The Village of Blen

[Crono]

OCC: OPEN SIGNUPS - The Village of Blen OCC

"Not even five minutes and he's gone."

Nova wasn't really talking to anyone. She was, to her knowledge, alone in the fields of honey colored weat as that was the cause of her spoken thought. Her ambitious brother Avon had jumped for joy and taken off as soon as the siblings were finished with their morning chores. The young adult looked over to see that the sun just hopped off of the horizon and was hovering sleepily in the air, the day had just began. Plenty more time to be pestered by her boneheaded brother or any of the other villagers really.

As she began walking silently back to her caretaker's home Nova gave her last thought some examination. It wasn't true she found, if not for the villagers Blen would be unbearably boring, at least she had something to do besides work and drinking. She was so lost in thought that she almost bumped into the door of her own house. Nova rolled hazel eyes, "Damn you thinking, what have you ever done for me?" She entered, giving the cosy, not too big home a look around before raising her voice.

"Auntie Mei! We're done! Did Avon even bother to stop and say goodbye before he took off for the village?"


As a matter of fact, he had. Avon had swept into the house and ran for the room he shared with his sister. Just before sprinting back out the door he had given his beloved guardian a "See you later!" He was now setting a quick jog down the cobble path that led to the village little known as Blen. The young man always found the name of his home very symbolic: it was the most lame name of all time ever. As Blen was, officially, the most lame place ever.

Avon once thought that he could defend the coolness of Blen though it's interesting residents, and the things they got into, but he soon realized that it was impossible for one major reason. Nothing that happened in Blen ever mattered. No one outside of the village was effected by something in Blen except when his Vona became a Hero, and she was forced to say she was born somewhere else to the public! As he passed though the village waving to his fellow residents he realized his current train of thought was rather depressing, so he ended it. After all, one day he would be a Hero like Vona, and then he would parade his place of birth down the streets before corporate sharks could nab him.

Now in a much better mood, Avon turned to head down a dirt path that led to a tiny hut by the river. He called out triumphantly, "Joel Iornweave! At long last I've come to fulfill your dream: to train the man who will be known as Avon the Great!"


"Gah!"

Mayor awoke with a start, a great weight was on his chest. He looked down, the cat. It was staring at him with that creepy, degrading look that it had. "Our little deal is going to come to fruition soon. A day or two from now, you'd best prepare." "Really? Oh..." "You forgot of it didn't you, useless idiot."

The cat jumped off of him, but now guilt and dread weighed Mayor down. He got up and placed his head in his shivering hands. After sitting there with the cat watching he began to get ready for the day.

 

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Miss Mei was standing by the kitchen counter in her small home, watching the sunrise outside the window. The sight of the morning light over her fields, despite how many times she had seen it, never ceased to amaze. But in difference to some years ago, the fields weren't empty of humans, Nova, one of two siblings that she'd sheltered, was now in it too, seemingly admiring the view herself and finishing her chores. What a dutiful young woman. Miss Mei on her side, was preparing some food for the two, food of which only Nova's half remained.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Giving Nova a heartfelt smile upon her entrance, she gestured to the table, which was covered with various breads, eggs, milk, and various other food items to go with it. "Lovely, Nova darling! You sure are fast! Want some breakfast?" At the question of her brother, Miss Mei thought back. It wasn't long ago, but she had to take a moment to think it through nonetheless. And indeed, he had gone by here. "Ah yes, your brother left here just a short while ago; taking with him some wrapped up bread pieces and such. Tell me, what were his businesses there again?"[/BCOLOR]

 

[Ythania]

Blen Blacksmithery, like any other day of the year, did not have a plume of smoke billowing from the chimney. It was a haphazard wreck of a building which miraculously managed to remain standing, even after 30 years of intense abuse from its sole occupant and a myriad of frightening yet efficient repairs on the mouldy stonework and sagging rooftop were testaments to the house's resilience and its owner's aggression. The sunlight filtered through the curtains, a beam of dusty light cutting through the wrecked and ruined building before lighting on a pile of old coats and pillows. Creaks and groans started to issue from the crumpled heap on the floor as something dislodged itself from the mass and slowly, groggily, began to rise.

Yamazaru rubbed at her face in the mirror and grabbed a comb, running it through her hair. She pulled out a pile of clothes from the nest she had created and started pulling them on, rather nonchalantly, over her naked body. She did not know what time it was - minutes and hours seemed to effortlessly melt into one another in such a small hamlet, and it wasn't as if the Yokai needed to keep track of it in the first place; not to mention that she tossed the grandfather clock into the river a few months after inheriting the house from its predecessor. Yamazaru pulled a face as, once again, her tail got caught in her trousers and she had to wiggle the fabric around in order to free herself. Content that she looked acceptably decent, the Yokai pulled back the curtains and let in the mid-morning sunshine and the draft from the shattered window pane near the kitchen.
The first thing that greeted her view was the sight of Avon the Great tearing through the street towards either the Hero Centre or Ironweave's hut. Yamazaru hoped it was the latter; the kid was too impatient to become a hero just yet and she didn't want him coming back with tears in his eyes. She leant on the windowsill and looked outside at the peaceful town square (if it could be called that, it was a circular road that connected most of the essential buildings) and listened to the cheerful birds cheeping, watching the grass flutter in the breeze and peering at the immaculate mansion in the distance. It was quiet and idyllic, and it made Yamazaru sick to the stomach.

Well, it wasn't really a feeling of nausea, but a slow ache in her abdomen which would eventually build into wracking, intolerable pains across the entirety of her body. Everyone knew that Yamazaru was in eternally in the grip of withdrawal symptoms, but it has been increasingly difficult for the past few days to remain in control. That was understandable; she hadn't had a proper freak-out session for a good month or so. By her standards, Yamazaru was doing incredibly well. In order to placate herself, though, she knew she had to find alternative methods. Her gaze slipped to the disappearing figure of Avon the Great, and the corners of her mouth twitched into a big grin.

Soon, Yamazaru was skimming through the trees towards the river and Joel's hut. She watched Avon excitedly and triumphantly call out to the aged fisherman for hero training. Joel was a good man, but Yamazaru knew he wouldn't even bother opening his door unless Avon had a coinpouch on him. Using her tail-hand to cling onto the branch, she hung down from the tree outside the fisherman's hut and appeared around a foot away from Avon's face, smirking. "Did I hear training~?" she crooned, before bursting into a cackle. "Morning Avon, I see you're also here to bug the old codger."

 

[slayerbat]

Joel woke up in a cold sweat at Avon shouting his name. He sat up grabbing his fishing pole. Something is going to happen soon, he thought. He could feel it. Joel called out to Avon, "I Hope you have a coin pouch." Even if he didn't, he may just have to make an exception today. He knew his gut never failed him in it's warnings. His hand hesitated at the door, as he could swear he heard Yamazaru talking to Avon. He shook his head knowing that despite her tendencies Yamazaru wasn't an actual threat to this village, it had to belong to either the fallen angel, or the mayor's cat. He steeled himself for the day and opened the door with a small smile. He put his hand out to Avon, "Well? Even if you're a hero or adventurer boy, everyone will expect you to pay for their services." Ironweave then casted a look at Yamazaru, "I'll also need money from you if you're planning on ruining my things, or wasting my time. I still need to talk to you about your overdue debts."

 

[WrittenAll Over]

That morning, Somewhere up the road of Blen, a small party of three traversed through forested pathway on their way to the Hero Center


"Are you SURE you couldn't just summon another one?" Josephus grumbled shifting from behind the saddle where he wrestled with both Coriline's brown, corkscrew hair in his face and staying comfortably on the mild mannered stallion's rump. Coming upon the tenth hour horseback riding, in position two, was becoming more than rather uncomfortable for the large-ish young man.

"No," Coriline, a rather exotic young lady sitting side saddle in front of him, stated simply " I'm comfortable." It had been a pleasant morning trip on her part. There was a light breeze wafting through the white, peeling, bitch trees which provided a good amount of shade. The horse, she fondly named Boradine the buck, had been at a comfortable walk for the past hour. Even though she was aware that seating in the back was less than desirable, she silently wished for any excuse with which to annoy her lifelong friend. He was more than a friend to her really, but right off the bat it was pretty obvious he only saw her as a curiosity; still she refused to give him up. At least for now, she could keep him on his toes.

"I know YOU'RE comfortable...but." he shifted again to match the horses's gait trying to keep his cool " Do you have any idea what this is do-" he cut off with a mild growl as the saddle again rubbed into his abdomen. Honestly, he considered patience a huge asset when traveling with one such as Coriline but there was only so many arguments, so many bruises and so many faces full of hair one could take. "You know what," he nearly laughed with frustration "I think it's time I walk." And with that he swiftly slide off the back landing on the ground stiffly.

Coriline swiveled her head around in time to see his look of still pain on his face, feeling slightly remorseful but recovered quickly enough"Now, why did you have to go and do that?" She glowered lightly,
as if scolding a child.

It was a moment before Joe was able to walk; the breeze over his sweaty seat rather a soothing effect. "Don't start with me." he interrupted firmly continuing by her side "We both know you're not the merciful type." Coriline turned up her pretty little nose preferring to glare at the narrow trail before them. It was true, She was a beautiful women now but she still had the limits of a testy child. Once she had even forced a giant bore after him after he'd eaten her squirrel, who had been pelting him continuously for nearly a week. But however crazy her habits Joe couldn't bare to tell her to shove off. She, after all, was the one who really had his dream in hand. She was his greatest asset in deducing the mysteries of beasts unknown with which was his purpose of adventuring at all. Besides she really was fun to work with....when she wanted to be.

"What's the distance?" Joe asked casually fixing his eyes on the now approaching lapse in treeline.

"Fluff says there is a town ahead." Coriline's golden eyes glanced from him to is gaze ahead with the same curiosity.

It was several minutes before they were able to spot the outline of Blen's buildings from beneath the lessening density of trees.
"Isn't that curious..." Joe was quite confused. "There wasn't a mark on the map showing any such town..."

Coriline laughed gleefully examining the various buildings from afar "I would say that's a stroke of luck! It being only just morning, we can have a good exotic breakfast meal before that hobgob of refined food rubbish at the Hero Center." Coriline, ruled by her unstable appetite, took pleasure in many cravings especially those of rare animals. As far from the start of their journey as they were, everything in this area was foreign to her.
Joe grazed his hand through his dusty hair reluctant to let a moment come between him and what he had heard of the ultimate libraries of the Hero Center. "Uhhh," then again if Coriline was in a mood when they arrived, there would be no coming back from the hellish first impressions. "I suppose they may have some inside information for me there..lets see if they even have an inn first off." he decided as they passed between what seemed two small farms; him on foot, her on horseback.

 

[Crysodic]

Will-o-Wisp Inn

Kerr was awoken by Avon the Great as usual. "I should really start closing my window..." He pushed off the blanket that lay on top of him, and swung his feet over to the edge of the bed. Kerr pushed his hands through his emerald hair, making it slightly more smooth before forcing himself to get up and put on clothes. He chose a normal green tunic with slightly tattered brown pants, and his leather boots. Kerr focuses for a moment and warms his hands slightly, nervous that for whatever reason, his slight magic powers would dissipate. His morning routine is never different, Avon may not wake him some days but those are far apart. Kerr opens his bedroom door to the second floor of the Inn. The second floor was less of a floor and more of a walkway. A wooden path that was about five feet wide, and as long as the building. It holds ten rooms, (nine not counting Kerr's) all nicely made and ready to be moved in, rented or bought. Kerr stepped over to the rail's edge and looked down to where his father would love to jump over the rail and float down to the main hall. You could see where the tables were moved and the slight indent on where he would land every morning. Sadly Kerr had to walk down the steps like a normal person and start his work day by opening the door to the Inn.

Kerr pushed in a few chairs around tables as he walked towards the door. There was less to push in as he expected, either less people are coming in or the more tipsy people are being more polite and pushing them in. Most likely the former. Kerr thought as he gently pushed open the Inn door, signaling to the world that Kerr was awake and ready to serve. A gust of wind pushed into the establishment allowing new smells fill the room, as Kerr walked behind the bar and sparked an idea for a special that he could run today. Kerr quickly went to the back and checked on the kegs of everything on tap, before going back to the front and doing general cleaning.​

 

[Crono]

Nova smiled at her loving guardian. Miss. Mei was a part of her family far before the fire, always there when they ran into trouble and she didn't miss a beat in taking them in. "Thanks Auntie." She felt a little childish using that nickname she and her brother had given Mei from youth, yet the sense of security that came with it made it worth feeling such a way. As Nova sat down to begin eating she responded, "I think he's going to Ironweave for sword training. Hasn't he been saving up his cash?"

Before Nova could get a response there was the sound of arguing and horse hooves on cobble. "Adventurers," she observed from the window before picking up her plate and fork to exit her house. They seemed rather odd, one was walking with room enough for him on the horse and the other just looked crazy. She waved to them before leaning on the fence that separated Miss. Mei's property from the road and continued to eat her breakfast.

"Good morning travelers. What brings you to Blen? You know, aside from the horse," the last statement was not at all joking. Nova had received a rather sassy reply from one adventurer causing her to always add that last bit into her greeting to outsiders. She had pushed that guy's horse over.


Avon flinched at the sudden arrival of his long time friend, Yamazaru. Despite swearing to vanquish her while he was very young (he was stopped by his sister of course) the young man now appreciated the yokai as a person who, in her rare spurts of activity, tried to help as much as she could. "Indeed! At last I have saved enough money for swordplay lessons!" With a broad smile he showed her a burlap bag and was about to shake it when Ironweave came out.

Avon had become obsessed with Ironweave the moment he learned the spider, guy, thing was a former hero. He had begun saving money from work (more of a allowance but he called it that anyway) to purchase adventuring lessons from the man, visiting him most often at the end of every week. "Of course I do!" He proudly opened and thrust forward the bag, quickly realizing that the bag contained his breakfast sandwich. "Oh, sorry, wrong... Hold on please."

Avon's face flushed bright red as he scrambled to his belt, grabbing another, almost identical bag. He shook it to hear the tinkling of coins. "Ok, this is the right one. I would like swordplay lessons please." He opened it to display that it held at least fifteen silver.

 

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Mei Meh-funh was not a person to miss an opportunity to lend something to someone, hopefully making their day easier. Taking Nova and Avon under her metaphorical wings was at the very least her pleasure, getting to experience in a way having kids herself. At her greeting she nodded, and continued her warm smile. It warmed her heart that they still called her Auntie. Ever since she had first gotten it from them, she had loved every second of it. She even felt somewhat guilty for not giving them a similar name they might like. Seeing Nova start eating, she turned to her own food, being very careful to answer her question before stuffing her mouth. "Oh yes, darling, Avon has been putting aside money for this day for what feels like a year now! I'm so excited to hear what he learns!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Pushing her creaky wooden chair back, Miss Mei stood up to see the incoming adventurers through the window. Seeing travellers arrive in town was always exiting. She couldn't wait to talk to them, and of course hear whether they needed anything. Unfortunately, as clumsy as she had a tendency of being, bringing her food out would be a bad idea, so eating had to wait. With shaky steps she made her way to the fence, an increasing distance behind Nova. Once finally arriving close enough for them to hear her, she added to her question. "And may we get you anything, darlings?"[/BCOLOR]

 

[Ythania]

Ruining his things? Talk about a low blow, calling Yamazaru out on her little temper tantrums like that. The Yokai pulled a face that wasn't her usual cheeky grin, but one of hurt feelings and anger. It was brief, it was fleeting, but it was directed at Joel and it said 'That hurt.' Then, just as quickly, it vanished and instead Yamazaru pulled one of her ear-to-ear smirks. "My presence is a present, Joel. The best one you're going to get too since I'm flat broke!" Yamazaru proudly brandished her coinpouch, turning it upside down and emptying the contents - a handful of shiny pebbles - onto the floor. "As for the debts, I guess you're just going to have to work around it my way; got any crap you need me to shovel around? Oooh, shall I go fishing for you?" Yamazaru swung back and forth, her tone of voice mocking, yet light-hearted. At least she was in one of her 'helpful' kicks; a rare thing to see, let alone so early in the morning...It wasn't like her. At all.

Yamazaru peered down Avon as he also thrust out his coinpouch; when the true contents were revealed, the Yokai burst into a peal of cackling, hooting laughter. She flung herself upwards with her tail and grabbed onto the branch with her arm, slowly starting to calm down. "Hoooohboy, looks like Avon's reeeallly saved up for the training!" she teased, her sentence trailing off into another giggle. Avon wasn't deterred by Yamazaru's comments, however, and Yamazaru stopped chuckling to jerk a thumb at the boy. "He's got some proper manners too, isn't that meant to be a good sign?"

Finally, Yamazaru dropped onto the floor. Like most Yokai (although they weren't so common around these parts) Yamazaru was significantly larger and broader than both Joel and Avon, arguably the biggest person in Blen. Since she spends so much time hanging off of things and climbing on top of things, it's always a little bit surprising to see her hit the floor and stand up, but even then her slouched demeanour was meant to shrink her down and make her seem a little more welcoming and less...big scary demon thing. It was when she squared her shoulders and straightened her back - that was when you had to watch out. This time, there were no signs of hostility as she padded over to Joel, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "I'm serious though, if you need anything done today, I'm your girl. Just so long as I can watch the kid try and pick up a sword." Yamazaru shot a smile over her shoulder at Avon. She then leaned in close and muttered something under her breath, just in Joel's hearing range - "I get the feeling he'll need to learn fast."

Yamazaru twisted around so she was behind the adventurer-turned-fisherman and gave Avon three thumbs up and a smile. "Make me proud, kid! One hundred and ten percent effort today or that's 15 silver wasted. Who knows? Maaaaybe if you get good enough, you might get a special present on your birthday." Yamazaru feigned unsheathing a sword, before cackling again and settling herself down by Joel's front door.

 

[slayerbat]

Joel chuckled a little as Yamazaru suggested she fish for him, "No that's quite alright you'd scare the fish away for a week if I let you do that." He then turned his attention to Avon as he opened his breakfast. Joel smirked as Avon realized his mistake, letting it go as youthful excitement. Joel watched Yamazaru as she laughed, "That he did." He smiled a little bit as he counted the silver Avon had saved up with a glance. Joel turned to Avon to look him square in the eyes, with a sense of warmth, "You've done well to resist impulse buying, being able to save up for a task is just as important as being able to do the task itself, I'll only take half from you, since I will be making your life hard today." Joel held out his hand for Avon to give him the silver he asked for, glancing at Yamazaru as she dropped onto the floor. He was used to her sporadic behavior, and wasn't surprised when she did get back up and squared herself making herself bigger. Had she wanted to attack Joel he'd have been completely off guard. As Yamazaru uttered her seriousness to Joel, with the following mutter Joel realized she felt something was amiss as well. He silently thanked her for her quick wits. Joel looked back at her as she sat by his door, "Well since you're offering, I'd be much obliged if you'd spend the day ruffling our fair mayor's feathers, you see he still owes me from when he lost at cards. I'd like to be sure that he was in good hands, he and his pet." Joel turn his focus back on Avon, "She's right Avon, you're wasting your money if you give it any less then your best. You'll need a lot of grit if you want to make it as an adventurer." Though Joel wasn't sure what was going to happen today, he knew that Yamazaru could keep the mayor occupied and safe if his worst fears about the fallen angel turned out to be true.

 

[Karakui]

All was peaceful in the village of Blen, as usual, much to the vampire's discontent - Aruna quite liked it when things happened. Thus, as usual, the outskirts of Blen were consumed in a hectic frenzy of activity. On this particular day, the girl was locked in an aerial battle with a humanoid figure built entirely of a strange black fluid. The fight had been raging for a good 2 hours now, and had just recently made its way to the farmland at the entrance to the village. It was a peculiar sight to behold. Sparks of blue electricity flew ecstatically in every direction upon each collision of blade or spell, and the sheer scale of the attacks made it look like some kind of exhibition match more than a real fight. Most odd though would likely have been the four china plates that were slowly circling the duo, which a magic sensitive person would have noticed were being used as recording devices.

A brief halt in the battle occurred as the combatants regained their breath (or at least, the living one did), during which the third plate took the opportunity to say "Aruna, you could have finished this at least 3 chapters ago if you used your spells properly. Is something bothering you?" The voice was very soporific and instantly recognisable as that of the lazy girl in the town's library who had made a grand total of 3 expeditions beyond its walls in the past 4 months. "No," came the response. The tone was a little sharp and to the point, that of a 14 year old mixed with an elder's decades of wisdom and exhaustion. "I just decided I needed to practice my weaker magic" she finished. This was immediately followed by several purple-tinged lightning bolts thrown casually in the direction of the shadow-man. Only 2 actually hit their mark, the rest striking the dirt road beneath them, barely missing the horse and two people stood there. This tempted a short apology from the vampire's lips, but nothing more.

More attacks were launched from Aruna's side, most missing or being dodged, but never countered. "Oh, I get it! This shadow isn't evil in the slightest so you can't control h-" the plate was interrupted by a lance of the purple energy, which dissolved it and showered the poor horse's mane with a fine white dust. "How come you can only aim when you don't need to?"

 

[WrittenAll Over]

Almost immediately following Joe's decision to remain a bit, a young women approached from a small-ish house on their left. Oddly enough she had brought with her what seemed to be her breakfast. Aware of the girl exiting her home, Coriline pulled the horse aside instinctively positioning the horse between the young women and Joe, fixing her sharp golden eyes on the girl. With some difficulty, Joe had to walk around the front of the stallion in order to see who had spoken and by that time an old women had tottered up. "Yes, well..g-" the horse interrupted snuffing the back of his neck. "-good morning to you as well!" He replied with as much cheer as he could muster as he ruffly shoved the horse away. Coriline, who had just previously zoned out on the plate of food, revived herself with a quick defensive smile at the girl's sarcastic remark.

Coriline had been about to accept the older woman's offer when rather swiftly interrupted by Joe. "No, very kind of you but not at this time." she shot him a look of annoyance. Joe ignored it, thinking it unwise to acknowledge at this moment. He made a quick note of the town name as he approached the two women further in order to talk comfortably. "On our way to the Center, as it happens." He peered down the road towards the gathering circle of buildings down the road. " Tell me, why is..Blen unmentioned in the travels?" he asked curiously having already failed to remember any such mention.


It was at the mention of the Center when it became apparent that Joe wasn't liable to cease conversation for a good while. "He's going to keep talking isn't he." Coriline stated to herself almost amused. Her Joe could talk for hours on end with absolutely the most dull subjects imaginable. Then again, for her, that's one of the most interesting things about him. She'd spent so many years answering his very minute questions about her abilities that she was sure he had more ability to use them than even she. She dismounted swiftly sweeping aside her long forest green, if not faded, skirt-which was much easier with the thigh length split- before sliding to the ground. Everything about her seemed to be a bit of a light mess at the moment. Long brown wisps of hair fell loosely about her face from her insecure braid. She puffed them away dusting off her skirt and sleeves from a long night's travel as Joe spoke.

There was a quick vibration in the air followed by several snaps of electricity and though Coriline could tell the sounds approached closer she was unable to see until the last second, the violent violet explosions to her left and right. Coriline jolted in place making herself small as the feeling of trapped entered her mind, and the horse-young as he was- jerked as if the surprise had grown him many grey hairs. The horse suddenly bolted back the way they'd traveled. "It's a-GAH!" Coriline, who had only just recovered enough to peer upward, was soon shoved to the side by the horse's barrel run.


Joe had noticed the Arial display soon enough to prepare himself yet couldn't help but jump a little as well as the fight unexpectedly took a closer, more uncomfortable turn. Uncomfortable but funny. He laughed heartily at the sight of Coriline's little heap of dusty green and brown now sprawled on the ground. " That was spectacular.." he cringed as she gave him the look of death from her upright position on the ground. He quickly averted his eyes to the battle overhead speaking to the young woman he assumed was still present. "Is this someone you know?" by rough estimate it looked as if the overhead battle was a serious yet more extreme in visuals than actual violence.

 

[Crono]

Nova caught the sharp gaze of the female Adventurer at returned it with a look of confusion before her attention was turned to the male. "You must be from out of the continent. Don't you know Blen has been the number one most insignificant village for like, three years?" She realized she was acting rather snooty in front of Miss. Mei so she scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously. "Sorry for the sassy answer, my numbskull brother has just run off again. But it isn't much of a secret: no one really cares about this place, travelers just want to get to Hero Center as fast as possible."

All of a sudden there were flashes of lightning and the Adventurers' horse was sent bolting down the road. Nova didn't need to look up to tell who it was: that damn vampire friend of that damned angel. "Unfortunately," the young woman replied, exasperated to the traveling man. She took some time to collect herself before swinging her fist and face upward to shout at the immortal annoyance. "WE DISCUSSED THIS SHIT YOU CRAPPY DAUGHTER OF A BAT BI-" ,she caught herself, realizing Auntie Mei was still right next to her, "-biii, BIGGOT! YOU KEEP YOUR HIPPY LIGHT SHOW IN THE FOREST, FIGHT IN THE FOREST, NOT WHERE YOU CAN SET FIRE TO OUR DAMN FOOD SUPPY! TAKE YOUR FINE CHINA AND YOUR SHADOW BOYFRIEND AND GETTHEFUCKOUT!"


The light returned to Avon's eyes when Ironweave complimented him, he looked up at the former hero with even more vigor in his smile. He quickly handed over the eight silver coins and swung his sheathed sword to his side. "Thank you Mr. Ironweave! I promise I'll do my best!" The last statement was directed at both Yamazaru and Joel. His mind was filled with sword ideas as soon as the yokai gave him the bearest idea of obtaining one, the most awesome one he could think of currently had far too many flaming parts to be practical. He stood up straight like a soldier in front of a superior, "Ready to begin when you are Sir!"


Mayor had put on his itchy suit and was now making his way to his office. He heard voices from the library and that ment the fallen angle was awake. The old man shivered, he did so the moment he learned his librarian possessed enough power to explode his mansion in seconds. Quickly he made his way to his office door and nearly had a heart attack as he opened it to see the cat. "Guh, how do you do that?"

"What, know where your going? We dicussed this fool, I have standard sensory units." With that acid green eyes opened down the sides of the cat's body and four more ears morphed out of its previous ones. The many eyes independently examined the cat's body with vainity, "But I can cheat a little can't I?" Mayor held his stomach and moved past the cat to sit at his desk, "Stop it please. I'll be doomed if someone sees you like that." "Your doomed already." The cat retorted before shifting back into its standard form.

 

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Miss. Mei did little but smile widely. Nova's explanation about the village amused her. She did know well that the town mattered little on a national scale, and that adventurers never came to stay, but the way Nova spoke of it made her softly giggle. Aside from that, her sarcastic tone did not make her posture and hands folded on her back change. "Not many adventurers appear to stay here for too long, you're right, but it's important to us, and that's what matters! Isn't that correct, Nova sweetie?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Her attention was caught as Nova shook her fist in the direction of something colorful and rather noisy, which as Miss. Mei turned to it, squinting to see, revealed to be her fellow citizens of Blen, the vampire and the fallen angel. Surely, she had met them before. But then again, who in Blen hadn't she met and known for more than a year? Taking a subtle step forward, she attempted getting their attention in the perhaps most ineffective way possible, putting a hand on Nova's shoulder and whispering "Language, please" to her as she did so. Keeping a clean language was important to her, in her opinion one could think much less of a person regularly swearing than one who didn't.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She took her eyes off Nova's discomfort at her realization, then waved her arms in the direction of the two battlers. "Ah, Sera and Aruna! Lovely people! Are they perhaps training their magic?" At the sight of the countless lightning strikes emitting from the battle, Miss. Mei got nervous. Lightning had always scared her, controlled magic or not. Like Nova and Avon, she didn't particularly fancy fires, and at the moment these were dangerously close to causing one. Meekly pointing a finger upwards, she tried speaking up to the two, hoping they'd hear. "Excuse me, your magic is at the potential of damaging my farm, could you please move a bit? Thank you!"[/BCOLOR]

 

[Karakui]

"Don't worry, Mei. Spectral Lightning doesn't damage non-magical things, so your crops are fine. Wait, don't tell me, you're not growing that hallucinogenic plant again, are you!?" "My my, setting a terrible example for the children, I see!" The shadow creature had been politely giving the group the time to converse, but it was evident it was beginning to get impatient. A flurry of activity followed, involving far too many weapons and spells, and a disconcerting quantity of explosions. The conflict resolved after a couple further minutes when Aruna swung a metal sports bat very quickly at the shadowy man, who proceeded to swell up and burst like a balloon, showering confetti and various sugary snacks to the ground. She dropped to the floor, no longer supported by the sheer momentum of her movements, and suddenly felt very awkward. As if the relative silence demanded an explanation, she quickly spewed "Ah, see, one of my customers gave me a pinata instead of money, except it turned out that the pinata was enchanted and had free will. I really wanted the snacks though, so I started attacking it and then it ran away and..."

 

[Ythania]

Yamazaru huffed a little when she was told where to shove off to. "You owe me one, Joel," warned the Yokai before sauntering off, ruffling Avon's hair with her tail as she did so. Admittedly, she didn't blame the old man for being cautious; Yamazaru felt like something was off today too, but she didn't quite know why his sights were set on the mayor and that blasted cat. She wandered up the road towards the mayor's mansion and peered at it with scrutiny; the man was a coward, but a rich one and easy to annoy. Plus, if she was lucky, Yamazaru could drop in and say hello to her favourite librarian.

The Yokai simply let herself in; she used to avoid the front door whenever possible, but the mayor caught on and started shutting windows and locking back doors whenever he had a suspicion that she would be arriving. And the mayor always knew, through means that Yamazaru put down as simple paranoia. Once she was in, Yamazaru made a beeline for the kitchens.

An old-time favourite of the Yokai was food; she didn't really need so much of it but she knew how much other people needed it. And thus the little game began; Yamazaru started taking things out of the cupboards and precariously balancing them on high, out-of-reach areas (with the help of a bit of finesse and climbing). Bottles of milk teetered dangerously on the edge of a cupboard, there was butter stacked and placed in a crevice where the stove's chimney met the ceiling, loaves of bread were placed on their ends and squished in the gaps between drawers. To top it all off, she balanced the egg basket on the frame of the slightly-ajar door so it would fall on the next poor sap who walked in. The mere thought of her game coming into fruition helped stave off the hunger as a satisfied smirk played on her lips.

Yamazaru padded down the hallways, inspecting the grandiose décor disapprovingly. She didn't quite know why, but the mansion always creeped her out. As she passed, idly, she made sure all of the paintings were squint. She turned a corner and peered at the doorway to the office, completely oblivious to what was happening inside. Through some small act of fate, Yamazura let herself in (another thing about the yokai was that she never knocked) a minute or two after the mayor had finished talking to his cat. She flashed a grin at him. "You need to get out more Matty, you look so pale and nervous!"

Yamazaru felt a twinge of concern for the old man. She was fairly certain that she was his most frequent visitor, and even then...still, she didn't have a lot of scope for pity and it was outweighed by her compulsion to annoy. She picked a book from the bookshelf at random and held it high above her head, flipping through the pages as if expecting the words to fall out onto her face. "You've got too many books here, too. What are we up to today then? Please don't say paperwork, I think I'll cry if I see you write another form." Yamazaru put the book back in the wrong place, the wrong way around so the pages faced outwards instead of the spine. She squinted at a small painting on the wall, rocking from the balls of her feet to her heels. "Maybe we should do something practical. How about we dress up your cat? Or what about a nice game of hide and seek?" Of course, when Yamazaru said 'hide and seek', she really meant 'take whatever the mayor needs and hide it so he has to go looking for it'. She lost interest with the painting and plucked a paperweight from the mayor's desk, tossing it up and down in the air dangerously close to the window as she waited for a response. One thing was for certain; she wasn't likely to walk out soon.

 

[slayerbat]

Joel watched as Yamazaru sauntered off. He then turned his attention to Avon, the sad truth was that what little he knew about sword play, he had learned from the knight that was in his group when first starting out. If Avon wanted to learn swordplay Joel would have to find him a proper mentor, but that aside Avon's body and mind certainly needed training, and that experience was something Joel could easily impart. Joel looked Avon in the eyes as he spoke, [BCOLOR=#000000]"I want you to draw and sheathe your sword one thousand times within the hour. This may not seem like sword training, but you would be surprised by how often life or death can depend on how quickly you can do just that."[/BCOLOR] It's true, Joel remembered once again how the knight he was with ended up being ambushed, and caught off guard. He shook his head to spare himself the finer details, and began to walk past Avon to the river, and his fishing spot. Joel cast his rod with a finesse that had the buoy dip in the water as if it had always been there, so that the fish would not be frightened. His mind began to form plans for how to restrain the fallen angel should his worst fears turn out to be true, and it was her that was the cause of his uneasiness. What the locals saw as fireworks, and showing off, Joel suspected to be a practice run for an attack they might be planning. While Blen might not appear important to anyone, the closeness to the hero center would make it an ideal spot to gather forces and start a surprise attack. This was why they granted the mayor the ability to freely ask them for help when the need arrived.

 

[WrittenAll Over]

All that being said, Josephus couldn't help but take a few cautious steps away from the screaming young woman. She obviously had anger issues. As he observed, eyes slightly more expressive than before, all three-or was it four including the talking female plate- make conversation then a whirlwind of attacks and explosions he suddenly felt that this town really wasn't really as insignificant as originally thought. Still...it was a lot of crazy to process. A moment later, it began raining candy...


"........." there was a really, very long moment of silence as Jeo failed to form anything but a thought. "Why is everyone I meet crazy..?"


"Cat got your tongue Joe?" Coriline asked rather mockingly. She knew that look, how out of place he felt. He always allowed himself to think that he was the only sane person in the room. She knew better. Recovering from her fall, Coriline threw an iron pat on Joe's back to which he only side stepped turning to miss Mei and left her to stumble forward. "Damn... that's it!" she turned to shove a pointed finger in his face quickly interrupting. "I've had just about enough of your attitude! you could literally be swimming with the fishes right now!"

They both cracked a knowing smile at some inside joke. Joe pulled her into a side hug so that he could speak to the ladies again. "If it's safe," he scanned for the vampires whereabouts, Coriline smirked at him, then continued "We would like to stay a few days. Is there someplace..semi-non destructive we can stay?" Still extremely excited, he was slightly more paranoid about the unknown magic of the town.

 

[Ko T'suno]

It was near noon by the time he had made his way to the cozy little village of Blen. It didn't look like much not did it really matter anywhere else, but that wasn't the reason he had come to the village again and again over the years. Nope it was a few of the residents that had somehow managed to become increasingly dear to him. Even when he attempted to cut all ties with them, they remained in the back of his mind. He couldn't count how many times he had flown past the village as night to make sure they were safe and sound. It was strange to him, how these connections he had formed had grown out of nowhere. Even stranger still was how he wouldn't lift a finger for anyone else in the village let alone be bringing them gifts from his travels.


"I hope their home…" He thought to himself as he walked down the road that lead into the village. It would be highly inconvenient if he had to carry around the box of herbs all day.

Medicinal plants, or so he had been told by the old man in the market of the Capital of Erabur. Xian would've argued on the price, but he had figured the old man had his reason for selling the dark oak box of herbs for so high. Not that really mattered to Xian after he had made that and some slaying a Chimera two days prior. In fact he had made just enough to buy the box as well as a small jade rod, that he had been carving in his way back. It had taken almost a fortnight before he had turned the small rod into a jade hair pin with a small serpent wrapped around its length tell it joined with the rest of the jade into a fair point. Carving it he couldn't help but laugh at the thought that the very thing he was making if used right could end his life.



The idea again popped into his head, should be even be giving something like this to someone?? Though it wasn't as if they would ever try to kill him with it. "Would they?" He questioned before the heavens seemed to answer his question when the scabbard of a sword hit him in the back of his head. Luckily it hadn't been too hard of a hit as he rubbed the back of his head and chuckled to himself.

"Why am I so worried about it not like she would stab me with it, or could really.." He mentioned as he walked into the village. "I'd have more to worry about giving that boy a weapon…" He finished with a nod before looking up the road. A smile coming to His fair features as he saw them and called out.


"Ms.Mei!!! Nova!!" Came his obviously excited voice. As he waved at them, with a slight glimmer of the sun as it reflected from the metal underneath the cloak as the fabric fell behind his left shoulder when he stretched his arm out above him to garner their attention.

"Good...they are home." He muttered under his breath as he quickened his pace.


As he drew closer it dawned on him that Ms.Mei and Nova were in the middle of conversing with a young couple or so it seemed to Xian as he came to a stop by the fence of Ms. Mei's garden and set the box and the sword he had gotten in a trade down inside the fence and looked around…


Nothing seemed to change..

 

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Miss. Mei gave a hearty smile to Sera. Hearing her explanation of the magic's properties calmed her. Her property and crops weren't in danger. "Thank you so much, that relieves me. As for my crops, don't you worry. Just regular grains here!" Although, knowing that as she might, the following immense amount of explosions, lightnings and sparks did either way frighten her. The old woman could only handle so much sudden sparks and colors, and she was closing in on her limit. She turned her face to look strictly down, and began to face the direction of her house. "I'm sorry, I'll have to leave. Have a nice time in Blen, you two! Nova, don't stay around for too long, today is busy like any other, you know."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She had only began walking home, when a faintly familiar, long lost voice caught her ears. The little of it she heard over the sweet conclusion to the magical battle above, that is. Mei had met Xian several times; every time he would arrive in the village, unlike most adventurers, she would welcome him into her home as if he was the closest of family. Not that she wouldn't do that to most, but Xian held a special place in her heart, right besides Nova and Avon.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]At the sound of his voice, she turned once again back, making her averagely slow way towards the incoming lung. "Xian! How are you holding up? Come, let's talk inside. Heh, We have barely started eating, there's plenty of food if you need any?" Once getting close enough to him, she turned to him, gesturing towards her house.[/BCOLOR]