Out of the Shadows [Altamira]

OoC: These next few posts for me are going to be starnge because they're going to follow my NPC, William Nira entirely. However, after a few posts the view point will shift over to the character I am using, Arin. There we go, that should clear up any confusion. =P

BiC:
Heat. Pure, relentless, and unforgiving heat. Normally, the man would not have given any mind to the heat, being born and raised in a tropical city where temperatures could climb to over forty or fifty degrees centigrade. However, this dry, dusty, and overall unpleasant heat made him less then comfortable. What little wind that blew carried even more heat, and sand, lots of sand too. In fact, he began to wonder how sand hadn’t managed to worm its way into his boots, or under his shirt.

He wore slightly unusual attire for desert travel, to say the least. His white T-shirt began to fade to brown from all the sand and dirt being blasted into it from the violent sand storms he endured. Over that, he wore a light blue, torn, and slightly blood-stained flannel shirt with a brown cloak overtop to protect him from the elements. A hood, attached to the clock, provided some shelter from the wind, but for now, he did not wear it. However, the man did have the good sense to wear desert-grade hiking boots, and a pair of sunglasses to protect his eyes.

Still, as he walked down the sandy street of the small desert town, he couldn’t help but draw his attention to the locals going about their daily lives. Hundreds of stalls lined every street, holing all sorts of goods from fruits to pastry, and from fine jewels to useless old junk. However, out of the corner of his eye he could see a vendor behind him swipe something form a neighbor, distracting him first so he wouldn’t be any the wiser.

If he hadn’t come to this small, out of the way desert community with a purpose embedded into his mind, he may have forced the man to return the stolen goods. Ah, but most of everything they sell is stolen too, he reminded himself. Ah well, the police here had their work cut out for them. Who was he to tell them how to do their job anyway?

Children playing in the street rushed past, possibly playing a game akin to Tag, creating a small whirlwind of sand as they blew by. William Nira smiled a little at this, being reminded of things long since past. He and his best friend used to run through the streets of their hometown, creating mischief, or having fun wherever they went. Alas, those days died long ago, leaving him with why he traveled through this hostile terrain in the first place.

Concentrating again on the strong presence of shadow magic, he laughed as he realized all this daydreaming caused him to go the opposite direction. Correcting his mistake, William found himself descending on the shadow-user quite rapidly. Normally, he would’ve begun to slow down, but considering the circumstances, he figured it best to get it done and over with.

Predictably, he found his target with great ease, standing around a vender just opposite of a bar. The power she exhumed would scare most magical beings away, but not a powerful mage like himself. She stood out in the crowd, even without her magical presence, being a gypsy it only came naturally. Thankful he kept his magical presence down to that of your run-of-the-mill human; he approached her silently from behind.

“Cadenza Madrigal,” he whispered in her ear. “I have an interesting proposition for you. If you’re curious, meet me in the bar on the opposite side of the street in five minutes, so we may discuss it over a drink.”

With that, William turned on his heel, not looking back as he walked through the doors of the bar. He didn’t appreciate the dark and depressing atmosphere as he took off the dark sunglasses. All over, men looked longingly into their glasses, lost in thought. Of course, there were a couple of others who looked around with shifty eyes, as though expecting a fight.

Normally, Mr. Nira would be hesitant to taking a seat in any establishment like this, however, if he hoped to convince the shadow wielder to be of any help, he would need to keep things on her home turf. Casting nonchalant glances at the buildings several shady characters, he soon found and empty table and took a seat, trying to relax while he waited.

One way to make an impression, you see, is to speak someone's name before they've ever given it.

No one's ever said this was a good way to make an impression though. In fact, it particularly bothered Cadenza--this guy obviously wasn't a native, shouldn't have known her, and seemed altogether too confident approaching her if he did know her--but, on the hand, this approach of his didn't fail to catch her interest. She put down the pomegranates she'd been juggling absent-mindedly, shot the vendor a smile before he could complain about bruised fruits, and headed over towards the bar.

It was known as A Culpa do Músico--the Musician's Guilt. The name was said to be, in condensed form, the story of how the current barman acquired the building; apparently, some musician had owned the place before, but had been arrested for some crime, and the barman bought the condemned property at dirt cheap. Cadenza usually found herself wondering what things would be liked if people named other things like that--you'd probably end up hearing things like, "This country shall henceforth be known as 'The King's Negligence to Read the Treaty' ". But anyway, the Musician's Guilt was a strange bar, and again, choosing it only reinforced the fact that this guy was not a native. The guys in there tended to be pretty depressing, and often felons on the run, and the place was always severely understocked with good tequila.

Curiosity was essentially the only thing that led the gypsy to step inside. Heads bobbed up as the doors closed behind her, as they always did here, for fear of the new ogres on the police force finally finding the patrons' hideout. The stares lingered for a good few minutes afterward because the entrant had been a particularly beautiful woman, then darted away quickly again when they'd realized what particularly beautiful woman it was. You didn't stare at a Madrigal unless they wanted you to.

She found the guy in the brown cloak and the hiking boots, waiting at a table by himself with a glass of water and trying to look relaxed. Just who the hell does he think he is? she thought, remembering his words. What does he have to offer me?

She pulled out the chair across from him, and sat down, her expression indifferent. Well, let's find out...

William couldn’t help but smile the instant he saw her wander into the bar. Of course, given the situation he quickly stashed it away and avoided acknowledging her in any way. I love it when I can predict people, he thought as she approached the table. Despite the environment, he kept his relaxed disposition, having nothing to fear from any of the patrons no matter how dangerous or wanted they were.

Now things would begin to get tricky. That is, if he wanted to get his mission accomplished. He needed to gently dictate his meaning, and find a way to keep her curiosity peaked. If not, she would probably lose interest and leave, thus ruining any chance he had. Manners first, then explanations, then the proposal, the powerful being thought.

“Before I begin,” he started. “I would like to apologize for the… less then orthodox introduction. My name, my full name, is William Martin Nira, and I’m the leader of a military organization known as the Universal Protection Agency. You’ve never heard of it, so just think of it as an independent police society. Alas, I digress.”

He took a sip of water to refresh his vocal cords before continuing.

“Now, you are probably wondering how I knew your name without meeting you, yes?” Seeing her given a simple nod, he continued. “Well, I needed to find someone with experience for my upcoming proposal. Teaching experience, not to put too fine a point on it. So, I tracked down some contacts I have in the Dome. They, in turn, directed me to a former teacher by the name of Cadenza Madrigal, you, and told me where to begin my search. All I had to go on was your name, the fact you’re quite strong with shadow magic, and the fact you’re a gypsy.”

With another sip of water, he allowed a period of silence so she could ask any more questions, if she had them. However, the silence remained by the time he drained the glass. Pushing it aside, he continued his winded speech.

“This leads me to the reason why I tracked you down. I’m here because of a certain young man I met a few months ago. Although he doesn’t know it, he is on the verge of discovering a new form magic. However, if he doesn’t harness it properly, he could, inadvertently, destroy everything around him. Now, I know and practice this magical art, but due to certain circumstances, I am unable to do much more then show him how to access theses powers.”

He sighed a little, mostly due to the prevalent desert heat. “Hence, why I’m here. In short, I need you to teach this young man to harness his powers.” With his proposal complete, he leaned back in his chair, forcing it onto two legs while he awaited her reply. If worse comes to worse, I’ll have to offer her something, William thought.

My gods, he's almost as long-winded as Zorlo, Cadenza thought as William droned on--but at least the little speech was coming to an end. The man just took a sip of water and sighed before posing his final request. Rubato's infamous heat seemed to be making him slightly uncomfortable--the woman found herself wanting to smirk sort of maliciously at that, even though she'd only known him for all of three minutes.

As predictable as she knew it was, the question begged to be asked when he had finished: "What's in this for me? I couldn't care less if some brat blew himself up. Why should I bother helping?"

Kicking back in her chair as he'd done, and taking a long draught of a beer she'd ordered, she added, "I left teaching for a reason, ya know."

She studied William's face after she had said this--he seemed to have expected this contingency and planned for it. He was probably the type that was prepared for anything. And you could probably tell I'm a greedy, selfish bastard by just looking at me, Cadenza figured.

OoC: Short post, huzzah! I have work soon. @___@

OoC: Don't worry, short posts are okay. =P

Well, there he had it. It looked like he had no choice but to ‘play Santa,’ as he called it, and offer her something, anything she could want. William really didn’t like having to resort to bribery, but he needed this done, at any cost. He sighed as he sipped a new glass of water, still not used to the devilish heat. What could he possibly give her to make her take him on? He didn’t know why she quit, but he knew she would not teach another student easily. Then, it hit him like a runaway camel did the day before.

“Just name it. If it’s in my power, you’ll get it. No questions asked, but only if you help first. It’s not like you’ll do it alone, I’d be happy to help in any way. Besides, I’m as bored as hell,” he said. The time for formality passed. No more long speeches, or fancy words. Just straight, and to the point from now on.

He reclined a little more in his wooden chair, waiting for her reply, while pulling a bag from behind his cloak that bothered him since he sat down. Nonchalantly tossing it beside him, he starred the shadow user down while waiting.

She'd asked the question, knowing entirely that it implied there would be something that she'd want. Honestly, there wasn't. Not that she could think of off the top of her head--money, sure, money was always a good answer, but Cadenza was richer than a seven-layer chocolate cheesecake and if someone was going to offer you anything, shouldn't you ask for something you couldn't get yourself?

She sat considering, playing with the amulet round her neck, glancing once or twice at the bag the man had thrown. William watched her patiently, sipping his water every now and then.

Finally, she said, "Payment can come later. I know what I want, but I'll see if I can trust you to do it after we've started this and I'm convinced enough to ask for it. In the meantime, you can answer two questions: first, what's in the bag? and second, where's our student?"

William smiled a little as he threw the bag onto the table; it’s considerable weight shaking it enough to nearly spill Cadenza’s drink. The old, green backpack had the same tattered, dirty and unkempt appearance as the rest of his clothes, darker segments representing patches on the fine material. He’d owned this bag for the better part of his life, having used it when he himself went to school so many years ago.

“Not much, really,” he responded, “Just my equipment. You know; sword, phone, various other weapons and devices in addition to my wallet.” As he said this he decided to pull out the sword. Everything about this blade was gold and sliver. A golden blade with silver decorations, a silver hilt with gold trim and many precious gems, heck, even the scabbard followed this flamboyant decoration scheme.

In fact, many eyes turned to the prestigious blade as he laid it on the table. William had no idea if it was known in this world, or not, but odds were people would notice. Indeed, he could not help but see a slight gleam in the gypsy’s eyes as it laid on the table in front of her. Although, hers were not the only eyes lighting up at this, obviously, super-expensive sword.

“Since you appreciate it so much,” He said, laughing, “I’ll let you hold it a little. Its name is Himoteiran, if you must know.” Smirking, he remembered her other question. “As for the student, he should be entering the town very soon.” The smirk still on his face, he snapped his fingers as his sentence concluded.

*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*

Sand, sand, sand, nothing but sand. That could be the only way Arin Bryant could describe his surroundings. For what seemed like endless days and nights, he wandered the Ellid Desert. Now, most people venturing into such a hostile terrain would have some goal in mind, but not the mage. Instead, he just wanted to get away and think for a while. He wanted to think about the past, the future, anything but the present.

He had to admit he was more then a little disappointed about the incident with the Orb of Gabriel, however, ever since then he had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. Almost as if there was something more to all that then initially met his eye. Still, he ignored these feeling in favour of finding a town in this sea of sand.

Suddenly, as though seeing a mirage, a town popped into view… which had him by surprise since mirages were usually bodies of water, not town with people and noise. He shook his head and closed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them, the town would be gone. When the mage opened them, nothing changed except the position of the people.

“It’s not a mirage then,” he spoke as he entered the city limits. However, something felt off about this place. Having come to Ellid during the chase for the orb Arin was somewhat familiar with the culture, but this town did not match anything he knew. Still, thirst and weariness told him to stop asking questions and to find an inn.

OoC: I found the post! : DDD And I'd given it the most vague title ever in my files, which is why it took me this long to find it. "Sword". XP

IC:
That is a mighty fine looking sword...

Cadenza watched the play of light off the jewels as she maneuvered the blade through the thick, smoky tavern air. There was no doubt that this sword was beautiful, and valuable, but...

...I've got enough swords. Focus. Sure, Omar could melt this down and fetch himself a pretty penny if you didn't want to keep it yourself, but you promised yourself you'd help...him, ever since you met again in Sereia. And it's been in the back of your mind for a long time now...

"It's...a nice sword," she said finally, "but the payment I'm thinking of is a little more worth my time, in the long run. Thanks, though." She plunked the blade down onto the table, sort of carelessly, and took up her mug of beer again.

"This kid had better get here soon. Wandering around in Rubato alone...well, let's just say if he wanders any longer in certain parts of town, he'll never find us. Or anyone, for that matter, ever again."

“Well,” William replied, “That’s good, because I had no intention on actually giving it to you.” Reaching over, he picked up the priceless sword and attached it to his belt, noticing that some people remained transfixed upon the impressive sword. “Don’t worry about the kid, he’ll be here pretty soon.” Satisfied that the sword rested securely on his belt, another smirk played across his face as he released a small bit of his power. Not much, just enough so the kid would recognize him, and Cadenza would know not to mess with him.

*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*

The mage didn’t know a whole lot on the culture of Ellid, but looking around it became painfully obvious he had no idea where he was. The stucco walls of the buildings, painted bright and somewhat cheery colours seemed ironic in a town as downtrodden and depressing as this settlement. From different homes and large businesses, music flowed out, onto the street. He never heard anything of the like, but he found it kind of catchy nonetheless.

Suddenly, he stopped in the middle of a street, like a wall appeared out of nowhere. The people who observed this weren’t far off the mark, since the magical presence displayed would cause many magical sensitive beings to have the same reaction. Still, as he stood there he could not help but think about how silly he looked, until it hit him. Wait a minute… there is only one person I know who has this much power, although it seems a little weaker then I remember.

As soon as his body adjusted to the immense power produced by the person, he began heading in the direction of the source.

OoC: Stupid hackers. I'm just going to try my best to cover the events that already happened and get back to where we were. *Shrugs* At least I get to improve the posts.

OoC: Doo do do do dooo, repostin'...

IC:
Ah, now this was the bargaining method she recognized. They showed off a little, tried to intimidate, i.e.: "showed you who you were dealing with". Admittedly, this William guy seemed to have something to back up any sort of bragging he might want to do in the near future--he could've gone about showing this in a more subtle way, but Cadenza got the point. William would laugh, but when you got down to it this job mattered to him and she was expected to play her role. It was simple enough.

She also remembered that Guarábana was known for its particularly enterprising young street thugs, who'd adjusted to the heightened level of risk to mugging strangers on the street since the Dome's doors were "opened" (the person you mistook for an old lady turned out to be an ogre nine times out of ten) by becoming fairly dangerous themselves. She wondered if she shouldn't get out there and maybe find the boy herself before...

BANG! BANG!

Gunshots rang out from down the street. Cadenza sprang out of her chair, grateful for an excuse to run out of the Culpa do Músico--bar or not, the place was dreary and you were bound to catch your death of second-hand smoke in the first fifteen or so big breaths you took. Even when sort of holding her breath, she figured she must've been hovering somewhere around unlucky thirteen.

A young man carrying a rainbow-colored hat in his hands rushed by her as she stopped outside the door. A number of other young men were sprinting behind him holding guns, and, some meters back, there was a dark-haired boy about the same age wearing a robe that matched the--stolen, she mentally labeled it--hat and looking quite upset. Cadenza took all of two seconds to sum this up before she flickered out of sight for a moment, suddenly appeared before the bandit with the hat, and thrust out a leg to trip him.

As the boy fell to the cobbles, he heard, "Next time it's a dagger instead of a leg--and your gut instead of your feet."

He wiped the sand from his eyes, and let his gaze trail up the leg with interest...until he realized who he was gawking at.

"...S-signora Madrigal?"

"Hola."

She stuck out a hand expectantly for the hat. The bandit choked back a whimper like the squeal of a mouse and placed the brim into her grasp.

"Run along, now," she said, glancing up at his friends.

The gang might have prepared themselves to deal with the occasional ogre or vampire that was now commonplace on the streets, but the threat of a Madrigal was still something they had to work around. Smiling sheepishly, they turned tail and made for the alleys.

"Ciao Signora Madrigal!"

The gypsy turned her eyes back to the boy in the robes. He was a little way's down the street, and was looking bewildered and still considerably upset.

He shouted out to her, "So what, you were their boss? Now you're going to run off with my hat?"

Cadenza looked genuinely offended. She took another horrified look at the hat's...cheerful color scheme, glanced back up at Arin to see if he was serious, and then looked down at the hat again, her blue eyes wide with disbelief. "What, this thing? You think I want this?"

Arin nodded, a shade less fervently this time. His angry scowl melted into a mild frown.

"Look, I was just getting this back for you." She paused a moment, thinking, and then said, "You...wouldn't happen to be a mage, would you? That's the only kind of person I could imagine wearing something as flamboyant as...this," she spared the hat one last disgusted look, "and besides, magic is radiating off you like waves from a radio. If someone's got the right kind of equipment...they can sense it."

Gunshots broke through the calm atmosphere like a crossbow bolt through a suit of armour. Immediately, Cadenza shot up and ran outside to investigate, leaving William to pay the bill. I guess she has some good in her after all, he thought, drawing on his impression of her. Lethargically, given the situation, he got out of his seat, picked up his bag, and placed the appropriate amount of money on the table for the barkeep to collect at his leisure. Calmly, he walked across the room and back outside into the blazing afternoon sun.

Looking right ahead, he saw Cadenza look down on a young man clutching a familiar, flamboyant hat. “...S-signora Madrigal?" The young man said.

“Hola,” Cadenza replied. The young man made an interesting noise in his throat. Something similar to that of a mouse just caught in a trap. The look of fear etched on his and his comrade’s faces as she spoke for a second time. "Run along, now," she said as soon as he handed her the hat.

Immediately, the gang of young thieves turned tail, seeking the solace of the dark alleys as fast as they could. "Ciao Signora Madrigal!" One of them said over their shoulder as they fled.

William didn’t need to look over to the shape on his right, collapsed on the ground and looking on in disbelief. Instead, he began to ponder the next steps, not being the one to meticulously plan anything, ignoring the exchange between soon to be student and teacher. However, the noise didn’t allow him the opportunity.

Looking at the two and seeing their exchange complete for the moment, William decided the time had come. “Cadenza Madrigal,” he said. “I would like to introduce you the Arin Bryant. He’s the person I was telling you about earlier.”

Aye, I figured. And this kid looks none too happy about this. Can't say I'm particularly eager either, but...

Cadenza strode up to the young mage, handed him his hat, and stuck out a hand. He glared at it for a moment, confused, looking from William to the gypsy and back again.

"It's for shaking," she said, holding back so that only a little of her usual sarcasm was present in her tone. "As in, a greeting."

"I know," he shot back, voice full of all the annoyance that could be easily read in his eyes. This was a boy with a temper, clearly, and he didn't seem to be all too fond of William. Being a teacher that William was going to force on him made for a unpleasant position indeed. And this boy was going to need control--not only of his magic, but maybe of that attitude...

The woman turned her head as Arin reluctantly took her proffered hand and shook, and glanced expectantly at William. "Maybe you'd better explain what's going on to him...?"

OoC: Let me know if I'm messing up Arin at all in the few lines where I portray him. ^^;;

William laughed when she told him to tell Arin of the situation. It was nice, for a change, to see someone on the same page as himself. All too often, he found himself at least two or three steps ahead of everyone else. Still, he nodded and decided to just dive right in to the explanation. “You see, Arin,” William spoke. “When you arrived at the finish line of that competition I held, which I am sorry for hosting because of the nature of the other contestants. I noticed you had, at some point, come into contact with the orb long enough for some of it’s power to rub off on you.”

“With that in mind, I sought a teacher for you to learn from, at least for a little while. Ms Madrigal here is a former teacher at the Dome, but not like Chronos, so don’t worry about weird experiments. To the point, if you don’t learn what we have to teach, you’ll explode, savvy?”

Arin felt his jaw drop with this rather long-winded explanation. Was he really sorry for the events concerning the Orb of Gabriel? Was he really about to explode because of prolonged contact with it? That would explain why he had that weird feeling in his stomach, but first, he needed to make sure. “If I’m going to explode, why do you care?”

William sighed. “This is because said explosion will be about half the strength of a Nuclear Bomb, killing possibly thousands, and saturating the area with deadly magical energy for about two hundred years. That’s not a good thing.”

Although he couldn’t care less about the exploding bit, after his experiences, he found he actually care a little for the potential victims of the explosion more then himself. Guess that mirror works after all, he thought as a bare hand fiddled with the mirror in his pocket. “Alright, fine,” he said a little bitterly, still not liking the powerful man.

“Very good,” Lord Nira replied with cheer. “Now all that remains is to find a training ground. I’ll be damned if I know the area, so it would be wise to let Ms Madrigal choose.”

The risks and explanations had been given to the kid--and now William was starting to pass the baton off to 'denza.

“Now then, I suggest we find a nice, suitable spot to begin training. Of course, I’ll be damned if I know anything about the area, so I think it would be wise to let you pick,” he said, turning to her.

"Nice" was subjective, as far as she was concerned. Rubato had already had towns destroyed by people from other worlds who had come on through, and she wasn't about to sacrifice her own personal training room in the house she kept here to this brat just yet. That could come later, when he had a bit more control--she didn't need the cops back on her arse for something like disturbing the peace. That was a child's criminal offense.

"Nice", she thought, could even apply to a barren desert with the right kind of creative marketing; it was big, warm, had lots of light, and there was nothing to worry about destroying. You could blast and hammer attacks into the sand dunes, and no one would complain. And cacti made decent practice dummies, with some minimal ability to fight back in the form of their spikes.

Yes, the desert it was. Now the question just was, which one? Following the logic up until this point, the biggest, hottest, most barren one seemed the right answer.

"We'll go to the Pé del Fuego Desert, just northwest of here a little ways. It'll...have a lot of room for error, you could say." Quite literally.

OoC: Now we're finally all caught up. xP Fell free to grill me via PM if I got that one line of portrayal wrong. x3

“I take it that is a desert,” William guessed. “It sounds perfect. Out of the way, probably barren like everything else around here, put probably little shelter.” Yes, a desert would be perfect for all intent and purposes, but he wasn’t about to use any more magic then he needed to. With that in mind, he decided it best to go out and actually buy a couple of tents, along with some food, water, and other things they’d need for the duration. “I’m going to get supplies then. You two stay here and get to know each other, or something. I don’t really care.”

With that, Mr. Nira turned his back on the mage and the gypsy and waded into the stream of people looking around at the different venders. Turning his attention away, still fiddling with the mirror in his pocket, he realized he still clutched his hat with the other hand, and that he had insulted her by not shaking hers. Still, it was too late to do anything about it, so he placed the flamboyantly coloured hat on his head.

“So, how’d you get dragged into this?” Arin asked, finally finding a way to start a conversation. He wasn’t big on small talk, but it was better then standing there and being bored.

“I didn’t,” she replied rather sharply. It quickly became apparent to Arin, what with the events just a few minutes ago, that crossing her would shorten his life span… significantly. Something in the back of his head told him that she really didn’t want to be here, but then why would she stick around? He sighed and looked down to his feet, playing with the sand a little now that conversation was pretty much out of the question.

OoC: It was fine. : P

IC:
I can see this'll be a roaring good time, Cadenza thought, giving the boy a sidelong glance. He was rude--that much was obvious from how he hadn't even bothered with as simple a gesture as shaking her hand--but not only that, he didn't even have the strength to back himself up. Those street toughs had bullied him out of his hat and made him look like an weak little dog. If he was going to go anywhere as a mage, he'd firstly have to command a bit more respect, and have a bit more dignity--and he was going to have to learn to fight when the chips were down and the odds were against him, because...someday, it might not all be so harmless as a few thugs taking his stuff. It could be someone taking his life.

That seemed to be a lesson Cadenza found herself teaching a lot. Maybe someday, people would grasp that idea, and she wouldn't have to anymore. Then she could relax...a little.

She waited for William to come back with the supplies, avoiding Arin's eyes and whistling a little to herself. She wanted to ask him what he thought his best skill was, but figured that he would take that as some sort of insult and it would just lead to another snappy, defensive answer that brought them nowhere.

So instead, she gestured to his brightly-colored robes and hat, and asked, "So...why do you dress like that? Lose a bet?" fully expecting the question to bother him like everything else had.

OoC: It would be a little funny if she did give him a lesson on his attitude. xD

BiC:
Like every other time, he could’ve snapped, he could’ve even yelled at her, but no. Over the time he’d spent traveling, people would stare at his robs, others would insult him, or question his orientation. Still, he didn’t feel angry this time, just really annoyed and tired. Sighing, he figured he couldn’t stall any longer. “No, I did not lose a bet,” he replied acidly. “I’ll have you know I only dress like this because these robes keep me at a comfortable temperature. See how I’m not sweating despite this god-awful heat?”

Growing a little impatient with William’s apparent loitering, having been gone about ten minutes; he began tapping his foot. All he wanted at this point was to get started, and get it over with.

“You’ve really got to work on that attitude of yours,” Cadenza spoke, as harsh as ever.

To this, all Arin did was snort. Sure, he knew he had a bit of a temper, but he’d made great strides to improve it. “You think this is something? You should’ve seen me a few months ago. Back then, I’d be yelling by now,” he replied, giving up his quest to not sound annoyed.

“I see you’re getting along better then I expected.” William, who’d circled around to find everything he needed, approached them, pulling along two large sleds. Both sleds, to Arin’s eye, had enough food and water to sink a ship, roughly a month’s supply, he guessed. What caught his eye the most, however, were three rather large tents and some logs for a single fire.

“Well, we’d better set out then and be there before nightfall,” William continued, looking to Cadenza. “Please, lead the way.”

"If I'm leading the way, we're not walking," she answered with a smirk, walking backwards to face them but still easily keeping ahead, "and have Rainbow here pull at least one of the sleds. He could use a workout."

Arin started to protest, but William just smiled and handed over the reigns of one of the sleds to him.

"Now, I'm going to be running. I hope you're going to be running too, otherwise you're going to be left behind and have no bloody idea where to go. I'll go slow, so that you actually have a chance of keeping up, but there will be no stopping for breath. So take in as much oxygen as you can now..." she said.

And with those words, she started off at what she considered a light pace across the sand, glancing over her shoulder to see William calmly jogging along with his sled, and Arin struggling behind them.

I'll push you until you crack and learn some respect.

The woman began to pick up a little speed.

Mid-day turned to late afternoon with all the speed of a snail stuck in glue for the mage in the rainbow robes. For nearly three hours the three ran from the quiet little town out into the middle of nowhere, all along burdened with the weight of the sled in addition to the heat. However, that didn’t bother him nearly as much as the snakes, scorpions, and the sand stuck in his boots. Maybe he was a little too quick to assume that she couldn’t be any worse then Chronos?

Yet, the biggest irritant for the mage had to be the simple fact that he was the only one actually struggling. Cadenza, at the lead and setting the pace, had absolutely nothing to worry about. William, on the other hand, had to keep pace… but he pulled the two hundred, or so, pound sled as if it were empty. Damn them, was all he could think as he struggled to keep pace in the blinding sun. His only saving grace, his infinity robes, began to dull in colour from all the golden sand thrown up by the wind, or his movement.

“Are we… there yet?” Arin asked, but his question was in vain since no one answered him. “Good, then they won’t hear me calling them f***ing jerks.”

Unbeknownst to him, William heard every single moan, groan, and syllable that came out of his mouth. He smiled a little, not at his struggle, but at the thought that this was probably the most physically demanding thing he’d ever done. Of course, the powerful man was right, he’d just never say it. “Well, this is a pleasant stroll,” he called over to Cadenza cheerfully.

"Sort of slow for me, but we'd lose him otherwise," she answered back, a smile plastered on her face if only for the sake of annoying Arin more, "Weather's nice, isn't it?"

It was--for most people, and honestly, anything not adapted to living in conditions akin to a pottery kiln--quite the opposite. It had to be at least a hundred-and-twenty degrees in the Pé del Fuego (literally, the "Foot of Fire", and it lived up to its name), and that was not accounting for the added heat of the sun and scorching hot sands. Water seemed a distant memory to any who had wandered here under the oppressive rays, the very last drops of moisture in their mouths sizzling in the heat and evaporating away like steam in a sauna. The golden sandscape was spotted with only the green of the hardiest of cacti and the bones of the most foolish of travelers.

"You're slowing down!" Cadenza shouted back to Arin, trying not to smirk. "We're coming up to a flat stretch of sand without too many dunes soon, so hurry up!"