The Watering Hole: Tempest Fugit

Kiersa frowned at Cirven briefly for the terrible joke he’d just made. “Stigmata of Grace.” She intoned as she held her hands over the wound in his arm. Her eyes began to bleed as the spell took effect, even as Cirven’s bullet wound closed in his flesh, to only appear in her own body. “Capricorn…” she said quietly, the Goat Spirit nodding as he took up a defensive position nearby to his Summoner and the Demon Slayer. It was strange seeing this from the nun’s vision. She could sense the demonic energy inside of the blue haired mage, but her holy magic continued to heal his sundered flesh. The twisted irony was not lost on her, although she doubted that Cirven would have the same appreciation given his lack of religious education, a fact that still baffled the blonde.

When he asked her to hurry up she had to resist the urge to smack him upside the head. “I-I’m g-going as f-fast as I c-can… re-reknitting m-muscle a-and t-tissue is tr-trickier th-than it l-looks…” Kiersa informed her impatient patient. With her sight gone from her, all she could do was listen to the roars of water and gunfire crashing nearby. The Goat Spirit of the Zodiac remained where he was in proximity to Kiersa and Cirven, even with Aayla and her Sea Serpent continuing the fight. The fact that the young Dragon Slayer had not responded to Capricorn’s words only slightly perturbed the Spirit, but it was something that could be addressed at a later date.

The nun soon finished her healing, her left hand reaching up to the new hole in her right arm where the wound had been on Cirven. “T-Try t-to not g-get h-hit a-anymore p-please…” she asked of the Flame Demon Slayer before turning her head to the sound of Aayla’s voice asking for some rope. The nun bit her lip as she tried to think. “I kn-know a b-binding s-spell… b-but I’d h-have to r-remain b-behind…” she said before Capricorn gave a faint cough. “Excuse meh milady. But I believe that there is some nearby.” He said before heading back into the bar, and a few moments later returning with a large length of rope. He went over to restrain their new prisoner, taking care to give Aayla some space.

Spoiler:

He winced as his teammate healed his wounds. He felt bad for telling her to hurry but he didn't want his sister being hurt while they were busy dealing with his injury. He also would have to help the nun later somehow for her taking the injury from him with her magic. He hated that her spells required her to be hurt in someway to help them. It wasn't worth it to him if his pain could only be fixed by his friend being hurt somehow.

"Thanks Kiersa. I didn't want you to be hurt but we didn't have much a choice here. I promise that you won't be hurt anymore with me around." He wasn't trying to sound as if he was trying to say he liked Kiersa more than friends and didn't even try to think through what he was saying. "I just don't want you hurt anymore, you know?" He had told her in the past about how much he disliked how her magic hurt her in order to help them but it never did stop her from continuing to use it.

He pushed himself up from the ground where he had sat so that Kiersa could help him. "Just watch." He ran by her and towards the two other enemies that remained who shot their bullets towards him again. Cirven jumped into the air just before the bullets could hit him and sucked in a breath of air. "Flame Demon's Rage!" A ball of white flame shot out from Cirven's mouth towards the two men hitting one of them while the other managed to roll out of the way to dodge the blast. The man hit laid unconscious surrounded by small flames.

The man who dodged had only walked into another attack as the blue-haired Sabertooth mage stood in front of him and slashed his blade down onto him. "Purge Art: Expurgation." A mass of flames erupted from the slash and covered the man. Cirven placed his blade back into its sheath as the man fell to the floor burnt and unconscious. "Finished my plate." He put both hands on the back of his head and walked back towards his team. "Hey waitress lady, do you know if there are anymore left? We did kind of just beat a lot of them down there. Also sorry for the fire damage there. You can take it out of their tab or something, right?"

Stats/Cooldowns/Passives/Durations:

Aayla made sure to keep her Serpents gaze active, looking down at the floor though to make sure she didn’t accidently put anyone else to sleep or cause anyone to freak out. She took a step back away from the man as Capricorn came forward to tie him up. She chanced a glance over towards Kiersa but right away looked away, already feeling guilty that she had completely shunned her summoning magic and completely ignored Capricorn who had done nothing but help everyone out. He did seem different than the others… she didn’t feel like she was going to be torn apart at any moment. 

She took in a deep breath to steady herself, and when no more attacks came, she deactivated her Serpents gaze and walked over towards Capricorn, but still kept her distance from him.

“Hey… uhm… thank you…”
She mumbled, nervously tugging at the bottom of her jacket as she spoke to Capricorn.

“It’s not fair that I lump all the spirits with the dark spirits… and I know you’re not all the same… I did meet Cygnus and Cetus before but…  I guess they just scared me enough to start doubting all the others… Sorry…”
She continued mumbling, showing a little more of her old self than she wanted too.

The waitress sighed as she held a serving tray defensively in front of her as if the man would get up at any time and strike at her.

“That’s all our regulars anyways…  but… what if they come back? We can’t keep calling the guilds for help every time we’ll wind up broke…”
she told cirven, slowly lowering her serving tray and glancing between the fallen drunk and the mages who had come to their rescue. Of course, the fact that they put the request in in the first place might be enough to scare them off, but as long as they served their prized beer… no doubt they would keep getting attacked.

“Thank you for your help. I suppose we’ll just have to hire an extra bounder or two just incase others start getting hooked too.”

Spoiler:

The nun caught Aayla glancing her way before the Slayer looked away. She was about to say something when Capricorn gave a slight shake of his head, before listening to what she had to say as he finished restraining the drunken mage. He stood up when the mage was restrained, and appeared to consider the Water Dragon Slayers apology. The Goat Spirit gave a bow towards the girl. “No apologies required Milady Mizune. You had a rather bad example of Celestial Spirits for your first encounter, and it is understandable that you would harbour some resentment and in some cases, fear towards my kind.” He said, slowly straightening back up. “Meh in particular as I am one of the Zodiac, and Leo is as well.” Capricorn said before looking at her properly, although it was hard to tell with his sunglasses on.

Kiersa went up towards Aayla and tried to put a hand on the girl’s shoulder, smiling softly at her, although apologetically. “I-I’m s-sorry I d-didn’t ow!” she yelped, rubbing her head a little as Capricorn had “gently” thwapped her on the crown of her head. “What have I instructed you about stuttering milady?” he asked the nun who sighed, rubbing her head giving the Goat Spirit a mild pout before looking back to Aayla. “I-I’m… wait!” she said holding up a defensive arm in anticipation of another Capricorn thwap. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner… I’d intended to do it during a training session… not a job… but well…” she apologised. “But I promise… none of them are going to hurt you…” she said before frowning. “…Maybe Lupus though… at first… he’s er… kind of aggressive…” the nun said with a wince at the memory of her first meeting with the Wolf Spirit.

“Although I’m sure you’ll like Draco.” Quickly said the nun to get the image of Lupus away. “He’s like a kindly grandfather type of Spirit… although I’ll need to get much stronger though to be able to actually summon him…” Kiersa admitted. She really hoped that Aayla would be able to get along with the Spirits.

The member 'JaffaArchfiend' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Cirven was watching the conversation between the two girls and Celestial Spirit as he walked closer. He could understand his sister's fears against the zodiac spirit but saw her anger towards Kiersa as something completely unnecessary. She had gotten stronger to help the team and others which was practically the same thing that Cirven had done in the past. "Aly." He added himself into the conversation once close enough to them. "Kiersa got stronger for us just like you did. She probably got tired of just sitting back as a sort of support and wanted to find a way to help us by fighting more."

He looked at the goat spirit and flashed a grin. "The goat ain't half bad anyways. He fits right in with our 'do as much damage as you can then get out' style of fighting. I understand your fear and I barely like the idea of having something like him, one of the things that hurt you in the team but he is different." He then looked to his sister. "You know Kiersa wouldn't let anything bad happen to you anyways so take this as a chance to get over that fear."

Just as he finished the door of the tavern clicked open again and a drunken mage stood on the other side. "Ahll mah friendsh!" He stumbled through the door and into the tavern talking in slurs. "Sor-sorreh I wash late!" He looked at the area around him and saw the men on the ground from the earlier fighting. "Looksa like I will have to finnish thish myshelf assss the leaders!" He lifted up his hand and stumbled forward some but managed to regain his footing. He then pointed his hand towards the Sabertooth mages as he started to channel dark energy into it for an attack.

"Did anyone us not understand a thing that guy just said? Was like listening to a pre-schooler with their tongue out and trying to talk." Cirven held in his laugh as the man lifted up his hand towards them. "These guys don't learn at all. I'll handle the attack you guys handle him." Cirven pulled out his blade from his side then covered it in his white flames to cause it to shine in a white light and change form. "Slayer form, Agneya."

The drunken mage then shot off a blast of dark energy towards them but Cirven used Agneya to send a wave of white flames into the attack causing both to cancel each other out.

Stats/Cooldowns/Passives/Durations:

Kiersa frowned in Cirven's direction as he seemed to scold Aayla for being afraid of Capricorn. She went to give the Water Dragon Slayer a comforting hug, and kiss her forehead as she had done previously in the past to try and help the girls nerves. "It's alright... take your time..." the nun assured her softly. Capricorn raised an eyebrow at the Flame Demon Slayers words concerning him. "I am standing right here you know." he remarked, shaking his head slightly before looking down at Aayla as she spoke to him

He shook his furry head. "It is as my Summoner has said milady. Take your time. You have been through a terrible ordeal, and such things cannot be rushed." said the Goat Zodiac Spirit, bowing at the waist towards her, before regarding the drunken mage coming towards them. "Sadly, I can translate. He said, All my friends, sorry I was late, looks like I will have to finish them myself as the leader." the Goat Zodiac Spirit said. "It would seem this one is their leader, apparently." he remarked with a raised eyebrow.

Whilst Aayla and Cirven dealt with him, Kiersa's attention was drawn to the prisoner that Capricorn had restrained. She walked over towards him, intoning "Stigmata of Damocles." A divine blade of holy magic emerged from her right wrist, her hand falling lifeless as blood seeped from her flesh. She held it to the restrained man who stopped struggling in his bondage at the very close hum of the magical weapon. "I would suggest sir that you stay put and still... I really wouldn't want to hurt you by accident..." she said slowly so that even in his drunken state he could understand her words clearly.

The nun looked towards the door that Aayla had just gone through with the leader of this gang and looked over to Capricorn in concern. The Goat nodded and moved over to their prisoner. "I shall keep an eye on our guest milady." he assured her, deciding to simply stand next to the man, ready to strike should he attempt to escape. Kiersa nodded and ran outside to catch up to Aayla who had sounded very much not like herself for a moment. "Aayla!" she called out as she went over to the blue haired dragon slayer. "What are you planning to do Aayla?" she asked her friend in slight concern.

Cirven stood back as his sister charged forward towards the drunken mage after he had dealt with the attack sent at them. It was a maneuver they had practiced a few times where one of them dealt with an attack and the other quickly moved in while the enemy was vulnerable. Something was different though. Aalya had moved faster than he last remembered her able to do as well as using a new spell where she gained claws. "Glad to see you still have surprises Aly." He spoke towards her with a smile.

He watched as Aalya drug the man outside of the building similar to how they had done the others earlier. He turned around and gave Capricorn and Kiersa a nod. "Guess we should tail her." He then went on ahead without waiting for either of the others to follow. He held his sword out in front of him as he moved outside and made sure to look around the area for any other possible enemies.

He couldn't see or even smell anyone else around, or at least anyone that smelled like the man his sister dragged out. He still couldn't figure out if what the guy had said was true or not. Was he really the leader of the drunken group of mages? He really didn't seem like the leadership type at all. Maybe it was the stench coming off of him or the clothes he was wearing but he just didn't seem to fit that description at all.

"Aly, what are you going to do with this guy?" He felt like his sister was different somehow still but he couldn't figure out how. He felt as like she was going to do something that she would regret. "Hey, I think he is pretty secure where he is so that we can just tie him up or something. Could probably use him to stop all of the craziness for the drinks they wanted." He placed his blade back into the sheath on his side and moved so that he stood next to his sister just behind her.

Aayla dragged the man outside, tearing into hs cloths as she did so, scratching at the back of his neck (accidentally of course) and drawing more blood as she tossed him ahead of her so that he would hit the ground hard. She watched as he rolled, struggling to get up to his feet while simultaneously trying to contain the blood flow from his chest.

“C… creyzy bitsch… I’m g…goeen hame.”
He attempted to say before falling face first on the ground again, whimpering as the blood began seeping into the stone. He couldn’t move all of a sudden, and didn’t understand why until Aayla brought her hand up to display what had happened, running the tips of her left claws over her bloody right claws.

“I don’t think you know anything about the Sea… Over 50% of Sea Creatures carry poison… from the plants, to the fish, to the Sea Serpents. You’re lucky you got my poison… you wouldn’t want to run into Zinanth’s…”
She said pointing to above them, causing the man’s eyes to go wide as he panicked and began to flail, trying to get away from the creature that wasn’t actually there. He couldn’t see, all he could see was the ground in front of his drunken face.

When Crven and Kiersa came up, sh looked over her shoulder at the pair and smiled innocently, like she always did. When she saw their concerned faces however, that smile turned into a pout.

“Whaaat… it’s nt like im going to kill him…”
She said, turning so that the poisoned man couldn’t easily hear her.

“The point is to scare them right… well, I think I made him wet himself.”
She said with a small giggle, though still pouting at the fact that her family and friend doubted her. Sure she found herself struggling with her inner darkness a lot more now that Mary had unlocked it… but she wasn’t going to kill anyone!...else… the only people she had ever killed so far was Mary herself, and that was enough regret for her… she wouldn’t let herself do it again… to anyone.

Kiersa gave a sigh of relief as Aayla assured them of her plan. "Sorry... but you got a strange look was all... and well... I'm sorry for doubting you." said the nun, bowing her head before wincing from an imagined strike to her head. She realised she looked a little off following the wince. "Sorry... Capricorn's been trying to teach me how to be more... well... lady-like... And ladies don't bow." explained Kiersa as she rubbed her head a little before regarding the flailing man in the dirt, wrinkling her nose a little at the smell coming from him. "I... I think you actually did Aayla..." remarked the nun, referencing her comment about making him wet himself.

She looked around the town around them for a bit before deciding to head back inside. "I d-don't think y-you'll be having any m-more trouble f-from this lot miss." she said, nodding to the waitress. "W-We've got their leader outside... well... very scared." paraphrased the nun, not entirely willing to go into the full details of what the Water Dragon Slayer had done to him with her Takeover magic.

At least Kiersa presumed it was Takeover magic... if it was really her turning into a dragon however... But the nun had only read about one person that had turned into a dragon... and that had been Acnalogia, and even then he'd only done so after slaughtering hundreds upon hundreds of dragons, soaking himself in their blood...

The nun put the thought out of her head for the time being and returned her attention to the bar owners. "Much obliged to ye little one. Here's yer payment... and how about one for the road eh? Ye three must be pretty thirsty after all that fightin' ye did for us." offered the waitress, pushing a mug of the ale responsible for all this into the nun's hands. "Oh... um.. thank you... I um... I've never..." she began to say, the waitress chuckling.

"Ye've never had ale before? Well, drink up then. First time for everything." she said, the nun slowly nodding before taking a polite mouthful of the stuff. She immediately began coughing from the sheer flavour of the ale as it burned away inside of her... right before she felt rather dizzy and fell over to the floor, the sounds of the bar laughing away good naturedly the last thing she heard.