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Aerith kidnapped!
(2012-11-06 - 2012-11-23)
No description.
Tifa Lockhart Even the barmaid needs to sleep sometimes. The bar usually closes up late after all. So the bar is empty, its still not past noon, but for many people, that's pretty late time to sleep.

There was some disturbances though. From the backroom where her bed is setup, she can hear some rummaging in the bar. Maybe its a burglar?

She slides up to her feet, barefooted with not much more than her tanktop and panties on, as she moves toward the bar as quietly as possible, trying to creep up on any thieves lurking there...
Aerith Only to find that no, it's not a thief.

On the contrary, someone was filling the shelves, once empty, with indoor planters filled with irises, deep purple in color. She hummed a tune to herself as she brushed her hand over each one, a sort of emerald sheen glowing from the soil wherever her hand passed. "About time you woke up, sleepyhead," she called out without looking in Tifa's direction. "I was wondering if you'd miss my surprise or not."
Pixi Helping out somewhat was, Pixi, putting some plants in high places where Aerith couldn't reach. Pixi knew a few things about planting since she lived in a jungle most of her life, but what seemed to perk the plants up a bit more was her use of of the stick she had on her forearm. Many of the plants seemed to instantly respond to the mere presence of it nearby.

Pixi looked over to Tifa and smiled just a little bit to her. "All Aerith's idea, I'll admit. I just volunteered to help her out with it, Tifa." She says as she places a decorative plant behind the bar, her heels thumping against the floor.
Rinoa Heartilly Rinoa had wandered the Goug slums after returning here so soon after the gala event in Manhattan. She had hoped to find some friends during that event but was sadly disappointed. Eventually, feeling quite out of place and lost in the world, she had returned back to Tifa's Bar, finding something comforting in these familiar surroundings at least.

She knocks lightly on the door, before allowing herself in, if it's indeed open. Angelo seems to have no issues however, rushing in and glancing around for her favorite bar hostess..
Faruja Senra Faruja, normally, would not be so wasteful with his time and energy as to make a wyvern flight to Goug for his current task. It would have been far simpler to write a letter and have a moogle take care of things. But, after some unfortunate news, he decided he needed space and lots of fresh air. The need to give one assistant to the Shard Seekers her pay was the perfect excuse to get out, with just himself and Arista for awhile. Thus, when he starts to approach the 7th Heaven, he's in remarkably better spirits than he'd previously been. Noting the time, he frowns. Would the Lady of the establishment be in? Barmaids do keep odd hours, after all.

The question gets its answer in th form of another long haired woman knocking on the door, then letting herself in. Faruja halts, caught between a sense of duty and politeness; tail wrapped tightly about his leg as he ponders the situation. Eventually, he strides forward after about five minutes, and he too makes a light rapping upon the door with a gauntleted knuckle.
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart blinks a bit in surprise, but smiles "Oh, its you people." She leans down to greet Angelo too. She's not very well dressed right now though, but its all among girls...

At least until Faruja knocks at the door "... oh uhm... Rinoa, can you get that? I'll get dressed first." She scratches her head a bit as she walks backward into the backroom.
Aerith Aerith pauses for a moment, the flowers within the planters she'd graced with her touch looking lively as the day they'd sprouted. "Oh, isn't that just the cutest thing ever!?" She jogged over to the dog and rubbed behind her ears. "And who, my dear, are you?"
Pixi Pixi nods to Tifa. "Yeah. It's just us." She says before the raps on the door. She nods to Tifa again as she withdraws from the room before she sits down at the bar. She then walks her way over to the door and opens the door. "Hey Faruja. Come on in." She says greeting him at the door.
Kaydin "First walking bunny women, now walking mouse men." A voice calls behind the man. Who the voice belonged to was a armored man, The helmet making his race hard to recognize. "Seems Tifas is becoming popular."
Faruja Senra Outside, as Tifa withdraws to dress, Faruja stands in that slightly awkward way of someone waiting at a door and not quite certain if it will be answered or not. To his credit, he resists the urge to look into the windows. Who knows whether Tifa is decent or not?

As Pixi opens the door, Faruja opens his muzzle, already half bowed. "Good morn, M'Lady, and may the Lord bless all of your da..." Pause. A slow blink.

Kaydin's voice goes unnoticed for a good thirty seconds. "...Lady Pixi?" Cough. Well! Folding his ears back, he straightens up, trying to regain the shattered pieces of composure and dignity.

"Erm...apologies, apologies, 'tis quite a surprise to see you. But a pleasant one! Yes, yes, thank you. So long as the Lady of the establishment has no objections. Pray I have not woken her from well-deserved slumber."

The rat's in the process of holding the door, nevermind Pixi was the one who opened it, for the bunny Lady when his brain picks up Kaydin. What a strange morning.

"...That would be 'nezumi, Ser, to tell it properly. Good morn, and may the Lord bless you." A bow to the man, and he steps inside.
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart comes back out shortly after, honestly she doesn't wear that much more, but its her usual clothes at least. She waves to Faruja with a smile "Come on in, we're not really open, but apparently my friends here wanted to surprise me." she giggles at that, looking at all of the flowers around her bar now "This is so coloerful~'
Aerith Again, Aerith responds without a glance in Tifa's direction. "Thanks. I did say I'd repay the favor..." Part of her wanted to /sell/ these to her, but it was a gift. Something nice to pretty the place up. She stood and glanced toward the door. "Oh, more people? This place sure is popular, isn't it?"
Rinoa Heartilly Rinoa blinks at Tifa, seeing as she's only half dressed. "Ooh, Tifa..So sorry! I didnt mean to barge in on you like that.." she giggles a bit, turning towards the door as she sees a somewhat male figure starting to enter. Oh wait, two male figures!

She tries to cover Tifa's retreating form from the two men at the door as much as she can. "Oh, hey you two, sorry, barmaid will be right back. It's still pretty early afterall.." Still, she has to stare at Faruja a while longer, rubbing her eyes.

"Wow, a talking rat?" She chuckles, "I guess after everything else I've seen in this world..." With a slow shake of her head, she steps back to let them in, a wry smile playing on her face. "Ahh, but nice to see you have manners! Nice to meet you, Ser Nezumi!" she says, returning the bow, unsure what a 'Nezumi' is, or if that's his name even. Then she spies Kaydin and her smile fades just a tad. She's still not sure what to think of him, but she does give him a polite nod and bow. "ahh, hello again.."

Finally, glancing back at Pixi, she smiles and nods to her as well. "Morning, Pixi! And who is your friend?" She smiles at Aerith and nods as Angelo walks up to the girl, sniffing her curiously. "Ahh, that is Angelo, and my name is Rinoa. She really seems to like you, sure you can pet her."
Pixi Pixi grins down to the mouse that is with her. "His name is Faruja Senra. He's one of the knights of a place called Burmecia, I believe. I'm pretty sure Nezumi is his Wyvern that he flies around on. Correct me if I'm wrong, Faruja." She says softly to Rinoa. "Faruja, this is Rinoa, and Aerith is the woman with the flow...."

Pixi doesn't get to finish her sentence, as darkness literally materilizes almost right next to Aerith. BLood red eyes stares straight at Aerith as it steps closer and, just as quick as it appeared, it grabs Aerith and immediately shatters a window leaping out of the bar.

With Pixi almost rgith behind it yelling 'HEARTLESS!'
Aerith The back of her neck tingles. Her hair stands on end. Her feet refuse to move as her heart tightens in her chest. Fear gripped Aerith, an invisible hand squeezing her, rooting her to the spot. "No...."

In the next instant, several things happen at once. The world slows to a crawl as Pixi's eyes widen, a pair of arms wrap around the flower girl's torso, and she lets out a bone-chilling, blood-curdling scream of terror as she gets taken without a moment's notice.

Time speeds up again, the scream bouncing off the walls as she gets snatched through a window, glass sprinkling the floor and the ground outside.

This... was her nightmare come to life.
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart acks as Aerith gets captured like that "Can't we get a moment alone, damn heartless!" She's none too happy that her friend got captured too. She jumps over the counter and right at the now broken window after it "Leave her alone!" She'd be more amicable to those that entered... but understandably, there'll be time for that later.
Faruja Senra "Dear, wonderful Lady, the pleasure is mine entirely! Your own are quite impeccable. Temple Knight Faruja Senra of the Most Holy Church of Saint Ajora, at your service." The ratling introduces, before finally crossing the threshold of the bar. His gaze rests, in turn, on the floor, or towards the general direction of Rinoa, Aerith, and Pixi. When Tifa calls out, his ears perk.

The barmaid too gets a bow. "Good morn to you, Lady Lockhart! Lord bless, brave Dame. Mmm, quite the gathering indeed.

Pixi gets a look, a clawed hand rising. "Erm...not quite. That would be Lady Arist..."

SUDDENLY HEARTLESS! And they stole the flower girl!!!

"DEMON!!! Loose thy hands from round the Lady!" Faruja yells, years of military training having him spring into action right beside his fellow Dragoon. Exiting through the window himself in a mighty Jump, spear yoinked from his back and already glowing, and with fellow do-gooders alongside, the chase is on!
Rinoa Heartilly It happens so fast! One moment Rinoa is smiling and nodding at Faruja and Aerith as Angelo rubs against her leg. The next minute she knows, those darned heartless burst through the window and capture the flower girl, leaping out of the bar.

"Aerith..No!" She reaches out an arm, and at a moment's notice, Angelo jumps out the window in pursuit of the nice girl and the heartless who snatched her, Rinoa not far behind. "Come back here! Let her go!"
Kaydin Kaydin watches the goings on quietly until the heartless comes and takes off out the door since he was halfway in and would draw his own sword, the black blade beginning to glow with a dark power. Despite being heavily armored it seemed the knight could move quite quickly.
Pixi For some reason, the Heartseeker makes an immediate beeline for outside of Goug and trying to go through the front gates, carrying Aerith upon it's shoulder in a most undignified fashion. However, it's quite fast on it's feet, outrunning most of the rest of the rest of the people in Seventh Heaven. The exception being Pixi. Thanks to her long strides and her natural speed causes her to speed past the heartless rather quickly and trip it up with a quick punch to it's stomach......or where it's stomach would be. It doubles over and drops Aerith on the spot, long enough for everyone else to catch up and attack.
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart is pretty fast too at least, but Pixi is like on wings. She's used to the woods after all, while Tifa's more about tredging concrete. She rushes through the street toward the gate "Aerith!" she doesn't know if the girl is okay, but she didn't look okay when she got caught. Those eyes showed a deep scar being opened up, at least to her.

She grrs and as Pixi stops it, and she slides to a stop between in and Aerith, shield the girl as she moves in for a flurry of attacks, opening up the hostilities toward it. She's not about to let leave unscathed either.
Rinoa Heartilly Rinoa continues to chase after the heartless, Angelo far ahead of her as he barks and snarls at the wicked heartless. "What are they going to do with her..?" She scratches her head, still knowing very little about these heartless creatures, aside for their affinity for darkness.

It seems Pixi manages to out run them all, even Angelo, but fortunately she manages to free Aerith from it's grip. Rinoa's pretty fast herself so it doesn't take her long to reach the two girls, kneeling by Aerith's side. "Aerith, are you alright?" She scans quickly over her body, searching for signs of injury.

Angelo meanwhile, growls and snarls at the heartless, rushing at them as he attempts to bite and claw at them.
Kaydin Kaydin runs after and when Pixi manages to stop it. He leaps into the air, leaping up high before coming down where Tifa was, and like the woman, using himself to shield the flower girl as he attacks with a slash from that black sword.
Faruja Senra Dark armor? Glowing black blade? Well, if it isn't his far less holy counterpart! Kaydin gets a brief narrowing of Faruja's red eye, before he returns to the task at claw. He'll not protest but so much; the Church has it's own Dark Knights as well, albeit many viewed suspiciously.

The ratling, again, has pause to regret the armor. Thankfully, though, Pixi divests girl from vile abomination, and the ratling is quick to usher back Aerith behind himself and Tifa. With so many engaged in outright melee, the Templar takes a moment to begin casting protective spells, a white aura surrounding his hands as he does so. Soon enough, green shields briefly flash over the bodies of the front-line combatants, the Protect spell to anyone familiar with white magic.

Then, the Burmecian whistles loudly, piercing the morning air. With great flaps of her wings, the twelve foot long white wyvern flaps her way down from the sky, landing and issuing a warning roar to the Heartless. She just had her morning hunt interrupted. Guess who's on the menu~
Aerith Aerith lands in a disgraceful heap, her teeth clenched, the tips of her eyebrows angled upward in pain. Less out of being dropped and more out of the constant pressure inside. She managed to open her eyes just enough to watch Pixi face down the giant shadow, and forced herself to stand.

She was fortunate enough to have her staff with her when she'd been taken... if she'd lost that, who knows what would have happened? So it was that she used it to prop herself up, pointed it toward the creature, and made her best attempt at forcing the pain and anguish from her mind.

The materia, all of them, came to life, lighting up like so many dials on a switchboard. Then, she aimed. "I'm fine..." Her voice lacked any anger or frustration. "...Now if you would please move."

Then she let fly.
Pixi The Heartless was caught completely by surprise by Pixi's attack. However, it's still quick on it's feet even as it's surrounded. Dodging just about every attack, the surprise in it's eyes are quite evident when suddenly, it explodes!!!! It bounces twice on the ground before getting up and going after Aerith and Pixi, who managed to hit it.....
Pixi Grunting as she's hit, Pixi takes a second to catch her breath from the assault, before leaping into the air. While up there, she takes the stick from her gauntlet, gives it a twist, and extends it into a full spear, and even extending a few chains from it to try and hit the heartless.
Aerith Aerith's eyes widen as Tifa takes the hit for her, and she quickly makes an attempt to intervene... but then changes her mind. No, there's a better idea... she taps the end of her staff onto the ground, forcing a different materia to light up, and points it toward Tifa's direction, and then to the armored man still barring a clear path between her and the Heartless.
Faruja Senra Wince. Fire. It just /has/ to be fire doesn't it? Faruja tears a hand he doesn't even remember moving to his bandage-covered eye, trying to not think of those horrible, horrible dolls burning everything he ever cared about...

This manifests in a desire to make the Heartless before him cease existing. Thrusting his spear in the air, he's content to stand with Kaydin in the 'guarding the Lady' position. "It is known as a Heartless. A vile, unholy demon that eats people and worlds alike in their passing! Show it no mercy! It's very existance is an afront to the Lord!" His proclaimation serves just as well as an incantation it seems, holy energy manifesting first a blade of holy lightning from the ground beneath the Heartless, followed by a crescent of purple and falling shards of ice.

As for the great wyvern? She simply yawns, and curls up for the moment. Faruja glares. "/ARISTA/! You have /work/ to do!!!" The scaley one pretends to not hear.
Kaydin Kaydin readies his sword and swings it once, sending a wave of black energy at the heartless before sending another wave of energy. Then he tosses his sword and catches it's chain, beginning to swing it so hard and fast now it was a black blur before hurling the sword hard up at the heartless now.
Rinoa Heartilly Rinoa blinks, standing back as Aerith climbs to her feet and strikes at the heartless with her powerful magic. "Wow..." Who is that girl, anyways? But she doesn't have much time to talk further as it rushes at Tifa and Pixi, attempting to strike them down.

"Angelo, to me!" She whistles to the dog, and he jumps on her blaster edge, combining with her fire spell as she launches the attack at the heartless. When Angelo lands to safety, she follows with several more bursts of fire.
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart has mvoed in front of Aerith to intercept the attack. The barmaid is pretty tough, and she saw that Aerith seems to be able to wield magic after her first attack, usually mages are more squishy, right? She brings herself in front of the attack, arms crossed in front of herself, shielding herself from the flames. She seems to come out of it strong too, practically unhurt.

She nods to Aerith's spell "Thanks~" and then moves in for the next attack. Since it's pretty evasive, she might need to concentrate on more precise attacks some more.
Pixi The Heartseeker is finally hit by a physical attack by Tifa, kicked twice and punched before hit by another fire attack and a shot from Angelo. It roars at the top of it's lungs, or so it seems and goes after both Tifa and Rinoa this time.....trying to tear them apart.
Pixi Seeing the HEartless up in the air with her, Pixi flashes up next to the monster and begins a rather nasty flurry of attacks, trying to really hurt the thing now. The irony is that now she's using the spear, more and more in her attacks......
Kaydin Kaydin catches his sword in mid air by the chain as it falls and swings it once more. He then hurls it at the heatless before leaping up after it, and grabs his sword to bring it down ontop of the heartless with two hands, trying to cleave into it.
Aerith Aerith's eyes widened as the Heartless reared back and unleashed an assault that defied logic. Rinoa took the worst of it, and thus was the only thing the flowergirl saw. She tapped the staff on the ground twice until a materia glowed a bright green, then pointed it toward the brunette.
Faruja Senra Faruja, upon seeing the beast turn to Rinoa, makes a quick leap to try to defend her. Unfortunately, he's but a moment too late, and poor Rinoa is pummeled! Warding off the beast with his spear, the ratling as well starts to employ magic, though not borne from materia. So too does the lazy scaled one perk up her snout, almost disdainfully blowing healing breath Rinoa's way.

"Behind me, M'Lady. Dark Ser, Lady Lockhart, see to our new friend's defense if you please!"
Rinoa Heartilly "Got it!" Rinoa's eyes light up hopefully as the combination of Angelo's launched attack plus her fire magic hit the heartless. Still, it seems to have angered it more than weakenned it..When it roars in anger, Rinoa winces as she anticipates the massive comets that come crashing down on her.

Usually quick on her feet, she swiftly rolls to the side, but gets hit nonetheless, causing her clothing to singe as she screams in agony, singing her skin.

Angelo whines, running to her master's side, showering her in protective energy.
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart manages to jump out of the way, and drag its attention away from Aerith for a moment as well, so only her and Rinoa got attacked by it this time. Rinoa seems to have taken it badly, but there's many healers this time. So Tifa can stay on the offensive.

She keeps attacking in with repeated attacks, since going for precision seems to work better, that monster is pretty quick after all.
Pixi The heartless grunts in pain as it's hit by so many attacks. However, the Heartseeker goes after Pixi again, even though it's being hit by everyone around it.
Aerith Good. She was okay... and now it was time to finish this. She could see only one way this would end. The question was, would they be able to manage it?

The energy in the air was overwhelming. She could use that. Aerith glanced toward the others and lifted her staff. "We're going to finish this!" No time to explain. "On my signal, hit it at the exact spot I cast at, with everything you've got!"

Without further warning, she pointed her right hand toward the soul eater and fired off three spheres of ice... which promptly exploded all over the front of the thing's belly. "Go, now!!" Ice made things brittle. If it could be hit, and frozen, it could be broken!
Pixi Pixi's really in a bad way, but as the heartseeker rushes her, she blurrs out of it's way. The Heartseeker looks confused for a second as Pixi goes after it with her spear, following it with a kick to it's chin and.....with her tattoo glowing brightly, a single solitary punch that will explode with holy energy if it connects....
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart watches it going for Pixi... Perfect, an opening. She clenches her fist, concentrating her energies into her hand. Soon its glowing with a pure yellow light, like the sun. Its explosive energy, ready to be released. And Aerith freezes it over with her spell, even better, she's going to shatter it to pieces!

She takes a single step back, and then jumps forward, bringing the glowing fist straight down into it as she vaults over it, releasing the energy that creates a down of energy around it, as if she had released a bomb.
Faruja Senra Faruja can't help but like Aerith's plan. 'Throw everything you have at it until it dies'. He'll have to make a mental note to offer a position as a Temple Wizardess some time. "Quite!" Thrusting his spear in the air, light forms above the beast, descending to add just that much more Holy into an already quite Holy attack thanks to the likes of Tifa and Pixi. The ice helps too. A shame he's so low on mana at this point!

Arista is on her haunches now, and walking forward. She's happy to assist in the destruction of the beast, waiting for the smoke of everyone's attacks to clear. Teeth flash, and should any bit of the Heartless be left, it'll greedily be consumed by the wyvern.
Faruja Senra Faruja ignores the sounds of feasting scaled one, and starts in on healing his companions, starting with Rinoa, Tifa, and Pixi, looking over each woman in turn as he judiciously applies white magic with the aide of a few ethers to keep him going.
Rinoa Heartilly Rinoa cringes, still recoiling from the attack..Until Aerith's and Faruja's healing magics wash over her, and the lets the soothing magic ease the burning pain..Enough that she's back on her feet in a heartbeat, glaring up at the heartless.

"Thanks! Let's finish it!" glaring up at the heartless, she waves a hand in front of her, summoning a powerful wind and blades of light to slash at the heartless, followed by a shot from her blaster edge, this time glowing with pure white energy.
Kaydin Kaydin readies his sword to attack but everyone else goes and hits the beast. So he remains near Aerith, keeping close to her, and keeping an eye out for other things which may target the Flower girl, his blue green eyes can seen through the eye slots by the healer since he was close.
Pixi The Heartseeker that seemed so bold now is now wispy dark matter that is blasted, frozzen and impacted into the ground by the combined attacks. It would normally be knocked out by now, but RInoa and Faruja seem to think that Knocking it out isn't enough. It's energy doesn't disperse fast enough before Faruja and Rinoa hit it even harder, and make it's energy disperse a lot more forcefully.....in the form of an explosion.
Pixi Pixi lands, finally from her jump and sighs softly. "Are you all right, Aerith?" She says quietly. Not only is her tattoo glowing a lot more brightly than before, but she's still holding her spear in her right hand.......
Aerith Aerith nodded. "You know... I knew that did something, as well as that stick. Didn't know it was a spear, though." She sighed and glanced toward the smoldering remains of the Heartless. "I don't understand... why did it want me, and not anyone else? It could have just attacked us all, but... it /wanted/ me. I could feel it."
Kaydin "The Heartless are attracted to those with powerful and pure hearts. It is also attracted to those of incredible darkness." Kaydin says as he sheathes his weapon, looking to Aerith. "Or it could be someone wants you specifically and can be controlling this particular heartless." He says as he looks to where it was.
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart walks back toward Aerith, shaking her head. She blinks at Kaydin though, that always seems to know so much "Well guess Aerith's heart is a good one. Mine must be filthy, they don't come after me that forcibly." She kids. She really doesn't care that she's not their target either, she's almost grateful even. "Hm, maybe someone wants her too, they didn't attack her, they just carried her off somewhere. I wonder where."
Aerith Aerith shook her head. "No." Her response cut into what anyone else had to say. Rude yes, but she'd already ruled the supposition out. "If it were working for someone, they'd be nearby to pick me up or spirit me away. They'd know their ploy failed by now, too, and would have sent something else right away. This thing... /wanted/ me, for itself, not for anyone else."
Pixi Pixi tilts her head at Aerith as she mentions the spear, and her tattoo. She does listen to Aerith and smile a bit. "If you have a pure heart, Aerith, then these heartless....things, will probably come after you again." However, she then lowers herself to a knee and bows her head. "And they will not get you as long as I draw breath." She doesn't say much more, but keeps her head lowered....
Kaydin "Then your heart attracted it. Either way, I dont think it would be wise to let you be alone after this." Kaydin says as Pixi then speaks and he nods to her. "She is right. And it would be for the best that she remains at your side. I would but most outside Baron are wary of the Dark Knights. Even in Baron we are regarded with some wary.'
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart walks over to Aerith "Well, shall we head back home? Well the bar if you want, unless you rather go elsewhere." She wouldn't blame her either, after all of this. Tifa is used to fighting, but she doesn't know about Aerith.
Pixi Pixi rises off of her knees in front of Aerith and follows her into the bar.....after collapsing her spear back to it's stick form. She imagines she'l have to explain about the spear to Aerith later, as well to Tifa and Rinoa as well. But for now, they would rest, peacefully......

For now.
Aerith One of the many things she'd found out about herself was that she was able to recover from her injuries somewhat faster than your standard human being. It wasn't by much, but it helped a bit when everything hurt from major magical bombs being dropped. It was a shame it didn't do anything to reduce how useless she felt.

Part of her mind chastised her. It was a WAR, there wasn't much she could do out there. She shouldn't even have been there in the first place! But the rest of her... agreed, one hundred percent. She should have been able to at least make a dent...

It was thus that she was now inside the one place where she could figure all this out, at least to some extent. Someone at Tifa's always had some kind of answer, or at least a form of comfort. So she walked in, finding the place momentarily empty, and took a seat. Someone should be in any moment now... and good thing, because her head was buzzing with questions along with the doubts.
Kaydin And that someone was Kaydin. He wasnt wearing his dark knight armor, well the gauntlets and boots were part of his armor but he wore a black tunic and trousers. He moves stiffly, probably still sore from the beating he took down. He approaches Aerith and moves to sit by her. "Hey." He says, as if half afraid to see her reaction to him.
Pixi Pixi was right behind Aerith, and only when she walked into the bar, did she finally collapse her spear. "You all right, Aerith?" She says softly to her. Aerith will have noticed that she has also recovered from the battle fairly quickly. She then goes to get Aerith a bit of water and something to eat, if she could handle food right now. "COme on Aerith, speak to me."
Aerith So she could tell too?

Well then, no use hiding it.

Aerith sighed and peered toward Pixi, her features painted with a helpless expression. "I... I was useless." That might have said everything, but Aerith felt she had to elaborate. "You saw my spells... they didn't do a thing. And they just kept coming, and coming, and..." She shook her head. "How do you fight something like this? And who were those people controlling them? They felt so... horrible. Greedy, selfish, some more than a bit crazy..." She shivered. "And if they'd actually won, they wouldn't have stopped there."
Pixi Pixi says, "I know, Aerith. It's why I'm fighting the heartless, but it also seems I'm going to be fighting Baron as well, one and all." She says before setting a bit of food and water in front of Aerith, and gettign some for herself. "And you weren't useless, Aerith. It's like every single one of them is consumed by greed, despair, and evil." She says softly before looking at her hand. "And I nearly became like them too....." She then flops into a chair next to Aerith, giving her a hug.""
Kaydin Kaydin remains silent and turns to look at Pixi and then to Aerith. He licks his lips softly as he takes in a deep breath. "The darkness is a place of corruption, giving into our more darker and primal desires and wants. If it cant overtake you, it will nick at you until you do give in Aerith." He says softly.
Aerith Aerith accepted the hug... but didn't give one in return. Not yet.

First, she had to speak to someone else. Just behind her and to the right, waiting.

After a few moments of the embrace, Aerith gently pushed Pixi away and spoke without turning around. "And so here you are." Just the same as she'd said last time. "I have to say, despite your loyalties, you have a very , very strong sense of honor to show up here again. Keep it up, and you'll make a girl actually like you." She smiled. "Of course, I'm not exactly dating right now, or interested. But the thought's nice... Kaydin."

She sits up straight. "So is that what's happening to you? Every time you use that sword, is that what you go through?"
Pixi Pixi turns her ear and sighs. "Right on cue, it's two face." She says as she stands up from Aerith and starts to get to work on a bit of food and drink for herself. "I'll be over here, Aerith."
Kaydin "Everytime I use my sword I relive the suffering and pain and hatred and anger and sadness I have experienced. I relive it, and use it to fight my enemies." Kaydin says calmly. "I had a somewhat rough childhood so that helps strengthen me." He says as he looks to them. He looks to the Viera and then back at Aerith.
Aerith Aerith chuckled. "Don't worry about her. She'll come around as to why you did it... eventually." She turned and gave her that piercing gaze, green eyes with their natural glow to them. Or at least, they seemed to have one. "It's frustrating, isn't it? Being torn between loyalty and morality. If your side is in the right, you feel proud, patriotic even. But if they're not, you feel... betrayed."
Kaydin Kaydin nods at her. "Exactly right. Believe it or not, Baron was once a great capital. We were the first to develop airship technology. We fought only to defend our borders." Kaydin says as he looks to Aerith. "I decided something, the condition for me to betray my home and my country." He says calmly.
Kaydin "Over my time in this merged world, I have met many people but none like you Aerith. You know my loyalties. By all accounts you should hate me, because of that battle. But you dont. You understand the situation I am in. I have decided if Baigan, or even the king of baron, tries to hurt or capture you, I will protect you. I wont let the darkness take you." Kaydin says calmly, watching her. "I am not saying this is some sort of marriage proposal or something, I am just saying, your safety is worth more to me then my oath to Baron."
Aerith Aerith smiled. "You know... you really are fascinating. It's a shame Pixi isn't here to hear this, it'd change her mind right away." She turned away from him again. "I figured there was something good in you. But that fight had to happen... for both you, and Rinoa. I don't think she believes in herself too much... but I bet her victory helped. I trust you didn't hold back?"
Kaydin "No. Course I was using a normal sword. Dark swords are better, makes it easier to use the darkness with." Kaydin says with a slight chuckle. "As much as it pained me, You are right. It had to happen. I dont kill those I fight, unless they leave me no choice, just so you know."
Aerith Aerith shrugged. "Didn't say you did." She waved Pixi toward their table, hoping that she was done by now. "I trust you heard that, right?" She looked back at him. "By the way... I'm sure there are a few out there with what's usually called a pure heart... so why me? Why, out of all the women in the world, do you choose to be my bodyguard?"
Pixi Pixi snorts a bit. "I heard it, Aerith. I'll believe it when I see it." She says nastily as she munches on her sandwich. She then looks to Kaydin. "You do realize that, for Baron to aquire Aerith in the first place, They'll have to have killed ME first?"
Kaydin "Are you saying they wont?" Kaydin says as he looks to the Viera. He then looks to Aerith. "Because as I said, you understood my reasons. You dont try and force me to do otherwise. The heartless also target you and I despise them. You are also someone I can protect because I can choose it, not because I have to."
Aerith Aerith nodded. "Well... that's something I can get behind." She glanced toward Pixi with a smile. "It's nice to have so many who are willing to stand behind me... and on occasion in front of me."
Pixi Pixi smiles to Aerith at her comment, but then raises an eyebrow to Kaydin. "And when Baron issues a call to arms, you'll scurry right back to them to fight alongside of their forces again." She then shrugs to Aerith. "I tried to keep the biggest one off of you, Aerith. I didn't realize three more got past me."
Kaydin "I swore an oath to serve and protect my country. Forgive me if keeping my word is something I value." Kaydin says to Pixi and then looks to Aerith. "So what do you plan to do now? Most people are usually trying to find those they knew before this merger."
Aerith Aerith raised her hands, as if defending herself instead of Kaydin from the cutting words. "Hey, I didn't mean to start a fight! Cool off!" She sighed. "Look... could you two agree to disagree for the time being? I mean, we'll need to get along for now if we want to work together more often." She glanced toward Kaydin. "I'm... not sure, really. Still trying to figure some things out. But... I do have a question." She cleared her throat. "Since you know quite a bit... who was Baron after? Because you don't just come to a heavily guarded area with a well-trained military force just to cause trouble." She had a distant look in her eyes then. "I... felt something, near the end. It was strong, but clear and steady. All amidst that, I felt someone... not sure who. Soon as that presence went away, a whole section of the army diverted."
Pixi Pixi says, "You word has been a point of contention ever since you brought it up in the first place. Let's see. You swore an oath to serve baron no matter what, and yet, you come into seventh heaven and tell us Baron's plans, effectively breaking your word and oath to Baron, then run back to Baron to fight along side of them. Now you swear an oath to protect Aerith, even if this Baigan guy decides to capture her. SO how long will it be before you decide that protecting Aerith is inconvienent and capturing Aerith is more productive?"

She then looks to Aerith. "Hmm? I'll agree that he's a soldier of Baron and will hand us over to them whenever his superiors say so, or he feels like it, and will disagree that his 'word' has any sort of weight, whatsoever." She then turns and goes back to eating her food. "A whole section, hmm? Like they were going after whatever you felt?"""
Aerith Aerith shrugged. "So you don't trust him right now, that's okay. I'm sure that once Baron finds out what I am... well, they'll be coming after me sooner or later. As well as... whoever that was controlling those Heartless with the turbans." She stood and finally started in on her food. "They'll have a difficult time of it, I'll make sure of that."
Pixi Pixi says, "As will I, Aerith." She says with a soft tone to her. "I already made that oath to ya, Aerith." She then chuckles.""
Kaydin "Originally we were attacking garden for revenge for the diaz plains but one of baron's allies offered his troops because the garden was harboring a woman. Our ally wanted her alive." Kaydin says as he then looks to Pixi. "I told you the plans to try and warn you so garden can evacuate. Seeing as how they rather fight, I am regreting that decision." He says calmly.
Aerith Aerith shook her head. "Warning us gave them enough time to secure anyone that couldn't fight. You had no way of knowing they could properly defend themselves." Properly wasn't even the word, they made an excellent showing of it. If there weren't so many, and all at once, they'd have won a bit cleaner. "So thank you anyway."
Kaydin Kaydin nods as he would sighs. "I just wish I knew what was going to happen next. I still am quite sore, but left as soon as I was allowed to. Need to regin my complete armor and weapon so I can go about my experiments in trying to find something that can resist the corruption of the corridors." He says calmly.
Aerith It was just then that the pit of Aerith's stomach tightened. Definitely not a good sign.

Slowly, she stood from the table... and touched Pixi's shoulder. "I think we're going to have guests soon... we might want to step out of their way. Quickly." She made her way back to Tifa's bedroom area without another word... hoping to get out of visible range before whatever horrible entity she sensed showed up.
Pixi Pixi looks quietly to Aerith as she slipped out quickly. "uhm....okay." She says as Aerith disappears into the back, which causes her to watch the door.
Aerith Aerith reaches out of the door, grabs Pixi by whatever collar she has on her, and pulls her in as well, closing the door behind her. She locks it if she can, and turns toward the Viera afterward, giving her a whisper. "I know you don't like him... but our guests won't entirely be too happy if they see us, especially next to Kaydin. We're going to have to be discreet about this... which means you stay with me for now."
Pixi Pixi says, "WAUGH!" and is yanked into the backroom by Aerith. Which could mean many many things, but Aerith just wanted to talk. >.> <.<""
Kaydin Kaydin watches them and seems somewhat confused at what is going on. He then turns to see the entrance to the bar.
Pixi Pixi walks her way out of the back and looks towards the entrace as well.....munching her sandwich and reading a paper again.
Aerith Aerith sighed and let her go... letting her find out on her own that the door was locked. She unlocked the door, allowed her to leave... and then secured the room again. Perhaps it was best if she saw it herself instead of being told what was out there... she didn't know what exactly it was, but it was nothing she wanted to be part of.
Avira The doors to the Seventh Heaven swing open, no doubt a horrifying being of darkness stepping through-oh, wait, it's just Avira. She's no horrifying being of darkness unless you're Ivo Galvan. At least not yet.

The young woman looks exhausted, her eyes dull and her shoulders drooping. There's a weariness about her that seems pretty unlike the typically upbeat and excited huntress. Such a mood could only be created within her by encountering some form of extreme disappointment.

Avira is largely unaware of anyone fleeing her "presence." She merely slumps herself over to the bar and settles down in one of the stools. From behind, she could be recognized if only because that's where her unique weapon resided on her person. Trying to take this weapon would no doubt provoke an immediate and painful response.

"Ice cream and a rum, please." Avira sighs, resting her elbow on the bar.
Kaydin "I come here to drink. The owner is a friend of mine." Kaydin says as he puts some munny down on the bar for himself and Baigan to drink. He then looks to Baigan. "They did. It seems someone told them that some massive darkness was coming So they began preparing." Kaydin says to the man. "It was how they found out who I was, they sensed the darkness in me from my training as a dark knight. There was also a woman, dark skinned woman with long black hair, gave off holy light. It was unlike I ever seen, Captain." He says to the man.
Pixi Struggling to get to her feet, since Aerith so unceremoniously yoinked her into the back room, Pixi just settles for sitting on the floor. "Mmm, good point, Aerith. I think it'd be better if I stayed back here and just went to sleep though. The battle took a lot out of me."
Avira What a coincidence!

Avira does not notice the blonde commander behind her. Even when he sits at the very stool next to her, no recognition triggers. Perhaps because during that particular fight, Avira was more accustomed to seeing "giant monster man with snake hands." Avira's memory greatly exaggerates his appearance too. Baigan is gynormous and muscled. The snake arms are thick and muscled too! Also gloriously long. A big scary terrifying monster on the battlefield that...Avira, in fact, did not fight.

In short order, Avira is delivered a tumbler glass filled with rum and a sea salt ice cream. Carefully unwrapping the frozen morsel, she inverts the treat and dips it into the rum. After holding it there for a few seconds, she removes it and starts to lick.

Then Baigan starts to talk, lamenting his loss. It isn't until Baigan mourns the pride of Baron and the Red Wings that Avira realizes that this man is referring to the very battle she was at yesterday! Cautiously, she sneaks a glance at the man sitting next to her, perhaps in disbelief.
Aerith Aerith nodded and sat on the bed, her voice still low and uncertain. "Best not to let them know about us too early... I'd rather not have the Heartless, Baron's army, /and/ who knows who else after us just yet."
Kaydin "These are indeed strange times, Captain. And Lord Golbez is wise, But I do think perhaps we are going about it the wrong way. You saw what became of that Vizier when he learned of that woman. Can we really trust such people as allies, those who would leave in mid battle? Then there is the heartless themselves. While it seems we can control them, I wonder how long it will last." He says and when Baigan begins to look about and hisses at him to hide Baigan, He chuckles. "Personally she reminds me of my mother, so I find her hilarious." He says as he pats the bar. "I will see about calming her down." He says as he begins to head out of the bar.
Avira Regardless of Baigan's breeding, which she did not know about enough to make a judgement call upon regarding his current behavior, it doesn't go unnoticed that this man is clearly quite sore about the previous loss. As he keeps talking about it, she's certain to make her look to him very brief, afraid that anything longer would clearly draw the man's attention.

Avira hunches over in her seat, resting both elbows on the bar now. Anything to make her appear more 'closed off' to the world and thus not really worth Baigan's harassment.

It makes eavesdropping SO much easier! Avira is interested in all of the things that Baigan says, though he would be hard pressed to realize this as the person next to him seems too interested in dipping their sea salt ice cream in their rum.

Then a familiar voice that Avira knows as well. Cringing, she silently shares Baigan's hopes that the loudmouthed elf did not find him. No such luck as all too soon, Avira experiences the same screeching tones that were leveled at her recently. It was some comfort seeing that this woman was nasty to everyone.
Aerith All right... so... nothing bad happenning out there. The foreboding presence is still there, now joined by yet another one. As long as no one's trying to blow up the bar, she's fine. So Aerith unlocks the door, opens the portal, and makes her best attempt not to shiver as she makes her way past a blond man. Yes, that's the one she felt the aura from, and another one is just outside. In fact, she can hear the... woman... complaining as she approached the front doors. And so it was that she made her way toward the exit, hoping not to draw too much attention...

Until she found a girl who'd just stammered an apology.

Right, time to intervene...

"Maybe I can help you... what's your name?" Cue beatific smile here.
Kaydin Kaydin gives a slight chuckle at tries to maintain a serious face. "Now calm yourself please, your wasting good energy which you can be using back handing recruits." Kaydin says with a slightly joking manner. "The airships are getting resupplied and I invited the Captain here for a chance to come relax till the airships are ready. Come, have a drink now, it will help." He says as he moves out of the elf's way to see the girl bump into Morrighan and he gives a slight wince. "Tis alright." He says and when Aerith comes out, he smiles. "Hope to see you again soon?" He asks the flower girl as he watches her and then waits to see if Morrighan will come join him.
Aerith "Well since it's not exactly my bar... I don't think I mind too much." She knelt and placed a hand on one of Rhyme's shoulders. "Hey... come on inside. We'll talk when we get you someplace a bit safer than out here." With that, she led the girl into the bar, aiming to get her to one of the tables that wasn't too occupied.
Kaydin "Morrighan I know your tired and dirty and sore, but once the resupplying gets done, we will all climb aboard our airship, head back to the castle, and I will even lend you my dark knight gauntlet so you can backhand recruits good. In the end, it all works out great." He says with a calming tone. He then turns to Baigan. "Captain I found in the world called manhatten there is a man there that sells these communication devices that can be carried on one's person and used between worlds. With these devices, scouts can report information almost instantly. With these devices, there would be no need for messangers." Kaydin suggests to try and cheer the captain up. "I also found a judge from the archadian empire. Maybe we can forge an alliance, they claim to have a strong airship fleet."
Avira 'I also found a judge from the Archadian empire. Maybe we can forge an alliance, they claim to have a strong airship fleet.'

OH HELL NO. Fear immediately gathers in the pit of Avira's stomach at this very thought. From what she had experienced of the Archadian Empire, she knew they were all quite strong and harsh. If they teamed up with Baron, the effects would be catastrophic, especially for Manhattan. Nevermind seeing Baron influencing Rabanastre.

Clearly she had to sabatoge this alliance effort. But HOW? Speaking of Manhattan, though, she can't help but smile a little as Baigan curses those 'detectives.' Ah, Mercade's work no doubt.

But their goal, ultimately, seems to be those crystals. Another interesting tidbit, especially since one does reside in Fluorgis. Did that mean the city was in dire danger from Baron?

Her ice cream is quickly gone now, leaving Avira with just her glass of rum. She's hesitant to consume it now, afraid of becoming too intoxicated and forgetting all this valuable information.
Aerith Reaper's game? Partner? And she sounded like she was unsure about being separated from this Beat. As for the conversation that was heavily muffled through the walls, Aerith had no doubt that the three of them, one of which she vaguely recognized from the battle earlier, were discussing something of dire consequences, certainly not for a girl's ears.

While she couldn't just let it sit... she'd promised Rhyme she would help her. And so it took precedence. "Well then, that's a fair start. Can you describe him for me?"
Kaydin "She is right, we best go to baron and report things to Golbez. And best of all, the plan is yours captain, so Golbez will support you." Kaydin says with a smile.

LATER

Baigan opens his mouth to tell Golbez the plan only to have the dark cape figure play the organ to drown the captain out, shrugging as he played

NOW

"Hey Morrighan, does that girl look familiar to you?" He asks,pointing to Avira.
Aerith Cue a blink from the flowergirl.

If she didn't miss her guess, Rhyme had just picked up on something. Either she could hear something much clearer, or she had some kind of interesting talent. Either way, she was completely right. And then the voices picked up to the level that Aerith could actually hear them. Now she was even more worried about them ruining her friend's bar... but never mind.

She smiled toward Rhyme. "You're clever with all those sayings." She wouldn't ask how Rhyme knew that those three were bad news, it was obvious enough. "And yes, I suppose you could say I need help. Tell me... what exactly can you hear past this wall?"
Avira Damn, there went Baigan! The endless source of valuable information....well, ends for tonight. Even in the face of that HORRIBLE ELF scolding him for talking so freely in public. Frankly, Avira did have to agree with this-what a foolish thing to do! But this foolish thing was benefitting her so she welcomed this behavior.

With a quiet sigh, she lifts her rum and takes a long sip. It's in mid-sip that she's pointed out by Kaydin-damn him!-and Morrighan suddenly takes notice of her. Of course, this is partially blamed on Baigan who is gone and no longer blocking the elf's view of her.

Her head starts to throb the moment Morrighan starts screeching. Blearily, she looks over at the elf, a dull expression on her face. "Can you keep it down?" Avira complains, "I can't hear myself drink."
Kaydin "So I take it you do know her." Kaydin says as he would look to Morrighan. "How about we go and find you that beach you spoke about. Dont want to trash this bar, my friend already beated the crap out of me once for doing something in her bar she didnt like, I dont wanna know what she will do when she finds the places destroyed." He says as he tries to escort the elf.
Aerith Aerith sighed as they made their way out. "You know what Rhyme, never mind. I have a different way to find out what they were saying." She stood from her chair and unlocked the door. "Hey, come on. I'll get you some sea salt ice cream."

She led the way out of the back room, into the main dining room, and ordered up a sea salt ice cream stick as well as a cup of tea. Then she sat next to Avira and gave the woman her best smile. "Hi. You uh... you okay?"
Avira The moment the magic is broken out, Avira seems to immediately "sober" up. She'd been feigning a little bit of drunkness on the hope that miss high and mighty elf healer would be TOO DISGUSTED by the intoxicated commoner to stick around. Apparently Avira had completely underestimated this woman's desire to inflict bodily harm upon her!

Gosh, all she did was punch her in the face repeatedly! Some people...worst part is, Avira didn't get to leave a nice bruise on her from that! Then again, she was a white mage. All that damage was healed away later, wasn't it?

"You're welcome to TRY you old granny! Word of advice, though! You should stay at your castle next time!!!" Avira shouts at her as she leaves.

Settling back down on her stool, she looks over at Aerith...and pouts. "I called that woman a cow yesterday. She totally stole my insult. ...honestly, though, I'm fine. Good thing that knight was there to drag her off or that could have turned nasty."
Kaydin "Tell Tifa I said hi. I will be seeing you again soon!" Kaydin calls to Aerith as he continues to go about escorting the dark elf. "As for you, lets get you back home and to clean clothes and a hot bath, get the commoner germs off of you." He offers to the elf as they finally leave.
Aerith Aerith waves back at Kaydin... before making sure they were well and truly gone. Once they were, she glanced back at Avira. "Listen. My name's Aerith, and I was at that fight along with you and several others. I'm not going to sugar coat this or make it diplomatic: tell me everything you heard. I might be able to help."
Avira "The name's Avira. Avira of Rabanastre." she says dryly, refusing to share any information as long as her name wasn't shared first. Come to think of it, that crazy elf woman likely didn't know her name, which was a bit of a crime, really. "As for what I heard from Baigan of Baron, well, it was this..."

Avira gives a quick summary of what she overheard from Baigan, from Jafar looking for that woman to Baron wanting the elemental crystals.

"Nah. Nothing's wrong now that that elf woman is gone."
Aerith Aerith schooled her face into an impassive mask. Oh yes... this was not good. And if this Jafar was looking for that woman with the holy light so fervently, it meant she was important. Highly so. The picture started to form in her head... and then the offer for help was given.

Aerith smiled. Rhyme was just so adorable!

She turned to face her. "Listen, Rhyme... there are some bad people that are out to hurt a lot of others. I don't know what I'll do about it yet, but I will think of something... in the meantime, I want to ask you more about these feelings you get... because it sounds like something I can do too." She raised a hand, a gesture to let her finish. "Not exact, but similar. How exactly did this start?"
Aerith Probably nothing. Or probably... nothing she could explain, or admit was bad enough to warrant concern.

Now one would think Aerith was not fazed by the implications that this girl before her had died, twice. And one would be correct in that assumption. She'd had experience with death before, or at least knowing when someone had died. So with that in mind, she nodded in full understanding, at least of some parts. What this game was, she still had only a foggy idea about, but at the very least Rhyme had tried to explain.

"So then... you have no idea of how you could do this before you died either time." Aerith smiled. "Well then, why don't we try to at least understand what you can do?"
Aerith Aerith smiled. "Not nothing..." Aerith gave Rhyme's forehead a gentle poke. "You might not have heard what was going on, but you could tell it was bad, somehow. And that is something. It's a start. Since you say you woke up without any of those pins that you /could/ use, then we can narrow it down to something that simply comes from /you/."
Aerith Aerith shook her head. "So you could judge tone of voice and feel the whole mood of the conversation through a wall that muffled sound." Again she smiled. "Luck has nothing to do with it, and that's more than just good ears, I think. You either have extraordinary hearing, or you have something else." She placed a hand on Rhyme's head. "I'm not sure what it is, or if it really is anything. I might just be looking too far into something that's not there. If there is something though..." She ruffled Rhyme's hair. "Don't you think it'd be exciting to find out?"
Aerith Aerith giggled. "You're absolutely adorable, has anyone ever told you that?" She beamed, the first full-on smile she'd given anyone since coming here. "I'll tell you what... since you already have a lot of great friends helping you, why not have one more?" She reached her right hand out for a shake. "And if there are any other special little tricks you have, we'll find out together."

 
This scene contained 118 poses. The players who were present were: Faruja Senra, Tifa Lockhart, Pixi, Avira, Kaydin, Rinoa Heartilly, Aerith