical object rather than being an Inquisitor 24/7. Yeah. Okay, let me know if you find anything." her HALO appeared against, this time flashing red from front to back being fading away again. With a sigh, she looked up to the sky and closed her eyes.

Maybe a break was what she needed. All she could think about was how, by now, she should have done something more spontaneous. As if she had a past life filled with so much excitement, fear, danger.

((I hope this is okay to start something off. We could do almost anything from this point on))

In mid-thought her imagination is interrupted. Staring ahead of her, just by the cafe she passed minutes ago she witnessed a young man bending the earth beneath him into a stairway. He paid no attention to anyone else as he ascended, higher and higher. Behind him she watched the stone pillars grind back down to the floor, back in place only a little dustier than before. Performance? she thought, attention seeker sounds about right. Leaning back against the rail she joined many others who gawked at him with her arms crossed against her chest. As he reached his pinnacle there was a hush amongst the people that were originally calling out in surprise. He commanded three pieces of stone from below to levitate up and with his headphones pulled away he began to juggle. To accompany, he sang softly.
Leah looked around, tucking some hair behind her ear. The City Sentinels were remaining dormant in their pillars of metal. That was a surprise, if he had any trace of criminal activity on him those things would have come to life the moment he broke the floor. She was impressed so far, and so was the audience apparently. Lucky for this guy Entei city was very much a place of performance. She remembered coming here more than once with her husband to stand at the Hypersphere Stadium, it was a giant complex just outside the main city, passed the older parts of the city that haven't changed in centuries. She thought those areas were lucky to have escape the rapid change from stone to metal and magical contraptions.

With a smile, she raised her hands and clapped with the others.

((Sorry ive been slow))

The man began to descend back to the ground and Leah almost lost sight of him as he levelled out with the rest of the crowd. Though, as he finished and they began to give him more space she couldn't help but notice his way of saying thanks. She thought it strange how he chose to sue sign-language over voice, can't he speak? she asked herself. But Leah instantly reminded herself that he could sing. What an enigma. All the while she wandered she must have been caught staring. She was close enough to see his yellow eyes catch hers. She didn't feel threatened or embarrassed though, instead she continued. She never really thought about it, but perhaps she was a little too unafraid of staring. Working as an Inquisitor must have made her a little remorseless when it came to examining what she found curious. It wasn't until she thought about it that she ever felt like she should be shy, but isn't.

Another one of those strange deja vu moments.

She took in the tiny glimmer from his chest, a necklace she noticed, before he turned around completely. When he faced her again however she couldn't help but notice how he gave her a smile. Another strange thing to add to this man. First he comes into Entei and starts an unusual yet spectacular show, then he says thanks in sign language - something she's lucky to understand only a little. And then he gives a stranger like her a friendly smile and wave. She responded by raising her hand briefly. He definitely doesn't come from Entei, too friendly if not a student. Or Asmodeus for that matter - far too clean the last part was an after-thought.

She took the wave as an invite however. He stuck out to her like a beacon in the dark, he was certainly an anomaly for her in a place she knew well. And it was her job to inspect people. Leah pushed away from the rail behind her, the information cube behind her had started behind used again too. Her arms parted and rested at her sides as she made her way over to him. "Hello" she said, her voice surprisingly soft as far as looks would go. She's often been told (usually by her foes) that she ought to sound a little more heartless. She blames the Arcaz-plate armour. "I'm curious" she then asked, tilting her head at him, "if you don't mind that is - where do you come from? It's not often someone like you passes though the Blue City" she gave him the smallest of smiles at the corner of her lips.

His reply first came in a wave of gestures. He used his hands to form letters, which at first Leah only stared at, and as an after-thought realised what he was doing. When he competed the word 'city' Leah said "oh" in a moment of realisation. When he spoke she was surprised again, raising a brow at him. Her hands glanced down to his pockets as he put away his hands before she glanced up again, putting one hand on her hip and leaning mostly on one leg. Her armour seemed to move fluidly too, some pieces at her joints making quiet hydraulic-like sounds as she moved. "So that would explain your love of music no doubt" she chimed in quite happily "you have a great voice." With a smile she hoped the compliment would perhaps make him more talkative. She wondered if her smile seemed too forced though - she wasn't quite used to smiling in front of strangers, she always felt like it was a carved expression in stone. "I've been to Coventry once... but I didn't get to explore the fun parts too much as I was there on Syndicate business." Leah sighed, she had always wanted to explore Neversleep, the biggest mansion in New Coventry with the best, most extreme parties that went on all night long - and they happened every other day! "My name is-"

Leah's attention was short lived though, when her HALO system lit up around her head, expanding and turning red with a cross-hair to her right and an exclamation mark. She completely ignored the grey cross-hair pointing directly at the man before her. She saw a in a white hooded trench coat, similar to her own but far more battered, standing at her motorcycle. She knew it was being tampered with - if the HALO wasn't enough of a warning that is. She scowled immediately, a panic rising in her stomach and making her chest tight suddenly. She gave Konrado a glance and said "forgive me-" Leah's walk became a strut, and then a jog as she set off to get to her vehicle quickly. However, she couldn't get any further than a few feet before blue sparks exploded from the motorcycle and forced the engine to come to life. She was stopped in her tracks, astonished that someone had bypassed the security measures. Bystanders watched and shielded their eyes, only now a few of them had even realised this was a burglary. "NO!" Leah shouted as she extended an arm as if to catch the thief and yank him back - if only she was much closer. She was still in the middle of the plaza.

The thief swung up onto her bike and revved the engine, it was suddenly accelerating and turning on it's back wheel with a shriek and began heading off. Clenching her teeth Leah reached to her side, "lock on to heat signature - 12 o'clock" she told the HALO. The side of her armour, beneath her coat, clicked a few times as a particular item was placed inside a small gun that she revealed. With her body side-on to her enemy she extended her arm and raised it slightly up to avoid anyone on the ground and pulled the trigger. It was quiet for a gun and released a glowing white object, it was attracted to her motorcycle like it was magnet. But Leah woudln't win so easily. She couldn't see properly now but she knew her tracking device was somehow hit or destroyed before it made contact because her HALO wasn't giving any reponse. Lowering her arm she stared blankly - lips parted. After a moment she hung her head and put her spare hand over her face. HEr black hair cascaded down her front as she did so, Leah let out a sigh of defeat. Rubbing her temples with her thumb and middle finger she asked herself "How am I going to explain this?.."

((hopefully this will give us something fun to do?))

((Sorry, can't believe i've left it four days!))

Just as Leah was about to accept defeat (she was already thinking of ways she wouldn't have to tell her husband until she got her vehicle back), Konrada brushed by her in a display of heroic finesse. As he jumped into the air she was baffled, "he can't possibly hope to keep up with my motorcycle, it's impos-" Leah wasn't given much time to finish speaking to herself. Konrado, with a skill unknown to Leah, brings his fist down to the ground. His force trembled the ground and ripped much of his shirt. Leah was quick to notice the gauntlets around his wrists. The floor of stone and dirt was quick to erupt into spikes that accelerated towards the thief. Onlookers pulled back and stuck to the walls of nearby buildings where they couldn't hide from the danger.

The spikes neared the thief, he swerved and began to turn as he hit th ebreaks hard. Smoke and the smell of burning rubber went up as the spikes curled around forming a wall, eventually erupting all around him. Leah was quickly coming up behind Konrado and came to a stop beside him. Catching her breath she stared ahead, "You've surprised me, again." Beside the sound of a revving engine behind the colossal spikes, there was also the sound of shifting gears and a hum of life behind them. Leah turned to look over her shoulder and saw the Sentinels had been initiated. They were great golems made from grey stone and lined with etched patterns, they had black and silver edges. Two of them had been awoken. They resemble a much taller guard, like statues, with no facial features. In one arm they hold a tall and narrow shield made of similar material, there other hand is empty. Inside their chest is a glowing blue shard that beats with energy. "Sentinels" Leah commented, seemingly unhappy, "they're after you"

She was torn between helping Konrado and getting him out of a sticky situation, or retrieving her vehicle. With a sigh she turned completely and looked up at the Sentinals coming towards them, shortly behind them there was a mage, adorned in the heavy blue patterned robes of Entei. Leah instantly recognised the clothes as that of a high ranking Entei Mage who had come as soon as the Sentinals sensed danger to the city. "Please" Leah said to him, the man's face came into view under his hood as he got closer to the humming blue light of the sentinels. "I am an Inquisitor of Skyfall for the Halls of Justice. This man means no harm to the Blue City-"
"He has uprooted a major road to the plaza" the man replied, he sounded surprisingly wise for his otherwise younger age judging by the skin of his face. "Forgive him, but your real threat lies within the wall of earth behind us - a thief stole my vehicle and im not about to let him get away without facing proper justice" the sound the engine could be head again. The made stared her in the eye and looked over her shoulder at the spikes, and then towards Konrado. "Inquisitor?" he asked Leah, she nodded and quickly took out a scroll with silver at it's edges to pull on. With itchy fingers she hoped this would be quick and revealed the contents within. Scrolls from the Injustira Syndicate were official communication amongst other things in the White Guild, you would be considered important to own one. The mage took one glance at the silver symbols and glowing runes on the parchment before nodding. "Sentinels, stand down" he said. The mage then took a step beside Konrado and gave him one glance before raising a hand to the spikes he had created. A blue glow turned into circles and runes on his palm, which then copied itself onto the rock formation. At the mage's command the stone broke away and floating down to the ground, he pushed the debris aside to reveal the inside.

Leah jumped ahead and stepped onto the remaining debris that looked within. Her heart stopped pounding when she saw her vehicle, but there was no culprit. She gritted her teeth tightly together as the mage came up behind her, his blue eyes looked down few a few moments before coming to his own evaluation. "It would seem, Inquisitor Leah, that your vehicle is without it's thief. And your friend's idea of capturing it would in my opinion, be a calamity. You're fortunate it is not large in scale - and that our guilds have strong bonds."

Leah, though distraught about her missing thief, turned when Konrado faced her and began making gestures with his hands. Words, she noticed straight away it was sign language, however only small parts of it stuck out to her as actually meaning anything. She could make out something to do with no problem or sorry and [mess. But her staring from hands to face must have made him realise as he quickly stopped. Instead, he humbled her with his voice for a short sentence.

As for what the mage had to say about everything, Konrado thanked Leah for defending him. That gesture she certainly did understand. Her gaze met his from the other side of the mage's, where his profile became blurry between them. She nodded to him as if to say no problem. Leah, turning her attention to the mage, said "It's exactly that bond between our guilds that makes me believe we can track down the thief - stealing from an Inquisitor of the Injustira Syndicate is unforgivable." The mage then gave out a sigh and crossed his arms, "The Arcaz Sovereignty will, as always, support the white guild in delivering justice. As for your culprit, he must be invisible or very fast. Unless the thief used a portal" the young man gave a profound chuckle, "like a thief would be able to do that"
"Once more, I'm sorry about the road. It's no problem I presume?"
"No, no." The mage replied, waving a single hand at her, "it is but a scratch on our polished city". Already he began to cast magic that slowly pushed down the uprooted rock.

Leah then gestured for Konrado to follow him down to her vehicle, where the large walls of spikes were groaning from the Mage's magic. In about an hour Leah thought this place would look like it did before, maybe with a single crack left over or something. The Magi of Entei were adept in reforming what was broken - recent war had made sure in that art. As she reached her motorcycle Leah placed a hand on it, "I should be thanking you". She looked to the mystery man from New Coventry, "I would be in your debt, but I guess I did you a favour from sparing you the Mage's wrath for wrecking one of his precious roads..." Leah took in a breath, looking Konrado over, and then crossed her arms. "I'm Leah. Inquistor of the Injustira Syndicate in the Halls of Justice... nice to meet you." she paused to think, looking around at the moving rocks around them, leveling out into the ground in rubble. She gave Konrado another stare and narrowed her brows, asking a question.

"Would you care to follow me somewhere? I know a place that i'd like to show you as thanks - and where no one can follow me" Leah looked over her shoulder, she was still wondering if the thief could be around or not. She had to get off the radar for a little while before heading out again. But before she did - she wanted to know more about this man, and whether this could be the start of a fun adventure to get away from her job.