#ingustaejin

The day had not begun as blithe as one would have liked. Upon exiting his quarters early this morn, Ingus was confronted by bleak skies and rigid air. Having no responsibilities to attend to today, the Red Mage took to the streets at an attempt to find a cure to his monotony. The streets were filled with lifeless dead, whom wandered aimlessly from vender to vender. Ingus was surprised to see the amount of people out at such an early hour, and found the contrast of liveliness to life equally astonishing.

Just as Ingus was about to leave the premises, having dubbed the area just as forsaken as his entertainment, a man approached him. He dawned a black cloak that parted at his abdomen, and wore a pointy black hat.  "You, sir."

The man spoke-

"You are a mage, are you not?"

Ingus examined the nervous stranger, and rested his hand on the pommel of his sword.

"What do you want?"

"Ah, yes. I've run into a predicament....."

The man droned on for several minutes about some magical practices. Ingus could tell he had a silver tongue, and an annoyingly shiny one at that. 

"... Can you help?"

Ingus blinked. Though he had zoned out for a good majority of the strangers speech, Ingus gathered that the man had accidentally Silenced several villagers. Afraid of being reprimanded, he had searched for a cure himself, though came to no avail. 

Under normal circumstances, Ingus would just report the man and be on his way, but today was different. 

There's nothing better to do. Might as well aid this man in his endeavors.

"I shall help, but only because I have not the authority to berate you myself."

After that, Ingus dismissed himself from their presence, and made his way back to his quarters. Ingus shifted through several of the White Magic tomes that he kept in search for a cure. He could not cast any of the spells provided, though they may not be much use. The man who committed the accident claimed that he was trying to develop an incurable strain of the spell, and it misfired. Whether the stranger was gloating, or if his words help merit, was beyond Ingus. So, in lure of the predicament, he cracked open an Alchemy/Botany tome and researched some more. It didn't take long to stumble upon a certain mixture that would surely succeed. It involved making an extract of Echo Herbs and Echo Grass, and combining it with the corresponding White Magic that cured Silence. Being an expert of neither White Magic or Botany, Ingus exited his quarters once more ins search of someone that surely would be. The Clinic.

Billowing columns of smoke contaminated the air surrounding Oerba's training field. Charred straw coated the ground, bearing evidence to the fierce mercilessness of fire and steel combined. Aside from the grotesque assortment of training dummy limbs and innards, the field was rather empty. The only living thing that benefited from the smoke encumbered breeze was a young man, clothed in crimson garbs and black iron utilities. He raised his crested blade above his head, sparring only one word before executing the last of the dummy's.

"Fire."

With a single stroke, the dummy faded, crackling pathetically beneath the heat.  Almost there.. I can feel it.

Ingus sheathed his blade, and exhaled. Despite the heavy air, he felt rather refreshed with his doings. After his past few encounters, Ingus was able to use his magic much more frequently without having to stop for an ether. His swordplay had improved as well, given the diversity of his battles and journeys. 

I wish I could get into the VR room... These dummy's just aren't cutting it anymore.

He withheld a chuckle at his unintended pun towards the dummy's not cutting it. Seeing as how Ingus had pretty much decimated them, they technically were cutting it. In half. Regardless, a challenge was needed in order to further test and advance his skills. 

"In the mean time, might as well clean up."

I hate to be adding so much ooc to the dash lately but alas the semester was a busy one and I felt the need to keep you guys updated. That being said, I finished my finals last week and got home from school a couple of days ago.

Currently, I'm still unpacking and getting settled back in at home however I am officially done with the semester and am on summer break so I will have a lot more free time now.

Replies:

I have the reply to Bartz drafted and will get to Ingus as soon as I get one reply on my Riku account done. Once those two are done, I'll be free to reply to Queen's starter whenever it goes up. [other matters to get to include bugging zack for my reply heheh]

Admin duties:

I've been fairly slack on admin duties seeing as I'm mostly functioning as a placeholder until actual admin gets back; however I think the timeline is beginning to fall a little too far behind. As that was one of my duties as co-admin anyways, I'm gonna take it upon myself to update as much of it as I can this week.

Once I'm beginning to feel satisfied with it, I'll put up a post and ask all of you to take a look and let me know what's missing.

"Nng!"

Strands of charred straw flew into the air, as it was simultaneously burned and slashed asunder. A wave of heat followed the strokes of steel and fire, utterly incinerating anything that wasn't already engulfed by Ingus' blade. He stepped back to view his handiwork, deeming the makeshift training dummy defeated.

"You put up a good fight, friend. A valiant effort indeed."

A chuckled escaped his lips between heavy breaths, replied only with the dull sizzling of straw and wood. Fighting scarecrows wasn't the optimal way of training, but Ingus found solace in it. Only on rare occasions did anyone bother him, and it was nice to cut solid objects rather than practice form in the simulation room. It wasn't often that access to it was allowed anyways, especially to a beginner such as himself.

As ironic as it sounded, the battle with the dummy actually drained Ingus slightly. Beads of sweat rolled down his flushed cheeks, begging him to remove a layer or two of clothing. In an agreeable mood, Ingus sheathed his blade and rested his sore self on the ground. What a week. It started with an evaluation session with Faris, a strange journey with Luneth, and a scary experience with the manadrives. Ingus was ready to crawl into bed and sleep for days. And days. And days.

I can't rest. The army demands my strength- so I must give it to them.

Determination was renewed within Ingus' young soul, returning to him some lost strength.

"Hmm..."

Ingus took a deep breath, and scanned the environment. It seemed like everyone had left for lunch by now, leaving him pretty much alone on the field. All except a few faceless soldiers whom decided to continue their training.

"Good for them."

Luneth had informed the instructor at the training fields numerous times that he hadn't enlisted to hit things with wooden sticks all day, but the instructor told him that he was no exception to the training process. Concerns about his age and whether he knew how to fight had gotten him sent to the boot camp before he could go on a mission. "You could use a better attitude, rookie. Some of our recruits are out here training everyday and they've got a lot to show for it. Go and have a spar with one or two of 'em, and you'll change your mind about the training procedure, I promise you." Luneth wasn't going to spar with anyone. He had done enough training in the morning hours to last him all day, he figured, and decided he would go back to the mess for some lunch. He ran his hands across the itchy fabric of the rough crimson overshirt that he wore with his "armor", as if some shoulder pads with elbow guards could be called adequate protection. To be frank, Luneth actually preferred being lightly armored for the ease of movement it afforded him, and he didn't quite see the point of stomping around headquarters in full armor as he had seen some others do.  Presently, he overheard a few of his comrades in the mess talking about a distress call the camp had received from the mines in nearby Mah'habara. One of the men had brought up the issue with the instructor, who tried to say that the matter was not something for recruits to get involved in, and that HQ would organize a rescue mission within a few days if the matter proved serious. Luneth pondered the issue for a moment before realizing that this news was just what he needed. He would volunteer himself to go and investigate the mine and prove to his superiors that he was ready for a mission. His boredom would be cured in a pinch, and if the instructor disapproved, he would simply sneak away.  He quickly finished his food and hurried over to thank his comrades for the information. "Don't you worry about those mines, my friends, top-notch commando and saboteur Luneth Erol is on the case!" He flashed them both a cheesy smile as he turned to the exit, but instead of passing through, he found himself crashing into a bundle of red robes topped with a feathered red hat. He shook his head and stood up again as he eyed the guy in red with surprise. Luneth sputtered out an apology:  "T-that was my bad, sorry." He moved past the robed soldier and continued on his way to the CO's quarters to inform them of his unofficial mission, but couldn't help but wonder who it was that he had bumped into. He had never seen the soldier's face before, with sky-blue eyes and light blonde hair splayed out to frame his face. 

A mission briefing (038) has been sent out to the following soldiers:

Cloud Strife

Ingus Lumine

Please make contact with your mission partner and make preparations for deployment. We wish you good luck and safe travels on your respective missions!

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