A Quiet Winters Night [Social/Open]

Ari hummed softly to herself before pushing up from the bench, her feet shuffling through the snow as she began to walk down the silent streets of the seemingly abandoned village. Part of her, for a moment, wanted to question where she was and how she had gotten there, but the feeling faded quickly and she was simply content to simply wander and enjoy the solitude of the evening. The lights from the tavern did not draw her in, despite being the only true sign of life in this town, though she did glance in the windows as she wandered past, a smile curving her lips at seeing the jovial groups inside. It seemed like everyone was enjoying themselves. A few of the faces seemed almost familiar to her but she simply continued wandering around, the sound of scampering paws behind her making her turn to investigate. A broad smile crossed her lips as Frolas scampered up to her, Nilexa hovering just over her other pet with Kaviri not far behind, though the timid, green, feline creature was far more cautious about approaching its mistress.

Surrounded by her pets, Ari did not question how animals that should currently be in Kios were somehow in this mysterious, snow-filled town, she simply enjoyed their company.

Non-Combat Pets:

Her golden eyes were staring at the sky, watching the sparkles of the shiny beads scattered on the dark colored canvas while its soft, gently snow silently covering the ground with the remaining of its beauty. There was nothing that she really wanted to do as the tavern was too crowded for her and she wanted to call her liger but the laughter from inside made her hesitate to do so. Fortunately, the liger came out from the tavern, using his paw to push the door and approached his mistress before nuzzling his cheek on the black haired girl’s arms. Noir would give her liger a loving pet and contented smile before noticing someone that she recognized, she was not sure at first but then she decided to stand up and greet this fellow magician.

Once she approached the purple haired woman, Noir would bow and greet, “Good evening, Miss Ariella.” She would then look directly towards her eyes, giving a small gentle smile even though her expression was still flat like usual. Noir noticed three creatures following Ariella and blushed a little bit, thinking that they were very cute before asking, “How are you?”

Tenma let out another chuckle upon seeing Rarda’s act; he thought it was amusing kind of act especially when she looked like holding herself back to ask something. A thought to ask what kind of thing that she wanted to ask in the swordsman’s mind disappeared when the girl answered his question from before and he smiled while listening tentatively to what Rarda shared. “I can understand the proud feeling inside your head and that is an achievement, no matter whether you remember or not! ” The one eyed man would take one of his Sake bottles before putting it near the girl and then proceeded to ask for a Sake cup from the bartender. As soon as the bartended gave a cup for the woman, Tenma would lift the Sake bottle and then poured it in the cup, “For your success! Congratulations milady.” He smiled brightly and waited until Rarda accept the cup before tossing it a little bit and drank the whole thing in one gulp.

When Rarda wanted to hear more of this dragon mission that he did previously, Tenma only smile at her and then sip another cup that was filled with Sake. “The dragon was really massive as we can already notice how big she was when she flew towards you, then when she got closer, that blondie still thinking that it was just an illusion.” He laughed happily, “After that, the dragon come closer and it was massive, when it suddenly appeared in front of me, I thought she will eat me. But I think I prevented it to happen thanks to that blondie.”

Ani watched the cat girl finding her quite amusing as she looked out the window at the snow. Hearing that she didn't know what it was surprised her, but with her comment on the cider she nodded slightly. Even though Ani loved being out in the cold she did love a warm drink. As the cider was handed to her she lifted up the mug and sipped it softly before letting out a soft sigh and looking out the window. "Well it's called snow, it's like really cold rain." She said nodding softly as she continued to sip away at her drink quite contently.

"There's a lot of it in Imucahkk and the cold is hard for some people, but whether you can handle the cold or not, snow can be fun." She stated setting her cup down for a second. "You can make little balls and throw it at your friends for mock fights." She said letting out a soft chuckle. "Or you can even make snowmen."

Lexi listened with wide eyes as Ani told her about the weather outside being called 'snow' and it being like cold rain. When Ani mentioned having mock fights with balls of the snow, Lexi couldn't help but chuckle.

"Balls of snow? A mock fight? It sounds very... odd, but fun! And what is a snowman? Can you show me how to make one?"

Lexi didn't realize her ears had perked up as she was speaking, her lack of exposure to much of the world showing in her naivete about the snow falling outside. She was fascinated by the idea of building something from the snow.

Ari turned and blinked slowly as she heard someone say her name, a shock of recognition going through her at seeing Noir in this odd town. Nilexa wasted no time in flying towards the stranger, her serpent's tongue flicking out to taste the air around Noir as Frolas sniffed cautiously at the other magician. Kaviri immediate scampered to hide behind Ari's legs, peering around with a terrified look to the liger near Noir. After Nilexa and Frolas sniffed around the other woman, they turned their attention to the liger, Frolas purring happily while the more intelligent flying serpent remained in the air, taking care to keep her tail out of reach of the liger.

"Noir, what a joy to see you! How have you been?"

She was content to let her pets explore Noir and her pet, glancing down to chuckle at her cowardly Kaviri as she shook under the edge of Ari's cloak.

Cyrus feeling sufficiently ready to interact with the rest of the world decided to get up and talk to the people that he knew. He saw some people that he met in Balbadd when he was on his travels. That girl seemed happier and stronger than she was when he met her. He got up made himself look vaguely presentable and walked up to the large group of people staying calm he asked "Noir, How have you been? Its Cyrus, we met in Balbadd remember?"

Val waits for the girl's answer but she ignores Val so then he turns back to Noir. However, she already left. Val was tired so he was thinking of heading out of the tavern, until he saw 3 people. Val could feel a very strong presence from them and then Val overhead of them killing a dragon. FInally, someone who can teach him the ways of the blade. He has a mentor who can teach him but he needs to stay calm.
Val walks up to this man. Val also overhears his name but is not so sure. He walks up and taps on his shoulder. As he turns around, Val can recognize his eyes. It looked like he had an eye patch and the other eye is golden. He had black hair with a black suit. He looked very intimidating but Val liked that type of presence. He wanted to be more like that. "Excuse me sir. My name is Val Achilles. I would like to ask you, do you have any stories to tell?" Val at first wants to see if this man is telling the truth or not.

Noir noticed that the female magician in front of her was surprised, probably because she too, was thinking that this town was very odd. When Ari’s beasts started to tensed up, Haku would move in front of the black haired to protect her in case they were dangerous. Noir stopped her liger from being more tensed up than this by pat his head as if giving him a signal that he should calm himself down right away. She showed no fear at all and assumed that the beasts were belong to Ariella, and it was confirmed when the Magi didn’t show any kind of strange movement related to the beasts. When they were calmer, Noir would smile at them, staring at them while still admiring their cuteness. Her liger even made his own initiative by sniffing the purple haired magician before finally recognizing her as the person he met before, Ariella would find Haku nuzzling her legs and then he would growl happily.

“I am doing fine, Miss Ariella.  However, I am not sure about this place… perhaps you know where we are at the moment?” She would tilt her head to the side while staring at Ariella with a questioning look, “This place is like a dead town…for me…” She added before waiting for the purple haired woman to answer.

Not long after that, another person that Noir recognized show up and greeted her. With a polite bow towards the man, Noir greeted back, “Long time no see, Mister Cyrus.” She wondered about this place even more, she met with many acquaintances here and it was strange for me. But she didn’t really know if that was normal or not, so Noir wouldn’t give a deep thought about it. “It is fancy meeting you here as well. How are you?” After he replied, then she would introduce him to Ariella, “Ah, Miss Ariella, he is Cyrus, my acquaintance in Balbadd.” She looked at the orange haired man after that, “Mister Cyrus, she is Ariella, she is my savior.”

As he was having a nice convo with Rarda, he could hear footsteps slowly approaching towards them. He didn’t feel any kind of ill intention from the man so Tenma would just wait to see what this man wanted from them while listened to anything the woman in front of him had to say. Then the one eyed man could feel someone planned to touch his shoulder and before the man could touch him, Tenma touched the hand and turned back to see who. With a smile, the black haired man would listen tentatively to his words. “Greetings, Val! I am Tenma, Mikazuki Tenma.” He beamed a bright smile towards Val before continuing, “I was just sharing a story about dragon with this beautiful lady, I hope she is pleased to hear it. However, the interesting part is, the dragon seemed to have mind and it had one solid goal.” The swordsman laughed happily before taking another sip of his Sake then patted the chair beside him so Val can sit there if he wanted to. “So, Val Achilles, eh? What a nice name that you have there! Do YOU have any kind of stories to tell?”

Cyrus was please at the people he was meeting. Being the loner he was sometimes he forgot how nice it was meeting new people and making friends. "oh, that nice to meet you Ariella. How did you and Noir meet?" He was so happy to meet such interesting people "How did the dungeon go Noir that must have been an exhilarating experience!" he asked with glee! he was so determined to know what the dungeon was like. He almost started bouncing up and down on the spot. He couldn't have been happier! someone else caught his attention, a one eyed swords man he met he Heliohapt. He was surprised that he was here too. Intrigued but surprised he would probably talk to him next if the swordsman didn't talk to him first.

Ari smiled as the liger rubbed against her leg, causing the green feline hiding under her cloak to tense and move away. Reaching down, she gave the liger a pet as she spoke to Noir.

“I have no clue where we are, but it is peaceful. I think all of us could use a little peace.”

Ari looked up as another person joined them outside of the tavern, giving a friendly smile.

“Hello Cyrus, nice to meet you. Noir and I met during an adventure at sea, actually. It was quite an adventure, at that. And where are you from, Cyrus?”

She was not sure who the stranger was, but she felt no danger in this odd, dead place.

((OOC note to Cyrus: Ari and Noir are not inside the tavern, they are wandering around outside))

"Well, Ariella," he said as he felt the cold air over his body, "I'm from Reim actually but I've been living in Heliohapt for the past 6 months and I've been travelling around for the year previous First Magnostadt and then to Balbadd where I met Noir." So you girls met at sea that must be fun. He was intent on listing to the stories that the girls had to share. He was happy to hear what they had to say. he knew that a good story could come of this. He felt the girls were quite interesting especially Ariella, who, despite not being able to put his finger on it knew that she had done very interesting things. He let his hair flow in the cold winter wind and looked off into the distance waiting to hear her response.

It felt weird when he finally arrived close enough to the building to be able to see it closely, it looked like something the huntsman had never seen before at least that is what he swore, but it could be possible that the time he spent in the lands across the sea had imprinted a few effects on his mind.

In addition as he got closer he could see some figures in the distance, maybe his mind was trying to tell him something though at such a range the huntsman couldn’t make the figures out and by now it was light out.

The huntsman observed the group from afar not wanting to approach as of yet…

Rarda waited patiently for his tale, and even laughed when he told her that his blonde friend believed it to be an illusion. She laughed again at the end, before the other man approached them, at the fact that the dragon tried to eat him.

You really are lucky to have a friend like that then! We wouldn't be having this conversation if it wasn't for him, it sounds like!

She was about to continue, but then a man approached them, Val Achilles he called himself, but he seemed more interested in speaking with the man than to both of them. That did not stop her from calling a greeting to him, however, and she did so joyfully. This beautiful woman is called Rarda Yana, if you were interested, Mister Achilles! And please, do sit! If you have stories to tell, do tell! The night is young, I think, and we could all use more fun and laughter! She drained her glass, then called the bartender for more to drink, but moved onto something a little harder, some kind of foreign ale with a strange name that took her a few times to get it just right.

By time the huntsman closed on the building itself those whom were around it had disappeared maybe to the inside of the build or off out the back, it was somewhat like a tavern of the Imuchakk but far different, as the huntsman trudged slowly through the snow before he finally approached the buildings door.

Why was such a thing so far out in the wilderness though this seemed like an unawakening dream, the huntsman wondered why a dream would bring him to such a place, as he approached the door, he slowly placed his hand on to it.

It wasn’t like the dungeons door, he wasn’t transported inside and slowly began pushing it open.

Endolf had to wonder, just what the hell was going on these days? Once more he had woken up somewhere unknown, his head pounding as snow fell all around him. What was he doing out in this field? Why did it feel like his head had been split apart? Why did it constantly feel like he was waking up somewhere new and in a totally random situation every time? Picking himself up he pushed those thoughts aside and decided he would rather get out of the snow and cold first rather than worry about the strangeness he had been dealing with lately. Luckily he noticed what seemed to be a tavern a littles ways off, the lights bleeding through the windows and into the cold, snowy night. The Fanalis grimaced slightly.

“Ugh, why couldn’t it be a brothel? Taverns are never entertaining enough compared to brothels full of beautiful women ready to do whatever you ask.”

As he spoke to himself he began trudging through the snow covered grounds towards the only source of light he could see, the prospect of some form of warm drink, as foreign as the concept was to someone from Reim, seemed to energize him as he powered through the snow and cold. The closer he got, the more he could hear what sounded like cheerful conversations and smell things he had never smelled before like spices that seemed to warm his very core. Finally with a push he opened the door and stepped inside.

Ani wwas quite enjoying her time talking with the cat girl finding her company quite nice and relaxing overall. When she heard her reactions to what she told her she smiled softly. "Oh yes snowball fights are quite nice." She stated while smiling softly before hearing what she said about the snowmen. "Sure, but I'm going to leave Hoyo inside so he can stay nice and warm" She said as she pat her napping beast before standing up looking over at her. "You might wanna make sure you have everything before we go outside, it's really cold." She said it being nothing for her considering what she was.

With Yakuroro not ceasing his drunken drunkenness involving Zadi, there was only one thing left to do; Zadi had to fake his own death if he wanted to get out of this mess! If he didn't at least fake his death, then Yakuroro would surely kill Zadi with "kindness!" So, without further delay, Zadi faked his death by stopping his struggle and rolling his eyes into the back of his head so that only the whites of his eyes were visible. This task was rather easy to complete to be honest. It was as if Zadi was actually dying and 'letting go' of his earthly tethers. In fact, Zadi was so good at faking his death that a little Zadi-shaped wisp started to make it's way out of Zadi's body, much like how a dead person's soul leaves there body.

At this point, Zadi looked thoroughly dead. Now the problem was...is Zadi actually dead now? The act may not actually be an act. Zadi felt like he was looking at himself, dead, while floating away as the wisp. Hopefully this was all just an act and Yakuroro would believe it. If Zadi's act was not an act, then someone would have to grap that little wisp and shove it back into Zadi body...quickly!

Masuma was surrounded by the warm darkness that precedes sleep just before a dream drifts by to take you on a mini adventure. As she slowly drifted deeper into the depths of her mind an exotic scene slowly fell into place around her form. The first thing to cement into reality was the cold. It was a sinking deep cold that seeped into her bones as a cold breeze sweeps through her. Shivering she looks around and sees abandoned houses covered in white. As she stared in perplexity cold, wet, flakes of snow fell down on her exposed skin.

Going crossed eyed Masuma watched as a snowflake melted on her nose and in that instances somehow knew without knowing that it was snowing, despite never having encountered snow or even hearing much in the way about it. Twirling about in a circle she took in the strange cold wetness of the mysterious surroundings as any possible hope of realizing that she was in a dream slowly faded away. Soon enough she had enough of the cold and wet and began looking for a way out of the weather.

It was that her eyes finally landed on the tavern and she immediately started walking to it without even thinking about it. Wrapping her hand around the doorknob she twisted it and made her way in. While she would have immediately felt out of place in the waking world surrounded by alcohol and older men and women she oddly felt welcomed by the smiles of the staff and thought nothing of it. She was clearly meant to here though for what purpose she hadn't a clue. Making her way to the bar she asked the barkeep for something warm to drink and was given a warm mug of hot cider and she made her way over to the crackling fireplace and silently sipped away at her drink awaiting.....something or someone.

It seemed nobody noticed Zadi faking his death and Yakuroro continued to drown the helpless Zadi with the bottomless gourd filled with the last taste that Zadi would taste. Thankfully, this was all a dream and Zadi would wake up from the false pain he was feeling pretty soon. Granted, perhaps he was actually drowning in real life, too? Perhaps Yakuroro found Zadi and decided to assassinate him!? Zadi would find out within the next few moments if any of this was true or not. That is, unless someone helps the drowning Zadi before he wakes up from this strange yet wondrous dream.