Completed In the shadow of His mercy

[Vanari]

"We'll come back for you," Vera swore as she was forced to leave with the dark haired stranger, "You and Yoona both! I'll find Master Parnell, and we'll...we'll make them pay! We'll come back...not leaving you both...promise..." Her voice faded as the child was led hastily away by the young man. Vanari's heart lurched in so many painful directions in those scarce, few ticks that she remained frozen in indecision. Should she have gone with Vera? No, then this slave--Yoona--who was currently risking her own life to save the child, would be left for dead. She had to stay. Stay and fight! "He won't hurt her." Ari looked up in surprise at the slave. Where Yoona had managed to pick up an ally and how she knew he was trustworthy the Vantha couldn't even begin to guess. But right now they needed all they help they could get. She wasn't about to argue. The young woman gulped and nodded. Everything had happened so fast, over just the span of a handful of chimes. It wasn't until now that she finally had the chance to unsheathe her Tamos. Vanari was clumsy at best with the daggers, but having some form of weaponry was better than none. It didn't take a trained fighter either to see that the slave wouldn't be able to grapple the man for much longer. Something needed to be done, and fast. Ari swallowed again. Would she be able to kill a man in cold blood right then and there? She was doomed either way, the Vantha knew. If she killed this man, the Stryfe would be on her in ticks. If she didn't, they would still be on her, just further down the line. But not that much further, she realized after another cursory glance over the heads of some worried looking worshippers. And if they didn't get her soon, the blind bounty hunter would. Gods above, why couldn't life ever be easy? And then, like an answer to her pitiful prayers, another ally joined the fray. The red haired, feral looking woman shoved the blind man backwards and snarled, reminding Vanari all too well of her old, Kelvic friend Ardea. The woman also appeared to be about the Vantha's height, but much, much paler and evidently able to handle herself in a fight. A second layer of shock was added when Ari realized both the red haired woman and the slave seemed to know one another, based on their mutually haughty exchange. Who knew a slave could have so many friends to rely upon in their time of need? Not long after, Yoona dropped what appeared to be a very dead bounty hunter onto the ground. She slapped him a few times. No response, to Vanari's immense relief. "Thank Morwen..." she muttered under her breath, daggers still held out defensively before her. There was only one bounty hunter left to deal with. And perhaps, now that Yoona had far more competent aid, she could consider a few ways to avoid the Stryfe once they arrived... Alas, when one problem died, more sprang up in its place. Because now she could see no sign of Parnell at all. Where could he have gone? Did he even know what was happening? Vanari cursed herself over and over. She had failed, having known all along what was likely to happen but being unable to pass the message along in time. She should've thought of something, anything, as a back up plan. But even as she considered this, the Vantha knew it was only wasting her time. What was done was done. It was the now that mattered, the extremely risky and dangerous now that she wasn't all too sure she'd make it out of unscathed. She tightened her grip around the Tamos and prepared for the worst.

[Daegron]

Trickery.
At last, the poison-maker was himself again. And on his face, painted was the kind of grin that was expected. As the order was spoken, he caught the glimpse of a familiar thought gleaming in those green eyes. The spark that was soon to ignite, a drive stronger than anything; vengeance!

The details were few but enough for Daegron to make some sense of the situation. This probably wasn't about any recent event. A bit of Parnell's dark past came back to hunt him down. In the form of bounty hunters, not the dimwit rough and tumble type but something far more dangerous, if he could guess from the Hypnotist's ominous presence. And they had the nerve to take their reward on this very day, inside the Temple no less. Woe to them should they be caught in this holiest of places. The Black Hole would swallow them, the 'Stryfe would serve those fools with what they deserved. The terrible slow agony that was to defy Rhysol's will and protection; their pathetic godlings were too small to help them.

He turned around, taking the opposite direction his "friend" did, just as instructed, swiftly stepping through the thick of the crowds. Nolan's thinner structure was definitely helpful while he tried to find his way. A few ticks later his pace slowed down and he tried to imitate the doctor's stance and walk. Careful steps, even steps, a straight back and his head tilted slightly upwards, like the way he walked around, observing and planning his next move while testing the Morpher's reaction to drugs just a season ago. He murmured under his breath random phrases, recalling the poisoner's voice from the times they'd met. It's timbre was unique; higher in pitch than his own with a tone that resembled a nefarious cackle. He looked around for the girl trying to hide his naturally puzzled look with a series of gazes around him that ranged from indifferent to downright angry. That's how he guessed the man would act.

It wasn't the kind of interruption he expected but it surely was about time. A hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him around. There was a slight misconception on the assailant's part about how much force was needed. Daegron's mass was definitely larger than Parnell's and during the transformation it wasn't changed but merely compressed.
"You are mine now, knave !" the man hissed. A young man barely two decades old and though his face was hard, it clearly showed his inexperience. Daegron noticed that underneath the righteous anger of his gaze, the man's lower lip slightly trembled. Nolan was surely a fearsome foe, that much he was aware.
"Indeed you have.." he said and his voice acting was poor but it didn't really matter. Abright idea flashed into his brain and Daegron's cold stare turned into a blank emptiness. "I surrender to you as you have asked me to.... " he continued, trying to make his voice sound bland, as if he wasn't in control of himself. He was faking the effects of hypnotism, those he knew too well, and though his acting was terrible, the youngster was thankfully scared enough to not be able to notice. He spread his hands forward, as if he had no will. As expected the bounty hunter was cocky enough.
"You wil get what you deserve !" he answered and reached with a pair of manacles to tie his prey.

But the Morpher had seen it coming; the error of a man who does not know how to secure his captive. He muttered his black mantra under his breath and willed his Djed into action. He made if flow all the way to his hand, through nerves and vessels of precious red and when it rested on it's destination, it initiated the change. It was swift, potent, precise, solid and came almost naturally, something that made him proud of himself and fuelled his power even more. His index and middle finger connected and the bones melded into one solid entity that elongated while the flesh wrapped around it. It tore the skin of his fingertips and grew a couple of inches longer; like a dagger made of bone. Meant to pierce and stab.

As the manacle got tied around his other hand, Daegron plunged his new weapon into the target's gut. He could feel the hardened leather armour being torn away and the warmth of his target's belly and blood. Swift as it was, the blow was very weak and definitely not effective on it's own. He needed a little lie to make it work.
"You are poisoned now, boy ... you can barely make a last prayer before a quick and horribly painful end finds you. Enjoy !" he growled and laughed at his captor's face. It worked like a charm! The boy stumbled a few steps back and trembled. Daegron took the chance to run away, one hand in manacles and unable to wipe a triumphant grin from his face.

It wasn't long till he bumped on another youngster. This one was scruffy and kept his head down. Daegron's eyes locked with the youngster's sky-blue stare for a moment. But his attention was stolen away in an instant. What joy, he carried the missing girl's hand and she followed willingly!

"Child ! Never run away from my side like that again!" he said, totally forgetting his previous voice acting attempts. He ended his words with a coughing fit, hoping it would cover his failed attempt and not cause any alarm to her.

[Redd]

Redd’s remaining hazel hue had of course been looking away from Yoona, but despite the pain a slow smirk fell across her lips her words gave the woman some kind of humour, "'Help'? Ha! All this is easy!” Redd scoffed then, brushing back her red brindled locks before shaking her head. ”If it’s so easy, then why didn’t you do anything the last time we met, you just laid there. Much like what you’re doing right now, minus the human.” She perked a brow as she listened to something thump to the ground and she angled her head just slightly so then she could view the man upon the ground. The young wolf focused upon the man’s form for a moment, pausing to attempt to hear a heart beat. It was there, but slow, mostly she figured that was because Yoona had done something to knock him unconscious. She had almost missed the heart beat with the crowd pressing in on them. Having seen Yoona lying upon the ground had brought back memories of hunting her down for her master at the time. It had been a long time since she had been out of the city and she had been hungry, hungry for blood. Yoona had just happened to be the escapee that Elias had wished captured.

The young wolf angled her head to view the woman that had muttered, although she didn’t catch it, mostly because the sounds of the crowd were loud and quite frankly a little annoying. The woman was similar to Yoona with her short cut brown hair, but this one had other colours that seem to gleam other colours? Her gaze travelled over the woman’s form, taking note of the olive skin and the fact that they seemed to be of the same height. Finally her gaze rested upon the weapons that the woman held within her hands and she briefly wondered if this stranger could use them. She also took note of their sharp edges, before she glanced upwards as she could have sworn that she had caught wind of a familiar scent. A scent that a wolf could never forget seeing as they lived for the hunt, for the taste of that warm liquid. A frown creased her features as she lifted her nose, closing her hazel hue as she tried to sort through the many scents and sounds that were moving in and around the three. Finally, she caught wind of the scent once again and her frown had deepened, she could smell blood and a soft growl reached her lips.

While naturally she would attempt to trace it to the source, it was a lot harder in a crowd of people and so she refrained from doing so. Redd glanced back at Yoona and the strange woman to make sure that they were not hurt, but they did not appear to have spilled their crimson blood. She sniffed, before she angled her head away, besides, from the small whiff of the blood’s scent that she had caught, it didn’t smell like any of the other two. It wasn’t a scent that she was familiar with either. However, just as she was about to chase after that scent, it disappeared and another growl of frustration rose to her lips, lifting her gaze to view the two other women, they didn’t seem to be alarmed. It was then that she realized that they wouldn’t exactly be able to smell it mostly because they were not animals. Well, Redd knew that Yoona wasn’t an animal, but the other one, she still wasn’t exactly sure about still. The scent of the blood reminded her of when she chewed upon a dead human, or when she was a pup and she ate their dead corpses for some kind of nourishment. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips as she remembered the taste upon her lips. ”Someone bleeds.” She said softly to no one in particular.

As soon as these words had fallen from her lips, a hand grasped the back of her cloak and yanked her back, a soft growl upon her lips and she glanced up to view the city guard that had gotten behind her to snatch her up. Of course, she wouldn't struggle considering it was a city official, but that didn't mean she liked the situation especially when he called out, "Who owns this slave?" She growled before she turned her face so then she could view Yoona. Throughout the whole thing interaction with the two other women, she had avoided looking them straight on, that was until now of course. "Remember Yoona, there is no such thing as home."

[Faolan Lundgren]

Faolan Lundgren Faolan walked with Vera through the crowd, glancing up at those around them warily. He was rather calm considering the situation they were now in. Chalking it up to the fact that he now had a real purpose for being in the temple he was grateful that his nerves had died down. Also figuring that the calm demeanor of the girl whose hand he now held was factoring in as well he allowed his senses to roam about them a little further than they had previously. He had just caught the scent of blood when he was bumped in to by a man who seemed to be in quite the hurry. Looking at him cautiously he noticed that the man's gaze shifted instantly to Vera. When this stranger admonished the girl for running away his eyebrows raised a little as he realized that this must be the man they were looking for. What had she said his name was again? Something that started with a P, of that he was certain. He couldn't quite remember though, not that it really mattered. The strong smell of blood was coming from this man though. Pupils dilating at the scent he cleared his throat a little and glanced around at the crowd around them. He was still holding Vera's hand as he returned his gaze to the man before them. Studying him carefully to see if he could locate the source of the blood scent the young Kelvic noted that there was something around the other man's wrist. His mind clicked through several scenarios before coming to the conclusion that Vera's guardian had been captured and had probably fought his way free. Fidgeting a little he looked around again. He got the sense that they weren't out of danger just yet. Instincts telling him not to leave the pair and disappear into the crowd he glanced between Vera and the man who smelled like blood. "Now what?" he asked. His question was directed at the strange man even as he glanced about them again. With his nose filled with the scent of blood he was much more restless than he had been before. The crowd made it difficult to hear anything besides those that were speaking directly to him and now that his sense of smell was overwhelmed he grew antsy. Relying solely on his eyesight wasn't something he typically did. Looking at the man again he waited for his answer with growing impatience, his nerves coming back full force.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar The allegedly blind bounty hunter was elusive in the throng before the Temple. Twice Inoadar came up behind him, only to find a different man moving through the crowd. He had to apologize and admit to clumsiness to explain his rough contact with these strangers. One of these times he saw Daegron, still wearing Inoadar's own appearance, have a run-in with some hesitant youngster, and drive him off easily. He wondered if the punk was an associate of the bounty hunter, and took a quick look to see if Vera was in danger of being intercepted by the main enemy. Fortunately, Vera did not appear to be in Yoona's company now, which it made more difficult to locate her. There was the problem of not knowing where she was himself, but that could be sorted out later. But he figured it made sense to gravitate towards Daegron's general area, figuring Vera would be headed that way. Then he saw the bounty hunter again. It appeared he had the same reasoning behind his movements, but Inoadar felt a resolute thrill to see that he would intercept the bastard's path. A sense of nostalgic irony gave him the notion to kill the man with the same "lucky" letter opener he'd killed that elder with so many years ago. The poisoner could see that his path would converge with the bounty hunter's in just another ten yards or so. The word "patience" repeated in his mind as he came up behind the man, left hand ready to yank the man's head back, right arm ready to drive the dull blade under his jaw into his brain. Even as he reached to seize his enemy's jaw, the head ducked, and he felt a fist hit like a rock slide in his gut, driving his breath from him and landing him on his back among startled worshipers. Several women screamed as the knife came out and a knee pressed into his chest to pin him to the stones. "You think I can't track perfume, Tran?" The bounty hunter sneered in triumph. "You cover your own scent, but you fail to hide the fact that this new scent is tracking me all over the square. I can put two and two together easily enough." He thrust the vial forward again. "Drink it, Parnell! Yes I know your cover name, assassin!" He hissed the word. "Drink it willingly and come along with me, and the little girl will be spared. Don't try to deny your feelings for her. It was too easy to bait that hook with a little suggestion. You care for her. You know you do." "But you don't HAVE her, you bastard! You're as ill-fit to give orders as your elder is...oh excuse me...WAS!" Inoadar snapped back, his eyes utterly defiant of the blade at his throat. Maybe it was the pure hate giving him fatalistic resolve...maybe it was the belief that he'd still manage to kill his killer before he died...maybe it was The Flux he was concentrating in his hips and spine, to eject the man over his head with a single pelvic thrust...Maybe it was his genuine faith in Rhysol's will that if he died here, it was simply what was to be...Maybe it was enough to see the frustrated fury in his enemy's face that he'd be unable to drag the hated poisoner back to Nyka, and would have to settle for killing him here...his first failure... Or...maybe it was the squad of Ebonstryfe soldiers, shoving the last row of morbidly fascinated observers aside to square off on the confrontation, swords brandished for action. "Drop the knife, sir. You may be willing to trade your life for this man, but there are ways to die you could never imagine. I promise you, Parnell would get the best of that exchange."

[Verin Rush]

Chaos. Had it not been in his place of worship, and had it been on a very different occasion (such as one not dedicated to praising The Lord and asking for forgiveness for anything the citizens had done to displease him), Rhysol might have revelled in the chaos that stemmed from only a few of his citizens. Some uninvolved worshippers were now turning to gawp, having been disturbed by the relatively loud noise that the disrupting group were making. Others had been distracted by the the sea of black that had descended on the group, wading through the praying masses to break up the group. The most unfortunate of the growing audience were those who had actually been physically shoved or injured through the excitement. They were the ones who were shoving back, exacerbating the growing argument.

A few of the higher members of the Ebonstryfe, who were approaching the scene, and one Acoltye from The Black Sun, knew of Nolab Parnell, or of Inoadar. Their eyes narrowed when they realised that he was in the centre of the dispute, and approached faster, keen to clear up those involved and remove them from the temple soon at the very least.

Verin, arriving only a little before the officials, garnered no extra information before they had slipped into the situation and were trying to quietly gain control. Though he desperately wanted to approach Master Parnell, to assist his mentor in any fashion he could, Verin could not physically reach the poisoncrafter through the tight mesh of people, nor was he overly keen to risk his own status for a man that had recently been condemned. Instead, he was present to hear the angry words of a member of the Stryfe, "Who owns this slave?"

Pale blue eyes instantly turned to follow the origin of the man who had spoken, and then his gaze drifted down to the striking, fiery red hair that covered the girl's head and shoulders. Knowing what he was looking for, he searched out the crescent sun on the back of the girl's hand, and his lips twitched a little when he saw the tell-tale black tattoo. He didn't glance around in search of her owner, but was surprised when no one stepped forward to claim what was a relatively good specimen. “She's mine, soldier.”

The soldier looked over and frowned, not recognising Verin as a hopeful initiate to the Black Sun, which he was very relieved about. He released his grip slightly on the girl, but held her tightly by the wrist in order to pass her over, and Verin also made a show of taking her. He squeezed the girl's arm in order to warn her not to speak. "Would he best if you had better control of your property, boy," another said gravely, "from her mannerisms, I think she must be a Kelvic, a predator at that, and we would prefer it if those of a more dangerous nature were well restrained."

A solemn mirror of the soldier, Verin nodded in agreement, announcing that he would do just that, when he left this place, and that he would be sure to give the girl a swift beating. Only those who knew him well might notice how uncomfortable the blond bartender was getting, especially at having to lie so shamelessly within his God's house. He would not be disciplining the creature, nor did he intend to keep the girl, yet he would keep up the pretence for the same of the pasty as a whole.

OOCTook a few liberties here! Don't know if you wanna round our bit off, Redd..?

[Vanari]

The red haired woman growled, and though the sound bore no ill will towards Vanari herself, it still sent the tiny hairs on her neck standing on end. "Someone bleeds." She sincerely hoped it was one of the bounty hunters, but there was no viable way of telling. Ari thought she saw Parnell admonishing his little protege somewhere in the distance and that was all that mattered at the moment. Then the Stryfers showed up, and everything that followed became one giant, shock-induced blur. Vanari thought she'd seen Parnell earlier. Could have sworn he'd found Vera, or perhaps the other way around, out amongst the crowd. But now the Ebonstryfe were addressing a completely Vera-less Parnell. Had she been mistaken? No, that wasn't possible, the child recognized her master, she wouldn't have willingly gone with just anyone... The Vantha's head spun as terse words were exchanged between the Stryfers and someone she suddenly recognized as Verin. They were saying something about a slave...Yoona? No, the temporary keeper of Nolan's poison shop was looking at the other woman present. At the women with fiery red hair. Ari's eyes widened in surprise. She was his slave...? And a Kelvic at that...the Vantha was reminded all too vividly of Ardea and tried to push old ghosts out of her head. Now was not the time to be reminiscing; the Ebonstryfe were present, and they had ever reason to question her before finding out she was no citizen of Ravok. She resheathed her Tamos while the men conversed, taking advantage of the distraction to begin thinking of a possible escape place. The woman shrunk as much as she could and tried to weasel herself out of the picture, one tiny squirm at a time... "You there, miss," one of the Stryfers barked. Shyke. Vanari froze. She gaped at the black armored men before her and tried her best not to squeak. "M-Me?" The one who'd just spoken narrowed his eyes. "Yes, you. If you can tell us what happened here, we'll sort things out quickly enough and you can return to your dutiful worship." What...Morwen, did he think she was just an innocent bystander? Ari realized she must have looked the part, in her plain clothing and bewildered gawking. Her mind latched onto this possibility immediately and began to spin an entire tale of complete, accidental involvement. If they bought her story, then she would be free to go. And then she could find Vera afterwards, to make sure the child had indeed been delivered into safety and not the hands of some impostor... "Sir, she's one of them!" one of the worshippers hissed. Vanari's eyes snapped toward the speaker, and when their eyes met, one mousy brown and the other crimson with fury, the rat visibly blanched. It was all the indictment required, however, to doom the Vantha. "Right, then," the Stryfer sighed. "I'm taking the rest of you in for questioning."

oocSoooo...yeah I have no idea what I'm doing. Please feel free to correct me if I've taken things in a disagreeable direction

[Yoona]

It took every ounce of Yoona's paper-thin patience for her to convince herself not to spit insults at the red-headed shifter. The impulse was nearly overpowering, though, forcing her to bite down on her own tongue to keep the native words from flying out.

Why didn't she do anything...? She'd tried! Tried and tried and tried, only to have her efforts crushed by that heartless, perverted, vile-wretch of bowman. And Redd had been there, had been more than pleased to snap and bark like the obedient little pet that she was. As much as Yoona had wanted to fight back, there hadn't been many opportunities for her to do so; the bowman left no openings for her to exploit, and with the constant threat of having wolf-teeth tear into her limbs, she'd managed to keep herself from doing anything too risky. Perhaps she would have been able to get away if she'd swam, back when they were on the boat, but...

Oh, for the love of...what did that annoying incident have to do with now, anyway? It'd only been a few chimes, and already she was in a much better position than she'd been in, before, with a clear advantage. She'd knocked the aggressive brute out, for petch's sake!

The Chaktawe woman stood still for a moment, unable to tear her void-like gaze away from the shifter-woman's face. Or move, for that matter. There was so much rage building up inside of her that her muscles seemed to have gone rigid, continually tensing and contracting beneath her bronzed skin.

Then, out of nowhere, a hand came shooting out of the crowd and gripped Redd by the scruff, yanking her back a little. Yoona almost snorted, assuming that it was none other than the woman's master having managed to locate her, at last. 'Finally found your pet, huh? Good. I'm sure she's missed you. Now take her away from here, before I have to head over there and—'

And then Yoona's eyes widened. It wasn't until now that she'd been able to get a good look at the figure, but her mind seemed to have been able to recognize that black armor before her sight did, giving her yet another reason to be on edge.

A Strfye. Come to think of it, the place was crawling with them, wasn't it? They'd been keeping themselves in the background, content with simply waiting and watching until they felt the need to interfere in things. And if Yoona was being honest with herself, she was mildly surprised that the men hadn't paid them all any attention until now, considering the fact that they were the only few amongst the sea of worshipers who weren't bowing their heads in prayer, muttering nonsense to themselves.

All of a sudden, Redd was staring at her.

"Remember Yoona, there is no such thing as home."

The Chaktawe woman narrowed her eyes down to slits, ready to yell at the shifter-woman and ask her what in the world she meant, until a new voice spoke up from the crowd, claiming that the slave was, infact, his. Suddenly confused, Yoona's attention shifted from Redd to the space over one of her shoulders; that tone sounded nothing like the bowman's—the man's mocking voice was painfully engraved into her brain—and surprisingly enough she caught sight of an unfamiliar man, his head coated with hair the color of dying wheat.

He most certainly wasn't the bowman, nor was he Redd's actual owner. So why was he saying that he was?

Her confusion worsening, Yoona glanced back over at the woman to see if she'd protest or hit him or...something. But she did nothing, seemingly unconcerned as the random stranger began to tow her away. Was he...stealing her? Did this count as slave-theft?

More importantly, why didn't she care?

As much as Yoona wanted to mull over it, however, and settle her tumultuous thoughts, there were suddenly bigger issues to deal with. In the form of Stryfers, nonetheless. The Chaktawe woman kept quiet as one of them spoke to the woman who was Vera's apparent friend. When he asked for her to explain the situation, if she could, Yoona mentally urged the woman to lie. Making up a quick, believable story on the spot wouldn't be too hard, would it? Then again, there was always the option of telling the truth...but the Chaktawe woman had no idea just what that truth would be. All that she was certain of was that Inodar had, at some point in his life, made a bad reputation for himself. And of course it figured that she'd be one of the ones to deal with the consequences of that, now.

'I'll remind myself to ask him about all this, one day. If nothing else, the secretive bastard owes me an explanation.'

To Yoona's disappointment, the woman wasn't even able to start her story, some whelp in the crowd deciding to rat her out. And at the Stryfe's next words, she had no choice but to speak up.

Things weren't going very well.

"Questioning? What for?" Yoona said, sounding fed-up with just about everyone and everything in the temple. "You see the things that happen! You watching whole time! Man had knife, and grabbed girl!!"

"Tawna" | "Common" | 'Thoughts' | Ruki

[Redd]

The man’s unfamiliar voice made her turn her head so then she could view the blonde man that had stepped up to claim her. At first she had begun to think that it was Venser and she was all for turning tail and attempt to escape, for Venser was the last person that she wanted to see at the moment. However, the man’s scent hit her and she realized that this man was not Venser, which would explain why his voice did not sound at all very familiar to her. She remembered Venser’s voice all too well and it wasn’t something that she would likely be able to forget, however, that just simply begged the question. Why did this stranger, look exactly like Venser and how? A frown creased her forehead as she then realized that he was stepping up to claim her as his slave when she knew that he was not her master. The corners of her lips twitched as the Ebonstryfe’s hand tighten upon her arm and she almost retaliated by biting it, the young wolf only just holding herself back. She didn’t exactly want to put herself into more trouble than she already had and she had only just pushed over a man, imagine if she had bitten someone.

She was just about to speak when she felt the blonde man’s hand grasp her arm only to squeeze it in warning and she almost growled at him. Who did he think he was? Warning her to not speak. The man wasn’t her master and so she would do as she pleased, even warn the Ebonstryfe solider that he was not her master. However, the Ebonstryfe man spoke again and she pressed her lips tightly together, deciding that perhaps this blonde man had the right idea. Staying quiet was her friend for the moment and she felt him begin to pull her away but just as he did the same guard called out to him. ”Oh and Boy? You now owe a six hundred gold miza fine for her behaviour upon this day in the Temple.” She frowned at these words as she angled her head so then her left eye could view the blonde man. He owed a fine for her simply pushing over a man? It seemed ridiculous to her, very ridiculous. It would seem even more ridiculous to her if she even knew what a fine was. However, the wolf knew what gold mizas were, for she had them at one stage, but Elias took them from her when he had enslaved her. Not that she knew what to do with them anyway.

She eyed the blonde man as she followed the man and remained silent even though so many questions were going through her mind. Like, why was he stepping in and why did her actions mean that he was paying a fine? Plus, what the petch was a fine anyway? Why didn’t they just say that the blonde man had to pay six hundred mizas? She shook her head as she angled her gaze downwards while questions circled though her mind. Always were there questions and never anyone to answer them for they would quickly get sick and tired of her ever growing questions. She understood the animal world very well, but it was the human world that was constantly tripping her up. The animal world made sense to her because it was simply based off of simple basic survival instincts. The human world was more complex and it made no sense to her what-so-ever, no matter what angled that she viewed it from and she was very certain that she would never make any sense of it, ever.

OOCThis is where I exit
Word Count617

[Daegron]

Trust.
Daegron's eyes scanned the man before him. An odd mix of suspicion and anxiety accompanied his shifty eyes. He could have sworn that he saw the youngster's nostrils twitch in an unusual way. He'd noticed something different about the narrowed pair of eyes that stared right at him. Though Vera inexplicably held his hand tight and followed, that kind of intimacy could be the effect of lingering fear. Perhaps, after the shock of being almost snatched, she needed someone safe to lean on. Trying his best to imitate those intimidating qualities of Parnell's voice he spoke:
"And who might you be, to carry Vera's hand in yours ?". He leaned in closer and being thankful for the poisoner's naturally daunting facial traits, he continued while staring back."How convenient of you to show up and lead the girl somewhere else... to safety!" The last word came out as a cruel mockery against whatever plan this new threat followed. Whatever his own business with Parnell was, or would be proven to be, the girl was irrelevant; there was no reason for any harm to come to her. His own paranoia along with the doctor's made a unique blend that seemed to seep through the transformation and taken hold. And something darker loomed deeper, the sinister echo of an entity that was defeated, but refused to give up.
"Now who the petch are you boy ? Don't try anything stupid, the Stryfe are all over and their blades are swift and sharp.'" His eyes turned to lock with Vera's, in search of that blank stare that might reveal the use of hypnotism. Could it be that she was made docile? Confused enough to think this suspicious-looking outsider as a friend?

But no. In her innocent eyes, he found the liveliness of youth and spark of life that could not be snuffed out so easily, not even by a life threatening situation. And he noticed somFirst wordething more. Some sort of curiousness and mistrust. And then he felt that twitch. The one that evolved into a slight yet evident facial muscle spasm, of the unnatural kind.

"Who are you sir ? What have you done to Uncle Nolan ?"

He should have known better. A swift and damn accurate Morph wasn't supposed to last too long, and his miserable attempts at impersonating Parnell took almost all of his focus away from his djedcaft. The form was unstable...

"I AM calling the Stryfe.."
"Don't ! Nolan sent me here to retrieve you, .." and his voice broke as the transformation slowly and steadily was reversed. The morbid display of magic worked in his favour, surprising the girl and giving him a chance to explain. As his bones softened to take back the original Morpher's arrangent, he took the ticks needed to slip the manacle out of his wrist.
"I think someone wanted to use you as bait in order to get to him..." His constantly angry brow directed at the youngster on her side. He did not flinch the slightest bit. Perhaps he was indeed a friend? "I mean you no harm. If I wanted you'd already be snatched, there's no need for a friendly pretence ! " the last two words clearly aimed at the anxious man beside her as a mock.

The commotion seemed to come to a close as Ebonstryfe black armor moved through the crowds. Orders threats and that awfully familiar sounds of arrest and protest. Hell, Parnell's name was shouted out loud, what kind of a mess had he created again?

"We need to get you somewhere safe and quick! Let's take your guardian with us too, you have to trust me on this... Parnell will find a way to get his tail out of this mess.. The word" guardian" was laced with irony and scorn.
"No ! YOU can come with US, if you want, if you are indeed a friend... "

Then all of a sudden, eagerly dragging the boy's hand with her, she dashed towards the fateful sound of drawn swords and well oiled armour. It was a beautiful display of trust on Ravok's authorities and their uniquely rumoured inquisitive methods. Did she really believe that she'd be able to clear things up ?

Daegron simply followed, trying to make up a good story. He didn't need one though. He simply hailed Parnell and his friends and left, only to bump at Vera and her escort. She'd believe his good intentions if he didn't try to bail out...