Altera Arcana IC

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Shireen could only stare when the smoke began to clear and she could finally see where it was that she and Zito had led the man. She could have very well mistaken this for an elaborate shop if she hadn't caught names of several labels. What in Diana's name... She caught sight of the black smoke that almost reminded her of tentacled creatures she had seen on her many voyages aboard her father's ship.

The man was dismissing them, telling them that he could take care of things, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to go just yet. There was so much here that needed to be explained! At least that's what the curious part of her mind was telling her. Besides that, there was still the fact that this place was in shambles and he didn't seem very... stable. In the literal sense, of course. She had no idea what was going on in anyone's mind, and she wasn't the judging sort, for the most part.

"Your place does kinda look like it could use some help," she commented as she watched him walk to the table. She would have added more, but she remembered he could quite hear well, and she could also see that he was muttering something- a spell? She only had to wait a short moment before seeing that yes indeed, it was a spell. She waited until the smoke had dispersed before heading closer to the man, crouching down so that hopefully he could hear her, or see what she was saying.

"You're sure y'don't need any help?" she asked, motioning toward the mess. It was in her nature to help; she couldn't just leave without asking. "It's not a big deal, really. I'm used to moving things around, picking and cleaning stuff." Of course, if he insisted they left, Shireen wouldn't overstay her welcome. She looked toward Zito, wondering what the Terran was thinking about the whole affair.​
 
Zito looked around as they entered the lab, it was quite a messy place, she couldn't tell how much of that was from the explosion and how much was just the room itself. the same black smoke was everywhere and she covered her mouth to try not to inhale any of it. Shireen looked just as confused as her about the place they found themselves in. Zito didn't feel like asking about it would get any actual answers right now.

Zito did not believe him when he said he could handle things from here. she thought about trying some healing magic on him. it had never been her specialty but her mother had made sure she could at least do basic healing spells, she could likely clear up his hearing at the least if she really tried.

the Terran watched carefully as Darius worked his way to the center of the room. he seemed to be performing some sort of spell but she could quite figure out what it was. she did watch as the smoke started to disappear and finally vanished entirely. then he knelt down and started clearing things up. this she knew she could help with so she came forward as the same time as her companion and knelt down beside the man as well. she looked at Shireen as she asked her question before speaking up herself "or perhaps I could try some healing magic?" she asked "I know a little, I could try to fix your ears... well I couldn't exactly make things worse anyway" she tried gesturing as she spoke to help him get the concept. "if you don't want any healing I won't do any, but I'm still perfectly willing to help clean up either way" she decided to add that last part so it wouldn't seem like she was saying it was one or the other, healing or cleaning.
 
Kiri made another ascent to the rooftops. In towns with fairly close-placed buildings like this one, it had actually become her primary method of travel. However, it was less for the convenience of travel and more for the additional sight the high-altitude provided. From up on her perch, it was fairly easy to find Tawny again. With another wind burst, Kiri glided downward nearby and squeezed through the crowd a bit, meeting back up with her. "So do you actually have a brother and, if so, where do you think he'd be?"
 
Muttering to himself, Darius was stacking his books and grabbing up papers. He noticed as he reached down that the two girls had proceeded to follow him. From looking at their mouths and expressions and gesturing about, he gathered that they wanted to help him clean up? Or the Terran at least wanted to try and heal his ears it seemed. He looked between the girls, a feeling of possibly misplaced uneasiness crept up in him. It is possible they were genuine in their intent and not here to steal any of his research, despite being considered a quack by many, he was doing actual research here.

Looking them over the girls, his eyes oddly piercing. Finally he decided. "Alright, I suppose. If you could just stack the papers together and put them on the nearest desk. Most of them are blank but I'm going to have to go through and sort them out..." Gesturing to the Terran he stepped a bit closer "I suppose we could give it the ol' college try." With that he left himself available to the whims of the Terran girls healing abilities.

If one were to peer at the papers on the floor with words, they would find not a common alphabetical dialect. To the unfamiliar, it would appear to be magic runes of a sort, or perhaps written in an exotic alphabet.
 
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"That's, uh… that's a good question!" Tawny replied. "He might be at home, or… no, he's probably working… but, I think he's still between jobs right now… um… yeah, actually, I think he planned on coming to this part of town today. Not sure where he is exactly, though." All the while, Tawny, Kiri, and the Priestess were all still on the opposite side of the square from where Clay was, with a tight cluster of Ace and his supporters still standing between them.

"We shall seek him out at a later time!" the Priestess decreed. "As for right now, we must gather the others — the ones whose whereabouts we are already at least somewhat aware of — the recent explosion, for instance, is likely a good place to start." she half-explained, her wording still awkward and ambiguous.

"You, child!" she spun around to turn towards Kiri. "You seem to be rather adept at zipping about on the rooftops. With that birds'-eye-view of yours, I imagine you know precisely the way to the source of it, correct?"
 
"Um, yeah, what he said." Clay echoed awkwardly. "There was an explosion, and the flowerpot fell on you, um… " As Clay explained, Alicia tried to stand up, but quickly became dizzy and clutched the wall for support. "H-hey, hold on! Maybe you should just rest here for a bit… take some time to recover." he suggested. Then, Victarion said something about seeking out the person who caused the explosion and giving them a 'talking to'. Clay felt a bit tense at the suggestion. "Hey, let's not do anything hasty…" he replied, but he immediately regretted commenting on it at all. He suddenly felt very uneasy around the two Avians — or at least around Victarion. He wanted to help the injured, but, beyond that, perhaps it would be best for him to not get involved…
 
Kiri failed to hold back an instinctive eye-roll when she was referred to as 'child'. Standing short never really felt like a bad thing, especially with the wind magic aiding her travel, but over the past few years especially, the child treatment was getting sorta out-of-place. Best not to dwell on it now though. "Mm, yes I suppose so, though I'm still not sure who exactly we're looking for," she answered back before leading them through the crowd as well as one her size could lead while weaving around people. Finally, they reached the building that was the source of the smoke and soot. Walking up to the front entrance, Kiri knocked on the open door as she peeked inside the building to call out: "Hello?"
 
The look of surprise came upon Shireen when she heard Zito offering to help the man with healing magic. She hadn't seen much of that sort of thing. Most of the magic she had encountered had either been associated with water or wind, both essential in the wellbeing of a journey on sea.

She gave a grin in the direction of the two before turning toward the papers, ready to offer assistance. While she was very interested in how this healing would proceed, she hardly wanted to seem like a busybody who stuck her nose in other people's business... without offering something in return. Helping clean up this place was different... even if it was slightly nosy on her part, due to curiosity.

Shireen headed toward the nearest strewn about papers, crouching down to gather them together. She couldn't help but notice how the writing wasn't familiar. She wasn't the most learned, but she knew the common tongue and writing, and this wasn't it. Maybe she could ask the man later... if he was willing to explain.

As she stood up and started toward the desk, her ears caught the sound of someone calling out a 'hello'. She quickly set the papers down on the desk before heading over to the entrance. "Hiya," she called back. Was this someone else who wished to help? "How're you doin', friend?" Might as well show she was friendly, right? "Name's Shireen!"

@Luma​
 
The already-on-edge henchman nearly had a heart attack when he heard the explosion that shook the town, but he paused for only a split-second before sprinting forward again — perhaps even faster than before — ignoring the soot and dust that fell around him. Thank the gods! This was his chance to get away in the confusion! Glancing over his shoulder occasionally, he eventually slowed down to a more comfortable pace, and, with a confident grin, he rolled down his sleeve, no longer in need of the spell that he had attempted to use earlier.

But then, he heard the sound of gushing water flowing in his direction, and he once again tensed up and looked back in the direction he came from. Oh no — did a dam burst or something?! he wondered fearfully, thinking of the explosion from just a moment ago. But what he actually saw was even more frightening.

The henchman's expression changed to a face that can only be accurately described as "oh fuck", before he awkwardly spun around and sprinted away from Raymond and his speedy water-shoes. Why'd Ace have to pick such a strong magic-user?! he wailed internally, now frantically looking over his shoulder at every opportunity — which only caused him to trip over a bump in the road that he didn't see coming.

He tumbled to the ground, and, not wanting to admit defeat, he scrambled to his feet as quickly as possible and continued to run — but Raymond was practically right on top of him by this point, and it seemed very unlikely that he'd be able to escape…
 
Zito glanced at the papers and felt kinda bad for him, they were pretty messy, it would probably take him forever to get it all sorted out again. she pushed that to the side though as he told her she could try healing magic. she smiled, trying to look reassuring but she wasn't the best at this, focusing on something simple, like fixing his ears shouldn't be too difficult.

she stepped closer, till they were right in front of each other and gently put her hands over his ears. "Here we go..." she said. she knew the basics of healing so she focused on what she did know, pulling her earth magic out and very carefully funneling it towards his ears. she hoped it worked, at least enough to give him his hearing back.

she glanced back when she heard someone say hello. she'd finished trying to heal Darius so she turned partially to look back at the new comer. Shireen piped up, giving her name and asking how the girl was doing. Zito waved slightly "Hello, I'm Zito"
 
"A hex? No, not that I know of", Alicia answered Victarion as she rubbed the back of her head. "Besides, why would anyone put a hex on me in the first place? I'd just blame it on horribly bad luck." , she shrugged. As for the hex being overly specific, I don't know about that.True, if all that happens is an increased chance to be it by falling pottery, then that is indeed overly specific. But if the Hex would just increase one's bad luck in general... If I were to hex someone, I'd make sure that nobody would even think of an hex in the first place, which means you want to make whatever bad things happen to the target something that could potentially happen to anyone. Nobody would think of a crime if someone had an... accident like that. Either way, though there is still no reason to assume someone has placed a Hex on me, I'll have to keep this option open in the back of my mind...
"As for going after whoever did this; I promise I won't be rash, but I do need to know the name of the person responsible for this", she then turned to Clay. Looking in the direction Victarion pointed in, the cloud of smoke was quite hard to miss. "Do you want to come along too? There might be some people over there who need healing too. My injuries were relatively mild, but I don't even want to imagine what might have happened to those unfortunate enough to be closer to the souce of all this. Shall we go?" With that, Alicia walked/staggered into the alley closest to her, trying to move in whatever direction seemed to bring her closer to the pillar of smoke.
 
The little Terran girl moved in front of him and placed her hands on either side of his head. Darius had seen his share of healers before and he could tell this girl didn't have too much experience, but he had seen plenty of Earth affinites dabble in healing despite whatever their true focus or profession was but he was always able to gauge their experience by how it felt. As ready as he was going to be he nodded to the girl and she began to pour it on. He could feel the healing take effect. It felt itchy like a scab and he wanted to scratch at it but he kept his hands by his sides and waited for the process to be done.

At first all he heard what sounded like rushing noise, which must have been his blood back to the restored areas with the help of the healing magic. Then he began to pick up on his breathing, the Terran's breathing, the shuffling of papers, the sound of a breeze, the clamor of the outside...

Sticking his finger in his ear, he jiggled it around to make sure nothing was blocking the way or if there was any discomfort but found none. "Wow! It sure is nice to have hearing back, need all my senses to properly conduct research! Thank you for your assistance." now no longer yelling. As Darius tested his ears with various noises of his own make, he heard someone coming to the door and looked over to see a girl, a human one leaning in through the door. The one who's name was Shireen seemed quite eager to make the acquaintance of the girl that had come to his door. Darius moved to the door as she Shireen did. Darius didn't think she was here to berate him, maybe she was just curious. Or was looking for some more explosions, not that that had been his intention. "Can I help you?" he doubted she was here to hire his help, it was more likely she was just curious to see what had happened. But it was also entirely possible he was completely wrong.
 
In a moment, Raymond had surfed up to the downed man and grasped the back of his clothing. Dissipating the water from his feet, Raymond caused it to run along the road into a nearby gutter, and began to grapple with the man to prevent his escape. Turning in their scuffle, Raymond saw that their other pursuers had been shaken off for the moment; whether they had been friend or foe, Raymond knew not.

Holding tight to his quarry, Raymond summoned the water back to his hand, freezing and solidifying it into the form of a crude ice spike, aimed at the man's throat. "Don't move, or we'll see just how warm-hearted you truly are with this," Raymond growled at him, laying the ice spike against his neck.

"Now... would you like to tell me exactly what is the meaning of your behavior today?" Raymond inquired in a tone that was less rough, but still firm, as he slowly rolled the ice spike across his prisoner's neck. "And, who sent you to distract me? Speak quickly, for your sake."
 
Roxanne wasn't about to leave a gasping man to fend for himself. He looked like he could barely breathe. "How can I help you?" she asked as she watched him trying to spit the black gunk out. She had always envied people who could form hat layer of water around them. It seemed to her that they would not be as bothered by bugs, heat, or dirt, but now she could see that hse had incomplete understanding of their protection.

She fet a little helpless as she watched, ad cast a glance over her shoulder to note that Raymond was no longer in sight. While she was worried about Raymond, she was more worried about Calder at this moment. She looked at the puddle of water on the ground and frowned at him, "Don't you need that to breathe," she aked. "Should I get clean water?" She really needed to improve her knowledge of aquans.

At least the explosion seemed to be a singular event. She was wondering about that as well, but she wasn't going to leave him like this. Her inability to think of something sensible to do to be of actual help was a source of abject frustration to her, but she was going to stayand make sure he recovered fully.

She had the fleeting thought that Raymond would go back to the smithy...if he was well. So maybe when he recovered, they could try to look for him there. Hopefully he was well, and hadn't been in need of their help.

@Snowy Turtle
 
Kiri was quickly met by several introductions; first from a well-built human sporting what appeared to be a sailor accent, then from Terran girl and the man who she couldn't help but call the 'mad bomber' in her mind. "Right, hi. I'm Kiri. Umm..." she trailed off, unsure of what to say considering she had no idea why she was there in the first place.

Leaning further inside, Kiri's eyes wandered a bit to notice just how much of a mess this place really was. What did he do in here anyways? Finally figuring out how to word her situation, Kiri spoke aloud, "I was just wondering, do any of you recognize this lady?" Kiri swung the door open the rest of the way and pointed towards the priestess.

@Kagayours @Effort @Greenie @AnimeLover_Princess
 
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Shit! the henchman muttered internally as Raymond grabbed the back of his coat collar, and then grappled him. Shitshitshitshitshit! The henchman wondered briefly what Raymond planned on doing with him — but he didn't have to wonder for long, as he soon felt the ice blade pressed against his neck. Is he seriously threatening to kill me in broad daylight?! What the hell kind of town is this?!

"D-d-distract you?!" the henchman stammered. "I think I'd be a hell of a lot happier right now if you never noticed me at all, actually!" he replied, his voice an awkward mix of anger and nervousness as he squirmed in Raymond's grasp. He then took a moment to try to quell his nerves at least slightly, not wanting to say something stupid in the moment. "Alright, you know what? I work for Ace, I'll tell you that much. But that's about all I can say." he answered. "Threatening to kill me don't mean much when Ace's already threatened to do even worse to me for spilling any secrets." he smirked confidently. In truth, his heart was still pounding — he preferred not dying about as much as the next guy — but that didn't necessarily mean he was lying about the supposedly worse fate that Ace had in mind for him. "And speaking of threats," he then added. "I ain't above tattling to those creepy Avians about this — assuming they aren't already listening."
 
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Shireen noted the unsure tone in the newcomer's voice. She looked like she didn't really know why she was here. Or perhaps it was just being bombarded by too many greetings all at once? That could make a person slightly uncertain for a bit. She did note that the girl was a human like her, probably younger than she was though, based on her appearance. "Nice t'meetcha, Kiri," she said, giving her a smile. Noting the question she asked, however, Shireen shook her head.

"That'd be a no, gotta say." She motioned with her hands towards the room in general. "Can't say I know many 'round here, includin' those present. I just came 'ere t'help out this man fix up this place. And 'sides that, I mostly spend time by the harbour." She shrugged lightly, one hand reaching up to scratch at her shoulder as she looked in the direction of the priestess. "Somethin' wrong with her? She hurt?" She jerked her thumb in Zito's direction. "She can heal, just fixed up Mister over here's ears."​
 
Briefly Raymond considered that the man might be bluffing. He frowned, letting the icicle in his hand begin to drip slowly onto his captive's skin. He disliked civil violence and unrest as much as the next citizen, but there was something extremely fishy going on with Ace's entire entourage. Raymond decided it'd be best to keep up the show of force for the moment.

"Even worse, you say?" Raymond's voice deepened. "What could that travelling scalliwag do to you that's even worse than death, I wonder?" He paused, for a new idea had come to him. Raymond asked his captive inquisitively, "You say you worked for Ace, didn't you? Then, you should have abso-lute-ly nothing to fear from his Avian guards, no? Come, let's go take a walk to Ace together; I'm sure he'll be very pleased I safely brought back one of his errant party members. I expect I'll receive a proper apology, too?"

As his captive seemed to hesitate, Raymond withdrew the icicle and melted it back into liquid water, but kept it swirling above his own hand in a transparent orb. He told the man firmly, "You'd best be getting a move on. I need answers, and I'm short on time. I'm not above filling your lungs with this for a minute or ten, if you were thinking I had any sort of a heart for mischief."
 
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Calder couldn't really speak to answer's Roxanne's question, but he shook his head, pulling a big gulp of air into his lungs and allowing himself to slump to the ground. The gunk that was in the air felt stuck in his lungs and he was having trouble expelling it.

A few ragged breath's later he was once again pushing himself to his feet and staggering forward. They'd find clean water for him to use on the way, but for the moment, Calder's curiosity was overpowering the burning sensation that encompassed every breath he took. Without meaning to, he took a hold of Roxanne's arm for support and urged her onward without a word.

@PoetLore
 
"Not hurt, no," the priestess answered quickly in response to Shireen. "I've come to gather you all up for a very important purpose." she began to explain.

"So, I uh… I take it that explosion was the result of a… experiment, gone wrong?" Tawny guessed as she surveyed the 'lab'. "Oh and, uh, I'm Tawny, by the way." she introduced herself as she stepped inside. "Nice to meet all of you."

"We'll have to pick up our pace after this," the priestess continued. "I fear that some members of our group have already gotten tangled up with…" she paused. Then, turning around, she made sure that the door was closed behind them, and didn't continue speaking until it was. "A very dangerous man has entered this town." she spoke. "Dangerous enough that even the gods are wary of him. I do not know much about the nature of his plans, nor do I know much about what the gods plan to do with him — of this, I have only seen glimpses." she explained. "In particular, I have been instructed to gather those of you that are here now, as well as a few others, for reasons that I… also do not completely understand." she admitted. "But I imagine that ensuring your safety is a significant component of it."

"You there," she called out to Darius. "If my understanding of things is correct, then I assume you've spent the past few hours of your day indoors… If that is the case, have you yet heard news of the man who calls himself Ace Dominyx?"

——

"Wait… you… you want me to take you to Ace?" the henchman echoed fearfully. The facade of confidence that he'd worked so hard to build up soon vanished as all the potential outcomes of such a scenario played out in his head. He'll know I fucked up. One look at my sorry ass getting dragged back to him and he'll know… worse than that, he might think I said more than I did… he contemplated, the color draining from his face. I'm already on thin ice with him, I can tell — he probably won't even give me the chance to defend myself — and if he decides this is the final straw, then I'm… the henchman began to feel nauseated at the thought.

He flinched as the sound of moving water snapped him back to reality. He was so caught up in his thoughts, he'd almost forgotten that Raymond was threatening him in the first place.

"I'm not above filling your lungs with this for a minute or ten, if you were thinking I had any sort of a heart for mischief."

"Oh really?" the henchman echoed back. "Then do it." he snarled. It was an impulsive response — he almost surprised himself in saying it — and, upon realizing what he said, he was tempted to take it back. But, for better or for worse, he kept going. "You're really going to kill me if I don't bring you to Ace? Fine. So be it. I'd much rather die by your hand, anyway." It had only just then occurred to the poor soul that perhaps Raymond was only bluffing in the first place. If that were the case, then maybe his dumb mouth had saved him just yet! And if it wasn't a bluff, then, well… it wouldn't be pleasant, but at least he'd be able to escape the fate that Ace most likely had in store for him.
 
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