Stumbling about for a temple.(Xierra,open)

[Anonymous]

Ric was walking in the drifting fog, a funny event to make this dead and spiky forest even scarier. The  plain white linen used to ensure tunic and hooded cape, even her boots designed for desert travel.

Made her look like quite the ghost. Her mount had perished and eaten, the ground could not be seen so it had broken its leg. Only fair to chop it up and eat its soul then right?
Water skins where almost empty.

Fidgeting with a pentagon shaped box. No bigger than the palm of her hand. Strapped onto her neck with a plan leather thread. She sat down to rest for a short breather. Tail wagging happily, the compass pointed straight ahead.

"You can take my mount bloody fog. You can take away most of my eyesight and make me stumble around like a fool. But I will never lose my direction again with this compass!"

[Anonymous]

An abnormally long finger swiped away the blood from his mouth, drawing away such an amount of it that it dripped from the tip of his hellish claw. His lower lip was stained red with it, a stark contrast from his ghastly skin. 'I suppose I deserved that.' The boy mused, tonguing the coppery liquid from the back of his fangs.

He'd been trying to pawn off some elixirs in exchange for a specific type of herb, which was vital for the next potion he was working on. The elixirs were diluted, however, and the people of Zantaric are not the breed one should try to swindle. Rath had learned that the hard way, had taken a few good hits before high tailing it out of the town and towards the temple embedded deep in the woods.

It wasn't exactly the safest place, but it was a good hideout for now.

He braced himself against the rotted base of a tree, and hugged the edges of his black fur coat around his chest. The cloak was so thick and so long, it covered his entire frame from the hood hung over his head to the bottom of his knees. Therefore, it was impossible to distinguish what he was. Absolutely impossible, which was probably a good thing...

Since he had his Serendipity Mageknight uniform on beneath it.

"You can take my mount bloody fog. You can take away most of my eyesight and make me stumble around like a fool. But I will never lose my direction again with this compass!"

Rath's hands fisted involuntarily at the sudden sound, the tips of his claws carving halfmoons into his palms. "Shit!" He hissed, reeling backwards to press his back up against the base of a large, rotted tree. Knees buckling, he lowered himself into the thick covering of fog, tried to disguise himself and watch with weary silver eyes.

Oh. It was just a ...ghost thing. With a tail.

As she was walking towards him, he tried to backpedal in his delicate position, only to snap a twig rather loudly just to the right of her. He froze, eyes wide.

[Anonymous]

Turning towards the sound of broken twig, yellow animalistic eyes tried their best to check for movement within the fog. Openly sniffing the moist air.
"I knew I sensed something. But the scent of fur and hint of blood makes it difficult to determine whether you're a person or an animal eating a person."

She kept walking determined to see it trough regardless. If anything showed up she would be as ready as one could be in this goddamn fog. A tree trunk sent her stumbling about again, waving her hands around eventually grabbing onto a branch, regaining her balance.
 
"Ok nature. You've had your fun. Go bother someone else now. Like that man eating bear thing."

Ric wanted to scream out in defiance, the dark passenger of hers was laughing hard at her struggle as usual. "Just come out already."
She left the rest of her anger to dissipate. "and be slow about it. No need to startle me more than this forest already does."

[Anonymous]

(( Double post! >.< Whoops! ))

[Anonymous]

"I knew I sensed something. But the scent of fur and hint of blood makes it difficult to determine whether you're a person or an animal eating a person."

Rath had to stifle a grin. Apparently her nose was better than the average human's, if she could smell even /fur/ in the wet, earthy forest. He advanced on her through the mask of the fog, the heavy water vapor collecting in dewy droplets on the razored edges of his jet black hair, even from beneath the hood. As a mageknight, he had a particular training in the art of ambush and raiding, had perfected the art of precision through both crossbow practice and stirring dark magic. So as he crept towards her, his silence was deadly.

He couldn't, however, hide his smell.

Luckily, she was too busy falling all over the place none too gracefully, and it gave him the opportunity he needed to duck beneath a nest of overgrown, gnarled roots. Moss wept from beneath the pressure of his hands, cleaned his palms of blood. He wasn't sure of how safe it would be to expose himself to her. She did, after all, have obviously heightened senses and ... some very animalistic features. What could she be? Werewolf, perhaps? Then she should be relatively harmless in this... semi-human form. Besides...

Rath was miserably lost. What did he have to lose at this point? If he didn't approach her, he might just end up dying pointlessly in the middle of a bleak, wet forest.

"Just come out already. and be slow about it. No need to startle me more than this forest already does."

The boy pressed himself to his feet with bloodied, clawed hands, standing tall and lanky... and coated in pitch black fur, so dark that even his face was curtained in shadow. As he stood, the fog dissipated away from him in a hazy mist, as slow as falling snow. "Are you okay?" He questioned, crushing the bare remains of dead foliage beneath his metal-lined boots as he stepped closer to her.

[Anonymous]

"I'm well of course, what gave my current situation away? The improvised dance move's perhaps?" Curtseying the shady person covered in fur as if they where noble's at a ball ready to dance.

"It's a good thing you spoke up, you look absolutely terrifying with that dark fur coat." Whistling in approval as he approached.
"Sneaking around in metal boot's. You are a dangerous man misteerrrrrr?" Gesturing with both her hands for him to elaborate on that, her eyes looking around as if there were more than just him there.
 
"I'm after the temple, is it close?" Again fidgeting with the weird pentagon compass before pirouetting about the forest. Pointing in a general direction, appearing slightly dizzy.
"That way. Unless it's a way out of the forest. Terribly wicked these compasses. Takes you to your deepest desire's."

[Anonymous]

"Ah, yes." Rath crooned, buckling swiftly at the waist to return her curtsy with a gentleman's bow. "Was it improvised? Very impressive, then."

His eyes never left her face, the glowing puddles of mercury like beacons through the shadow of his cloaked face. Despite how awkward it may have seemed to be meeting like this, Rath was accustomed to playing along with even the most eccentric of people. After all, his entire family was composed of the sort. Both hands came up to grip the hem of his hood, bits of fur poking up between his fingers, and more out of the desire to be polite than anything else, he pulled it off his head to reveal himself to her.

His pallid skin stood out starkly against his jet black hair, which fell in a slant of thick locks over his face. It looked as if someone had dipped his hair in gasoline, as it held an iridescence that scattered otherworldly colors when ribbons of light hit it from beneath the canopy of dead branches. "Rath." He finished for her, taking her cue with a wild grin laced with vulpine fangs. It was only natural that she should tell him her name next, so he would hold off on asking. Waited patiently for her to spill the information, dared it out of her with inquisitive eyes.

"The temple?" He echoed in a haunting breathy voice, repeating the disembodied piece of her sentence for further contemplation. Closer, he crossed the forest floor towards her, and the movement jarred dew droplets off the pixie edges of his hair hiked up messily at the back of his head. Rath came to a halt only when he was directly in front of her, danced just out of the reach of her twirl and settled behind her. He was in such proximity to see the compass from over her shoulder... close enough to smell her, even. "Your deepest desires, hm? Then it should be easy to decipher." He purred, his breath hot and ghosting down the back of her neck. "What do you desire the most?"

[Anonymous]

«Call me Ric.» he still made her slightly uneasy, but the wolf tail was still set on wagging happily as if nothing was wrong. Weary eyes still suspiciously observed his every move until the man was behind her.
The pentagon shaped compass had 9 needles, each with a different yet blatantly obvious sign. The red one had a beating heart, the yellow one had a picture of the sun and so on. The only unmarked ones where the white and black needles.  

His breath steaming down her neck. Blushing when her wagging tail began rubbing against his fur coat. «Funny thing with desire.» The black and red needle's started to whirl faster again, loosing focus.

Awakening old ancient wolf instincts that she had long kept at bay. Eyes lusting for more as the body automatically turned around. Panting heavily as she started leaning her body against him hugging him tightly, about to wisper intimately into his ear's while her other hand moved inside his fur coat while phermones designed to enhance male lust twinfold started spreading in the air.

Then a loud click resounded into the air and a large amount of pure magic pressure sent both flying in opposite directions both towards their own tree. Splintering any branches as she made a rather hurtful landing. Fanatical eyes and a twisted snarl. Shivering with ever increasing anger before blowing up the rest of the tree with maddening rage «THIS IS MY BODY!»

The dark passenger laughted again and she calmed down rather instantly to not give it the satisfaction. With only moments of hesitation, Ric pulled out the compass again, sat down on her knees and opened it up. Wispering again. «Immortality, I desire immortality.» The plain black needle settled down.

[Anonymous]

(( Italic sentences are his thoughts, btw. >< Whoo! This post is big~))

"Funny thing with desire."

Attention was immediately drawn from the compass to the girl standing so nervously before him, one hand outstretched to still the sporadic sweeps of her wolf tail against his cloak. He was still marveling over the face of the pentagonal instrument nestled in her hands, mulling the meaning beneath the whirlwind of red and black pins inside. Curiosity, his vice, was like a magnetic force anchoring him closer to her. He dared to see the compass fully, and he couldn't unless he was damn near on top of her.

Now Rath had tilted his head to regard her, the bladed vulpine pupils of his eye contracted and thinned as tight as a needle as he came back from his obsession with her compass. Funny thing with desire? What had that meant?

He was about to find out.

The tips of her long hair had swept beneath his chin as she spun around, and in the blink of an eye, was pressed up against him with a longing in her eyes Rath had never seen first hand before. Women typically fled from his overbearing nature, or were driven away by his chilling monochromatic appearance off the bat. But this one was hugging him fiercely.

He planted his stance in the dead forest floor to bear them both, the impact of her throwing herself up against him knocking his dark hair like a mask over his eyes. Brokenly with confusion, he trailed his bloodied hands up to grip her waist, stained her pretty white cloak with smears of dark red. He clasped at her even harder - punctured her cloak with his claws - when she started her hand beneath his outermost clothing. He hissed in breath sharply through his fangs. She was too clever, too clever by half to know how sensitive his ears were. He shuddered, but kept his mouth closed, only worried the bit of silver wound about his lip with his tongue; the cold metal of the ring and the hot burn of his skin contrasted sharply.

Things were at work so rapidly, Rath could hardly keep up. First Ric was holding him, and now an unknown force was repelling them from each other with enough vigor to launch them to opposite trees. Had he been braced for such an event, he would have mustered up a defense hex to dampen the blow. Too late for that, though, as his back collided against the tree with a hollow thud, followed by the miserable groan of pain that tore past his lips. Damn it, he'd already been battered back in Zantaric for swindling a merchant, he didn't need his bruised ribs punctuated any further. Blood welled up his throat and dripped down his lower lip from the blow, screaming of internal injuries but he paid it no mind.

He was already dying, anyways.

Besides, the parasitic demonic magic thriving inside of his body would make quick work of any injury stealing life from its host. So he spat the blood out into the ground before him before catching himself on his feet and skirted behind the tree he'd slammed into. Hiding from her, as it were, and sunk down into the moss beneath the haze of the fog once again. Shit. Shit! What is this?! Rath whined inwardly, his torso braced and arched back against the plant while the strong pheromones she had emitted lanced throughout his system. Eyes shut tight, he dug his claws into the wet surface beneath him, unearthed bits of dirt and wood from roots. The feeling was unbearable, and from the event that had just taken place between himself and Ric, his heart was still hammering violently against his chest.

"Keh...fuck... fuck..." He cursed beneath his breath, each syllable coming out on desperate pants. He kicked out in frustration, mostly to replace /bucking/, and the metal lining of his boots elicited sparks from sheer friction against the dead roots before him. It would have set the whole damn place on fire if everything weren't so wet with fog. "Dammit...!"

(( XDDD POOR RATH. *dies laughing* ))

[Anonymous]

The dark passenger sent her mind flying from the compass back to this Rath guy. Apparently the blow to seperate them had been more effective than she had originally intended. It wasn't Ric's fault that her body was in heat and desired to mate. It was the most common animal thing in the world, yet the mind didnt desire children so naturally there would be a conflict of sorts.

She could hear painfull whinces and smell his fear. Not willing to have his death on the conciense this called for extreme measure's. She summoned up the dark passenger, letting cold darkness and tendrils filled with malice and hate consume her aura. Opening up the waterskin and drinking some herself before sending the tendrils away to fetch this Rath person. They must have suprised him as they mowed down tree's and foliage alike before gripping his rather ruined body.

«Drink this, it will do you some good.» The stench of spiced rum must have reached his nose by now. Another tendril picked it up leading the trout into his helpless yet angry mouth. The pheromones where still in effect, every movement sent her deeper into maddening lust, Even the dark passenger started caressing the boy intimately with another set of tendrils.

«I'm no healer but I can fix this as an appology just bite down on the bottle when it hurt's.» Practiced hand moved across his now exposed chest every touch sent magical power into Rath's body. The streams of Rics wierd magic started by frying every open wound shut and then proceeded to burn away any abnormaility. Pretty soon the smell of burnt skin and steel smell of blood was replaced with steam. Hot watery steam rising from Raths body.

(ooc: im taking alot of control over your character with this so do tell me if its unacceptable)

[Anonymous]

( It's okay, just as long as you don't fill in reactions from him or anything. ;] That's my job! )

If Ric smelled fear, it hadn't been coming from him. Rath was far too caught up in trying to keep the pheromones at bay, the chemicals so wonderfully powerful that even his demonic blood rushed to the surface. Sure, his curses may have sounded... /pained/ in a way, but that was a far cry from the true nature of them - he had only been trying to settle the inevitable cascade of feelings from breaking through the barrier of his free will. If he let the pheromones take hold, he might do something he would regret.

More pressing matters were at hand, now.

His back was to the advancement of the tendrils, and the sounds of dead wood splintering beneath them didn't register past the lust-induced haze that blanketed his senses. Once the things came in contact with his skin, however, he recoiled like he'd been touched by a branding iron. The /last/ thing he needed right now was for something to be touching him.

Five wickedly sharp claws swiped at the tendrils in a last attempt to escape them before they grasped his body, and he fell victim to whatever she'd wished to force upon him. Rum ran like liquid fire down his throat, and he coughed and sputtered in it's wake.

Of course he'd drank alcohol before. And he wasn't a virgin, either, so he wasn't new to the feelings the pheromones were provoking. In the frigid hellhole of Hyoite where he'd grown up, there wasn't much else do to besides drink and... heat sheets to chase away the cold. That was just the way it was in the region he'd reigned from. But he'd never been so inactive a participant before, and everything that was taking place was so... blunt and forced.

Rath's breath hitched at the new behavior of the tendrils, couldn't stop himself from leaning into it. Dammit! Angrily, he observed his body's reactions like a third party. It was as if he wasn't even in sync with his own body anymore, and even his demonic blood was betraying him. He growled low in his throat, the soft 'rrr' sending tremors throughout his chest that she should surely be able to feel under her hands.

Now she was making short work of the lacerations he'd earned back in Zantaric. The flesh had been in the process of closing the wounds due to the shadow magic housed within his body, but the lot of them had reopened when he'd been knocked around earlier.

Still, if he'd known she was going to try and do him a 'favor' by cauterizing his wounds, he would have /never/ approached her.

"F-Fuck!" He cried out from around the bottle, half in pain and half in alarm as Ric's magic singed his skin. The smell was so sickening, he thought he might retch. Tossing his head to the side, he spat the bottle from his mouth and tore free of the tendrils, sprung away from her hand in an attempt to rid himself of her magic. Rath was crouched low to the ground now, his body taut like a cornered, wounded animal. Jet black locks of hair fell over his face, chest heaving with pants of panic. He was still growling, though in a more savage way.

The steam that rose of his body began to tinge some dark purple, until it'd been replaced entirely by curling ribbons of plum smoke. Rath was enchanted with archaic shadow magic, an esoteric manifestation of darkness and demonic energy passed down for generations in his bloodline, and it was currently violently rejecting Ric's intrusion of her own magic. His body pulsed with its wrath, trembled against the painful war waging inside of him. It was as if his insides were melting with the unbearable heat.

"What.. did you do to me..?" He ground out, his lip curled in a snarl to bear his fangs. He forced himself to his feet, albeit with a little difficulty, and clutched at his bare chest with a clawed hand. One staggering step towards her, another, until he was standing right in front of her.

He looked like something born from nightmares. Eyes as silver as spiderwebs narrowed dangerously, the bladed pupil dilated in feral anger. Even his mouth still had traces of blood, which dripped delicately from the razor tips of his vulpine teeth. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to attack her or ... well, attack her. Standing on the edge of the two decisions, wavering.

[Anonymous]

«Well.» Ric was suprised at this wierd turnabout, She boldly stood her ground ignoring the fear and insecurities one would usually have when faced with such a tremendous amount of killing intent. She was surrounded by her dark passenger, warpped within its cold, insane grip and it was anggrevated. The smell of boiling skin with an odour maching the darkest pits of hell itself intruded upon her nose but it didnt even do as much as make her twist in agony or puke her guts out.

She wanted to drink the rest of the rum. But the dark passenger wouldnt let her break this standstill as stage two of its hostile yet allowed takeover completed. Branded with the green pulsating sigil of something really awesome. Sort of like proving she was a host for darkness incarnate before answering his question. A permantent rather psychotic grin staining the rather beautyfull face as the dark aura suddenly got a layer of green around it.

She spoke in dual voices, both twisting themselves around each others creating an ecco that resonated from within. «You got to close to me without asking. Since i didnt warn you beforehand as an act of redemtion. I attempted to rid you of what wounds where left but it seems our magical energies do not wish to cooperate.»

«I can assure you mu intentions where stricktly honorable.» Finally she could lift the waterskin slaking her thirst on the leftover rum. «I must ask you to remain by my side. It is not often one meets a fellow defiler. Though something tells me you are playing with higher stakes than me to obtain your goal's»

Taking a step towards this beastly man. Tail had stopped wagging and was now simply erect the scent from her sexually sensitive body quadrupeled in power ever since the sign had appeared on her forehead. «We could share experience's in a simple, non magical yet exotic.» Breathing out from her nose while making a slight feminine appeal. Her eccentric yet maddening giggle made it seem all to real «Unification.»

[Anonymous]

It had been a long journey, one that had taken months, but it had had only a few small incidents. The two travelers had stayed on what roads for the whole way, staying in inns along the way or sleeping under the stars if it was needed. Meri kept to Johnny's pace, neither pushing him to go faster nor asking him to do anything beyond his abilities.

Johnny had come to regard Meri as a mother figure over these past few months and she didn't seem to mind. Every night they hadn't stayed in an inn, he had tried helping set up camp as bet he could, though after the first few tries with helping, Meri had regulated him to gathering sticks and small branches for the fire. Though it wasn't the life he was used to, he was still happy with it, considering.

He would still have nightmares about what happened that night, the events playing through his mind while he was helpless, asleep. The boy shivered. "Are you cold Johnny? This fog is slightly chilly." She waved right left hand, her right caught up in leading Johnny, and the fog parted somewhat.

He looked up at his companion. Meri had light blue hair, her hair stopping at her shoulders. She had a kind look about her, a smile always on her face, her light blue eyes always had a twinkle in them. She wore the same coat that she had worn when Johnny had first met her though it was completely clean, unlike Johnny's clothes. His were covered in dust and had a few stains in them.

Voices reached them, strange voices. They were saying the exact same thing at the exact same time which Johnny thought was a rather silly thing to do. Meri squatted down next to him. "Ok Johnny." She said in a hushed voice. "I need to you be very quiet now. We don't know how many people are up ahead or if they're friendly or not." She still had that twinkle in her eye which made Johnny think of this as a game of Seeker. He smiled. "Ok." He said in a whisper. He loved sneaking up on the Seeker, everybody always thought that the other kids would stay away from them.

Meri made her way towards the sound of the voices slowly and carefully. Johnny, not wanting to be the reason they were found, made sure that he stepped in the exact same places she did. After about a minute of sneaking, Meri stopped and motioned Johnny up next to her. The sight that Johnny was presented with was a tad scary. Two things where standing, face-to-face, each scarier than the other. He crouched there, looking through the fog and some low hanging branches, eyes wide. Meri smiled down at him, reassuring him. Surely she would be able to handle anything.

She grinned, a mischievous look in her eye. Meri jumped up and sprang forward rather noisily. "Why hello there!" She almost yelled at them. What was she doing? Johnny wasn't sure but he didn't want to be there by himself and the fog had nearly removed Meri from his sight. He cautiously crept forward and hid behind Meri's legs, peaking out around them. He watched the two strangers with wide eyes.

[Anonymous]

How strange. Rath had presumed that the girl draped in all white like some makeshift ghost had only been a werewolf, but even in the ancient texts he frequented, nothing was mentioned of /this/. She must be something more. Much more. He fisted his hands, the reaction causing the spectral purple smoke to billow and bleed into her toxic aura; there was some lurid mix of the two colored manifestations of magic catalyzed by the fog. Between the two of them, stepping into the scene was going to be much like stepping into an acid trip.

Though he was too headstrong to outwardly acknowledge the change in her aura, he did break his challenging glare to take heed of the rune that had suddenly made itself apparent. Even Rath, as someone who spent the better part of his life buried in tomes so ancient the pages practically turned to ash in his hands, couldn't decode the symbol.

But it didn't take a genius to figure it was somehow connected with her green glow.

He braced one hand against the tree just behind her head, filling the silent woods with the sounds of his claws biting into the bark. "Heh. You noticed?" He crooned in a sickeningly sweet voice, metallic eyes motioning down to the series of burns, violently red, stringing down his chest, "My magic doesn't like to play nice. So I'd suggest you contain yourself the next time you want to do me a favor, because I'd really hate to have to carve those pretty eyes out of your fucking skull." He sealed his threat with a smile that may have been once born with good intentions, but corrupted into something wicked and vile as soon as it was placed on Rath's face.

In one swift move, he unhinged himself from the flesh of the rotted wood and used it as leverage to step back and away from her. It was important to put at least that step between his body and hers, because he couldn't decide whether he was going to be able to uphold his threat as long as she kept fucking smelling like that. The lanky boy decked in burns and a disheveled fur cloak already had enough possessors of his soul, so many that his body was no longer his to offer an alliance with. He didn't need to tell her that. Just had to threaten her enough to keep her over /there/. The scent she was letting off was slowly intoxicating him, and that two tone voice had been sounding more appealing with each suggestion. He closed his eyes, sacrificing one sense for the magnification of another, lashes black and fanned out long against his cheeks while he inhaled shakily. Yeah, keep her over there. Definitely. Besides...

Her tendency to explode with power and burn the shit out of him when she touched him was a steep price to pay to romp with a pretty girl.

"Why hello there!"

Rath snapped awake, whipping around to face Meri so fast that his cloak twisted around him and cut through the fog like a big, furry knife. It took but a couple seconds to take attendance and calculate the severity of the situation. A woman and her young son had just witnessed him bloody, burned, and practically reeling in the presence of a green girl with two freaky voices.

That's great.

Suddenly very aware of his current state of dress, he clutched emptily at his bare chest, then pivoted on his heel so that his back was to them. Luckily, experience and his abnormally long fingers made quick work of the elaborate buttons securing the front of painfully distinct mageknight uniform. The fabric felt like hot coals against his burns, but it was nothing compared to the heat rising on his face.  "Hi." He murmured unevenly, tossing them a carefully composed glance over his shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Ric could only grin in amusement when she noted his reactions but the fun didnt last long before another entity made them both aware of its presence. The soul energies of a woman with a child following not far behind. Hiding from her view while his confidant caretaker approached them.

Whistling in approval the dark passenger wished to eat them both but Ric wasnt about to let him. She might not have a say on the sexual front. Given the radiating fumes perverting the air around her. Oh she was wet and ripe with desire and would definately have tried to bend Rath towards her will.

"Ooh, a child?" Ric finally managed to growel. Her voice still eccoed within the darkness. sniffing in their scent trying to discern what emotions and power's they smelled with. Trying to figure out what made this woman so confident while she let the dark passenger fade slowly.

"I love children." She exclaimed with true affection.

[Anonymous]

Johnny was scared. The fog made everything ghostly and blurred. He clutched Meri's leg, making sure that she would stay there to protect Johnny from the monsters his imagination placed within the fog, just out of his sight. He wasn't sure who these two people were but they were definitely like nothing Johnny had ever seen. He was caught between curiosity and fear. The one without the tail seemed very shocked at his and Meri's coming though his eyes snapped to the other one when she started speaking. He really didn't like how she had said that she loved children. It made Johnny think that she wanted to eat him. His eyes went wider. He didn't want to be eaten! Johnny hid himself more behind Meri's legs and clutched her leg more.

Meri put her hand on Johnny's head, comforting him. He looked up at her and saw that she was smiling down at him. She looked back over at the other two people. "I'm sorry if I had startled you." Meri said. "I can assure you that it wasn't my intention. You see, we had heard that there was a temple here and Johnny here wanted to see it." She smiled. "Would one of you be able to direct us to it?"

Johnny looked up at Meri, startled. He didn't know that there was a temple around here, he didn't even know what a temple was. Although it had to be a fun place if Meri thought he would like it. Johnny didn't doubt that he would want to see it if Meri thought he would, she always seemed to know what he liked and didn't like. It was one of his favorite things about her. Johnny looked back to the other two people, not quite as scared now. He was going to see something cool!

[Anonymous]

"I love children!"

Rath growled deep in his throat to ward off Ric, curled his lip in a snarl to bear his clenched fangs at her. He hadn't like the way that little remark had sounded, and he'd be /damned/ if he allowed her to gobble the two innocents up right before his eyes. When he'd first observed her, she seemed uncoordinated and unintimidating. But now...

He knew better.

Knuckles cracked loudly as he flexed his claws. The glower he shot in Ric's direction said something like 'don't you dare', and he followed up that look by taking one, long sweeping sidestep to plant himself just in between the wolf girl and the twosome. His boots skidded against the dead underbrush, kicking up sparks in his wake, and practically made a firework when he spun around to face Meri and Johnny.

"Lady," Rath swept low in a proper bow, the jet black tips of his locks hanging just over the horizon of the fog, "For you and your son, I would have to advise against visiting the temple. Maybe you haven't heard, but ..." Khol-lined eyes flickered up to regard the boy - who he was now nearly leveled to - and it caused him to trail off. Rath may be warped by demonic magic, but he isn't /really/ a monster. He chose his words carefully, wracked his brain for the perfect diction to avoid frightening the already petrified child, and continued slowly, "Well...it isn't ideal. And it's no place for you two."

Even if Rath wasn't a mageknight, he would have felt personally responsible if he let them off without a warning. Didn't they know what would befall them if they actually went to the temple? Even if they survive the trip there, they won't survive the visit. Rath could practically see the blue-haired woman being raped mercilessly before the sweet young boy is mind's eye, and it caused him to shudder involuntarily. No, they'd have to knock him out if they wanted to get to that temple. The people of Zantaric weren't exactly known for their hospitality.

Then he made the mistake of inhailing, and unpleasantly (or plesantly :p) discovered that Ric's overpowering mixed scent of woman and pheromones was even /stronger/ from down here! Straightening quickly, he raked his pallid fingers through his hair to collect himself and tried to focus at the task at hand.

This was just Rath's luck, really. On one side, an exploding possessed woman. He glanced over his shoulder to narrow his eyes at her, making a point of keeping her behind him or else. On the other, a woman with a god damned death wish, who just practically threw herself into an extremely dangerous situation, and then asked to be directed to the most sure fire place to be killed in the entire forest, maybe in all of Zantaric. And with a little boy in tow, no less! He gave HER an incredulous look, mixed with a little bit of pity, and heaved a sigh.

"If you would accept, miss," He began in his trademark breathy, dark voice, "I would instead like to assist you out of the forest. Rath, mageknight of Serendipity, at your service."

[Anonymous]

"The rum is gone!" Cringing out, as she let Rath ramble on. Pouting slightly as she sat down on an air chair. Letting the dark passenger keep watch. Tail still wagging happily because of the child.

Grinning to Jonny before looking at the compass. "There's only water left. How can i stay sane while my new found comrade WHO TOOK PART IN DRINKING IT UP, drops all his balls and looses his mind at the same time!"

Looking up at the skies in defeat before turning to Rath, Again with this wildly unbalanced and elegant half dancing, half stumbling. She even fell of her air chair. Getting up, blinking sheepishly at the pair before pointing a finger towards a general direction.

"Temple? that way!" Starting to march off, in a rather slow. improvised walk, as if she was on a boat being rocked by extreme weather. "I'm hoping the temple has a vast amount of liquor or immortality granting super powers."

[Anonymous]

These people were crazy. There could be no other explanation for it. Granted, Johnny wasn't old enough to fully understand the word crazy, nor did he know the word itself, but he did realize that there was something...wrong with the two strangers. If it wasn't for Meri standing there like there was nothing amiss, the little boy would probably have run off by now. Meri just kept smiling.

"Ideal? Heavens no. Very few places are ideal but we still have need to visit it." She gave him a smile that wasn't quite right. It looked normal but there was an underlying...something that made the smile unnatural. "If you insist on keeping us from harm, you're welcome to 'protect' us but we're not leaving until we visit that temple." Meri returned his bow with a small some with her own. Johnny had missed most of that though, when the woman had made her outburst. If anybody in this world was not right, it was her. She kept exclaiming about rum, even in the middle of her sentences. Johnny had no idea what she was talking about but he really didn't want to be around her.

Meri nodded in the direction of the woman. "Thank you for your directions. I assume that you're headed in the same direction so, if Rath is set on protecting me and him." She put her hand on Johnny's head to signify which him she meant. "Then I suppose we are all going in to the same place. The old saying is safety in numbers, right? So." She motioned in the direction the woman had pointed. "After you two."

Johnny wasn't looking forward to this. He really didn't want to be around this weird woman any longer than he had to be. The boy was getting very unnerved about what was going to happen on this trip. He was not looking forward to it.

[Anonymous]

Was Ric drunk? Obnoxiously intoxicated was the only descriptor Rath could summon that was truly worthy of the woman at this moment. He watched her, exasperated, as she stumbled about with some sort of grace that was entirely accidental. Almost endearing. Almost.

Until she opened her mouth, that is.

"Feh!" Rath scoffed, twisting about to set narrowed smoke silver eyes on her deranged antics, "Don't play innocent. If you'd stop pouring that shit down my throat, you wouldn't have that problem in the first place." Even as she spoke his language, Rath also couldn't understand a word she spoke. He'd heard all of it, had been phasing in and out between the conversations with the two women to get the gist of them both, but Ric had him stumped. "Drop all my balls. What does that even mean?" The boy mumbled under his breath, glaring at her with unbridled displeasure.

And about that blue haired freak. Rath stepped back over to her with the same distaste set on his features that he would have typically reserved for someone as psychotic as Ric. But, he was certain that this 'Meri' woman was doubly disturbed. There was something about her that simply irked Rath, beyond her blatant disregard for her little boy's life. As if she were hiding something.

The fact that she'd simply accepted Ric's dodgy directions was suspicious enough.

"Fine. If you have dirty business in the temple, then go." At 5'11", Rath had the advantage of being able to properly look down upon her in both a literal and figurative way. At first, he'd taken Meri to be a naive innocent – but anyone who had reason to visit that temple was nothing but ill intentioned. He didn't bother hiding his frown. "But there's no reason to drag him into it. Leave the boy with me."

Rath smiled at Johnny, but anything that tried to be remotely sweet on Rath's face tended to come out... creepy. "What do you think, kid? Did Ric's directions sound convincing to you?"

It must've been a metaphorical question, because Rath tracked back and away from the couple just as the wolf woman had attempted to wander off. One arm thrusted out to snag Ric's tail in one hand, bits of her fur wayward from around his tight grip, to keep her from going any farther. "And where do you think you're going, woman? Your compass doesn't even work."