You come here often? (Kyuubi)

[Anonymous]

Deep in the woodlands north of the port of Cerenis, lurking in the dead of night like a snake poised to strike, was the mageknight known only as 'Rath'. Trained in the art of scouting, flanking, and otherwise suicidally charging into the trailing end of the enemy's forces, the human boy decked head-to-toe in a heavily furred cape was about the task of guarding the northern border of Serendipity from potential threats. He picked his way through the forest he'd memorized by heart, silently maneuvering over gnarled roots and slithering beneath fallen branches. Serendipity's guard dog.

Though, Rath knew as well as any other that the reason he'd been employed to the night watch of the northern borders was due to his heritage. Whereas most Serenians were descendants of fae folk, and thus vulnerable to their 'allergy' to iron, Rath was a pure-blooded human. Human in his height, human in his desires, but mostly human in his mortality. His eyes, silver and luminous in the gloom of the night, smoldered like refracted moonbeams through the thick forest growth. Carefully silent in his role as the predator, the human boy halted in his path, arcing his neck in crescents to scan the area about him. He flattened himself against the wet moss.

The demonic magic lacing his veins were responding to some presence, uneasily pulling and grating at his insides. Which meant, consequently, only one thing. 'Someone's here.'

[Anonymous]

'Traveling as a normal human should? Ha, how inconvenient....After all, being one with the darkness was much, much easier at night.'

These were the semi-annoyed thoughts of a young woman making her way through the forest, silent as the night. Sent out to kill a certain person she had only been given an image of and a name, Shadow was simply doing her job as an assassin. And, for once, she wasn't doing a job assigned by the somewhat bothersome demon that she had made a deal with. This time, she had gotten a job from the outside, which meant that said person had gotten a very unreliable assassin. After all, Shadow didn't need money bad enough to go about killing some random person that would indeed be quite troublesome to kill. Or, it had sounded so, at least. Picking her way through the forest with ease, she suddenly heard a sound. Definately a person. She hid behind a little group of trees, and watched from out of view. This man here was not her target. Unfortunately, he happened to be in the way. In the freaking middle of the way, and he looked like he was powerful. Now, she wasn't stupid, so she figured she would have to kill him and the other mage that she was sent to kill, so she frowned and decided to just give up.

Well, for now. But, why kill the guy that was just doing his job, standing there? After all, something about him caught her attention....he seemed interesting.

Shadow melted into the darkness, no longer visible to the eye. After a few moments, a dark something came from within Rath's shadow, materializing next to him as Shadow. She was only about 2 feet away, and she leaned against a tree. "Hello, sir." It was then that she realized she either probably just made him very angry for simply being there or scared the crap out of him, or both. She said quickly, "By the way, I don't mean to cause any trouble, if you're a guard or something." She looked at him, her odd crimson-black eyes cutting through the darkness to stare into his. She hoped she hadn't caused too much trouble...after all, she might have to cause more if this man decided she needed to get out of here.

[Anonymous]

Rath was on edge. The demonic, parasitic magic housed within his body was attempting to alert him to an ambush, likely responding to the girl's dematerializing and becoming one with the darkness. Her natural affinity for such dark magic was what Rath sacrificed his life to attain despite his human body, and her very existence was causing quite the uproar inside of him.

"Hello, sir."

Without a second thought, the boy spun about, tearing out of the underbrush he'd been hiding in and twisting down into a crouching position as dangerously as a cornered predator in a steel trap. He had his teeth clenched in surprised, unwittingly bearing his fangs at the girl leaning so nonchalantly against a tree just to the side of him. It was as if sneaking up on Rath hadn't taken a fraction of effort on her part, and that knowledge alone had him all different shades of alarmed.

"By the way, I don't mean to cause any trouble, if you're a guard or something."

It took him a moment to absorb what she'd said, staring into the strangely entrancing red-black eyes of something that had come upon him as intangibly as the shadows. But once he'd realized she was naught more than a girl, one that didn't look much younger than himself and was far too pretty to be risking not only exposure to rogue mordecai, but rape as well, he pushed himself to his feet and stepped toward her, quickly closing the gap between them. "What the hell are you doing out here?" The mageknight whispered urgently, one clawed hand coming out to lightly clasp at her shoulder, "This isn't the place for a girl like you to be wandering in the woods. You should leave. Now."

[Anonymous]

She was about to answer why she was here, (at this point, she had decided to drop what she was doing) when he warned her. Shadow looked a small bit amused at his warning. After all, she had a demonic spirit on her side, which had partly fused with her, so she wasn't exactly scared. She said, also whispering, "'A girl like you'?" She chuckled softly. "I can defend myself, but thank you for your concern." She wondered if there was something going on in the area, but didn't bother asking. If the guy hadn't just said, then he probably wouldn't say. She melted into shadow once again and appeared on a branch of a tree near where she was. She stared into his eyes, a bit of curiosity there.

[Anonymous]

He was frustrated with her laughing, annoyed by her amusement despite the danger that was apparent just beside the border of Connlaoth. 'Dammit, I'm a mageknight. Dealing with the civilians is not in my job description.' He thought, a growl was beginning to pick up in his chest. But then, lo and behold, she'd vanished, and his hand fell limply to his side. The look of absolute male distress on his face was priceless. Luckily, Rath had been blessed (or cursed, rather) with manifestations of the dark magic he practiced, and with the fangs and claws and trimmings came the acute senses - namely sight and smell. So, despite the difficulty a normal human might have had seeing in the night, Rath followed the melding of the shadows, how they warped and darkened in her trail, and settled up in the branches.

As soon as he caught sight of her in the treetops, he narrowed his eyes to pin her there, staring back boldly into her strange gaze. "An illusion mage, are you?" Rath hissed, the thought of someone as well versed in demonic energies as he was not even plausible in his mind, "You think your tricks will save you out here?" He sighed in exasperation, dragging his fingers through his choppy, jet black hair. "I doubt you've ever had to endure the presence of a mordecai, or you wouldn't be taking this so lightly. Just go home, girl. I don't have the time to be dealing with you. Two miles east is my horse - she's docked against one of the trees closest to the trail back to Cerenis. You have my permission to take her, as long as you leave."

[Anonymous]

Shadow still looked a bit amused at his attempts to get her to leave, finding it funny that she was sent here. She said, "Well, I don't have a 'home', so it's not like I can go 'back home', right? And, I think you're underestimating me. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't defend myself, sir." She studied him for a moment, her eyes seeming to go through him and peer into his soul for a moment. She said, "By the way, to me you seem a man that has given himself to the darkness, am I right?" Her eyes almost glowing in the dim light, she was given a rather creepy appearence, not that it would bother him much.

[Anonymous]

Rath nearly lost his temper with her, up until the point she'd declared that she didn't have a home to return to. "Welcome to the club." He muttered bitterly beneath his breath, tucking his hands into the depths of his furred cloak, and angled his head back to look up at her more clearly. It was strange... Rath wasn't used to looking up at anyone, per-say. Typically, amongst the small-boned Serenians, he was the taller of the bunch. "I might..." He replied cautiously, clutching his cloak tighter to his chest. He didn't like the way she was looking at him, it made him feel all sorts of... strange. He placed stronger boundaries around his conscious, trying to fortify himself against the presence of a pretty girl who was just.. gah... staring at him like that. "What gives you that impression?"

[Anonymous]

Shadow shrugged. "Well, just the fact that you are different than the average human in a few ways, and the way you act. Also, not many a person hangs around places like this...at night." She then decided to say whatever about the job she was supposed to be doing and ditch it. After all, this guy was very interesting to her. She came down off the branch in the same way she came up, melting into the shadows and re-appearing in front of him, a few feet away. She said, "Well, I've sold my soul to the darkness. I can prove it to you." She held out her hand, and it turned into a dark-looking mist in the shape of her hand. She moved herself a little closer and waved her arm around, it went through him. She said, "See?"

[Anonymous]

Rath was about to retort that it was his assignment to be in the woods surrounding the border between Serendipity and Connlaoth, but his mouth couldn't quite utter the words when she was melding around in the shadows like that. He hadn't seen anyone pull that trick before. He reeled back a step when she rematerialized before him again, snapping twigs beneath the soles of his steel-lined boots. "What are you doi..." He began, but found his thoughts again escaping him when she managed to swipe her hand - if one could still call it her hand - through his chest. The dark entity housed inside of him, though surely some sort of kindred thing to her own magic, was still aggravated by the invasion of energy in it's host's body. Rath shuddered as his magic rebelled, chilling angrily inside of his body. For a moment, his own breath came out colder than the atmospheric air, nearly choking him. "F-Fuck..." He coughed, jerking back and away from her. "Watch it with that. My magic isn't friendly with other types." Smoothing his hand over the front of his uniform in a calming manner, Rath took a steady breath and refocused his attention on the unexplainably alluring girl, "You're not human, are you?" He inched forward with a pull of curiousity, though he was still worrying his lipring nervously with a fang, "My magic is only interested in a human sacrifice... It looks like yours has become you. You're... fortunate."

He crossed his arms over his chest though, trying to resist the desire to learn more about someone who dappled in the same dark arts as himself. "But, it doesn't mean any invading Connlaothans will spare you." He furrowed his brow at her, still a bit miffed that she'd just swiped her damned extremities through his body. He was even slightly jealous, and hating himself for wanting to know more about her. "I have business here. And I'm not going to let you wander any deeper towards the border on my watch. So why are you here?" He punctuated that last bit with a growl, emanating inhumanly from his throat, "Tell me."

[Anonymous]

Shadow sighed. She didn't really feel like telling the truth, but she knew lying would get her nowhere. She said, "Alright, I'll tell the truth; I was sent to attack someone, but I am not loyal to who ordered me to and decided to ignore orders." She looked off into the distance for a moment, then back at him. "And, after all, I have nowhere to go to, so I'm just wandering. " She muttered, "I can't sleep, after all." Then, she said, "And, I don't think it exactly matters if I get attacked by said Connlaothans, because they can't kill me. I can't even kill myself, and there are only 2 people who posess the needed things to kill me."

[Anonymous]

Rath stiffened visibly, his shoulders contracted and tensed. "You're an... assassin?" He whispered, eyes flaring wide, and the animalistic bladed pupil within tightening in the moonlight, "An assassin in Serendipity?" That was that. The reason he'd been sent to the woods was to prevent the very thing this girl was from harming their civilians, and for her to so boldly announce what she was... She clearly didn't know what he was.

Deciding to use that to his advantage, Rath grinned wickedly, rapping his claws idly against the bark of a tree. This time, it was his turn to lean against it nonchalantly, to lure her into a false sense of security. "That's interesting. So you're immortal, mostly? What a pity, that a girl as pretty and magic-blessed as yourself has decided to devote her life to the slaying of innocent Serenian fae." He felt his claws biting into it's trunk to compose himself from behind his cloak in sheer anger, and exhaled slowly. "Your life, though, isn't it? My name's Rath. What's yours?"

[Anonymous]

Shadow knew there was something boiling within that head of his. She was an assassin, after all; it was her job to notice small cues in someone's actions and react upon that. She said, "Stop thinking I'm stupid enough to go randomly slaying anyone I see. I haven't devoted my life to anything; it's different than that. Wow, you're sure understanding." She rolled her eyes, but kept him in her sight as she leaned against a tree. She said, a bit of bite to her voice as she narrowed her eyes, "Do you deserve to know my name, sir, if that's all you see to me? Just a pretty face with an ambition to kill innocent people?" She growled, like a sort of animal. "If I could prove to you that I was not out to kill innocent people without you trying to kill me first, I would."

[Anonymous]

"I never said I was understanding." Rath cooed, his voice deceptively smooth, "I'm being hypocritical, besides. I've snuffed out a few lives, too." He pushed himself off the tree, dislodging his claws from it and stalking a few steps closer to her. Closing in on her. "If you won't tell me your name, why don't you tell me the name of your employer? Since you claim to be so disloyal to them. Besides," He crouched down a bit so as to be face to face with her, and  rested his hand on the tree just to the right of her head, "not carrying out his request- wouldn't that put you in the line of danger, beautiful?" He spoke as if he hadn't a care in the world, and even his face was bored, but inside, he was anxious and calculating how he could possibly leave this situation with a limited number of casualties, an assassin apprehended, and still feel worthy of being a knight. He hesitated at her growl though, feeling even further entranced by her than he had before. 'She really is like me, isn't she? And the way she talks... Accusing me of not understanding her? It's like she's young. Like a regular teenaged girl.' Rath glared venomously into her red-black eyes, taking a moment to observe their color, but snapping back to continue, "You don't have to prove anything to me about yourself. I'll believe you."

[Anonymous]

Shadow arched an eyebrow at his comment about her being in danger. "Danger? Ha, that word seems to be quite less potent than it used to be." She shook her head slightly, dissaprovingly about his words. "No, I don't think you will believe. But no matter." She smiled a little, bitterly, revealing her canines, which were now more fang-like than before. "And my employer is a Mr Joseph Kane." She described him a little, not a lie in there. She said, "Is that good enough for you, sir?" There was a hint of a growl in her voice, as she was still irritated at him.

[Anonymous]

He hadn't actually been expecting her to give up her employer, but when she did, and with the swiftness only truth could accommodate, he found himself smiling at her genuinely. Though, smiles tended to come out a bit spooky on Rath's face. "Such little faith you have in me." He murmured, his eyes falling down to her exceptionally sharp mouth, "Yes, that's good enough for me. Though, I have to admit..." He cast his eyes up to hers, playfully, still trying to draw her in to his emotional trap without catching himself in it as well, "... Trading some crook's name for yours is hardly a fair deal." He could tell she was getting miffed at him, the grudge on his earlier comment lingering, so he withdrew from her completely and instead leaned beside her against her tree. Bracing his back against it, he tilted his head back to peer up through the canopy, maybe foolishly exposing his neck but more... testing her to see if she'd try anything. "Upset with me?" He asked quietly, grinning in amusement, "You didn't have to tell me anything..."

[Anonymous]

Shadow just looked up at him. She said, "Hey, I thought you were more upset with me than me upset with you. I'm just only upset that you're most likely trying to pull me into a little trap so I'll die or get stuck in a prison cell. And hey, I might as well talk to you..." She said quietly, "After all, who else do I have to talk to besides...." She sighed. "You know, just because I have become darkness doesn't mean I had to pay a terrible price for it. But you should know that." She looked up at the sky, relaxing only a little. She figured it didn't matter if she got attacked now or by her sister later; it was all the same. All the same...

[Anonymous]

Rath said nothing, remaining eerily quiet while she stated her reasoning for momentarily disliking him. Wasn't that the truth? 'Hmm. So she was onto me all along, was she?' He mused, letting his arms rest at his sides. "What makes you think I have the authority, or that I'd even care enough, to put you into a prison?" The mageknight rolled his head to the side to look down at the crown of her head and the bit of her face he could see peering up into the night, locks of his black hair slanting down over his visage. "This magic works differently for everyone." He replied indifferently, tonguing the back of his fangs as evidence of such a manifestation of darkness, "But, it still can't protect a girl - excuse me, an assassin-" He drawled that word mockingly, smiling terribly at her, "like you from the rogue Mordecai. Why don't you let me bring you in to Cerenis? I'll..." He paused, trying to formulate some excuse, "...keep you safe from your employer until we have him dead. How does that sound?"

[Anonymous]

Shadow shrugged. "Sure. That sounds fine. Not like I have much better to do, anyway." She smiled a little, amused. "Funny, I found you who understands me in a way, but in a way not at all." As she kept looking into the sky, her eyes softened a little, and it looked as if she was searching for something lost in the sky. Something she couldn't find amoung the stars. She shook her head, snapping out of it. She said, "Alright. But.." She looked rather playfully into his eyes. "Can I trust you?" She grinned. "Either way, I don't care anyway. "

[Anonymous]

(Sorry about the break!)

Rath watched her curiously as she momentarily lost herself in the stars. 'For a girl who claims to be an assassin, she doesn't seem intimidating at all.' He mused, clicking his fang against his lipring idly as she agreed to their arrangement. Although, looks were often deceiving, and to declare yourself as an enemy of Serendipity to someone of Rath's position was the quickest and most surefire way of meeting your end. "Trust me?" The mageknight laughed darkly, stepping off the tree and extending his hand to her, "That's a question for you to answer, sweets. Are you coming?"

[Anonymous]

(it's fine!)

Shadow smirked a little and took his hand, and they were off. She said, glancing down, "You have interesting hands....long fingers." She held up her own hand in front of her face, studying it for a moment. It was a little rough. She said, "Sword fighting used to do a wreck to my hands, but I've been doing it so long that it doesn't do anything anymore." She looked thoughtful. "Isn't it that way with everything, doing something so long that it either doesn't do anything, or you're so used to it that it doesn't phase you?"