[IC]: Caster's Challenge

[Nano]

◦•●◉✿ Aɴɢᴇʟɪᴄᴀ Oʀᴄʜɪᴅ
Lᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: Trail/Mountain Valley || Wɪᴛʜ: Zelda - @Cybermoon | Eris - @Namora || Mᴏᴏᴅ: Tired
It wasn't long until the other two noticed her presence. Sure, Angelica didn't have too much of a presence- to which, frankly, kind of annoyed her -but hey, at least it would somewhat help her when fighting? Kind of? It would make people less likely to attack her, that's for sure. Due to her fabulous observation skills (not really), the other two were collecting firewood and stuff. Oh, that wasn't too hard. The petite female was able to grab a few sticks and a couple of stones so that they could keep the fire contained. Turf would be good fuel, and they would also need some food. Maybe she could help with gather whatever berries? Maybe.

She was greeted in a rather welcoming fashion. A type of fashion that Angelica wasn't far too used to, but no use complaining. All Angelica offered to the both of them was a gentle smile, and a wave. Upon hearing that she shouldn't hang so far back, it was just then where it dawned upon her that she was way behind them. With that in mind, the female quickly began to pick up the pace. Maybe she could learn to get along with the two, after warming up. Hah, she almost thought of a pun right there. Jeez.

As they continued to gather more fire wood, the female couldn't help but to listen into their conversation earlier. Something about traveling the world? That sounded.. Fun, despite being the type of person to just settle in one area with some travel here and there. "Traveling sounds nice.." She muttered, smiling as she began to look for some flint (If there were any to begin with). Though, for now, it was probably best for she, herself, to stay put. She was obviously curious about the world around her, and yes she wanted to be able to develop her nature casting in the future, she also wanted to learn the most that she could in one area before traveling to the next.

Whilst walking, she found a few trees on the mountain, prompting her to walk over to it, and pick up any fallen leaves and twigs. You never know when you might need such small items, after all. That's when she froze. Maybe it was from her gut feeling, maybe it was from her simply being paranoid, but she had a bad feeling about the area that she was in. The poor girl made the decision of brushing it off as her own, pure, paranoia, quickly returning to the duo with sticks and stones in her arms.

It was probably just her imagination anyways.

 

[Queen of the Black Hearts]

Sorrell Edelstein

Sorrell was so happy to hear that Louis would allow him to do he task and readied himself to cast the spell he needed to fly up to the tree tops and see all around them. Summoning up his power, the young silverette cast a simple levitation spell on himself and jumped into the air, flying up high above the tree tops. Once high enough to see everything, Sorrell had to stop himself from staring off too much of the view and tried to stay focused. Looking down at his traveling companions and flew down and looked to Louis, smiling the entire time and his hair and clothes a mess from his fast flying. "The view is great up there, Lou. You have to see it!" Sorrell said, giddy and wanting to show their leader, not only to show him the great view but also to help him have an extra set of eyes to look around. Ammy just barked at her caster, her tail wagging at seeing him finally loosen up.

 

[Jakers]

(Tl;dr: Being Trap in general, fangirled over Sorrel's flying, shipped his comrades before running away, made a pitfall trap, returned.)

Trap gave a happy sigh to himself as he let the cold, open air brush past his face. It really felt great to get out and walk about in the open... the fact that he could go any direction, any time... go where-ever he wanted without having to go to 'X Class at X time', the way he could do things how he wanted here... it felt good, you know? He'd seen freedom and independence before, but this was a true test of it. He guessed that was why he was pumped for the whole thing in general.

Occasionally jumping over rocks (no matter how big they were), usually in an overdramatic fashion, Trap's walking method consisted of speeding ahead, waiting for the other two to come, speeding ahead, waiting for the other two to come... it was sort of a neverending cycle. He knew he should really stop running about like an idiot to preserve calories for casting later, but he was pretty confident a bite to eat could be found somewhere out here. He had a few plans on how to get some stuff to eat, too. Soon, with Sorrel taking the role of the chef, they'd be cooking up stews and drying meat like a professional kitchen! Maybe the girls would smell the aroma of the food from a mile away and give up so they could join them. Aw yeah! That sounded like a great pla- oh, wait, no it didn't. Remembering the objective of this expedition, Trap snapped back into a logical thinking process. Damn ADHD...

When Lou offered Trap one of the berries, he took it and examined it in-between his thumb and forefinger, pondering for a moment. It wasn't because he didn't trust Lou - he'd totally have eaten it the second he gave it to him if he didn't have an idea.

"Twistedstalk, huh? So... berries grow around here. And this place is sort of near a river, but not right next to it..." Trap mumbled. "Seems like a pretty good area for small animals, don'tcha think? And you know what I think we need?" Trap said, pocketing the singular berry. "We need a trap - building one out here's perfect! It's not too near out base, because animals won't come close to us, but it's not too far away for it to be a tedious job to check, either! And fear not, I've got just the sort of trap in mind! Should be done in a jiffy!" He paused. "I know it's hard to believe we need more than ONE trap, but..." He paused. "...Get it? Because my name's Trap, and... e-eh..."

~ ~ ~

Trap paused, having a quick look at the area around him. ...Hmm... one single, solitary berry wasn't really going to give him many calories, so he might as well keep it and try using it as bait. One berry on the ground wouldn't be enough to tempt an animal onto the sort of trap he was planning, so.

Trap's thinking process was interrupted when he heard something about Sorrel being able to fly. His pupils shrinking in awe a little, Trap suddenly turned to Sorrel and gasped.
"WHAT? You can fly? Seriously?! OH MY GO-" Trap paused, and cleared his throat. "-I mean, oh my god, that's so cool! Can you do, like, flying punches and mid-air backflip kicks like aerial combatants? ...Man... that's so awesome..." Trap mumbled. It was clear he wasn't saying it was cool just for the sake of conversation, either. He was genuinely seriously impressed. Trap could do some nifty little tricks with his rang' here and there, but the REAL aerial movers were people he looked up to.

Meanwhile, Liz the parrot had left the skies, and was simply asleep on Trap's shoulder. The bird had heard and gotten used to his antics far too much, that she favoured some shut-eye instead of being helpful to her master half of the time.

Trap sighed longingly as he watched Sorrel float up as if he was nothing. He'd love to do that, too, but the trap wouldn't build itself. If they could scout a wide area AND get some traps built in one swift motions, this trip'll be all the more worth it.
"Well, I'd love to join you guys, but I've got a trap to build!" He paused, and a cheeky grin appeared on his face. It really wasn't hard to see the two were starting to like each other, and he was totally cool with that - all the more ladies for him.

"So, uh... why don't you two kiss up there whilst I'm not looking? C'mon!!! It'll be cute! With the snowy mountains as a backdrop... thi-" Trap paused, because Lou was still on the ground, and would probably deliver a swift uppercut if he carried on. Clearing his throat, Trap turned and sort of half-ran, half-walked away, whilst saying: "W-Welp! Break a leg and find something cool up there! Don't actually break your leg though because it's just a figure of speech and - ah... fo... forget it...!"

Moving to an area not too far away from the two, Trap was just planning to build this trap and then return to the two again simply. His deep brown eyes darting around, it wasn't long before he managed to get his hands on another twistedstalk plant, thanks to Lou's observations. Harvesting what he could from it, particularly the berries, Trap looked for a decent chunk of land to place his genius creation. There seemed good! Time to begin.

Closing his eyes, Trap's muscles tensed somewhat as he pointed an open palm to the ground, let out a short, sharp breath of air, and lifted his hand in an upwards motion. Using the power of earth magic, Trap took out a chunk from the ground - a relatively thin but long chunk, and carefully put it aside. What was left was a deep hole, perfect for trapping a medium-sized animal. A human would probably get hurt a bit if they fell down, but any able caster find it easy to escape. It was designed for animals, anyway.

Covering up the hole with twigs snapped from tree branches, occasionally testing its weight with rocks, before covering up the twigs with a coating of leaves and snow, Trap was pretty proud of his mostly discreet pitfall trap. Putting berries in the centre of it as bait, all that had to happen now was the waiting game. An animal that went to get the berries would simply fall down the hole and be unable to get out again, where Trap could come and painlessly end it when he came to check it later. Hopefully something would go for it. And double-hopefully not a human. Making one of his own team or one of the girls fall in a dirty hole just because they fancied some berries would make Trap feel guilty either way.

Heading back to Lou n' Sorrel, (Lorrel? Sourel? Lourel?), Trap made sure they knew it was him coming.
"Alright, done with the trap! Don't grab some berries if you see them on the floor over that way, kay'? Made a pitfall sort of thing to hopefully nab us a rabbit! ...Spotted anything cool up there?" Trap paused. "Ooh, ooh, did you see one of the girls?? I wonder if they're watching us now and waiting to surprise attack us, that'd be awesom... I mean, terrible, huh?"

 

[Sailor Arti]

[glow=blue][ Acolyte's Moutain Valley ][/glow]

Livi couldn't exactly tell what moisture was on her hands but it was gross and it wasn't helping as she continued to slice and dice these spiders. It made her skin crawl whenever she would look down at her hands. She was starting to get annoyed with fighting these stupid bugs. They just wouldn't stop coming, and it was starting to piss her off. For every one she took down it seemed like four more would pop up. Sure she could use an attack that would include a large area, but they were in a confined space in a cave, that wouldn't exactly be the smartest move right now. "We may need to take a step back for this," Raina's voice spoke up, suddenly beside her. Then she grabbed her hand and dragged her to the entrance of the cave.

Livi frowned looking up at her, she wasn't exactly sure what was going on but she was curious to find out. Once Raina let go of her hand she raised her fists in the air and suddenly the cave started to rumble. Livi, taken by surprise was suddenly on guard as the ground beneath her started to shake and debris for the ceiling of the cave started to fall. She stared at Raina with wide eyes, what the hell was she doing? Trying to kill them both? God, she knew that they might not work well together and that this challenge was hard but she didn't know that Raina thought it would be worth killing the both of them over. Livi didn't want to die yet, there was so much left that she wanted to do. "Raina..." Livi said quietly, voice shaking as she started taking a couple steps away from her.

"Well, crap. Now they're stuck," Raina said, slightly looking like she was in pain. Livi tilted her head to her, "Who's stuck, what? What's going on?" Livi wasn't sure what was going on but the rumbling beneath wasn't stopping and she was starting to feel a little scared. "Come on" Raina growled before slamming her palms to the ground. If she thought the rumbling was bad before it was nothing compared to this. Rocks started breaking and falling from the ceiling of the cave and Livi squatted down, covering her head with her arms. This girl beside her was crazy! She had lost her damn mind. Livi didn't ask for this, she didn't this kind of danger in her life. She liked things that were planned out and safe. Being around Raina was the exact damn opposite. She felt like she was gonna die from the heart attack Raina was giving her, either that or she would die because of her reckless antics.

"Hey, not bad if I say so myself." Raina said once the rumbling finally stopped. Livi opened her eyes to see a wall of rock deep in the cave that separated the spiders from them. So that's what she had been trying to do. Well, Jesus, she could've just said something! Livi's hand flew to her chest, her heart feeling like it was gonna burst right in that moment. "Next time you plan on doing something like this, can you just give me a heads up? You know, so I don't almost have a heart attack and everything. Thanks" Livi said running her hands through her hair and looking around. "Okay, what do you say about going to grab some stuff to make a fire? Otherwise, we're gonna freeze our asses off." She said turning to look at Raina, she had little beads of sweat on her head. "Or we can rest a bit, are you okay?" She asked Raina softly. Wrapping her arms around herself, she was attempting to keep herself warm. But she wanted to make sure Raina was okay before they did anything more. She didn't need her collapsing and leaving Livi alone.

Leaning against the cave's wall, she waited as Raina drank from her water skin. "I know once we light the fire it will attract attention, but better to be warm right?" She said with a smile towards Raina, "Also, what you did was impressive. I mean, I almost peed my pants because I thought you were trying to kill us, but hey it all worked out right?" She added with a laugh while bending down to sheath her daggers underneath her skirt again.
​

Characters Mentioned:

@Noctis the Devious - Raina Summers​

 

[Namora]

E r i s
V A L E N T I N E

[ Acolytes' Mountain; Mountain Valley ]

--

The small girl behind them picked up her pace after Eris' comment, and joined up closer to the pair.
Simply looking around, the trees were thick and bore heavy greenery. On a glance she could tell it was mostly coniferous, though there were enough deciduous trees to scatter a few fallen leaves on the ground. Eris turned her eyes forward. She'd hate to get lost here, one's voice wouldn't carry well at all and there were hardly any real landmarks to navigate with. It was for that reason that they were sticking close to this natural stone wall to their right. The red haired girl glimpsed over at the stone hill, and her eyes continued to travel upwards to the point where it hurt her neck. She let her gaze fall, but as it did so she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

"Wait... what the hell was that?" The girl whispered as she eyes scanned the bit of sky they could make out through the canopy of trees overhead. When she didn't see anything else, the girl's brown eyes narrowed on where she'd seen the thing vanish.
Eris subtly shrugged off Zelda's hand from her shoulder.
"I'm gonna run up ahead" She said without shifting her eyes away from the place she'd seen the blur vanish into the treeline. The girl clenched her fists, and they immediately began to pulse light. she was going to be prepared, after all, who knew what else was up here with them? There was a sudden bend in the stone not too far away, if she hurried she might be able to see it.
She was nearly sprinting as she rushed to close the gap between her group and as she grew close she could detect some sort of noise, though it was hushed and quieted by the environment. She curiously hurried toward the stone corner, but as she neared the edge the girl slowed down just slightly, and then, SMACK.

~~~~~~

[glow=red][ Acolyte's Mountain; The Valley, Half a Mile South-West from the Boy's Camping Site ][/glow]

The Earth Caster was chattery as usual. And as usual response to that, Lou tuned him mostly out, only picking his words up back on his radar when he deemed something sounded like it was worthwhile for all that yapping. You know, the important parts that he tried to convey from under all that useless clutter of unnecessary words. Mostly it just seemed like Trap was just running his mouth and wasting breath, if you asked him. The guy was just as loud as he was equally tall, so Lou was fairly sure that just that alone was enough to drive away any possibilities for hunting while he had this guy in tow. All the game could hear them miles away and evacuate even before they could even wish for a chance to have a glimpse of them. Unless Trap had a sneaking mode, Lou would most definitely not take him along again that had anything to do with trying to stay under the radar. If Lou had to compare the Trap to anything, it was like having a mariachi band constantly playing an annoyingly chipper tune with no hope to shut it down. Give the guy a sombrero and he couldn't tell the difference.

When Trap went to build a, well, his namesake, Lou just waved over his shoulder haphazardly that he acknowledged the deed and approved of it. Trap might have been loud and a little bit annoying, but as long as he wasn't useless and his skills came in handy, having the Earth Caster around made it worthwhile according to Lou's calculations. The things he had to offer to the team outweighed his annoying qualities, which Lou was thankful about, because otherwise he would have whooped his ass back to the Sky Bus already. He still thought that the Earth Clan could have chosen a more quiet individual for the sake of Lou's sanity.

"So, uh... why don't you two kiss up there whilst I'm not looking? C'mon!!! It'll be cute! With the snowy mountains as a backdrop... thi-"

And thus they had come adrift into the sheltered harbor of his patience.
Lou turned sharply to shoot Trap a hard glare, partly because he had no idea how he suddenly came up with any of that bullshit and secondly because even if anyone was going to kiss anyone in the first place it would be none of Trap's goddamn business. Not to mention how making that kind of random commentary was beyond embarrassing for all the individuals present. And he had known Sorrell and the rest of the guys like five seconds, why the hell would he want to snog any of these dudes? None of them even really appeared to be his type so far. He would rather make out with an Ice Troll at this point.

Trap seemed to pick up the hint and turned around quickly and half ran away from Lou's squinted tawny eyes while sprouting something to excuse himself. Yeah, you better scram.

Louis scoffed and turned forward with the shake of his head, just in time for Sorrell to glide back down from the treetops and announce in utter excitement; "The view is great up there, Lou. You have to see it!"

"Which is exactly why I'm looking for a good spot to climb up the rock safely. I wanna get over the treetops to get a better view. So yeah, working on it, buddy." Lou answered, glancing up at the steep rock wall on his left with a frown, wondering if they could find a good climbing spot if they carried on a bit ahead. Around that time, Trap came back, and so did his big mouth.

"Alright, done with the trap!" Well, Lou was definitely done with one, too. "Don't grab some berries if you see them on the floor over that way, kay'? Made a pitfall sort of thing to hopefully nab us a rabbit! ...Spotted anything cool up there?" Trap paused. For a second, Lou actually foolishly hoped he had finally shut up, but no. "Ooh, ooh, did you see one of the girls? I wonder if they're watching us now and waiting to surprise attack us, that'd be awesom... I mean, terrible, huh?"

"Well we aren't exactly the hardest target with the noise lev--" Lou started to snark, but as he was about to round the sharp corner of the rock wall, a flurry of red came from the other side, and then, SMACK.

~~~~~~

The ashen blond boy staggered back in surprise and with the momentum of the impact. His free hand that wasn't holding the spear rising to his jaw that had been hit painfully onto the forehead of a redheaded girl. Eris stumbled back, slightly disoriented. Her forehead stinging, and already sore. Her clenched, glowing fists loosened, and the girl brought a hand up to touch the tender place that promised to swell.

"Oww. What the hell kind of rock--" She began as she glimpsed over at her crash site, peering over through bright red bangs.
"Aw, fuck! What kind of fuckery--" Louis muttered angrily, blinking the stars out of his eyes and then looking down.
Both of them froze.

There was a heartbeat of startled silence on both of their sides, where the two youths just gaped at each other like they couldn't quite believe their eyes. And then once the moment of surprise wore off, the horror of realization set in.
If Trap's yapping hadn't already driven off all the game within the mile, the synchronized scream surely finished the job.
Neither of them were quite sure if they were more startled by the sudden appearance of another, or how surprisingly shrill the Physical Caster could scream for such a low voiced guy. Louis, surprised by what his voice was capable of, clasped his hand over his mouth like he wished to shove it right back where it came from.

Eris' hand drew away from her reddened forehead and she clenched her fists again. The glow they'd retained returned shortly, "Here I thought I'd stumbled into a boy, but with a scream like that…" The red haired girl smirked at him tauntingly, her eyes twinkling in mocking amusement.

Lou felt his face flush in humiliation, and he cleared his throat -- which, by the way, hurt after the sudden rocketing of several octaves -- and gripped the wooden spear with both hands, taking a defensive stance, countering with a cool tone; "...And here I thought I stumbled into a cute girl at first, but sadly not even all the makeup in the world can cover that personality."​

 

[Jakers]

The girl with blood-red hair just seemed to come out of nowhere, and before he knew it, two ear-piercingly high screeches that made even Trap wince at the volume. Instinctively ducking back behind a tree, Trap breathed heavily as the excitement began to rise in his veins. A girl...! He knew it! He could feel an ambush was coming in his bones! And this would be the first time of many to show people what he was made of.

He hadn't managed to look at the red-haired girl for too long before she got into cover, but Lou seemed to have things under control for now. And it didn't take much of a long look to notice that she was dead gorgeous, but... agh! Must... resist... awful... pickup lines... no point in blowing his cover so early.

But... if this mischievous looking girl with scarlet red hair was around, the chances were she hadn't just come alone. Grabbing his boomerang off his back and grinning to himself as he snuck through the trees in the direction the scarlet-haired woman had came from, Trap figured he would block off any oncoming girls from reaching Lou before he got outnumbered, being the hero that he was~. It was time to shine!

"Psst! Liz!" Trap hissed to the parrot on his shoulder as he crept low through the snowy mix of leaves and tree trunks. The yellow parrot woke up, giving him somewhat of annoyed look. "Eyes to the sky, we've probably got company around here...!" He mumbled in a hurried whisper. If no more girls were around, he could always go back and help Lou, but... fighting to outnumber another person wasn't really his style.

Zelda was surprised that Eris suddenly left her and the tiny girl behind to go check out something. She was about to follow when she noticed that her beloved Loki began hissing at the direction the red head went. "What's the matter, honey snake?" She asked the flame snake when she heard a dual scream coming from the light users direction.

Looking towards the direction, Zelda dropped the firewood that she had gathered and drew her bow and arrows out and had them at the ready. With silent footsteps, she made her way after the other girl, completely forgetting the other girl with her. Giving her familiar an ordering look, she let the snake down and watched as it slithered away, following a 'scent' of sorts towards where something organic was. The fire caster quickly followed behind it, keeping silent.

She moved around as saw a few boys behind the brush she was at and raised an eyebrow, wondering which of those two boys had screamed. The silverette looked like he could reach such a high note but he only looked shocked and trying hard not to laugh the other boy, who looked a little pissed. Her eyes scanning arounf, Zelda soon spotted a guy with brunette hair and looked armed with... something. She couldn't see it clearly and decided to move closer to where he was, drawing the bowstring back with the notched arrow, keeping him in her sights.

Just a bit more. She thought as she evened her breathing out and started to take aim close to the brunette boy, wanting to make sure she didn't hit him but did want to scare him. After letting out the last breathe she had in her lungs, Zelda let the arrow fly. The smooth release and how her bow was strung made the release so quiet that the only thing that alerted the boy of her prescense was the arrow striking the tree next to him.

"...Aha!! Thought you could sneak up on me? Prepare for-" Trap spluttered, front flipping forwards as he turned around to face his enemy, boomerang at the ready. As it turned out, though... it was just an arrow that had made a noise behind him. Aw... and he was ready to throw his smoke bombs and everything. For a moment, Trap looked disappointed, before it clicked in his head for a moment. Waiiit... people fire arrows... did someone try to snipe him?

So, a bow hunter was in the brushes, waiting to pick him off? A charming and wild huntress, perhaps... with lavishing locks, and- WAIT! NO! Focus, focus... he knew he should really be more concerned that an arrow could fly into his face at any moment. Holding his boomerang in the direction the arrow came from, Trap trusted his reactions and defensive capabilities to block what might come next.

"So, a maiden of the bow is ahead in the bushes... a dramatic start to the great battles of Trap Hanamura!" Trap called out, doing a small pose in the direction of what was probably a girl, even if he hadn't seen her yet. "Will you face me, or shall I be forced to draw you out of the bushes, like a..." Trap paused, unable to think of a metaphor to carry on his dramatic monologue.

"...I mean, er, may I see the face of my opponent? This small piece of random forest isn't big enough for the two of us...!" Trap announced, flicking back his hair as he twirled the boomerang in his hand elegantly.

Zelda had to stop herself from laughing at the fool's attempt at a monologue and shook her head, her fiery orange pigtails going along with the movements. "I would show myself, but how do I know that you won't attack myself or my companion?" She yelled, notching another arrow onto her bow and looked at the boy.

"If I have your word that you will not do anything sneaky, I will reveal myself to you. Though... since you are really cute, I may come out sooner." She flirted, looking Trap up and down from her hiding place, smirking. If all the guys and girls she comes across are good looking, she may just say screw the competition and flirt around until she either wound up with one person or a harem.

She looked down at her familiar and sent him towards Trap, wondering how the boy would take to seeing a fire reptile near his feet. Loki moved quickly through the bushes, getting close to the boomerang and hissing at him, baring his two fangs and acting like he was going to bite the boy on his leg.

"You have a gentleman's word! This is an honourable fight between two magicians, ready to battle as the cold wind blows our hair, with the mountains stand in the background like giants...! Oh, what a place to fight..." Trap paused, realising he'd got called 'really cute'. Going red in the face, Trap sweated a little and added: "A-ah... flirting?! Don't think flattery will make me go easy on you! N-Nice try...!"

Trap blinked as some sort of... fire snake came from the bushes and tried to bite him? Readying his boomerang, Trap wasn't planning to just stand there and take that.
"Oho, a fire magician, huh? That spell won't work on me!" Trap muttered. He managed to play it cool, but fire magic really made him nervous.

As the snake drew close, Trap suddenly moved his hand to the left, and his boomerang began to float in a flat angle in midair. Running up a tree and backflipping off it, Trap grinned as he landed on the floating boomerang, making it levitate upwards as he did some sort of pose. His balance and acrobatics were already noticeably impressive... and he was just warming up.

"Cool spell, but... enough attacking from the bushes! I'm itching to get this fight started, and lock eyes with my opponent in an honourable duel!" Trap called out, levitating further upwards so the weird fire snake spell wouldn't bite him. He was clearly itching to get started. "C'mon! You have my gentleman's word I won't do anything sneaky. That's a promise I never break!"

"Very well, cutie, since you promised. And don't worry about my sweet little Loki. His looks are far more fearsome than his bite." Zelda states, stepping out of her hiding place and revealing herself to the Evergreen boy. She was smirking at how he was reacting to her beloved familiar and walked towards him, her footsteps silent.

Loki looked between the two caster's before returning to his own, slithering up her body until he took his place right around her neck, hissing the entire time. The female fire caster just pet the flaming reptile on the head and stared the boy up and down even more. He was even better looking up close than her first look from behind the bushes.

"Well, here we are, boomerang. Mind telling me the name of the cute boy I am going to make my slave." She requested, winking at him. She was starting to love this boy's reactions and she couldn't wait to make him her little toy. "For the proper introductions, you can call me Zelda Fenrir."

When the girl made herself visible to Trap, he visibly wobbled a little on his boomerang at her sheer beauty. The two ponytails of fiery ginger, flowing like waterfalls of lava on each side of her head. Her eyes, enough to make Trap get lost in a small glance... a-ah... what did she say again? Something about his name? Her name? Trap blinked, before clearing his throat and pointing to his chest with his thumb proudly.

"Ah, er... the name's Trap Hanamura! Don't forget it, because this cute boy's gonna be the best earth caster of the generation!" He thought for a moment, swivelling on his boomerang in the air like a hoverboard as he faced the other direction, wiping some sweat from his forehead. "And sorry, but Trap Hanamura ain't a slave for nobody~. I like your fighting talk though... I see your inner tiger rising, ready to pounce! Man, I'm pumped!"

Pausing for a moment, Trap adjusted his headband, before grinning.
"Well, without further ado..." He suddenly pointed at her with one hand, two red smoke bombs going off either side of him, mixing in with the snowy air as the wind howled.

"A perfect day to fight, don't ya think? Zelda... as gorgeous as you are... it ends here!"

~ [] ~

Trap Hanamura | VS | Zelda Fenrir​

Trap made a noise something along the lines of 'woohoo!' as he did some sort of over-the-top flip off his boomerang, catching it back in his hands as he hit the floor, swaying in a readied stance, grinning.
"Let's get this party started! Ladies first..." Trap cooed, waiting to see what his opponent would do.

Zelda had to force herself not to laugh at how Trap presented himself, it was just so funny how he thought himself a big shot when in her presence. Oh how she couldn't wait to tame him. Moving some of her hair over her shoulder, her eyes never leaving his form.

"Trap Hanamura, huh? Well isn't that just the cutest name I have come across." She cooed, walking around him in a circle, sizing him up. "And you may say that you are not a slave to anyone, but when I am through with you, you will be like a tame little puppy. Following my every order." Zelda held this high amount of confidence because she was sure she could get him to see her way of things. Loki just hissed at him, not liking how he talked to his mistress.

With a swift motion, she got into position to draw the bow string back and aimed for a non-vital point on Trap. She may wanted to give him a flesh wound, but that was the extent of her harming him. With an slow exhale of air, Zelda let loose another arrow at him, hoping that it would hit... or maybe just graze him, the less scars he had from her, the better. In the back of her mind, the fire caster hoped that Eris was alright with the other two. She also vaguely wondered what happened to the little flower girl from earlier. Was she still at the path where the two red heads had left her? Oh well.

In the snap of a finger, Trap's boomerang hovered in front of him, spinning rapidly in a wheel like a shield. His reactions were as if he'd taken caffiene pills by the boatload.
"Boomerang Art: Glorious Parry!" Trap announced as the spinning rang' stopped the arrow from hitting into his shoulder, the arrow whizzing off in another direction entirely. In a blur and not wasting any time, Trap was dashing towards Zelda as soon as the arrow was parried.

"My turn! 3 2 1, ready or not, here I come!" He yelled. As he ran in midair, he crunched his fist and lifted it upwards, a pillar of earth coming from underneath him and launching him like a catapult, his boomerang following and floating in front of him in the process. In midair, Trap thrusted his finger down towards Zelda, the boomerang whizzing towards her from the mid-air, screeching as it sailed through the wind.
"Go! Boomerang Art: Twirling Edge!" He yelled, preparing to land with smoke-bomb infused grace.

Usually, the boomerang's edge was sharp and intimidating, but... some sort of coating of earth seemed to be wrapped around it, turning into a blunt weapon that zoomed towards Zelda at a speed. He was only planning to make knock her down and make her give up, not to kill her or chop her legs off. And once he won, he'd make sure he got some info on the girls! It was the perfect plan!

A small squeak erupted from Zelda's mouth as she was just barely able to dodge the boomerang and shot another arrow, at him, this time the projectile coated in bright flames. "Try some of my Fire Arrow, boy!" She yelled, sending out three more of the arrows at Trap. It took a second for her to remember that boomerangs came back and again she barely dodged the weapon that could have either broke her bones or sliced her in half.

This was the most amazing fight she had entered in a long time and it was only beginning. Trap showed great promise of skill and she could see that, with only few shows of his powers, he was very powerful with his earth magic. Zelda was starting to get excited about the entire thing.

Landing with a roll, Trap winced a little as he prepared to catch his boomerang on the way back. She was fast... not many people had the reaction time to dodge a mid-air twirling edge.

Unable to dodge the fire arrow whilst recovering from his landing, the best Trap could do was lift up his arm, as his boomerang hadn't returned to his hand in time. The searing arrow sank into his forearm, and he winced and gagged as it burned into his flesh. Before the flames could spread, Trap snatched his canteen from his shoulder and poured the liquid inside it over his arm to douse the flames, before throwing the empty canteen away, and catching his boomerang. He'd yank this out later...!

Spinning the boomerang again like a helicopter, the three other flaming arrows were deflected by the Glorious Parry, the flames dancing around the twirling rang' like a pinwheel of fire. Trap could feel the heat of some of the flames as they licked through his defence, but that didn't stop him. Grinning as his adrenaline shot out the pain in his arm, Trap dashed forward again, his assault relentless.

"Nice shot! But it's gonna take more than that... get ready for THIS!" Trap announced. Clicking his fingers and twirling them before pointing at Zelda, a puddle of mud on the floor near him churned a little, before he sent a spray of mud towards her face, to try and blind her. In the middle of his dash, Trap did a jump kick, aiming for her torso and trying to knock her over.
"Er... Muddy Jump Kick???" Trap called out unsurely, as this was an improvised move he hadn't really done before.

Zelda just smirked when the arrow hit him in the arm but only for a second and stepped back when he did the Glorious Parry and her flames began dancing around his boomerang and he charged at her. The mud shot at her face shocked her even more and she was a little slow in dodging it and it slashed across her eyes, blinding her.

"AH! Mother of the Sun God that hurts!" She shrieked, trying hard to wipe the foriegn substance out of her eyes, stumbling back. She missed a root that was behind her and tripped her up, falling onto her back. She kicked her leg out as a reflex and accidently kicked Trap's own flying kick upwards, her poor familiar hissing and wriggling around, not liking the movement of falling at all.

Blinking open her eyes just a bit, Zelda could make out a bit of a blurry form, probably Trap and moved back as quickly as she could, standing up and unstringing her bow and held it like a staff, ready for anything that the earth caster throws at her. "Blinding someone, Trappy? Really? Are you that desperate to get the upper hand?" She asked, squinting her eyes to try and see more clearly.

Landing on his stomach with an 'oof' as his kick was deflected, Trap scrambled back to his feet with a flip backwards, swaying in his fighting stance again. His breathing was getting faster, and it wasn't that hard to see he was starting to get tired.

"Nah, I just didn't wanna get shot again! Sorry for the dirty fighting, but that sh-" Trap paused, almost swearing before corrected himself. "-that shiz hurts! ...But hey, you still look beautiful with a faceful of mud. Maybe it could be a new look for you!" Trap said with a laugh inbetween heavy breaths. Standing up, Trap wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead.

"Here... I'll stop for a moment. Why don't you wipe that off? I wouldn't want you to be blind for my next attack! It's only gonna get better from here!" Trap said casually, still happy despite the arrow sticking out of his forearm.

"How cute." She states, keeping a defensive position as she took one hand off her bow-turned-makeshift-staff to wipe her eyes and clean the mud out of her eyes. "As much as I love a good mud fight, I prefer watching it than being in it. Maybe you can grant me a show with another boy once my team beats you in this challange."

Cleaning the mud out of her eyes and off her face, she looked back at the earth boy with slightly irritated orange eyes and got ready. "Well, are you going to wow me with your last attack, Trappy-baby? Because I have one my own for you." She stated, taking in larger breathes of air, getting ready for her final attack that will take up a lot of her magic and weaken her if it misses.

"Sorry! Mud fights are reserved for the ladies. If it ever happens, though, I'll buy you tickets." Trap said with a wink, flourishing his boomerang. "My last attack, huh? ...Hmm... I don't think so, m'dear... that's for SUPER special occasions, but instead, I've got a damn good one for ya'! Get ready!!" Trap announced with a grin. Closing his eyes, Trap took in a deep a concentrated breath, before chunks of earth rose from the ground. One long and slender, shaped like a spear, and one circular and large, like a shield.

Holding them in his hands, Trap grinned.
"You asked for it, and here it is. Boomerang Art... SPLITTER DASH!!" He yelled, charging forward. The assault seemed like a normal stabbing attack at first as he ran at a relatively slow speed, but mid-dash, Trap was concealed in a flashy orange smoke as two smoke bombs were dropped either side of him.

From the smoke, Trap emerged, moving at a speed and riding his boomerang like some sort of hoverboard, pointing the blunt end of the makeshift lance towards Zelda whilst blocking with the makeshift shield, like a joust. Even though they seemed way too heavy for him to be picked up, it was clear he was using his Earth Magic to assist him in the attack - multitasking the so he could hold the spear, the shield, and move the boomerang. Needless to say, Trap had been practising.

"HAVE AT YE!!" He yelled as he drew closer, grinning all the way. He knew something big was coming up, so he held his shield tight.

At the last second, Zelda shot her weapon up to block the joust, and was pushed back at the force and speed Trap was going and looked at him, smirking a bit. With one last deep intake of air, Zelda summoned up her most powerful fire attack, the Fire Breath. She shot out a stream of fire at Trap, knowing he could only block it with that shield, as they were too close to echother for him to dodge.

She put all of her magic behind that attack, letting the fire licking at everything that was between the two of them. Zelda could feel herself weakening as this attack went on, and she knew she could feel her arms shake as she tried to hold fast to her bow. Just a bit more. She thought, trying to push back more at Trap's attack.

Moving his hand up to block as he clashed against Zelda, Trap clenched his teeth as he blocked the stream of fire, the flames curling around him like a cone as he pushed forward with all his might. Hghh... the heat was searing around his hands, and the exerting pain of pushing himself forward seared through Trap's body, but he couldn't give up here. He couldn't... he wouldn't...!

He remembered the first time he'd fought. Gone in ten seconds to some stupid mistake - and that was against a fire caster, too. Was he going to give up here? No... he... as much as it burnt, he... he wasn't going to lose again! He'd grown so much... he'd come so far...

Wincing as the grip on the shield became weaker and weaker, Trap could feel the sheer power behind the girl's attack... she was putting everything into it, and he couldn't hold out much longer. Giving a loud roar as he did his best to push against the neverending stream of flame, Trap couldn't hold out any longer. The shield was starting to crumble in his hands. G...gotta get out of the heat...

In desperation, Trap moved his boomerang to the side, flying sideways out of the cone of flames just before the shield crumbled into nothing. A burn was visible on his right cheek as he breathed heavily, his boomerang falling on the floor next to him. Looking up at Zelda, he crawled back a little, before unsteadily getting to his feet, clearly extremely exhausted by this point.

"H-Ha... n-not bad... but... it's not over... yet... I've still got... one more thing...!" Trap wheezed, the long red mark on his right cheek throbbing. "G-Get ready, because... I'm gonna-"

Zelda stopped the fire after Trap moved just before his shield gave out on him and watched as he moved to the side, landing and moving back from her. She stumbled back herself, tired and severely low on magic. It was all she could do to stand straight, holding her weapon out with shaky arms. She didn't think she could last much longer with fighting Trap and felt that retreat was for the best for now.

"That.... may have to wait..... until next... time." Zelda panted out, letting her arms fall to her sides.

"For now.... we have a draw.... baby boy..."

~ [] ~
​

"H-Huh... for real? It ends now? But... I was gonna..." Trap mumbled, wiping sweat off his forehead. He was shattered, but ready for an all-out final attack. ...But... then again, he'd probably lose his balance with an attack like that one, and Zelda didn't look like she could dodge much longer. Trap didn't want to just strike her down whilst she was weak. It looked like it was over.

"A draw...? I..." Trap looked like he was about to protest, but he sheathed his weapon, holding his arm where the arrow had hit. He could keep going, but if she wanted to stop, she'd definietely fought strong enough and was drop-dead gorgeous enough for him to appease her for now.

"...Fine. My plan was to interrogate you a bit to find out where your base was... but... if you want to cut this short, I won't stop you. Taking advantage of a lady while she's weak isn't the style of the dashing Trap Hanamura anyways...!" Trap mumbled with a half-hearted grin, touching the large burn on his right cheek and wincing a little. That'd probably leave a scar.

"Totes not a draw though! I didn't unleash my ultimate attack yet... but... er... maybe that'd be best for another day." Trap added cheekily with a wink. "Shall we... just... uh..."

Zelda gave him a real smile and walked over on shaky legs, deciding to be merciful and help him with the arrow. Good thing she is great at aiming, otherwise she would have pierced his bone or hit his artery. Once close to him, she gently took hold of his arm and looked at the arrow still lodged in there.

"Brace yourself." She told him, grabbing hold of the arrow and ripping it out, point and all. The point of the arrow was a smooth diamond shape, barely having any points on the side, making it so that it wouldn't grab onto anything when being pulled out. Once done, she ripped off a piece of her skirt and tied it tightly around the wound to stem the bleeding. Once done, she gave him a kiss on his non-burnt cheek. "Until next time, slave boy." She states before leaving, twirling the arrow in her fingers and humming a song. Her familiar slithering after her, having gotten off earlier so that he didn't get caught in the cross-fire.

"AH! Fuuuuu--uuudge!!" Trap yelled, wincing as the arrow was pulled out. Ah, Jesus... not as bad as he was expecting, but it sure as hell stung. Blinking as Zelda bandaged up his arm with a piece of her skirt, Trap breathed heavily. "Hey... c'mon, there's no need to..." He mumbled, but she was already done. "...Uh... thank ya'."

He... he'd never been this close to a real girl his age before. All the segregation between the two genders meant he barely got to see any outside school. The kiss on the cheek made Trap's heartbeat go up rapidly, and his breathing go funny... a-agh! She was just trying to make him flustered, as nice as it felt! Trap wouldn't resign!

"Y... yeah! Until next time...! I guess that kiss counts as some sort of prize for me winning, right, because... you're... a-ah..." Trap called out, before quieting down in realisation that she'd left. Staying still and quiet for a moment, Trap held where his arm wound had been, before deciding it was time to fall back and check up on how Lou's fight was doing. He'd stopped Zelda from going two versus one on Lou, and... he'd had an amazing fight. He didn't mind his face getting a little cooked in the process.

The parrot returned to Trap's shoulder, and for a moment, Trap was calm and quiet. He sort of... felt lonely, now that she was gone. Ah! Who was he kidding... all he needed was his bros back at base to keep him company! All he needed right now was rest, and reassurance his partners were okay.

"Zelda... I have a feeling we're gonna meet again. And you can bet I'll be even better next time... heh heh..." Trap mumbled under his breath, as he watched the fiery long ponytails disappear in the trees. Picking up his empty canteen and placing it back onto his belt, Trap took a moment to sit by the stump of a tree, as he watched the orange smoke he'd left behind fade away in the tundra air.

 

[Nano]

◦•●◉✿ Aɴɢᴇʟɪᴄᴀ Oʀᴄʜɪᴅ
Lᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: Trail/Mountain Valley || Mᴏᴏᴅ: Surprised
At first, as they were walking, the girl was paying no mind. She was just picking up sticks that still had fully live leaves on them, and a couple of flowers that she could come by and across. Of course, she kept her own little handful of flowers on her at all times, in case she ever needed to drain the damn life out of them; but pshh, that was a different story. Lucky for her, the sun was still up in the air, hitting her and warming up any exposed skin that couldn't snuggle under the comfort of her sweater-jacket. The sun didn't look like it would be going down any time soon, and it would be dangerous - for her at least - if they were to stay out for far too long. Honestly, the only things that she could count as landmarks would be that little 'X' she made under the tree a couple of yards back, and she was pretty observant, so hopefully they would be able to find their way while also making sure that they wouldn't run into any males.

Suddenly, Eris seemed to have picked something up, and appeared to be on high alert. The petite female walked up to her, keeping the same pace as the scarlet haired girl. "Is there something wrong?" She asked, raising a brow in concern. The girl, for some reason, began to act a little strange, and this was never a good thing for most people. It wasn't a strange like mentally strange; it was more of an out of the ordinary for this person strange. Angelica brushed it off for a little bit, eventually finding a nice bush full of lush berries, and running over to examine them to check if they were poisonous, or edible. Lucky for her, she did research, so she knew her stuff. Now.. If only she could learn a spell that accelerated plant growth. It was more or less a universal spell, but it was more of the variant of it that she needed to learn.

When Eris had suddenly claimed that she would be going ahead of them, the brunette waved her hand up and looked over her shoulder. "Alright, I'll stay here and examine these berries." She said in response, gently picking up and squeezing the piece of demonic fruit.

Berries could either be your best friend, or your worst enemy in the wild, or outside world. This isn't the packaged, ready to go berries, so she had to make sure that they wouldn't get some food poisoning or toxins in their body before they could even fight. Of course, Angelica assumed that the boys this year would be kind enough to spare them if they were to have some dying stomachs, but the girl would probably never shake off the fact that she could have potentially killed off the entire team. Oh the horror, oh the guilt.

Just as things were looking good, her face darkened the moment she found a tiny difference. It felt as though all of her efforts were in vain, and she ended up letting out a deep sigh. "These berries are no good.." She said, tossing it down to the ground and ditching the bush.

Almost as though the universe called for this to happen, she heard a high pitched scream coming from the direction that Eris had run off to. She took off on her back foot, accelerating herself in the direction she heard that high pitched scream. By the time she had arrived, she... Couldn't stop. Literally. She had tried running so fast that she didn't know how to stop, and fell face flat on the ground after tripping over a rock. Lucky for her, her arms had reacted faster to her fall, and so her elbows have stopped her from actually face-planting into the cold hard ground. She cautiously got up, only to find that Eris was speaking to a blonde male, who looked just as frozen as she was. She couldn't really.. process this whole upbringing, and ended up asking before she could think.

"I-I heard a high pitched scream from here, are you alright?" She asked, genuinely thinking that it was Eris that made that scream. She was proven wrong when she overheard Eris speaking to him, and his reaction made things as clear as day. This close. The brunette was this close to practically falling off again to start laughing. Hell, she could only muffle a giggle here and there in her best attempt to be polite. She couldn't tell Eris that she was being mean, but really now, that was amazing. The male looked a little shocked, but he was able to think up a come back just in time.

Then she actually processed that they ran into a guy.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh shit.

Before she could even respond to the entire ordeal, her ears picked up Zelda, and another voice. She quickly turned to listen in, blinking a few times at Zelda's... wait.. what was she doing? Was she flirting with him? Nope, not questioning that. That guy was going to be Zelda's enemy... But she was internally yelling 'YOU DON'T FLIRT WITH THE ENEMY' and what not. Since there were two of them.. Things hopefully wouldn't turn out too bad. Though, the problem was if there were a third person. She could trust that Eris and Zelda could put up their own fights, but Angelica was slightly.. lacking in the confidence department when it came to her own casting. Oh, don't misunderstand. She was great at it, she just had horrible self-esteem at the worst times humanly possible. However, there showed no signs of another male in the area at the moment, so she was able to let out a sigh of relief. For now.

But knowing her, she was slow. Slow at almost everything. It actually took her a while to register that there was in fact, another male in the area; and he was fucking floating. Her owl Familiar didn't take their time trying to catch up to the girl, eventually perching on her head and staring up at the male. The owl looked as though it were made out of moss, with mushrooms growing out of it and occasional flowers here and there. Where it's main abdominal should be, it was almost glowing like some sort of glowing, yellow mushroom of sorts. It snapped it's face in the direction of the male, and then at the little dog familiar, barking up at it's caster. "U-Um.." She stuttered, her body shaking as she was at loss of words for how to handle this situation. Usually, Angelica was cool and collected, but she was never used to being around males like the other two. Good thing this girl can work under pressure; but all she knew was that this guy could friggin' fly while she was down there with dirt, plants, and rocks. Thank you sun, and worthless plants that she picked up.

"So.. I'm guessing that we are suppose to fight, or something?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. Her familiar would have face-palmed itself, no, it would face-wing itself at how slow the girl was at processing the events unfolding, and it gently pecked the top of her head. "Ow.. Alright.. Alright.." She mumbled, taking a deep breath, and staring at the male in the air. First thing's first... Figure out both those casters' magic. "Eris.. Do you need my help?" She asked, blinking a few times while looking up at the rather tall female. Two against one wasn't really fair, and Angelica wanted to be of some assistance. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she just stood around while the other two got hurt anyways.

She did still question what the hell Zelda was doing though.

@Cybermoon @Namora @Wicked @Jakers

 

[Queen of the Black Hearts]

Sorrell Edelstein

Sorrell was going to comment when he saw that Louis ran into someone with red hair. He was going to check on them to see if they were okay when Louis and the other person, shown to be a very attractive girl, screamed at each other, Lou's scream hitting a pitch that Sorrell thought almost reached high C level. Holding back a snicker, Sorrell turned his mind to a possible fight and got ready, landing by the much taller boy and took a defensive stance. A small scowl that looked a bit like a pout marred the silverette's face when the red-head made it seem that she was doubting Lou's manliness and wanted to retort but stayed silent instead and waited. He couldn't bring himself to strike a girl first, so he waited patiently to see who would make the first move. Now, normally the silverette was the peace maker of everything, and it was his nature to want to make sure that things were resolved peacefully and without violence, but he didn't want to come off as a wimp so he just waited. He could faintly hear fighting in the distance and figured Trap had ran into a teammate of the red head before him and Lou. Soon, another girl came into view, this one much smaller than the one his leader ran into. 'Three girls already? How close are the two teams together anyway? Maybe we should move the base once we get back.' Sorrell thought as he eyed both girls, hearing the smaller one refer to the red head by her name. 'Eris... better commit name and face to memory for future intel.'

Stepping an inch closer to Lou, Sorrell whispered low enough for only the taller male to hear. "What should we do, Lou? Attack or retreat?" He asked, eyeing the two casters and trying to see what their magic was. The red-head's hand was glowing a bit with her bower. Fire? No, it didn't look like fire magic. Light magic, maybe? Ammy looked at the two girls and growled, baring her teeth and her hackles up, ready to attack. With things going the way they are, there may be a confrontation between the two groups that may lead them both to be fairly injured. Sorrell just hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

Interaction(s) -

Louis - @Wicked

Mention(s):

Trap - @Jakers
Eris - @Namora
Angelica - @Nano

 

[Wicked]

[BCOLOR=transparent][ ooc: Collab post with @Namora. Sorry it's longer than Mississippi River, but I promise you it's worth reading! Enjoy our shenanigans! ][/BCOLOR]​

[glow=red][ Acolyte's Mount Valley; South-West from the Mountain Base and the River, in the Forest ][/glow]


[BCOLOR=transparent]The slightly long faced boy flushed a tad bit, and her grin broadened as he defensively readied his wooden spear. In an impressively cool tone he countered, "...And here I thought I stumbled into a cute girl at first, but sadly not even all the makeup in the world can cover that personality."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]There was a flash of annoyance in her eyes, but she quelled the moment of irritation and took the comment as what it was. Both a compliment and an insult. Still, what the hell did he know of her personality in the two minutes they'd encountered each other? How presumptuous of this prick, even if he was kind of right...[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Oh heheh," She chuckled, "If you don't like me now, you just wait." She winked at him, and the boy's brow furrowed in annoyance. When she reopened her eye it was glowing in a faint blue light. Then green. And so on. The rainbow cycled through almost faster than onlookers could register until she rested on an orange. Her fist pulsed, and then matched the color, now glowed a similar brilliant orange. Lou eyed it cautiously, his knuckles whitening with the hardened grip around the wooden spear.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Eris dug her foot into the earth, about to rush at the boy and start this when a small voice broke in, "U-Um..." Came a nervous stutter, Eris glanced over at the girl for half a second in instinctive surprise, [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]"So... I'm guessing that we are suppose to fight, or something?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]It took everything Eris had not to roll her eyes at that remark. The tall boy tilted his head, evaluating the intelligence of the red head's companion. Obviously not the brightest star in the sky if she had to state the obvious out loud, in a questioning tone no less.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Eris... Do you need my help?" The petite girl asked, and instead of telling her, 'No I got this' and letting her arrogance get in the way, Eris looked over both boys, her eyes narrowing on the floating one. She jumped back, keeping her eyes on the pair. The redhead lowered herself so she could whisper in the other girl's ear, "Take care of Silver, I'm pretty sure Gravity is the only one that gives leniency for flight. Air is possible but I don't think it's windy enough for that to be a thing. Anchor him down if you can. Just keep him out of the way. I'll take care of the one with the spear."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As the girls had began whispering, Sorrell took this chance to inch closer to Lou and murmur to him; "What should we do, Lou? Attack of retreat?" The Gravity Caster asked, still keenly eyeing their opponents in case they would try any funny business while the boy's attention was divided. Lou remained silent and thought, his jawline setting into a stubborn looking jut as he grit his teeth together. The redhead kept her attention on their movements just the same as she kept whispering instructions to her companion.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"No matter what happens, remember, top priority is keeping yourself safe. If it looks dangerous I want you to run as fast as you can and get help. If they're dumb enough to chase you into our camp they probably won't be leaving it." Eris told the girl. Louis tried to strain his hearing without enchantment to catch what they were saying, but so far he couldn't pick up their words; he didn't want to waste his precious mana at the second, not to mention how his ears had only just recovered from the last time. Overusing the same senses could at worst make the drawbacks stronger, and he couldn't afford to become partially deaf at a crucial moment. Which could, in fact, happen.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"If we retreat now, we'll look weak." Lou murmured back to Sorrell. In truth, Lou would have wanted them to retreat. None of them were ready for direct confrontation, and there wasn't yet a base to retreat back to. They weren't yet familiar with the area, and in the middle of all the commotion, they could get separated and lost. But if they would try to back down, the girls could take it as a sign they could take them because they were afraid, and they could try to hunt them down. At worst, they could lead them right to the base which wasn't that far away and subjugate the rest of their team to an attack. That would mean losing their only secure spot they had just found, and they had no time to find a new one. That left them with only option; stand their ground.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]But speaking of getting separated and lost…[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Wait, where's Trap?" Lou suddenly perked up when he realized the Earth Caster was nowhere to be seen. It had been oddly quiet and peaceful, but it could only be explained with that their massive loudmouth wasn't around. It was like the guy had just taken off or something, and left him and Sorrell behind. Sure the guy seemed a bit like a wimp, but surely he wasn't that much of a coward to leave his comrades behind at the sight of few girls? The sudden disappearance of one of his comrades made Lou feel uneasy as he tried to look around without it seeming too suspicious. Where the hell was that gigantic human parrot?[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]And then he could hear the loud noises of a clash coming not too far away. And then Trap's voice announcing some kind of flashy sounding attack name.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Boomerang Art: Glorious Parry!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"...Nevermind, found him." Lou answered to his own question with a stale sounding tone as he looked in the direction of the ruckus and could see the flashes of flames here and there. It seemed like the Earth Caster had found himself a Fire Caster to dance with, but hey, it took two to tango. All he could do was to hope that Trap wouldn't get grilled and could hold out his own. It seemed like they were set then, three against three. They all had to have each others backs and make sure their enemy wouldn't try to gang up on one of them.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"We can't let Trap make us look bad, can we, Sorrell?" Lou questioned the silver haired boy, but his voice purposely loud enough to carry to the girls to hear to get their attention. "How 'bout we have at it a go then, shall we?" The ashen blond boy smirked and stepped forward, nudging his head at the redheaded girl with a cocky looking smirk. As he moved her split attention focused on him and his smug expression, "Come on then. Show me whatchu got, ginger. Ladies first."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Gladly." The girl with crimson hair replied. She gave the small girl one final, 'you know what to do' look over the shoulder before facing the boy with a grin of her own. She'd been a bit curious about the battle cry, but Zelda's distinct voice and the pale fiery light that glowed through the trees gave her enough information about what was going on. Eris wasn't concerned, the orange haired girl was chalk full of confidence, and the other girl had her own issues.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Before Lou had the chance to react, she rushed at him with a clenched fist, her slender frame moving faster than one might have expected. The boy had made the fatal mistake and been too arrogant from the get go, and thus underestimated his opponent. Eris launched herself toward him, aiming her blow for center mass and staying wary of the spear. Lou saw the pulsating light in the girl's fist as the world slowed around him, and all he could do was to swing the spear in front of himself and hold onto it with two hands, and then hope for the best.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The hit home was harder than he had calculated.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As the blow connected, the light seared a cut into the wooden spear and the velocity sent the tall male nearly flying backwards. His back hit the trunk of a nearby spruce with a heavy thud, knocking the air out of his lungs for a second. This was unexpected, Lou was used to being the one who usually was the physically most capable due to his area of magic, as the others rarely had the reason to stay in top shape because the other magics rarely required it from their casters. Before Eris had the chance to smash him against the trunk like a bug, Lou rolled out of the way. Eris's fist collided with the trunk that he'd been pressed up against only a moment ago, the bark cracking under the powerful hit.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She narrowed her temporarily two-toned eyes on the boy as he backed down. He was keeping his spear up, ready to parry her away again, but this time more alert. Obviously this was a fight he had to play with his head and not with his fists.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"You hit like a girl," Lou taunted, "and that's okay, but even my grandma hits harder."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]His tactic; rile her up. Make her mad, make her lose concentration and make bad choices. Force into a mistake that he could use. At the remark her brow twitched but she remained planted for just a moment. She had an idea what he was doing, but despite knowing she still found herself tempted to rush at him recklessly. He must've thought she was all brawn no brain.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Sub-par for you, huh?" She asked in a tone tinged with slight irritation. Through grit teeth it sounded almost like a hiss, "You must know some pretty scary women."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She tightened her fist, and her knuckles cracked in unison before she loosened her fingers. The light remained in both her eye and lingering around her hand. She shook her wrist as if there was a cramp of some sort in her palm. As she did so, the light brightened with each twitch. After about five she brought her hand up above her head and made a motion as if she were throwing something to the ground. There was a brilliant and blinding flash of orange light. When the gleam subsided there were three of her in sight, one rushing directly at him and one coming from each side. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As Lou blinked the spots from his eyes after the light bomb, he wondered for a brief second if she had done something to his mind and made him become drunk, because he could swear there was suddenly three of her! But since they all moved differently, he came into realization that two of them must have been mirages; a trick of light and colors to create a hologram. The mirages most probably were harmless, but one of them was the real deal and she punched worth all three of them. (Just don't tell her that.) So this was a lottery, and Lou hoped he had some luck swinging at the right one.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As the first redhead jumped at him from the middle, Lou swung the spear that hit through her mid torso, and passed through her harmlessly and dissipating the mirage. Quickly, he focused on the girl on his left after that a thrusted the spear at her shoulder, hoping it would connect to get bone. However, the chances had been fifty-fifty… And Lou had bet wrong. The thrust passed through the mirage harmlessly again making it disappear, and Lou stumbled a bit forward in surprise, leaving his right side now vulnerable and open. All he managed to think was a brief, 'well, shit, I guess Pa was right when he said I'm not made to gamble' before Eris smacked him. Hard.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As her fist collided with his rib cage there was a satisfying crunch that rang out, a little piece of her flinched internally at the sound; the breath caught into Lou's throat as he choked on the pain, staggering to the side. Her added magic added to the flesh wound, ripping through part of his shirt. The flesh that was beneath it was cut and slightly burnt. It was certainly irritated and bright red as if he'd left that one part out in the sun too long.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]For a split second Eris had to pause and choose her next action, try to land the second blow to the abdomen or lunge for the spear and try to disarm him. She chose the second option, it promised better results, seeing as he was countering her so well with it. It was because of that, that he was halving the damage she could be dealing. There was also the threat that if she went for another blow he could parry and very easily counter with how open she'd be leaving herself. The little voice in her head reluctantly complimented his skill but she blocked it out as she went for the weapon, trying to grapple it from his hands. However, as much in pain as Lou was due to the possibly fractured rib and flesh wound, he snarled at her, literally snarled at her, and refused to let go. When he didn't come loose, she wrapped her arms around it, and tried to kick off on his chest and force it away from him, but in vain. Louis called upon his magic, enchanting his strength, and the boot connected to his chest with a hollow thud but the boy remained immobile like stone.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]When nothing surprisingly happened, Lou just stared at the girl's dumbfounded expression and smiled slowly. Then, he leaned closer to her face, smiling lips parting and revealing now suddenly sharp line of predatory teeth; "...My turn."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Her pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks, and suddenly, he kicked off the ground, then off the trunk of a nearby spruce and over her, flashily like the Prince of Persia. She suppressed an instinctive scream and grit her teeth as she clung to the wooden spear, afraid to let go and go hurdling into the rock face or other surrounding obstacles. The spear made a complaining creak under the pressure of the pull, as the girl was holding onto it as the boy was twisting it, before moving along with the male's momentum and larger body weight, flipping the girl off it. When the Physical Caster landed, his ribs sent a loud complaint of their treatment into his brain, making Lou stagger back a bit and hold onto his side with a painful grimace. For a girl, this chick did hit pretty fucking hard, he had to give her that if she had managed to break his bones. But not that she needed to know.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Eris hit the ground, her body bounced and she rolled to a halt. Her bones ached, her clothes were tattered and dirty now. Shakily she tried to get up, lifting her head and peering up at her opponent, one eye still faintly glowing orange. Her eyes widened, and her pupils shrunk back down at the sight of the boy. His skin was now forming into dark ashen grey splotches here and there, the coloring rapidly spreading all over him and forming a chalk colored skull marking over his face. Louis did like to overdo things, and the sharklike teeth complimented his look very well. After all, it seemed like he really needed to get serious here or she would wipe the forest floor with his face at this rate.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Come on now, little lamb. This couldn't be all you got… I'm just warming up." He purred, bluffing surprisingly well even in his own opinion. His voice started distorting towards the end of the sentence as his jaw pushed forward to give him a stronger bite, the canines poking out under his lips. The boy's pupils seemed to swallow the whole iris and eventually the whites of his eyes, looking so dark that it was like there really was only holes left in the skull marking. Eris shot up from her resting place on the ground, her muscles tightened and twitched. Slowly but surely, the Physical Caster resembled less and less human as his body modified itself; the fingers stretching longer and nails turning into claws, his back muscles growing stronger and making his spine make odd crackling noises like it would be snapping in pieces, and the tips of the ears turning more pointed. In just matter of seconds, there was not a boy left, but some kind of man-beast in front of her. And the said beast lifted his hand and beckoned her to come at him, a low rumbling bass of a growl that reminded a distant chuckle rising from his chest along with a sharp, toothy grin.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Her expression of awe-stricken fear darkened, her eyes narrowed and she grit her teeth in irritation and determination. She was not going to be outperformed by this [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]boy[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]. Her breath was growing heavier. The light in her eye shuttered and switched to yellow, her fists did the same. When Eris came at him, Lou kept jumping back and parried her further attacks swiftly with the spear. She found herself growing more and more irritated with herself, he knocked her blows aside, and each time he did she felt herself growing angrier, more reckless. Doing so, she still managed to strike him once or twice but he seemed unfazed in his new body. Whenever the chance, he tried to thrust the sharp tip at her or tried to slash at her with his claws. Twice he managed to tear at her, giving her a shallow cut on her shoulder that she flinched at, but mostly it was only her clothing taking the damage. There was tearing a bit here and there. Lou's time would soon run out, so he had to think of a plan, and fast.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]And suddenly, his eyes were caught with a sight of familiar looking red berries lied on the ground not too far from them. And they weren't growing from the ground there either. They were dropped there, and the ground looked like it had been tampered with. It was Trap's, er, trap![/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Quickly, Lou moved their course, but kept her attention on him. She was growing sweaty and breathless as the boy pushed his aggression up a notch. He made sure she didn't pay attention elsewhere, with his terrifying appearance and snapping teeth that tried to sink themselves into her shoulder whenever she came too close quite effectively keeping her occupied. But unlike her, Lou was very aware of their surroundings. And once he was close enough, he jumped aside and twirled the spear, smacking the girl on the shoulder with it like a baseball player that caused her to lose her balance. She stumbled crudely just managing to keep herself upright by quickly readjusting her foot to step right into the--[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]CRASH![/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Once the snow and earth dust settled, Lou morphed his appearance back, suffering from some of the muffled drawbacks like muscle pains and joint pains and overall soreness already. Then he inched closer to the pitfall, peeking down to make sure the girl was still alive in the hole. At the bottom the girl was sprawled out, her body limp. Her light had vanished, the gleam in both her eye and fists. For a moment, his stomach dropped in fear of the worst; that she was indeed actually dead. It took a moment, but her head tilted slightly and she groaned, sending a wave of relief over him.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Her brown eyes slowly opened to stared up at the white sky above. There were tree branches creeping in on the flaring pale light of the cloud ridden sky, and the head and shoulders of silhouette someone leaning over. She sat upright groggily, touching her hand to her aching head, her shoulders and back were throbbing and sore. It took her a moment to register what exactly had happened. She whipped her head up and narrowed her eyes on the boy's figure, "You!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Lou cracked his neck to loosen the joints, acting like he wasn't affected by the earlier battle -- even though in reality he was fucking winded. No one had ever made him work that hard. Ever. But even if he had won, it was only by the cunning means, and had it been a fair fight… He had a feeling their roles might be reversed. She was one tough cookie, he had to give her that.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Yes, me." Lou confirmed as he crouched down on the edge of the pitfall to converse with the girl, a cocky smirk on his face again. The red head shakily forced herself to her feet, steadying herself on the uneven terrain below of earth, sticks and leaves. She backed up to the edge of the pit for a bit of distance, then dashed forward. "I would say I'm sorry, but… that'd be a lie, honey. All's fair in love and war, and I can tell you for sure, it ain't love that drove me to drop you there." But then he paused for a moment and reconsidered it, as he did so she jumped, making it about an arms length short of the brim of the hole. She tried to claw her way up the final bit, but she found herself falling all the same, "...Except if I was actually married to you, then yes, probably." His face formed into an expression like he would have just come into the most logical conclusion.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Now that I've got you where I want you… What's your name?" The boy questioned her, finding himself curious about his opponent. It was rare for Louis Maddox to show interest in people outside his social circle, and rare seemed to catch his attention. And the ones who did end up in his radar, they usually ended up there in negative manner. The girl sighed internally, standing up again and brushing herself off.[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent] 'Wouldn't you like to know?'[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent] She wanted to hiss. She was half debating shooting him from where she stood, but Eris didn't want to make herself look bad by missing, as she most likely would, nor did she want to seem like a sore loser, though she kinda was... Eris was the black, or rather [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]red[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent] sheep of the family… the bastard girl, she had no place. So she'd made her own. Most her family was known for their tendencies to sit back and whittle away at an opponent, seeing as their close range abilities were about as strong as their distanced attacks.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Duels and close encounters were for training concentration and success under pressure, but Eris was the only one to have gone to great lengths to hone it, personalize it and make it into something to suite her. She reforged something common into something much stronger, like taking iron and carbon to forge steel. They were stronger together. All her life, all she'd know was struggles, fighting to stay on top. Her entire existence, her survival was riding on being the best. Being the strongest. And that was why this stung so damn much. Her clenched fists trembled, but finally she released them.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He'd won, not so fair and square, but he'd won. And as much as she hated to admit it, he'd outsmarted her. She had to respect that much, but at least her answer was simple… she'd just have to kick his ass next time. She stretched, and her freshly bruised muscles cried, but she acted cool and unfazed, "...Eris Valentine." She gave him a makeshift little curtsy before straightening up and looking up at him, "I'd shake your hand, but… well…" She gestured to her immediate surroundings and shrugged, looking up at the guy with a half smirk and a raised eyebrow, "...Complications."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and tilted her head at the boy with mild intrigue, "What about you, Blondie? What's your name?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Well, Eris," The "Blondie" said, testing out her name in his mouth, "you may refer to me as Louis Maddox, but just Lou or The Guy Who Whooped Eris' Ass will do." He shot her a toothy grin, she chuckled silently, thinking about how good a title like that would look on a tombstone. His expression shifted slightly, getting more serious. "I want information. What have you learned about this place? What do you know? Where's your camp? Have you had any sightings about the rumored demon or the Feather? Tell me."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She didn't let the questions faze her, after all she'd expected some form of interrogation from him. Just not so soon… His straightforwardness was refreshing, to a degree. The girl raised an eyebrow slightly and crossed her arms across her chest. In this moment she could act like she knew everything, and wouldn't spill. But she made a choice right then. Eris shot him an apologetic smile, "You beat me, and it is for that reason that I respect you enough to tell you, I know nothing."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Lou tilted his head, considering her words. She could as well be lying to his face for all he knew, but something about her made him want to believe in her. Just that little voice in the back of his head whispering that she was being honest. A tiny whisper that he couldn't quite suffocate and brush away and paint as a delusion. Call it intuition, but Lou felt he could trust this girl, for whatever it was worth.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She leaned against the earthen wall, "The fact that you're so eager to gain intel on our situation, tells me you know about as much as we do. And seeing as we haven't been here long at all that's not surprising. There hasn't been much time to gather anything, let alone useful clues." She glanced up at the cloudy grey-white sky, "As for my camp. That, I'm simply not going to tell you. Sorry, but I'm not going to be the one giving you an edge on us by knowing where we sleep." She glanced over at the boy through a veil of crimson locks, "I apologize for being a worthless victory." The dame shrugged, as if it were out of her hands.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She really had nothing to offer him, but she did want to get out of here… It was unlikely they'd take a prisoner, right? Sure there were benefits, but there were also drawbacks, including the level of tension and aggression that would arise between the groups. She wasn't quite sure, but maybe they could part ways in a semi-peaceable manner, "Listen, Lou, I roughed you up a bit… if you help me out of here, I'll heal you up as recompense. On my honor." She crossed her heart and held her hand up in a, 'Scout's promise' kinda way. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Lou rubbed his chin a bit, feeling the stable ache of his fractured rib more potent at the mention of a healing hand being offered in exchange of a helping hand to get her out of the trap. The pain wasn't comfortable, but it was tolerable if he didn't make any sudden moves, didn't touch his side, didn't sneeze or cough or take too large breaths. As long as he didn't over exert himself he should be fine travelling back to camp and get himself healed there by someone who had a knack for that kind of magic, like Trent. But she was offering a relief right now…[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"You know, I'd love to stay and chat… But I have places to be, people to meet, mountain climates to survive and Feathers to find. So I'm kinda on a time crunch here, sweetheart." She frowned at the pet name, "Either you're going to offer me something of actual worth or I have to take my business elsewhere, if you know what I'm saying?" Lou explained with a diplomatic kind of tone and smiled down at her in the hole. Her eyes narrowed at him, she was trying to understand just what he was saying… no... he wasn't going to just-- "I hear it gets pretty chilly here at night." [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]No. Nononono.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"It'd be shame if I would have to suddenly run off and forget where you are… And your friends wouldn't manage to find you in time and you'd turn into a popsicle… I'd say cherry is your flavor, if that makes you feel any better." Despite the humor in his tone that usually would have made her chuckle, there was a darker edge. He flashed another toothy smirk at her. "But this could all be avoided if you'd just tell me where your camp is located, you know? You tell me, I help you out and you'll be on your merry way and in front of your campfire in no time! On my honor." He crossed his heart and held his hand up in a 'Scout's promise' type of way, just like she had done earlier.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She stared up at him for for a moment before shaking her head with the slightest bit of hesitation, "I… I'm not telling you anything… Nothing you can do will change that."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Shame." Lou gave her a saddened kind of smile, that wasn't quite genuine. Then he slowly stood up, making a show of it, stretching his arms and legs and back as he did so. "Then I don't think I can help you either." He cracked his neck from both sides and waved at her before walking off. "I hope you have magic that can keep you warm, you're gonna need it. See ya!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Her mouth hung open slightly as she searched her mind for words to try and change his mind, "Hang on. There must be some way to reason with you. Some kind of fair trade." [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]She countered, but no response came as he didn't seem to hear her, and she felt her heart sink.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Though he seemed sure she was gonna be stuck there, he wasn't quite right. There was hope, but it would take time. Waiting it out was possible, her thought lingered on his mention of warmth and she looked down at the pile of dried leaves and sticks that had fallen with her. She glanced above at the sky... Night was only a few hours off. And this stuff would burn within two. She had to keep it for the coldest hours of the night if she was really going to be stuck here… As far as a flame, a concentrated beam of light on it would cause smoke and eventually fire, but it tended to take forever.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]In all honesty, she wanted out as quick as possible, but Maddox wasn't making it so easy. Eris also dreaded the thought of her teammates finding her like this, but she wasn't willing to risk their safety for her own pride. Technically, she could send up a beacon to signal where she was, but she would have to ensure all the males in the vicinity were gone… and that would draw both boys and girls, resulting in a bigger turf war on their hands.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She clenched her fists, and they trembled in rage, "You can't just leave me down here! You can't!" She felt anxiety growing, as well as her anger. The girl took in a deep breath when no response came, "...GOD DAMN IT, LET ME OUT YOU SON OF A BITCH!" She yelled up at him, her loud voice seemed to echo around her, "WHEN I CLAW MY WAY OUTTA HERE I'M GOING TO STRING YOU UP AND USE YOU AS A PUNCHING BAG, UNTIL THAT SPINDLY LITTLE BODY OF YOURS IS ABOUT TO FALL APART! YOU HEAR ME, MADDOX?!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Silence.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She huffed at the bottom of her prison, her breathing heavy and angry as she glared at the place where the boy had vanished. More silence. He really was gone, wasn't he? Just like that?[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Suddenly, a face appeared again within her sight, a smug grin over his face. "So, you change your mind?" Lou asked, as he had actually been standing just few feet away from the hole the whole time she had been venting, staring at the sky and yawned and waited it out until she was out of fume. "All it takes is a liiiiitle bit of co-operation. What'd you say?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The gleam in her eye resurfaced and she shot a beam of green light at him… Lucky for him, she was a terrible shot without a conductor. When luxmancers were younger, they would use staffs and sticks to guide their magic, until their accuracy developed and improved to the point where they didn't need it. Eris had never adapted, it just never flowed or came to her with way it had everyone else. The only way she could hit him was with a guide, and the energy lost in the travel made impact rather pathetic. Still, she tried to hide the flood of shame as the beam brushed by him harmlessly. She hissed, "That was a warning shot."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Louis blinked in surprise, as the shot had been so fast that he had not even had the time to react. His heart had skipped a beat there once he had come into realization that she had tried to shoot the beam in his face, and if she would have hit, it would have probably melted it off or something. He swallowed just a little, but did his best to seem like he was unaffected, even if in truth he almost shat his pants. This chick could be hella scary if she wanted, huh.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Fuck off. I'd rather rot here than tell you anything." The girl growled as her gleaming eye vanished.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Lou nodded and disappeared again from her sight, quipping as he went. "I'll take that as a no. Have a nice night! I hope no hungry bears lurk around... I'm going to go fishing and enjoy a nice warm meal by the fire with my buddies. See ya!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He snickered a bit as he walked away from the pitfall, now making his way through the woods to where he had an idea where he had left his companions. The Physical Caster trotted into sight from between the trees, noticing Trap and whistling at him to get his attention and waving at him to follow. As he got to Sorrell, he stopped to talk with both.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Okay fellas, I got some warden work for few hours. Make sure none of her teammates come by the, uh, Trap's trap. I need to guard the prisoner to get some information. If you have any wounds, I want you to go back to camp and get yourself checked by Trent. 'S okay, I'm going to be alright." He instructed the two other boys and leaned against his spear, feeling the throbbing pain on his side where the shirt had been torn and hidden under the jean jacket. But just as he said he was going to be alright, a drop of blood appeared from his nostril and dripped down. With a frown, Lou reached his fingers and touched it, looking down at his now red painted fingertips. "Shit. Okay, drawbacks are coming, but I'm going to be alright, really. It looks lot more dramatic than it is. Just go without me, but make sure the chicks are gone first, okay? That'd be great, I don't want to get ambushed in my condition. Me and… Eris have still a lot to talk about."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He wiped his bloody nose into the sleeve of his jean jacket, feeling the muscle and joint soreness slowly setting into his body and wearing him down harder than before. It was only going to get worse from here on out, and the next couple of hours were going to be, well, pain as the cramps would set in. But the guys didn't need to know that. As long as he got Eris where he wanted her to be, he should be okay. And as long as she would think he would actually leave her down there, everything should go according to the plan he had just made up on the spot.[/BCOLOR]​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Characters interacted with by Lou:[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]@Namora - Cerise "Eris"[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent] Valentine[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]@Dragon-Goddess - Sorrell Edelstein[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]@Jakers - Trap Hanamura[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Characters mentioned by Lou:[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]@Nano - Angelica Orchid[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]@Dragon-Goddess - Zelda Fenris[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]@Noctis the Devious - Trent Brooks[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Characters interacted with by Eris:[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]@Wicked - Louis "Lou" Maddox (I don't know why I'm tagging myself but hey just roll with it)[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]@Nano - Angelica Orchid[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Characters mentioned by Eris:[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]@Dragon-Goddess - Sorrell Edelstein, Zelda Fenris[/BCOLOR]

 

[Jakers]

Looking at his reflection via his metal canteen and beatboxing a tune to himself, Trap was busy fixing the state of his hair whilst he jogged back to where he'd seen Lou, Sorrel, and the two other anonymous girls. They were probably in the middle of a proper rumble right now, so he'd need to be careful. But fixing his hair up came high in his priority list, too. He had to look nice if he was gonna do some sweet tag team combos! The fight with Zelda had really shaken about his hairstyle, and probably burned a small percentage of his hair off. Oh well! Worth it for the kiss. He'd go to the barbershop after this whole thing was done and dusted Uh... if he was still alive. Which was extremely likely, of course.

As Trap was walking, he dropped his canteen in surprise as he heard something particularly loud in the distance.

"...GOD DAMN IT, LET ME OUT YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHEN I CLAW MY WAY OUTTA HERE I'M GOING TO STRING YOU UP AND USE YOU AS A PUNCHING BAG, UNTIL THAT SPINDLY LITTLE BODY OF YOURS IS ABOUT TO FALL APART! YOU HEAR ME, MADDOX?!"

"...Now that takes 'fiesty' to the next level. Not even I, Trap Hanamura, could calm that down." Trap mumbled. Jesus Christ. He was glad he wasn't on the receiving end of that threat, otherwise he would've wet his pants a little. At first, he thought it was the scream of some sort of giant bird or ferocious monster, but as it turned out... it was... some sort of girl? Either that, or ferocious monsters could talk now.

Trap realised two things. Firstly, she said 'let me out', and secondly, the voice was coming in the direction where he'd set up his trap. It took a while for Trap to put two and two together, but when he did, he gulped loudly.

"Uh... oh... uh... whoops. Guess rabbit's off the list for dinner...?"

That wasn't supposed to be what the trap was for. It was supposed to be for rabbits, not ravenous girls who would probably rip out his spleen when they found out he made that trap? Ah, balls. All chances of pickup lines working on said girl were now reduced to zero percent because of this. What a pity. Hopefully though, that wasn't the case?

Should he go and look for that voice? Then again, the way she spoke didn't really encourage Trap to go near her. Quiiite the opposite. He was already injured, so going to check up on her seemed like the worst idea since that one time he'd went to the toilet with the lights turned off. Trap was actually starting to get sort of worried for his comrades. He was concerned in the first place, but mildly. Now? He was fearing for their God-damn lives when they were up against that. Holy crap.

Trap decided not to go in his trap's direction, but it took roughly five seconds for him to change his mind. It was too tempting to pass up, and the original area where everyone first saw each other was empty, anyway. If he needed to lend a hand, so be it. He'd fight with what was left in this sexy body.

~ ~ ~

Trap was getting nearer and nearer the area of his trap, until he heard a whistle behind him. Spinning around, Trap's alert face quickly turned into a beaming smile as he saw one of his team-mates.

"Lou!! You're alive!!" Trap said, in somewhat of a squeal. It looked like he was about to throw himself into his arms in relief, but... yeah. Horrible, horrible, horrible idea. Even for his mindset. As Lou gestured to follow, Trap held back any questions about the terrifying screaming that happened earlier.

Sorrell thankfully showed up, too, meaning that either both the boys had won their fights, or had some sort of 'draw' like Trap'd had with the fiery Zelda. Overall, it was a successful day, as nobody had got their head ripped off by a girl! Hooray! Or... yet, at least.

Trap's suspicions about his trap were confirmed by Lou's words. He'd... captured a girl in there? But... but...

"Whaaat?! You managed to fit a girl in there?!" Trap gasped. "...But... it's deep, and dirty, and... ah... man, if I knew you were going to use my trap for that, I would've customised it a bit... I suppose your prisoner doesn't want my number?!" Trap said with a sheepish smile. Using his trap in combat was somewhat dishonourable in Trap's eyes, but he knew better than to question the big man himself. Trap decided to follow his orders and question nothing of it, even if he really wanted to see Lou's 'catch' and maaaybe apologise to it.

"Oh... your nose is bleeding. Just hold it in the middle for a few seconds, and wait for it to clot, then scrunch up a little tissue and pull the clot out. That's what Mum tells m..." Trap stopped, cleared his throat, and turned for the direction of the camp. "-ANYWAY. Good luck with, uh, questioning the babe or whatever? Liz will be circling above you for people. If she be squawkin', girls be walkin'. I'll see you back at camp, hopefully!" Trap said in farewell, before turning to head back, unsheathing his boomerang, flourishing it, then sheathing it again for no real reason rather than making his exit look 1% cooler.

Jeez. What a day. He'd need to ask Sorrel and Lou how their fights went at the campfire tonight. Hopefully they hadn't noticed the bandage around his shoulder that was formed from a girl's skirt. For now, he had a date with Trent back at camp.

 

[Queen of the Black Hearts]

((OOC: Collab with @Nano.))

Both Sorrell and Angelica watched as both arrogant and hotheaded casters were bickering back and forth. Huh, Eris and that other male really got along, did they? The two were practically exchanging insults with each other, while Zelda was down there dancing with the Earth Caster. Sorrell on the other hand, appeared to be rather worried about Lou, seeing how the Light caster would have been able to pose a threat to him. Frankly, Angelica here felt as though she were pretty useless, and she was actually wondering if they needed her help or not. Besides; Eris appeared to be slightly annoyed when the Nature caster had asked if they were fighting the opponent. Yes, this girl was slow. Slow as hell, but at least she knew how and when to get the job done. Eris had leaned down to instruct her as to what she should do, which received a nod from the female. "I got it.." She mumbled, holding her arm up which allowed her owl to perch over her limb. It was staring at the wolf familiar of her apparent opponent, and it's poker face made it virtually impossible to tell what was going on in it's mind. Ammy, on the other hand, was keeping a close eye on Angelica; their designated opponent. Although, it was rather hard to tell what was going on in the girl's head based off her blank poker face. Sure, she looked cute, her expression looked as dead as a dead pan mirror. The girl lifted her head a little to the owl, whispering into it's ear quietly. "Please scout on ahead to see if there is anything we can bring back to the camp or figure out where the boys are staying at. You shouldn't fight in the day, okay?" She had asked, receiving a nod from it before flying off.

The silverette watched as she instructed her familiar to do something before it flew off. Kneeling down, Sorrell whispered in Ammy's ear a small command. "Follow the owl, Ammy. And see if you can keep it from returning." He said, earning a nod from the galaxy wolf and she raced after the owl to do as her caster had asked. Standing at his full height, Sorrell looked into the girl's eyes and he thought back to what Lou had told him. 'We have to fight them. But... I can't bring myself to attack a small girl. Everyone would be mad if I did something so deplorable, even Nana!' Sorrell thought, his face betraying his thoughts as his stoic expression turned to one of dread as he though of the head maid who was also his nana growing up and all the maids he spent his childhood around. Shaking his head, he looked at the girl again. "Let's just talk about this, Miss. I am not to partial hitting a young lady unprovoked." He says, putting his hands up in a surrender position.

Well, she certainly did not expect this. Angelica was at least half expecting him to be just a tiny bit hostile, considering that they were both on the opposite sides here. I mean, there was the earth caster, and that other caster who seemed as though they were just itching to battle, and then there was this guy. Though, she had to give him some form of props as well, for being able to keep his cool and stay self controlled - And polite at that. As much as Angelica would love to fight, she really didn't want to risk her getting injured tot he point that she couldn't help the other two if they needed it. After all, Angelica was more of the lets-hang-back-and-not-fight type of person to begin with. Although, she didn't exactly turn a blind eye when the wolf started chasing her owl, good thing the familiar could fly. Her only concern was that considering that he was a gravity caster, he would be able to alter her owl's gravity, but she thought that maybe he wouldn't be able to do that; besides, the thing was flying a rather good distance away from them, so she didn't see much of a point in worrying too much. Best part? The owl wasn't exactly the most easiest to find; being made out of leaves, mushrooms and twigs and the like. Perfect camouflage in areas such as these if you ask me. Now then, back to the matter at hand..

It looked as though the male was reluctant to fight her, and Angelica wasn't fond of fighting someone who was unwilling to. But even if he were being a pacifist, that doesn't mean she should disobey Eris' instructions. All she had to do was ground him, right? Well, tough luck for her, since the only plants that were around were a few barely live trees, bushes and patches of the occasional grass. Otherwise, it was dirt, stone, dirt and mud. God, she really needed to learn a spell that would allow her to grow plants. Why did she think this was a good idea? Why couldn't she just stay behind and get rid of the damn spiders inst-- oh right, she was terrified of them. Well then. Honestly, she didn't know what she wanted to do with this, but hey, she still had her vine whip. A whip that she had crafted herself, and it was perfect for her since she was able to control it's exact movements with her basic plant manipulation. Sure, she wouldn't be able to exactly make it stretch long enough, but it was way better than nothing! Right? Right. ".. Urm.. But, the other two are fighting, and Eris told me that I need to take care of you, so.. er.." Her fumbling and somewhat soft voice had made her come off as almost nervous, but in her defense, she had never talked to a guy since being a little kid, being surrounded by girls all her life. Sorrell could more or less understood her fumbling, after all, the other two were pretty much ordering them to fight. Like it was the norm between the two schools. There was arguing on who was the better caster and then there was trying to break someones face. It was just then where Sorrel and Angelica had heard both their other team mate fighting the other, and they both seemed to be thinking the same thing here: Great. More fights.

Her eyes had wandered up to the sky, where the sun was still shining brightly way up high. She still had the petals and twigs on her as well, so I guess she wasn't totally useless. Sorrell had also looked up; not a single cloud in the sky. "Besides.. How would we talk it out?" She questioned. She didn't look like she was getting ready to fight, but she just stood there, appearing rather.. relaxed actually.

"Why are you taking part in this challenge, Miss?" He asked off-handedly. Sorrell was always curious about peoples motives for doing what they do. Heck, sometimes he questions himself on why he does the things he does. Why was everyone here anyway? What was their reasons? He wants to figure it all out. Though, what was with that question? She didn't understand. Well, she understood, but was he seriously asking her this now? For all she knew, if Eris or Zelda came by, the would think that she were just too passive to fight, and end up burning and shooting this guy down, degrading him to dust. "... I don't really see much of a reason in telling you." She said, narrowing her eyes to the side for a moment. Hey, you couldn't blame her. I mean, she'd be answering the person fighting on the opposite side of her.

Sorrell turned his eyes back to the little girl before him and waited for her answer. He also tried to keep an ear out for Louis and Trap in case they came back. They may not hesitate to attack the young lady since she is from Rosewood but he wasn't sure. If push comes to shove, he would just use his gravity magic to send her flying away a short distance to at least make it appear that they fought.

In all truth, she saw that this would be a good opportunity to actually get out and see the world for herself, see if she can make a change or have any sort of effect on her surroundings when her casting was at it's prime. But nooo... They just had to find a place to stay in mountains. If they had put their camp in a forest, she could easily make a house or some sort of tent with vines and leaves. But back on the topic, she didn't see a reason to tell him her own business. With that, the girl pulled out a stick no longer than her forearm. Yes, she pulled out a small piece of wood. There were a few leaves on them, which have surprisingly not withered away yet. Funny enough, they were being kept alive by this girl's magic. Then again, nature casters had that little thing about them; plants didn't die around them often, or they didn't die as fast.

She just took out the stick so that it would look like she were getting ready to fight, rather than standing around and not doing a thing. She would feel horrible if the other two actually thought that she would be doing something like that. The problem was.. What could she do? She had sticks, a whip, flower petals, and a barely live tree next to them. Her opponent was in the air, and no doubt that he could use gravity to make her float, but she highly doubted that he could use it to throw her or fling her into the air; that would have taken way too much magic to redirect the force of gravity in a certain area. In the meantime, the dark haired girl was awaiting for her familiar to return.

Meanwhile...

The owl was flying around, trying his best to get the gravity familiar off his damn tail-feathers. He to duck behind leaves, branched and some bushes just to get away from the damned wolf. He had stayed airborne, however seeing that it was a gravity familiar, he wouldn't be surprised if the thing could change it's own gravity. With that, he made haste in order to return. But no doubt that he would have to be quick.

Ammy kept pace with the owl with ease, bypassing everything in her way and running at a brisk pace. Whenever the owl did come close to the ground, she would snap at it's leafy tail feathers to make it think twice before coming down to her level. She was playing with him, keeping him from returning to his caster. Every time she thought he was gonna turn and head back, she would jump high into the air and snap her maw at him to turn him around. She came close to actually biting a few leaves off his leafy wings a few times. She would keep him away from the casters as much as she can.

Meanwhile

Sorrell watched as she refused to answer his question and even pull out a stick with a few leaves on it. Sighing, the silverette floated closer to her and when he was close enough to her, their height differences being completely obvious even if he wasn't floating, he bent down and lightly bonked her on the top of her head. "Don't you know it's rude to draw your weapon on someone when talking to them?" He asked, sounding like an older sibling as he looked down at the girl, his purple eyes shining. If she wanted to fight then he will try to make it to where she doesn't get too badly hurt.

He was playing with her. She didn't get why he was so reluctant on hurting her, and it almost made her feel just a tiny bit annoyed. It didn't help how she was so much shorter than him, which only further annoyed her. They were the same height for gods' sake! The brunette huffed a little bit, holding onto the stick firmly. No, the stick wasn't her weapon, but she could use it to poke his eyes if she wanted to. Poke poke poke. Fluffing poke. "Well.. If you haven't noticed, we are suppose to be fighting, and I don't think our team mates would appreciate it if they found us lazing around and talking like this.." She muttered, clearly unamused. The only reason she wanted to fight was because Eris told her to, but otherwise, she just wanted to go back to the base. Then again, fighting was always fun, as long as no one else got hurt. Bah.. Why couldn't she go collecting the Mandrake Roots? As dangerous as they may be, they were very, very useful, and she couldn't deny that planting a bunch of them near the guys would cause a huge variable for them to get over. She was more or less resistant to those types of herbs, seeing that she had done huge amounts of research, but that doesn't mean that she is immune. She knows better than to pursue the scent. Oh well, maybe she can pick some up later, but she would have to make sure to conceal their scent in some way...

Back on topic.. She was looking up at the male, though she didn't look.. Irritated or upset despite the fact that things would have been going haywire within her head. She had her ability to handle pressure to thank, although, right now, she should probably attack this guy, despite it being a rude thing to do. Argh. "Unless you have a better idea on how to handle these things. Also... I have some form of pride too. So if we do end up having to quote on quote.. Fight, then I'm not going to let you look as though you beat me." She huffed. She looked pretty adamant about this, too. With that, the girl stepped back, still holding the stick in one hand. It was kind of hard to trust the opposite gender, in these situations. Wow, she felt as though she were in kindergarten.

Sorrell sighed and got ready to defend himself when he felt something land on his jacket. Looking down, the silverette was face to face with one of the things he hated the most in the world... a spider. It took a few seconds to register in his brain but when it did, Sorrell screamed a pitch higher than Lou had reached earlier and started to flail around, screaming his head off even more. "GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF ME!!!!!" He screamed, trying to get the evil creature off of him, forgetting that there was a girl in front of him, watching him act like a child at a creature that had landed on him. All the while that spider was just trying to get past the thick coat to the pale males flesh to inject its poison into the boy but the flailing was a bit of a problem.

At first, Angelica didn't know why this guy had paused for a little while. Then her eyes wandered on over to his coat, and saw a huge friggin' spider. Oooohhh... So thaaat's why-- HOLY F*** THERE WAS A SPIDER, AND IT WAS HUGE. With that, Angelica started freaking out along with him, not even daring to use her stick to poke it. They were probably overreacting to this on a large scale, but I think anyone would when there's a foot large spider right on a person. "KILL IT, KILL IT, KILL IT." She repeated, pulling out her vine whip. Okay, it wasn't much made out of vines. It was more made out of.. Flexible bamboo. That stuff hurt. The vines though, were used to make it slightly more thicker. With that, she started swinging her weapon around and right at the spider on the male's coat. The whip would have done enough damage to squash both the spider, and himself, but she was more focused on the devil of a creature, thus continuously whipped at it. "DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE" She continued. My god, if someone were looking at this from a certain angle, one would think that she would be trying to kill the poor guy. Oh well, that's the point of this tournament challenge thing.

I think.

Well aaaanyways... She ended up trying to kill the spider that was trying desperately to avoid her whip lashes, and they probably did hit Sorrell, seeing that he was more occupied with the creature trying to give him it's own 'happiness juice' like the good little demon it was.

"OW OW OW OW OW! WATCH WHERE YOU HIT! HIT THE SPIDER NOT THE SURFACE!!!" Sorrell yelled, trying to block his face from her attacks while also trying to get the vile creature off of him. After a bit, they both managed to kill the evil thing by him using his gravity magic to get it off of his body and her attacking it with her whip.

Looking at her, Sorrell gave a small smile in appreciation for her help before remembering what a book of insects said about jumping spiders when he saw more coming. They only travel in singles.... why the hell are there about a hundred of them together? Looking around, he use a gravity force field to stop one from jumping onto his face. "Oh hell.... there are more of them." He deadpans, voice a bit scratchy from his screaming.

She had been practically panicking when the spider had come off, in fear that it would chose her for it's next victim. However, it would seem as though she had squished it with her whip, and she let out a long, well deserved sigh. She was able to finally able to relax.. Until she had realized the same thing that the male had. There were more? Yup, there were more. Both the male and the female had both stared at the demonic creatures, both in fear and annoyance. "Holy crap.." She mumbled. Out of pure fear, the petals in her bag, and the stick in her hands appeared to be dying, as she started becoming more terrified of the things. "Get away.. get away GET AWAY GET AWAY!" She shouted, controlling her whip in a way where her body was moving slightly faster than it was earlier. Though, this had eventually died out, seeing that there was no more plant life that she could drain. Aw crud.

With this, the girl had practically frozen up in fear. If only her owl familiar were here; he could start killing the spiders easy. I mean, he ate rats for breakfast, why not spiders? It also didn't help how the mountain was mainly full of rocks, dirt, and more rocks as well. I mean, there were the occasional bushes and grass, and she could try doing something with that. I mean, basic plant manipulation was the universal of universal spells, so she could try getting a tree to turn into a wreaking ball. Not literally, but she at least do something rather than whip around aimlessly. Funny thing is that she could control the whip's movements, but that had completely slipped her mind. Oops.

Seeing how the girl froze up, Sorrell did the only thing he could do, grab her and fly her up into the air, using some more of his magic to make her a bit lighter for him to hold. Being like this for a long time would deplete his energy fast and who knows when and if their teammates will return. Looking at her, Sorrell gave her a small shake to get her attention. "Miss, I think I have an idea but I will need your help. It is a long shot and it may bot work but it is worth a shot." He states, looking at her. She was rather cute but not really his type. "I think I have a few stink bombs in my pack. Can you grab them and drop them down onto those little devils?" She had paused for a moment, looking up at this guy as though he were crazy. Spiders already lived in rather damp, not very clean environments; making the air smell bad would just attract more, and more, until you could practically see a huge blob of them from space! Like hey, George? What the hell is that black spec on the mountain?

Oh, I'm pretty sure it's nothing, just another spider attack.

That could happen. Don't deny it. "Are you crazy?!" She asked, Sorrell just rolled his eyes and positioned her to where she could grab his bag. "Just hurry up and grab the first spherical bottle you can get your hands on. All the potions I packed are in the same dark vial. Just the tags are colored differently." He orders her, fearing that they could descend at any moment. With a bit more of a push, he made them fly higher into the air. At the height that they were at, Angelica had to hold onto Sorrell for support, in fear that she would fall down any moment now. Really she did wonder what the hell was going on in this guys mind, but nevertheless, did what she was told. She slowly reached over to the male's bag, pulling out a bottle that was described. She wasn't sure if this was it, or not, so she pulled it up to show the male. "Is it this one?"

"Doesn't matter, just drop it down." Sorrell states, slowly feeling her becoming just a bit heavier the more they floated in the air. "Not to be rude, Miss, but the longer we wait, the heavier you get and the more we start to descend." He tried to readjust her a but the movement caused a potion with a red tag to fall out, crashing on the ground below them. It broke opened and cause a few spiders that the liquid landed on to melt. "There goes one of my toxic potions..." Sorrell deadpans before getting an even better idea. He looked at the tag that Angelica had and saw it was another toxic potion. "Miss, I made these potions so drop the one in your hand and it could cause a minor explosion that will get rid of the rest of them. But make sure that you drop it in the exact same spot as the other one." And with that, Angelica couldn't help but to question what he was trying to say. Never the less, she adjusted the potion in her hands, and was just about to launch it when.. Her owl familiar had returned, flapping it's wings in the air way up high next to the female caster. He appeared to be concerned, and pretty tired with a wolf chasing his tail feathers. Word could not describe how happy she was that he came back. "You came back!" She chimed, smiling brightly to the owl. Then, she had a better idea. She slowly passed the potion to her familiar, and started instructing it what to do. "You saw where that other potion fell, right? I want you to fly around and signal when I should drop it!" She said, with the owl agreeing. He flew down, but at a safe distance, and when he made sure that it was at a good angle, he hooted once and she dropped the potion. BOMBS AWAY.

The ensuing explosion when the two potions mixed was a bit more than what Sorrell had anticipated. With the force of it, it knocked the two casters out of the air and plummeting towards the trees and rocks around. Luckily, they both ended up landing in the former rather than the latter. Granted, he has had some softer landings, but the trees were a lot better than anything else. Turning violet eyes to the young girl still in his arms, Sorrell gave a small smile to her. "Are you alright, Miss?" He asked. Ammy, who had chased the owl familiar, watched as her caster talked to the young girl before turning starry eyes to the slowly dying down explosion. Her caster can sometimes think up the most dangerous things just to get rid of spiders. She decided to use this time to lay down and rest as her master interrogated the female caster.

Trees? Trees. Plants? Plants. There was wild life, plant life, and she was able to recognize these sorts of flora here. It would appear as though they landed in an area with some pretty nice green spaces. It wasn't a rain forest, and it wasn't a forest in general, but there was some form of living wild life here, which meant good things for Angelica. Although, they both seemed to have landed in a tree, Angelica still in Sorrell's arms once they had crashed into a tree. She had to admit, that explosion was pretty strong, if it was enough to send them flying. Hopefully, her familiar made it out on time. Besides, she could easily summon him up again.

Angelica had shook her head a bit, but then nodded to his question. "Yeah.. I'm alright." She replied, returning a small smile to him. Not wanting to keep him between herself and a tree anymore, she quickly hopped off him and grabbed the branch with one hand, swinging herself back up and landing on her feet. "Finally.. Some form of plant life." She sighed, hopping down to a branch to inspect the mushrooms growing on it. Sorrell followed her down the tree, though at a much slower pace than the young girl. Once on the ground, he looked at his appearance and saw that his clothes looked like he was mauled by a wild animal and he was dirty, with leaves and twigs sticking in his white hair. If anyone were to look at him, they would think he had gotten his ass handed to him. He spotted Ammy laying a few feet away and called her over, to which she was more than happy to do.

Sorrell turned his eyes back to Angelica and asked the main question that was bothering him more than wanting to know what her reasons for partaking in the challenge was. "I never got your name, Miss. My name is Sorrell Edelstein. Might I know yours?" He asked politely. Angelica on the other hand, appeared to be too fascinated with the trees and specimen of Flora here. She was always someone who knew her flora and plants, but never had she seen some species of them for real. Although, it actually took a while to register the question. She looked down from the tree, nodding her head. "My name is Angelica, Angelica Orchid." She replied. "Angelica... A very pretty name." Sorrel states, stretching and adjusting his bag. Petting Ammy's head, he smiled at the young brunette. "Well, I would interrogate you but I must return to my teammates. Fare you well, Angelica the Nature Caster." He replies before climbing onto Ammy's back after she grew to let him ride and left in search of his teammates.

It took a while but he finally found Lou and Trap and just the sight of him worried the silverette and he was instantly at the taller boys side. Sorrell shook his head when he was told to go back to the camp without him. "No way. You cannot spend the night out here by yourself." Sorrell states, fussing over Louis like his nana would fuss over him. "I will stay here with you and help on guard duty... wait... YOU CAPTURED A GIRL?!" This was not gonna be good. He barely survived an encounter with Angelica and the spiders, but to hear that he captured one of he girls was just insane. Shaking his head he pulled some tissues out of his pack and held them to Lou's nose, a soft and worried look still marring his face.

As for Angelica, she pouted a little bit before hopping off. However, not before finding an interesting little plant on the ground. Were these.. Yes, they were! These bushes were full of berries that were edible! This was perfect! Overjoyed, the young Nature Caster started collecting the berries, putting them into a woven, folding basket. She called her familiar and he landed on her shoulder, happy to finally get some sort of reprieve from flying.

With the owl on her shoulder, Angelica jumped around the trees and back to where she found Eris fighting with the boy. It was... Quite. Oddly quiet. The chill up her spine was rubbing her in all the wrong ways, and she took off searching for the red headed girl. "Eris?!" She shouted, rubbing and hopping around in hopes to find her. "Eris?!" She continued, looking around and about. The trees were all dead, and it was still a miracle how berries were actually growing in snowy weather. She really was at a disadvantage if she were to be found and confronted here... But she couldn't just leave Eris alone!

In her period of worry, she looked towards her owl familiar with a sort of hopeful smile on her face. "Have you seen Eris while flying? At the camp? Please tell me that you did.." She mumbled, but the owl sadly shook its head no. With that, Angelica's face darkened for a moment, and she clicked her tongue. "What's with that.. and here I thought that he might not be such a bad guy after all! He was just distracting me so that they could capture Eris! The nerve of him!" She huffed. The brunette continued stomping her way through the mountains, carefully.

Who knows what she would find?​

 

[Zackymas]

Co-Op Post between Noctis the Devious (Trent Brooks)
And Zackymas (Price Green)​

Price, with hands full of dead branches the size of his arms being held tightly against his chest, struggled to walk. Although he did not sweat, for the temperature was too low. He wasn't about letting all those dead branches into his bag, it was mostly full of water bottles and seeds, and those branches could absorb the seeds' energy with ease, rendering them useless. Not only that, if some of them had a pointy end, they could pierce to the plastic water bottles, and losing water was not something any of them would like.

He had been silent all the way long, just thinking to himself, about pretty much that had happened so far in this trip, but especially about the guys exploring. There was something happening out there, he could feel it. Perhaps it was just the temperature making him paranoid, or Tsuri headbutting him a little bit too much, but there was still the probability of something that went beyond all that.

Trent decided on lagging behind Price with his own arms full of wood if only to make sure the Nature Caster didn't drop anything. It had been a while since he had to do any actual manual labor, and while lugging wood around couldn't compare to half of what he did on the farm back home, it was still a welcomed exercise. Looking at Price, he would have offered him help but the blonde wasn't entirely sure he was in the position to lend aid so he kept mostly silent about it. Mostly. "So is this the first time you're doing something like this?" he inquired. "Building a shelter I mean."

Initially, Price didn't even notice Trent talking to him, it was not until Tsuri headbutted his leg, making him almost fall flat, luckily enough, he managed to retain balance by setting his other leg in front of him as a reflex movement. "Uh, sorry… did you say something?" Price replied, with an obvious feeling of awkwardness reflecting on his face as he spoke.

Trent smiled in amusement. "I was just asking if you've built shelters before, or, you know, been out in the wild? I mean, you are a Nature Caster. Me? I grew up on a farm away from the city. We have to chop our own wood in the winter and such."

Price's head tilted to the side, his eyes open wide, but not that wide. "Oh that." He said before letting off a soft laugh. "Yeah, we used to spend a week every month alone in the forest. And most of my afternoons were spent going back and forth within the forest, trying to discover most of the species there." He replied as he walked, making sure to not let the branches fall.

"Species? As in plant life, right--"

"Plant and animal alike," Price interrupted, answering the question with no previous sign of it.

Trent, a little surprised, continued, "And a whole week alone in a forest? I don't know man, that kind of sounds lonely. On the bright side, that's kind of what we're doing now. Spending a week at a time in different locations and such. Except, you know, with a few other guys." Their camp came into view and Trent deposited the wood on top of some foliage he managed to scrape together before hand. It would have to do in the lack of presence of a tarp. He dusted his hands off and glanced around, a frown on his face. "Huh, kind of expected them to be back by now," he murmured to himself.

"Lonely?" Price mentioned in surprise. "Tsuri was with me all time along". He continued as he dropped the branches with care before patting his little fellow's head.

"Oh? Oh, right! Yeah, I keep forgetting not every familiar is non-sentient." He snuck a glance at Willow-the-wisp, who - which? - floated lazily by his head. "Having Willow here around is like having a disembodied arm-- okay yeah, no, that's a little morbid even for my taste." Despite his words he couldn't help but chuckle a little at the unfinished comparison. Though Willow couldn't talk or display any spectrum of emotion, it - she - felt as much apart of him as his own arm. Just not attached. But it did beg the question; could a familiar take on the form of an arm, or any body part for that matter? Trent shook his head at that imagery. He was way too amused with the direction of his thoughts and crouched down, picking through their gathered wood.

They had spent their time making multiple trips through their area looking for supplies and gathered quite a bit. It took them at least an hour or two, which was about the time the others have been missing for. How long did it take to scout an area anyway? Trent frowned and gathered the sturdiest pieces of wood they found. "Do you suppose they ran into trouble?" he asked, standing with his arms now full for the umpteenth time that evening. He carried the wood to where they planned on building the lean-to and started on the skeleton, driving each piece into the earth.

"Probably. Tsuri has been acting weird lastly, and that only happens when there's something wrong." Price replied, stabbing the ground with a thick stick. "They most likely ran into a few girls. Being realistic, that's the most probable situation." He began his analysis, not slowing down in the construction of the wooden skeleton. "Probabilities are: One- They fell down a cliff or from a tree, leaving them injured. Which is not very likely, a fall of that size would make a noise big enough for us to hear from here. Two- They ran into 'wildlife', if you know what I mean, but we haven't really seen any traces of something big enough to dance with Casters so the chances of something like that happening are relatively low. Three- They ran into girls. Although we haven't seen any, we know they are here, and most likely they were dropped in an area not too far from us, since both groups are looking for the same thing.

"The moment of confrontation was simply unavoidable. Other human beings, they are as -or even more, intelligent than us, I'm pretty sure we haven't been that separated from them all the way along. It's just that both groups managed to stay 'hidden' from the other." He stopped for a moment, turning his head to look back at the forest. "But if they did encounter 'adversaries', then we better get this shelter running before they come back. They will need to rest," he finished.

Trent nodded in agreement and stuck another stick into the ground. "Just a couple more and you can do your root-thing." Willow drifted beside him as he continued to work, appearing to glow but not actually casting any sort of light. When the last stick was placed, he took a step back and admired his work. "That should be a sturdy enough frame to work off, right?" he inquired.

"Good. Let's begin the real work then." Price shook his bag, trying to wake Tsuri up, who had fallen asleep in there with all the seeds. The little buck fell to the ground before shaking his head, followed by a tremble in his small leafy body. "I advice you take a step back." Price warned Trent. He then extended his hands as a bright green glow emanated from both Price's hands and Tusri. A small tremble could be felt on the ground, slowly, thick brown roots started blooming from the ground and scaling up the skeleton Price and Trent made, covering it in a dome fashion, while leaving a space big enough to work as a 'door'. It took around ten minutes for the whole thing to complete before a few flowers sprung on the roots. "Just my personal touch." He then walked into the dome, and threw a few seeds close to the roots. "Now, this place is like a mana spring, it will help everyone within it slowly regain their mana. It's not infinite though. But it should last long enough to get over this." He informed Trent.

Trent let out a low whistle from somewhere behind Price as the construct took shape. "That's some pretty nifty magic," he remarked, stepping closer for a better look."The guys will surely be impressed." They better be. They've spent the better part of the day setting up a functional camp while they went frolicking out in the wild.

 

[Noctis the Devious]

Dark Caster || Bat Familiar || Acolytes' Mount Valley
Mood: As good as it's going to get.
Interaction: Dakota Snow - @Misaou
Mention: General

Raina pushed Snow's confused and possibly frightened voice to the back of her mind until she finally did what she had to do and smirked, dusting her hands off with a sense of pride. "Next time you plan on doing something like this, can you just give me a heads up? You know, so I don't almost have a heart attack and everything. Thanks." Raina snickered at that.

"Then maybe you should limit your time around me," she quipped. "I do this sort of thing all the time." A bit of an overstatement but Raina well aware of how reckless she could be sometimes but normally there wasn't many people around her to endanger. Besides, she did tell her to step back.

"Okay, what do you say about going to grab some stuff to make a fire? Otherwise, we're gonna freeze our asses off." She turned and faced Raina, but seemed to pause and reconsider her words. "Or we can rest a bit, are you okay?" Raina scoffed and wiped at her forehead, turning away and recapping her water skin.

"Don't concern yourself with me. I am more than capable of taking care of my self." A moment passed between them and Snow moved to lean against a cave wall. Raina thought about doing the same but shook her head. She could still stand on her own two feet so might as well.

"I know once we light the fire it will attract attention, but better to be warm right?" Raina agreed, and was about to voice her thoughts on the matter but the other just kept talking. "Also, what you did was impressive. I mean, I almost peed my pants because I thought you were trying to kill us, but hey it all worked out right?" For a moment she was reminded of Selene, the way the blades disappeared under the girl's clothes. Her sister always had a blade hidden on her. She briefly wondered if Snow was the same and made the mental note to keep an eye on her.

She shook her head but her smirk widened nonethless. "There is a reason they call me the Shadow Princess." She stopped, then added as an afterthought, "But this is the Caster's Challenge; I expect nothing less than impressive from all of you." She faced the forest then. Another reason she wanted the cave was for it's location; the evergreen forest seemed to be thickest in that area and she wasn't about to let that opportunity pass. It's not like they'll be able to camp there forever though. They still have a feather to find and they'd just loose cover if they stayed campped in one spot.

"Yeah, we'll build a fire," she finally said. "We'll just have to avoid burning anything green to minimize smoke and keep it small and inconspicuous. The fire could deter some predators but attrack others. Luckily predators can only come from one direction so I doubt anything would be able to get the drop on us as long as we pay attention." Kindling was easy enough to find, but they'd have to be picky about their choice in wood.

 

[Sailor Arti]

[glow=blue][ Acolyte's Moutain Valley ][/glow]

"There is a reason they call me the Shadow Princess," Raina spoke up with confidence. Livi always considered herself a more intellectual kind of person. That being said the first thought that popped into her mind after Raina's words, went a little something like this; 'They call you the Shadow Princess because you spook people so bad they piss on themselves? Wow. Scary.' It took a moment for her to register the thought then realize how dumb that sounded. She covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile at her own little inside joke. "But this is the Caster's Challenge; I expect nothing less than impressive from all of you." Raina followed up. Dakota lowered her hand and grinned brightly at the girl. "We wouldn't have been chosen otherwise, am I right?" She giggled a little. It was true, though, the Caster's Challenge was made up of only the brightest and the strongest. Every last participant in this challenge was pretty awesome in his or her own way. This was just another reminder that if Livi wanted to prove to her parents, prove to the world how capable she is, despite the limitations she was born with, then she was going to have to work hard.

"Yeah, we'll build a fire," she finally said. "We'll just have to avoid burning anything green to minimize smoke and keep it small and inconspicuous." Dakota nodded along with Raina. It seemed like the best idea for now. Not to mention once they gathered all the supplies she could get a fire started fairly quickly. She smiled thinking about their fire caster and how even without her Livi could handle some things that would've been left to Zelda. "The fire could deter some predators but attract others. Luckily predators can only come from one direction so I doubt anything would be able to get the drop on us as long as we pay attention." Dakota stood up straight and stretched. Kiara rubbing up against her. "Alright, sounds like a good plan to me." Dakota shoved her hands in her pockets and started to walk towards the only entrance and exit of the cave. "I wonder how the others are doing now..." She muttered to herself.
​

Mentioned/Interacted with: @Noctis the Devious - Raina Summers, @-Toxic-Madness- Zelda Fenrir

8d3bd4 - color​

 

[Namora]

E r i s
V A L E N T I N E

[ Acolytes' Mountain; Mountain Valley ]

--


"You are not leaving me down here! You are not!" She called after him as he vanished from sight. Her eyes widened, and the roux hurried to the edge and tried again to gain enough speed to reach the edge to climb her way out. Her body slammed against a wall of dirt. She spent a few moments of trying to claw her way up in vain, before falling and landing on her back. She groaned and glared her eyes at the grey sky above with narrowed brown eyes. Most of her life, it had been a joke that if she continued to be reckless she'd wind up in the earth, but this was a bit extreme and far too literal for her taste. The red head sat herself up with a sigh, slumping her shoulders and listening. It was quiet, aside from the dull murmur of talking going on not too far away. She couldn't make out anything that was being said, but the voices were too deep to belong to any one of her companions.


"Hey two-tone, I know you're still there. I can hear you bastards talking." She said in a raised voice, not quite yelling, but enough to catch. The girl sighed and leaned against the nearest earth wall. She felt helpless, and because of that she felt angry. Who did this bloody boy think he was, trapping her like a bird in a cage?! She wanted to teach him a lesson he wouldn't soon forget, but from her current stance was unable to do so. The girl resisted the urge to just send beams flying through the air out of sheer frustration.


Doing that would be stupid, and she tried not to let her temper influence her rationality. Is she were to have a tantrum, it might be seen as a signal for help. Either way it would catch unwanted attention. They might come looking for her, and with the boys so close that would get them all caught... Honestly, help would be nice, but she couldn't risk it. She refused to be a determent to her teammates. Eris was smart, she could and would figure this out. As for the other two, their best course of action would be to get back to base and inform the others of who they'd come across, and where. That way they could set up a perimeter and know just where the danger zone was for being too close to enemy territory.


Eris pushed herself to her feet and raised her voice, "Zelda? Girls? If anyone can hear me, just head back to camp. Don't worry about me, I have this completely under control," She yelled at the top of her lungs, sounding far more confident than she actually was. In all honesty, she didn't know if she was making it out of here tonight, she didn't know if she was going to get carted off to their camp for further questioning. She didn't know if Lou Maddox was really going to leave her to rot or not. She just didn't know. But the key here was not letting any of them see that. To the world she was Eris Valentine. The girl who was a blessing to her allies and a poison arrow to her foes. She always found a way and this would be no exception.


Characters Mentioned:
@Wicked - Lou Maddox
@-Toxic-Madness- & Jakers - "You Bastards"

@-Toxic-Madness- - Zelda Fenrir
@Nano - Angelica Orchid



[ OOC : So sorry for the wait guys. I just moved, not much of an excuse, but I'm still getting the house settled. Won't let it happen again, promise.
Alright, next stop, hoggy! ]
​

 

[Noctis the Devious]

1.2. Search and Rescue

Acolytes' Mount Valley
Day 2 || Morning || Temperature: High 28°F (-2°C) / Low 16°F (-9°C) || Wind Speed: 5 mph (8 kph)

---

​

Dark Caster || Bat Familiar || Girl's Base Camp
Mood: That's it, no more leaving these people unsupervised!
Interaction: Zelda Fenrir - @-Toxic-Madness-
Mention: Cerise Valentine - @Namora || Angelica Orchid - @Nano

Raina huffed as she picked up after herself, rolling up her bed roll and tucking it away in her bag. To say she was annoyed as an understatement. It was supposed to a simple scout mission; take a look around, make sure there wasn't any nearby enemies, and maybe find some food they could survive off of when whatever food rations they brought along depleted (though, Raina had the sneaking suspicious she was one of the few who actually thought to bring rations on a four week trip). Instead, when two of their three scouts returned, it was with the news the third one had been captured; Cerise of all people! The one who actually looked capable of battle but apparently that didn't amount to much. The rest of the night had been spent with Raina grilling the two girls about what exactly had happened (how many boys were there? What kind of magic did they use? How exactly did they capture Cerise? How close were they to the boy's camp?)

The Dark Caster finally called it quits when she received all the answers they were able to give her and had night shifts set up. While it would have been smarter for them to try and rescue Cerise in the middle of the night, both Zelda and Nano looked like they used up a better portion of their energy and Raina herself wasn't exactly at full power after making the cave collapse in on itself. That, and they still didn't quite know where the boys camp was located, but they at least knew where Cerise was captured and possibly being held if they didn't think to relocate her. They just needed a plan. She straightened her posture and, despite the early morning chill, pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She didn't exactly expect to walk up to them and grab Cerise without a fight, and she couldn't ask them to wait for her tie her hair up and out of her face. "If they're dumb enough to still have her in that hole, it should be a simple matter of taking out whoever they have guarding her and getting her out of there. If they did move her, hunter-chick over there should be able to track them back to their camp, right?" She turned toward Zelda expectantly. "They had to come from somewhere, and hopefully no one over there had half a brain to cover up their trail."​

 

[Jargo]

Gai Greymane

Location:Acolyte's mount valley || Somewhere deep into the forest || In from of the Girls' base camp
Interactions: Approaching the boy's camp
Mood: "Oh well... that oughtta be fun..."
​

"Go get some water. That's all you had to do, Gai." - he thought to himself, while walking in the twilight, recognising absolutely none of the trees around him - "How is it possible to get lost when travelling to a fucking stream and back over?! That's not even inability, getting lost is a talent of mine at this point!"

The impending evening was not something to worry a dark caster, but the chill which was coming over with it definitely was. He had nothing but his regular clothes and spending a night in the open, dampness of the forest definitely didn't sound like something he was all too eager to do... and yet, there didn't seem to be much else he could do, was there?

He had been walking for hours on end, not finding any signs of either the camp or the others and, what's worse, he managed to lose track of the river as well. Yes, somehow, without even realising, at some point in time he had stopped hearing the clicking sound of the roaming waters - now all he could hear were the regular sounds of the forest.

"Am I seriously gonna spend the first part of what is going to be possibly one of the greatest challenges of my life struggling to find my way throughout a damn forest?!" he said out loud, the anger in his voice manifesting into action, as he kicked a random stone lying on the forest floor against the nearby trees. It hit a tree trunk somewhere in the distance, following which, the treetops begun moving, invoking some sort of weird, hissing sounds. Gai stopped and looked at the movements of the leaves and bushes which, albeit they didn't reveal anything or anyone, were all but natural. "Oh?" he thought, slightly excited over the possibility of finally encountering something - anything, as a matter of fact, was better than just walking aimlessly around!

Or is it?! That's what he thought, as a net, held by large rocks at the ends was flung at him, from those very bushes. The net wrapped itself around him, and pushed him on this back to the ground. Gai couldn't even say or do anything, as he was way too shocked, at the calmness of his hours-long walk being replaced by the chaos of such an abrupt, frontal attack.

"Muhahah gots it! Gots it! Come see, we gots it!" - a brisk, loud voice that didn't seem much like a human's yelled, apparently ecstatic at his capture. In a few seconds, an ugly, large creature with tall, yet muscular posture stood above him. Its skin was pale with some shades of blue, it's face - stretched in a wild smile that showed off an array of sharp teeth, right underneath its elongated nose. "Be quick and freeze it, so we can eat, I'm starving for weeks now." another such voice authoritatively commanded and he could hear another set of heavy footsteps that came from over his back.

He knew what those were - he had read up on the creatures that inhabited those mountains, but what the hell were ice trolls doing here, it wasn't anywhere near the peak of the mountain. "Perhaps they got lost like me?" he thought, but suddenly his mind's focus shifted, as he saw the face looking at him stop smiling and prepare to breath an icy death onto him. In an instant, he had sunk into the shadow cast by the creature over himself and appeared in another one nearby. As he quickly got up, he saw how close he was to actual obliteration, as the troll was now freezing not only the net, but the entire ground around it, with the flowers, grass and all!

"Oi! Where'd it go? We gots to eats it!" the second troll, which he could see better now, yelled, while surveying the area

"There it is! It escapeds us?" the first troll, now done with breathing frost, pointed at him with its spear. Shit, they had spears! He just now saw them. "Well, don't just stay here, gets is, we gots to eats it!" the other one yelled and charged at where was standing. Gai had only managed to sink into the closest shadow he could spot, not even that further away from where he originally stood, so it would have only taken a few seconds for his attackers to get him. Yet, now, that he could actually look around and see the surroundings, those few seconds were all he needed in order to disappear again, sinking and coming out from a shadow at least six meters away. He quickly stooped his body behind the giant tree trunk that had cast the shadow and looked around. The two creatures seemed quite confused and quite displeased with their... uh... dinner? having just slipped through their finger (literally) twice. He didn't mean to get up close and personal with them ever again - he had only managed to sneak away like that, because they weren't prepared for his magic, but it wasn't guaranteed that he would be able to sink again next time, before either their freezing breath or one of the giant spears they carried landed at him. No sir, Gai would take none of those chances. It was true he wanted adventure, but that was enough troll business for now!

He quickly extended his hand and formed a shape in the shadows as further south of him as he could reach. The trolls were obviously slow at noticing it, so he made it move and caused a light cackling noise to come from it. The creatures instantly shouted something and run towards it. He kept the form until they had reached it, and sinking into another shadow - closer to the action in order to have range for his spell, now made it disappear and reappear even further. He continued doing the same trick a few times, until he was sure even the trolls have noticed the pattern of the figure appearing further in the same direction, and stopped doing it, listening to their screams and footsteps grow fainter and fainter - it would be hours perhaps, until they realised they've been had, if they did realise it at all.

Gai smirked and, as quickly and as quietly as possible, started moving in the opposite direction. "No more of that." he thought with no small deal of self-satisfaction after having escaped such a dangerous foe so gracefully. And, as he came to realise soon enough, fate seems to have rewarded him, as with the next few dips into further shadows, he found himself on the same track that had led him over to the river. The shadow caster rejoiced and quickened his pace, as he found his way back towards the camp after hours of pacing around aimlessly.

"Anyone home?" he yelled, as he was approaching the camp, but yet not having it clearly in sight "I did get water..." Gai added half-heartedly, wondering what did the rest think of his prolonged absence, if they'd even noticed it at all, that is.

 

[Noctis the Devious]

Co-Op Post between Noctis the Devious (Trent Brooks)
And Victor Markov (Victor Markov)​

Victor, the son of Sorin, next heir of the Markov estate, was away from the camp hunting elk up in the foothills and among the trees. So far, he hadn't had much luck. In fact, he had run across some predators. A troll, which he read wasn't something that was good to eat, and a few spiders. But no elk. Maybe it was the electromagnetic waves he was putting out, he sure as hell didn't know, but he figured he had better head back to camp. He was almost at camp when a black bear crossed his path, blocking him from returning to camp. "This isn't good." The young electromancer muttered as sparks started dancing across his form. As the bear roared its challenge at Victor, the lightning caster put a metal nut between the rods on the back of his gauntlet and did a quick calculation of all the variables before sending the projectile right through the bear to bury itself in the dirt by the campfire. "what a pain." he muttered "had to use my railgun so early in this test. Man, good thing nobody seen it." he then lodged some other bits of metal into the dead bear and hauled it back to camp using his ability to manipulate magnetic fields. Once he was back he looked around and spotted Trent. "Yo, Trent. Mind helping me clean this bear up? Tried to bag an elk, but couldn't find any." he called to the other lad as he collected the chunks of metal he used to not only take the beast down, but haul it back to camp. Needless to say, he could use a hand…..and a drink.

Trent had been poking at their small fire when he perked up at the call of his name. Up till then he had been thinking about the girl the other guys had captured during their little scout mission and welcomed the distraction. "Wait, you tried nabbing an elk and brought back a bear instead?" The blonde laughed and approached the lightning caster with an easy grin. "Wow, I can already tell you're the 'go big or go home' kind of guy." He crouched by the large animal's and examined it over. "Though I do have to admit, I never gutted a bear before." He didn't think he had anything on him to gut it with.

"It got in my way on my way back to camp." Victor replied with a shrug "Couldn't go around it, so I had to go through it." the lightning caster then focused on the iron particulates in the earth and formed a sword in his left hand "Might want to step back a bit. Don't want to cut you by accident." the electromancer said as he brought the blade up to bare. 'I'm pushing it today. Using two skills I keep to myself within minutes of each other. I must be out of my mind. After this, I'll need to drink and eat before climbing into my hammock for the remainder of the day.' Victor was doing his best to keep everyone from seeing him worn out from using two of his personal spells within a short time of each other in addition to moving a two hundred and forty pound bear from where he killed it to the camp using magic.

Trent immediately scrambled out of the way, letting out a low whistle at the sight of the magnetic blade. "That's quite nifty spell you have there." He stood idle on the sidelines, just far enough way to not be in the way but close enough to watch, with his hands stuffed in his pockets of his trench coat.

"just a little something I cooked up. The spell uses magnetism to pull enough iron from the ground to form a blade."Victor said as Trent moved out of range before bringing the blade down swiftly, splitting the bear open. "I think you can take it from here. A little fire will incinerate the innards and burn away the fur while cooking the bear. Plenty of meat there to last a few days. And now I have to get a drink and a little rest. Used a lot of magic and concentration up to this point." he said as the iron feel into a small pile of dust to his left. The electromancer had left his jacket in his tent with his bag. It was while he was walking back to his tent that he noticed there were a few people that weren't there yet. "Am I the first one back, Trent?" he asked as he looked back over his shoulder.

Trent crouched in from of the bear, trying to figure out a way to approach the task without wasting all his energy. It was most likely be easier if they just manually gutted it and cut it into sections. Expecting him to just set it on fire was a tall order, considering he would have to consciously keep up a high temp while also making sure he meat cooked correctly. "Hm?" He glanced back at Victor at the sound of his voice before nodding towards Gai. "No, he's back isn't he?" He grinned at the dark caster. "About time too. Where you've been?"

 

[Namora]

- C O L L A B O R A T I O N -

E r i s
V A L E N T I N E
&
T r a p
H A N A M U R a

[ Acolytes' Mountain; Mountain Valley ]
​

Trap had been unusually quiet last night after the fight. And for Trap, 'unusually quiet' had been not saying something every five seconds, but something every ten seconds instead. He supposed he was just guilty about flying about on a boomerang whilst the others had done a lot of hard work - but he tried to make that up by collecting firewood. Lots and lots of firewood. Even if they didn't need it, firewood.

But in seriousness, the guilty feeling had mainly been the fact that he'd accidentally trapped a girl in a dark and mangy hole that was originally intended for small animals. Obviously, he'd volunteered watching over her. He was her property now. Sort of. Though he sure wasn't intending on getting close to it. Through the night, Trap just sort of kept his distance from the hole, looking contemplatively at it, trying not to fall asleep.

As it turned morning, Trap had quickly headed back to camp, apparently to get something. ...Was she okay in there? She hadn't escaped, that was for sure. Maybe she hadn't even got any sleep that night... dang... maybe he should've sung her a lullaby. Either way, he was going to make up for his mistakes now! Yeah! They'd be best frenemies by the end of this in his head.

Footsteps could be heard as Trap neared the hole, his tight boots crunching delicately through the leaves at the forest floor. Hm. No noise coming from it. Oh, God, she wasn't dead, was she? Considering his options, Trap hid himself from view to start with, clearing out his throat before letting out a hoarse:
"Er... yo...? Awake in there?"

--

Eris had gotten comfortable in her little prison, comfortable being a relative term. She was in a hole in the ground. It was dark. It was cold. The earth was damp and she was covered in filth from countless attempts at clawing her way out. Her face was covered in smidges of dirt, and earth was trapped beneath her fingernails. She felt gross and overall she really wasn't all too happy with the situation. Her entire existence had been about proving herself, in whatever way she thought she needed to. This trip had been another test... another step, and gods, had she stumbled.

She had been trying to start off on a good note. The thing that really bugged her, was that she should have won, by all means she'd had the upperhand against him. In terms of sheer power she probably outmatched most of them, but he'd tricked her... A little piece of her gave him credit, he'd done a damn good job. It had been a fun fight, as much as she hated to admit it even to herself. Entertaining as that had been, Eris was still ticked. She probably was a laughing stock to both boys and girls.

Her enemies were probably snickering about having caught her. Lou Maddox... he'd probably been bragging, and on her own team, Raina was sure to be smug, 'And here you were trying to lead. Ha. Couldn't even handle yourself against some boy'. Eris rocked angrily from her sitting position, she clenched a fist and slammed it against the ground beside her before running a grimy hand through her crimson locks. Lou. What a bastard. She'd be sure to make it up to him when they next met up.

The girl flicked her tongue out and wet her lips, her stomach growled noisily. The girl raised an eyebrow, glimpsing down at her gut and silently asking, 'You're hungry? Well what am I supposed to do about it?'. A louder growl was it's response, she took her fist and hit her gut. It gave one last short grumble of protest, before shutting up. Eris sighed and turned her eyes overhead. The sky was lightening and she regretted how little sleep she'd gotten. There was maybe three good hours in there, the rest had been drifting in and out. The red head sighed, and as she did so, the rustling of leaves and the sound of footfalls caught her attention.

Eris turned her brown eyes in the direction of the sound and quickly stumbled to her feet. She steadied herself, rolling her shoulders back and clenching her fists. Her stance tall and defensive, narrowed eyes glared up toward the newcomer. The girl frowned at the steps stopped before anyone came into view, and a hoarse voice cleared their throat and spoke. Eris raised an eyebrow, and after a moment of silence she responded, "Yeah. I'm awake. What the hell do you want?" A rather chipper boy pipped up.

"Oh, nice! I was worried you might die of hypothermia or something, but you seemed pretty quiet at night; no screaming or crying, so... aha... ha." Trap gasped in a relieved tone, making his way over to the edge of the hole to peer in on the 'prisoner' of sorts. When he saw her, his heart skipped a beat. Not because he was in love or anything like that - but because she looked terrifying. Deep, strong, brown eyes - that certainly didn't look appreciative of the situation. Crimson hair, red like a blood-filled sunset. Topped off with a frame that could probably beat the everlasting heck out of him if he let his guard down. Oh boy... he sure knew how to pick them, huh?

Regardless, the fact she was pretty, and a girl, made Trap ignore his initial thought of just walking off with a bit of piss in his pants. Instead, the boy in the weird skintight suit, with a parrot, and a massive boomerang, kneeled down and looked at her for a moment, with a stupid smile on his face. It was unclear what he was smiling about, but it certainly wasn't mocking or creepy. After being seemingly satisfied, Trap sat down, his legs dangling down by the edge of the hole. It was almost as if he didn't have a single care at the fact that the girl could probably jump up and grab his legs if she tried hard enough.

"So! ...Uh... yeah." Trap began somewhat awkwardly. "Welcome to my rabbit trap that you, uh, accidentally fell into or something I guess? Sorry you had to sleep through all that... eheh... th-that wasn't the intention, I promise! ...But the others would be kinda mad if I let you out now." Trap said in a half-guilty tone, looking at the floor sheepishly. Continuing swiftly on...

"I was actually wonderin' if any rabbits fallen down with you, because we could do with some meat." Trap said lightheartedly. Pausing, he fumbled in his pocket, withdrew a flask of some sort, and dropped it down to her gently. Eris caught the flask, seemingly with ease. "Aaaand... here we go...! I also made you some berry tea. I don't mean to brag, but apparently, I make a badass berry tea. Drink up while it's hot!"

The flask warmed her chilled fingers, and the sudden shift send a chill down her spine as goosebumps travelled along her arms. She eyed the container in hand, and looked back up at him, almost as if appraising the boy, "I..."
She paused and glanced at the flask again. Part of her wanted to simply down it. They had her where they wanted, and this, despite being an advanced task, was still a borderline glorified field trip. Murder was still very frowned upon, and Eris knew it was unlikely they would risk their futures to poison some girl.

Still, she was cautious and uncertain. She pressed her lips together and unscrew the cap before taking a swig. The liquid was hot, not quite enough to scald her but enough to make her flinch. Her lips were chapped and dry, and her tongue had been tastless and swollen. Like a healing elixir the tea coated her tongue and refreshed her. The drink itself was more sweet than bitter, it was clear that a couple berries hadn't been quite ripe but Eris still enjoyed the brew.

She pulled the, now half empty, flask away from her lips but the girl didn't bother corking it again, making it clear she intended to finish it. She looked up at the boy again. He was skinnier than the other two she'd stumbled across, not scrawny, but he had a more lithe build than the muscular bastard who had dropped her down here in the first place. His lanky frame was made obvious by his tighter choice of clothing. Eris eyed the boomerang curiously but made no remark on it.

"...Thank you for this." She said, as she tilted the container, "It's really good"
The liquid sloshed around on the inside and she took another sip before sitting back on the pile of debris that had fallen down here with her and continuing to nurse the drink. She leaned back so her back was against the wall, and her free hand traced the frost covered leaves and few sticks that were scattered near her.

"You're welcome! Least I can do for getting you all dirty in there. But I think I've got something else that can make up for it even more later. That's a surprise though." Trap said with a wink, Eris raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was on about. The boy seemed quite proud at the fact that she enjoyed his tea. Nobody had enjoyed his cooking before... probably for the right reasons. Maybe he actually got something right for once when it came to the art of making stuff taste edible?

Eris kept her eyes on him, still silently looking him over. Finally she spoke again, "I'm Eris Valentine. What's you name?" Turns out she wasn't really angry with him, which was a relief. Maybe she did actually hate him, but was trying to play him so she could escape? Oh, either way, Trap knew he was a gullible bastard, so he just gave into the theory that she was actually quite nice.

"Eris Valentine? Name checks out; I'd happily be yours." Trap said offhandedly, almost as if he hadn't been aware he'd flirted. She smirked lightly at that but gave no retort. Instead she just sipped at the tea quietly. That was perfectly fine, seeing as the boy was content to do most of the talking apparently. Excitedly, he added, "Oh, and the name's Trap Hanamura! I'll be your prison guard of some sort for today. Probably not for tomorrow, but enjoy it whilst it lasts~." Trap said with a makeshift bow in his sitting position. He tried to attempt some sort of pose, but it didn't work, so he just settled for crossing his legs instead.

She laughed softly, and covered her mouth as she did so, "Yeah, yeah I'm sure I will..."
She trailed off, looked around again and pursing her lips in thought. Her eyes wandered up to him again "...Listen, Trap, I get you can't just let me go. If our roles were reversed I know I wouldn't set you free. But, if i'm going to be in prison can I at least get a better view?" She said with a slight shrug, "If you intend to keep me trapped, you will eventually need to move me. If you do so now, I promise I won't run. On my mother's honor"
She placed a hand over her heart, mentally mumbling on how her mother had no honor, "A stone cage would be better than this... I just..."

A expression of embarrassment and shame crossed her features, she turned her eyes away, looking down, "...I ...I have a fear of being buried alive."
She cleared throat, "I...uh, well, I got in a fight with an earth caster when I was a kid. She buried me up to my neck after I broke her nose and dislocated her jaw. I was stuck like that for hours.... Never... never really got over it. Heh.."

Trap's eyes lit up as she began talking, as if she'd said exactly what he wanted to, and as if he had something to show her. But as she explained her incident with the Earth Caster, Trap's expression was one of disgust.

"... She... buried you... up to your neck?" He whispered. 'Gotcha' Her mind hissed quietly. The sheer tone of his voice was a flag. She had him. Hook, line and sinker. "... What a horrible way to... ugh. Earth casting ain't meant to be used for torture. It's meant to be used for protecting others... forming stunts... building things, creating things... I..." Trap paused, and shook his head. "Eh... sorry. It's just that I'm an Earth Caster myself." Trap admitted, seemingly not caring about giving away his abilities to the enemy. She nodded slowly, it sounded like it was working. The girl kept her eyes downcast, her bangs darkening her eyes. It took a lot to resist grinning.

Mentally, she patted herself on the back. Full disclosure, the story itself was completely legitamate, and she did find being encased in earth to be a terrifying notion. Normally she wasn't the type to get all emotional and timid, she kept herself exceedingly guarded and though it had been true, she'd admittedly played it up to get a bit more sympathy from the sweet boy.

"I take great pride in what I can do, and the abilities passed down to me. Being able to shape the very earth is a power you shouldn't abuse. I, personally, use it to do all sorts of cool things! Just ask that Zelda chick when you get back!" He said, his tone rising to the usual happy-dog sort, before he looked down again. "I guess I'm just mad that some people actually use it for things like that. I've heard stories that sometimes... make me... kind of ashamed of what I am..." Trap paused and Eris looked up at him, taken aback, "No, hey. That's not--," The boy went on.
"Well, not really... I-I'm Trap Hanamura, for goodness sake! What am I saying? But... ah... heh... I... I guess you know what I mean."

Eris paused, her lips twisting into a frown. as she spoke her tone held an earnest note. Genuine concern and care. She suprised even herself, "Hey, Trap. Every kind of magic can be used for good or bad. It depends on the person. There's nothing to be ashamed of. You aren't the same as she is."After a while of silence, Trap seemed comforted by the words, and eventually spoke up again. He seemed a bit put out, but still relatively bubbly.

"You're right. Er... anyway. Because I work in earth, that lil' request for your stone prison is actually doable." Trap seemed smug about something as he was talking, before he folded his arms confidently. "Oh, did I say doable? I meant done!--" Eris' eyes widened and she lifted her head to look at him in surprise, "I had a lot of spare time last night as I was watching you, thinking about how much that hole probably sucked. So lil' old me planned ahead before you caught some sort of disease down there. This new prison thing is that 'something else' I was talking about earlier." Trap laughed, before kicking his legs as he looked down at Eris. She looked rather impressed that he had managed such a feat, and so quietly at that. She'd had no idea.

"You just have to promise me you won't laugh at it, okay? I'm no architect, but I tried my best whilst trying to not knock myself out by overusing energy." Trap said. "And you also gotta promise to be a good girl! No trying to shank me! Because the chances are you're going to get rescued by the girls anyway sometime today or tomorrow. Just be a bit patient. You can punch me in the face later; you'll just get yourself in trouble for now."

Trap thought for a moment, before winking.
"Maybe you could throw me some info on your squad for being such a nice host?" She scoffed and shook her head. That probably meant no, so he added, "I understand if your loyalty to your team is too high for that and stuff, so it's optional I guess." The tall boy blinked, before looking down at Eris and cocking his head. "But anyway. Promise me those two things?"

"I promise I won't laugh, loudly." She emphasized with a slight smirk, "And I already swore that I would behave. Just get me out of here." With that the girl got to her feet.
"I'm going to run and try to climb up again. Be a gentleman and help me up, won't you?"

"Oh, t'would be a pleasure." Trap said in mock politeness. The promise was good enough for him; if she backstabbed him and managed to get away, she'd earned it with her convincing act. Lying over the edge and extending his arm, Trap got ready to hoist Eris up. "Ready? Going up...!"

Eris went from utterly still and slightly crouching, to a crimson blur within a matter of seconds. She launched herself upwards, arm extending and reaching for the boy. Her hand clasped his forearm, but the grime on her palm made her grip less reliable. Her hand slipped and she began to slide down back into her prison. An expression of panic crossed her features and instinctively her hand tightened around his. She dangled down for a moment, a look of mild fear crossing her features but in the blink of an eye it was gone. She was brave again. She was unbreakable again.

With her place now secure, Trap helped hoist the girl up. Her combat boot clad feet walked up along the wall of earth and her grip around his hands twitched tighter as she suddenly found herself unnerved at the idea of falling back down. She gripped his hands as if she were holding onto dear life and tried to alleviate as much weight as possible so as to not hinder the boy has he pulled her to safety.

"O-Okay... looking good so far... nngh... get ready for the big heave...!" Trap wheezed, trying his hardest not to drop the crimson-haired girl. She was fast when she wanted to be; seriously fast, which made Trap doubt she was planning to keep her word. Regardless, he was going to get her out of there. Gripping onto her hands tightly, Trap bent his legs as he prepared for a big pull to finish getting her out.

"Three, two, one... o-oof!" "G-gah!" He suddenly spluttered in surprise as he made the big pull, as Eris had positioned herself in a way so she'd be super light to carry. That combined with an all-out pull from Trap sent her whizzing up out of the hole, knocking him over onto his back with the crimson-haired girl right on top of him. Eris made an unmistakable sound of surprise as her face fell into his chest. She freed one of her hands, placing it on the ground next to his head as she pushed herself up.

"Er... my bad... I guess?" Trap mumbled in an embarrassed tone, looking up at Eris. Above, her hair was hanging down around her, she looked down at him for a moment in surprise. She blinked, and her mouth hung open as she tried to think of what to say. Her insides squirmed, but she managed to keep a relatively calm exterior aside from the creeping color in her cheeks. By his posture, he was trying to play it cool as usual, but ultimately failing. He clearly hadn't been this close to a girl before, and certainly had never trapped underneath one.

For one moment her brown eyes flickered towards the woods and the dense treeline. For one moment... she contemplated running. She could vanish in the blink of an eye and be gone. Just like that...

That moment passed, and the girl stifled the urge. There was a better way of going about this. Plus she wanted to avoid Raina or any one of the girl's rubbing her failure in her face as long as possible... Eris began to stand herself up, just rolling over. Trap, still seeming dumfounded, tried to say something stupid to make light of the situation.
"So... I guess I got you out of a hole lot of trouble, huh?"

Eris blinked once, and her lips curled up into a grin. Her shoulders began to shake slightly and she chuckled, she pressed her lips together, trying to mask how amused she was. She rolled off of the boy and onto her back beside him, covering her mouth as she laughed a little more... Bad puns spoke to her on a spiritual level, but it was pretty hard to find anyone with a similar sense of humor. Bravo, brav-fucking-o.

Lying on his back, hearing this girl laugh was like music to his ears. It felt... good, he supposed... to make someone who'd been trapped in a hole all night actually laugh. And before he knew it, he was laughing, too. For the brief moment, it seemed like there was no tension between boys and girls. Here he was, laughing with the 'enemy' as if they were just hanging out in a park.

"You know, uh... I..." Trap's laughter eventually died down. "...I... ah... actually, it doesn't matter. Anyways!" Eris looked over at the boy, curious to know what he had been going to say, but her wondering eyes didn't seem to push him to go on. Just for the sake of looking cool, Trap vaulted back up onto his feet without even using his arms. Eris, not wanted to be out done, did the same. This seemed to impress him greatly.

"Woah, uh... well! I'd better get you to your new quarters! This way, mademoiselle." He gestured forth, and the earth prison he'd made was clearly visible now to her now that she was out of the hole. It was square box of four raised earth walls and no roof, with basically a bunch of knuckle-sized holes punched into two of the walls as 'windows'. The structure was certainly crude and quite funny to look at, reminding her of something like an apple that a worm had eaten through - but it was something. The floor had been swept of leaves and seemed sort of clean considering the circumstances, and there was even a log to sit on.

The walls definietely looked too high to climb, but the material certainly didn't seem to be solid. Digging out of it would probably take mere days. Mere days. There seemed to be no door, but Trap looked like he had a plan to get her inside and the red head wasn't sure she wanted to find out what that plan was.
"Er... not exactly a five star hotel, but... I think I did okay! The only problem I faced was building a lavatory. Let's just hope you won't need to go, but... uh... there's sort of a hole in the corner." Trap chuckled, Eris tried to express humor at the subject, but the prospect was something that worried her slightly, "Don't worry about that, though! I doubt you'll be staying here long."

"I can only hope." She said with a sigh as she began to walk toward the building. But at least this was out of the frying pan, though she might have landed in the fire. The girl swooped down to grab a few sticks. One of which was of a considerable size. She stopped, "Oh shit. My backpack."
She turned her attention to the collaboration of stone where she'd first --quite literally-- run into Lou. Through the trees it was just barely visible, still sitting pretty where she'd dropped it. She looked at it, and then shrugged. She'd get it later, no point in doing so now.

"You can grab that on the way out if ya' ever get free. I don't know what you might have in there, so I guess I can't let you have it? Sort of?" Trap scratched his head. "If you need to take medication, or have some special item or something, I'll give it to you through the holes, though."

She let her eyes linger on her bag, but she just shook her head and shrugged. All her things were inside, but the most important of them was Clarisse, who had fluttered over to her in the middle of the night and was hiding behind her neck and under her waterfall of red hair. She kept these new sticks in hand. The red head had still been freezing all night, and if he was trapped here longer she wanted at least the option of warmth. She turned back towards her fancy new prison, "So, how do I get in?"

"Glad you asked! Behold!" Trap said, flicking back his hair as he drew his boomerang with a twirl. Using his earth magic, he levitated the stone within the boomerang onto its side, keeping it steady like a platform. "How's your balance? Because the plan is to levitate you in there on this." She looked unnerved as he pointed to the boomerang, Trap cleared his throat. "Sit on it, stand on it, handstand on it... whatever, so long as ya' don't fall off. Then I can add the roof to make it a little more cozy in there."

She nodded slowly, worried for a moment that this might not work. Eris swallowed nervously and stepped onto the boomerang platform with her armful of twigs and large stick in hand. Slowly she rose to the air until she was looking down into her prison. The girl stepped forward hovering over the earthen maw and throwing the small sticks down before her. Internally she debated if she was really doing this, or if she would stick to what she'd said... The roux looked at the large stick, and then shrugged and tossed it aside before jumping in and landing at the bottom. The stick she'd thrown landed a moment before she had. It seemed the thing was more dense than it appeared to be.

Through one of the holes she waved and called over, "I guess, you can lock me in now."
She said, sounding slightly breathless.

"Phew! That went better than I expected- er... I mean... just as planned." Trap wheezed, returning the boomerang to him and slotting it back in place on his back. He seemed a little reluctant when Eris said about locking her in. He betted he could leave the roof off and she'd stay true to her word and stay there. But, precautions were precautions, he supposed. Dragging his foot along in the dirt in a rectangle, Trap seemed to be reminding himself the proportions needed for the roof.

"Yeah... er... sure." Trap hesitated, before getting into a stance. Before he began to cast his magic, he looked at Eris through the 'bars'. "I don't feel good about doing this, y'know... but... I gotta make sure my side wins." Trap scratched his head. "...M-Maybe we can hang out when all this has blown over?"

Peering through the bars, Eris took on an expression of mild shock and blinked in surprise. After staring at the boy for a moment her features softened and she gave way to a small smile, "Yeah... I think I'd like that."
With that, Trap, with a lot of apparent physical strain, hovered the rectangular sheet of earth onto the four-walled structure. Within the cage the girl turned her eyes upward as the sheet of earth moved overhead, blocking out the sun above.

The boy set it down atop shortly, and it sat crudely but firmly atop the place, blocking out any rain, snow, or falling leaves - but making the place a little bit darker. As the ceiling settled into place, dust began to fall down, covering the area around her and passing through her. The holes of the cage were so small it would be a feat and a half to notice such a detail, especially seeing as she pretended to brush it off of her sweater and out of her red hair... With a sigh, the girl moved to the far end of the cage and sat down, leaning against the wall, "So, I suppose you have a bit more of a shift before trading off, eh?"

Folding his arms for a moment, Trap eventually shrugged.
"Guarding you sounds fun, but... ah... weeell... I should actually go back and help the others do stuff. They'll be wondering where I am now. Or just rolling their eyes at me." Trap chuckled. "Now that you're in here, it's a weight off my shoulders. In truth, if the girls come, I'm going to be easy pickings... building this thing took the life outta me..." He admitted.

Eris peered closer, now that he mentioned it... Upon closer inspection, although he'd been acting normal, Trap was starting to look quite sweaty and breathless, his usual confident posture hunched over somewhat. His fatigue was something she could relate to, seeing as she was keeping herself invisible and maintaining a copy at the sametime. She made sure not to move her feet too much, so as to not attract attention by making sound anywhere aside from the cage.

The girl was under immense physical strain. A burden she was only able to do so well because, instead of puppeting the movement on her own she was acting as if she was really in the makeshift prison. The girl was projecting herself and just moving according to how she would be if she were in her duplicate's position. Though it was still strenuous, it was less of a headache.

Trap tapped his fingers at the side of legs in thought. He seemed contemplative before looking up with a joking smile.
"I'm probably going to head off soon. But I have a little request for you..." He paused, scratching his head. "Uh... if one of your girls take me out and drag me home, can I get a cage, too?"

The girl looked a little like she was trying to hide her amusement, but her smile cracked and she chuckled and nodded, "You'll be given the finest cage we can muster. Promise."
She vowed, actually intending on keeping that one should it come to pass. Honestly, the girl was already feeling guilty for making a sucker out of her little friend, but she had an agenda to keep. At the top of that agenda was fucking over that Lou character as hard she could and making sure he would be walking bow-legged afterward... Second, was her responsibility to her school and her team. She'd let them down this time around, but she sure as hell didn't intend on going back empty handed...

The redhead sighed, "Well, don't mind me. I'm going to try to catch up on some sleep. Maybe I'll see you around."
"Alrighty! Try and make yourself comfy. I'll bring you stuff in the afternoon, and evening, if you're still there by then." Trap gave a brief salute-like gesture. "S-See you later!" With that, Trap headed off in somewhat of a limp. The girl watched him go, and when he'd made enough headway Eris let the mirage flicker and fade.

She was focusing now on only keeping herself out of sight. Her face was coated in a thin layer of sweat, and though her mind was tired, it pushed itself further. Very much like one pushing their body to the limit of what they could carry, and then halving the weight. While still tiresome, was a great relief.

She turned her brown eyes up to see Trap, who, despite looking fatigued, still had a slight spring in his step. Her gut twisted.

---

What a girl! It was easy to just be amazed at any girl out here, but Trap definietely felt something special about that one. Lou must've put up a hell of a fight to keep her at bay, because she certainly seemed like she had a tough side to her. It was really nice of her to keep her honour, too; that was probably the value about her Trap liked the most.

Smiling to himself as he twiddled a twig inbetween his fingers, Trap didn't even feel like his energy usage was a waste anymore. It'd been worth it for her, right?

---

Part of her was weighted down from guilt as she tailed the boy, being careful not to stir up leaves and make as little noise as possible. Not that a bit of sound at this distance would particularly matter but the redhead liked to play it safe. She kept his silhouette in sight as she went. Despite the lump in her throat and the rock in her chest, her mind tried to reason and make her feel a little better.

She, technically could have dragged him down into the hole with her and then used him as something to jump off of. Or she could have hit him over the back of the head and made a run for it back to camp, but she hadn't! This had been to save him from a head injury, and preserve what was left of her shattered pride... After all, going back now would accomplish nothing, and coming back with something as useful as the location of the boys' encampment would surely save her from the scrutiny that very likely awaited her back with her team. She had to, there was no going back, not now.​