The Village (Mikey B, Drewey if she wants)

This is where Erebus and Naomi meet. This will also involve mass amounts of violence, so that's why it's not in the Crossroads.
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Naomi was looting from yet another home. She had gotten word that the owner of this particular house was a complete slavedriver, constantly working his maids and butlers to their extremes. This provided double the pleasure for the fox-girl, as it ment that this man was rich, plus she could take him down a notch.

When she was done, she lept down onto the street silently. The girl smiled inside, wondering where to go next... and then was stopped in her tracks.

A small group of monks, dressed in deep tan fabrics, was standing in the town square, each holding a Zimbato. Although determination was set on each one's face, none dared to move. A particularly tall one stepped out. He had the same robes on as the others, yet his was inlaid with gold and silver.

"Demon, thou shalt not steal from our most wealthiest benofactor. Return thine stolen loot and come with us peacefully, and we promise thou a swift and painless death," the tall monk said, drawing out his own Zimbato.

OOC: The title of this thread reminds me of a terrible movie by M.Night Shyamalon. I know I probably misspelled his name, but it’s his fault for having such a weird name.

Why couldn’t he have an easy to remember last name, like Budnick?

BIC: Naomi began to back away slowly. Before she could get away the monks surrounded, then bound and gagged her.

The tall priest hit the fox girl over the head, forcing her to kneel on the ground. There were too many of them for her to escape, and her hands were tied behind her back anyway.

The large man knelt down to look Naomi in the eye. Her face had a frightened look on it, as she knew that she was practically guaranteed to die.

“Now demon, aren’t you sorry for sinning against god?” The priest shuddered with enjoyment at saying the last word. It somehow brought him joy to see somebody who appeared to be a demon, bound and gagged.

Naomi tried to scream but all that came from her mouth was a muffled yell. The cloth the monks had tied around her head to cover her mouth restricted her voice more than she had expected.

While all of this was happening, TDC had just entered the town. He’d been travelling for some time and needed a good rest.

Seeing the crowd of monks made the boy shiver with the thought of what they would likely do to him if they knew he was a demon-human hybrid. TDC and Naomi weren’t the only two children in town who weren’t exactly normal however, as the monks would soon discover…

OOC: Sorry for the short post. I’ll let you start it off.

Erebus had just seen enough. Just the thought of a bunch of old guys kidnapping a young girl was enough to make him scream. "Pedophiles..." he muttered under his breath. The teen jumped down on top of the tallest one, knifing him in the neck as he went.

Alas, these monks were as well trained in fighting as they were at... monking? They quickly overtook him and bound him as well. The second-in-command sneered in the boy's face and spit on him. "Take them to the dungeon," the bald man yelled, spit flying everywhere. Right before Erebus was knocked out, he thought "This is just one giant cliche..." What he didn't know is that he said it out loud, causing a random robed man to hit him on the back.

All this time, TDC was watching. He knew what would have happened if he had attacked. The twisted youth was no idiot. He jumped up on a roof and bounded across each one, keeping up with the tan cavelcade.
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HURRAH FOR CLICHES!

Yeah, I got invited by HJ. Heh, this is like one of WotS' mind challenge thing. Run in, or watch from the sidelines? I'll go with... Neither.

IC: Damn those racist jerks, Latio thought while sitting in the least-stinking corner of his jail cell. He had just been wandering throughout the various villages and towns scattered all over the countryside, and in one particularily religous village some monks just grabbed him and threw him in the dungeon he currently resided. He could not get close enough to the bars to melt them with fire, because when he approached the thick bars his right eye stung, and it was just painful enough to keep him from concentrating, and nothing else would work.

The monks had also stripped him from his demonhide armour, and his nearly-unbreakable mythril chainmail. It had been three days so far, and they hadn't given the foxfolk any food. I don't know how much longer I can last... He suddenly heard a thud to his right, followed by one to his left, then muffled yells and curses. He recognised the one on the right as Erebus, due to the music eminating from his earphones, and the other had the scent of a... another foxfolk?

OoC: Best I've written in a while!

Edit: Whoops! I threw the wrong kid into the dungeon. I'll just go fix that

I've decided on a posting order. Mikey B will post next, then FotW, then me, then repeat.
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Although they had taken away Erebus' sword, they had neglected to take away his knife, which he had hidden in it's sheath. In order to hide it, he had to stuff it down his pants. The second that he was thrown into the cell, it had dropped out unnoticed right inside the bars. The teenager stopped his ranting spree and sighed inside his gag. He quickly dropped down and scooted closer to the knife, moving like a worm because of his bindings.

Yet, when he neared the cast-iron bars, a pain similar to the one he experienced in his Temple shot through him. The alchoholic writhed on the floor, still trying to reach the blade. With one final effort, he managed to slap it towards the center of the cage, and wormed back, laying upon it. Then, he knew no more.

When Erebus awoke, he saw his surroundings more clearly. For one, he noticed that he was no longer bounded. Also, his glasses were gone. Finally, he noticed that the knife was still there. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned off the little iPod that was attached to his belt. He sat up and surveyed what was in the cages near him.

A familiar-looking foxfolk was sitting next to the teen's cage. "Hey! Latio!" he piped up. Latio turned and smiled, replying weakly "Hey there. You seem a little more excited than usual!"

"It's this place, the jail. I've always been able to break out of jails."

"Not this one. If you get too close to it, it uh... well, I think you already know."

"That's the thing: I'm happy about this! It's a challenge worthy of me!"

"You tell 'em, kid!" a new, female voice said. Erebus looked through the bars of Latio's cage and saw Naomi again. "Oh, hey there. You okay?" he replied, with a look of concern upon his sad face.

"Yeah, I'm okay. You can't get near the bars either?"

"Nope."

"I hate to break this up, but somebody's coming..." Latio said, pointing at the only exit to the room.

“A challenge worthy of you? Please, you needed both the vampire’s and my help to escape from that other prison,” said a young man. Erebus recognized it as the voice of TDC, the strange child from the island prison.

“What are you doing here?” the knife user asked. The silhouette of a young teen could barely be seen beyond the bars. A large warhammer was being dragged behind him, likely to be used for the bars.

“I saw them attacking the fox girl over there, then I saw you get captured,” began TDC. The hybrid suddenly noticed Latio. “I guess fox people aren’t too uncommon here.”

Before any of the three caged warriors could say a word to warn the son of Gorin, a larger form appeared behind him. TDC spun around to find a particularly rotound monk wielding a staff.

“Ack! Though wishes to free his demon masters? Surely you must be a demon as well!” boomed a deep voice. The rotound man brought his staff down on the young demon, sending him crashing into the bars of Latio’s cage.

TDC screamed in pain as he began to feel the effects of the bars. He was unable to even flinch his finger, and he broke out into a cold sweat. His breathing became labored.

“Ahh,” said the large monk. “If it hurts ye demon so much to be against thy holy bars, it shalt destroy ye to be thrust through them!”

It seemed that this man was too stupid to realize that slamming TDC through the bars would free a much more powerful warrior, or he was just too stupid to care. Either way his choice was going to prove to be a very, very bad one.

The large monk thrust his staff into TDC’s chest, a burst of holy energy exploding from the tip of the spear as it made contact with the boy’s flesh. It was the blast of holy energy rather than the man’s attack that sent the boy crashing through the bars.

“No!” came another voice. A smaller monk ran in behind the large one. “Breaking the bars deactivates the whole thing you idiot!” Despite being a monk, he was very close to smacking the larger one over the head.

Hearing the small monk’s complaint Naomi, Erebus, and Latio each gave their own version of a look that said, “You two are screwed.”

The whole time TDC was passed out on the floor, completely unaware that the other three warriors were now free of their cages.

Three of the four warriors charged at the monks, but the unknown child stayed back, wary of the holy staves they wielded. Naomi was restricted to punching, kicking, and dodging, because the monks had confiscated her fake claws when they caught her. Latio and Erebus, however, gained speed and agility due to the loss of their armour and weapons, and they unfortunately were forced to kill three or four of the monks called to the battle scene; there were three left. The two male fighters heard a sudden yell as one of the remaining ‘holy’ men had grasped Naomi in a bear hug.

“Erebus, think you can take these guys?” Latio questioned to the younger Alliance member.

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’m going to help that kitsune, she can’t overpower one of these guys herself.” The silver fox vaguely remembered something his mother told him, that there are many variations of foxfolk, but they can all go by the name ‘kitsune.’ He could also feel something about her, like he needed her for something. She’s the only foxfolk I’ve met since... A long time... he thought while running towards the source of the scream.

The fat man had carried her down the dungeon hallway, slowly squeezing the life out of her. “I..I can’t...breath” the fox girl whispered right before Latio tackled the kidnapper. Naomi plumped to the ground and took long, deep breaths, rubbing her neck as she did. She finally gained enough breath to talk normally. “Um... Thanks...” she said to Latio, who was about to jab a sharp claw into the monk’s neck.

“And you call yourself a holy man...” he said before killing him, but was stopped by a delicate hand.

“He’s just some old guy who tried to be more than he could...” the girl said sympathetically. “Why did you leave your friend to rescue me, anyway?”

“First of all, we’re not really friends, just allies. And I rescued you because... You’re the first foxfolk I’ve met and talked to for a long time.”

BiC: Hope I did your character right, HJ.

Also, I'm gone till Sunday (five days from now), so skip my turns till then, then I'll use my skipped post to inform you that I'm back.

Yeah, you did great on that one, FotW.
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"Um, what's a foxfolk? I mean, that's probably what you are, but I don't think I am one..." Naomi replied. She looked over her shoulder and started fiddling with her tail. "Well, my mom once told me that there are all sorts of variations of foxfolk," Latio said, sounding as earnest as a person could if he hadn't had food for three days.

"Well, still..."

"DUDES! HEEEEELP!" Latio and Naomi both stared back up the way they had came. The remaining monk was overpowering Erebus with sheer strength, his zimbato only inches away from the teen's throat. "We'll talk later." she pronounced, running back up the hall. Latio paused, then ran.

Yet, when they got there, Erebus had already disposed of the tan-wearing man. "How many of these boobs do they got?" he asked, panting and sweating, yet looking like he was having a blast. "Anyway, we'd better get our stuff back. There's a crate full of disposed weapons and the like over there."

Naomi reached in and grabbed her claw, while Latio pulled out his armor. He also handed Moonwave to Erebus, who merely replied "Thanks," hidden in a breath. Although he had everything back, the alcoholic couldn't shake the fact that there was something missing, something he needed out of that crate. He reached in, and lifted up the brown glasses he had grown to adore.

"Let's all get out of here." Latio said, looking again at Naomi.

"What about him?" she replied, pointing one of her fingers at TDC.

"I'll get him." Erebus said.

"What? I know you, you can't lift him!"

"Shut it. I said that I was going to escape, and I'm like a Marine. Leave no man behind."

"Fine, it's your funeral."

"Will you two cut it out?" the fox-girl interjected. Erebus noticed for the first time how red her short hair was, how well-defined her body was, how cute her little fox ears were. When he realized that he noticed all that, he was both ashamed and surprised. He was ashamed because he was staring at the body of the hottest girl he had ever met, and was surprised that he wasn't staring at her breasts.

It was then that our little miscreant knew why he was so happy. It wasn't because he was in a jail, nor was it because he was about to prove Latio wrong. It was because he was in love.
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How sweet. And slightly disturbing.

A single man sat in meditation. His chest expanded and shrank, perfectly matching his breathing pattern. His thoughts were filled with those of demons and darkness.

“Well?” said a voice. The man, a high-ranking monk, turned to see that a red clothed man had entered the room. This man was flanked by two shadowy figures, each wearing a dark hooded cloak.

“Well what?” replied the monk. He was the advisor to the head monk, and thus had incredibly great power over the others. The man entering the room however, was far from a monk.

“Have you captured any of them,” said the red clothed man. “I told you to capture at least three of them. I need them to continue work on the project.”

The monk stood and smoothed out the wrinkles in his tan clothing. His fingers were practically covered in expensive gold rings, each one representing the promotion he had to receive in order to become the head monk’s chief advisor.

The red clothed man ran a finger through his own crimson hair. It had been months since he had cut it, and it was down to his chin. He brushed his bangs out of the way of his sight to get a better look at the monk.

The monk wore the usual tan attire, although he had several symbols sewn into it with golden colored fabrics and thread. He wore so many rings that his fingers appeared to be made of gold.

His head was adorned with a crown of mild thorns. The pain from the thorns was supposed to represent the sacrifices he was supposedly willing to make in the name of the god that the monks worshipped.

“Well,” began the monk in his raspy voice. “We did, but I just heard a report that a fourth one came and was able to accidentally free the other three. That means they are loose, and you know as well as I do that not even all of our monks combined is exactly enough to defeat them.”

The red clothed man gave a slight frown. He hated working with monks, but monks were the only ones who would actually make it their personal goal to find the demons that he described to them. Even if most of them weren’t really demons, Toka could still use more test subjects.

He motioned towards the two figures accompanying him. Each one stepped forwards and bowed. The monk was surprised at how deeply they bowed, as their heads came within inches of the floor.

“My guards Iruki and Shanz will accompany any and all monks that you will send. They are not to remove their cloaks though, do I make myself clear?”

The monk nodded, incredibly grateful that his monks now had help. From what he had heard, Toka’s guards were powerful warriors. They had survived various forms of damage and come out unscathed.

What he didn’t know was that Toka himself was a necromaster, and his bodyguards were resurrected demons. He especially knew nothing of Horror #2, the beast that Toka now had under his control.

The horror was off guarding Toka’s lair while he was away, and thus would be unable to join the demonic bodyguards on this particular mission. The necromaster was the only man still alive who knew what Grasthos’ plan involving Echo Side and Gorin was, and he wanted to finish it.

To finish it he would need both demon blood and bait. If this were succesful he’d get both. If it failed he’d make permanent enemies with the monks.

“Iruki and Shanz should be a bit more powerful this time. Reducing them to the form they were in after their fight against Gorin and Nenet will make them more likely to win…”

OOC: Iruki and Shanz are the typical demon. They look like a human male, although they have claws and are much stronger than the average human. One of them uses an axe, the other uses a two-handed sword.

For this battle both Iruki and Shanz have had upgrades. They are now made completely of ashes, which are held in their humanish forms via magic. They can reduce themselves into clouds of ash, and thus do such things as becoming invulnerable to direct physical attack, etc.

Whoa, Mikey, warn us before you switch to another topic just like that. Now I have to re-read HJ's post to figure out where we are... Oh, right, Erebus gawking at Naomi. Hmm, how should I steal her away?

IC:Erebus just stood in place, gawking at the beautiful fox girl as she slipped on her clawed glove, and noticed one of the two blades missing. "Wait, I lost a claw," Naomi said, reaching back into the crate. It was quite a large box, and the teenage girl had to bent over to touch the bottom, where the blade would've fell. The alcoholic Alliance member suddenly felt an urge to touch her, and he reached towards her waist, but Latio sensed his motives and intervined.

"Erebus," he whispered, "Can't you be a little more polite? Here, I'll show you how it's done, you go try to carry the other guy." The foxfolkreached into the crate with a polite "Here, I'll help you," and, being half a foot taller than the girl, found the steel shard before her, for it was in one of the back corners.

"Here you are, Miss?" he said, holding the curved metal in between his thumb and index finger.He hoped it was miss.

"My name is Naomi. Now, it would be rude of you to not tell me your name after I told you mine," she answered, taking the steel blade and snapping it into place on her scarlet gauntlet.

"I am Latio Scaptur, at your service." Erebus snickered at the corniness of the line, and Naomi giggled ever so slightly.
"So, Erebus, what did you accomplish, with your 'grab her ass' strategy? Using my approach, I got her name, and she got mine."

Erebus was able to lift TDC, but he needed some assistance carrying him out. Naomi and Latio took some monk robes to avoid getting caught again, though the 'holy' men were very big, and they had to hold them on so the disguises wouldn't fall off. The three started walking out, Erebus and the silver fox carrying the white-haired boy on a stretcher made from spare weapons found in the crate, and more monk clothing. Latio wondered how healthy that was for him, Gorin hates holy magic, and this boy's aura was very similar.

They exited through the entrance to the chapel/dungeon they were trapped in, and Naomi suddenly dropped her robes. A crowd. And as if planned a gust of wind blew the brown cloak away. Latio could hear her increasingly rapid breathing, her heart raced, and she suddenly went blind. No, she wasn't blind, there was some obstruction blocking her veiw. It was Latio's cloak.

"I'm guessing you're not too secure around crowds, Naomi?" The voice came from almost directly above her. "Yeah, I don't like 'em either, their too noisy. Now, just wrapp yourself in part of my robe, and hide those nice little ears of yours."

OoC: WEEEEEE! I'm being troublesome!

You've sure been getting on my nerves lately. >_<
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Inside, Erebus was seething with anger. How dare he steal her! he thought, gripping the handle of the stretcher enough to give him splinters. Yet, he stayed his toungue. He knew that if he said something now, Naomi might just leave. "So, Latio, comfy?" the boy asked, a tiny bit of spite audible in his voice.

"Oh yeah." Latio whispered back, grinning like a maniac. (rhyme totally intentional ^_^)

"Well, you better be..."

They had now reached the outskirts of the town, although not totally without drawing suspicious eyes. As the group neared the exit, two figures in dark robes appeared, one wielding a massive sword, another with an axe that seemed like it could cleave a boar in twane. "Go no further." they said in unison, both stanced like a profesionall mercinary. Erebus laughed and ripped off his robe, as well as his sweatshirt, revealing a surprisingly good-looking boy underneath. Naomi widened her eyes and looked straight at him as he drew his knife, threw it in the air, and catched it with one fluid motion.

"Latio, why don't you go help him out? I'll help this little guy." she said, nudging him forward.
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Hah! She's falling in love with EREBUS, burn you fool!

OOC: *whips HJ and FotW with chain whip
Now now kiddies, don’t be eating eachother now. (Don’t even ask) And in response to your user title HJ, Elmo kills the clown.

BIC: Naomi rushed to the teen’s side; Latio wondering whether to guard the unconscious child or help the two teenagers fight. He wasn’t sure why, but these things seemed much more powerful than the monks were.

Iruki, the one wielding the massive sword, recognized Erebus and Latio in a split second. Their master Toka had been keeping tabs on the Oblivion Alliance via the imp Frank. It surprised them that Gorin didn’t realize that the imp was a spy.

“You are horribly outmatched,” said Iruki. Even though his strength was equal to that of his twin brother Shanz, he was the slightly more intelligent one. When anything required talking he’d be the one speaking for the both of them. “The two of us combined posed a challenge to the Oblivion Master himself.”

In response Erebus leapt towards Iruki. The demon sidestepped the teenager’s lunging attack and hit him in the back of the head with a hook kick, sending the boy sprawling to the ground. Naomi squinted her eyes and muttered, “Ouch,” when the demon brought his foot down on Erebus’ back.

Shanz took advantage of the fact that Naomi was focused on the other teen, bringing his ax down hard. The fox girl didn’t notice the attack until it was so close that she could smell the dried blood on the weapon. Erebus saw this and quickly brought his knife across the back of Iruki’s left ankle, severing his tendons.

Much to the teen’s surprise however, Naomi brought up her claw to block Shanz’s attack. She quickly ducked down and performed a sweeping kick to the demon’s legs, tripping him. It was at that moment that the white haired boy began to stir.

Iruki and Shanz regrouped, standing across the cobblestone street from the teens. Iruki was unable to walk, as the tendons on his left ankle had been severed. Shanz could of course walk, but he didn’t know if he could handle both of the teenagers, let alone all four of them.

The demons and the teens both stood facing one another. Iruki glared at Erebus, Naomi doing the same to Shanz. The alcoholic teen was looking at Iruki with a smirk on his face. As for Shanz well, he was pretty much just staring off into space.

“What’s going on?” asked TDC. He had woken up, and everything was always blurry just as he was waking up. Naomi and Erebus looked over at the child for a split second, which was obviously too long. Shanz grabbed his twin and leapt onto a nearby roof.

“They’re here! They’re here! The demons are on this street!” the demons yelled. Naomi, Erebus, Latio, and even TDC simultaneously muttered, “Crap.”

Originally Posted by Dishonest John

Hah! She's falling in love with EREBUS, burn you fool!

Hey, they're your characters. If she was my creation, I'd ask you to edit your post, but she isn't...*sob*

IC: The twin demons noiselessly disintigrated to ashes, which suprisingly stayed in some kind of swarm, as if they were thousands of miniscule bugs. The two swarms of particles flew into the air, and scattered above the fight that would start, as if watching them, though they were invisible to the naked eye.

The mob the four supposed demons were about to be faced with was very steriotypical, wielding torches and pitchforks as weapons, along with the monks' zimbatoes. "Circle them," one peasent yelled, and soon the teens were entrapped in a large circle of peasents, at least five people deep all around. A group of blue-clad men broke through the crowd, they wore hats with gold crests, and they looked to be some organization. Erebus and Naomi whispered almost in unison, "oh, God, no."

One man stepped out of the group, and spoke up. "I am officer Peterson, we're here to inform you that you four have broken several of this town's laws: Disturbing the peace, raising a mob, possessing bladed weapons in a holy place, theft, and possession of demonic powers. Come along peacefully, or we'll be forced to shoot." A series of loud clicks signified the cops were ready to open fire.

"Erebus, what are those, and how do they work?" Latio whispered, hardly moving.

"They're nine millimeter pistols, there's some explosive stuff inside them, and when that explodes, a tiny piece of metal shoots out the hole and kills you."

"What if I were to seal this hole, then set off the explosion?"

"The gun would explode, I think. But you can't bend metal, or clog it without them shooting you. Then again, it would make my life alot easier..."

"Watch me." Latio's fire tail radiated a small amount of heat, and the foxfolk could move the heat around the place at his will. He then drew some body heat from the policemen, which caused them to shiver a little, and melted the end of each gun with it. He pulled the heat away suddenly, and the metal solified, leaving no exit for the bullets to blast from. "Gentlemen, I do not believe I have committed any of those crimes as of today, or any time in this village. Now, I think we'll be leaving."

The other three were astonished at his calmness, and the officer spoke again. "Take one more step, and we'll shoot the boy." All ten of the pistols were aimed at Erebus.

"Oh well, I guess he's dead, then." He took another step away from the officers, and there was a small explosion, nothing that could k8ill, but powerful enough to knock them down pretty good.

"Run!" Latio yelled, while running away as fast as he could from the officers, as did the other three, but they were stopped by a wall of people, shouting so many different things it was incomprehensible.

"I'll protect her, you help the other guy." Erebus said to the Oblivion colonel.

"No, you help him, I'll protect her. This is an order from an Oblivion colonel, and last time I checked, that was higher than whatever yours is."

OoC: Mikey, read Latio's training thread, you might find it ironic. And HJ, respect your superiors

Oh don't worry FotW, I'll respect your athoritah.
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"**** you, *****!" Erebus screamed above the roar of the crowd. He ran over to Naomi, knife drawn, almost wanting the crowd to come. She also held her weapon up, waiting for the tidal wave of humans. Latio shook his head and also struck up a defensive pose.

And then, a miracle happened. It seemed like the hand of an angel gripped Erebus' shoulder and pulled him into the inn, but it wasn't. The boy turned around to find himself face-to-face with TDC. He screamed, and TDC just let him go. Although it didn't really sink in at first, he realized how much they looked alike.

They quickly drew in Latio and Naomi as well, and shoved piles of furniture across the door. When it was done, all four of the young warriors were sweaty and tired. Within seconds, both Naomi and Erebus realized that they were supporting each other, and promptly disengaged, both teens blushing. "Wait... do you hear that?" she asked, her left ear perking up. Erebus could feel the blood rush to his groin as that happened, thinking "Oh my God, that is HOT!"
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OMFG CLIFFHANGER

Originally Posted by Flame of the West

Hey, they're your characters. If she was my creation, I'd ask you to edit your post, but she isn't...*sob*

OOC: Hehe, if only graceful_sheik read your posts. Actually, to be more specific, "If only Kai knew what Latio was doing at that moment."

Originally Posted by Honest John

Erebus could feel the blood rush to his groin as that happened, thinking "Oh my God, that is HOT!"

Whoah there cowboy, don't be getting too frisky now. Remember, there are teeny children on these forums. Dang, I love that smiley.

BIC: TDC noticed, to his slight disgust, that Erebus was staring nonstop at Naomi. It wasn’t just that, but more of what the boy accidentally noticed in the corner of his vision. Shaking the image out of his head, he turned to speak with the foxlike creature known as Latio.

“How do you know Erebus?” he asked. He’d met the alcoholic teen a month or two previously. They, along with the vampire Vanyel (Or something like that, he couldn’t quite remember the name.) had escaped from an island prison.

The foxfolk sniffed deeply. Again, he smelled something similar between the boy and Gorin. Thinking of all the different things it could be, he decided to ask the first question that popped into his head.

“Are you an echo, or something created via Tainted Element?” he asked. Although he was blind, he could tell that TDC was puzzled as to what Tainted Element was. Who could blame him though, as not even Gorin himself fully understood exactly what Tainted Element was.

“Actually,” began the hybrid. “I’ve never heard of an echo, or Tainted Element for that matter.” He was of course lying about never hearing of an echo. If he recalled, Kenjin continually referred to TDC’s father as the Neo-Echo. Whether that was a title or his actual species, the boy still didn’t know.

“Maybe he knows who my dad is?” thought TDC. He’d been wondering who his father was, and had pondered whether to ask Gorin or not. That is, if he ever found Gorin.

“Oh, never mind then.” Ignoring the boy for a few minutes, Latio pondered on how TDC and Gorin could have a familiar air about them. It probably wasn’t the species, and by their looks they didn’t seem to be related.

After a few minutes of trying to get the foxfolk to answer his question concerning Erebus, TDC gave up and went up the inn stairs to the bedrooms. He was struck by how similar this inn was to almost every other inn he’d been to.

It was a cliché really. Stairs at one end, fireplace at the other, second floor just one big hallway with bedrooms on both sides and a bathroom or two at the end of the hall. Nothing was different about this inn.

The hybrid turned a corner and jumped in surprise. At the end of the hall was a window, but that wasn’t the surprising part. A person’s face was smudged against the glass.

Remembering that the inn was surrounded by religious fanatics that wanted them dead, TDC threw open the window and pushed the person over. The person had climbed a ladder to get to the window, probably trying to open it so that half of the crowd could follow him in via the ladder and chase the supposed demons out the front door.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the crowd…
Toka frowned with disappointment at the size of the crowd. He’d been hoping to have Iruki and Shanz kill the crowd, then blame it on the four supposed demons. Of course, that wasn’t going to happen if at least ten percent of the crowd would get away.

“I give you people weapons that aren’t supposed to be invented for a couple hundred years and you repay me by ruining my plans?” the necromaster thought. He turned, his red robe fluttering in the slowly building breeze.

“Iruki, Shanz!” the red clothed man said. His voice couldn’t even be heard over the yelling and screaming of the crowd by human ears, but the twin demons picked it up in a second. Materializing in front of their master, both of the cloaked fiends bowed low.

“Give them about half an hour,” began Toka. “If the crowd hasn’t ended up being smart enough to get in there themselves, force your way in and take one of them hostage.”

OOC: Half an hour should be long enough, eh Johnny? FoTW, I think it would be best if HJ posted next. He has something planned.

Oh yes, I do.
----------------------
Naomi was a little shocked, but more flattered, that Erebus seemed to be in love with her. How obvious can he be? At least I feel the same way... she thought, smiling internally. At the same time, Erebus was thinking Oh my ****ing GOD she is hot! Er, does she like me? Uh..., blushing at the end of his train of thought. "Uh, Naomi! You look like you might have been hurt. Can I uh... help you?" Erebus said, trying to look as casual as possible. She knew what he ment, and agreed.

They walked upstairs to a small, private room. They immediatly sat down, and she pulled up her shirt, still hiding the more intamite parts. His fingers ran across her back, scanning closely for any bruises or injuries. My God, her skin is like silk! he thought again, blushing even more. He looked up in shock to see her face turned around, smiling with eyes half-lidded. His heart skipped a beat.

Later that evening...

"Oh my God." Erebus said to the ceiling. Naomi was also staring, but at the alchoholic's face. He turned and smiled, inhaling the deep scent of love. Or was it her radient hair? He didn't care. They had something special, something that Erebus had wanted for so long.

Love.

At that moment, he swore to never again be a jerk, to always be a kind, considerate person.

And then the window broke.
---------------------------
God, I sure hope that didn't cross the line. >_<

~Lee sucks.

Time to have some fun...

IC: "What the hell is taking them so long?" TDC asked. Him and Latio had waited at least half an hour for Erebus to 'tend to Naomi's wounds.'

"Oh, I have my suspicions.” Latio replied. Many thoughts ran through his head, most of them having Naomi somewhere between the drunken loser and the bed sheets.

OoC: Note: all opinions of Naomi and Erebus are Latio’s, not mine.

BiC: “Wait, you think they’re-“

Crash! The sound of breaking glass echoed through the empty hotel, followed by the villagers’ ‘battle cry,’ instantly registered to Latio’s mind that Naomi and Erebus were under attack, and wouldn’t be able to find their weapons through the mass of clothes probably strewn across the floor.

The two darted up the narrow staircase, down the hall of rooms, and pinpointed the one the noises came from. The foxfolk tried the door, and found it locked, for obvious reasons. Latio could, however, hear a loud voice shout slightly louder than the rest.

“Eh, take a look at this, boys. The demon’s nude!” The crowd went silent, consisting only of men, and they approached the fox-girl.

“Hey, get away from her!” Erebus loudly said back to the crowd. He managed to get his pants back on.

“What’re you gonna do, punk?” another man said. There was a cracking sound, like a nose, or maybe a limb snapping.

Outside the room…

“C’mon, kid, we’ve got to get this door open!” Latio commanded. The kid blew down the door with a quick punch, and the two rushed in. Latio immediately swooped up Naomi, staying away from any, erm… areas, while everyone, including Erebus, were staring at the two door halves, but the youngest Oblivion member took notice of the foxfolk trying to get his love away and lunged at the foxfolk, drawing his knife from it’s sheath laying on the ground and pointing it at his ally’s neck.

“Put… Her… Down… Latio."

A gust of wind blew threw the assembled crowd, paving a way through the villagers. Standing in the middle of this path were four figures. Two of the figures were dreadfully familiar.

Iruki and Shanz were accompanied by two darknuts. A darknut was a powerful creature, wearing nearly indestructible armor. Its back was weak however, so its armor could easily be detached via an attack from behind.

The darknuts were wielding large broadswords, their large bodies blocking out sunlight through the broken window. The twin demons stood staring at the scene before them. In a flash both beings dissipated into a cloud of ash, which swirled about the four accused ‘demons’.

This whole time Erebus hadn’t even moved his gaze from Latio’s face. Naomi merely watched in shock and awe at everything that was happening, completely unaware that she was still naked. The darknuts couldn’t help but stare at her beautiful figure.

TDC, being part demon himself, knew that most demons weren’t stupid enough to entrust two weaker minions to do something that they couldn’t even do themselves. He was right to think so, as the twin demons materialized out of the ash on either side of Erebus.

Iruki flashed the teen a look that seemed to say, “Now’s your turn *****!” The leader of the twin demons brought the tip of his weapon across Erebus’ leg, effectively cutting him down. Shanz grabbed the alcoholic from the ground and leapt back.

“****!” thought TDC. The boy changed Gorin’s spirit orbs into twin serrated blades, leaping after the demon. Iruki would not adhere to this however, and knocked the hybrid down with the flat end of his sword.

“Attack!” shouted Iruki. The darknuts grunted and began to make their way towards Latio, Naomi, and TDC. Shanz and Iruki flew off above the startled faces of the crowd, carrying Erebus with them.

TDC took a look at the darknuts, surveying their armor for any symbols that would show who their master or masters were. The crimson armor of the two blade-wielding warriors was featureless save for a strange emblem. Deciding that it didn’t matter whom the darknuts worked for, the hybrid shouted to Latio and Naomi.

“Get dressed and go after the demons! I’ll take care of these two, and hopefully the crowd too.” TDC kept his gaze focused on the darknuts. He could somehow tell that Latio was more powerful than himself, and would have a greater chance of catching the twin demons.

Most of the crowd stayed back, well aware that a misplaced slash of one of the darknut’s swords could cleave several of them in half. Once Naomi was fully clothed, she and Latio headed out the back entrance to the inn.

Now that the foxfolk and fox girl were away, it was time to fight. TDC lifted his serrated swords and leapt at the darknuts, uttering a loud battle cry.

OOC: Anybody who’s played WW knows what a darknut is. It doesn’t really matter at the moment though.

Oh yeah. Leave me to two trains of thought. Yeah.
-------------------------------------------------
Latio kept running. "What are you doing? Those guys are this way?" Naomi yelled, pointing one finger down the street. Latio wheeled and said "We haven't the time! We've got to go!"

"No! Erebus is a nice guy! We've got to go help him!"

"Fine, if you say so." With this submission, they ran back over.

A few meters ahead in that direction...

"Let me go you bastard!" Erebus yelled over the pain of his leg. His green eyes brimmed with mingled tears of agony and anger, and he could feel the very blood in his body pulsate with every monotonous beat of his young heart. Iruki ignored him. Then, Erebus felt, for the second time that year, his something snap.

With a warcry, he wrenched out his sword and sliced the demon of ash in half. The two portions fell as solids a short distance, then exploded back into what they really were. Erebus hit the ground with a nice thump, and yelled for Shanz to join the bloodbath. Although unnoticed, the crimson stream on his leg was now a flowing river. But he did notice the crushing weight in his chest.

Even though it was like he was in a dream, he still managed to hear the pitter-patter of boots on gravel a short distance away.
-----------------------------------------------------
Well, that was weak. ><

At least I managed to kill off Iruki.

OoC: Oh no you didn’t!

BiC: “What are you doing? Those guys are over there!” Naomi yelled as she and Latio were supposedly chasing the pair of ash demons who had captured Erebus. The foxfolk, Latio, had other priorities, however, and that was to get the female as far from the fight scene as possible.

“I’m getting you to safety. I would- erm, Erebus would be heartbroken if you were hurt,” the silver fox replied, trying his best to hide the embarrassment of his stutter.

“I can protect myself perfectly fine! He’s the one we should worry about! He’s a nice guy, we’ve got to help him! Remember, you’re at my service…” she rebutted, pointing toward the demons and their prisoner. She had a puppy-dog face on, and though Latio could not see it, he was persuaded to help his ally.

“Right, Latio Scaptur, at your service…” he sighed, hoping Naomi was good enough with her claw not to get killed.

When they found where Erebus and the demons were, Erebus was lying on the ground with a fierce look in his eyes, and one of the two demons was gone. But Latio couldn’t shake the presence of the destroyed demon away; it was still there, and sure enough, it reformed from the ashes it was made. It appeared behind Naomi, and pulled her arms behind her back to prevent any resistance. It then drew it’s sharp blade, and cut the fox girl from the shoulder down to her clawed arm, disabling the limb and sending a yelp from the girl’s rather small mouth.

“Naomi!” both Oblivion alliance members cried out, and they leapt toward Shanz, Latio’s claws aflame and Erebus’ sword poised to stabbed the demon through the head.

“Come any closer and I’ll slice off her head!” the demon hissed, axe blade at the girl’s neck. Even in her immense pain Naomi fell silent, and held her breath. “Now, drop the sword, put out your claws, and let us take you to our master.”

The allies regretfully complied, and put their hands in the air.

OoC: Pwnt.