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Post by Kenshin on Dec 15, 2016 19:44:28 GMT -6
Hargus' return, the attack on Kenshin's home, the monsters Hargus created, a monster with skin as black as coal roaming Sacae, Richter's sword, then finally what happened to Kenshin in Ilia. All of those events were linked together some how but Kenshin still knew nothing that could connect it, he had absolutely no clue how it all began either. Growing up he had learned the skill to track animals and people but it had proved to aid to track down information, each time he had thought he found a lead to new information it lead to a dead end. At this point he felt like a dog chasing it's own tail, hell that made more sense than all of those events.
While he spent time to recover in Ilia after his body was overcome by some dark force Richter had left no information about that damn sword of his when he fled town. Something was slowly plaguing the plains of Sacae, as the 'Crimson Demon of Sacae', the protector of the plains he was searching for information to do so about this new threat. He could help ward off armies, but that? It was out of the question, and it infuriated him. No matter, he would protect his homeland from those things to his last breath.
After his wounds were healed and his body was ready for the journey home Kenshin set off alone on top of a horse, his current location was somewhere in northern Sacae, about a day and half's ride from the mountains separating Sacae and Ilia. While this wasn't a time to be moving at a slow pace, but it had given him more time to piece together this chaotic puzzle.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Dec 16, 2016 23:02:01 GMT -6
Sometimes Nayru wished she didn't have to feel anything at all. Or at least that she had found a better way of suppressing them. Sure, there were some MINOR downsides like eventually going crazy and killing anything in sight, and that was bad and all, but at the same time it would be so.. nice to not have to apply thing but logic to what she did. Simple. Efficient. Rational. Input X produces output Y. Bad guys show up, punch them. Instead, she had all these... "feelings." Feelings that she didn't particularly want individually, and she certainly didn't want all of them at once, a boiling morass of confusion and frustration and a vague knowledge that she SHOULD be doing something about them all, but very little idea of how to go about it.
Probably what nagged at her the most was that she couldn't decide if heading back to Sacae was bravery, cowardice, or a little of both. She had had her hand forced by the chimera - a creature leaving such a swathe of destruction that she had realized it by necessity fell to her to deal with it rather than allowing innocent human lives to be ended by what she had, at the time, thought was a rampaging dragon. Not actually correct, it had turned out, but still a good decision on her part. A rarity these days. So she couldn't say that she... entirely regretted leaving the Arum warrior to his own devices after he had fled her; those shenanigans with Mana had already cost her days, and the lives of any Bernese civilians who had died as she dallied.
So she was returning to the scene of the crime, so to speak, to finish what she had started. Which was good. More or less. The problem was that she also needed answers, she had told Veigue she was headed to Arcadia to learn more about herself, and yet she was in Sacae instead. For a good reason, but how much of it was truly duty to do what was right, and how much was simply putting off her quest for a little longer out of fear of what she might learn? It seemed like the more she found out about herself, the more control she gained over her power, the more she found she didn't like what she learned. And there was a GREAT deal of irony in her, of all people, styling herself as a savior of the meek and mild, given what she had done. Episodes like the chimera were a good start, but it would take a great deal of time indeed to make up for her crimes on a simple numbers level, and even then it did nothing to undo what she had done.
While she was on the note, Nayru decided that she needed to stop thinking too. That never ended well. The irony and silliness of it all was funny in a way that lifted the black mood, somewhat, but the poisoned maelstrom in the back of her mind never stopped churning. She couldn't NOT think. It was a strength and a weakness at the same time. The best she could do, really, was distract herself. For a time. But the bad thoughts always came back eventually. Maybe she was just distracting herself with this whole Sacae expedition.
...But it didn't mean that it wasn't important anyways. Innocent people had already been killed, and more would die until the monster was put down. Regardless of what it did for her, she had to at least do SOMETHING to try to help. Everything had to start somewhere after all. And for today, she was starting with that red haired... woman(?), traveling alone. Not the safest plan these days. Not with evil shadow sword guys running around and murdering folks. "OOOOOOOOOOIIIII!" Picking up the pace a bit, Nayru started to approach the lone traveler with one arm raised, waving in what was supposed to look harmless. Whether or not that actually worked out was open to interpretation, but at least she wasn't waving a sword around or anything. She was... admittedly a little fuzzy on where the Arum monster actually was, there were plenty of stories flitting around Sacae but little real info on exactly where he was now. "It's not safe to travel by yourself these days, that shadow sword jackass has been attacking lone travelers."
The irony of the situation was completely lost on the blissfully unaware but well-meaning dragon.
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Post by Kenshin on Dec 21, 2016 21:56:36 GMT -6
There weren't many things Kenshin would have called a threat roaming the plains of Sacae, but the past few months had proved that thought to be wrong, but still it was the furthest thing on his mind currently. He was banking on the fact that any would be threat would be weary of attacking a distracted Kenshin, that is if they recognized him as the Crimson Demon. What had held his train of thought was what the hell happened to him when he drew that sword. It had seemed like some sort of possession or some sort, his body had moved on it's own while he was powerless to stop it. From what he could see that was going on was hazy, as if there was some kind of fog in the area the moment he felt a combination of pain and numbness engulf his body.
Clop, clop, clop. The sound of the horse's hoofs beating on the ground as it kept it's brisk walk was the only sound he had heard for a bit, eventually it was almost drowned out by his own thoughts. In the distance he heard something new, a voice. It had apparently been calling out to him, mentally shaking the thoughts from his mind be began to search for the owner of the voice. When he found it, he turned the horse into their direction and made it slow down. What he say was a full figured woman, her skin tone had indicated that she had traveled in the warmer areas quite a bit, as well as the fact she was showing a lot of skin. He easily recognized that she wasn't from Sacae since the women here dressed more modestly, but the style was vaguely familiar to the swordsman.
About the time he brought the horse to a halt she had mentioned some sort of danger of traveling alone because of a 'shadow sword jackass'. Quickly dismounting he took a few steps towards her. "Shadow Swordsman? What do you know of him?" His tone was far more aggressive than he had meant, he didn't think somebody would mention it so casually on top of the timing of her mentioning him.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Dec 22, 2016 0:24:58 GMT -6
Nayru could be a bit dense at times, but not even she was so utterly clueless as to miss the aggression in Kenshin's voice. And he was also a dude, she noted, slightly frustrated that her initial guess had been wrong. IN FAIRNESS he had had very long hair and from behind and a distance, it was a reasonable mistake, but she still sorta blamed him for it. Oh yes and he was pretty angry. "Whoa, whoa." Nayru held her hands up but didn't retreat an inch as Kenshin approached, mostly clueless about who he was but also bull-headed enough to not want to back down regardless. "I don't know much about him, we just fought once."
Hah. If that could even be called much of a fight. It still frustrated her to NO END that the coward had dipped on her, he had done an incredible amount of damage and showed that he could actually stand up to her - so why flee before it even got good? "He pussied out before I could take him down, and I had some... pressing business in Bern to take care of," she said with only slight hesitation in trying to decide the exact wording. That f**k**g chimera. So much trouble. Nayru would almost have preferred that it HAD just been a rogue dragon, at least she could have had a chance of negotiating with it, but the chimera had been relentless and ultimately destructive, and very nearly killed both her and Veigue before she transformed - and even then it had STILL nearly killed the both of them. If anything, their victory had been a bit of a fluke, and certainly only due to Veigue's help. That part didn't nettle Nayru, she was obviously grateful for that, but it did weigh heavily on her pride that it had taken the two of them to put down one mindless beast.
"Anyways, I finished what I had to down there, so I was going to try to track him down and finish him off for good this time." Nayru slammed her fists together, without any reinforcement so it... really wasn't threatening... at all... but still served to emphasize her point. "I owe him the beating of a lifetime for making me take care of Mana and that f**k**g baby for like two damn days. Lotta people weren't as lucky, here and in Bern." And some of that, at least, was her fault. If she hadn't wasted so much time with Mana, she could have found and stopped the chimera faster - saved the lives of more humans than she had - but at the very real risk of losing Mana and that... baby. In all honesty, Nayru wouldn't have been too broken up about the latter, but the all too human fear of wasting the life of someone she did kinda-sorta know had outweighed the lives of the countless innocents of Bern at the time.
She had made her choice, and regret it or not, she had acted on it. That was all there was to it.
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Post by Kenshin on Dec 24, 2016 17:40:44 GMT -6
This woman had claimed not to know much about him, other than she had fought it and survived. Despite her appearance she might not be as weak as she had appeared. But at the same time, he knew not to judge one's combat prowess based on appearance for his wife could was once a fierce warrior before they had began a family, and Jya who was once a sickly little girl grew strong enough to enrage the person he butted heads with a few times even as allies. Kenshin had stopped a few feet away from the woman and let out a sigh of frustration, part of it was because she had seemed to know as much about that... thing as he did, as well as she left it to roam his plains to cause more chaos and destruction.
Kenshin was at a cross roads when it came to this woman's ability to fight, while she did survive against the monster he had slain, her effort combined with Mana was not enough, but she DID survive despite the stories he heard of it. While Mana was chosen by the spirits of the plains, he felt Mana wasn't quite ready to be called his successor of the Falcatta if she couldn't defeat the creature with the aid of another that he defeated with what felt as ease.
"Damn it" he replied, this time sounding more irritated than aggressive. "I had fought that thing not too long ago as well, when I killed it I saw a familiar blade in it's hands. It was a sword I saw back in Bern in some damn Ilian's hands but it didn't effect him in the way of that black creature.
"He had felt similar to the Bandit King, with some kind of demonic look in a sense. Are you sure you don't know anything about it?" Kenshin had began to become desperate for some kind of answer at this point. How could he defend him home from a possible future attack if he knew absolutely nothing about it.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Dec 24, 2016 18:03:17 GMT -6
"You killed it?"
Nayru raised an eyebrow, not exactly doubting Kenshin's words but not quite ready to take them at face value either. It wasn't that she couldn't have, the jerk had run away before she could actually finish it off, but if it hadn't done the same to this very angry warrior then there was something else at play here. Whether it be that he was fast enough to catch up, unburdened by an unconscious woman and child, or simply stronger than her... though she certainly didn't want to think it was the latter. Nonetheless, she didn't really have a reason to disbelieve him. The crimson warrior seemed far more bothered by what she knew of it than the fact it was dead by his hands; if he was trying to brag about killing it he certainly wasn't trying very hard, and honestly it didn't feel like he gave much of a crap about what she thought of him killing it.
Seemed she had been wasting her concern in warning him to be careful of it... but not wasting her time. Not in the least! Nayru's estimation of the swordsman jumped up several notches very quickly in the wake of her thoughts. "Thank you for dealing with him," she said bluntly, "I had judged the chimera in Bern a larger threat, so I'm truly grateful someone else had the strength to take him down before I could finish the job." For better or for worse, her pride didn't get in the way of the admission, one of the things Nayru had agonized most about her decision was the prospect of leaving the Hunger to ravage Sacae in her wake. Knowing that he had been slain some time back now meant that her decision had been the objectively correct one, and lifted some weight off of her mind.
And one good turn deserved another, did it not? She didn't usually like explaining anything more than necessary about these matters, but... Nayru crossed her arms and leaned back a little. "I said I didn't know much, not nothing. He was a creature of the Nether, I believe possessing a human body. They're called the Arum, creatures from the darkened shadows of Elibe's history." She still didn't know what that word truly meant. She didn't know where the Arum had come from, what powers they could have, what their story was, and how organized they were if at all. There were a great many things Nayru truly did not know about the creatures. But she did know one thing: they were dangerous. And 'secret' knowledge or no, drawing suspicion to herself or not, it only benefited humanity to share that knowledge.
"I fought a much stronger one as well when I was in Bern." And how well that had worked out for her. If it had wanted her dead, she might well not be here right now. "Between these two, the rumors coming out of Ostia, Hargus, and the strong connections to the return of monsters, I believe Elibe is potentially facing down a full scale invasion."
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Post by Kenshin on Dec 24, 2016 19:09:59 GMT -6
Arum, Hargus, shadows of Elibe's history, they all had seemed to be linked some how and the conclusion of how all of the events that happened in his homeland as well to him had completely gone over his head. He knew of Hargus, but the matter of how he was revived and his revival leading to his transformation didn't press as much as an issue as the fact he was alive and attacking his home and what happened to him after fighting the creature.
Kenshin's ability to fight far surpassed his tactical and analytical abilities, and those who traveled and fought along side him knew it. He was an agility based fighter, his ability to read the person in front of him and change his course and action reflected that, but once it came time to plan ahead he wasn't the greatest. It had to do with something that was in the spur of the moment he could figure out the best plan of action but with time to prepare wasn't the same.
Much like his misjudgment of her ability to fight he underestimated her knowledge as well. Perhaps the creature had underestimated it's foe when it took up arms against Kenshin. "I'm sorry. I doubted your abilities as a fighter based on your appearance. I think that thing had done the same, but didn't learn it's lesson. If what you say is true, that it's an outside force that possess a body then it didn't know the true danger it was against when it crossed blades with me.
"Almost all, if not everybody, in Sacae knows me as the Crimson Demon. They think of me as a hero from the Bandit war, as well from when Bern attempted to invade Sacae, I've traveled the plains defending it from outside forces as well as internal conflict when I could. I had been told about that thing attacking tribes and I had went out to defeat it. I'm assuming much like you it thought nothing of me and lost the fight, overestimating itself." Given the circumstances he wasn't sure if he should mention that he suffered from the same fate as it, granted his ability to stand before he had shown the end result wasn't the same.
But what if, whatever that Arum thing she spoke of went dormant inside of him, waiting to return?
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Dec 24, 2016 19:42:23 GMT -6
Hm. How interesting. This man was a creature of emotion, but not entirely ruled by it. Quick to anger but tempered by reason, he was neither a stolid wiseman nor a mindless berserker. That mix of imperfection and value was what made one human after all, whether or not they were actually literally human, and Nayru was not so arrogant as to think she was immune to those imperfections of the self.
"Seems we both got off on the wrong foot." This, at least, was something she was comfortable with. Nayru didn't like admitting her own weakness, but she had plenty of experience in accepting her own wrongdoing, and much as the human warrior had misjudged her, so too had she insulted him in her thoughts by assuming he was weak. And apparently she had been VERY mistaken indeed if he could take down that creature without much injury. "Name's Nayru," she said with a grin, she liked getting off to a decent start with people, "-And I think I have heard of you. Kenshin, right? I'd never seen you but when I was traveling through Sacae people talked about you. I seem to meet a lot of people in Sacae." At least you're not a jackass like that pink haired Ilian guy, she thought, but Nayru had... barely enough tact to not word it quite like that. "You're certainly a lot more pleasant than that pink-haired Ilian guy, anyways."
What? There was no law against holding a grudge, dammit!
"That said, I'm not sure exactly how the Arum work, but I think they might have had... or have... actual bodies. The one I fought in Bern, in an area halfway submerged in the Nether, seemed to have an inhuman body that possessed incredible strength and speed... it's possible the one we both fought possessed that swordsman somehow, rather than that being his real body. Maybe." And therein lay the problem: she didn't KNOW that either. Nayru had never seen an Arum beside those two, and she didn't know what the difference was. All she knew was that anything that could beat the crap out of her was a problem for Elibe. "I have some leads to investigate, try to learn more about these guys, but that's about all I know for now."
Nayru shook her head, her tone dropping a little. "It's frustrating to not know what the threat facing Elibe is, but this is much bigger than Sacae. Gonna have to dig deep for this, I can only think of one place that MIGHT have information of that caliber, and I haven't been back there in... a while." Yeah, about tree fiddy years or so, not that Kenshin needed to know that little addendum.
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Post by Kenshin on Dec 24, 2016 20:18:23 GMT -6
This Nayru had mentioned quite a few things that rang home for Kenshin. Whatever this 'Arum" thing was, it wasn't just a threat to Sacae but all of Elibe. He would be lying if he had said he didn't care about the rest of the land as long as he could keep it showing it's ugly head in his land. "No need to apologize, we both were in the wrong. I've grown accustom to people knowing who I was based on my appearance due to me dealing with those from this country."
Nayru had mentioned something about the 'nether', something Kenshin hasn't heard of before. Could it be the same thing Hargus had tapped into in order to summon his ancestor as well as her allies, as well as somebody reviving him? While Kenshin had improved on his own speed and strength in the years after the Bandit Wars his last bout with Hargus had proved the Bandit King was still superior to him. In his growth as a fighter Kenshin didn't want to attribute his short comings against Hargus solely to an outside force boosting his abilities, ten years ago Hargus could have been toying with him and ended up losing to his own cockiness.
"Do you mean Richter? I fought against him back in Bern a while back ago. He had some kind of black sword back then, when I had defeated the thing we both fought it had the same sword." Kenshin was hesitant to mention what happened in Ilia but this Nayru had seemed like some sort of ally, at least when it came to information. He knew what he was about to say he would need to be ready to defend himself and possibly kill this unarmed woman.
"Seeing that I recognized that sword and who it use to belong to I took it with me. Nothing had seemed strange until I met up with Richter once again and drew the blade something had happened. All I can tell you is I had no control of myself and what I could see of my own hands resembled the thing I killed here, but to a lesser degree." After saying that Kenshin's muscles tensed up, ready to react to whatever came his way.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Dec 24, 2016 21:08:12 GMT -6
The sourness crawling on Nayru's face was all the answer needed as to whether or not she recognized the name. She didn't hate Richter by any means. He was... not a terrible human being, he fought for what he believed in, and while he was not an ally, neither was he an enemy. But by the f**k**g Sky above he had a way with words that annoyed her more than nearly any other human she had run into, and all of their meetings so far had been... barely civil and ended in arguments. Alas. Didn't mean all humans needed to be purged, but it'd be too soon if she never met him again.
The dragon brought one hand up to her chin thoughtfully though at the mention of the sword. She didn't recall if Richter had had it either of the times she met, at least not off the top of her head, and if he had it had been sheathed anyways so it didn't matter. But the same sword? That was beyond coincidence. It was an important datum for future reference, that was certain, and she stored it away as such.
But when Kenshin kept talking about it taking control of him, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Holy crap, she didn't even know it was possible for a sword to work like that. Nayru had heard of magic weapons obviously, she'd even helped Veigue make his, but she'd never really... spent much time with them, and she'd NEVER been able to communicate with one. "I've heard of magic weapons having a will of their own, but..." The thought that her own former transformation issues had been somewhat similar crossed Nayru's mind, but she discarded the coincidence after a moment of thought. She was DEFINITELY not possessed by an Arum, she didn't think it even worked that way with dragons, and it had never been connected to anything outside.
Oh yeah and uh Kenshin seemed really defensive.
Feeling like she had either made a really stupid move or really smart one by not reacting pretty much at all, positively or negatively, Nayru just stared at him and said "what?" She couldn't help but smile a little, the irony that she couldn't tell Kenshin, but she could empathize with him a little. "Well, in my professional opinion I'd suggest not taking it out again, if you're half as skilled as I think you are you'd be a far greater threat than that possessed idiot ever was." Something she did know about personally, eh? "Yeah, I've never heard of a weapon consuming its owner so fully. I'd hazard a guess it's the Arum connection, but I'm no expert. Have you shown it to any especially powerful mages? Maybe one of them could tell you more."
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Post by Kenshin on Dec 24, 2016 21:48:32 GMT -6
This Nayru was hard to read, either she was a skilled warrior that used a weapon like almost everybody he had met or she did her fighting with her bare fist. If it was the later Kenshin knew he would be in a run for his money, majority of his ability in reading the other fighter came from how they held their weapon as well as their attacks with it. He couldn't let his guard down, even with her keeping on the friendly conversation. "Magic weapons?" he tried to play dumb to the whole concept despite fighting Richter at one point as well as holding a weapon others called a 'magic weapon'. He was still unsure to call her an ally or an opponent at this point.
"Do you mean sword, axes, or lances that can cast magic as if they were some kind of magic user?" That last question was half him asking based on what he saw and half of his ignorance of the whole concept in general. His eyes started at her head, then quickly examined the rest of her body then quickly returning to her eyes. While she didn't seem to pose a threat currently he was still unsure how he should treat her. He was no stranger from a quick strike, and if she had been hiding a small dagger it could prove to be fatal to him.
"That blade..." pausing for a moment. "Is no longer intact. Richter's axe saw to that. I cannot confirm nor deny if it was an Arum of which you speak of though. I'm trying to figure that out myself at this point, but much like you I think I may know of one person that may have the answers I seek. But he can wait for the time being for as much as I concern. As far as I'm willing to say, the only magic user I trust with such a question isn't from lands you'll know."
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Dec 24, 2016 23:02:33 GMT -6
"So I hear," she said neutrally in response to his question about magic weapons, but Nayru was definitely starting to realize there was something seriously wrong with Kenshin's reactions. Not that she had been blind to how on edge he was before, but this was something else, something she didn't quite understand. She had played games of this type before in Arcadia, with ancient dragons who waited for her to figure out what the rules of the game were, but they had not been blatantly willing to kill her if she answered wrong. Kenshin was radiating killing intent on a level that hinted at how strong he actually was; Nayru wasn't scared per se, she was pretty hot crap too, but she WASN'T in the habit of challenging people to duels to the death. No one won. Even if she did beat him, Sacae would be left without its guardian, and if he killed her - well, it would be deserved, honestly, but at the same time, it would keep her from paying off her debt to Elibe. And regardless of what Elibe thought about dragons, she was not about to let creatures like the Arum and that chimera run free.
"I'm not your enemy, Kenshin," the dragon stated simply, her face deadly serious as she managed to NOT make a stupid f**k**g joke for once in her life. "I want to protect the people of Elibe as much you do, and this world needs all the guardians it can get, be they heroes or demons." It was ironic in a way that Kenshin called himself a demon, because he wasn't the only one standing there that day. She was no hero, that much was certain. But if her suspicions were correct... if these 'Arum' were real and possibly even just the harbingers of something far worse, Elibe needed ALL of its people to stand for it, or they would all burn together. Humans, dragons, maybe even taguel. And yes, she admitted grumpily, even those Ilian asshats with the superiority complex could probably make themselves useful somehow.
Dropping her right arm back to its crossed position, she regarded him seriously for a moment before cracking a half smile. "That said, you'd probably be a good sparring partner someday, if we all make it through this. And you might be surprised what lands I know." Ok, that last one was a BIT of hubris, knowing about Arcadia when he probably didn't, but dammit she had to at least have something going for her right? In all seriousness Nayru could feel a certain excitement at the prospect of actually fighting someone that strong, but her rational mind told her that the prospect of fun did not, in fact, outweigh the prospect of dying horribly, and it was definitely true that she wasn't nearly as impregnable in human form as transformed - and that was... not really an option anymore.
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Post by Kenshin on Dec 28, 2016 14:35:37 GMT -6
" I'm not your enemy, Kenshin "
He knew her intent was to take him away from being on edge, but it had done more harm than good. The look on her face probably the most unsettling part when she said that. While he had no reason to doubt that this woman fought the thing he had, she did not appear to a fighter however, which is where he's getting mixed trust issues from.
Then Nayru spoke about both of their desire to protect Elibe, she was half right. While Kenshin did care about the plains he didn't care about the rest of Elibe. Closing his eyes for a moment he took a deep breath. "I only care for Sacae, the rest of Elibe could burn for all I care." Opening his eyes he kept talking "Everyone is too self centered and is out for a profit. I just need to find more answers and preferably from somebody that won't require me traveling around in a desert."
Something she had said struck him as odd. Her darker skin complexion as well as her outfit started to lead Kenshin to believe she was from Nabata. Could it have been possible that Athos let her through the sand storm? Perhaps he had taught her magic stuff which would explain how she was able to fend off that thing and didn't carry a weapon... Nah, that's almost as believable as Kenshin claiming he's been in Arcadia and met Athos.
"I will have to refuse that chance to spar at a later date. When I draw my sword, it's to murder, fighting isn't a sport. Next time you see Mana ask her how long I've been dodging that question from her." He said with a light chuckle.
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Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Dec 28, 2016 23:33:49 GMT -6
Well, that hadn't done much good. This Kenshin guy apparently wasn't big on holding hands and singing kumbaya. Nayru didn't know what his deal was, but it didn't take a mind reader to notice that he was still pretty on edge. That wasn't the issue - she was ok at reading people that much at least - it was WHY he was so on edge that she legitimately couldn't tell. Not even Richter and Aerious had been that standoffish around her, and they KNEW what she was. It did bother her a little bit honestly, Nayru didn't have a very high opinion of herself on many levels but being treated as a monster was fairly crushing to her regardless.
Turned out that Kenshin was just an asshole in general though, which did make her feel a little better ironically. To go so far as to say he didn't care at all about the rest of Elibe was a bit too far in her opinion, not something that was her place to try to 'right', but distasteful nonetheless. Nayru was a world traveler, she had spent hundreds of years seeing all that Elibe had to offer; she had seen the good and the evil in each country, in all of Elibe, even in Arcadia, so she couldn't truly empathize with the kind of nationalism that the Taguel or people like Kenshin embodied. It wasn't the kind of thing she'd hate someone before, but it seemed illogical to her nonetheless. But at the same time. She could... try to understand it. Not perfectly. But the drive to protect something. THAT much Nayru could understand implicitly. Kenshin had just taken it to a different level than her; the same intensity she could give to a person, but to all of Sacae.
Though he did have one quite interesting thing to say. It was probably just coincidence of course, there was no way some random guy in Sacae knew jack crap about Arcadia, but the irony was actually pretty high from her perspective. That WAS a comment she could empathize with! "Ha, that's funny, actually. That's where I'm headed, to talk to an... old friend who might be able to help me out. Can't say as that I blame you for not wanting to deal with the desert, though, it's a crap place to live and almost as bad to travel. Haven't been back there in a while. Didn't miss it much either." Of course she wasn't talking about Athos, but rather Erim, her mentor. Not even Nayru was daft enough to think she could stroll up to THE friggin' Athos and demand answers.
Unfortunately Kenshin definitely hated fun, given how absolutely negative his response to her tentative sparring comment had been. Well, at least he wasn't jonesing to kill her, she'd take what she could get. So much for that plan, though. It was interesting that he did know Mana though, Nayru didn't even have to ask for clarification to be sure - from how much Mana had talked about looking for strong opponents, it was an absolute guarantee that Kenshin had been talking about her, she just sorta knew from the bottom of her gut that Mana would be the kind of idjit to pester Kenshin for a duel nonstop. At least he managed to make a small joke though, causing her to wonder if maybe he didn't have SOME basic understanding of humor. "I used to think the same about fighting, but eventually I got to like it. As exhilarating as living on the edge is, sometimes it's just nice to test a friend's skills."
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Post by Kenshin on Dec 30, 2016 20:59:28 GMT -6
“A sword is a weapon. The art of swordsmanship is learning how to kill. That is the truth, one that I had learned to accept when I had learned the art of swordsmanship. I tell the lie that it's to protect people to ease the burden of those who don't have blood on their hands, as well as myself. Everybody I meet in combat has a family and friends, to kill them removes them from their lives." Kenshin didn't mean to be so blunt, but the two didn't see eye to eye when it came to fighting. Part of it was a reminder to himself of what evils he had done, even if it was done in the name of 'good'.
His original goals during the Bandit Wars was the results of one man fighting for his beliefs despite how twisted they had been. There were people who saw Kenshin in the same manner as he saw those bandits and their leader, but whatever lie some people tell themselves to sleep better at night is their business. It had seemed like his assumption of the woman being from Nabata were correct, or close to it. She had admitted to living there so he was almost correct in a sense.
This Nayru had seemed more friendly as the conversation had progressed, she had also not shown any signs of acknowledging the fact he hinted at him being possessed by what she called an 'Arum' either. He knew the tension in the air was thick enough for him to cut it in two since mentioning it, he wasn't sure if that was what triggered her response for a friendly spar later on or his reputation but it didn't matter much, his answer would be the same. His muscles in his arms, legs, and chest had eased up a bit as he was breathing. To keep things on a friendly matter he asked a simple question. "I've been to Nabata only once and it wasn't by choice. That being said I didn't see very many cities if there are a lot there. What part of that hell hole are you from?" Knowing he wasn't the greatest presence to be in as of late he wanted her to know he wasn't all bad despite what he said.
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