Arch was on the road leading between the red mountains and heading to the
South Figaro the food-lady told of.
It was beautiful.
The road went between the mountains, sometimes up the side of one and around to others to avoid crevices. A few trees dotted the mountains themselves, mostly on the side of the road. They looked deep, but the other clay-red mountains sprouted not to far away.
The sun was high. Arch was traveling for two days, her Chocobo picking and making his stomach full on what he could find. She drank the water in the desert already, and happily it was cooler in this area. Her thirst wasn't changing however, and she was lucky enough to find a small stream among the roots of a tree as soon as she found the mountains.
Her chocobo was happy, trotting with spunk and sometimes doing something of a dance in circles every few miles. Arch was laughing hysterically at his antics, the chocobo-fuzzies poking up in her mind. Eventually...
She started to sing.
What song she couldn't remember, but she remembered the words and beat clearly as the one-toe-short Chocobo made his way up an incline. The elevation of the road seemed to get higher to avoid what seemed to be a dead-end of both rocks and water below, a small lake that wasn't big enough to stick on a map, and only separated from the path by a green forest. She sang lightly, and the Chocobo, now not so hyper, chirped with her.
"I was walk'n down the road one day."
Wark. "Just whistl'n my time away."
Wark, wark.
"I never looked at the time."
Wark.
"But I was never far behind."
Wark.
"And when-I-met-people-on-the-street-I-said-'hey, hey-HEY?!"
Wark, wark- WARK?!
Her chocobo paused as she reached the top of the dusty road, turning it's beak to the dense greenery flanking the right side of the trail, growing up the mountain and reaching to the valley below. Already the two could communicate as well as two humans. Arch looked to her left as the chocobo did so for the purpous of giving her a clear view down the trail.
A body.
~Jeesh. I hope my singing didn't kill him.~
Without thinking Arch slid off her chocobo, who became nervous at the sight of the limp form. He sent worry, this yellow fuzzies turning to a rather negative color with some fear. An icky yellow. Arch patted her feathered- friend's neck, murmuring at it in Chocobo-like tones. It got the idea to stay calm, and chipped a bit, happy that it's human counterpart did not have the reaction of fear and lack of humor that most others did in these situations.
Upon touching the ground, her heavy pack unbalanced her, causing her to hop on one foot to retrieve her other leg. After that not-so-graceful maneuver, she then she turned to the man, rearranging the bag so that it fit more comfortably. Also, for better reach.She didn't have any phoenix downs, and the guy was dead for more than the required day to be revived she'd just have to stick him in the woods.If less than a day, drag him to South Figaro. And walk really fast to get there..
But, how did he get there?.
~Of course...That grocer-lady said thieves were around here. ~Maybe he was a victim? Or he was one playing dead.? ~Or did he just fall out of the sky? ~
Many strange thoughts and possibilities!
The ivory woman didn't take the chance to get near enough before she tried to feel if the "wounded" man was awake, laying in wait as the grocer-lady hinted at. But she certainly got another feeling that backed up her former thought as she moved towards him; he was not all that awake, and was defiantly wounded. Words in his half-aware mind didn't form much, empty murmurs, but the feeling on pain in his gut, and the overall body, as well as the skull were like a dark shade of bad blood. She winced, feeling a part of it in her own body as much as she felt sympathy for the figure, a dull ache in her psyche that lasted a few moments and resided away. "Ouch."
~And what happened to him.? The thieves. But wouldn't he be dead? It's not like he could put a Phoenix- RedfirereachingtotheskyasEarth'sCometrosetotheair,cryingintriumphandjoy. -Down on himself.~
She took no more time or stress, her cheery emotions not changing much from when she was singing however a tint of curiosity and the stated sympathy. She immediately approached the wounded man, her boots scuffing against the hard, clay ground, driven by what felt to be almost instinct.
Well, it wasn't like she was going to leave him there!
He was laying on his front, partly on his right side in a position where he seemed as if he'd fallen and tried to observe his stomach, where he had his left hand tucked to, or to get his feet without rolling down the ridge to the line of trees. Either, or, she couldn't tell or pick up on, and nor did she really care. What Arch was more focused on was the gash from a dagger on his solar plexus she was feeling, obviously far more painful for the attacked host. It reminded her of the phrase "Like a hot poker," the words floating to her mind. Luckily it was not deep enough to the point where it was presently fatal unless. What was it?.Stagnation.Inflammation.Wait.
~Infection! ~ Yes!
Yet blood loss was not the reason for his person's vulnerable state, she noticed. There was not enough blood on the already orange-red ground. Nor did Arch sense him to have that sort of energy-drainage.
It was a confusing blend of pain, but she knew it like it was a distant memory; because somehow it was like she didn't feel the pain, but remembered it.It was hard to explain, but she felt a certain amount of the nerve-reactions without experiencing them. She knew she should just try not to understand what she was "picking up" or she'd have a headache of her own as she kneeled beside the man.
The top of her skull ached, near the back, and another pain to the front. Something, cold, hard. Arch had the faint sense someone "bricked" him off the head with something. She already assumed a hilt of some sort.But she also concluded a fall, which was the pain to the front of his skull. Or HER skull.Briefly turning around to the clay wall, she saw that loose dirt and pebbles had slid down, a small landslide from the edge above having force on it earlier. It did not hold her attention long, her mind only reassuring herself with hints to what happened.
The looking back to the unconscious man she saw he was more muscled and somehow strangely lean at the same time than when she saw him from the chocobo. It was kind of hard to tell at the distance of fifteen feet when the guy was cloaked in complete black. COMPLETE black, spare the red dust that filmed over him. Muscle shirt, gloves, pants, boots, hood, mask.She didn't expect the mask at all, sending a sadly amused and meager smile to her face.
~It's one of those guys! Assassins.? Wait. No. Grr.~
It took a moment for the word she was looking for, her brows knotting, but rising in accomplishment as she remembered the word.
~Ah! A Ninja!~
When she glanced at the blood, that was absorbed in the ground but not yet dried, she felt his mind surface more, simply because whatever awareness he had sensed her, his consciousness like a shapeless, white mass surfacing from the cold, dense water of sleep. She almost ~did~ expect that.
After a moment of waiting to see if she could sense anything else, Arch patted at his shoulder with a hand, trying to bring him awake. That made is easier for her to mentally reach into the Arctic-cold fluid as well, "pulling" the shapeless mass of his mind above the dark sea, pulling his recoiling awareness to the wounded body from the sleep he set himself into.
He stirred immediately, his fingers slowly scratching at the pounded earth as he moved, Arch sharing the feeling of the pain in his head abruptly pounding. "Hey- are you ok?" she asked, tilting her head to see any reaction to build upon. Of course she knew the masked man was most likely not up to talking, for she already got that from "soft" information, but it might have helped to know if anything else was wrong.
The ninja's eyes rolled forward as she spoke, as if he was an awaking snake that did not need to blink. Also, he stopped still, far aware of everything around him. Arch was fairly unsettled by the fact as soon as his green oculi were forward they went strait to her, with the aura of once again staring a predator in the eye. It seemed like, as well "felt" like, this assassin was never forced into the temporary coma in the first place.
The unexpected high awareness made the silver armored woman sit up a little more, removing her hand and going from her kneel into a crouch on the ball of her foot with her arms draped on her knees, giving him the space he seemed to already demand with silence. So he was awake, which was good, but his glare and rapid mood-change from confusion to absolute defense and a determined anger, almost like a wall, could have been a two edged sword.
Gladly, the anger seemed to fade as he stared, seeing she wasn't holding up anything sharp or massive like she "saw" him expecting. Then was the feeling of utter surprise, however withheld, as he was stunned.
~ He was expecting death.~
She relaxed a bit, showing a line of a loose smile as she also didn't feel as stiff-backed, breathing out of her nose. Yet she was taken off guard once again as the ninja was propping himself up on his right hand and knee, trying to get up. Right then and there Arch almost fell over, with the bloody web that seemed to pull the skin under her ribs inside out in red fire. Although it was pain, it was the sort she knew how to deal with. And she herself nearly fell over once again because the masked warrior was feeling the original punishment of dealing with the thieves. And his bright green eyes, that seemed almost neon to her, never phased with the stripes of red fire she was picking up.
Without really thinking, she stood up, muttered what came to her mind.
"Dude.!"
*
This guy had a real knack at ignoring pain. It was like it wasn't even there to him. The drops of blood, and the dark pool where he was formerly laying told otherwise.
Ok. This guy has a lot of energy in reserve, and a really ambitious drive to stand up...
But she was assuming too much. The ninja only stayed in a crouch, the sound of the rubble stopping, his hand to his stomach as he glared at her. She could agree why he didn't move any more than that. He's probably bleed more.
~Stretch muscles and stuff. That and his head probably feels the size of a watermelon after getting close up and personal to the ground. I know mine is.~
She paused. With the last thought, her mind went into works, picking up on the fresh memory of the hood-adorned assassin in front of her. She would have got more information, but there was a strange block felt to her mind to look any deeper than what she saw.
For a timeless second, she was in a mix of red color, seeing through the ninja's eyes, holding a slightly curved blade, the power brimming in it as was the mix of survival. Blood ran, not the assassin's at least, the Striker meeting the resistance for a moment, and then a quick flick sent an attacking sword into the air, disarming a man with a parry. The image of being surrounded by at least seven people was turned into a chaotic fit as someone else charged in, the others following in a tidal wave of steel. The assassin moved to the side with a skill for the situation, and being completely missed by the first three. Yet someone else moved behind him-one of those fallen-, and stars and color exploding as the silver hilt met the back of his skull. It was impossible with this number to have much ability to have the advantage, Arch's mind echoed. Her present stomache sunk as someone else simotaniously was able to kick the legendary Striker out of the ninja's fist as he jerked forward and the world spun like a tornado. A third person had the dagger. Then he was at the edge of the overhang, and just as quickly he was in the air, and just as quickly there was chaos, only enough ability to come over the sinking sleep to try to stand.
Arch blinked the vividness away, realizing what she had not yet experienced since she was in the Figaro Desert from other people. He can hide his more distant memories and thoughts? She couldn't pick up his name. Or what he was doing here. Or even what he looked like under the mask. Strange. Well, he couldn't hide his emotions though, but he pretty much smited them.
Arch was curious, and smiled after gawking in reply to the assassin's uneasy and unmoving cold stare. She was still calm, but rather confused by the fury she sensed. Hell, she was tempted to make a peace sign with her fingers.
But maybe to her fortune she was able to tell he was remembering something. She couldn't tell WHAT he thinking, but it sent the reaction of familiarity. She felt the sense of him reacting in slight humor, and absolute irony, being someone like her was unexpected. But there was an underlying emotion of anger. And something else that didn't agree with her. But the fury towards her sensed earlier from the moon-dawned Assassin, who had the waxing symbols on the top of his mask, was forgotten. That was enough to make her grin rather largely, however nothing about the assassin himself seemed to change, spare his own irony faded as quickly as it came. But Arch was able to keep the great amusement of the present situation for a moment longer. But not much longer.
She was still grinning as she followed the ninja's eyes move over her shoulder towards the clay bank he was thrown off of. But his aura changed dramatically as much as he woke up, just in the fact that that underlaying and yet nameless emotion she couldn't figure out seemed to be filmed and mixed with a fighting-flame. The defense Arch sensed doubled, as he became tenser and slightly drew one shoulder back to get to his feet rather quickly if he wanted to and move away without losing much time.
Of course, she turned, looking up to where he noticed.
Oh,-
Poo.
*
Several rugged, ragged, fairly thin and highly-in-need-of-a-bath men stood above them, the closest one with his boot upon a rock, a dagger, with dried blood Arch presumed as the masked assassin's, twirling in his fingers as he rested his elbow on his knee. Most of the folk on the higher elevation had a sickening grin that really didn't make her feel all to happy to respond with the same reaction, but to be as defensive as the shadow-colored man behind her. But she smiled, however meekly. Not that she was pretty much nervous. She was rather at the point of bursting out laughing if she didn't contain herself. What helped her to contain herself was the earthy feeling of being prepared to do something, that emotion the ninja felt that mixed with that black, nameless.emotion-thing. For say, in her own words, prepared to beat someone off the head with a rock.
~Or bite their ear off.
Or.~
Arch suddenly felt like there was someone to her right, who was just as bemused as she was, and actually VERY excited, almost more than she was. But out of the corner of her eye no one was there. No one besides her seemed to notice when it giggled and shouted.
~ "GO FOR THE BOOTS!"~
If the unfocused voice said to go for the balls, Arch wouldn't have changed her reaction. Then whoever was there was gone. She raised her brows and fought against laughing insanely.
~Oh, this'll be a party, now won't it!~
The "leader" of the thieves chuckled at her seemingly nervous reaction. "You know, you should have just walked by if you were smart."
Arch Cinaed blinked. It wasn't like she was going to leave anyone to die on the side of a road in the hot sun. She knew better to say something along the lines they were stupid to cause problems in the first place, but ate her words and knotted her brows together, raising one in morbid humor of disbelief. She couldn't say she wanted to fight, but if she had to she might as well get the best she could out of it- without causing more trouble for the masked other. Or getting herself skewered on a stick, which felt highly amusing as everything else at the moment.
"But seeming you didn't, I guess we can have more fun," The leader's violent grin widened as he stood up, moving the dagger in his hand for "proper" use. Arch knew he was coming down but taking his time to wait and see what they did first. That made her "nervous" smile turn into a calm one. She got a little time on her part. The master-thief's expression gave that away even with out a mind tap.
And the assassin obviously knew that too.
The gravel shifted under his foot as he brought himself otherwise silently up, preparing for the attack. Arch clamped her jaws shut as her stomach seemed to explode and her head spun, like her brains were rattled about without affecting her. She calmly stood after he did, and put her hands behind her back, the same posture as when she faced the Fanatic.
Since the "leader" of the thieves was nearest, she focused on him, staring him in the eye and using unfocused vision to see all his actions. Again, she didn't even know she was doing it until she brought herself to notice. She guessed it was instinct that told her not to look away. After a moment she was getting the feeling the thieves' leader was looking for a glance to the escape-areas. That way he could get the thrill of chasing and giving them one hell of a bully's wedgie THAT way.
From behind her, she "felt" the assassin searching, somehow feeling his focus on each of the thieves that now perched on the clay ridge change as he intensely had the same gaze locked on the commander. He was lacking something.And looking for it among them.
He had no "weapon."
~.His.Sword?~ She remembered him loosing it in the vision- and recalled the name. ~Striker!~
After a second of silence, the ninja seemed to have found his mark. The thief on the far right, the farthest one from them had the blade in his belt. Arch was fairly puzzled. He seemed more focused on getting the sword than surviving. Maybe. She couldn't tell.
.But if he was going to fight, that wouldn't be good. Arch might get in trouble if the ninja got overpowered by the number of the thieves, like last time. She didn't want to think about what THAT would feel like.
And she wasn't the one with the whole in her gut. And she basically didn't need a weapon, and had her armor. And her hand wasn't much. She might even be able to trip someone with the bandage.And it was scabbed up fairly well. And she had her potions.
She forgot about those. She stepped back, the leader's maliciously and taunting brown eyes following her every move, her own humorous and calm keen orbs of ice returning a daring (The only real change from her normal expression) and fairly amused gaze. The ninja was also watching the offensive group just as calmly as she was, however more prepared to fight, but took care to see her from the corner of his eye, taking a wary glance at her every few seconds. Arch figured he'd think she would run. As the glances from the market proved, people must think she was pretty much "defenseless" with only armor and her naïve amusement with everything.
Well, almost everything. The bathroom experience was far from amusing.
It was only mildly humorous.
She raised her left hand, showing she wasn't reaching for a weapon, and put her right hand to the shoulder-sack under her left arm, reaching under the protective leather flap. Her fingers hit the frost-styled glass that was meant to help define the potions without seeing them, and she carefully removed it, watching the Thieve-lord snicker.
~Like you've never used one of these!~ Arch Cinaed mentally snorted. ~Probably stuck it up your butt, too, trying to remove the stick.~
She moved the vile to her left hand, and held it outstretched to the assassin. He did not take it immediately. He glanced back to her, the suspicious look in his eye. Yet then he worked as slowly as she did, and the Silver-adorned sand-child of ice took her time to point out what advantages he may have not noticed as she passed it. "If you look left you might be able to see a chocobo in the trees. If he's not exactly there, he's around there somewhere."
~Ah, poo! ~ She forgot that chocobo didn't often like other people. And just as she remembered that, she remembered her hand...She had the blue and gold handkerchief. It smelt like her. It would work! "But take this."
She slowly started to move again, making sure the bandits, who could have long since attacked but were more interested and curious to see what they were doing, could clearly watch and observe every move. It must have looked as if Arch was planning to take them on all at once.
Which, to a certain point she was.
Arch lifted her chin, reaching into her breastplate and finding the silken cloth, pulling it out, making sure she did not somehow reveal her money.
Like dogs to food, the money also may have caused the thieves to move.
~Hey! That kind of rhymed! ~
Money did mean a full belly, anyway. She didn't want to taunt them and kill herself unwittingly.
She handed the fabric to the ninja again in the same manner of the potion. And as she handed it to him, she got the vibrations that his blood seemed to run cold. A blank surprise, and maybe fear.? Despite all his hidden emotions he did now show, those not "killed" immediately were sensible as anyone else's.
He knew something about the cloth.
But Arch wasn't all that ready to sacrifice the advantage of time and space, as well as the amusement of the watching thieves to ask at the very moment. "Let the chocobo smell that or he'll give you trouble with his beak in your eye. Then get the Helios out of here. Your new 'beauty mark' will be a problem for me," She grinned. "I'll get your Striker-or-whatever. Just don't end up with anything more than a splinter in the next fifteen minutes."
The assassin turned his head to stare at her right there and then. He had no expression, but from what Arch was picking up from him he was shocked and stunned.
~I guess I'm not supposed to know what Striker is, then. Well, oops!~ She giggled, and accidentally cast her eyes down.
What happened next made her laugh like a lunatic.
Author Noties:
::Clings on Ninja's arm.:: I TELL YOU ALL that Ninja, who I speak of and often cling on to, is my ASTRAL GUARDIAN and not SHADOW! Shadow is Shadow..o.o Woot! ^ ^ Stay tuned for the yellow submarine. ..No, I'm working on Ninja and my tale somewhere ELSE. So you dun know him.o.o
WHEE~!
Celtic quote-" I would like to know how Shadow can drink potions through his mask. Without showing his face in the game."
Arch-"DUDE! Your right!"
Celtic-"DUDE!.How the bloody fuck are we going to fix it? X_X"
Arch-"I dunno. He can spin in circles and go ONE TWO THREE and magically drink it without problems."
Celtic-"GENIOUS! I'm going to make you famous for that quote! D"
Arch-"But the monkeys will find me!.Wait. O_o "
Celtic-"That's my problem. CONFOUND MY MANY CHARACTER-EGOS! ::Crackle- Laugh!::"
Arch-"POP!"
It was beautiful.
The road went between the mountains, sometimes up the side of one and around to others to avoid crevices. A few trees dotted the mountains themselves, mostly on the side of the road. They looked deep, but the other clay-red mountains sprouted not to far away.
The sun was high. Arch was traveling for two days, her Chocobo picking and making his stomach full on what he could find. She drank the water in the desert already, and happily it was cooler in this area. Her thirst wasn't changing however, and she was lucky enough to find a small stream among the roots of a tree as soon as she found the mountains.
Her chocobo was happy, trotting with spunk and sometimes doing something of a dance in circles every few miles. Arch was laughing hysterically at his antics, the chocobo-fuzzies poking up in her mind. Eventually...
She started to sing.
What song she couldn't remember, but she remembered the words and beat clearly as the one-toe-short Chocobo made his way up an incline. The elevation of the road seemed to get higher to avoid what seemed to be a dead-end of both rocks and water below, a small lake that wasn't big enough to stick on a map, and only separated from the path by a green forest. She sang lightly, and the Chocobo, now not so hyper, chirped with her.
"I was walk'n down the road one day."
Wark. "Just whistl'n my time away."
Wark, wark.
"I never looked at the time."
Wark.
"But I was never far behind."
Wark.
"And when-I-met-people-on-the-street-I-said-'hey, hey-HEY?!"
Wark, wark- WARK?!
Her chocobo paused as she reached the top of the dusty road, turning it's beak to the dense greenery flanking the right side of the trail, growing up the mountain and reaching to the valley below. Already the two could communicate as well as two humans. Arch looked to her left as the chocobo did so for the purpous of giving her a clear view down the trail.
A body.
~Jeesh. I hope my singing didn't kill him.~
Without thinking Arch slid off her chocobo, who became nervous at the sight of the limp form. He sent worry, this yellow fuzzies turning to a rather negative color with some fear. An icky yellow. Arch patted her feathered- friend's neck, murmuring at it in Chocobo-like tones. It got the idea to stay calm, and chipped a bit, happy that it's human counterpart did not have the reaction of fear and lack of humor that most others did in these situations.
Upon touching the ground, her heavy pack unbalanced her, causing her to hop on one foot to retrieve her other leg. After that not-so-graceful maneuver, she then she turned to the man, rearranging the bag so that it fit more comfortably. Also, for better reach.She didn't have any phoenix downs, and the guy was dead for more than the required day to be revived she'd just have to stick him in the woods.If less than a day, drag him to South Figaro. And walk really fast to get there..
But, how did he get there?.
~Of course...That grocer-lady said thieves were around here. ~Maybe he was a victim? Or he was one playing dead.? ~Or did he just fall out of the sky? ~
Many strange thoughts and possibilities!
The ivory woman didn't take the chance to get near enough before she tried to feel if the "wounded" man was awake, laying in wait as the grocer-lady hinted at. But she certainly got another feeling that backed up her former thought as she moved towards him; he was not all that awake, and was defiantly wounded. Words in his half-aware mind didn't form much, empty murmurs, but the feeling on pain in his gut, and the overall body, as well as the skull were like a dark shade of bad blood. She winced, feeling a part of it in her own body as much as she felt sympathy for the figure, a dull ache in her psyche that lasted a few moments and resided away. "Ouch."
~And what happened to him.? The thieves. But wouldn't he be dead? It's not like he could put a Phoenix- RedfirereachingtotheskyasEarth'sCometrosetotheair,cryingintriumphandjoy. -Down on himself.~
She took no more time or stress, her cheery emotions not changing much from when she was singing however a tint of curiosity and the stated sympathy. She immediately approached the wounded man, her boots scuffing against the hard, clay ground, driven by what felt to be almost instinct.
Well, it wasn't like she was going to leave him there!
He was laying on his front, partly on his right side in a position where he seemed as if he'd fallen and tried to observe his stomach, where he had his left hand tucked to, or to get his feet without rolling down the ridge to the line of trees. Either, or, she couldn't tell or pick up on, and nor did she really care. What Arch was more focused on was the gash from a dagger on his solar plexus she was feeling, obviously far more painful for the attacked host. It reminded her of the phrase "Like a hot poker," the words floating to her mind. Luckily it was not deep enough to the point where it was presently fatal unless. What was it?.Stagnation.Inflammation.Wait.
~Infection! ~ Yes!
Yet blood loss was not the reason for his person's vulnerable state, she noticed. There was not enough blood on the already orange-red ground. Nor did Arch sense him to have that sort of energy-drainage.
It was a confusing blend of pain, but she knew it like it was a distant memory; because somehow it was like she didn't feel the pain, but remembered it.It was hard to explain, but she felt a certain amount of the nerve-reactions without experiencing them. She knew she should just try not to understand what she was "picking up" or she'd have a headache of her own as she kneeled beside the man.
The top of her skull ached, near the back, and another pain to the front. Something, cold, hard. Arch had the faint sense someone "bricked" him off the head with something. She already assumed a hilt of some sort.But she also concluded a fall, which was the pain to the front of his skull. Or HER skull.Briefly turning around to the clay wall, she saw that loose dirt and pebbles had slid down, a small landslide from the edge above having force on it earlier. It did not hold her attention long, her mind only reassuring herself with hints to what happened.
The looking back to the unconscious man she saw he was more muscled and somehow strangely lean at the same time than when she saw him from the chocobo. It was kind of hard to tell at the distance of fifteen feet when the guy was cloaked in complete black. COMPLETE black, spare the red dust that filmed over him. Muscle shirt, gloves, pants, boots, hood, mask.She didn't expect the mask at all, sending a sadly amused and meager smile to her face.
~It's one of those guys! Assassins.? Wait. No. Grr.~
It took a moment for the word she was looking for, her brows knotting, but rising in accomplishment as she remembered the word.
~Ah! A Ninja!~
When she glanced at the blood, that was absorbed in the ground but not yet dried, she felt his mind surface more, simply because whatever awareness he had sensed her, his consciousness like a shapeless, white mass surfacing from the cold, dense water of sleep. She almost ~did~ expect that.
After a moment of waiting to see if she could sense anything else, Arch patted at his shoulder with a hand, trying to bring him awake. That made is easier for her to mentally reach into the Arctic-cold fluid as well, "pulling" the shapeless mass of his mind above the dark sea, pulling his recoiling awareness to the wounded body from the sleep he set himself into.
He stirred immediately, his fingers slowly scratching at the pounded earth as he moved, Arch sharing the feeling of the pain in his head abruptly pounding. "Hey- are you ok?" she asked, tilting her head to see any reaction to build upon. Of course she knew the masked man was most likely not up to talking, for she already got that from "soft" information, but it might have helped to know if anything else was wrong.
The ninja's eyes rolled forward as she spoke, as if he was an awaking snake that did not need to blink. Also, he stopped still, far aware of everything around him. Arch was fairly unsettled by the fact as soon as his green oculi were forward they went strait to her, with the aura of once again staring a predator in the eye. It seemed like, as well "felt" like, this assassin was never forced into the temporary coma in the first place.
The unexpected high awareness made the silver armored woman sit up a little more, removing her hand and going from her kneel into a crouch on the ball of her foot with her arms draped on her knees, giving him the space he seemed to already demand with silence. So he was awake, which was good, but his glare and rapid mood-change from confusion to absolute defense and a determined anger, almost like a wall, could have been a two edged sword.
Gladly, the anger seemed to fade as he stared, seeing she wasn't holding up anything sharp or massive like she "saw" him expecting. Then was the feeling of utter surprise, however withheld, as he was stunned.
~ He was expecting death.~
She relaxed a bit, showing a line of a loose smile as she also didn't feel as stiff-backed, breathing out of her nose. Yet she was taken off guard once again as the ninja was propping himself up on his right hand and knee, trying to get up. Right then and there Arch almost fell over, with the bloody web that seemed to pull the skin under her ribs inside out in red fire. Although it was pain, it was the sort she knew how to deal with. And she herself nearly fell over once again because the masked warrior was feeling the original punishment of dealing with the thieves. And his bright green eyes, that seemed almost neon to her, never phased with the stripes of red fire she was picking up.
Without really thinking, she stood up, muttered what came to her mind.
"Dude.!"
*
This guy had a real knack at ignoring pain. It was like it wasn't even there to him. The drops of blood, and the dark pool where he was formerly laying told otherwise.
Ok. This guy has a lot of energy in reserve, and a really ambitious drive to stand up...
But she was assuming too much. The ninja only stayed in a crouch, the sound of the rubble stopping, his hand to his stomach as he glared at her. She could agree why he didn't move any more than that. He's probably bleed more.
~Stretch muscles and stuff. That and his head probably feels the size of a watermelon after getting close up and personal to the ground. I know mine is.~
She paused. With the last thought, her mind went into works, picking up on the fresh memory of the hood-adorned assassin in front of her. She would have got more information, but there was a strange block felt to her mind to look any deeper than what she saw.
For a timeless second, she was in a mix of red color, seeing through the ninja's eyes, holding a slightly curved blade, the power brimming in it as was the mix of survival. Blood ran, not the assassin's at least, the Striker meeting the resistance for a moment, and then a quick flick sent an attacking sword into the air, disarming a man with a parry. The image of being surrounded by at least seven people was turned into a chaotic fit as someone else charged in, the others following in a tidal wave of steel. The assassin moved to the side with a skill for the situation, and being completely missed by the first three. Yet someone else moved behind him-one of those fallen-, and stars and color exploding as the silver hilt met the back of his skull. It was impossible with this number to have much ability to have the advantage, Arch's mind echoed. Her present stomache sunk as someone else simotaniously was able to kick the legendary Striker out of the ninja's fist as he jerked forward and the world spun like a tornado. A third person had the dagger. Then he was at the edge of the overhang, and just as quickly he was in the air, and just as quickly there was chaos, only enough ability to come over the sinking sleep to try to stand.
Arch blinked the vividness away, realizing what she had not yet experienced since she was in the Figaro Desert from other people. He can hide his more distant memories and thoughts? She couldn't pick up his name. Or what he was doing here. Or even what he looked like under the mask. Strange. Well, he couldn't hide his emotions though, but he pretty much smited them.
Arch was curious, and smiled after gawking in reply to the assassin's uneasy and unmoving cold stare. She was still calm, but rather confused by the fury she sensed. Hell, she was tempted to make a peace sign with her fingers.
But maybe to her fortune she was able to tell he was remembering something. She couldn't tell WHAT he thinking, but it sent the reaction of familiarity. She felt the sense of him reacting in slight humor, and absolute irony, being someone like her was unexpected. But there was an underlying emotion of anger. And something else that didn't agree with her. But the fury towards her sensed earlier from the moon-dawned Assassin, who had the waxing symbols on the top of his mask, was forgotten. That was enough to make her grin rather largely, however nothing about the assassin himself seemed to change, spare his own irony faded as quickly as it came. But Arch was able to keep the great amusement of the present situation for a moment longer. But not much longer.
She was still grinning as she followed the ninja's eyes move over her shoulder towards the clay bank he was thrown off of. But his aura changed dramatically as much as he woke up, just in the fact that that underlaying and yet nameless emotion she couldn't figure out seemed to be filmed and mixed with a fighting-flame. The defense Arch sensed doubled, as he became tenser and slightly drew one shoulder back to get to his feet rather quickly if he wanted to and move away without losing much time.
Of course, she turned, looking up to where he noticed.
Oh,-
Poo.
*
Several rugged, ragged, fairly thin and highly-in-need-of-a-bath men stood above them, the closest one with his boot upon a rock, a dagger, with dried blood Arch presumed as the masked assassin's, twirling in his fingers as he rested his elbow on his knee. Most of the folk on the higher elevation had a sickening grin that really didn't make her feel all to happy to respond with the same reaction, but to be as defensive as the shadow-colored man behind her. But she smiled, however meekly. Not that she was pretty much nervous. She was rather at the point of bursting out laughing if she didn't contain herself. What helped her to contain herself was the earthy feeling of being prepared to do something, that emotion the ninja felt that mixed with that black, nameless.emotion-thing. For say, in her own words, prepared to beat someone off the head with a rock.
~Or bite their ear off.
Or.~
Arch suddenly felt like there was someone to her right, who was just as bemused as she was, and actually VERY excited, almost more than she was. But out of the corner of her eye no one was there. No one besides her seemed to notice when it giggled and shouted.
~ "GO FOR THE BOOTS!"~
If the unfocused voice said to go for the balls, Arch wouldn't have changed her reaction. Then whoever was there was gone. She raised her brows and fought against laughing insanely.
~Oh, this'll be a party, now won't it!~
The "leader" of the thieves chuckled at her seemingly nervous reaction. "You know, you should have just walked by if you were smart."
Arch Cinaed blinked. It wasn't like she was going to leave anyone to die on the side of a road in the hot sun. She knew better to say something along the lines they were stupid to cause problems in the first place, but ate her words and knotted her brows together, raising one in morbid humor of disbelief. She couldn't say she wanted to fight, but if she had to she might as well get the best she could out of it- without causing more trouble for the masked other. Or getting herself skewered on a stick, which felt highly amusing as everything else at the moment.
"But seeming you didn't, I guess we can have more fun," The leader's violent grin widened as he stood up, moving the dagger in his hand for "proper" use. Arch knew he was coming down but taking his time to wait and see what they did first. That made her "nervous" smile turn into a calm one. She got a little time on her part. The master-thief's expression gave that away even with out a mind tap.
And the assassin obviously knew that too.
The gravel shifted under his foot as he brought himself otherwise silently up, preparing for the attack. Arch clamped her jaws shut as her stomach seemed to explode and her head spun, like her brains were rattled about without affecting her. She calmly stood after he did, and put her hands behind her back, the same posture as when she faced the Fanatic.
Since the "leader" of the thieves was nearest, she focused on him, staring him in the eye and using unfocused vision to see all his actions. Again, she didn't even know she was doing it until she brought herself to notice. She guessed it was instinct that told her not to look away. After a moment she was getting the feeling the thieves' leader was looking for a glance to the escape-areas. That way he could get the thrill of chasing and giving them one hell of a bully's wedgie THAT way.
From behind her, she "felt" the assassin searching, somehow feeling his focus on each of the thieves that now perched on the clay ridge change as he intensely had the same gaze locked on the commander. He was lacking something.And looking for it among them.
He had no "weapon."
~.His.Sword?~ She remembered him loosing it in the vision- and recalled the name. ~Striker!~
After a second of silence, the ninja seemed to have found his mark. The thief on the far right, the farthest one from them had the blade in his belt. Arch was fairly puzzled. He seemed more focused on getting the sword than surviving. Maybe. She couldn't tell.
.But if he was going to fight, that wouldn't be good. Arch might get in trouble if the ninja got overpowered by the number of the thieves, like last time. She didn't want to think about what THAT would feel like.
And she wasn't the one with the whole in her gut. And she basically didn't need a weapon, and had her armor. And her hand wasn't much. She might even be able to trip someone with the bandage.And it was scabbed up fairly well. And she had her potions.
She forgot about those. She stepped back, the leader's maliciously and taunting brown eyes following her every move, her own humorous and calm keen orbs of ice returning a daring (The only real change from her normal expression) and fairly amused gaze. The ninja was also watching the offensive group just as calmly as she was, however more prepared to fight, but took care to see her from the corner of his eye, taking a wary glance at her every few seconds. Arch figured he'd think she would run. As the glances from the market proved, people must think she was pretty much "defenseless" with only armor and her naïve amusement with everything.
Well, almost everything. The bathroom experience was far from amusing.
It was only mildly humorous.
She raised her left hand, showing she wasn't reaching for a weapon, and put her right hand to the shoulder-sack under her left arm, reaching under the protective leather flap. Her fingers hit the frost-styled glass that was meant to help define the potions without seeing them, and she carefully removed it, watching the Thieve-lord snicker.
~Like you've never used one of these!~ Arch Cinaed mentally snorted. ~Probably stuck it up your butt, too, trying to remove the stick.~
She moved the vile to her left hand, and held it outstretched to the assassin. He did not take it immediately. He glanced back to her, the suspicious look in his eye. Yet then he worked as slowly as she did, and the Silver-adorned sand-child of ice took her time to point out what advantages he may have not noticed as she passed it. "If you look left you might be able to see a chocobo in the trees. If he's not exactly there, he's around there somewhere."
~Ah, poo! ~ She forgot that chocobo didn't often like other people. And just as she remembered that, she remembered her hand...She had the blue and gold handkerchief. It smelt like her. It would work! "But take this."
She slowly started to move again, making sure the bandits, who could have long since attacked but were more interested and curious to see what they were doing, could clearly watch and observe every move. It must have looked as if Arch was planning to take them on all at once.
Which, to a certain point she was.
Arch lifted her chin, reaching into her breastplate and finding the silken cloth, pulling it out, making sure she did not somehow reveal her money.
Like dogs to food, the money also may have caused the thieves to move.
~Hey! That kind of rhymed! ~
Money did mean a full belly, anyway. She didn't want to taunt them and kill herself unwittingly.
She handed the fabric to the ninja again in the same manner of the potion. And as she handed it to him, she got the vibrations that his blood seemed to run cold. A blank surprise, and maybe fear.? Despite all his hidden emotions he did now show, those not "killed" immediately were sensible as anyone else's.
He knew something about the cloth.
But Arch wasn't all that ready to sacrifice the advantage of time and space, as well as the amusement of the watching thieves to ask at the very moment. "Let the chocobo smell that or he'll give you trouble with his beak in your eye. Then get the Helios out of here. Your new 'beauty mark' will be a problem for me," She grinned. "I'll get your Striker-or-whatever. Just don't end up with anything more than a splinter in the next fifteen minutes."
The assassin turned his head to stare at her right there and then. He had no expression, but from what Arch was picking up from him he was shocked and stunned.
~I guess I'm not supposed to know what Striker is, then. Well, oops!~ She giggled, and accidentally cast her eyes down.
What happened next made her laugh like a lunatic.
Author Noties:
::Clings on Ninja's arm.:: I TELL YOU ALL that Ninja, who I speak of and often cling on to, is my ASTRAL GUARDIAN and not SHADOW! Shadow is Shadow..o.o Woot! ^ ^ Stay tuned for the yellow submarine. ..No, I'm working on Ninja and my tale somewhere ELSE. So you dun know him.o.o
WHEE~!
Celtic quote-" I would like to know how Shadow can drink potions through his mask. Without showing his face in the game."
Arch-"DUDE! Your right!"
Celtic-"DUDE!.How the bloody fuck are we going to fix it? X_X"
Arch-"I dunno. He can spin in circles and go ONE TWO THREE and magically drink it without problems."
Celtic-"GENIOUS! I'm going to make you famous for that quote! D"
Arch-"But the monkeys will find me!.Wait. O_o "
Celtic-"That's my problem. CONFOUND MY MANY CHARACTER-EGOS! ::Crackle- Laugh!::"
Arch-"POP!"