An Odd Way To End A Thursday

[Jaziline]

Jaziline smiled her eyes brightened as she gently tugged at the ribbon freeing it from her left hand and letting the satin like clothe flow down toward the ground. The bird took flight up toward the tree. She leaned forward a bit to try to see the source of the smoke coming from the hood. "So you are not a wanderer, a writer, or is it a guardian now?" She asked a sadistic look gleamed in her eyes as she walked forward leaving a few yards. "I knew a few guardians, they took me in after the abandonment," she began eyes looking up to her left trying to remember a muddled timeline, "Before the change. I even assisted training the new recruits." she stopped standing before the man the Raven cawed as the demons shadow grew forward from under her feet stretching out toward the man on the rain soaked underbrush. "But they let me fall, and they left, and the only thing left are the memories and the crypts." She said raising the ribbon before her and letting it twist.

The Raven cawed once more and the woman lunged forward whipping the ribbon up over her shoulder a distraction as her right hand gripped the knife she had used to free herself from the brush and slashed at the man's torso.

[Lance]

The man listened to her words frowning slightly. “So I see you’re left a little bitter now. And yet you still wander around the grounds trying to collect souls for information.” His eyes looked at the ribbon before they flashed with a familiar light catching sight of the incoming knife. He jumped back as the blade sliced through his cloak making contact with something metal. Both of his hands were still hidden within the cloak.
A sigh left his mouth as he looked at the opening in his cloak. “I do believe you have killed my cloth.” He finished before reaching his left hand out grabbing the cloak and jerking it off. As the disguise was removed the man was seen in full vision. He wore a black suit with blue lining in it and a white tie tucked neatly within the suit. Two katanas could be seen sheathed In an X on his back , one with a black hilt and the other white. Bandages were wrapped around his lower torso and around his left arm from the elbow to the shoulder. His right arm was covered in a long sleeve with a cut from the blade along the side of it revealing the arm underneath which was covered in metal.
His black hair fell over his red eyes as they began glowing even brighter. Nathan stood in full view of Jaziline yet his determined look never changed as he held up his left hand forming a fake gun and pointing it at her. “Bang.” He said as a beam of light shout out and blinding speed towards her.

“Or perhaps it’s only that the guardians intentions should be examined.”He finished clearly having no knowledge of his own history.

[Jaziline]

Jaziline took a few steps back to get a good look at the man. Nathan an ally, an enemy, an unpleasant reminder of everything the shade could never have. The woman twisted sharply as the light ripped into the upper flesh of her bicep. She stood a moment the old Jaziline would have bled but the demon before him had tendrils of darkness drifting out of the wound. The smile on her face thinned as her eyes danced back to his. "Oh Nathano... That is what she called you." she shifted her weight, "Do you remember husk? I learned that from an old friend of yours. I watched in her shadow for so many years." The demon barked as the grin pulled back to her ears. She kicked forward this time throwing the dagger forward at Nathan's head as she snapped the ribbon out to her side and the satin shifted forms into a long purple bladed katana that she slashed low with aiming for his right calf.

The raven that perched shook its head before hoping onto a thicker branch and slowly puffed its chest till it began to expand into a ball and burst like a balloon revealing a man with a feather. The man sat in the tree resting his elbows on his thighs looking at the two fight. "So she isn't fully awaken." he muttered to his self.

[Lance]

Nathan tilted his head to the side at the words that came from the woman’s mouth. Although it has some bit of familiarity to it he could not recall anyone the woman was referring to, but she knew his name albeit worded differently by a single letter.”Sorry to say I don’t know you.” He said as the dagger zoomed towards him he dropped down onto one knee managing to avoid the dagger aimed for his head. “Although it’s a critical body part it’s easily avoided at long range...decoy” he mumbled as he saw the incoming attack towards his calf. He had no time to draw his own blade as he decided his only option was to reveal his last trick. He reached out quickly grabbing the blade with his right hand. The blade made an ear piercing ding as it slightly cut into the hand only to reveal that it was nothing but metal. A grin formed on his face as a massive amount of light shot out from the metallic hand erupting around the two. The light would simply cover the man but there was little doubt that it would cause damage to anyone nearby much less an enemy of light.

[Jaziline]

Jaziline smiled and laughed into the night, the light as expected create a vast shadow in the dreary overcasted day. As the dagger whizzed by a tree, her eyes focused beyond Nathan; the dagger enveloped in it's shade. Her own shadow twisted underneath the man and the dagger shot out of her own unnatural shadow towards the underside of his chin. Jaziline's blade shifted again falling flacid as a ribbon as she quickly tries to whip it out of the man's grip. However as her shadow whipped about on the ground, her left arm that had the wound fell lame beside her.

[Lance]

Nathan gritted his teeth as he seen the daggers tip begin to emerge from the shadow, he jerked his head back as if to roll backwards before stopping short, the dagger managed to slice his chin as it was to close to avoid entirely , he tightened his grasp firmly holding the ribbon and jerking it towards him with the hopes of pulling Jaziline along with it, he would then shoot forward using his and her momentum to headbutt Jaziline. It may be a rather unorthodox method in fighting but it was a very effective way to catch an opponent off guard.

[Jaziline]

Jazilines's body smiled as the blade cut into Nathano's chin. She was so excited she was able to battle. Not sit from below and watch Jazilin'e preform countless battles. She fell forward jerked forward by the ribbon. Her eyes darted down to see why as a voice entered her head, 'Clench your jaw.' she gritted her teeth asNathan's head came crashing down onto her nose. The demon released the ribbon and took a few steps back. Her eyes filled with hysteria, "YOU- You are wonderful!" She yelled as she crotched down her left arm dangling by her side her nose shattered and oozing both blood and some odd black substance. "Is this what facing a guardian is like?" She asked reaching down toward her shadow. "Veritas." she murmured a double head halberd extended up from the shade. She gripped the black staff and twisted the staff behind her. Rave shook his head and slid out of the tree and strolled up to the fighters. "Draw your blade, Na-THAN-O" She yelled stepping forward and twisting her body and swinging the metallike staff around bringing one of the small axelike heads toward Nathan's neck.

[Lance]

“A guardian?” He still thought the woman was spewing nonsense but a sadistic grin formed as his eyes began seeping a black mist from its corners as he stood up straight, blood ran down his face from the full force headbutt he had delivered. He brought his thumb up wiping blood off from his chin. “That ones gonna leave a scar...” He reached back with his left hand unsheathing the white katana as a mist of the same color flowed from its tip. He brought the katana into the halberds blade bouncing the blade off to quickly as he spun around bringing the katana around towards her right side upper torso aiming to slice into her rib cage. Meanwhile he moved his right hands fingers around as if stretching them.

[Jaziline]

The body of Jaziline moved the halberd vertically moving to hook the blade to minimize the impact as it hit her lame arm. On the moment of impact she swung the staff toward Nathan's rib. The lame arm now hung with the blade hitting the bone of the forearm. Rave looked at the damage carefully a few steps from the fight. He wondered how long he was going to let this go for. This embodiment lacked the tact that JazIline fought with. The combination was not correct, he was gonna have to find her bead, this shadow was not going to cut it.

[Lance]

Nathan brought his right arm forward colliding with the blade as the tip managed to prick his side causing blood to start running down. The white mist from the katana began to flow towards the blood as it touched the blood the mist turned red as if fusing with it. The mist began to lash out violently as it shot out towards Jaziline. Despite the enjoyment he had felt in this fight something felt off. “I have enjoyed our fight, but I’m afraid it’s coming to a close.” He stared at the woman. “You have a more powerful capability then this. So either you lack murderous intent, or YOU cannot access your abilities to their fullest.” He said tilting his head to the side as his gaze shifted towards Rave.

[Jaziline]

Feb 11, 2020 17:44:41 GMT -8 Lance said:

Nathan brought his right arm forward colliding with the blade as the tip managed to prick his side causing blood to start running down. The white mist from the katana began to flow towards the blood as it touched the blood the mist turned red as if fusing with it. The mist began to lash out violently as it shot out towards Jaziline. Despite the enjoyment he had felt in this fight something felt off. “I have enjoyed our fight, but I’m afraid it’s coming to a close.” He stared at the woman. “You have a more powerful capability then this. So either you lack murderous intent, or YOU cannot access your abilities to their fullest.” He said tilting his head to the side as his gaze shifted towards Rave.

Jaziline's body snarled at the Nathano she started forward and ducking low as Rave snatched her collar and ripped the woman back flinging her back into the underbrush. Rave opened his other hand a small bead sat in his palms as the red mist that was going for the woman was pulled down into the bead. Rave then reached into his pocket and glanced back at Jaziline's body and flung a green bead vines burst out and ensnares the woman to the ground she violently lashed at the binding. Rave slid his hands palming the now red bead into his pocket. "Very clever Nathan. Or do you go by that now?" Rave asked watching the body try desperately to reach into her shadow and find a weapon to free herself. "Honestly, I am surprised to see you I thought you died with Jaziline." He added.

[Cat]

Feb 8, 2020 11:11:11 GMT -8 Lance said:

The child perked up upon hearing another voice, this building was not empty after all. “Hello?” He responded, stepping out of the kitchen, his eyes immediately looking down at the cat strolling down the hallway. “Well that’s not quite what I expected.” He said. “But I’m not surprised.” Zeke tilted his head to the side. “Hello there little cat, are you here alone?”

"Not anymore," The cat replied, looking up at Zeke with her tail high in the air. She sat before the boy. "Sometimes other people pass through here." The key part was pass through. It was rare people stayed for an extended period of time. That is what the guild was to her, a refuge. Yellow eyes went up and down the boy. Her mind slowly registering his face and smell.
"We know each other, don't we child?"
The mist glowed around her once again. She glowed and changed back to normal. Usually she took that form when she was feeling more playful but...something felt different now that she found who was here.

[Lance]

Nathan started at Rave as he quickly subdued the woman. “It’s clear to see she’s mentally unstable at the moment, it was easy to tell that she’s not trained in battle due to her neglect of her physical shape.”
“As for your other questions...I am Nathan yes. But I don’t recall meeting you, and yet there seems to be some what of a familiarity.”
He looked down at his legs as the black mist surrounding them slowly faded away and they began to shake again. He held out his metal hand as a metal pole formed from the palm helping him steady himself.
“ I don’t recall doing either, but that could explain my weakened state.”

[Lance]

Zeke perked up upon seeing the animal transform into Cat. “Cat it’s you!” He shouted smiling. “Yeah it’s me Zeke!” So there’s actually something I have to tell you...”his happy demeanor quickly fading away. “And it’s about Nathan..”

[Jaziline]

Jaziline's body continued to snarl in the background as Rave rubbed his chin. "Odd you said that you were here for book research is that true?" he asked before walking over to the ensnared woman. He pulled a white bead and held it to the woman's head and the thrashing slowly came to a stop as the bead turned black. "You are astute as ever Nathan. This is a false spirit I made, a group wants to have Jaziline continue with her role after she was killed and I haven't the heart to drag her back into this." he said his voiced filled with melancholy.

[Lance]

Nathan tilted his head to the side giving Rave a puzzled look. “ Well I may have other reasons, but yes I am here to do some research... I have a few pieces of a puzzle missing and I’m trying to put them back together so I heard about the guild and studied up on it some and I figured perhaps I could find what I was looking for there.” He stared blankly at Jaziline not realizing their past together as comrades. “I see...” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’m sure that you have your reasons. And as long as Miss Jaziline would agree with your reasons, then why bring her back to this.”

[Cat]

Nathan?
Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time, long time

Cat placed her hand on one shoulder of Zeke's, pulling him in for a quick hug. Of course she had to. "It's good to see you Zeke."
Of course her interest was immediately piqued. When he died, a piece of Cat left this world with him. She was one of her first friends in this land. He was a leader to the guild and helped create the legacy that stood around her and Zeke now. He was one of the last of the original guardians, her brother-in-arms. Many people died and came back to WAR, but just some deaths were... final. But maybe this was why she always came back to this place. What Cat had unknowingly waiting for to happen this whole time, was his return.
"What do you mean?"

[Lance]

Zeke smiled softly hugging Cat back before she brought up the question concerning his older brother. Despite still looking like a child Zeke was much older now. He stepped back turning towards the window looking towards Nathan’s direction. “He’s back, Cat...but he doesn’t remember anything. Father G brought him back...”

[Jaziline]

Rave nodded before gesturing with an open hand toward the still body, "As the Shade said. She is a husk, the organization where the human side of Jaziline originated from wanted to keep the her around. She accumulated the Shadowblade and the powers of Lucifer. They wanted to keep her under their control. Jaziline simply wanted her eternal rest. So I took a piece of her Umbrum and used it to animate a shade. I used a lab that I found here to create the husm. It was doing well till it ran into a familiar face." He said checking his watch to look at the time. "We really came by to see if I left my journal here. But now I am curious as to what brought you back." He explained, the husk slowly repairing itself now

[Lance]

Nathan stared blankly at rave before closing his eyes and bringing both of his hands up in a shrug. “As I had stated before I only came by this way to find the guild, if you could be so kind as to point me in the general direction I would be more then happy to go on about my business as I’m sure you are a busy bird.” He said chuckling lightly at the end. He seemed to be getting rather irritated that he had been held up for so long and the questions and constant prodding trying to get information out of him wasn’t helping matters. He had a job to do but he couldn’t risk anyone getting in his way.