ninth apostle (ap)

' you're not an exorcist, '

nor akuma, nor any other monster she was aware of. bloodied candles float in the air, their victims scattered across the ground in an almost unrecognizable mess. they accused her of being some kind of cursed spirit, whatever that was.

being called names hurts my feelings

they were weak, not even lasting a few minutes against her. they were no exorcist, otherwise they may have tried begging once they learned who she was. this other one however had the unmistakable stench of blood, and their smile was all but merry.

        “ This is literally impossible.”

Ritsuka was a person who was always up for a challenge. there was a bit of fun in trying to decide how to overcome it after each failed attempt. it’s a reason why she was quite good at winning board games, and as a Master in general. but this…..was beginning to grate on her nerves to an alarming degree. how long has it been now? two hours? three? when she started this quest, it was barely mid-morning.

      and now, she can see that afternoon glow beginning to stretch across the area. 

    now, she wasn’t alone in her chance game battle against the Ofiuclone. at some point, a familiar face popped in and had taken to watch the scene. as such, Road has been privy to a myriad of complaints and grumbling coming from the mage:  rotten cheese wax,  i’m filing a complaint at clone’s anonymous, you rigged walking claw machine, and more. huffing after losing yet another round, Ritsuka glares, her fist coming down in her palm (hard). “ Alright alright. I’ll win this time. Okay! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! “

               a long moment of silence falls as her scissors is crushed, once more, by rock.

  “ AAAAAAAAGH WHAT SORT OF QUEST IS THIS CRAP?! SINCE WHEN DOES A TIE-BREAKER OFFER ANY HELP AGAINST NULL?! NONE, THAT’S WHAT!“

@dreamair​  – optimization starter call.

        ‘ it’s just rock paper scissors, isn’t it? ’

    a voice heard from behind the ofiuclone, as it seems someone took notice     of the others misfortune. while ritsuka seemed far too invested in beating     the ofiuclone road took the liberty of looking at the clone, poking it and     overall treating it like she did everything she found interesting. of course     the clone didn’t seem to be bothered, paying not even the slightest attention     to her.

        ‘ against a robot too, right? ’

    she had experience with robots, the akuma she controlled nothing more     than gears and cogs wrapped in flesh and powered by the soul of an     unfortunate victim. of course this was different, they were more clones     than machine, but the concept was still the same, right?

        ‘ can’t you just trick it? ’

    her head pops out from behind the clone, a big smile forming as she soon     wraps her arms around the others chest, a smile and a giggle as ritsuka     seemed absolutely devastated to once again lose against the clone.

It’s not unusual for him to retrace old pathways through the city, regardless of the hour. Whether the sun’s shining or not means little, the secrets of the city and its vast niches remain. Still, he does encounter some unusual suspects when the sun goes down ( and unusual is such a vast word that encompasses so much in a city like this one ).

“While I don’t consider these streets too dangerous, it’s still unwise to walk them alone at such an hour.” Though the contradiction is an obvious one, given he’s walking them alone. The difference is age and presumed ability. But as with everything in this city, looks were deceptive; a trap. “Who knows what you may find out at this time.”

@dreamair​

    a low hum as she wanders, exploring the city at night something she liked to     do. it always offered a different look in more ways than just lighting, the cities     true colors always coming to life. she was carefree, paying little heed to what     many might consider unsavory characters, regardless of what they were doing.

                                                      who knows                                        i might even ask to join them!

        ‘ and why is that, mister? ’

    a smile as she stops mid stride, body leaning over only for a moment before     she stood upright again. she looks at the other, head tilting slightly as her     smile widened. she could no longer count on her hands the amount of times     she was told what she did was dangerous, fully aware but showing little care.

                                    but what does it matter to me?                           not like i could interfere even if i wanted to                                        i’m powerless in this city

@dreamair / starter call.

❅ : the rain that comes down in sheets is cold and unforgiving, and weiss inwardly laments that the weather has turned to this when there was such pretty snow blanketing everything not even two weeks prior. she vastly prefers that to this, anyhow, seeing as the umbrella she’d had the foresight to carry along has done little to keep out the elements. a change of clothes is certain to be needed when she eventually returns home, but… there are errands to be run.

for the most part the streets of the golden ward have been devoid of people, save the few who hurriedly scurry past with clear destinations in mind despite the battering of the wind and rain. she isn’t surprised — really, she wouldn’t be out here herself save for the lack of food at home, among other necessities she’s forgotten about or delayed attending to — until she sees the lone girl, staring in the window of some shop in the rain. she’s not standing there completely exposed to the elements, but that parasol looks remarkably… fragile. and yet the girl looks entirely unbothered as she gazes into the window. still: she’s entirely too young to be out here alone, and weiss feels some sense of duty to at least check on her before she goes on her way.

‘are you… alright?’

    she had nothing to due for the entire day, no one to toy with and no one follow.     she could go to the pier, but that was too far for her to walk without some kind     of entertainment on the way. so for now she stood in front of the window shop,     umbrella twisting in her hand as the rain poured down and not a single care     in the world for anything else.

        ‘ sure, why wouldn’t i be? ’

    there’s a smile as she turns her head, tilting it ever so slightly at the other. she     didn’t think it was going to start raining as hard as it was, so she was thankful     she never went anywhere without her umbrella. she spins it again before turning     fully, a small laugh escaping as she scans the other up and down. she was     drenched from the downpour, probably not even thinking it was going to rain     today. it made sense considering how clear the sky was earlier, but nothing     in this city liked to stay the same way for long it seemed.

                            but it looks like luck is on my side again                                       maybe you’ll be more fun

     “ ‘Denny’s ‘? No, I cannot recall such an establishment existing on Eorzea.”  and she would know if she had come across one in her travels. she has a good memory, ever the one to remember what others might forget. in all the city-states and camps and bars she has been in, not one held that name. if someone wanted a meal and a show, pubs existed. you’d hardly have to look far to find a fight to entertain you during a nightly drink. such things must be common in many worlds if this island had a place like that.

   “….but there are places I’ve yet to see. It is not entirely impossible, I suppose.”

@dreamair​

        ‘ eorzea? where’s that? ’

    there were so many worlds she has never heard of, though she supposed that     was to be expected considering she only knew of hers. still, it was interesting     for her to learn about all the other worlds and the fascinating things about them.     the most obvious of all being that the other had not just a tail, but cat ears to     follow. she was fine lulubell doing those sorta of things, but when it came to     it being actual physical features she was far more curious.

                                      and i’m gonna touch them

@dreamair​

✦ “I saw that. Don’t take extra rations.” Byleth was glaring daggers at the young woman she’d just seen sneak a piece of extra bread from the table that had been set up beneath a large tent. Camps had been set up all over the city for those that had been blocked out of their homes, but because there were so many people and it was difficult to get food, the people were a little on edge.

“We have enough to last two weeks provided people don’t eat more than necessary, wouldn’t you feel bad if a kid wasn’t able to eat because you took too much? I’m not going to turn a blind eye just because we took a knitting class together.”

            ‘ ahh, you caught me. ’

      it wasn’t as if she snuck extra rations because she was hungry(she rarely       needed much to fill herself ), but because it was fun to do. unfortunately       she ran into someone with eyes like a hawk. she puts the piece of bread       back onto the table, smile widening as she turns to the other. she ignores       question, hands folding behind her as she kicks at the ground to no avail,       the crystalized ground not even noticing. rather than dealing with what-if       scenarios that rarely concerned her, she’d rather learn more about the city       and it’s mysterious past.

     if she were to be honest? she’s had it up to here with the winter season and snow. yes, she loves it– there’s nothing quite like a good snowball fight – but that does not mean she isn’t tired of it. the sudden influx of this ‘diamond’ snow was the tipping point because now she is not only locked out of her place of work, but the place she calls home as well. all entrances to both were encased with the unbreakable stuff and to make matters worse, the temperature was dropping. she’s certainly dressed for the colder season but there is only so much a thick coat can protect its wearer from ( she really wishes she had that special mystic code da vinci made for her trek into Russia right about now. )

                 that and, well, the monsters roaming into the city also being covered in the stuff. but she’s not worrying about that until she has to.

   “ Road, if you keep swinging your legs, I am going to trip.” her words are directed to the smaller form of the girl currently hanging off her shoulders, eyes glancing to the side before focusing back in front. her current company, one she ran into not long ago and one tagging along in her search of something to hide out in before the next snowfall hits. 

@dreamair​ – shine bright event s.c.

            ‘ okay, fine. ’

      a puff of air as she stops swinging her legs, pouting momentarily before going       back to humming a melody she knew by heart. she had heard of crazy things       happening in the city but never quite believed them until now. what was once       thought as ice covering the city turned out to be tough as diamonds, if not       more. she was hoping for something that was a little more entertaining and       life threatening, but with as cold as it was getting and the various monsters       roaming about that was as life threatening as the situation was going to get.

                                  could be worse though, right?                                       the city could be on fire

      she wandered alone for the most part, various failed attempts at scraping the       ice off and getting close to monsters before she ran into ritsuka. afterwards they       stuck together and somehow she managed to convince ritsuka to carry her. it       was a win-win situation in her book as road was bored wandering on her own       and she was sure ritsuka would enjoy the company more by having someone       to talk to.

                                     all while ritsuka did all the heavy lifting                                         but she wouldn’t mind, would she?

✧ “Are you interested in what’s at the bottom of this hole?” It was a mystery that perplexed Mona; the gigantic hole in the city’s center. Every so often she came by to examine it, but today? There was another woman where she usually peered. “Quite mysterious, isn’t it?”

@dreamair​

            ‘ this city has lots of stuff i’m interested in! ’

      things like the various others from different worlds, other types of magic,       extraordinary creatures and mythical beings. this city was full of enough       surprises to keep one busy for a lifetime. and road had all of the time in       the world to explore each and every single one.

                            i hope it leads me to getting my powers back                      otherwise how else am i going to burn this city down?

@dreamair  /  starter call.

★ : the cold had certainly put a damper on marisa’s intended plan of action — mushroom-picking, but of course — and she’s very much lost the drive to follow up on any of her other leads for potential rare and / or useful items. and yet somehow, she found herself walking about snow-laden streets for lack of anything better to do. holing up at home with this much spare energy and no clear objective was never a good idea.

maybe that was how she’d been so easily roped into this snowflake scavenger business. it didn’t look quite to be on the scale of a full-blown incident — therefore not entirely necessarily deserving of her attention — but she also felt obliged to lend a hand nonetheless. that there might have been some mention of a monetary reward may have grabbed her attention.

and so she’d been running about without restraint or pattern, albeit without much luck. sprinting about like mad left her breathless and lungs ablaze and, worse yet, irritated. certainly there was a better way to go about this, but… with her flying, maybe? midway through this thought process does she realize she’s being observed.

‘hey, no free shows, okay?’ it comes off a little more irritated than she’d like, but she offers a little wave and a smile as a gesture of good will. ‘or… do ya wanna come help me catch some of these snowflakes?’

      if there was one thing that piqued roads curiosity it were the random events       which seemed to appear out of thin air, much like the snow which blanketed       the city. this city was a mystery to her and the longer she found herself here       the more she sought to unravel its mysteries. of course she had plenty of       time to do just that, what she didn’t have enough time to do was check out       every single event that caught her fancy.

                       but i never thought i’d be trying to catch snowflakes                                            what even is this city?

      even worse they were sentient. she’d been at it for what she could only       describe as days, even though it was realistically an hour as the most. yet       even then she wasn’t able to catch even a single one. she was almost about       the toss in the towel and try out some other event until she spotted someone       else trying to catch them. she’d stare for a few minutes, trying to see if she       had any luck. maybe she’d even learn a thing or two about trying to trap them.

                 if i had any of my powers i’d have just impaled them all                        but it doesn’t look like you’re having luck either

      she wasn’t being stealthy by any means as she watched, so it was no surprise       that the other caught her. a small smile would form as she scratched the back       of her head. she knew when she was beat, but never did she think her defeat       would be due to sentient snowflakes.

@dreamair​ – winterfes s.c.

sweets were something of a hit or miss with the mage. she did not hate them– quite the opposite, in fact – but they needed to have the right level of sweetness to them. too much and it ruined her appetite. marshmallows were a confectionary that happened to fall on the not too sweet side of the spectrum for her. she enjoyed them on occasion (though hardly in the ever loved s’more format). but if you were to tell her that she’d spend a wintery evening avoiding seemingly sentient pieces of marshmallow, she’d call you a liar and a half. 

       but, then again, this city was hardly normal.  

    “ Excuse me, Miss!” is how she gets the young girl’s attention. taking a second to duck to avoid a swarm of the sugary tweets from getting entangled in her hair – hands placed protectively over it – she continues. “ Your umbrella. I need to borrow it.”

      she heard of strange events popping up around the city, yet it wasn’t until       she chose to participate in one that she believed them to be true. she never       once in her believed she would be trying to catch sentient marshmallows,       but this city was full of strange events that were a first time for her. she was       lucky to have her umbrella, else she may be in for some trouble like others were.

            ‘ you look like you’re in a tough spot! ’

      a sly smile as she turned to the other, umbrella outstretched to protect herself       from the shower of marshmallows coming down on the both of them. she knew       what she had, she wasn’t stupid. she had the means to protect herself from       being hit, even if they didn’t hurt. and she wasn’t about to give up her only       means of defense.