A Starlit Paris [Caroline, Jericho, Nadia]

[Aerith]

Oh, good. Two extremes, and I'm not liking either of them.
--------

Nadia had thought Caroline strange, but the man who emerged from the ship was both incredibly boring and strange. He had one facial expression, it seemed, and it couldn't really be called an expression at all. She had never understood people like this.

From the obvious clues, Caroline was feeling under the weather, and being out in the cold probably wasn't helping. Now that Ain was here, though, she had quieted. How had they even ended up together? Well, she supposed the same question could be asked of her and Jericho.

"Can't two people walk somewhere without having to have specific business?"

She could be polite to Caroline. After all, she did not hate everything as Jericho did. But this Ain was so blunt as to be rude. She didn't have a high tolerance for rude people. Hadn't she proven that in Traverse Town?

"And you aren't from this world, either. So, same question back at you."

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

What is the girls name, probably doesn't matter.

"Perhaps you just like to walk next to muddy graves." his words were hollow and emotionless, not meaning any offense in the least. It would be noted though that his intent with his words were always hard to read.

Ain stared blankly ahead at the duo wondering what was going on, the way thus was working out it almost seemed like the two groups were confronting each other hostilely despite not knowing each other. It was best for them to walk away, nothing was to be gained from arguing with them as they were just random strangers and he didn't want to cause any fights with Caroline there. "I am presently maintenancing my ship on this world, and soon we will be leaving." he answered dully, not blinking even once since they arrived as his eyes tracked their every movement.

It couldn't be helped that he didn't trust most people, and from what he had seen he was right to stay clear of people. Today lit by the beautiful stars in the creepy graveyard, he pondered if that was the right course of action.

His posture remained solid as he stood there, in reality he was standing in-between them and his ship. At very least he wasn't trying to be hostile but no normal person would trust someone in a graveyard at night, even he felt that logic was correct. His eyes narrowed a bit as tension seemed to rise but his long dark hair concealed his face for the most part. Adjusting his jacket he waited longer for them to move on before finally speaking again, "Have you seen any heartless?"

[Slash]

...I think this guy might actually be more of a dick than I am.

[/center]

Jericho was so incredibly not in the mood to deal with this guy right now. Seriously, who the hell did he think he was? He was even being rude to Nadia. Oh, how Jericho wanted to beat the arrogant out of him. That woud just redeem the entire day, yes.

...Had they seen any Heartless? Where the hell did that one come from? Perhaps this guy was one of those idealistic types that went around killing off Heartless like they were actually accomplishing something, although Jericho couldn't see this guy having any more depth to his blunt, emotionless assholery.

Okay, he'd hold off for a little longer. For Nadia. And then it was time to stab the guy.

"We were using this place as a shortcut to get somewhere," he lied. "And no. This place is peaceful as far as Heartless are concerned...although if you're looking for something to fight I can find you a nice drunken hobo or two. They won't be missed."

If he couldn't fight the guy, the least he could do was be incredibly sarcastic.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Umm...can we go? I'm scared.
--

Caroline definitely didn't like how this was going. Over the short time they'd known each other, she'd gotten more used to Ain's completely flat way of speaking and his personality or lack thereof. She found it strange, but that was all. She looked from him to Jericho, and back at him and back at Jericho, trying to follow the conversation.

So, she knew Ain wasn't being rude. However, the vibes she got from Jericho weren't exactly friendly so she found herself subconsciously turning her body away from him and towards Ain, drawing her hands to her chest and eying him warily.

To be honest, she didn't know why he'd mentioned the Heartless either. Other people knew about those monsters besides Ain? This interested her a little, but mostly she felt left out. Everyone but her seemed to know about those things.

She didn't like the things he was saying at all, talking about fighting. And hobos. No way was Caroline getting anywhere near any drunken hobos. Was he being serious? She couldn't tell. But she'd reached the point where she had become way too uncomfortable, and not just physically. She reached over and pulled on Ain's sleeve, a wordless request to leave.

[Aerith]

What an uninteresting pair.
--------

Jericho's annoyance was beginning to seep over into Nadia. He might have been trying to hide it, but she had spent enough time with him to know he was not finding this a pleasant experience. Of course, her guess as to what he was feeling only scratched the surface in all likelihood. If what he had told her was true, and she did not doubt it was, annoyance was a cover-up for a deeper-set hatred.

This was hardly interaction. A few curt words from Stoneface Ain and a few coughs and fearful expressions from Caroline did nothing to improve Nadia's interest in this "conversation" they were supposedly having. In fact, she started allowing her own exasperation to show through.

"How about you get your friend back inside your ship? She isn't looking so well. Might want to make sure to kill that spider so she doesn't run straight back outside. Wouldn't want her running into anything dangerous out here in the dark, now would you?"

With a slight smile that came off as only half-friendly, Nadia shifted her eyes to Caroline. "A spider is the least of your worries."

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

I think I just called Caroline, a friend.

Out of the first impressions of both of them and almost settle dark feeling he got from their words. He could tell that they were likely dangerous people, one that doesn't care about murder and the other who seemed to add threats in between her kindness with a smile that didn't look the least bit happy. He could tell that Caroline was getting scared, though he himself lacked that feeling- logically he knew that he shouldn't poke a bear. It was starting to get troublesome, more so then he thought from a simple encounter but he doubted he could protect Caroline if a fight broke out.

Ain nodded to Caroline as she tugged on his sleeve. His understood now that Caroline wanted to leave, and was ready to leave these people to their own. Standing there quietly, he made no moves to leave just yet. "I will pass." he answered dully to Jericho, as he turned to Nadia. "You're right, we will be going now. You two should get going, too. Unless you have business with us, because I don't take kindly to threats to my friends."

[Aerith]

Sometimes, you have to make your own entertainment.
--------

Oh? Was Stoneface actually showing some emotion other than bland, boring, or flat? Caroline seemed to be the spark that caused this. And even though he was quick to return her veiled threat with one of his own, his expression still didn't change much.

It was mildly infuriating.

"Really? You don't seem to take kindly to much of anything. Do you even have any emotions? I honestly can't see you angry. Not even if she were to lie bleeding on the ground."

Nadia looked at Caroline again, one of her hands trailing lazily over the hilt of a knife. "Maybe we should test that theory..."

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Okay I REALLY want to go now...
--

Things were quickly snowballing out of control. While Ain was addressing the two strangers, Caroline was slowly moving behind him. She may not have been a warrior of any kind, she knew a thinly veiled threat when she heart one. And when she realized it had been pointed towards her, her heart skipped a beat.

She suddenly didn't feel as safe behind Ain as she had moments after Nadia started talking like she was going to make Ain feel something. She realized she was the one who was going to be lying on the ground bleeding if this girl had something to do with it. Her hand was grabbing a handful of his jacket, getting ready to run and drag him if she needed to.

She whimpered.

"I really want to go now,[/color]" she said quietly. Who were these people and why were they acting like this? A new panic came to her: were these people with the same people who had kidnapped her? Were they here to finish the job?

Caroline suddenly wished she had her gun with her. Maybe she would feel a little safer if she wasn't so defenseless. But her gun was in the bedroom so she was going to have to rely on Ain to protect her if things became physical....

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Provoking motions, enough words.

"You are pathetic."

Ain looked blankly at Nadia, and pushed Caroline back a little bit towards the door to the ship. There was no anger behind his expression but he wasn't heartless enough to let anyone hurt someone in front of him. Especially not Caroline, he promised to get her home and he was going to do it with all his strength. He has never broken a promise to someone in his life and he wasn't going to start now. As soon as he saw Nadia's hands go near her knife he immediately extended the blade on his gauntlet and took a single step forward. "Touch Caroline and I will end you." he said flatly, though he wasn't angry- it was merely a warning.

Standing there he didn't look back, though his attention was on Caroline rather then Nadia and Jericho. "Caroline, get in inside the ship and started it up." he stated, the ship wasn't ready to go yet but he was now convinced that a fight would happen regardless of how he handled this situation(LIES, damn post editing). "If you want to hurt someone, hurt me instead."

[Slash]

I'm going to kill something.

[/center]

Nadia threatened the annoying little waif of a girl, and the blank stepped in. The waif was so very annoying, clinging to him like that. Could she even fight? He doubted it.

Then the little prick had the audacity to call Nadia pathetic. And what was that...? A certain inflection in his voice, perhaps, the slightest difference in tone that made Jericho aware that he had used the wrong form of "you're". Worse, there was a pause in the flow of everything a bit later, a pause that seemed almost like someone had put in an irrelevant comment right in the middle of everything.

His rage wasn't quite up to the uncontrollable level it had been at when Emi had hit Nadia, but it was very close.

"Fight you?" he asked coldly. "Now why would I do that?"

He focused on the girl. Scared little thing. She didn't know what fear was.

He seized on her mind. It was going to be a gradual change. That would make everything worse for her and the boy. He couldn't mess with a blank, so he was going to go for the one thing said blank might care about.

He took a step closer, ignoring Ain and addressing only Caroline.

"He can't help you, you know, if I decide that I want to kill you. He can try, maybe he will try, who knows? But he'll die. He'll die in front of you and all you'll be able to do is watch." He increased her fear with every word until he hit the limit.

"Useless. You are useless." He took a second to smile at Ain before turning his focus back to her, his eyes blazing with a myriad of equally dark emotions.

[Jericho used Amplification.]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

...
--

First there was relief. Caroline made a small noise when Ain brought out his weapon and made it quite clear that he wouldn't put up with them pushing her around. He told her to go start the gummi ship and she was about to run off to do so- even though she had no idea how, it had to be better than standing out here- but something stopped her.

Jericho was looking at her. Not just looking at her, but... looking. It unsettled her, but she found herself unable to move or break his gaze. She couldn't have known how, but she was getting increasingly frightened. It wasn't natural. She thought maybe it was just the look in his eye or the way he was speaking to her... but even that shouldn't have been enough to cause this sort of adrenaline rush, want-to-run-but-can't-move kind of fear.

She couldn't only imagine this was what it felt like to be near death. That was the only conclusion she could come to before she lost any kind of coherent thoughts.

She was still behind Ain when she fell to her knees, not caring about the mud on her dress. She was wide eyed and breathing heavily (still wheezing from her illness), hands at her side and her head tilted back. She couldn't have possibly explained what she was feeling even if she was coherent. She wanted to get up and run but she couldn't. Something was holding her down. She was lost.

Slowly, her wheezing breaths became whimpers and she shut her eyes in an attempt to remove herself from the situation. She covered her face with her hands and the tears started. Closing her eyes was just about the worst thing she could have done because it let the images start. Visions of her family, her friends.... smiling and happy, but covered in blood, missing limbs, slashed up and beaten like they'd all been in some kind of accident but didn't care or didn't notice. It only got worse from there as she was forced to relive her kidnapping but Ain never came to save her. The things she created inside her head were things her innocent mind had never experienced and never would have thought of, coming from some kind of primal, instinctive thing inside her.

Somehow, she ended up falling on her side and curling up into a ball. She was lost to her mind, and it wasn't clear if she was ever going to come back. She took a deep breath and shrieked. It wasn't like when she had seen the spider in the kitchen... this time she feared for her life.

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

I'm sorry Caroline...

Ain stood very still as Caroline crumbled behind him in fear, he didn't know what was happening to her but she seemed to be responding badly to Jericho's words. Deep down he had had enough of these two people, they were causing problems and scaring the shit out of Caroline. His hand gripped tighter, though his body was stiff as always. He had to fix things.

"Caroline, what is wrong with you?"

Turning away from Nadia and Jericho he lifted Caroline's trembling form from the muddy ground, dirtying his own hands in the process. Since he could not get through to her, he had no choice. She was getting broken by fear, and if he didn't act it would be too late. Staring at her blankly, he closed his eyes and struck the back of her neck to to knock her out in one blow. Opening his eyes again he slowly walked towards the ship and placed her inside the doorway, she would be out for a while and he had had to handle things before she awoke. Turning back he walked back to where he stood and looked at Jericho. "You are now a enemy, be prepared." he said dully, and spinned in and out towards Jericho at high speeds and kicked right at the face of Jericho for weak damage if it hit(Dancing Feint) before spinning back to where he once stood at the same high speeds before he could react.

He then activated his Aura Rage which covered his body with what looked like fire and readied his blade on his gauntlet.

[Ain used Dancing Feint
Cool-down for 2 turns.

Ain also used Aura Rage
Effect active for 3 turns]

[Aerith]

A fight? Two against one? These odds sound favorable.
--------

Ain's declaration that she was pathetic rolled off of her. She offered no response, because she had no interest in turning this into a childish exchange of insults. It didn't matter, though, because once again, Jericho took up the fight on her behalf.

Nadia's eyes were drawn to Caroline, not Ain. The girl looked increasingly afraid the longer Jericho talked. But she didn't understand it. Was she so weak that mere words could send her into the depths of terror? Nadia knew Jericho could be intimidating, of course. But this effectively?

Something else is going on...

Further contemplation on that thought was cut short. Ain got involved, and Nadia's focus on Caroline was broken for a moment. She glanced briefly at Jericho, sensing the change in his mood to one of elation.

What did you do to her? She's a wreck.

Ain was threatening them now, still in his emotionless way, of course. Which made it considerably less threatening. Still. He wasn't messing around. The second he moved to attack Jericho, she decided she wouldn't mess around, either.

Asherah's tarot card spun in front of her, and she struck it with a knife. The Persona's shimmering form appeared and two accompanying shafts of light surrounded both her and Jericho. Boosted attack power should make this fight all the shorter.

[Summary:
Nadia used Matarukaja.
Effect lasts through Nadia's next post.]

[Slash]

This turned out better than I had expected.

[/center]

He was going to enjoy this.

Ever since he'd begun traveling with Nadia, he'd restrained himself to a degree insane for him. He wanted to kill, quite badly most of the time, but in the interest of keeping Nadia from fleeing had kept him back.

Ain attacking, however...that was justification, wasn't it? Of course it was. And the girl's screaming provided the most beautiful background to this moment, a symphony of pain and fear that resounded wonderfully among the graves.

Ain struck at him, kicking towards his face. Jericho blocked it with an arm, and the impact slammed its way painfully up it, rendering it horribly numb for a short period of time. So there was some power in him.

Then he set himself on fire or something. Jericho immediately thought of 241 remarks playing on the word "flaming" and discarded them all. Not the time.

Nadia lended her power to the fight, using some strange ability to make them both stronger. Power surged through him, and his sword felt as light as a feather in his active hand. Taking advantage of this temporary strength, he aimed a series of strikes at the blank's arms and chest.

"What drives you, boy?" he yelled angrily while striking. "You're nothing but a shell! You might as well give into the darkness if your heart is so little used! Or are you a Nobody?"

He attacked one final time, aiming a great slash at Ain's shoulder. "No, not even that! Merely a fool playing at being one! Why do you even exist?"

[Ain_Soph_Aur]

Two on one, I shouldn't drag this on too long.

Ain had a natural flare in battle, each muscle bursting with strength and elasticity. He did not know where his powers came from but he would use them just the same. The power he used had a time-limit however, and when it ended it would reveal it's most fatal flaw- exhaustion. Every time he used it since, the ending left him nearly unable to move at all. Was it so wise to try to use this power right away knowing the result. He really shouldn't have attacked them, but logically enemies were merely targets and annoying ones at that. The tall guy liked to talk while fighting, a little dramatic probably but it only proved to be a annoyance.

Taking advantage of his increased attack range from his Aura Rage, he managed to keep his distance while slashing back more quickly in counter attack with his blade on his gauntlet. The power of Jericho's slashes was greater causing him to stumble with every deflection, was this the girls power. He just couldn't match blow for blow.

"What drives me, an annoying question." he stated as he parried the last of the slashes aimed at arms and legs. "Who cares about the darkness or light, who cares about my heart, and who cares about me. Living is all that matters, a dark person like you wouldn't understand."

The last attack he could not parry so he instead tried to guard it but to no avail as the blade still came down into his shoulder albeit much slower and cut into his shoulder slightly. Dancing to the right, he then rolled to the side. His shoulder now bleeding from the cut, his expression on his face changed due to the small pain. Luckily the damage was not as great as he thought it would be, for some reason he felt like his body was a bit tougher then before.

"I was born into this world by a mother and a father. Nothing more."

His eyes glanced over at Nadia(Even though he doesn't know her name lol) just in case she would jump in but kept his main attention on the tall man, Jericho.