Razhiel pinched the skin between her eyes. No patience. She had not gotten much sleep due to the ‘drive’ she had felt in the past month or so. Traveling from Central Fiore to Western Fiore, driven by an unseen force was not exactly fun. It was her ‘sixth sense’ in a way. Given the advertisements for an auction the next day she assumed it was a tainted artifact. Her ‘title,’ if you will, of Devil Slayer was essentially that; her main purpose was to obliterate dark entities. Her lightning magic held light in it, making it slightly different from regular lightning magic in its ability to destroy or weaken demon ilk. The fact that she had a dragon merged to her soul just gave her added power. The fact that the dragon was a nature dragon made her power that much more effective as nature was essentially life. The ‘drive’ she felt ultimately made it hard to sleep. It was an ever present ‘compass’ if you will in the back of her mind leading her in a random direction. Oceans, towns, trains had no relevance to this ‘compass’ so it made it that much harder.
Razhiel would know the moment she saw the dark object or got close to it. What was worrisome was she did not know the exact nature of the object.
“Look, I cannot let you see the auctioned items before the auction. I don’t care who you are or your reasoning. A pretty face like yours won’t help sway my decision either,” replied the man behind the booth in response to her statement. The booth was located in the city’s market ‘district.’ It was out in the open, placed among other booths though it was larger than many due to its purpose of taking in items for objects. The man in question was a couple years older than her, dirty blonde hair and mostly clean shaven. Tanned skin from hours in the sun, loose clothing with a wide curved cutlass attached to his waist. Was he serious right now?
“So are you a wannabe pirate or do you assume the persona because you cheat people out of their item’s worth and make pretty penny when you flip it?” Razhiel insulted. Yep, no patience. Or maybe it was in reference to her looks, which she supposed was meant to flatter her? Too bad she did not have a captain’s hat. “Or wait, wrong demographic. Bandit is it?” That is Razhiel, always making friends. Her own appearance consisted of her usual dragon/lightning jacket, whip coiled at her hip, dragon scythe, folded and hooked on her other hip rather than her back. Red hair blazing in the setting sun., violet orbs shadowed as the sun was behind her.
There was always the option of breaking in and looking for it. The problem with that was with such events, the booth was just a front, a place to bring items to sell or put up for the auction. The actual items were stored elsewhere and in various parts and usually had guards depending on rarity. The most likely scenario was she would have to wait until tomorrow when the auction started. Though she did not have the money to buy such an item, especially if someone else were interested enough in it to bid for it. She went from castles and horses and opulence to wandering mercenary who did odd jobs to have money for her stays in civilization. Butt-backwards royalty. Or maybe more like washed out. Hmm or maybe she would wait until this hindrance before her left and follow him. Her current mood liked the idea of stalking.
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Aug 25, 2015 21:56:44 GMT
The small drake let out a chirp as he scurried behind the dracoknight in the lead. The dracoknight in question didn't look much like a knight at all - what with her being a fifteen year old girl in pigtails and all. "Shh! You're going to get us caught!" she whispered in a harsh tone. The girl was about 80% sure this was the building the magic items were being stored in in the auction. She'd done some legwork, and it was one of a few options she was left with after being denied the ability to look at the wares, herself.
Besides, after being dumb enough to let her bag of gold get taken by some bandits, she was hardly going to be able to outbid someone at a dumb auction. So, skulking in the shadows of the large building was her only real recourse. The girl, who was called Pyrrha, looked around as she tried to think of a way to get into the building. The best bet were the windows, but they were really high up - more to let air into the place and keep everything from getting moldy than to see in or out of. She wasn't even sure if she would fit, actually. But it was worth a try!
A few jump boot-assisted acrobatics and one accidentally sliced in half barrel later, and Pyrrha was as close to the window as she was going to get. "Alright, Bloo," she murmured to the crystal drake. He was sitting on her shoulder at the moment. "We're going to have to jump for the window. It's reeeally not gonna be fun if I fall, so uh... think you can catch me?" A distinct 'no' sound came from Bloo's throat. "Whelp... gonna have to make it first try then, huh?" Ah well. What was life without a little danger? Oh yeah... safe.
Pyrrha crouched from her rooftop position, prepared to make a running jump across the alleyway and into the high up window. It was going to be a tight fit even if she could cling to the window and pull herself up. "Ready?" she asked the drake. Another 'mrph.' "Now!" She took off, clanging on the tin roof before rocketing up towards the window. She wondered for a moment if the words 'victory' or 'medic' were going to be ringing in her brain, but just as the boots ran out of steam for the moment, she caught herself with a rough jerk. "Ow!"
The window up so high wasn't even built to lock. It was easy to push up with a little leverage from her favorite spear. It was also not too bad to climb through. She dropped down into the one space she could really see with the dim storage room window lighting, crouching as she landed. "Ah! See, Bloo?" she asked the drake as he landed on her arm. "That wasn't so..." The lights came on as the lacrima reacted to a human presence. What they revealed... was not what Pyrrha thought they would reveal. "...Gosh dangit..." There was nothing there. "Whelp. Now what? The auction is in like an hour!" Pyrrha threw up her arms as she and the drake walked down the street back towards the stand the auction would be held at. Bloo just grunted. "I know I know. It's so dumb! Who keeps an empty storehouse locked up tight anyway?!" she threw out her arms in frustration, letting them drop roughly to her sides. "I don't even know where the other storage places in this town are. It just seemed so likely this would be it! It was the closest one to the stupid market!"
The man flipped her off and turned away from her muttering. Razhiel merely shrugged with a “I’ll take that as a yes.” She walked away deciding to eat would be best and a good reason to stick around with eyes on the booth.
Sticky buns. Whoever invented these should be crowned, Razhiel thought as she licked her fingers. The thought itself was amusing just for the fact that she should find herself completely absorbed by something so… simple. She let out a contented sigh and glanced up once more as she had been doing for the past few hours. She knew it was suspicious for her to sit in the same spot for hours but she was being obnoxious on purpose. Not to mention after the first approach from the waiter to ask her to vacate since she was not eating anything, she pulled her regal cloak around her and the ensuing intimidation kept her amused. She finally ordered something so everyone was appeased.
The man working the auction booth finally closed up for the night and left. Razhiel stood and stretched, a few audible cracks could be heard. Sitting for too long, she decided to be more discreet and let him disappear from eyesight going purely by smell. Suffice to say her day was wasted as the man simply went home. There had been stuff dropped off at the booth throughout the day. Razhiel back tracked back to the booth to take a look. She instinctively stuck to the shadows without being obvious about it but otherwise did not go out of her way to be stealthy.
It was an ordinary booth; Razhiel did not bother wasting her time breaking into it. She let her nose do most of the work. With her current mood she probably would have blasted through saying screw the consequences. So they had to transport the items magically. A portal of some kind perhaps? Her hand massaged the back of her neck as she leaned against the booth’s wall, accented in moonlight. What she would give for a massage until she fell asleep…
Razhiel stood away from the crowd in the back, leaning against a post while she picked pieces of a sticky bun off and ate them, seriously this place would get her fat. She had spent the night on someone’s rooftop with a borrowed blanket. She smiled as she recalled the startled man’s expression and exclamations of hooligans on his property. Her smile widened as she recalled her plan of aggravation on the booth worker that left him in a foul mood as she disappeared when he went to call for cavalry. Honestly, she was not hard to spot in a crowd.
The auction was being held in a large open area with a mini stage at the forefront and a type of podium to the left. They would most likely display the items on stage one at a time unless it was a set. Whoever manned the podium would call out the item/s description and start the bidding. The current crowd was a bit light since there was still a little bit of time until it began.
There was a hum in the back of her mind. The item she sought was here somewhere. Her current plan was to try to outbid. Otherwise she would mark that person as a target and infiltrate after they received the item….
Or maybe… she could infiltrate the actual auction after the item left the stage. People could not obtain their purchase until after the auction. A diversion… That had its merits. A larger risk, but quicker retrieval.
Razhiel was still thinking about it when she overheard someone speaking of empty storage spaces that were locked. It seemed she wasn’t the only one trying to infiltrate the auctioned items. Turning towards the speaker, she was surprised to see a young woman marching towards the square. “Probably for the exact reason of preventing someone from infiltrating and stealing the items.” Razhiel mused loud enough for the young woman to hear.
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Aug 26, 2015 15:41:31 GMT
Pyrrha and Bloo had been arguing about what to do about as well as a creature that couldn't speak and a teenage girl could; mostly because Pyrrha was more than willing to make up the meaning behind Bloo's growls, and he tended to just go with it when he was in the right mood. In this case it was a slightly antagonistic one. His wings spread a bit, flapping them to stretch them more than anything, while Pyrrha went on about her side of the argument. "See if you would have been a proper drake and kept an eye on where the road was, we wouldn't have just gotten to town last night, you know," she lectured, arms crossed.
She had to pause, though, when a red-headed woman addressed her as if she were in the conversation. Apparently she'd overheard her previous comment about the storehouses. "Yeah well, maybe they shouldn't just be selling random magical items because they find them. I bet they don't even know what they do," she protested. Her eyes widened. Wait what if this woman was security or something? "Er! I mean, I'm not skulking *or* stealing! What kind of girl do you take me for? I'm basically nobility you know, why would I ever need to steal anything?!" She glanced back at Razhiel with a slight blush on her cheeks. "I mean, that would imply I lost my money to bandits or something and who would be stupid enough to forget to retrieve that after beating them up?"
Violet orbs traveled from the young girl to the drake beside her. It was a curious thing; one Razhiel had never seen the like of. “Well now, aren’t you gorgeous?” Razhiel observed, speaking to the creature before her attention focused back on the girl. It seemed her self-invitation into the conversation had the girl replying without thought, giving an honest answer before the girl thought better of it and defended herself.
Having finished her sticky bun, she rubbed her hands together as if to get rid of any crumbs. She agreed wholeheartedly with the curious girl’s first statement. But… Razhiel decided to play along if only because of the opportunity that presented itself. And, if she was so stiff in her demeanor she might just snap in half. Razhiel pushed off the post she was leaning on and stuck her thumbs in her pockets, her head tilted as she regarded the girl ahead of her. “If you are basically nobility, than I am basically royalty. So you lost your money to bandits, beat them up, and did not obtain was what rightfully yours? And now you’re here, assuming no money, and think you can obtain something not rightfully yours by unlawful means?” Razhiel mock sighed and took her hands out of her pockets, playing the role of guard. “I think you are going to have to come with me.”
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Aug 26, 2015 16:16:46 GMT
Bloo took an instant liking to Razhiel. He let out a rather cat-like growl, an almost dragon-like approximation of a purr. he seemed to think that she was right, and that he was, in fact, quite gorgeous. "Oh don't go getting a bigger head than you already have, you overgrown gecko," she stuck her tongue out at the drake, who was now completely ignoring her and watching Razhiel with interest.
Raz, however, seemed more interested in what Pyrrha had to say, making a few assumptions that Pyrrha both didn't appreciate, and became somewhat concerned by. "Wait... Royalty? Are you like the princess of Fiore or something?" she raised an eyebrow. Crap! A princess came to bid?! she probably wouldn't like Pyrrha trying to take her potential winnings either.
Pyrrha did a quick spin, looking for any royal guards but didn't notice anything. Pyrrha's own family was protected by drakes due to their association with Belfyire, but she knew that wasn't the norm. "Hey wait a minute! No way you're Fiore Royalty!" she accused Razhiel. "Lady Belfyire told me all about the current state of the country on the boat ride over you know!" Well, she didn't know, but still.
"Also, it's totally rightfully mine, just... other people probably think they own it if someone found it and sold it to them..." she glared off to the side. "But still! I need to know if it's even here so I can bring it back home!" Pyrrha frowned. "And here I was thinking only the boys were trying to take advantage of my cute innocent face, now this girl is trying to take me for a ride as well. I swear what kind of place is this?"
The purr-like growl had Razhiel smiling, the girl's retort to the dragon even more so. Overgrown gecko indeed. A slight pang of lonliness hit unexpectedly. Shaking it off, Razhiel almost laughed out loud at the Princess of Fiore statement. Ha. That would be amusing. Battle of the Princess'- Valland vs Fiore! She was in a grand mood.
"No, I am not Fiore Royalty." Razhiel readily agreed. Almost as if being one was an insult. Though if the girl took her at her word, that meant she was indeed nobility but from where? The name Lady Belfyire gave her pause. A face appeared. Male. Yelling. The image disappeared, the words distorted. Instant headache. Damn flash backs. It was gaining memories not her own, which created pain by the sudden induction. One word became clear. Dracoknight That word unlocked a few more images a bit more clearer than the last. One was of a creature similar to the one beside the robed girl before her.
Though she knew the girl had come in alone, her eyes did a quick circuit of the immediate area before focusing before her once more. Razhiel held her hands up with a slight grin at her last statement. "I was only teasing... I wouldn't call your face exactly innocent." Her tone amused. "You do realize that reasoning is the type of explanation a bandit would give." Before the girl could respond, she added, "I am just pointing it out."
She knelt on one knee and held out a hand, palm up to the drake in the case he wanted to smell it as she became serious. "What is a Dracoknight doing so far from home and alone?" Her question for the girl as she added in a softer tone to the drake. "Though I am sure you are quite fierce when you need to be, aren't you?"
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Aug 26, 2015 17:54:42 GMT
The woman agreed that she wasn't Fiore royalty, and Pyrrha hardly missed the almost disdain she had at the idea. It caused the raising of an eyebrow as she was told a bandit would have the same reasoning Pyrrha did. She placed her hands on her hips, keeping the eyebrow raised as she took on a bit more of a pose that said she disagreed, her pigtails as well as her robe catching the breeze. "I'll have you know that the reasoning might be similar, but bandits are stupid petty people who take what was never theirs. I, however, only have honorable intentions. I only want what belonged to Lady Belfyire."
Bloo grunted, his little dragon nose sniffing Razhiel's hand. Her hand was interesting, as if it smelled differently than the drake was used to. He quickly became overly curious, even crawling onto Razhiel's arm to keep sniffing further down. He made a 'mprh' sound as if greeting her; he was lighter than he looked like he would be, especially for a creature with almost crystal-looking scales
Pyrrha watched him, waiting for Raz to freak out or scold him - or worse, her, for his behavior. One arm fell limp, the other staying rested on her hip as she sighed at the drake. "I'm so far from home because I was entrusted with a mission to bring something that belonged to Lady Belfyire long ago back to her," she explained, repeating essentially what she had more or less stated already. "How did you know I was a dracoknight?!" she suddenly shifted to a more excitable tone. "No one around here even knows what that is! Trust me I've thrown it around more than a few times in the last week." she almost seemed to deflate a bit at the last statement.
She couldn't help but add on, "Bloo is about as fierce as a stuffed bear. I know because I own a stuffed bear and Bloo lost to it last time they wrestled for a spot in my bed at home," she chuckled, grinning an impish little grin aimed at the drake. Bloo just turned to her and stuck out his own drake tongue as if mimicking what she had done to him earlier before going back to his sniffing.
"No but seriously," She couldn't get over the fact that this woman seemed to know, well, anything about her. It was exciting and at the same time throwing up a red flag in her mind. "You don't really look or sound like you're from home, and I think I would have known if someone was around here who was," she reasoned. Belfyire had told her what resources she had to work with aside from any she built herself while she was here.
Last Edit: Aug 26, 2015 17:58:51 GMT by Pyrrha Drakos
Razhiel raised an eyebrow at the little dragon creature, a half smile upon her face as her focus was on the creature now crawling up her arm. She did not mind, if anything it amused her more. At the noise he made, she replied “Hello to you as well. I am Razhiel, Raz for short…. If I may?” A pause before asking to touch him, the fingers of her other hand a few centimeters from his neck.
Of course the girl would ask how she knew what a dracoknight was. Distracted by the crystal drake, she spoke without thinking. Though, it did not help that random unknown memories assailed her while she was in the middle of a conversation. How to answer that?
A chuckle passed from between her lips at their antics. She could tell they were long time companions. The knight came back to the fact of how Razhiel knew what she was. “I know a dragon. She knows of your dragon and met a dracoknight once.” Razhiel shrugged as if it were not a big thing. “Yea, the people around here are more about Dragon Slayers. All other countries are kind of mute here. ”
Changing the subject, she remarked upon the item. “Well with no money, it will be hard to acquire the item you are looking for without attracting unwanted attention. If your item is even here.” She paused a moment. “My suggestion would be to wait until the auction starts, which is shortly. Each item is displayed. You have two options. One take the item before it leaves the auction but after it is displayed or mark who buys the item and infiltrate the mark’s property and take it from there… I am leaning more towards a large distraction to acquire the item that should be illegal to sell in the first place.” Razhiel opted for honesty. It may pay off if they worked together.
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Aug 27, 2015 18:20:31 GMT
Bloo pushed his head happily into Razhiel's fingers. Even a drake didn't mind being petted. Why should he? Everyone liked to be scratched behind the ears. Even humans. At least if you asked what he would guess. He wasn't sure he believed Pyrrha's insistence otherwise. Or, well, this was all the sort of thing Pyrrha projected on the drake, being unable to actually communicate with the same language. She'd had arguments at length, though.
"She met a dracoknight before?" Pyrrha interjected, looking suddenly interested. "I can't even remember the last time a dracoknight was asked to leave home for something. I mean... it happens sometimes. Who was she?" she asked, hoping to have her curiosity filled.
Pyrrha knew that Raz was right. She wasn't going to be able to outbid even a poor person; she hadn't even sold her gold ring she'd been given yet. It'd fetch a pretty penny, but nothing compared to what some sort of magical item might be worth. She was pretty sure the ring on her index finger wasn't magical... and if it had been, it wasn't after she'd touched it with both hands. "Distraction, huh... You sound like you have something you want too. Maybe we can help each other!" she offered, turning suddenly business like. Bloo was still ignoring her in favor of scratches.
Razhiel happily scratched the little drake. Creatures, at least ones that were not trying to kill you, were a bit more enjoyable than humans. She stood slowly, being sure not to unbalance the creature on her arm. Odd, but she did not feel comfortable with someone towering over her for so long. It was like an itch between the shoulder blades.
“I don’t know who he was… Freya is not very forthcoming.” She said, referencing the temperamental beast. To be honest, she doubted even Freya had control of what they could communicate to each other currently. There were times when the channel was open and times when it was not. High emotion seemed to trigger a response between the two of them. And at times it was involuntary, such as the mention of dracoknights and the sudden flashes of unknown images.
She purred at the drake, scratching under his chin. Turning her focus on the drake’s owner she replied, “I was only teasing earlier. I agreed with what you said about them not being able to sell certain items. One is a dark object. Possessed… The consequences of it being handled could be disastrous to say the least.” Razhiel stopped petting Bloo long enough to hold out her hand, "I am Razhiel."
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Aug 27, 2015 19:23:08 GMT
So Raz didn't know who he was... no wait... he?! She dropped the entire rest of the conversation right there. How could she not? Even Bloo (Who, by the way, was named by her when she was six) paused and tilted his head curiously at the non-Fiorian princess. "Wait... but every Dracoknight given a mark by Lady Belfyire is a girl!" she exclaimed, possibly a little too loudly. Fortunately if anyone was interested in that remark, they weren't for longer than it took to figure out it was just some teenager talking to a woman excitedly. "What are you talking about... and... just how long ago was this?!"
She'd raised her hands in an almost exasperated fashion, held out barely in front of her like a younger girl waiting on ice cream that was taking more than three seconds to get to them. No, this was totally relevent. If it was a man... well, the last man to be given the ability to even be born with the mark was born over five hundred years ago. Pyrrha hadn't paid enough attention in history to learn exactly when it was, but this last man was the great betrayer of Belfyire - the one who had stolen the now missing artifact; the one that she treasured above her other many treasures in her hoard.
Letting her hand drop she sighed and ran it through her red hair, which was shoulder length now since she hadn’t cut it. Loose tongue she was today, though how the hell was she supposed to know only females were dracoknights. She knew what she saw. It was a man, he was a dracoknight. He had invaded Freya’s territory.
Razhiel glanced around them, any still curious onlookers turned away when she caught their eyes. When the merge happened, there was no time given. Really, all that was described was an angel of life who protected the land rained mercy upon those whose actions led to a great evil. Right. The angel was a Dragon whose normal form was a winged humanoid one as she traversed the land. The life part was because she was a nature dragon, in which she helped the land and crops prosper. The evil was… that part had yet to be revealed and Razhiel had an ill feeling it would cause much worse damage when it was.
“I do not know the when or the who, I only know it was a he. And HE invaded Freya’s territory. There was a fight… It was a very long time ago.” Not really much of an explanation. And the girl did not seem to be one that was easily deterred, especially given her hand gestures accompanying the exclamation. Even Bloo was watching her.
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Aug 27, 2015 20:52:17 GMT
"If it's a he... no this is definitely it." Pyrrha nodded to herself, her hands lowering slightly. "Are you sure you don't know like... literally anything else?! Who's this Freya dragon?" she didn't show the same reverence for dragons that weren't the one who she served. "Lady Belfyire doesn't talk about other dragons and stuff. All I know is the artifact is... well, since you know that much I think I can trust you..." she scooted closer to Razhiel, holding a hand up as if to block sound traveling in a direction she didn't want to as she whispered.
"It's an egg. It doesn't look much like one other than the shape but Lady Belfyire only ever had one egg and it was stolen from her by that man. It's why she only bestows her blessing on the girls now. Because that man she saw stole her unborn baby." The good news was, dragon eggs were very nearly indestructible; dragons were on the very top of the food chain wherever they lived, and even their unborn had little to fear... though they wouldn't hatch without their mother.
Around them, the auction was starting to quiet down as the man who had been watching the stall the day before got up on stage; apparently he was in charge of starting the auction, at least. Pyrrha glanced around quickly; no egg though. At least not yet. She was going to have to keep an eye out. It was highly possible they wouldn't even realize it was an actual egg; dragon eggs were as magical as dragons themselves (though her tattoo wouldn't harm an egg). It was entirely possible they just knew it was magical and had a feeling it was special, deciding it was worth a small fortune in this auction. "Wait... I think they're starting!"
“Freya is the dragon I am tied to.” Razhiel did not show any insult to her lack of respect towards other dragons. From the impression she had received, it was similar to the inner guard of royalty. The only one that truly mattered was the one you were vowed to.
Razhiel merely raised an eyebrow as the girl scooted closer and whispered what the secret artifact was. Eyes widened, gaining a slightly faraway look. “That is why they fought. He had a dragon egg. He was… guarding it. He lied. He was lying. Kits cannot birth without their mother. And he stank of lies. He had the gall to come through my land with the kidnapped kit… ” The last came out as a whispered growl. There was more to it but Freya shut her out. All Razhiel could feel was an immense pain. So much that it made her eyes squint slightly as she focused on the here and now. The slayer almost sighed as she realized they had crossed lines again, Freya’s words passing through her lips as Razhiel had focused on the memory. They were going to get killed because of it.
Her body shifted slightly as she faced the stage with the dracoknight’s announcement. It was a pretty decent paced process. The announcer described the item; however that may be and decided a starting bid. A person raised their hand or paper, as it were, and the bid continued until no one bid higher. The item was then taken off stage and kept behind, seemingly until the end of the auction. Razhiel would assume you made your payment and received your item at the counters placed to the right and in front of the stage.
She knew the moment artifact she was in search of was brought upon the stage. It was a sword in a glass box. A glass box. The announcer described it a sword of unidentifiable origin with a blood thirsty past in which only the strongest could withstand. What a bullshit description. She regarded the bid silently as it jumped from person to person and ended on a man with a full beard. Marked.
Fast thinking. It would need to be a big distraction. Side glancing at the knight beside her, “You see it, you let me know. If your in, any ideas?” It could very well be the last item up for auction or it could not be here at all. She was not sure how it worked with the dragon knight and how she knew where the egg would be. She debated silently on the best option to obtain the sword. While it may be less of an attention getter to grab the sword when the man possessed it, less of a crowd, she could not be sure of the type of demon ilk and if it could possess the human.
