The Forsaken Art

Jessie smiled, as a man who seemed wet, but in crisp dry clothes walked up the stairs, pass them and entered a room close to the stairs. She smiled, at the man, before her eyed widen into saucers, as he began to say the name of there agency. "Wait you work for, Cor" She began in a low whisper before stopping herself, due to the man from before comeing up to them, and asking to sneak a moment with Jaide.

Carl, smiled, at her and leaned agnsiet the wall careful not to hit his tall head on the low ceiling. well low to him. "Hot Springs, eh? I`ve been to some my years "lost". We have a few files on em to, magics a big fan of dumping people here, and rouge mages use them as a good hiding spot!" A smile crept across his face as a thought dawned on him. "Think they got a bar here?"

Lauren blinked, emitted a slight cough and turned away, "Maybe that's father's way of accepting you're strong enough to protect me without them breathing down our necks?" She asked, trying to get him to like their father a little more.

Ret nuzzled against Asinoir's chest, "Should we go to the room Magic umped you in... or the one it dumped me in?" She asked with a wink, "I still gotta pay you back after all~"

"Well... not from birth but it was really early on. She's a strict woman but also very kind. She also has no legs, me and father had to bolt handrails into all the walls so she could maneuver around without having to drag herself across the ground. Father's told me thart she's a demon in the skies with the Naelashi Greatbow she thought me to weidl. Evene sitting down she's a better shot than I am," He admitted then smiled, "We shouldn't lounge in this spring all day, when there's more exploring to do."

Jenna got up and slipped a towel on. She could always use her abilities to make an outfit, but she didn't want Sylas to know that after getting in the hot spring with him. The thought of his mother set firmly in her mind.... To think that he could've been born without legs... that would've been even more awesome! The wing stubs had grown into fully functional structures now. It felt like there were even working bones in there! Unfortunately, it was simply the structure for wings. Not the membrane, propper muscles, or hollow bones needed for flight. She might as well have a giant sign on her that says "I'm a shapeshifter"....

"Thanks, Sylas... I really don't know how I would've figured this out without you. I'm not sure how, but.... I did it." As she headed to the bedroom, Jenna started to slow down a little. Forming bones takes alot out of an inexperienced shapeshifter. As soon as she was in the bedroom, Jenna turned around and gave the winged four armed man a smile to show off a little. By twitching her skin with shapeshifting, she quickly dried herself off without any effort.

"I can't believe the...... Uhhhhh...." Almost randomly, Jenna passed out on the floor. Severely weakened from lack of magic. She was stuck laying sideways on the ground with almost-finished wings sticking out of her back wearing nothing but a towel.... Yet, as long as Sylas was around........

Sylas shot forward to Jenna's side, "Jenna?" He asked, as he passed a hand in front of her face softly lifting Jenna off the floor and onto the bed, putting the covers over her. He didn't say anything further. One of his hands softly rubbing hers, the other on her shoulder. She's inexperienced... but she's got the drive to do what she wants... He thought, then somethng came over him... and urge to kiss Jenna's sleeping form, thinking that it would work, like in the fairy tales he'd been told by his mother Oh so long ago.

Jaide sent Jack a leveling glare. She turned and her attitude did a one eighty, smiling sweetly at Jessie. "I'm sorry, I don't know what a Cor is. I can assure you we are not part of Cor," She said, elbowing Jack firmly in the ribs.

Cress then arrived, asking to speak with her. She was confused and furrowed her brow. Did she trust herself alone with Cress? He seemed to make her do things out of her character. She grumbled and bit her lip. There wasn't much choice was there? She couldn't say no without raising the already high suspicions of Jessie.

"Sure, lead the way," She told Cress.

It took every fibre of Jacks being not to go for Cress's throat when he arrived. Instead, he gave him a look that clearly wished him a painful death.

When the paladin asked to see Jaide, it took more self restraint not to attack then. Instead, he looked at her.
"Be careful." was all he could say.

Barely constious, Jenna could just feel Sylas's touch. The towel felt... heavier. Larger than before. The only explemation was that he lifted her into bed and tucked her in.... A warm feeling came over her, considering he had the mind to tuck her in instead of leave her there. "You're too nice...." She barely mentioned as her orange hair came undone. A sign of how weak her magic had really become.

They warned her about this! About over using your abilities instead of gradually practicing in private.... As much mana as they used, Men of 1,000 Mask were in enough danger of going rogue without straining thier abilities. Would she lose her mind like the other rogue mages over trying to impress some guy she barely knew? Fear gripped at the back of her mind. A deeper depressing emotion that only served to make her more paranoid about the man she was with. He knew combat. If she went insane right there, would he....

All she could do was lay there and hope for the best.

"How can I not be?" He replied softly, "Rest and let your mana return to you... I'll be here when you awake." His voice had a soothing tone. Something in him... just made him wish he could stay by her side forever.

He hoped his old man would understand... his mother certainly would!

Cress almost laughed at the man's attempt to intimidate him. He took Jaide's hand, then led her down a hallway and around the corner. "Look, Im sure you heard about the czar's death. I want to make sure I still have your support." He looked into her eyes and sighed. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the note. "I found this in my room. Your sister sounds like she could use some help..."

Jessie, watched, the man go with the Brazilian lady. She still had her suspicions but she wasn`t gonna say anything till she met up with Dustin, or this mythical Carl she kept hearing about, who seemed to run the wole railroad thing. She walked up the man, Jack as he was called, and asked in a hushed tone. "Are you and Jaide you know.... a thing."

A shadow fell over Jaide's face. She snatched the note out of Cress' hand.

"Don't ever..." She breathed angrily, "It's none of your business!"She folded the note and breathed through her nose, "You keep my personal life out of whatever business we," She gestured between the two of them, "Have. And as for my support..."

She paused, just now realizing she was pacing. "If the Czar is murdered, what do I care about what you do now?"

Walking towards the hot springs that were in the area, Shee-Mei saunters along, her fluffy tail swaying slightly as she walks, and her long silver hair, so long that it dragged the ground, was tugged at a little by the breeze. Once she reaches the springs, she pulls off the cover of her swimsuit, revealing a blue bikini, the top having a white flowery design. The bottoms were tied on the sides, and in the rear section, a hole had been cut out so that her tail could move around freely. She really didn't care what people thought of her bizarre appearance, even she didn't know why she looked like this.

Pulling her hair into a ponytail, securing it in place with a blue ribbon tied in a bow, she walks towards the water, her ears swiveling around, picking up even the slightest sounds. She hears someone exclaim something, and looks over to the source of the sound. Her oddly colored eyes, the right being a dark Sapphire blue, while her left eye is silver with Emerald green specks, and the pupil being slitted, just like a cats. Two people were arguing, a man and a woman, and the woman had just grabbed a piece of paper from the mans' hands, telling him to 'Stay out of her personal life.'

Sitting down, she kicks her feet out, back and forth in the water, her tail twitching and her ears still in-tune to the people around her. Even though her focus was seemingly somewhere else, she was totally focused on the argument that was a few feet away from her. Making an involuntary motion to where her bag was sitting next to her, she reached in, her hand wrapping around the hilt of Kibakasai, or 'Fang of Fire.' Brushing against her hand was the hilt of her other sword, Tsumeinazuma, or 'Claw of Lightning.' Holding her hand there, she hoped that a fight wouldn't break out, so she wouldn't have to use her sword.

Spoiler:

(Her hair is silver, and she has silver cat ears, and a fluffy silver tail)

Spoiler:

(This is her sword, Kibakasai, otherwise known as Fang of Fire)

Spoiler:

(This is Tsumeinazuma, or 'Claw of Lightning)

Jack was daydreaming when Jessie spoke to him, so he didnt answer quite the way he wanted.
"Heh, i wis...wait..."

"I said that out loud, didnt i?"

He realised what he had just said, and the next noise to leave his mouth was a tiny squeak.

"Um...no. We arent." he said, hoping that she wasnt listening either.

"No." Zelcys said bluntly, "You are not getting drunk around me, Carl." She placed a paw on her hip as she added, "If you want to go and find the bar you go alone."

She looked the paladin in the eyes as she said this and had thusly just torn her gaze away. Nice eyes... for a human She thought as she started to brush her fur back into place on her arms.

Standing up quickly, Shee-Mei removes her hand from the hilt of her sword, and picks up the coverlett that she had been wearing before she had arrived at the hot-spring. Instead of putting it on all the way, she just ties it around the waist, knotting it at the side, and walks towards the building, her silver hair dragging the ground with each step. Even when she had it in a ponytail, her hair was still long enough to drag the ground, as Shee-Mei had never cut her hair once in her life.

As she steps into the coolness of the shade provided by the building, she walks along a corridor, not even paying attention to where she was going, humming a little melody under her breath. After a few steps however, she runs into someone, and falls down on her butt. "Whoops!" She looks up to see a couple, though not the one she had heard a while earlier. Apparently the one she had run into was the male, and she scrambles to her feet, bowing in a frantic apology. "Ohhh I'm so sorry! Really! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going..."

A bright red covered her face in embarrassment from her clumsiness. Still bent over in a bow, her hair falling to one side, her cat ears swiveling slightly, and her tail twitching with nervousness.

Jack was taken completely by surprise, and would have gone for his blade if he had one. After the initial shock wore off, he saw that the newcomer meant no harm, and smiled at her.
"Hi there." he said kindly. "are you alright?"

Smiling, she straightens up, so that she was standing to her full height. Her tail swishes back and forth, and she grins cheerily, a rather goofy and somewhat cute grin to be exact. "No, I'm fine! Nya!" She replies, and clasps her hands behind her back, rocking on the heels of her feet.

Grinning again, she reaches out her hand, her rather sharp nails painted blue to match her swim suit. "I'm Shee-Mei, Nya! What's your name?"

Cress looked at Jaide, a small frown on his face. "There's another member of your organization... Zelcys. She's going to try to remove mr as czar through some misplaced sense of justice." He placed his hand on her arm again. "You made a promise to me, even without knowing who I was/ Now Im going to make one. When things settle finish here, I will take you and your sister to Rome. This isnt business, it's me being a true paladin and helping the weak."

Carl grinned at her slightly, with a chuckle. "You really think, they`ll have enough here, to get me drunk, do ye?" He asked, in jest before waving his hand in a gesture of agrence, and making his way down the stairs to the bar. He, quickly found it left from what seemed to be a large fancy dining room, where he sat down on one of the bar stools and waited for the bartender to come around. Hoping they had no joke Dutch Ale n the old fashioned jugs.

As Jack struck up a conversation with a blue nailed, cat girl in a bathing suit Jessie began to feel like a third, wheel, already embresed at Jacks word from moments before. "Sorry for asking." She mummred to Jack, before adding."I`m umm just gonna go." With that ,she made her way farther down the corridors, looking for Dustin while muttering bout the oddness of cat girls under her breath.

Zelcys shrugged starting to explore again, a comment from a girl she passed made her pause, and turn to face her, then walking up to the child and softly paying her paw on the kid's shoulder, "Now what's so strange about us kitties, hmm?" She asked, "we're people too just like humans are."

Jessie, jumped and turned instinctively as someone put a hand on her shoulder expecting it to be someone who reconginsed her from her pickpocketing. Her eyes went wide, as she saw a girl even more cat like then the one before. Her face turned bright red ,as she heard her speak, and shuffled her feet around a little just now notching the sliver ball slippers she had on. "Sorry, I um... didn`t mean to offend you/"

Zelcys smiled, "It's no matter. I've been living in and area dominated by those who aren't of my kind for so long, I'm used to people calling me out on my difference." She said, "What brings a little one like you to a Hot Springs then?"

Jessie, nodded moving some of her long white hair out of her eyes, bad smoothing some crinkles in her dress. "I don`t know, I just woke up here." She said nervously scanning the halls for any mirrors. "Yo u wouldn`t happen to have access to any mirrors would you?" She asked all sweet and incontent."

Zelcys thought for a moment as she nodded with smile, "This way little one~ There was one in the room I awoke in." She said as she turned to walk towards her room, making sure that the girl was following her.