The hit-list

[Ycharley]

"Do what you wish, if I choose to eat it I'll decide later," Lumina replied as she continued to to brush out her horse. Once she was done Midnight wondered off a few yards, grazing. Lumina then started to gather a few sticks, enough to make a small fire.

[Benobi]

Alistair gave a small half bow and. Began foraging in the nearby forest. He kept one of the many small throwing knives he had in his hand in case any kind of game came running through. Alistair reached out with his perceptions into the ground and out mapping the lay of the land in his head. He felt the presence of his target somewhere close but he didnt want to extend too far until he knew more.

After about an hour Alistair had a nice sack full of fruits of vegetables. He had seen some smalle hares and such running around but had not felt the desire for meat tonight. So he plucked an apple from the sack and began eating it as he strolled back to the camp site.

"So, I thought I felt his presence a few miles away. Are we that close or am I sensing something else?"

[Ycharley]

Lumina closed her eyes, using her abilities to sense him. She knew that if she tried to force it too much she would lose control, but she was getting tired of living in fear of her ability.
"I would say about three miles from her to be more exact, but he is more of an alcoholic then I am so he is probably already wasted," Lumina said standing, walking towards him.

[Benobi]

Alistair tossed the apple core to the side, by the roots of the nearby tree and pulled out some berries he had found. He munched on those as Lumina walked towards him.

"Does he have any special abilities i need be concerned with?"

[Ycharley]

"Completely human, no special abilities, or at least none I found out about in a span of a year and a half," Lumina replied as she started to look through the fruit that he had. She picked out some berries and inspected them before she started eating them with a pleased smile.

[Benobi]

Alistair left the bag with Lumina and began to gather some of the dry twigs and branches that littered the edges of their campsite. He began running scenarios in his mind and strategies, adding in what Lumina had told him, the lay of the land he had so far, and what his experience told him. If the man was only human, he had to be an excellent con artist to get himself close enough to this wary woman to steal her charm. Which also mean the was probably paranoid and thus would have some unusual defenses. However, without actually seeing the property, or at least being close enough to map it with the shadows, strategy was all but useless.

Alistiar mulled over the problem as he built a small fire, got a pan,meme water and a few tea leaves from his saddle bags. He set the water to boil and placed the leaves in the bottoms of a few small cups.

"Well, we will rest a few hours and set off before the first rays of dawn. I need to be closer to map out the land and any defenses i can detect. When we are closer, I will ask you for any and all details you have as regard the property and its defenses.

However, for now we shall discuss other matters. One being, however fierce an opponent you may be, you will not accompany me in the assault. I will go in alone, I will extract the person of interest alone, and I will bring them to a designated spot where you can exact your vengeance and retrieve your property."

Alistair sat by the fire and poured the water into the mugs to let the tea begin to steep. He stretched his long legs out and leaned back, resting his weight on his forearms.

"Now, seeing as your are my employer, I usually set aside time to answer any questions I can about myself. After all, it is hard to trust someone to get a delicate job done without knowing anything about them except rumors, is it not? I will answer honestly, though I cannot guarantee i will answer everything. I also my ask a few questions about yourself. Is this acceptable, mi'lady?

[Ycharley]

"Well first I want to say that you can go into the house by yourself, but I want to go with you till then. I taught him all he knows about traps and such," She said looking down, regret flashing over her features. "I'll be able to recognize the traps that are sure to be laying all around his property."

Lumina picked at some fruit a little more, before moving close to the fire, thankful for its heat, it was already starting to get very cold. "Well," She started, thinking of things to ask.

"What got you into this business in the first place?" She ask, moving her fingers closer to the fire.

[Benobi]

Alistair began playing with the shadows, twining the like rope and releasing them. It helped calm his nerves and keep his mind off the fact that he was opening up to someone. This was a necessary part of the job to him but he never did like it.

"Well, as you can guess, I learned at an early age that my special abilities could help me do things every one else had trouble with. It started small, with me opening shadow portals into homes or jewelry cases and helping my self to whati found.

As time went in, I began to hone my skills. Eventually, I could have the shadows bring me information whispered in them and then I could use we same shadows for....other purposes. My unique information and the lack of my ever having been caught brought me my first client, a simple eavesdropping job. I worked with him for a whole and he referred me to fibers and payed handsomely. However, one day the news i brought demanded immediate attention and his normal guy wouldn't have time to do the job. So, I volunteered, for a nice profit of course.

After I learned how easy it was for me to expand to all aspects of the job, I took off running and havent looked back since."

He had by now actually woven a basket of pure shadows by the firelight with inky small flicks of his fingers. As he finished his abbreviated story, he snapped them and the shadows disintegrated.

[Ycharley]

Lumina chuckled to herself, "I would have a basket weaving contest, though mine would be brighter, but with out my pendent, I doubt that would be safe, I would end up losing control and would no longer need your services, I would simply start killing the closest things to me, which would include him," She started, refusing to say her ex-lovers name.

"Have you ever been in love, ever been scorned, heart broken?" She asked softly, not knowing if he'd answer such a personal question.

[Benobi]

Alistair blinked in surprise at her question. Though, in all fairness, he shouldn't have been surprised it came up. E were after all hunting an ex lover of hers, so it was a natural mental leap. He sat Indian style and carefully locked the shadows away. The shadows and he were so in uneducated that he could not predict what would happen when the next subject was broached.

Alistair started off with the simpler of responses.

"Then by all means weave, I honestly win that people didnt need my services."

He traced a finger in the ground, making signs of power, love and loss. He looked up and directly into Luminas eyes so that she could read all the sincerity in his next words.

"I have indeed been in love but it was i who did the heart breaking. I was till coming into my powers and she was as innocent and naive as a flower in spring. Her father....well, he wasn't one. The bruises i occasionally saw on her fair skin, which she tried so valiantly to cover, were evidence of that. After one particularly awful night where the scars of her life could no longer be hidden, I lost control.

The man literally screamed for hours as all the small pockets of shadows in his body expanded and eventually exploded through his skin, organs and bones until it looked like someone had beaten his entire body to a pulp with a mallet. But that wasn't enough for the blood lust that now enveloped me, the hatred that was fueling my power. I collapsed her house, beam by beam, room by room. After all that remained was a pile of rubble, I had to go further."

By this time, Alistair was shaking with pain, heart ache, and an almighty wrath tht still hadn't cooled after these 20 odd years.

"I reached into the ground and caused it to split with shadows and to drag everything down till no trace of that vile place remained. It was this act of pure, righteous anger that drove her away from me. I had done what her wretch of a Father never could. By losing control, by letting her see that everyone, even me, had such a hateful side, I robbed her of her innocence, of her joy for life."

[Ycharley]

Lumina reached out, gently grabbing his shoulder, her hands feeling oddly warm.
"If I didn't fear who else I would kill I would do it, but when the monstrous power is released, I can't stop it until it decides it is finished, which can be for a few moments or a few hours, once it even last a whole day," Lumina said looking down, memories of her own destructive strength flashing through her mind.

She withdrew her hand from his shoulder, he felt colder then the night air around them which she thought odd.

[Benobi]

Alistair looked at his shoulder where Lumina had placed her hand. He stared at it, trying to comprehend the warm feeling emanating from that spot. The rest of the forest faded into background noise as all his attention was focused on that single, unexpected act of kindness.

He couldn't figure out who he hated more. Lumina for giving it, or himself for practically begging for it. He slowly and stiffly turned his head back to the fire. The subject needed to be changed before he lost control.

"Please, continue with your questions mi'lady." His voice was rough Dan raw as he four with his emotions and the shadows of his soul, simultaneously.

[Ycharley]

Lumina stared into the flames blankly for a while, thinking.
"Do you ever feel guilty, for the people you kill, the ones who didn't deserve it, or maybe over all of them. They are all people after all," She spoke, her voice sounded rather empty, at least compared to a few moments before.

She was questioning her own morals. She was planning on killing someone, yes she felt he deserved punishment, and if she didn't kill him she would start a viscous cycle of revenge. She shook herself, he was a human, but she doubted he had a soul, how could something with a soul do what he did. She wondered if he had ever felt anything.

She looked down, hiding any emotions that might have flashed across her features. She didn't notice her clinched fist and how her skin had started to glow, she was at the edge. The edge of a cliff that only led to destruction, and she was clinging to it tooth and nail.

[Benobi]

Alistiar had barely managed to grab his emotions and stuff them back into the cold bottle of his heart. The shadows on the other hand were much more difficult. A he sat there fitting for control over his ability, the literally started to come from his skin. The power was building at it was finding outlets wherever it could. His heart of darkness wanted to lash out at the source of Aistairs discomfort, to protect him. A he tried to reason with the wild beast inside, he watched as inky darkness bled a little bit at a time from his skin.

"All things die. How are we to know when someone's "appointed time" is? Who are we to say that our killing, our seeking vengeance is not a creatures real appointed time? Regret over death is a chain and a weakness that leads to only one outcome: death. So, no matter what course we all meet it eventually. The only difference between those like us and the rest of the world, we understand that and choose to work with death instead of running from it."

[Ycharley]

"I do not wish to work with it, though I would never run from it, life's situations have forced me into the place I am at today," She started, suspiciously watching Alistiar. "I do not think it is fair to choose someone's time, but I am often in conflict with myself, as I seek vengeance and justice, but that is how life goes," She added, her eyes never leaving him as she watched the shadows seep from his skin.

Did her glowing skin make him as nervous as the shadows leaking from his made her? Her hands fidgeted slightly, she ripped her eyes from him, turning her head, forcing herself to look at the fire.
"Do you have any questions for me?" She asked softly, her voice sounding rather strong and confident compared to how she truly felt.

[Benobi]

Alistiar was quickly spiraling into a dark place into his soul and was, not afraid, but wary. He could tell that Lumina was a force to be reckoned with in her own right. So, he was not afraid of hurting her. He was concerned about what would happen when and if their two polar opposite powers collided. She was pure light and he was pure night, it could be interesting.

"Why hire someone else? It's man took what is most valuable to a person, their sense of confidence. He made you second guess yourself and decisions. He then went even farther and took a physical momento of his twisting you I knots, your pendant. From what I gather, that pendant is like a physical manifestation of your soul. So, why take this impersonal route? Why not end his life personally?"

[Ycharley]

"Not a manifestation of my soul, that pendent is the only thing that can guarantee that I don't go over the edge, that I don't lose all control. With out it I'm a ticking time bomb. I do not wish to kill anyone but him, which means I must try to use my powers as little as possible. The more I use them, the more likely I'll lose control, which could mean killing innocent people. The pendent is a piece of my goddesses soul, so while I wear it I am pretty much a demi god. All it does though is give me control of my own abilities, so if anyone else wore it, it would have no effect," Lumina explained shaking her head.

[Benobi]

"We have slightly different views then on how our powers should be used. Personally, I no longer believe anyone is innocent. However, I do not kill indiscriminately so I can also understand your restraint. There are more ways to kill a person, besides using your powers. A well placed knife, bomb, sword, or poison packet have worked wonders for me in the past."

He reached slowly, so as not to aggravate the shadows still leaking from himself, into a pouch on his right hip. He pulled two small packets out and handed the first one Lumina.

"Inside you will notice a small nut, pure white. Please, open it and see. Do not touch the nut, merely smell it. Look at the lines of good that run along it, and tell me if it awakens anything in you as a creature of the light."

[Ycharley]

Lumina leaned only slightly close, letting its natural aroma find its way to her nose. It smelled sweet, almost perfume like. Then she closed her eyes, she couldn't sense light in something with her eyes very well, so she let light slip through her hands, through the bag and to the nut. The light wouldn't go through it.

"There is no light inside it, which is odd, because even with the shadows that nearly consume you, there was still a bit of light, justice," lumina spoke softly.

[Benobi]

Alistair cocked his head to the side and smile a bit. That act loosened his muscles some and stopped a small portion of his shadows from escaping his control.

"I never noticed or thought of that. What you hold is actually one of favorite means of poisoning. It is slightly difficult to handle, yet extremely potent. As soon as it touches exposed skin it starts infecting the person. If prolonged contact is maintained or if the nut is ingested, the person will literally burn to death. They develop an oversensitivity to light. Any amount of light, no matter how small, will literally eat at their skin. The effects are permanent."

He held one hand out and open, palm up for the bag and held his left hand out as well with the second bag in it.

"Examine this second one as well. The same rules apply as before, look and sense but do not touch.