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Ask to Join Powerless

“Alright then off we go.” Mallory said as he walked out of the inn and went towards the back of the inn with Arisa still on his back.

“Alright Arisa.” Mallory said as he put her down once they arrived to where they would practice, “if you want to learn to aim you’re going to need something to shoot or fire.” Mallory told her, “Anything that can be shot from a distance of over the length of said Weapon, so anything like a bow, throwing knife, crossbow, a javelin, or even a slingshot can be used to practice and perfect aim.” He continued, “do you happen to have any of those weapons on you?” He asked her.
 
"I do!" Arisa pulled her slingshot from her pocket and waved it proudly ay Clayton.

"This is my slingshot! It's expensive and made from iron wood so its really hard! I bought this when I was in the capital, but I haven't had the opportunity to practice with it." She picked up a small rock, aimed at a tree and pulled the pocket, then she release the pocket and watched as the rock flew and hit the tree's root.
 
“Great, is a slingshot is similar to a bow in a couple of ways.” Clayton told her as he pulled out his bow as well as two arrows and aimed one at the tree. “So Arisa, with a slingshot, instead of firing an arrow like you would with a bow, you fire rocks and small stones.” He told her, “because of this a bow has the advantage when it comes to aiming at a target perfectly, but a small pebble when shot can sometimes cause more damage even if it misses, which is where it beats out an arrow. With this in mind you should always remember that you will most likely never be shooting to kill, but instead to distract and damage for someone else, like Easen to be able to finish off an enemy.” He continued. “So in order to aim correctly with the slingshot you have to first make a target and stick to it until you can keep on hitting it without thinking.” He said as he walked over to the tree, grabbed a small pointy rock and scratched a couple of circles into th tree. “So Arisa, what you’re going to want to do is aim for the small circle in the middle, depending on how close you are you might have to change how far you pull back and whether or not you have to arc the shot.” He told her as he placed both arrows into the string and shot them over and below the bullseye. “If you can get it in between those arrows more than four times in a row it means you’re getting better.” He told her. “Go ahead and try it out and if you have any questions about anything don’t hesitate to ask.”
 
Some people might have been merciful to Neta's pitiful smile, acknowledged that she was trying her best, and returned an awkward one just to cheer her up, but this man unceremoniously tore it off her face. She was right back where she started, feeling the exact same way she'd felt at the clinic in the only place where she still belonged.

Were the Order of the Blood Knights the people who attacked her? Was Claro one of them? Neta wondered these things, but she also wanted this story to end as quickly as it had begun. Why did everyone seem five steps ahead and know more about her than she herself did? This man was no different. They all had some great plan for her, when Neta just wanted to forget the events of last night and this morning and escape into the simple life of a tavern waitress. That's all she had left.

But Neta couldn't do that, because Magnus had just told her that the lives of others may be at risk. This was what convinced her to obey the masked man, so she slowly lowered her trembling self into the chair facing him. She wasn't normally working these hours at the inn, so not having time to sit around wasn't the issue. The problem was that Neta was deluding herself and clinging to the notion that she could still live a normal life.

"W-why does everyone want something from me... I'm just a waitress at this small inn. I-I'm nobody. But, they say I have some higher purpose, o-or that I'm important, when I'm really nobody. I'm no one. I-I'm just a waitress at a small inn..." Neta was choked up again, repeating the same phrases over and over like a madwoman, as if it would make them true. By being unable to respond to Magnus properly she was tacitly agreeing to listen. He'd said that he wanted to help her, after all, not that she could trust him. But Neta couldn't give the man a straight answer, because she was confused and had to let her emotions run.
 
Magnus sighed as she repeated her pitiful phrases over and over and over. Maybe he had been a little too harsh, especially due to all the difficulties it had seemed she had gone through. However, it seemed like the girl had consented to listening to him for the time being, at least there was that going for him.

Anyhow, it seemed that Magnus was right in the fact that she was of obvious significance, that much he was sure of. Glancing back at Neta, he decided to approach her once more with a little more tact.

“Hey, it’s ok. I’m not one of them, and if I could I would just leave you here so that you could live out your life. But neither of us have been granted the gift of mediocrity, and there is something about you that they need. All I want to do is protect you and prevent them from using you. I don’t have any higher purpose for you, heck, I don’t even really know why they want you. I just want to make sure that they can’t use you to help them harm others. If you accept my help, all I would do is get you out of here and set you up in a new life that is even better than this last one. I have housing and people to help disguise you, I have food and grand clothing, the list just goes on and on. You wouldn’t have to work unless you wanted to, all you would have to do is stay safe. So yes, this life you’re living is coming to a close and there’s not much anybody can do about it. However, all I want to do is get you out of this situation and into a better life, far from anybody trying to use you.”

Getting up from his chair, he knelt by the side of her chair and pulled out his handkerchief due to the small crystal like tears that had begun to form on her face. He was about to wipe her tears himself but he decided that would be a little too close for comfort, instead electing to hand it to her.

“I wish this type of stuff didn’t happen to good people like you, but I can at least get you out of this situation and into a peaceful life, only if you let me.”
 
Arisa listened eagerly at Clayton's explanation. She especially paid attention to the part when he said 'hitting without thinking' because so far, she always tried to shoot her slingshot with lots of calculation.

She picked some rock and aimed at the mark, she hit slightly higher than the mark. She aimed again and this time she hit lower than the mark. She fired more rocks with varied results until she realized that her firing rate was too low. She's firing rocks, which could be found everywhere, instead of arrows. Its a shame if this kind of advantage couldn't be utilized by her.

She fired more rocks, but now instead of focusing on the accuracy of each individual shot, she focused on hitting the tree as many as possible. The tree was freed from the rock barrage when Arisa's hand had become too tired and shaking uncontrollably. She dropped down on the ground and took a rest.

"M-mister Clayton, I have a question. Have you ever use a gunpowder? I heard that it can be used to launch lead ball so quickly that your enemy wouldn't even know what hitting them while summoning thunder to scare enemies. What would you do if you ever face one?" She asked Clayton out of curiousity. She never witness the use of gunpowder before, it's a rare material. But she had read in a book about it being able to throw the world into chaos if kingdoms succeed to arms their army with it.

--------

The door creaked painfully when Easen opened it. Cobwebs fell onto his body and dust invade his breathing. Why the meeting point is in such an old place?

According to his note. The meeting point in this town was in an abandoned warehouse in the corner of the town. No one ever use this place anymore since the owner was killed here and the building was isolated quite far from other building. So it's actually good place for this kind of secret meeting, right?

Except he felt something not right. The place was too isolated. As if the purpose was to prevent help from coming instead of providing a safe meeting place. Easen brushed off another cobweb and opened the next door. This door would lead to the main room, where he would met Galilei's messenger.

A figure covered in a black cloak sat in the middle of the room. That person was reading a thick black book until Easen took a step into the room. He noticed that the floor in the room had been scribbled with various mysyerious symbols.

"I've been waiting for too long." The person stood up and uncover herself. Revealing a woman clad in black garb. She had short brown hair and a large smile on her face. A sword could be seen sheathed on her left hips. Though there's one thing Easen was wondering about.

"What was that cloak for?" It's not like the cloak served any purpose. She ditched it right after he entered the room anyway.

"Wha- what kind of question is that?!" The woman asked Easen back with a startled look. "Of course it's to make me look cooler, dammit!! You should asked about who am I or something along that line! I'm not your usual messenger for ******* sake! Argh, now I don't feel cool anymore." She paced around the dusty room for a while, waiting for something.

...

...

"Are you not going to ask who am I?" The woman's question made Easen want to slam himself into the wall. What is this woman thinking?!

"I thought you are going to do that! Allright, allright. I will play your game. Who are you?" Easen asked with obvious frustation on his face. The woman's smile became wider.

"Good you asked! I am a member of blood knight, everyone call me Urias. A pleasure to meet you." The woman bowed exaggeratedly. Contrary to the woman's casual approach though, Easen was struck with horror. Blood knight?? What, have we already been discovered?

"I see you have lot of questions." Ths woman continued without waiting for Easen's response. She seemed to enjoy every moment of her revelation. "But! I have nothing to do with you. Give me the kid! I know you hide her nearby!"

"Well, you are out of luck." Easen sighed and tried to regain his composure, the absurdity of this woman had threw him off guard. But blood knight or not, his job was to protect the little devil. He unsheathed his sword and put on an attacking stance, ready to strike anytime. "There's only me here. Prepare to be defeated!"

The woman was enraged. Her wide smile turned into a devilish grin. She pulled her sword from its scabbard, revealing a glossy black metal sword with a white crystal embedded into its hilt. Easen instantly recognized the material, it's kurogane, a black steel imported from The Far East. Though it adds nothing except looking cooler than your usual steel.

She made the first move by quickly dashed in front of Easen, clashing her sword with his. He could felt the strength behind the attack, but, its nothing he couldn't handle. He parried the attack succesfully, but his opponent was faster and already launched her next attack, Easen blocked the next attack. The fight turned for quite some time and time favored Easen. The woman was panting heavily after a minute or so while Easen still had plenty of stamina left.

"Ready to surrender?" He tried to taunt his opponent.

"Damn!!" The woman cursed loudly. She stroke the crystal on her sword. "I'm sorry Oriana, but please lend me your strength". She then slashed forward with all her might. This was what Easen want. A tired, frustated and desperate opponent betting their life on a single strike. He would easily deflect the blow and sent a quick jab below her ribs, potentially stuns her for some minutes. At least that was what he planned, but the moment their sword clashed. He could felt a jolt of energy making its way through his sword and into his body. The energy shook everything it touches with a force that strong enough to rattle his innermost bones. He dropped his sword and fell on his knees, his hand couldn't stop shaking. What just happened??

The woman stood in front of him with a triumphant smile. She then smacked the pommel of her sword into the back of Easen's head. Knocking him unconscious.
 

Fire Mana

Previously Top_Smug_
When Parker woke up he realized that the others had already left his cozy little alley. That was fine by him, at least they didn't leave it any more of a mess than it already was. Neta seemed to have left his cloak here with him. Did that mean she was out and about in that skimpy night outfit of hers? Probably best not to think about that.

"Ughhhh, I should probably check on her..."

Parker groaned as he got up out of his mattress. He rarely ever got a good nights sleep, and this was not one of those rare times. His back ached as he stood up and stretched out his body. He grabbed his sword and knives strapping the holsters to his back and waist respectively. He also picked up his cloak from the other mattress, throwing it over his body and making his way out of the alley.

It took him a while, but he finally managed to find the inn that Neta was at yesterday. He sighed and stepped inside, ready to meet with any of the other nutcases who seemed drawn to the girl. He scanned the room, finding the beautiful figure fairly easily among the crowd. He made his way over to her before noticing that there was a... strangely(?) dressed man talking to her. He seemed to be offering a handkerchief... was Neta crying? What the hell was happening here?

"Hey Neta, who's your friend?" He said, announcing himself to the pair with a slightly aggravated tone.
 
“Gunpowder huh.” Mallory thought back to when his parents were killed, “well Arisa, I’ve never used it, I know how it works and I’ve seen others use it.” He told the girl, as he began to think about her other question, about what to do. “Well if someone is armed with that kind of material it usually means that they are either rich, or very high up in the ranks of society.” He said to her, “but in order to fire successfully the person with the gunpowder has be able to load it, you will see them aim it towards you, at this moment you either try to get behind something big and sturdy like a rock, otherwise if they are already firing you want to try to dodge the lead ball before it can reach you.” He continued, “if you can do either of those then your enemy will have to reload at that moment you want to unarm them that way they can no longer hurt you.” Clayton told her as he sat down on the floor and looked at the target he made. “Arisa, where did this question come from?” He asked the girl.
 
"Parker, it's you!" Neta instantly relaxed when she saw the boy from last night. There were still tears in her eyes, but there was a smile on her face now. She wiped them away herself, not noticing that the mysterious man had offered his handkerchief. Neta was just so happy to see a familiar face, a face that belonged to a boy who'd saved her more than once and whom she felt she could trust. She seemed to forget everyone else. But Parker had asked her a question.

"Oh, this is..." Neta started to say, before realizing that she didn't know. "...I-I'm really sorry, but I don't know your name, sir." She told him as politely as she could and smiled sheepishly. Indeed, she was a little embarrassed, but she was also a lot less tense now. "But, that boy over there is Parker. He's my friend."

Neta was still smiling at the street boy, and for a moment she'd completely forgotten what she and the masked man had been talking about. His proposal seemed generous, too good to be true, even. For all she knew, he could be lying and preying on her just like any other man did. But she might have considered it anyway, had it not been for one thing: the arrival of Parker.

When Neta saw him, she realized that she couldn't accept the man's promises. "I'm grateful to you. Really, I am, sir, but I can't accept your generous offer. Because..." she paused, closed her eyes, and smiled softly as if she were enjoying a pleasant daydream, "...food and grand clothing are nice things to have, but then I won't be close to the inn anymore. To Parker. The people I love... they're what matter most to me."

Magnus offered her a peaceful life, but would it be a happy one, without those she cared about? In her mind, Neta was balancing freedom and happiness, searching for a way to attain both.

Perhaps she was just being selfish. The masked man had a point... By staying, she could be bringing these people more harm. But, wasn't there a way she could be safe without leaving them behind? Must she really distance herself to protect them? Not too long ago all Neta had wanted was to be free. But now she knew what she truly desired. She wanted to be safe from her enemies but close to her friends too. Was that too much to ask for?
 
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Freaking beautiful girls, throwing off freaking everything in his freaking life, all while threatening everybody around them because all they want is a ******* fairytale ending. Why, why are they always so stupid and naive? ****, he was hoping that he would have been able to peacefully extracted her and perhaps have her fake being some noble relative of his, and just maybe something would have become of it. Stupid girls always having their knights to ride in and save the day, nothing would have happened anyway, just another girl... who could mean death to a lot of people... ugh, why did it always have to be him solving everybody else’s problems and bearing their burdens? Magnus sighed, it didn’t matter in the end.

“Fine, you want to jeopardize not just the people you know and love, but also potentially so many other people, just because you want to stay comfortable, fine, great, be my guest. I’d allow you to essentially commit suicide, really, I would. Last thing I need right now is some girl without a backbone to take care of. However, I need you to tell me why they are after you, why they are focused on capturing an unstable girl like you. If you tell me and the situation isn’t as bad as it seems, I’ll either leave you to your boy toy here or will assign people to protect you depending on how potentially dangerous letting you get captured might be.”

Turning his attention to Neta’s boy toy, he gave the young man a cold hard stare before answering, “I have no names to give to you as probably none of them would be significant to you. All I can tell you is that I’m your little damsel in distress’ greatest chance of not suffering a horrible fate.”
 

Fire Mana

Previously Top_Smug_
Boy toy? Who the hell did this guy think he was? Parker wasn't just gonna take this garbage from a random guy that showed up and started harassing Neta. Then again, he wouldn't be taking this from him regardless of Neta was here or not.

"You're her greatest chance? Don't make me laugh. The only thing you're the greatest of is being a huge egotistical asshole. She doesn't need you, you can get lost now."

Parker took a step forward up to the man. He didn't care that the man was a fair bit taller and bulkier, Parker's experience made him just as good if not better than any knight or royal.
 
"I'm just curious!" Arisa perked up when she heard Clayton's question. She picked up a twig from the ground and sat beside Clayton.

"There was this nun who is good and pretty and smart. She oftenly comes to my house." She drew a simplistic looking nun on the ground. "She also brought lots of good books and told me lots of interesting things. Like the principal of gravity, or astrological sign, or basic alchemy, or kingdoms of the world. She told me that people shouldn't let their curiousity ." She then drew a smaller figure beside the nun, probably herself. They both held each other hand. "I like her very much! But the royals like her too. So they took her to the capital. I never see her since that day." For a momet, Arisa wore a solemn expression on her face. Though it quickly changed once she found the next topic to talk.

"Whenever I tried those things she teached me, people got mad. Like that one time when I tried to drop vases from different height into different kind of floor to test gravity and density." She drew deveral figures wearing something that resembled apron, each of them had either angry or sad expression. "It's not like the vases were used for anything. Beside, I only broke the ugly ones!"

She looked at the result of her ground-doodling and nodded to herself, looking satisfied. She added some other figures. One with a sword, swinging it in front of another figure with a ladle. Then she drew another figure that was bigger than the other, riding on top of something that looked like a flying little pony, complete with trails of rainbow. She squinted her eyes at the pony before asking Clayton.

"Mister Clayton, how can you grow so big? I want to grow as tall as you and ride Pony. Tell me the secret?"
 
Mallory watched and listened to the little girl as she drew her doodles, “this girl,” Mallory thought to himself, “she’s so curious about anything and everything,” afterwards he heard her question about how to grow taller and he responded, “well, I actually don’t know why I’m so tall, I mean, my dad was tall but my mother wasn’t as tall as him and now I’m taller than both of them. I guess it might have something to do with what you eat and how healthy you are.” He continued, “so as long as you’re healthy you’ll be really tall.” He told her, “This, girl, so young but she’s growing up in an environment that no kid should have to live in.” He continued to think, “hell the chances of this girl having Powers aren’t very low.” He thought as he also grabbed a twig and began doodling things in the dirt. Mallory drew a small plain covered in a thin layer of snow with a few camillea flowers sprouting out through the snow, and in the back a wooden house. “Once abbersnts are accepted and people learn to be less ignorant I’ll move to a small plain, away from society, cover it in snow and build a house behind a camillea flower patch.” he told himself quietly.
 
Magnus almost laughed at Parker as the young man took a firm step towards his still kneeling figure. That could only mean one of three things. First, Parker was hopelessly in love with Neta, and with the way Neta mentioned him, they were probably in the early stages of a form of romantic relationship. Second, Parker, even though he was smaller and less physically inclined than Magnus still passively attempted to exert dominance, which likely meant Parker thought himself to be good at fighting while being arrogant enough to underestimate a stronger opponent. Probably meant that Parker hasn’t fought any high caliber fighters. The second point lead to his third possible conclusion, that Parker was an Aberrant with a power that gave him offensive capabilities. All that Magnus concluded from a single motion, a skill earned more by necessity than anything else. If you couldn’t read body gestures, then you couldn’t play the game of nobility right.

Deciding that any further discussion was pointless, Magnus stood up and backed up from Parker’s position, a subtle physical signal that Magnus yielded to Parker’s move from before. He did this to only aid the bolstering of Parker’s arrogance, as it would be easier to fight him when underestimated. “I see now, Sir Parker isn’t your boy toy, rather a proper knight in shining armor, always on time to save his Lady Neta. At least, he better be on time, with all the trouble her Ladyship will be facing... Anyhow, I must be off so forget those conditions I gave you as you’ll be fine with your knight to save you. But before I leave, I feel I must give you a proper introduction to the mess the two of you just walked into... Welcome to the game of death and deceit that has plagued Pless for the last sixty years, a game that you just entered, but yet might be at its closing stages. Many pawns have been lost in the pursuit of the end goal, and many more will be sacrificed. Whether you’ll be one of those pawns, I can’t tell.”

Not pausing to see their reactions, Magnus turned around and exited the inn, unwilling to let the dynamic duo see his transportation abilities.

“Bloody idiots, when they realize the danger they’re in they’ll be too late”, he muttered as he made it out onto the road.
 
Arisa watched curiously as Clayton drew his own landscape. It looked like a house in a field, with some flower. She wanted to comment that his drawing looked like one of the shed behind her mansion, but she was able to refrain herself. But, when Clayton whispered to himself about aberrants being accepted, she jumped to conclusion and blurted out.

"You are an abberant? Me too!" Oops. The moment she said that. She realized that she just broke one of her promise with Easen Zaryu and her father. She should not said that! She felt embarassed by herself and could felt her face turned red. She stood up and ran away from Clayton without saying anything. She ran to the only place she knew she could gain some privacy, her room.

She was so focused on running that she didn't notice a towering figure clad in black clothing and half-mask in the front of the inn and bumped hard into him, at least its hard for her. The force was able to threw her onto the ground and disoriented her for a moment.
 
“Wait! What?!” Mallory exclaimed as he heard Arisa say that she was an aberrant moments before she ran away. “Easen is taking care of an aberrant?” Mallory began to grow suspicious but put it aside as he went in the direction that Arisa went in to go and find her, “I understand now, this girl doesn’t want to know how to aim a slingshot, maybe she wants to learn to aim and fire using her power, and Easen is her protector.” He though quickly before returning to his previous thought of going after Arisa.

Mallory made it back to the inn and was surprsised to find Arisa on the floor in front of a man with a mask. “Excuse me sir, I’m not accusing you but did you didn’t hurt this child did you?” Mallory said as he bent down on his knee pretending to clean his boot when he was really preparing to grab his knife and attack this figure if he had hurt Arisa, “don’t make me wait for answer please, if you didn’t do anything just say so.” He said looking down at Arisa, “I promised Easen, I may not know him, but if he could trust a self made Assassin, then I have to keep my promise of protecting this child, especially now that I know she’s practically wanted dead.” He thought to himself.
 
Running calculations in his head while walking away from the inn, Magnus was caught completely unaware by a small figure running into him. Breaking his gaze from the random position he had himself, he found a young girl with pretty brown hair sprawled on the ground in front of him. For an moment, the unpleasant experiences from the morning seemed to fade away as he looked into the girl’s eyes.

Magnus didn’t understand it himself, but he had a special place in his heart for children regardless of appearance. Whether it was due to the rarity of seeing children while growing up or being an only child, Magnus always took the time to talk and help to children. Besides, for the most part, children are the only ones who are honest, and allow you to be honest with them.

“Hey, sorry I didn’t see you there, let me help you up”, Magnus said as he extended his arm to the girl. He refocused his attention to a young man who had just come up and asked if he had hurt the girl intentionally. He sighed as the young man then appeared to be cleaning his boot, a blatant sign that he was readying a weapon and tried to hide it as there was no logical reason to try and clean those old boots at a time like that.

“Hey, we don’t need to pull weapons into consideration alright? Ya, that whole cleaning your already old shoes thing isn’t working out for you. Anyway, this girl ran into me because we were both not paying attention and collided, simple as that. However, I’m going to have to ask you a similar question. See, this girl was running and seemed fairly distressed about something, plus the fact that you’re obviously armed. So why was she running away? Was she running away from you?”

Turning his eyes towards the girl, he re-offered his hand to help her up. “Why were you running? Did he do anything bad to you?”
 
“Listen loser, if im readying a weapon and asking you if you harmed a child what do you think that means!” Mallory asked, he was slightly ticked off at how easily he was read by this random Guy even though he’s been hard to read since birth. “You were smart enough to figure out my old “”cleaning my boot”” trick, how come you’re not smart enough to figure out that I’m supposed to protect this child?” Mallory asked the man. Mallory felt the sudden urge to grab his bow and fire, but something was holding him back, perhaps the thought that if he fired and killed this person there would’ve been witnesses and he would have to either abandon Arisa, which would be breaking his promise to Easen, or run off with her, making him look like a kidnapper. “This guy, what’s his deal? Throwing back questions, he’s like a shadow, mirroring actions, he could be reading my mind for all I know!” Mallory thought to himself as he stood back up still slightly angry. “Arisa, I’m your guardian until your brother returns, isn’t that correct?” He asked the young girl.
 
Arisa took the man's helping hand and stood up. She wiped her tear with the sleeve of her dress. Then the two man debated between themself regarding her. Again?? Arisa mentally moaned to herself.

This was like the night before, like that drunkard and angry boy. She hadn't had good impression with the males in this town, or in general since two weeks ago, they seemed to start insulting each other and flaunt their toughness whenever an opportunity arise, even Zaryu and Clayton whom she thought as 'good guys'. In an unconscious attempt to vent the frustation of herself for leaking her own secret and to voice her opinion, she snapped instead of giving any answer.

"Just kill each other already!!!" She ran upstair into her room and slammed the door, then she buried her face in the pillow.
 
“Oh great, now this guy’s gonna think I’m some sort of child stalker.” Mallory thought to himself as he heard Arisa scream before bolting to her room. “Damn it all! If it weren’t for your sore attitude I wouldn’t be in this mess you fucking idiot!” Mallory yelled at the man standing in front of him. “It’s none of my business whether or not you believe me but my job right now isn’t to be killing people it’s to be protecting th-“ Mallory froze, in his blind rage he had revealed that he was indeed an assassin. “ wha- what happened?” He asked himself, “I’m not wrong here am I?” Mallory continued questioning himself, “no! I kill people for the right reason, I’m not a bad guy.” He told himself, “I can’t do this anymore!” He yelled at the top of his lungs as he grabbed his bow and quickly shot a frozen arrow on the ground creating an icy mist giving him the chance to run away. He left the inn but he didn’t go far, he had to protect Arisa so his plan was to go around towards the back of the building and look for any windows that he could use to sneak into Arisa’s room. “I’m a good guy. I swear....” he kept repeating to himself as he ran around the building and into the tree that he was teaching Arisa how to aim at, there he waited for a moment and thought about his life, and key decisions he had made in his past.
 
The masked man had said a lot of things to her before he left. He said that she had no backbone. He said that she was an unstable girl. He said that he'd allow her to commit suicide. Worst of all, he'd insulted Parker and called him her boy toy. All of these things made Neta's heart sink, but she'd made her decision and couldn't doubt herself now. Besides, it all happened so fast. The strange man was gone before anything that he'd said could bring tears back to Neta's face.

She still didn't know who he was, though. He hadn't given a name to either her or Parker. But something that the masked man had said caught Neta's attention: "Welcome to the game of death and deceit that has plagued Pless for the last sixty years."

Sixty years? The general public believed that the Aberrant Scare had begun fifty years ago. So he knew about the war. Just who was this man, then? Did he also work for the government? Perhaps... he was a member of the upper echelons of society and had access to such information? Whoever he was, this man was highly educated, Neta was sure.

Her thoughts let go of the masked stranger and drifted to the person who'd brought a smile back to her face. No, she couldn't let her thoughts merely drift. This was the real world, not some fairy tale. She needed to focus because she had something very important to tell him. "Parker... I know that man gets under your skin, but you deserve to know the truth. I'm always in your debt, and I'm glad you came... but I should tell you everything," Neta looked at the boy sadly, "the consequences of associating with someone like me. But, I'm not pushing you away. In fact, I'd like to stay close to you. But you have a right to know, so I don't end up forcing something on you that you never wanted. And then, if you decide I'm worth protecting in spite of all the trouble it will cause you, it'll be your choice to make..."

Neta had learned from her encounter with the children that she had no right to decide whether someone lives or dies, and she wasn't going to decide for Parker. She'd been thinking with her heart, but she had to use her head too. Her heart told her to keep her friends close through the dangers ahead. Her head told her to cast aside her own selfish desires and shut herself away, so that she could harm no one with her presence. Claro and Magnus had essentially told her the same thing: that she no longer had free will. Whether she was fated to live the rest of her life locked away in a lab, mass-producing Aberrants for the government, or taken from her friends to some unknown location, it was hard for her to continue existing in this world.

Because she understood what it felt like to have her free will jeopardized, Neta wouldn't take away the free will of another person and would leave it entirely up to Parker once she'd told him everything. But there was a lot to say, and the information was sensitive. She had to tell him in private, because the more people knew, the worse it would be for everyone. But where could she take him so that they wouldn't be overheard?





Well, they could... they could... go up to her room. Just the two of them.

At this thought, Neta's face flushed in embarrassment. She'd been to his place... so maybe it made sense that he should see her room too, see where she slept. But she was barely conscious then! And Clayton was with them! Besides, all they had done was sleep, which didn't require much concentration!

This was important, though. She had to be serious and focus now, but she didn't know if she could do that alone in a room with Parker at her bed. Neta needed the ideal environment, because she had to tell him the whole story from start to finish without getting distracted. She sighed, eventually deciding that she'd stay right where she was and keep her voice down.

"Parker, there's a lot to say. We should sit down," Neta suggested. "Why don't I get us something? Today's special is meat pie and ale. It's free..."

Free, the opposite of what she was.

~~~

Claro turned into a dark alley, where the vine user awaited him. "I normally do things myself, but we've recently learned that the Seed has Aberrant friends protecting her. I'll need the fifteen of you as support. That way, we won't fail this time."

"You plan to burn down the inn, right?"

"Myself. With my flaming arrows. You and the other children should leave when that happens. After all, fire is unkind to your plants," Claro responded.

"If we succeed tonight and capture the Seed, we'll see our parents again?" the vine user asked, hopefully.

"Of course you will. Do this for me, and you'll be free..." Claro smirked. "Now, run along and tell the others."

The seven-year-old boy did as he was told, leaving the knight deep in thought. To think a man within the Order so unpopular as myself will become the distinguished knight who apprehended the Seed and secured a powerful, prosperous future for Pless. It'll all be over soon, Neta, and you'll be the one who leads us into the new era.

However confident he sounded in his mind, there were still things Claro was unsure of. I told the Seed everything I know. Her Plant X creates Aberrants, an ability derived from an original mystery species that is God knows where. But how did all the Aberrants running the streets of Pless acquire their powers? Surely they couldn't have come in contact with the original. There's just no way! No plant in the entire kingdom can do what the mystery species does! Why, then, is this happening to our people? More and more Aberrants pop up in Pless every day. That's why I've tried to tell my comrades that chasing the latest powered human is pointless and that we need to address the problem at its source. Claro sighed. No amount of thinking he did right now would yield an answer. All I know is that I have only half the story. There's still a second piece to the Aberrant puzzle. If only Dr. Briarwood were alive... maybe then I'd have figured it out by now.

Claro stepped into the light once more, though he was still pondering the why's and the what-ifs. He'd become an Aberrant shortly after he and his men had stormed the Briarwood residence fourteen years ago. The knight recalled that he'd come grossly unprepared for the mission, not having eaten at all that day. Before the renowned scientist was captured and the building burned, Claro had come across an odd plate of fruit beside the botanist's desk. He shared the fruit with his men, but only he would awaken his Aberrant powers a week later.

Perhaps there were certain qualifications that had to be met for these abilities to emerge, or perhaps they were dormant within certain people to begin with. Not all adults developed them. But if Claro captured the Seed and children came in contact with Plant X as early as the womb, an Aberrant would surely be born. Maybe that's why powers were inherited from an Aberrant parent more often than acquired.
 
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Uhhhh... did that girl just ask for them to fight to the death before she ran off? He had no time to think about the child as icy mist began to block his view, but not before he heard some messed up things from the now confirmed assassin. Well, if you could even call him an assassin as he clearly shows his cards and can’t handle the ethical dilemma of killing people - not that the last part was bad.

So there was an assassin - that didn’t like killing - chasing a child that wanted them to go die... they sounded perfect for each other. Man, the people around here were messed up and so terribly dull! There’s your typical naive girl that would sacrifice basically everyone else to keep what she loved, there’s the lover boy who is head over heels for a damsel in distress to the point that he would also sacrifice others for her, then you have an assassin who wouldn’t kill due to moral issues, and a girl who runs around telling people who want to help her to go kill themselves... soooo boring. They’re all fake. Every single last one of them. At least the little girl has time to break through her innocence, her assassin friend at least appreciated the significance of concepts like death, and the two lovers had something they found worth dying for. But all of them as of now were either too violent, ignorant, selfish, or a combination of the three. As such, they all would continue to be blinded by their own actions, and will never be able to open up their eyes to a life with true meaning. They were no different from any of the nobles, no different from even the monarchs. His search for someone he could be himself around, someone who was real... once again seemed like the sun on the horizon, consistently out of reach, even if you try to run towards it.

As if talking to the assassin who had then left, he whispered, “You want to know how to kill without regret? You want to be the good guy even while taking lives? It’s quite easy, you just have to see a target as a number, or a statistic. With the amount of people in the world, one number disappearing from the equation doesn’t matter as long as it’s offset by the benefiting of at least one other. The only situation in which you can’t see them as numbers is if they are real people with a higher cause. Those are the people you can’t kill even if it hurts you in the long run.”

Sighing, Magnus continued to walk away before walking into one of the near dark alleys. Before fading into one of the walls however, one thought crossed his mind. The Blood Knights, and the people he just met, they were all just statistics, and the majority of them would be better to society as corpses.
 

Fire Mana

Previously Top_Smug_
"Sorry, people like that just piss me off... acting like they're better than us just cause they think they know something that we don't."

Parker sighed and sat down at the table with Neta. A lot had been happening in his life these past few days, it was really starting to burn him out. Might as well take up her offer and hear her out, not like he exactly had anything better to do right now.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer, happens to be my favorite meal actually. Never got too many of them, but when I did steal them I treated it like a holiday."

The black haired boy thought back to the man's words. A game of death and deceit huh? Parker thought it sounded like fun.
 
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Mallory sat in the tree for a while thinking about what he had said, what he had done and who had killed. “No! It’s okay, it’s for a good reason, and you wanted to do this.” He said to himself quietly.

“Damn right you did.” Said a voice from higher up in the tree, “But you can’t go blaming yourself like that my pupil.” The voice continued.

“Marybelle?” Mallory asked the voice.

“It’s Davina now, “”Clayton””. She teased him as she jumped down to the part of the tree he was on, “so now you’re so bad at your job that you go around telling people what you do?” She asked him jokingly,

“I haven’t seen you in over a year and this is how you greet me?” He asked her, “besides against you I’m no match as an assassin, oh and by the way, I’m going to need to ask you to leave.” Mallory told the woman.

“What why? You don’t want me around?” She said as she got closer to him.

“No it’s not that, I’m-“ Mallory paused, she knew this woman but could he really tell her what he was doing, “I’m on a mission right now, so if you could please leave that’d be great.” He told her.

“You’re not on a mission.” Marybelle told him, every since she had rescued him she managed to learn to read him, making her one of the few people to do so. “Just spill already I’ve got nowhere to go, and I’m lonely.” She told him.

“God damn it Marybelle I’m protecting a kid.” He told her as he looked away from her.

“Oh, what kid?” She asked him

“Some child named Arisa, she’s my priority right now, I made a promise to her brother.” He told her,

“You and your promises.” She said as she jumped off the tree and looked up to face him. “Well it’s been nice seeing you here, I was just passing by when I saw you, I’m on a mission right now, so, I’ll see how you’re doing later babysitter.” She said to him as she walked away.

After she left Mallory began blooming at the windows to see if he could find Arisa, “gotta find that kid and apologize.” He said quietly.
 
"Your favorite meal? In that case I'll make it extra special..." Neta smiled, not giving Parker any clue as to what that meant.

In ten minutes she was out with a plate of meat pies and a mug of ale. But before bringing them over to their table, she stopped at the bar and placed three silver coins on the counter.

"Neta, you know that you work here. We can just give you an employee discount so you don't have to pay the full price, or we can count it as a staff meal and you won't pay a cent," Anka sighed. "Besides, how would he feel if he found out that the woman paid for him?"

"O-oh, well you see, it's not like that right n-"

Is that what the innkeeper thought this was? A date? She decided it was best to let her think that instead of telling her the truth. It might've been like a date... if the things Neta had to discuss weren't so serious. Or maybe even something more, because she had cooked the meat pies herself this time. Usually the place was so busy at night that she was up to her knees working as a waitress and didn't get to put those cooking skills to use. But it wasn't night now and the place was less crowded, so she had plenty of time on her hands.

The innkeeper could've sworn that she'd seen that boy before. Hadn't he almost caused a fight in her restaurant the other day? Oh, Neta, a sweet girl like you shouldn't be getting involved with the wrong people.

But that judgement was more inaccurate than she could imagine, because it was really Parker who was getting involved with wrong people like Neta.

The young woman placed the meat pies and ale in front of Parker, and she would not touch them throughout their conversation. She'd made them just for him, after all. Neta wasn't particularly hungry right now anyway, though she might be later on, because she and Parker would be here for some time. She'd listened to Claro for 2 hours at the clinic, but it probably took longer for him to tell her everything because he took his time tormenting her and smiling like a madman. So maybe this would be over more quickly if Neta was speaking. She hoped it would be, because there was one thing she was good at, and that was wasting Parker's time. That made her insecure around him, even though she really enjoyed his company. But the food meant that whatever time saved by taking Claro out of the equation would balance out, and they'd be here for just as long.

"My father was..." Neta began there, then proceeded to tell Parker everything. About the war. The children. The secret of the Aberrants. The mystery plant species that could not be inherited. How the government wanted to lock her away, kidnap pregnant women of low status, and force her to mass-produce Aberrants to be used as soulless killing machines. "So you see, Parker... I don't know if I'm Neta anymore, because I'm no longer free. They call me the Seed..."
 
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Urias entered the inn and ordered a beer. She was tired and her head hurts after so much wandering around the town. She hoped a drink could clear her head.

The mission had been a mess since she entered this town. She's supposed to ambush her target in the old warehouse, capture the kid alive and that's it, sounds easy even if she didn't had any help. Turns out the kid didn't shows up, and the man refused to woke up even after she poured buckets of water on him, she probably knocked him too hard. So she had spent hours asking around the town without any result and man, her black garb was hot. Maybe the saying about black color absorb more heat was right.

She was on her third when a waitress came to brought her food. She ate the food ravenously, drink two more then fell asleep with her head on the table. She dreamt of her hometown, when she and Oriana could spent their days peacefully. Unfortunately, those days would never come back.
 
Mallory was still perched atop that tree trying to look through the windows and find Arisa, it took him a while but he managed and found Arisa’s window, “okay, there’s step one done, now how am I supposed to get in?” He asked himself, “the window is too high up for me to just knock, I can’t throw rocks or I’ll break it and I’m practically broke so I can’t pay for it, and I can’t be seen inside or else I’ll be wanted dead.” He said quietly as he continued to think of a way to get to the window. “I’ve got it!” Mallory said as he pulled out his bow and began shooting arrows upwards, “they’ll fly past the window and come back down towards me, I can rinse and repeat this until I get her attention.” He thought as he continued to shoot and catch the arrows.
 

Fire Mana

Previously Top_Smug_
Parker had already inhaled half a meat pie and a mug of ale before Neta had started talking. She seemed anxious, he assumed whatever it was must have been important, but boy was that assumption an understatement. He didn't believe her at first, but when he realized she was being serious the boy almost choked on his food. Her claims seemed too ridiculous to be real, but then Parker remembered what else the government had done and he was no longer as surprised.

"As if I needed another reason to hate the government and the royals..."

He put his head down on the table and thought for a minute, about what had happened and what was still to come. Things would get more complicated from here on out. What the kids said on the rooftops that night finally made sense.

"Okay Neta... I think I understand the situation." Parker said after a long period of silence. "Listen, I'm not gonna abandon you. You're the only friend I've had in all my years of being alive on this hell hole. It might not be the smartest decision, but I'll stay by your side. At least until I know you're safe..."
 
Neta bowed her head sadly like a wilting flower during the long silence. This world was trying to take away all her freedom, starting with her name. To her country she was the Seed, a tool to satisfy its greed, bloodlust, and hunger for power. But when Parker said that he'd stay by her side, that she was Neta, his only friend, the young woman's glossy green eyes widened and trembled with relief. Her mouth hung open slightly, as if this boy had breathed life back into her hopeless body. Parker wouldn't abandon Neta even after she'd told him the dangers of being close with her. He'd said it calmly, too, but she was so emotional that she wanted to get up from her seat and embrace him right then.

But Neta composed herself. "Hearing those words from you... I can't even begin to thank you. It makes me so happy," she said, a smile returning to her face. But it wasn't her usual delicate one, that soft smile of a woman who couldn't express her true happiness because a parasite deprived her of the strength to do so. There was a redness to it that stood out on Neta's pale skin, and she seemed more lively, enough to tease herself a bit. "All I could do for you was make you meat pies. Well, I hope I did for your stomach what you've done for my..."

Heart. But even a lively Neta wasn't so bold to make such a statement without wavering at some point, and when she realized the word that was going to escape her mouth, she stopped herself and her face reddened even more. "At least... I-I hope you liked them!"

She hastily excused herself, telling Parker that she would be right out. Neta went to take a quick bath because she still smelled of Etherflowers from the night that she was kidnapped. The powerful fragrance could be used to track her, and she didn't want to make things too difficult for him. Although... she felt less like a burden on Parker now. When she wasn't able to make it back to the inn last night, he'd told her how much of a damn pain it was and she apologized sincerely for inconveniencing him. He'd also said that he wasn't trying to save her and only happened to be at the right place at the right time. But now Parker was telling her that he'd stay by her side, that he wanted to keep her safe. Neta smiled. "So that's how he truly feels..."

She stepped out of the large wooden basket that was the bath and dried herself. Clothed in a light blue dress, because her favorite green one still carried the scent of Etherflower, she headed downstairs and spoke with the innkeeper. "Anka, there's something I've been meaning to do. But, if you need me here right now, I can always do it some other time."

"Oh, Neta. These aren't your hours anyway, so if you need to go run an errand, or if you're just taking that boy somewhere nice, feel free to step out for a bit. You seemed to have a lot on your mind when you came back from the clinic, so I let you work off your troubles for the time being. Do what you need, dear, but be sure to come back during peak hours, or those drunks will run us ragged!" the motherly innkeeper said warmly. The tavern was practically empty this afternoon, save for a few people and a cloaked woman soundly asleep, so the other waitresses had it under control.

"Thanks, I will!" Neta smiled at Anka, before she hurried over to Parker.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting long. I've been meaning to go into town to..." she lowered her voice a bit, "...to purchase a knife. A machete. If X catches fire, I'll need to cut off the burnt vine so it can regenerate in a fight. If you want to come with-"

Parker told her that he'd stay by her side, but Neta didn't know the extent of that. She paused and realized she was being selfish, taking his time for granted. "I-I mean, if you're busy and have somewhere to be, I-I totally understand. But I was also hoping that you c-could show me how to use the knife in battle, possibly, whenever you have time. I can't always rely on my power, and it wouldn't be fair to you if I'm weak without it."
 
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Arisa had been silent for minutes, savoring every stimulus that cames into her senses. The roughness of the bed, the smell of dried saliva on the pillow and the sound of arrows flying past the window..

Wait, what?

She glanced at the window and there's really arrows flying past the window. She looked at the culprit and found Clayton shooting upward. She wanted to scream 'what the heck are you doing' or something like that, but she remembered that she was pretty rude to him, twice in a row, under 5 minutes. The first when she suddenly leave him in the back of the inn, the other when she told him and the masked man to kill each other.

She sunked back onto the bed. Not knowing what to do, should she apology? Truth was, she barely ever apologize before. She always assumed everyone would forgive her every acts, but that was she as Harmonia Galilei, under the roof of Galilei's mansion, not as Arisa Artham in a random inn located a random town. Everyone was equal here, at least that was what Easen told her. In time like this she remembered Easen and how he always told her about courtessy. Speaking of him, he had gone for too long...

She hoped he was here to told her what to do. She imagined him sitting on the floor, looking straight into her eyes. After hearing her story, he would surely smile and then said, 'what are you waiting for? There's no universal way to apologize. Go now!!'

After bracing herself, she digged into her rucksack, pulling a bundle of caramel cookies. It's one of the sweet Easen bought for her. Then she opened the window and dropped the bundle on Clayton.

"I'M SORRY!!!" She yelled at Clayton.

---------

Easen was tied on an old chair in an old warehouse. That crazy woman had poured dozens of buckets of water on him in an attempt to wake him up, but whether its because his act was good enough or the woman was dumb enough. She didn't realize that he was only faking his unconsciousness and left him alone.

He tried to unrope himself, but the woman's knot was neat and strong. He couldn't even feel his limbs. If he couldn't undid the rope, then he must took the alternatives: destroy the chair. He had slammed the chair on the walls and floors, hoping to destroy the already fragile furniture. It hurts, the chair also sent splinters into his skin, but this was his best bet. He slammed, and slammed, and slammed.
 

Fire Mana

Previously Top_Smug_
"No no no, the pies were great! Some of the best food I've ever had actually... although I might be biased considering this is the only meal that's ever been made specifically for me."

Parker noticed the stutter and sharp change of subject right before she had stated that she hoped he liked the meat pies. What was she going to say? Probably best not to pry, if she wanted to say it she would have.

Parker waited silently in the inn as Neta took her bath. Without Neta, pretty much everyone in the inn instantly became an annoyance. The boy pulled his hood and mask up, covering his face as much as possible. Hopefully that would help drown out some of the sight and sound from the other people. When Neta returned it took nearly everything he had not to gawk, he was now glad that he had put his mask on while she was gone. Wait, had she went and cleaned up for him?

No, no way, stop overthinking things. She probably just felt the need to bathe after spending the last night in your disgusting alleyway...

Parker was completely zoned out, but abruptly snapped back to his senses when she mentioned the knife shopping. The boy pulled down his mask and shot up out of his chair, nearly knocking over the table in the process.

"Of course I'll go! Oh man this is great! You'll finally have a weapon, and actually I've been saving up for some new weapons of my own... So this is perfect! If you don't mind, can we head back to my dump so I can pick up my coins? We can go to the blacksmith right after that."
 
“How long is this gonna take?” Mallory asked himself before he heard and saw Arisa. She yelled ‘I’m Sorry’ fairly loudly and then proceeded to drop a bundle of cookies on him. In panic Mallory stopped firing and dropped his bow as he thought he would hit the girl and his mindset changed to trying to catch the cookies. “I’ve got it I’ve got it!” Mallory yelled as he tried to catch the cookies in his hands, suddenly his arrow came rushing back down and before Mallory could catch the bundle the arrow struck through them impaling then in the ground and crycsbing them. Mallory felt to his knees and proceeded to yell, “WHY?! I JUST WANTED COOKIES!”

From around the corner of the inn Marybelle was standing and watching Clayton from since he began to shoot the arrows to when he switched to trying to catch the sweets. “There’s the assassin I trained.” She told herself, “that boy sure is something, his ability to handle the bow from what I’ve seen is unmatched, shooting arrows directly above and having them land exactly from where they fired is a skill a true weapon wielder can learn.” She told herself quietly, “being an aberrant, that makes his life harder, he can’t go out into public, get an actual job, or have real friends, because he’s been wanted since he was a child, but at the same time he makes it work, the ability to freeze enemies, when you’ve got a keen eye like this kid you could aim for their legs and get a headshot.” She said as she began walking away.
 
Arisa watched furiously as Clayton cried over the cookies. Why the cookies?! Did he not heard me? Arisa felt embarassed when she apologized to him, but now she must repeat it to make sure he heard it.

She took the blanket and bedsheet, then quickly tied them all into the bed's leg to made a improvised rope. She then dropped down from the second floor right on top of him.

"D-did you not heard me??! I am sorry for my rudeness before! For yelling at you to kill..." She yelled right at Clayton without even looking at him, but the more she said, the more her words turned into intangible mutter. She could felt her cheeks burning with embarassment. She never asked for an apology this direct before! Not even with her father.
 
Mallory sat there minor lot depressed about the loss of the cookies until he heard Arisa apologize again as she dropped a makeshift rope down towards him. “Alright I’m gonna go up now, you’re apology is accepted Arisa.” He said to her as he began climbing up the rope to reach her window. He managed to get up and once he did he crawled in and said, “I’m an aberrant, you’re an aberrant, that means we’re both most likely wanted to be experimented on.” Mallory told her, “I don’t know if you already knew that but regardless until Easen returns I need you to trust me and let you take care of you, okay?” He asked her.
 
Parker's excitement surprised Neta, but she smiled. She was seeing new sides of this boy. In contrast to how he'd addressed her kidnappers, Parker asked her politely if she minded going back to his alley first. He may have thought himself a useless street rat, but he was more of a gentleman than he gave himself credit for.

He was seeing new sides of her, too, like her lively, happy self. Neta was in an especially good mood right now after Parker had told her that he enjoyed the food she'd cooked. And she was relieved that she wasn't wasting his time by asking him to come with her. She nearly forgot about this morning, the dangers that lay ahead. In fact, she'd nearly forgotten everything before this moment. It was just like last night, when she slept so peacefully in his alley that she couldn't remember even being kidnapped upon waking up. There was something about this boy that made her cast aside her worries and feel safe with him.

"Sure, let's go!" Neta said joyfully. "And your place, it isn't so bad."
 
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"Yeah, mister Clayton. I trust you." Arisa replied with a smile. She was happy right now. Happy because she had one more person she could felt secure around, and happy because apologizing didn't felt that bad, there's this certain relief after she release the burden of her guilt.

"Though, speaking of aberrant. Is it true that there's good aberrant and bad aberrant? Papa and his friends always hate aberrant, they said aberrants would be the doombringer of the world, but when he saw my power papa said that I'm not a bad aberrant. That my power is holy and he even call it oracion." She remembered her father's furious reaction at aberrants, he would angrily yelled at them and commands soldiers to arrest them. But she also remember that day when she blasted a part of their house, she recalled his confused expression and tears streaming down his face.

What was right? What was wrong? The books they had at their library depicts aberrant as evil monsters with unknown power, the paintings in their gallery glorified aberrants stake-burning. Yet people adore angels, God's servants with unknown power.
 
Mallory heard Arisa’s question and didn’t exactly know how to respond because he too wasn’t very knowledable on how the abberants work despite being one, “Well Arisa in my opinion there are no good or bad anything, people can not be just good or bad and neither can abberants, the only thing that can be good or bad is their intentions.” He told her, “if Anne rants that have strong powers choose to kill people for fun or without reason then they would most likely be considered bad, but if they use their powers to help others then they are considered bad.” He continued, “the sad truth though is that not everyone thinks the same way, some people see our powers and get scared, I don’t know whether it’s their idea of us being stronger that makes them jealous, or just the fact that we’re different that makes them horrified, so we have to be careful on who we trust because if we make a couple of wrong moves, we could easily be dead.” Mallory continued to speak seriously almost forgetting that he was talking to a young girl. “That’s why abberants need to stay protected and together in order to insure that no precious lives are lost.” He said removing his hood and created a small pile of snow on the ground, “that’s my power, ice.” He said as he looked at the girl and smiled.
 

Fire Mana

Previously Top_Smug_
Parker sighed at Neta's comment. His place wasn't that bad? Hah! Great joke!

"Neta, my place is literally an alleyway with garbage and some mood lighting... it's pretty bad."

The two of them exited the inn and arrived at said alleyway after a roughly 30 minute walk. Parker walked though the garbage piled around, stepping over a dead rat in the process. He took the lid off one of the garbage cans, pulling out six pouches filled with different types of coins.

"Okay, the smithy is another 20 minute walk from here. Once we get there you can ask the blacksmith there any questions you have about the weapons themselves, they'll be more knowledgeable than myself."

Parker walked back out of the alleyway, once again stepping over the rat corpse, and began the trip to the smithy with Neta behind him.
 
"That's the same answer as Easen's. Aberrants add nothing to good or bad of the people." Arisa mulled the answers. Analyzing what she had known and what she had learned.

"Oh, right!" She jumped in front of Clayton and pointed her finger upward.

"You have showed me your power. Now, I show you mine... Or not." She remembered that she couldn't just use her power casually, but she still wanted to show off to Clayton. Now she felt jealous at his power. If she should be aberrant, then it would be much better if her power could be used in everyday life.

"Papa said I should not use my power unless its absolutely necessary." She said sullenly, with heavy emphasize on the word 'absolute'.
 
Neta smiled awkwardly when she saw the rat corpse. It's like it was there just to prove Parker's point. His place was pretty bad, he said, but the inn wasn't anything special either. To her it was, though, because of the people and memories there that made it a home. It was the same with the alleyway. Her friend lived here, and his presence made it bearable.

She couldn't say the same about the smithy. There were blades hung all over the walls and men hammering away at anvils for custom orders. To Neta, who only had experience with kitchen knives, this was a most unfamiliar environment. They made her uncomfortable, too, these weapons used to hurt people...

No! She couldn't think like that! It would be the same as assuming that all Aberrants are bad. Surely there were those who wanted to use their powers for good, just like there were people who used swords to protect the ones they loved. But, in a world where powered and nonpowered humans couldn't peacefully coexist, there was little opportunity for Aberrants to contribute to society, and, given the harsh treatment that they received, little reason for them to do so.

Parker seemed to know what he was doing, but Neta was looking absently at the knives on the wall. They were of many shapes and sizes, points and handles. She stood there for ten minutes unable to tell the difference in uses between any of them.

"Need something, miss?" a young man in a thick leather apron approached her.

"O-oh, yes. I'm looking for-" Neta stuttered. She'd been staring into space, and he'd surprised her. "I'm looking for something long, that can cut through thick vines. Maybe a machete."

"Something long, huh? Well, I've got it down here..." The blacksmith bent down and handed her a short sword, exactly what she was looking for. Neta was a little embarrassed, because it had been right there the whole time.

"Is a pretty girl like you goin' on a jungle expedition or something?" the young man asked.

"Oh, no, nothing like that. I'm just... I'm just doing some intense gardening, that's all!" Neta was a terrible liar, but the truth could get her captured.

"Well, those weeds better watch out! Go get 'em!"

She thanked the blacksmith sincerely, and the young man winked back at her. It was a subtle gesture, and Neta didn't know what it meant. She placed 8 silver coins on the counter to pay for her machete, but the blacksmith gave one back to her.

"We usually get big, beefy guys comin' in here and not many pretty girls, so we'll give you a special discount!" he smiled and raised his eyebrows suggestively. "So please, come again!"

"You're too kind, sir! But, you can keep the coin, if not to pay the price, then as a tip." Neta returned the smile, and the silver. He'd complimented her appearance, after all, and he was much less intense about it than the drunks at the inn and the gawkers on the streets.

She turned to Parker, who had been saving up for weapons of his own. If he was ready, maybe they would spar together, not that she was any good.
 
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