Fantasy Howl's Flying Castle (Finished! ---Whoo! (*＾▽＾)／)

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

"Hmm..." Echo pondered a bit and then nodded in understanding.

"Alright...so you want to get ready even when it's unpredictable right?" Her smile grew into a bit of a mischievous grin and her green eyes gleamed as if she has an idea of her own. "Okay then..."

Without much warning, Echo muttered her spell, "Terra Firma." as she stomped the ground. The dirt in between the two girls suddenly grew up like a wall of sorts with ragged edges. The fawn quickly climbed up and jumped off to make an axe kick. She wasn't aiming for Lydia; It's more like she's planning to land close to her if her rune barrier didn't work. The idea is to train, not really hurt each other.


Roleplay Skittle Zer0

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

Lydia nodded, her arms swinging down to her sides. She responded to Echo's smile with her own bright grin and brought her hands back before her, preparing to draw the rune again. It would appear that she had to do it each time she was going to cast, initial focus being poured into the contact between her finger and her hand as she etched the Algiz rune into her palm.

She faltered when Echo stomped and back peddled slightly as the dirt sprouted up between them and formed the jagged wall. She shook her head as though physically trying to literally shake off her surprise before her brow furrowed deeply as she concentrated, her steps continuing to carrying her backwards slightly in aid to Echo if she should not get the barrier up in time.

Her index finger traced the tri-forked Y pattern on her palm, manna sparkling as it trailed behind her finger's movements and like magical ink, leaving the rune behind on her hand. She squinted her eyes shut and braced for impact once again, going so far as to kneel to give herself a more sturdy position and help deflect the hit to the ground. The shield could hold if she could focus, but that was as far as it could go since it was still only her physical strength behind it. But that was the whole point, to test her boundaries and make sure she would actually be able to withstand attack both physically and mentally.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

'It held up....Good!' Echo thought, still grinning as her hoof hit her barrier and she quickly hopped off of it. Then with some of her strength, she non-stop kicked the barrier on it's side, testing it with each stomp and adding a bit more power to it.

"HA!" Echo kicked one last time, putting 50% of her strength in it to see if Lydia's barrier can take it.

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

Again, Lydia could feel the impact. A sort of tingle and vibration on her consciousness that slowly dissipated, it could be described through sound by playing a Xylophone and while the novice witch could feel the sensation, it didn't actually cause her any harm. It were as though the shield were an extension of herself in a way and things hitting it caused a reverberation like on a spider's web.

Her form sunk down slightly as Echo landed on the barrier with her hoof and bounced off. Her hoof made more of a clack against the barrier rather than the small, hollow plink of the pebbles. Lydia quickly sprung back from the hit, much like the buoyancy of a sponge or fluffy cake. Her eyes opening just in time to see Echo preparing her avalanche of kicks.

The shield domed out in front of Lydia, it wasn't incredibly large and enough to protect her and at least one other person if they stood right behind her, but it left her back completely exposed and her sides partially exposed. She didn't rise from her crouched position under the assault of Echo's kicks, maintaining her position near the ground but altering her stance just so some of the shock of the kicks might be absorbed by the ground, the position of the barrier flush with the earth beneath it.

To Echo's final kick, the barrier was able to withstand the hit, but anything further would have collided with Lydia as she was tossed backwards by the kick, landing on her behind, her concentration failing as her hands flew out to her sides to try and stop her fall, though she ended up laying on her back in the dirt, staring at the roof of the cavern before she just started laughing.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

Frantic and extremely worried from Lydia's fall, Echo gasped loudly before walking up to her quickly, ready to ask her if she was alright. Only to purse her lips as she hears the apprentice witch's laughter and sighed in quiet relief. Well...at least she's okay enough to laugh...

What a barmy girl...

'Then again, I'm used to weird people...' She thought, recalling her aunt Melody and her many cousins and their kids' antics. They were insane, in her opinion.

Shaking her head in a mild disbelief, the fawn offered her hand to Lydia. She let out a small chuckle. "So? What's the analysis?" Echo asked, grinning a bit as she looked down at the witch. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

She gasped a little between giggles, evidently she did have the wind knocked out of her a bit, but the fact of the matter was that the shield stopped her from being hurt, it was just the impact from hitting the ground that had winded her a bit. She laid with her hands over her stomach and her eyes squinted shut, grinning, looking up at Echo as she approached. She calmed herself somewhat, but the grin stayed, her breaths now gasps because of the air she had used to laugh.

"No... I'm...fine," Lydia shook her head and looked from Echo back to the ceiling before propping herself up on her elbows, "as for the analysis..." her black and white stocking covered legs had been stretched out below her and now she drew them in as she began to get off the ground, "I don't know how likely it is to be hit by something as strong as you in battle, but at least I know that as long as I can concentrate, the barrier can hold..."

Lydia laughed slightly and rubbed the back of her breeches over her behind, "so I guess the problem would be, finding a way to protect my backside should an enemy knock me off my feet!" She giggled and playfully stuck her tongue out. She had begun to like the idea of runes. Before she had only ever focused on verbal spell casting, but working on the spell circle had opened a whole other door for her and she liked the prospect of runes and the abilities they could help her with.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

Echo smiled at her, now not as worried but still a bit amused by her reaction. "I see. That's good then...Let me know if you want me to go all out with my kicks next time." She mentioned to Lydia. Then she blinked a bit.

"Well, until then you find a way, just depend on everyone here to watch your back."

'Well...almost everyone...' Echo thought rather bluntly. She doesn't really trust Seifer yet thanks to his sneaky ways of manipulation over other people. Ever since leaving the castle, the fawn has noticed the way he fights and James confirmed it today. So she really doubts that he would willingly look after someone...

One can hope though...

"It's likely that we'll face someone who is stronger than me, I'm sure. So let me know if you want more practice."

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

Lydia smiled and nodded, "well I definitely want to try! Besides, getting a little rough doesn't hurt... well not really anyway," She laughed at the slight absurdity of the statement and crooked her brows slightly, "okay, so it hurts a little... but that's kind of a good thing, right?"

Once she had fully risen and dusted off her black pants that reached just past her knees, she crossed her arms over her chest and took into consideration what Echo had just said. It wasn't that she didn't trust everyone, it was that she didn't want to burden them, they needed to be able to defend themselves without having to babysit her, but she didn't voice these thoughts because she knew that Echo would likely just disagree. Though she didn't doubt the sincerity that Echo would disagree with in the slightest. Lydia just smiled warmly to Echo, "possibly... I don't know you are pretty strong!"

She laughed and rubbed the back of her head slightly, looking at the ground as she kicked absently at the dirt a bit. Well it was kind of absently, kind of like she was willing herself to say what she did next, "hey, Echo... can I ask you something?"

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

Echo chuckled quietly though warm. "Yes, it is. That's a good thing, I believe." From the training she received from her father, the fawn always linked pain to living. As long she felt pain, she's still alive even after a boulder hits her sometimes. It's a harsh lesson, but it works.

"Hmm? Sure, what is it, Lydia?" She asked, now a bit curious. Her ears twitched again as she observed the witch's body language.

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

It was actually probably slightly amusing that Echo had thought of Seifer because for reasons not really related, Lydia had thought of him too. It was uncomfortable and pretty absurd but she felt a strange and unwanted bond with him after the recent body switching fiasco, although that perhaps had little to do with what her thoughts had recently been turning to and being that Echo was a girl and a girl with a boyfriend at that, Lydia thought it best to talk to her.

She laughed nervously, her hands loosely clasping behind her back as she continued to kick at the ground for a moment before she glanced around the cavern and stepped slightly closer to Echo, "um... well... you have Johnny, right?" Lydia asked an obvious question and then bit her lower lip slightly before she gently huffed and placed a hand to her cheek bashfully, "well..."

Lydia giggled and shook her head, this was just so awkward to her. It was much easier being a hypothesizing, experimenting, magician than it was to be a teenage girl and even though she was a teenage girl, the former was way easier, "well... how did you know he liked you before you guys started dating?"

Her brow was furrowed in an almost worried expression as her green eyes finally turned away from everything else and focused on Echo, questioningly.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

Echo waited patiently, nodding 'yes' at the obvious question before blinking in a bit of shock at the question. Hmm...She wondered why Lydia would ask that and absentmindedly wondered if there's love in the air or something.

"Well...that's a hard one to answer. Hold on." Blushing a bit, she remembers the first time she ever met Johnny and then...Echo snorted a bit in amusement as a warm and caring glint appeared in her green eyes.

"To be honest, I wasn't aware of it at the beginning, him liking me I mean. When Johnny and I started to know each other, he was deathly afraid of girls and I was the one who crushed on him first." She still remembers that one time she found him on the ground, fainted from a girl talking with him and ultimately asked her what's her favorite color before really fainting. That was a memory she'll never forget. Ever because of how silly it was...and how sweet of him to try.

"Normally, he'd run away and stutter something to get away from me. I sort of did the same thing since I was really shy around him, but then...he tried to get to know me by asking me what my dreams were, what was my favorite color, how family was like. Personal things like that. He even asked me out on a simple date too. I guess...it's when he helped me sing in front of others is when I noticed that he liked me back for real since he was so considerate about my fear of crowds."

As she talked about Johnny, Echo has this sugary sweet smile on her face like she was so happy and felt so much bliss from remembering his actions in the past. Her green eyes softened up too. "Why do you ask, Pumpkin pie? Someone caught your eye?" She tilted her head as she asked quietly so no one would hear her, knowing that Lydia would prefer to keep it hush-hush.

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

While Lydia's gaze remained fixed intently on Echo as she spoke, her expression softened to the point that it almost mirrored Echo's. They weren't her memories, but she gushed over them as Echo recalled the events in question. A warm smile had made it's home on her full lips as her eyes glistened with appreciation of Echo's tale. Her hands eventually clasped each other and found their way to lay against her cheek as she leaned into them coquettishly, "aaaaaaw! Echo... that's just....!" She giggled squeakily as she tried not to burst with joy. She knew they were cute, she just didn't know how cute they were, "you guys are really lucky."

She had continued to squeeze her hands together for a moment, but as Echo asked her why she had asked, her eyes widened slightly and her hands fell to her sides, "well... uh... hmmmm..." the sounds were slightly strained and the cause was hard to pinpoint. Lydia's brow furrowed and she drew one hand back up to her face, her index finger tapping gently on her lower lip as she thought before her gaze fell back on Echo, the same seemingly surprised expression back on her face, "well... I don't really know..."

She leaned in towards Echo, the whole idea was really awkward to her and since she didn't really know she didn't really want anyone else to hear anything so she spoke in soft tones and confided in Echo, "honestly... well I hadn't really given... well, boys and things like that much thought..." Lydia stifled a nervous laugh that came out in a slight squeak, "where I am from... while people know of magic... it's not really something practiced or studied and so... well that kind of made me... um... different?"

She shook her head, seemingly slightly exasperated, "boys thought I was strange... I thought they were dumb," she shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably, "it's been weird... but satisfying travelling with everyone... Seifer's really the odd one as far as I can tell," she rubbed her cheek thoughtfully and laughed a little.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

Echo blushed from Lydia's excitement and calling them cute, but it's a happy blush so it's not too bad. Actually, it's a pretty good feeling. "Heheh. Thank you..."

As she listened to Lydia, her own pair of green eyes widened a bit as she is a bit surprised...Then she grinned softly. "It seems...almost everyone here has a thing that makes them really different from others." It's kind of funny, now that she thought about it: Johnny's afraid of girls, James is crazy over-protective and way too analytical, Renee is super kind and tends to pick up on things others don't normally see without time, Echo, herself, is a reindeer satyr girl that grows antlers, Seifer's extremely arrogant and sneaky, Seth and Sen are guild masters, the princess is a lot more civil than most believes...and now they have Lydia, an apprentice witch who studies a lot of magic and came from a non or not as much magic used area. What a world...

'It's like a band of misfits grouping together because of a cause or something.' She thought, remembering all those fantasy books she read as a little fawn.

Shaking her head in amusement, Echo sighed before slowly losing her grin. Hmm...So, she's confused about her feelings towards Seifer? She has to make sure that it's liking in the romantic sense and not just friendship or something.

"Yes, well Seifer has somewhat of a history with James, Johnny, Ren, and myself. So I'm not surprised that he's a bit of an oddball in this little band nor am I surprised that he's a bit awkward with us..."Echo muttered quietly as she walked a bit closer to the witch just so she can ask in a whisper.

"...So...something about him caught your eye? You're gonna have to explain, pumpkin or else I wouldn't be able to understand well."

Roleplay Skittle Zer0

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

Lydia thought that Echo's statement was spot-on. She also felt that was why she was pretty comfortable with everyone. Seifer because his attitude was something she was used to dealing with, everyone else because they made her feel normal. No to say that she thought they were abnormal and so by comparison she was normal, but because they were all different so as a group they could be considered normal to each other. She smiled warmly and her eyes searched Echo's face as she spoke, her gaze carrying a sort of admiration.

She tilted her head to the side slightly, curious about this history that Seifer evidently had with the others. Truthfully, he probably knew all of them better than her, but he was obviously such an idiot when it came to social skills it made her wonder if he was raised that way or if that was just his personality. She mused on the topic of Seifer for a moment until Echo continued.

The novice witch balked and then grimaced as Echo asked if something about Seifer had caught her eye. She then laughed slightly and held her hands out in front of her with her palms facing Echo and then shaking them side to side, "Seifer?! No! Eeew!," She continued to laugh and put her hands over her mouth, her green eyes slightly squinted as her cheeks plumped up beneath them with her grin, "he's like a toad... like a reverse Frog Prince!"

Her hands moved to her stomach and she shook her head slightly, closing her eyes, "it's just... well when we were switched... well he made me think about some things."

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

Echo chuckled at Lydia's comparison for Seifer, mentally agreeing with her in that case. He did seem like a reverse prince, now that she thought about it. Princess Mia is a prime example of a proper lady that's raised in high society; Seifer...Seifer seems more like the stereotype of said proper upbringing.

'Hmm...I wonder if there's a reason for that.' Echo thought absentmindedly before shaking her head, already feeling a headache coming along for trying to theorize about him. Once again, she wonders how Renee is able to come up with ideas on people and sticking with them until she sees something new or hears about it and then writes it down in her sketchbook. Yes, Echo has seen Renee's many many many sketchbooks that contained not just drawings but theories of people around her, including herself and she finds it very weird and...oddly observant of the clumsy girl to come up with the right conclusions.

As she continues to listen, Echo nodded almost sagely with a patient grin. "Oh? What is it?"

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

Thinking about the comparison she made for Seifer, Lydia actually began to question if he would actually turn into a frog if someone kissed him. Her lips puckered slightly as she thought and her eyes squinted a moment before she really thought about it and realized how ridiculous it was since she was pretty sure he had done more than just kiss a girl, which that idea was also slightly absurd since he was evidently so incredibly picky when it came to girls.

She snorted and shook her head slightly, blinking her large eyes a few times before sighing and responding to Echo's question in a soft voice, "well..." she crooked her finger across her lower lip slightly as she placed her hand on her chin in thought, her cheeks reddening a bit as she considered how best to approach the topic and gently cleared her throat, "I've never been close with a boy... like I said... and so..." she frowned slightly in concentration, "well... I've never been intimate with a boy and then Seifer..."

She let out a frustrated groan as though the remembrance caused her physical pain. She then gesticulated with her hands a bit, her tongue feeling heavy in her mouth and her mind refusing to give her the means to vocalize what she wanted to say, her gaze pleading with Echo.

"I guess... I feel tainted? Like... I want to fall in love.. or something..." she groaned again and slumped to the ground, holding her knees. Why was communicating about this stuff so difficult?

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

Echo listened to Lydia's stumble on what she wants to ask, blinking when she slumped to the ground and holding her knees. Oh dear...

Sitting next to her and thinking on what Lydia was trying to express, Echo wondered if she should try to copy what Renee does and tries to theorize again. 'Okay...so it involves Seifer...and she feels....tainted?? Hmm...' The only thing that she could link between the two...is the body switch. 'Oh yea! So...didn't Seifer do something rather stupid at the time?...yes, yes, he did.' Now she remembers and sighs, patting Lydia's back lightly as if she petting a duckling.

"Sweetie, just because Seifer is an idiot and doesn't know manners even when it hit him in the face (Which I hope it does one day, Echo added), that doesn't mean you can't fall in love because of his mistakes." Her ears twitched again though now a bit agitated at the archer and snorted quietly. Honestly...

"Is that what you mean? You think you can't fall in love because of what he did before? When he came up to you with a...sponge?" That moment was strange in of itself. Being sponged by a person randomly and saying it like it was a normal thing...though she couldn't help but laugh quietly at that thought before clearing her throat.

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

She sat quietly as Echo pet her and then glanced to the Fawn as she spoke. She laughed somewhat forlornly. Seifer was right, she really needed to get better at communicating. She sat silently and thought before saying anything, mustering up the courage to say anything as well as the wit to speak clearly and accurately.

"I don't know... I don't think that... I don't think that I can't fall in love... just," she pressed her lips together for a moment before drawing in a deep breath, "I just... well I mean..." She raised her head from where it had been resting on her knees as Echo continued and she couldn't help but laugh and bury her face against her knees, "oh geez... no... it's much worse than that."

She closed her eyes and raised her head like that would give her courage, "no... Seifer did worse... in my body..." she planted her face against her legs and made sounds that it was hard to determine if she was crying or laughing, "like.. your rules and James'... well he didn't even try to establish anything like that."

She shook her head and groaned in frustration. Evidently she hadn't been crying, maybe on the verge of but there were no tears on her face, "that doesn't matter anyway, I don't even know if I would know if I did fall in love anyway," she laughed somewhat wryly, her hands on either side of her head, "I guess this is all just silly."

Katsuya

 

[Zer0]

- Peponee Caverns -
" James Pendragon "​

When Johnny kept spacing out for ten more minutes, Princess Mia came over, looking concerned, and nudged his shoulder with a warm bowl of porridge. "Johnny, are you hungry?"

" . . . Oh! Porridge. Th-thank you, princess." he bowed meekly. "Where did Echo go?"

"She's over there." she chuckled, pointing some ways away behind him to a far corner of the cave.

"How did she get there? I was just talking to her."

"Haha, you've been spacing out for more than ten minutes already?"

Johnny was surprised. ". . . Did I make weird faces?"

"Haha, yes you did. And you kept on saying, 'Ohohoho'. Where did you go?"

"A sunny apothecary on a hill," he grinned cheerfully, then added in a very small whisper. "before I was dog-piled by a herd of fluffy sheep daughters." He glanced over at Echo who was now talking in hushed whispers with Lydia. He liked it when she became embarrassed to the point that she'd start to talk funny and then run away, she was cute and it made him just want to chase after her some more.

At the side, Latifa was distributing porridge to everyone else, lastly placing a wooden bowl before James who was still sitting near Lydia's things and thanked her, then resumed ardently watching the air in front of him, though not really seeing it, his eyes darting here and there as though counting a crowd of invisible people passing by.

***
​

Owl's were almost color blind, they saw the world in monochrome and do not have "eyeballs" so to speak, rather their eyes were elongated tubes held in place by bony structures inside the skull called "sceloritc rings", hence they cannot roll their eyes and instead move their heads, but they had excellent night vision. Sasha's third pair of eyelids that cleaned her eyes kept blinking underneath her two upper and lower ones. There was so much smoke in the early night, that her eyes must be stinging a little, thought James.

He saw the raging siege of the city underneath at night as though it was daytime, where the enemy was bashing the towering city gates with a battering ram under a rain of arrows from the defenders, and the clash of gryphon riders and winged horrors up above as the ghostly ethereal owl twisted its head a hundred and eighty degrees.

Hoot , cried Sasha in a wavering note, her large eyes blinking rapidly. The smoke was too much and she winged around the dark army, looking for a safe place to rest her wings. Hoot, hoot, she quietly called nervously looking around her warily as she landed soundlessly on a corpse and hid in the nook of the fallen warrior's breast plate.

"Go on, rest." said James reassuringly. "Good job."

She was a small owl, and felt even tinier in the midst of the chaos that surrounded her. James felt worried for her, and could tell that she was afraid with the way she kept peering out from her hiding place and jumping at the slightest noise that came near as she rested.

It moved him to know that she still chose to stay anyway, and made a mental note to save her some porridge as it was her favorite next to dead mice. All summons can disappear at will, and they usually do when they are afraid or unwilling to do their master's bidding.

He blindly felt for the bowl in front of him, pulling back quickly and returning to his own vision for a moment when he accidentally dipped his fingers into the hot porridge.

Johnny was asking Princess Mia how she was doing, to which she said she was nervous for the others risking their lives out there and hoped that the good people of Holt were alright; some distance away Lydia was slumped on the ground for some reason and he wondered if it was because she was worried for the others as well.

"It's alright." James called to her and Echo. "No need to worry." he smiled consolingly as he spooned some porridge in his mouth, before resuming his watch with Sasha.

Roleplay Skittle

- Holt Outskirts -
" Behind Enemy Lines "​

Meanwhile, behind enemy lines, Seifer sneezed.

Immediately he clamped both his hands over his mouth looking around nervously for anything dangerous that might have heard him. He had been peering through the gap between the leaves of his hiding place on the branches of a tall tree as he memorized the patrols of the winged monsters soaring above the battle field. He and Seth had opted to not risk their lives and just stay as far away as possible from danger, splitting into two pairs so that they could scout out more, but at that moment he saw something for a fraction of a second that made him change his mind.

A deathknight. The same black hooded deathknight that assassinated the king and tried to kill the princess. He did not tell Renee this and shifted forward slowly near the edge of the canopy so that she could not see his face. He tilted his head up as though still looking at the sky, but his eyes were gazing down.

Seifer had momentarily spotted the deathknight inside a tent in the enemy's camp as some soldier came in through the tent flap. He had seen him speaking into a mirror inside where instead of his reflection, the duke who was the new steward of the throne since the King's death was speaking to him. He knew what that mirror was, it was a "scrying mirror" that allowed a person to communicate through other artifacts with the same rare and powerful enchantment.

"Sheep girl, I saw the scythe deathknight." said Seifer suddenly, after a moment's thought where he gazed down at the army again as though simply watching. "See that tent? The big one with the two monster guards that look like human spiders with white masks from here? He was in there, and there was a scrying mirror. You know what that means? If we can get in there, we can contact Madam Suliman. She has this crystal ball in her office in the academy that can communicate with scrying mirrors."

Katsuya

OOC || Characters || Interest Check​

 

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

Echo stared at her blinking as she thought again and putting the pieces together. 'Okay...it's worse...IT'S WORSE?!' What could be worse then...

As the fawn strained to listen to Lydia's muffled words, she can feel one of her lower eyelids twitch in agitation. The rules...the boundary line between the switched people...Lydia and Seifer didn't have a boundary line...

Echo let out a gasp as she realized what Lydia was talking about. "He didn't...He couldn't have...He did, didn't he?!"

"Oh that inconsiderate, arrogant, disrespectful, trolling rich kid who believes everyone is his toy to play with..." Echo cursed at the archer, now understanding what Lydia meant. Her green eyes had the same fire as she always had whenever she faces an enemy though now it's aimed at Seifer. Then she looked over to Lydia with an angry frown.

"If you like, I will really hit him with a pillow. Just tell me and I will get revenge for his perverted and stupid ways."

Oh even better, she'll slap him with a bit of her strength because that is no way to treat a girl's body and yet he believes it's okay to do that...the sicko!

***


-Renee Pendragon-​

Renee panicked a bit when Seifer sneezed, her orange eyes peered over him before quickly and quietly looking around in case anyone heard him. Then she let's go of her breathe when no one came by. Honestly, they could get killed for even making a noise! Seifer should know better...then again it's a sneeze so...that can't be helped either...

She almost wanted to face-palm herself at the silly argument in her head.

The white-haired Pendragon was sitting on the other and lower branches, only climbing up to the higher ones if she needed to see passed through the leaves in case of any of the enemies spotted them. Basically she's watching over their area while Seifer is watching the enemies' movements. A simple and slow plan but definitely effective. She did hear Seifer moving around but she peeked up and then looked down at the ground, quietly sighing in a bit of despair. Her thoughts were stuck on her for-now partner as she could now think clearly and calmly.

She couldn't get rid of her own feelings towards the idiot. She couldn't lie to herself to hate him either, she noticed as she almost corrected him when he exclaimed that they hated each other. Though she should hate him, she can't...Dislike his attitude and actions, yes, but he himself? Nope.

It's those little moments he has. Like that night when he cruelly threw her feelings back at her face, he asked so many questions for someone who didn't care and that comment about his looks and riches. What, did none of his past dates like him for him or even wanted to get to know him without thinking about his birthrights? That's really depressing.

Then there's the time when he didn't talk with her for a whole day only to tease her the next day when she scolded him...Renee couldn't tell if he was being a troll again or if he was actually encouraging her to talk more...by riling her up. It could be her over-thinking it, but...Yea, maybe she's over-thinking it...She has to be over-thinking. It's only her feelings that are making her believe these things. That has to be it...She's over-thinking it!

'I've got to stop that...' She mentally scolded herself when she should be on the look-out. When they leave safely, Renee will grab her sketchbook to write and draw again to get rid of her racing thoughts.

James is right: Romantic stuff can be so distracting and bad for this quest of theirs.

Shaking her head, Renee continued to look around and almost flinched when Seifer came back to tell her something. Her heart leaped in surprise and her none visible muscles tensed. She has got to stop that, being scared whenever he pops up. As the other archer told her about the Scrying mirror, she looked over to where he directed, and the white-haired girl held her breathe. This can be their chance to tell Madam Suliman-! Her eyes glowed with a bit of hope but then she looked over at Seifer again with a concern frown.

"What about the guards? How can we get in if they are there?" Renee asked, ready to take on their task again until...she thought of something and got curious.

"Did...did you see anything else? Like if the Deathknight was talking to someone?" She didn't know why she asked that, (gut feeling, maybe?) but if the Deathknight has one of those special mirrors then...it's possible that he has connections somehow...

And that's not good...

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

Lydia jumped slightly as Echo exclaimed, her gaze shifting from the ground in front of her and back to the Fawn, she then shrugged slightly. Unless one of them had a spell to go back in time it didn't much matter now, there was just the residue of the feelings she had when she realized what Seifer had done.

Her gaze shifted to James as he spoke and she smiled to him slightly. Four of their party were risking their lives and she was sitting here thinking about feelings? She shook her head and her soft smile turned somewhat sad before she chuckled at herself and shook her head, "it's okay, Echo.... he actually tried to be nice about it... and he sort of... I guess apologized in his own deranged way."

She laughed and stood up again, she couldn't really disagree with any of the descriptions Echo used to characterize Seifer because they were not wrong, "and as he pointed out, he didn't hurt me," Lydia gestured at her face, "and while he took liberties... at least he tried to take care of me?"

Wait... why was she trying to defend Seifer? Echo should totally wallop him, he's such a butt. She snorted and chuckled at herself. No, she refused to like Seifer. That would be so wrong on so many levels for so many different reasons. She shook her head and dismissed the whole topic, moving closer to the rest of the group, "thanks for the talk, Echo."

She felt a little relieved and her tone was chipper as she thanked Echo, it was nice having someone to talk to rather than just writing everything down like she usually did.

Katsuya Zer0

 

[Katsuya]

-Echo Muses-​

Echo raised an eyebrow at her, listening as she squinted her eyes a bit. He tries to be nice and someway, shape and form, apologized? After staring at the novice witch for a few more seconds, the fawn nodded though reluctantly.

"Alright...No problem, Sweet Pea." She said with a grin as she stood up, thanked Latifa for her bowl of porridge, and went to sit next to Johnny to snuggle with him. She sort of forgot about the embarrassing thought of being in a happy marriage, now that she thought more about the puzzling archer...and his stupid awkward ways...

'The boy needs to learn on how to socialize like a normal human...' Echo thought sounding similar to Latifa when she shows her sassy side as she took a bite of the porridge. "What do you see, James?" She asked, a bit curious.

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Peponee Caverns-
​

Sandwiches. In Lydia's mind, they were at the pinnacle of modern advancement. Which is weird because it's a sandwich. Sandwiches were convenient because no matter what Lydia was doing, she could stuff some food products between two pieces of bread and have a sandwich, then she could always have a free hand to continue whatever she was doing to begin with. So, Lydia loved sandwiches.

Of course she ate other foods too, just sandwiches were the most common thing for her because they provided the most adequate form of meal when multi-tasking, but that didn't stop her from happily claiming a bowl of porridge and expressing her gratitude in a jovial manner. She sat down next to James and her belongings and held the porridge in her lap, a smile on her face that slowly faded as she began to absently prod at the lumpy mixture she was about to eat.

Of course the food before her wasn't the cause of her expression, no Lydia had delved back into her own head and her recent conversation with Echo, 'He started calling me Lydia...' she thought, scooping up some of the porridge and taking a bite, her brow furrowing in thought and the spoon resting in her mouth a moment before she pulled it out.

'Has he been nicer recently too?' this she wasn't sure of, maybe it was just wishful thinking but she felt like he hadn't been as big a jerk since before the body switching, of course she could be wrong but she liked to think she wasn't.

Her thoughts continued on various subjects involving Seifer before she shook her head briskly and shoveled some more porridge in her mouth. Honestly, of all the ridiculous things to think about. She was quite sure that she didn't like Seifer, 'he's just nice to look at,' she nodded to her own thought and smiled about it before giggling to herself.

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked to James as Echo questioned him, the prospect made her nervous but it was better to be prepared in any case and knowing what they were up against would be helpful if they hoped to advance in their quest any.

Katsuya Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- Seifer Rathmore -
" Holt Outskirts "​

"I did." said Seifer. "A warrior in half-plated armor. He was cloaked in shadow and wore a visored helmet, so I couldn't see his face."

When Sasha, Seth, and Serena returned from scouting a few hours later, he told them the same thing. He didn't know how to use a scrying mirror, and neither did Seth, but if they can somehow distract the guards enough for Seifer to slip in and steal it, they could ask Madam Suliman to send reinforcements to Holt, save the trapped citizens, get out safely themselves and then it's straight to Dalaran with the army protecting them.

"I can transfigure magical objects into useless junk that masks their magical aura." he told the group. "So in case I get caught or . . . or killed, I can drop it and one of you can pick it up and contact Madam Suliman."

It was very uncharacteristic of Seifer to be this brave. He wouldn't dare go inside a troll cave, so he must have a pretty good reason to volunteer to sneak into the heart of the camp of the black dragon's terrifying army, and then slip into the tent of one of the beast's deathknights to steal a rare precious artifact.

He must have sensed the skepticism in Seth's mind, because then he added, "I want to know what's happened to my mother. I can't get her out of Kingsbury safely, but Madam Suliman and her people can."

Katsuya

- Johnny Caprice -
" Peponee Caverns "​

Meanwhile, back in the caverns, Johnny leaned on Echo's back as he listened to James tell them all about the battering ram at the gates, and how Holt's garrison was losing the battle in the air. Though it was two hours later when he shared with them the discovery of the scrying mirror, Seifer's plans, and how Serena and the rest have finally memorized the routes of the patrols after Sasha regrouped with the four.

They can now attempt to use the battle as cover to sneak into Holt through the air, though Renee was going to have to carry a lot of people.

"Not quite." said Johnny. "I've been practicing how to transfigure animals into mice. If someone would be brave enough to be my first human test subject, we can practice until I can get it right."

After somebody agreed, they moved on to the question about the scrying mirror. "Does anyone know how to use one?" asked James.

These artifacts were almost as rare as the magic door in Howl's flying castle. The only ones who'd probably have an inkling as to how they worked were those who read a lot, dealt often with enchanted items, had a powerful master or relative like Howl, the rich, or those who had been part of the military.

He also asked them if they were willing to let their friends do something as dangerous as sneak into the enemy's camp. They can after all try to somehow deal with the anti-air artillery of the enemy that's been preventing the airships from leaving the city together with the garrisoned soldiers after they convince them they were on their side and that the missing Princess Mia who was with them all along needed to get to Dalaran.

Katsuya , Roleplay Skittle

 

[Katsuya]

-Renee Pendragon-​

After hearing Seifer's description and meeting up with Sasha, Seth, and Serena again, Renee kept thinking. They are going to steal a mirror from a Deathknight...Oh boy. Then that means that someone is going to have to distract the guards while Seifer changes the mirror...

"Okay then I'll distract the guards." Renee volunteered without much of a second thought. She saw Serena's horrified expression and grinned at her though it looked more like a grimace.

"Renee, no! You can't. It's dangerous and you can get killed too. No I'm not letting you do this." was Serena's response. She can practically hear the worry in her tone too..Hmm, it's almost similar to James' worried tone whenever she gets into trouble or danger...

'They are so different and alike at the same time that it's really scary.' Renee thought, amused. Yep, big sister material.

"Serena, I'll be fine: I can fly away if it's too much to handle. I won't be fighting them head-on, just going to make them move away from the tent." Renee told the violinist, smiling with a bit of confidence and...is that fear? To anyone that knows her personally would realize that she does knows how dangerous this mission is and is not taking it lightly...She's just sugar-coating it so Serena doesn't get too worried.

***

-Echo Muses-​

"I can carry the mice since they are usually calm around me."

Echo volunteered to let Johnny practice on her. She trusts him so the fawn doesn't mind being a small mouse. As they moved on to the other topic of letting them do this crazy mission, Echo could feel a headache coming on. They need that mirror but they might lose a friend or two if they do this.

This is really troubling...

"As long they think they can do it, then...I say go for it." It's a tall order for her to trust Seifer, but if he's willing to steal it then...that means he's serious. She can trust that serious side of him...for now.

Though she doesn't know how to use the mirror, but maybe...just maybe Lydia knows how? "What about you, Sweet Pea? Have any ideas?" She asked to the novice witch, praying that she has read something about it.

Roleplay Skittle Zer0