An Adventure through the Mountains

[Danger]

[fieldbox=Akio Fukui, #f4da26, solid]
"Hm... Was it around here?" The grey haired male grimaced as he looked up from the map and surveyed his surroundings. He was standing on a dirt road, tall trees casting small shadows on the ground. It was nearing midday, the sun overhead and bearing down on the worn out traveller. He'd been on the same road for a while now, after the person who's face was in his bag. They'd last been seen near this area except... Well, it wasn't like he wanted to admit it.

Akio was lost. The amber eyes of the male scanned over the map another time, hoping to find something recognisable. Yet there was nothing, no landmarks he could discern. Had he been given a bad map or something? He definitely followed the instructions, as far as he knew. How had he gone so far off course? Sighing to himself, the thin male grabbed his rucksack and headed to the diminishing shade below a tree. Ugh. How was he ever going to get that bounty now?

As he rested his head against the tree, Akio sighed and thought back to the last town he visited. He'd bought some food and provisions with what little money he had, and a map. A map that was proving to be useless. Opening his bag, he pulled out the canteen and took a drink of water. Was it best to turn back now? Before he got further? Maybe he could go back to the town and ask for directions or something. Or he could keep going, and possibly find something he recognised.

Going with the latter, Akio gathered his belongings and began to walk along the dirt road once again. The shadows were slowly growing longer, but it wasn't getting late enough for him to stop. Seeing an upcoming sign, he decided he would take a break there and to check his map again to make sure he wasn't completely lost.
[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox=Raine Storm, #dd3513, solid]
"Kugaaaaaa..."

Raine was lying on a grassy hill, cooling herself down with a luxurious, pricey looking fan. She was wearing a gown, something unsuited to the setting she was currently in. There were rocky mountains towering over her small form, yet she seemed perfectly calm in the face of such things. Bandits and the like roamed the area; or well, used to. Raine and her companion had long since cleared out the area of them, as they had unwittingly become prey for the duo.

"I'm bored. Why did the last toys give up so easily?" The princess whined, pouting at the sky. "They could've at least given me some more entertainment for a few hours..." She had been complaining about it for hours now, and her boredom was only getting worse. The last group of bandits they had come across had only lasted an hour at most at her hand, and it obviously hadn't been enough. The sadistic princess waved her hand casually, glancing towards her companion.

She had met her companion in some small little town she couldn't remember the name of. Her father, the king, had disallowed her any more 'toys' and she had become bored in the castle. In an act of rebellion, she snuck out and went on her own journey to find more, so called 'toys'. As she had taken nothing except more than a few gold coins out of the royal coffer, she realised she would need someone to take her around.

Kuga Shumei, apparently the only one who could stand her. Raine was mostly fine with his behaviour, and he did what she told him to most of the time. She paid him in enough coin for that anyway. But what he couldn't always do was entertain her, and it was the one thing she constantly bothered him about.

Stretching, she yawned and tucked away her fan. She had taken that too, only because she liked the design. "Where should we go now? I want more toys," she mumbled, sitting up from her position. "Can you make them last longer or something..."
[/fieldbox]

 

[Berry]

[fieldbox="Tani May, seagreen, solid, 10"]
Tani had been on the road for two weeks now. She had been following a river so she never ran out of water, but recently she had been running short on food. The forests around this area were rich with edible plants so she had been able to supplement the food she had packed with extra supplies but she was starting to miss the taste of meat. Unfortunately her hunting skills were sub par, so she was going to have to wait until she hit the next village to buy some more meat.

Pulling out her map from her bag, Tani read over it quickly. She was pretty sure she was on track, and while the next village wasn't for awhile she was pretty sure that all she had to do was pass a mountain. Looking around, she thought she could detect the outline of a hill above the trees but she couldn't be sure due to the heat waves caused by the midday sun. The river was splashing along beside her and she stopped briefly to get a dink before returning to the road.

Soon enough the road branched away from the river and branched into a dirt path, so Tani filled up her canteen one last time before following the dirt trail beyond a blind turn. The trees gradually got taller and she looked down the path. She couldn't see anybody ahead of her but a quick glance behind her noticed what seemed to be a man a bit further behind her on the trail. Hesitating for a second and contemplating moving back off the path, she shook her head slightly and determindly continued to walk forward.[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox="Kuga Shumiel, goldenrod, solid, 10"]
Kuga was laying on his back, staring absentmindedly at the sky. The clouds that day were pretty and looked as if they were fluffy enough to sleep on top of, and he was considering how nice it would feel to lay on top of a cloud. His eyes slowly closed as he relaxed into the small pile of dirt he was calling a pillow and was about to doze off when he heard his name called. Re-opening one eye resentfully, his eyeball went nearly into the back of his head so that he could see Raine without having to move. He couldn't be bothered to reply to his name but waited for the inevitable request that she would make in a few seconds. From his experience thus far, it would probably be about the lack of toys that she had.

The black-haired man's predictions proved to be spot on as the princess lamented about how the last group of bandits had been insufficient for her, and Kuga closed his eyes again and contemplated ignoring her. On the brink of falling asleep, the male kicked himself back to consciousness when he realized how much of a fuss his employer would make if he ignored her.

Kuga had met Raine at some obscure little town where she had been looking for a guide of sorts. As he hadn't had an actual job for awhile, and he knew the area quite well, Kuga had replied to the request and had been granted this gig. He had soon realized that this was much more than your simple guide job a bit too late. This girl liked to roam about looking for people to hurt, she probably didn't need a guide to do that but on the other hand her survival skills were pretty darn close to zero. Outside of manipulating people to get what she wanted out of them, of course. Kuga had contemplated levaing for a bit but he soon realized that she had money to dispose of, and what better benefactor of that money was out there but him?

Everything considered, Kuga determined that it would be best to stay. But since he had stayed, he now was faced with this dilemma of wanting to sleep but having to speak first. She had asked where they could go next, and Kuga begrudgingly began to think. They were more or less in the middle of nowhere, but there was a well-known travel path through a nearby mountain that might bear some fruit. Slowly rolling onto his belly to face his employer, Kuga took his time in answering her questions. "There's a path... Through a nearby mountain." He mumbled, lifting his hand a centimeter from the ground so he could vaguely indicate which direction the said mountain was.

"There should be... Travellers there." He completed his thought slowly, the act of talking obviously requiring much more energy than he wanted to exert. Sighing through his nose, Kuga's eyes fluttered back closed. "You should just... Take up an easier hobby." The sleepy man suggested, not feeling particularly inclined to walk all the way to the mountain. "Music is nice" he added haphazardly . If Raine took up music he probably wouldn't have to move anymore right?[/fieldbox]

 

[Danger]

[fieldbox=Akio Fukui, #f4da26, solid]
Akio had been trudging along the dirt path, his eyes focused on the ground. He couldn't hear anything, but he probably should've been looking up regardless. However as time passed by, the rucksack was beginning to feel heavier and heavier and he was losing the will to keep staring straight ahead. The ground was far more interesting anyway. There were rocks and grass and stuff...

Sighing loudly to himself, he remembered what he had told himself. The next sign. Speaking of which, where was it? Surely he was getting close, but he couldn't quite remember the last hundred metres or so. Groaning, he looked up and around for the sign. Except he apparently had completely missed the sign. It was behind him, but that wasn't what had caught his eye.

There was someone up ahead on the dirt path, and if he squinted, he could make out that it was a girl. Maybe she could help him find his way again? With that in mind, Akio began to speed up a little to try and catch up with the person. She had started walking again, but the grey haired male was pretty certain he could catch up without needing to use up all his energy. Once he was close enough, he called out, "Hey you!"
[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox=Raine Storm, #dd3513, solid]
Raine's eyes lit up at the other's words. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? Let's go!" The princess practically jumped to her feet, excited at the fact that she would have new toys soon. It was the only way she knew to pass time, besides rolling around in the grass. Stomping over to her companion, she pouted as she stood over him.

"Kuga, I'm paying you for a reason..." It came out as a whine, but there was a threat behind it. "And why should I? This is so much fun! Seeing their bodies on the ground, writhing in pain..." Raine shuddered in delight. "Or even making them hate each other! That can be even better. Those long, hurtful looks as they realise they can't trust each other any more." She was swaying to her own thoughts, grinning up at the sky. "Come on! I'm sure you'll feel it one day."

The princess was tempted to kick her guide, but decided against it. While she loved causing pain, she didn't want the only person who had taken her offer to quit now. Besides, they had had a lot of fun together already. Huffing, she put her hands on her hips. She knew he was lazy, and had mostly accepted that, but sometimes it was too much. "You can sleep when they're screaming," she groaned, nudging Kuga with her foot.
[/fieldbox]

 

[Berry]

[fieldbox="Tani May, seagreen, solid, 10"]
Doggedly walking forward, Tani resisted the urge to continue to look back along the path and see if the other person was still there. Her naturally paranoid demeanor made her continuously wonder if she was about to be attacked, and her eyes darted around the road to see if there was anywhere she could run to hide. Naturally, there were not, aside from the forest but that would be easy to track her through. Blinking a few times to ease her worries, she exhaled through her nose to gather her thoughts. It was highly unlikely that somebody who wanted to attack her would walk so clearly in her line of sight.

Thus reassured, Tani continued to walk forward but couldn't help but feel slightly awkward even outside of her apprehension. This road led in only one direction, to the next village over the hill, and it was likely that she would be walking in close proximity to whoever was behind her for days. Maybe if there was some outlet in the road somewhere she would wait for him to pass. She would soon have to go hunting anyway, that would provide a nice stop where she could hit two goals with one stone. The girl was about to dismiss the issue entirely when she heard a voice call out to her.

For a second, Tani froze up but she soon regained her composure and registered the words that were spoken. Recognizing a greeting, albeit not a very friendly one, she hesitated for a second before turning around to look at the approaching man. Her skeptical mind was already running through all the ways and reasons he might be approaching her, and her eyes narrowed slightly as she prepared for a possible conflict. As the man got closer he seemed to be nice enough, but she mentally took stock of where her weapons were just in case. Especially in her profession, Tani wasn't one to take chances. "Can I help you?" She responded as he got slightly closer so that she wouldn't have to yell.[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox="Kuga Shumiel, goldenrod, solid, 10"]
Hearing the immediate excitement in Raine's voice, Kuga sighed. He would most definitely have to get up now. He began to slide his knees up to his chest to fold himself off of the ground but he was too late as Raine stomped over and stood right above him. As she started talking again Kuga paused and turned his head to look at her as she spoke: leaving himself with his butt halfway raised from the ground but his shoulders still on the earth, his doleful eyes clearly expressing a puppy-style version of resentment. If the princess in her gown was a picture of dignity, Kuga at this moment was quite clearly the opposite.

However, at the mention of his payment his ears twitched for a second and he became visibly more alert. More alert, that was, until he realized that she wasn't referencing any extra payment at this time and instead just his regular dues as her navigator. At her response to his plea for her to find new hobbies, he shook his head slightly. "What... a pain." He muttered. He was altogether not entirely bothered by her usual antics, even though her pain-causing habits were quite out of the ordinary, but he still found that in general he couldn't sleep while she tortured her toys. Perhaps it was whatever sense of dormant morality that he possessed, but it was most likely simply because it was too much of a racket on most days.

Feeling her foot nudge him Kuga reluctantly flopped back onto his heels so that his knees were still in the dirt but at least his torso was off of the ground. Eyeing his employer for a second before shaking his head, he used his arms to push the rest of his legs off of the ground before lingering bent over with his arms swaying in the wind for a second. His hair had flopped over his eyes and he looked like a beanpole that was about to be toppled over. After savoring his last few minutes of relaxation, Kuga snapped somewhat to attention. "Okay. The mountain is that way. We'll find a path within a day if we walk in this direction." He stated, in cohesive sentences for once, before collecting his things - a bag of provisions, with an additional case for his instruments.

Luckily one of the perks of travelling with Raine is that they hardly ever had to restock as they could just take whatever possessions their victims had and make do with that. It was saving Kuga a lot of money while he was being paid at the same time, so he was more or less content with the situation. He took a couple steps in the direction that he pointed out before looking back at Raine to make sure she was coming: he wasn't sure how she managed to trudge about in her extravagant dress but he supposed she would just have to make do with her wardrobe selections.[/fieldbox]

 

[Danger]

[fieldbox=Akio Fukui, #f4da26, solid]
Akio forced a tired smile onto his face as he began to close the distance, glad she had stopped walking so he could catch up. There was a katana in a sheath poking out of his rucksack, as he hadn't thought he needed it out on his small journey. He didn't have any other weapons, unless you considered a small hunting knife as part of it. He was much better at setting traps for small prey instead of taking down a larger animal.

Finally he was within speaking distance, and heard the other respond. Taking a deep breath, he slowed his pace before talking. "I'm a little lost, as I don't think my map is right. Could you help me?" He asked, running a hand through his hair sheepishly. He didn't want to admit it, but he wasn't going to be able to get to his destination without help.

As he waited for her answer, his eyes roamed over her body. He wasn't checking her out; he wasn't into girls, but he was curious as to what she was doing and why she was here. She looked like a traveller, he could at least give her that. She seemed cautious of him, which was understandable considering that he had come out of nowhere. Forcing his eyes back up to her face, he smiled sheepishly as he waited for an answer.
[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox=Raine Storm, #dd3513, solid]
"Uuuuuuup," she complained, stomping her foot childlike on the ground. When he finally got to his feet, she glowered at him as he savoured his last minutes. She wanted to hurry, to have her fun with some more toys, and he was taking ages to even stand up. If she could wish for one thing, it would be for her guide to be a little faster in everything. But unfortunately she couldn't, and had to deal with the slow pace of her companion.

At least he seemed to wake up more after standing. Raine was all too happy to get going, finally having something to work towards. Giggling, a dark smile passed over her face before she began to follow Kuga to wherever they were headed. God help her if she ever lost him; the princess had no sense of direction, and definitely would've been lost had it not been Kuga.

As they walked, Raine hummed to herself and spun occasionally on the spot. She was staring up at the clouds, already imagining how she would torture the next group of travellers they came across. It was another one of her favourite things, however most of the time it didn't go exactly how she imagined it. Maybe this time she would mess with them, if there was more than one, turning them on each other. Or if they already loved each other, then torturing one in front of the other's eyes was always so delectable...
[/fieldbox]

 

[Berry]

[fieldbox="Tani May, seagreen, solid, 10"]
As the man continued to approach, Tani mentally assessed him according to the parameters of the person she was currently hunting. The wanted poster she had seen had been for a certain "Skarl the Bandit", described as having dark hair and being somewhat skinny. According to the last bit of information that she had gotten, the place he had last been seen wasn't for another few days of travel, but her information could be easily out of date. After realizing that the man walking toward her had both dark hair and a rather slim figure, Tani's fingers started to itch but she also realized that those two descriptors were both very common.

Continuing to assess the potential danger that this man may present, she noted that he didn't seem to have any weapons on his immediate person. That fact, paired with his tired smile, assured her that there wasn't any imminent threat. Nevertheless, her arms hung close by her sides where she could easily access what she jokingly addressed as her "hands": two sets of brass knuckles that were attached to her belt. After hearing the man's request and sheepish tone, she summoned a small smile to her face.

"Of course. Where are you heading?" She asked him, taking a few steps toward him. She was still wary of his presence, but her combat style favored close quarters so moving towards him wasn't letting her guard down. She cautiously turned her bag around from her back to get her own map out but was very cautious not to move in a manner that would obstruct her ability to respond effectively if he made some kind of hostile movement.

Sensing his eyes assessing her, she bristled a bit but determined that he didn't seem to be threatening in any manner so she didn't comment. Drawing her map out of her bag, she opened it up and quickly scanned it for where she believed their location was.[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox="Kuga Shumiel, goldenrod, solid, 10"]
Pursing his lips as Raine complained and stomped her foot, Kuga shook his head slightly again, his hair rustling slightly at the movement. However, as she giggled and her spirits rose he couldn't help but become slightly more lively as well. Seeing that she was following behind him, he set his gaze on the mountain he had spoken of. If they kept up this pace, they would reach a trail within a day, but he was still skeptical of the princess' ability to walk in all of her extravagant clothing.

His mind quickly started to wander. He had previously been considering how they may encounter snakes in this area, but thoughts of snakes easily led to reptiles in general, which led to him recalling that one encounter he had had with a water dragon years ago when he had been hunting after some random bounty for someone a few countries across from this one. Unconsciously, he set his pace a bit slower so that Raine could catch up and he could better see whatever she was doing instead of having to look back.

Even as his mind wandered, the girl's occasional spins made him do a double take out of the corner of his eye, keeping his attention back on what he was actually doing. This was probably a good thing, because if Kuga ended up spacing out too much they would probably get lost. However with Kuga one never really got lost, his sense of direction was incredibly strong so he would always know where he was and how to get somewhere else, it was just that when he spaced out he usually ended wandering off track and taking a long route to his desired location.

Hearing his employer's humming, he listened for a little while before piecing together her rhythms and creating a soft anti-melody which he began to hum softly underneath her song. His complacent mood made him tempted to embed magic in his song to calm down her mood but decided against it. He had already been forced to wake up, there wasn't much he could do about it now.[/fieldbox]

 

[Danger]

[fieldbox=Akio Fukui, #f4da26, solid]
"Uhhh... I think it was a cave or something in the mountains...?" He knew he wasn't exactly being much help, but he could quite recall the name of where the bandit had last been seen. "Let me check." He still had the wanted poster in his rucksack, so he swung it off his back and set it down on the ground. Opening it up, he began to dig through his belongings before finally finding the crumpled up paper at the very bottom. He didn't seem to be very cautious, unlike the girl. Had she been wanting to kill him, he probably wouldn't have noticed.

Finally grabbing it, he stood up and flattened it out in front of him. "Ah, the Thieves cave. It's on my map, but everything else isn't," he said with a light chuckle. He'd likely been ripped off, but maybe this girl could help her. Akio was a little oblivious, as he couldn't see how she was a little sceptical of him. He was open to everyone, and despite it being a bad thing, he hadn't been hurt yet by it and thus hadn't learnt the dangers of trusting everyone.

Skarl the Bandit. Interesting name, and as he studied the paper a little more, was a bit annoyed to realise that he may have looked similar to the wanted person. Hopefully the girl wasn't looking for the same person, the last thing he wanted was to have to kill her too. Since she hadn't attacked him on first sight, it was probably unlikely. "I'm Akio Fukui, by the way. What's your name?" Perhaps it was best to introduce themselves, and make sure that she wouldn't try to kill him or something.
[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox=Raine Storm, #dd3513, solid]
Raine seemed delighted that he had joined in with her humming. She had a good voice, due to her upbringing in the castle, but she rarely sang. Her companion on the other hand, was well versed in the musical arts. The princess often liked to listen to him play, during quiet nights when she would no doubt be bored. There was something magical in the other's playing, something that she quite liked despite her main hobby being causing other people pain.

Raine was wearing travelling boots, but even then, the outdoor life was quite hard on her. Soon enough she began to lag behind, her twirls becoming less frequent. She didn't exactly have much stamina, and an hour was probably the most she could do at a time. "I'm tired..." She whined to Kuga, trudging along sadly. While she wanted more toys, there was only so far she could go. "Can we take a break..."

Despite asking, as soon as they came across another grassy hill, she abandoned the track to go lie down on the grass. Spreading out to take as much space as possible, the princess pouted while looking up at the sky. "Why can't they just come to me..." She loved complaining, despite never doing anything about it. "Kuga, can you go find some toys and bring them here... It's not like you're doing anything..." Not bothering to correct herself, she rolled over to look at her companion with a puppy like look.
[/fieldbox]

 

[Berry]

[fieldbox="Kuga Shumiel, goldenrod, solid, 10"]
Walking along absentmindedly, Kuga wasn't really thinking about much but instead let himself hum along. However, subconsciously, the princess' delight registered somewhere in his head and a small smile crept across his face as the duo continued to move forward. Caught up in his own little world, he inevitably lost track of where they were going but luckily all they had to do was travel straight so they fortunately didn't get lost. He was unconsciously pacing with Raine so when she started to slow down he did as well, but his normal pace was a little bit longer than hers so he ended up gaining a bit of a lead over the girl.

The fact that Raine had fallen behind wasn't made apparent to him until he heard the sound of his voice and realized that he had to look over his shoulder behind him in order to see her. Immediately stopping in the middle of his stride, he waited for her to catch up and listened to her complaints with half an ear. One of his eyebrows twitched when she said she needed to take a break: the weather was quite nice and terrain was flat, walking for this long wouldn't even bring a pant to a child's breath. He supposed that it was due to her upbringing and shrugged it off.

"I can carry-" he started to suggest, but then the princess collapsed on a hill and made herself comfortable. Immediately, Kuga's brief spurt of work ethic had come to an end and he placed his bags on the ground and sat down, not intending to get up again for awhile. Therefore, when she rolled over and asked him to bring her toys, he disregarded it. That would be nearly two days of walking to get there and back, assuming that he even found other people. "Too far." He stated, staring into her puppy eyes with laziness that surpassed her weariness.

Leaning back into the grass himself, he stared up at the sky. "Take a nap or something." He suggested to her, fully realizing that was probably the only way he was going to get the girl to stop complaining. He was more awake now than he had been previously, so he contemplated the bag with his flute in it for a second.
[/fieldbox]

 

[Danger]

[fieldbox=Raine Storm, #dd3513, solid]
"Nooooo," Raine whined. She didn't like sleeping that much, surprisingly. She grumbled a bit, before deciding that maybe he could do something else for her. A spoilt princess was a spoilt princess, but even she could see that unless she was going to offer more money, he definitely wouldn't be moving from his spot on the hill.

"Play me some music," Raine demanded, pouting once again. Maybe she would fall asleep while listening to it, as the grass was soft and there were trees for some shade. Perfect conditions for a nap. However she didn't sleep easily, and he would have to use a little bit of magic for that to even be possible. Raine didn't notice half the time when he did use his magic, as all she thought it was was enchanting music. Plus, what servant would dare use magic against their employer?

Curling up into a ball, she rocked from side to side as her energy began to refill. A lot of her time nowadays was spent like this, simply too tired to keep going yet had nothing to do. Perhaps it was best she did pick another hobby. Or not. It was delightfully fun after all, causing other people pain. "What do you think we should do this time when we find some new toys? Maybe we should turn them on each other... Or make them grow closer and then tear them apart... Kugaaaa, what do you think?"
[/fieldbox]

 

[Berry]

[fieldbox="Tani May, seagreen, solid, 10"]
Upon hearing that the man was looking for a cave in the mountains, Tani's ears immediately twitched. That was also where she was going, and would explain why he was travelling along this path. In this particular mountain there was rumored to be a bandit's den, and the only reasons Tani could think of why he would be travelling there would be if he was a bandit himself or after her bounty. She took pains to keep her posture from stiffening up further, because alerting him to her discomfort with the situation might not end well. What perplexed Tani was that he seemed so relaxed, how could someone headed for a bandit's den be so nonchalant?

Watching as he shuffled through his belongings looking for something in his bag, Tani waited apprehensively. When he at least located what he was looking for and started to flatten out a crumpled piece of paper. As he announced where he was going, and she was able to fully see the wanted poster, Tani wasn't exactly sure how to respond. She had encountered rivals in the field before, but that was in a hostile environment. This guy was just standing here unarmed seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was one of his potential rivals.

"Um." She managed to say before pausing for a second to gather her thoughts. Should she kill him? He was unsuspecting at the moment, it would probably be easy. One of Tani's main methods of killing was poison which took her victims off-guard so it shouldn't be against her morals to dispose of him now, but her stomach tightened at the thought of killing this oblivious stranger. Deciding against it, Tani realized that they would be heading in the same direction for awhile now. She could always take a different route, but that would mean he would probably get to the cave before her. She could probably give him incorrect directions, but the mountain was going to soon become visible up ahead of them and that would probably give the man his bearings.

"I-" Tani paused again contemplating before reaching a decision. "I'm actually heading in the same direction, if you want you can follow me." She offered, against many of her gut instincts. Perhaps he could come in handy, it was a thieves den after all and who knew how many bandits might be in there. The only question left was if she should tell him that she was after the same bounty. Ultimately deciding that it could wait for later, Tani looked back up at him as he introduced himself. "Akio Fukui," she repeated back softly as she digested the information.

"My name is Tani May, nice to meet you."[/fieldbox]

[fieldbox="Kuga Shumiel, goldenrod, solid, 10"]
Eyeing Raine with one eye as she whined, Kuga was about to prepare to shut her off before she came around with a new suggestion. While he wasn't in the mood to move anymore, he was pretty much always in the mood to play music. Reaching for his bags, he looked back at the princess quizzically. "Do you want me to play or sing?" He asked, beginning to unbuckle the straps to his viola before even getting a response. While it was a preemptive move, he would be happy to switch instruments or put it away if she asked. Smiling slightly as she curled up into a ball and started to rock around, Kuga pulled his viola onto his lap and turned around to face her.

It wouldn't be difficult at this point to just get her to go to sleep, as it seemed she was decently worn out already, but Kuga didn't mind her much like this at all. Besides, the best music he played was music when he had an audience. He was trying to decide what piece he could play for her; none of his newer compositions were ready - though it's not like he ever finished any of his own compositions anyway due to intensive procrastination - but there were plenty of folk songs or common lullabies he had memorized that Raine would probably recognize.

As he was in a good mood, he actually contemplated one of her sadistic questions for once. Deliberating on the question in his usual slow manner, Kuga pursed his lips slightly before responding. "The last ones... you pretty much just destroyed. They may last longer if you preserve them for a bit first." He volunteered. Kuga didn't exactly like to see other people in pain, but then again he didn't particularly mind much. If they were people he knew his opinion might vary slightly, but at the moment Raine's targets had mostly consisted of bandits that probably deserved what was coming anyway. "So I guess you should probably bring them together first... It'll be a longer ordeal that way." The man concluded, looking at Raine intently to see if his answer was acceptable.[/fieldbox]

 

[Danger]

[fieldbox=Akio Fukui, #f4da26, solid]
"Oh really?" Akio seemed delighted that she was apparently headed in the same way as him, and apparently didn't think of any reason why that would be. It was almost cute, if it hadn't been a serious subject and she hadn't been debating on whether or not to kill him then and there. He likely wouldn't have seen it coming. "That'd be great! I'd love to tag along." He gave her a warmer smile this time, crumpling up the paper and putting it back in his bag.

"Tani May... That's a nice name," Akio grinned, seemingly happy to have made a new friend. "So are we continuing on this path?" He gestured to the dirt road, the trees still high on either side. At this point, the sun was dropping lower in the sky. The shadows were getting longer, and Akio wondered if they would be spending the night with one another. He hadn't had a companion for a while now, if ever, and she seemed interesting enough to get to know.

Pulling his rucksack onto his back, he turned to give Tani a curious glance. Was she distrusting of him? He'd given his name and all, but maybe that's just how the people in this area behaved. Shrugging to himself, he decided that he would try his best to make him trustworthy, even if it wouldn't mean much. Kicking at some rocks on the ground, he waited for them to get going.
[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox=Raine Storm, #dd3513, solid]
"Play," Raine mumbled, deciding that she didn't want to hear his voice any more. If he played something she recognised, there was the smallest possibility that she would sing along with it. She stopped rocking to stare at her now musician, waiting for him to play something. Her eyes were focused on him, as she did like his music and was hoping that he could entertain her even if for a little while. Just enough so she wouldn't throw another tantrum.

However, for once, her companion finally answered one of her questions. "Hmmm.... Maybe..." Her lips tilted into a frown as she thought about it. If their next targets didn't know each other, that could be difficult. However, the payoff would likely be worth it, depending on how close they got. And emotional pain was the best pain of all. "Fiiiine. But, we get to find more bandits and see them on the floor while we do this," she demanded. Of course, her usual route of simply using her power on a group and laughing as they screamed.

"Play play play!" The princess demanded, her eyes narrowing. She kicked her feet, her arms wrapped around her knees. Some wondered whether she was actually a child, despite being twenty one years old. Perhaps it had been her lonely upbringing, one that only consisted of her and her toys. And when those toys were taken away from her, she had felt incredibly lonely. No one had been there to teach her right from wrong, and so she had grown up with a twisted definition. Now as she roamed the countryside with her lazy servant, there was no one to stop her now.
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