Fantasy [Private] El Stories

[Breakthrough]

Arya watched the exchange between Phantom, amused slightly at how she could be so easily forgotten, but then again, she wasn't really one to jump into another's conversation unless it was about work, or if she had been mentioned. Instead, she watched Komodo and Star as they playfully bumped each other with their tails. It was cute.

Arya moved to take a seat nearby, far enough to watch the two men chatting, but still close enough to be heard if they decided to turn their attention to her. She ordered breakfast, suddenly remembering her hunger. Her mind became occupied, suddenly, thinking back to her days living with the man that raised her. He was a grumpy old man with one arm, but he was still quite formidable during their training sessions. She fondly remembered the times he had dressed her cuts and bruises, mumbling how useless she was for not being able to remember much. She knew he didn't mean it, however.

Arya also remembered the nights she would wake up screaming from a headache, shaking and crying from something in her past. The fear and anxiety had been crippling, to the point where she scurried away from her teacher when he tried to console her. Any touch was regarded with fear and distrust. She remembered the hurt look in his eyes, even as he scowled and cursed at her to be still. When she did, he would stroke her hair and sing to her. His voice was not the best, but it was still calming all the same. She would fall asleep in his arms and wake up the next day in her bed. It was such a shame that she had to bury him. He was like a father to her.

When her food came, she ate quietly while drinking her coffee. She grimaced at first. She couldn't understand how people could drink something so bitter, but it wasn't unbearable. She watched as Star tried to climb on Komodo's back, sliding off a couple times before giving up and rolling into him instead. It brought a slight smile to her lips. She supposed Star was just trying to get the older dragon's attention. Or she just wanted to play. Either way, it lightened Arya's mood considerably just seeing the hatchling play.

She finished and paid for the meal, speaking up finally, "You guys gonna eat or what? I'll pay."

Phant0m Late

 

[Phant0m]

The priest turned to Arya. "I already paid for my meal," He said, "Thanks though." Phantom grew tired of standing, so he took a seat by her and gave her his full attention. "Wait you have a dragon too...do I need to worry about getting her mad if I get too close to you?" Phantom asked.

Breakthrough

 

[Late]

"Ah, I already had a plate...but I don't want to miss my chance at free food," Xavier said to Arya.

Komodo eventually pull his stare away from Phantom as the hatchling was trying to get his attention. He wasn't annoyed, giving a playful push with his head and shifting his attention on her. It was nice to have another play buddy.

Breakthrough Phant0m

 

[Breakthrough]

"Yes," the hatchling said, answering the priest's question. An image of snapping jaws entered Arya's mind as she rolled her eyes at Star and Xavier. Star continued trying to play with Komodo, headbutting the older dragon and pouncing on him.

"She says yes, but I actually don't mind. As long as you aren't the handsy type." Arya replied with a shrug. It didn't really bother her too much in truth. The closeness was fine, in truth. She grinned at Xavier with a slight chuckle. "Well, you better eat fast, because I'm heading out soon to check on my weapon. You too Star and Komodo," she called to the dragons. "You guys come eat."

Late Phant0m

 

[Late]

"So do I have a certain limit on how much I want on my plate? I don't want you to pay too much," Xavier said, lightly teasing her as Komodo immediately got up at the thought of food. He started to take a couple of steps, briefly checking if Star was going to follow along.

Breakthrough

 

[Phant0m]

Phantom gave a small snort as he stood. "I'm gonna go outside for some air," He announced, "I'm gonna assume that we'll all be heading off soon?"

Late Breakthrough

 

[Breakthrough]

Arya shook her head at both Phantom and Xavier's comments. "I don't know about everyone else, but I'm heading out in a little bit. And eat as much as you like, just make sure you don't eat until I'm poor." Arya warned Xavier. She chuckled softly as Komodo came at the mention of food. Star did as well, flying over and perching on Arya's back.

Phant0m Late

 

[MementoDei]

Lara leaned back and let out a sigh. This too much to let it slide, unlike his pitiful attempt to threaten her back in Elder. Now, being compared to a succubus was an unacceptable insult in her eyes. She despised being compared to any sort of demon.
"You really don't know how to take a joke sometimes. And to make things worse, you don't even know how to handle people that aren't blinded by their unreserved faith in you. I'll tell you something useful now, so listen well. Alliances are like a soul that lives in a weapon. It makes it more powerful, but that soul will leave its shell for another if it doesn't see the weapon as sharp or in the correct hands compared to another compatible weapon with another wielder. Choose your words wisely with all your allies and don't test their patience either. That's all for me, I got some stuff I need to take care of."
The tone of her reply only reflected a detached attitude instead of her inner rage; it was a purely diplomatic tone developed by years of negotiations with all kinds of people. Lara cut the link and lifted her head to the wooden ceiling, staring at it for a few seconds, stretched her arms towards it and closed her eyes. She opened them again and rubbed her boredom off her face. How long would that elf continue to make her wait? Being a mercenary, he wouldn't have suddenly changed his mind about the money that she owed him. It was impossible. Something was up, but it wasn't urgent to find out. After all, information in a small town was easy to grasp with the right methods to make the right people talk.

Fume

 

[Phant0m]

"Alright, well... I'll be outside then. Don't like to linger in an area too long," Phantom said and he stepped out of the inn and he went to sit on a rock that was near the inn. He made sure he was still in view of the others, giving a curious glance to the elf and Rain before he looked up to the sky. After a moment he sighed and pulled out his book and he started to lazily read it, with half of his attention put on his surroundings.

The priest felt the curious stares, how the judgement of his apparel would sting through his cloak and armor to make his skin itch. Phantom shifted a bit and he sighed as he caught wind of the curious whispers of those who pass by him. He should be familiar with it all, and he is, but it still unsettles him. The priest wasn't dressed like the others, and the colors of his garb weren't Lady Ellia's colors. Phantom rubbed his temples when Xiopetec started shrieking at him for mentioning the goddess that hurt him the most. "You know, for a goddess you're very talkative," He grumbled as he tried to focus back on his book. "Yeah...I know what they did. I'm grateful for your help, Xiopetec..." Phantom flipped a page, "But can I please just focus on reading? I don't want to dwell on that."

The goddess's voice quieted and the priest gave a sigh of relief. He still shifted uncomfortably every once in a while if he felt someone staring at him for too long. Phantom glanced at the elf and Rain again, and he tried to eavesdrop as he pretended to read. It was a bad habit he never broke, however it usually gave him something to be occupied with and on more than one occasion, a job of some sort. So the priest casually made himself look like he was engrossed in his book as he listened.

LegenDarius Heavengiver

 

[Late]

"Sweet, let me place my order then for both Komodo and I then," Xavier said happily.

He went ahead to place in his order, informing the waiter that Arya was going to be the one paying for it. As for Komodo, he usually go on the table to eat...when he was smaller. For his size at the moment, Komodo only hopped on an empty chair and gave Arya a wary stare before whipping his head around to wait for the food.

Breakthrough

 

[LegenDarius]

Ren sat still after Rain had clasped his free hand. He didn't notice when Airi barged in through the front doors and left as quickly as she came. His eyes were trained on Rain's, focusing on the blue and the purple, as if he was trying to see if there were two souls in there. He heard the two voices. The shy one and the confident one. And when they spoke together it sounded like the harmony of two singers, one voice a half-step higher than the other.

"...Yes. It sounds like two voices," replied Ren. He sat there still longer, sipping his coffee until the mug was empty. Remembering the appointment he had with Lara, he stood up. "It seems as if our time here is done. I still haven't decided whether I will leave or not. It's a bit more complicated than you think."

He went towards the front doors to return the mug. He went back outside, nodded towards Rain, and proceeded towards the bank. Entering through the dusty shack, he saw the vampire woman sitting on the bench.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting. Had to deal with something first," Ren said professionally as he sat down beside her, noting the bank teller who was fast asleep on her desk.

MementoDei I iFlipTables Heavengiver

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

"The girl, Airi. She saw us and probably assumed the wrong thing."

"Wait, how did you know?"

"My dear Rain, I am a siren who seduces men. I can tell when people are in love."

"I-I have to clear it up with her then."

Rain didn't see Phantom watching her as she sprints inside and heads over to Airi's room. She hesitates when she tries to knock on the door. After gathering her courage, Rain knocks on the door.

"A-Airi. Are you in there? I want to explain what I was doing with Steele. I was merely showing him that I have two souls in one body."

I iFlipTables Phant0m

 

[MementoDei]

"Don't worry, Steele. I understand that duty always comes first."
She looked at him and continued in a calm but warm voice:
"First things first. As of right now, I can't pay you in cash, because of the minuscule size of this bank. However, I can make you a check you can cash in in Feita or Velder. If you take Pilgrim's Gateway to get there, it won't take you more than three days. If you're not familiar with the area, I can guide you for free."
She took a pause to see that Luriel was still asleep. Well, that was another argument in favour of the check. Lara took out a pack of 50 cobo checks from her bag and began to fill the first one while she continued:
"Now, I don't know if you're aware of this, but I decided to join Rain's squad. You know what they say: If you can't compete against them, just join them. I know she's your current employer, but I'm wondering something: How long will you follow her?"
When every field on the check was filled, she took it off from the rest and gave it to Steele.
"I don't know how much she's paying you, but her quest might be worthless in the end. You know how to handle yourself in combat and the same could be said for everyone else that walks by her side, but what she seeks is lethal, if you ask me. Her journey will be long and who knows if she'll be able to continue to pay you before your or her death. She's desperate, Steele. And if I know one thing about desperate people is that they become like a double edged sword as time goes by. The only reason I'll follow her is because I'm also desperate. Now, are you in the same boat, Steele?"
She looked at him and waited silently for his answer.
LegenDarius

 

[Breakthrough]

Arya nodded at both Xavier and Phantom. she was curious why he would have to leave, but decided not to question it. Instead, she ordered for Star, a steak. She wasn't really sure if that would be the right diet, however. "Should I be feeding Star cooked meat?" She asked Xavier, taking a seat across from him as she watched Star fly onto the table, smugly whipping her tail back and forth. She seemed to pick up on the fact that Komodo was too big now to do the same and celebrated. Arya nudged the hatchling. "be nice," she reprimanded softly.

Late

 

[Fume]

"I didn't know that the cactus around here had flowers on them! Oh they have such a sweet smell..." Rena commented as she sniffed on the flowers that she collected, next was the most repugnant part in her eyes. To feed meat to the Komodos.

"Here little Komodo, I've got something good for you..." She signaled softly to one of the large lizards, slowly noticing of the call it got up and slowly walked towards her. "That's right, good Komodo! Would you like a treat?" She asked while putting the piece of meat on the floor.

The moment it saw the treat, it started rushing towards it like an hungry animal and devoured it in a instant. The taste of the meat reminded him that a certain person sometimes came here for something and thinking for a bit, it assumed that this person came here for the same thing.

Nudging her to take a small bag out, the lizard waited patiently for her to open it.

"You want me to open this for you?" She asked while doing it and in a small moment, it released a small cloud of his breath in the bag. Rena was slightly surprised as she quickly closed the bag, avoiding that the ingredient escaped on it's own. "Thank you!" She then rubbed the lizard head and went to do the same to three more Komodos.

Gathering the rest of the ingredients she stood up and started to backtrack to the road that Dust usually took. She saw him sitting down on a small boulder and taking out a small canteen, while his other hand was talking into the horn that Tureen gave him.

She went into a point where he couldn't see her and listened to the conversation, something about a warning when one wants to talk and something around Dusk. Then he said something about not to try his patience like a succubus usually does.

"Well, that wasn't very nice, even for Dust to say that." Rena commented for herself as she continued to listen. She heard chuckling and thought that Tureen just said a joke to him.

"Alliances are like a soul to a weapon, heh?" He replayed the words that she spoke while putting the horn in his sack. "If only you knew that I'm putting as much distance away from you as possible. Tureen, you have no idea how much you scare me, how placing even the smallest bit of trust scares me. The demons back in that world, the ones that are on my side, I don't consider them friends, I don't consider their trust true. If Luciela and Karis taught me anything, is that by placing too much trust will probably hurt me more with betrayal. Don't blame me for how I was educated, blame my lack of trust to anyone." He took another sip from his canteen and looked to the sky with half closed eyes.

Rena hearing this could imagine on what he learned during the years and how it made him the man that he is today. She wanted to come out and possibly comfort him, but then he spoke again.

"At some point, I don't know when, I'll be betrayed by you, but in the meantime I'll indulge you. I won't speak more than I should and won't give more than enough. That should be enough for her to not lecture me about alliances and to choose my words, as if I had the chance to learn that back then." Another swing and he put his container back in the sack. "Where the heck is Rena? She should've been back here for a while now. Don't tell me she's having trouble with the Komodos, because if she is I'm heavily considering on not taking her with me the next time." He annoyingly said to himself while tapping his foot on the ground.

"Dust I'm back!" She quickly moved to a place that he could see her and waved at him. Feigning ignorance to what she just heard.

"What took you so long?" He asked with annoyance in his tone. "You kn-.. Explain." He asked while taking his own advice from before.

"Some of the Komodos were taking a while to stir up and grabbing the meat, but I've got what you've asked for!" She showed him the ingredients in the small bag.

"That's everything then, we're heading back at the ship and taking flight. Our next stop, the mystifying floating island Altera." He reminded her while taking the lead, unaware that Rena had a sadden look on her eyes. Samael knew that expression, but chose not to tell Dust about it, because he knew that she heard his conversation with Tureen and his own reasons.

ChibiSkye

 

[Late]

"It's usually preferred raw but sometimes places wouldn't even offer that kind of meat. Cooked meat wouldn't hurt," Xavier said. "She can probably have her chance at raw meat if she goes hunting outside of town."

Komodo huffed some smoke at Star, not so amused. Though he perked up when his plate was served and was quick to chomp onto the various pieces of meat. Xavier had himself some eggs, potatoes, bacon, and ham.

"Maybe Star won't like cooked meat, but it couldn't hurt to see if she enjoys it or not."

Breakthrough

 

[iFlipTables]

Airi fell asleep on her own bed, shortly after she came into her room. Her pillow was stained with tears, crying over Steele holding hands with Rain. Fairly stupid reason to cry, she thought.

Heavengiver LegenDarius

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

The girl didn't respond to her. She's probably pretty mad at her for being close to the one she likes.

"Write a note and post it on her door. She's probably not going to talk to us in this state."

The dancer nods and pulls out her notebook.

Airi, I'm sorry for what I have done. Rest assured that I have no intentions of getting in the way of your relationship. I understand that if Steele leaves, that you go with him. You guys do seem like a great pair. Please, if this is the last time that we get to talk, I have to make sure that we don't leave on bad terms.

To be honest, I love someone else. It's one of the reasons why I must take this journey.

His name is Rui.

-Rain

She rips the note from her notebook and tapes it to the door. Sighing as she turns back to the lobby, Rain goes to where Xavier and Arya are and sits down next to them.

I iFlipTables Late Breakthrough

 

[Phant0m]

Phantom closed his book and clicked his tongue. "Do you think she has a goddess in her head too?" He asked as he watched Rain go back inside. "What do you mean who? Rain." The priest stood and started to pace around, dragging his staff behind him to draw lines in the dirt as he moved silently for a moment.

"That's weird...but she seems nice. I mean, the Rain I met. I'm not sure about her other self yet." Phantom groaned as he looked up to the sky. "I don't wanna go back inside, I've spent long enough in there." He whined and he opened the door to the inn. "Fine, but I'm gonna be antsy the entire time." The priest walked back into the inn and sat beside Arya again, giving a good amount of space between them. He wasn't in the mood to deal with overprotective dragons right now as he wrung his hands on the handle of his staff, and just twitching around in general.

Late Breakthrough Heavengiver

 

[Breakthrough]

Arya glanced up as Rain took a seat at their table, just as Star's food arrived. The hatchling sniffed first, curiously, but took a bite. She began to eat with the same gusto that Komodo did, and Arya chuckled softly. "Don't choke." She told Star, who didn't seem to listen. Instead, Arya turned her attention to Rain. "Why the long face?"

Late Heavengiver

 

[Late]

Xavier gave Rain a concerned look, wondering if her stomach is acting up again. Though it doesn't seem to be the case as Rain doesn't look sick at all. He kept eating his food until his plate was empty and looked over at Komodo who was finishing up a rather large piece. That was when he noticed Phantom came back, looking rather fidgety. It oddly made him uncomfortable but he didn't question about it. It won't be long that they'll start heading out.

Heavengiver Breakthrough Phant0m

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

"Nothing, nothing at all."

She sees Xavier throw her a worried glance, and she smiles back to reassure him that she's fine. Her recollection from last night still bothered up a bit, and she unconsciously covers her heart and her mouth.

"I...I had a friend who harnessed the power of a dragon," she starts to say, trying to distract herself and the others. "It was pretty cool. He can manipulate lightning, so sometimes, we would do attacks together to augment our power."

She takes out her notebook and sketches out the dragon. Its wings were bony and thin. Its long chin jutted up to the sky. Rain shows it to Arya and smiles nostalgically.

Late Breakthrough

 

[Phant0m]

Phantom put his staff to the side and he focused his attention on Rain. "That's a beautiful drawing," He complimented, peeking over Arya's shoulder before he looked away. "Sorry," The priest quickly apologized, staring at his hands as he fiddled with his fingers a bit before he looked back up at Rain.

"I know I should've probably asked this before I joined the group....buuuuut, um, what exactly am I getting myself into?" His eyebrow twitched as his goddess teased him about mixed priorities and he hissed a "shut up" under his breath as he scratched at the back on his head as if that would make Xiopetec quiet.

Heavengiver

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

As if it's the most casual thing she has ever said, Rain answers him in the most innocent voice he has ever heard.

"We're training for Henrir's Time and Space."

Phant0m

 

[LegenDarius]

"Can't say I am," Ren replied to Lara as he took the check from her. "If anything I've been stagnant. Just living off my wages like any other worker here in Elrios. As for Rain, I could follow her until Feita or Velder. So long as the dragon boy keeps his distance. I'd be careful of him: whatever's inside of him causes him to attack his teammates. If he does that I won't hesitate on killing him."

Ren got up off the bench. "Anyways, it's still breakfast. I'll head back for now. Thanks for the payment."

Walking back into the inn, Ren retrieves a fresh plate and a fresh cup. He piled the plate with some bacon and potatoes, filling his cup with fresh Colombian Dark Roast. After a quick refill, he took his mug and went back into his room.

He paused when he saw the note that Rain posted on the door. His cheeks went red when he got to the line that said, "You guys do seem like a great pair." He took the note off the door and went inside.

He smiled when he saw Airi fast asleep. He tenderly petted her hair before putting the note on the desk and taking a seat on the couch in the corner of the room.

I iFlipTables MementoDei