Chance Encounter

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity entered the village quite accidentally. The girl was wearing green cargo pants and her standard blouse. In her hands she was carrying a backpack. It wasn’t necessary to lug it around with her due to her nifty ability to store things but she was feeling the need for some endurance training. She wasn’t exactly sure how carrying a backpack around would help but it had made sense to her at the time. She had previously no intention whatsoever to come to Kunugi. The village wasn't big, it wasn't particularly well-known. It was this village in East Fiore that was simply there. At least in her opinion. It probably contained some kind of big business. Maybe even several big businesses. Or else it wouldn’t have made the train system.

When the girl got off the train, she hadn’t realised that there was one more stop to her actual destination. As a result she ended up in Kunugi. Her initial impression was that half of Hargeon Town had been ravaged in a fire (somehow managing to have instant recovery vegetation) but she didn’t think that was likely. After a few minutes of pointless walking, the girl was doubtful that she had actually arrived at her said destination. She came to a stop and started looking for the nearest sign. She found one shortly reading ‘KUNUGI VILLAGE’. So her suspicion was confirmed. Great. Well initially her camping trip was to be to Hargeon Town but she was game for change. Even though she knew nothing about the town...and wasn’t prepared.

Okay, maybe before she started her planned camping trip, she should explore the actual town first. The blonde slung a backpack over her shoulders and walked in the first direction that came to find. That direction happened to be left.

298/1000

[Raven Flametongue]

Raven had been in town since the previous night. He'd gotten in well after sun down, and stayed at a local inn to rest. And now he was standing outside a large warehouse structure clad in his usual attire. A white button down shirt hung from his broad shoulders. Long blue pants came down to black boots, covering the top of the ankle lacing. Over his shirt was his black leather jacket with the crimson dragon wings glittering on the back.

The events of Galuna island played through his mind over and over again. He was stupid... He'd been forced to reveal his true nature in front of a high ranking member of the magic council. Not to mention Tatsu and Kotone as well. He had been too weak, and it made him angry. Not at them, or even the demon they fought. But at himself.

Which is what had brought him to Kunugi. He needed to disappear for awhile and train. But for that he needed supplies. He clenched his fists and let out a sigh before stepping into the warehouse. Inside, there were rows and rows of shelves, all filled with trade goods. He was most likely to find what he needed inside. But that's when he noticed a man with a bag... And he was putting on a mask.

Grinning slightly, Raven did his best to bite back his excitement. They were most likely going to try to rob the place. They reeked of fear and excitement themselves, which didn't help any. Raven was looking for a fight, and he knew it. It's how he responded to failure. But he had to wait... if he struck too soon he would be the one in trouble for assaulting 'innocent' civilians.

(Word count: 292)

[Verity Lohlepher]

Once she veered left the first thing she noticed was the giant building. It was called 'Dane's Warehouse' and so she guessed it was owned by a person named 'Dane'. Or was. Either way, this 'Dane' had started up the company. The warehouse made her curious. She was looking for equipment as of late. More specifically she was looking for armour. Fiera Ignis was serving her well and while Hauskor irritated her somewhat on the occasion, it still did the job. The only other weapon she wanted probably wouldn't be in his store. As she got closer she realised how stupid it was for a shop to be called a warehouse. It was pretty misleading. Still, her curiosity didn't waver.

The girl stopped just outside and poked her head through the doorway experimentally. It said it was a warehouse so it could have been a warehouse with a glamour of it being a shop over the top. She didn't know what she was expecting but she couldn't help but feel disappointed that the shop called a warehouse was actually a shop. She shrugged her shoulders and stepped through the open doors to inside the shop. While it was a big shop, she didn't see the difference of it with any other variety store. For all she cared 'Dane's Warehouse' might have been an extension of some 'Jane's Deluxe Variety Store' in another part of Fiore. 'Jane's Deluxe Variety Store' at the very least, did not exist in reality but it was just her making a point.

She walked through the countless isles and skimmed her bored eyes over the wares. There really wasn't anything there she would take. She was just in the plushie section when she noticed the robbers. Well, men in mas-okay robbers, she was right before. They made it pretty clear from their actions of stuffing plushies into their bag. The blonde immediately ran after them. "Hey!" It struck her weird how they would be stealing plushies of all things when she noticed that they were targeting all the isles. So they weren't particularly aimed at killing children's dreams. She would have caught up to them if it weren't for seeing a man get shoved into a glass tank. She rolled her eyes after them. Of course they had to target civilians too. As her duty stood she had to check they were okay before giving chase. Oh well. She'd catch them sooner or later. She held out her hand for the man to take. "You okay?" she asked, showing concern in her voice while her eyes tried to keep track of the men running.

736/1000 words

[Raven Flametongue]

The men started moving, filling their bags with various goods. He watched how they fanned out, seeing how organized they were. Thankfully, it didn't seem like they were, though they were forcing a lot of the others in the store down with knives and shouting. The tough guy act... Well, in their defense, if you're going to rob a place you might as well act tough. It was too bad Raven's toughness wasn't an act.

“Guh... someone has to stop them!” The man who had been pushed into the glass was slowly picking himself up. Though, a shard of glass was sticking out of his arm he seemed more determined to stop the thieves. It was clear that he wasn't going to do much in his condition though.

Instead of responding, Raven walked up behind one of the men. His face contorted into an excited grin as he grabbed the back of the man's head and shoved it into the shelf he was pulling things from. The man groaned in pain as Raven pulled him back out. He then turned the man around and punched him hard enough that the wind could be heard leaving his lungs.

“Drop your weapons and your loot,” Raven said looking at the man at the door. Then he pointed to the barely conscious man on the floor. The grin was still on his face, and his tone was anything but worried. “Or you'll end up like this man. Oh and... don't think about pulling an innocent person into this. For every hair you hurt on them... I'll break you tenfold.”

(588/1000. Four grunts and the mage are still standing.)

[Verity Lohlepher]

Ungrateful much? Verity rolled her eyes at the guys response and stood up. "Yeah, yeah," She mumbled so he wouldn't hear her. She turned around to face the enemies...when a tall dude with auburn hair beat her to it. She would call him the 'anti-social type' (who knows why) but that was before she saw the excited grin on his face. Obviously he knew how to fight. It certainly wasn't her best moment but she stood by and watched the guy beat the living daylights out of one of the robbers. In her defence he seemed to have things under control. She listened to his mini dialogue when she couldn't contain silent anymore. "How can you judge how many hairs on someone they've harmed?" She asked, her tone of voice curious. She probably had taken that statement a little too literally. One of the guys laughed. Oh. Right. She got it. The blonde smiled sheepishly and waved off her previous question. "Oh I got it!" she said before deciding to make her own move. At least they were stunned.

Because she hadn't had any weapons on hand, she guessed she'd go hand-to-hand. It was quickest and she was thinking being quick was what was needed right now. She rushed the guy nearest to her and punched him in the gut. He attempted to block it which was his mistake. Distracted as he was, he didn't have a chance to block the other punch she threw in his face as she predicted his next move. It landed square on his nose and  a crack was heard. His hands immediately went to his face and it was too easy for the girl to grab his clothes and send him spinning in the other direction. She wasn't particularly paying attention to where the guy was going and guessed it was a stroke of luck he landed into another goon sending him reeling backwards. After that was done, she whipped around to see what else was happening. She had to admit, it was kind of nice to crack her fists for once instead of using a weapon.

1089/500 (4 robbers including the mage)

[Raven Flametongue]

There was a voice behind him, using stubborn logic on his speech. His eyes slowly slid shut as he willed this girl to be quiet and stay out of it. He was getting rather tired of people interfering when he cornered troublemakers. That's when she 'got it'. His eye twitched, but he suppressed the urge to growl. He did turn however, when he heard the crack. At least she could fight... Good. That meant he didn't have to hold back as much.

“What are you doing!?” The guy by the door shouted angrily. His bag was empty, but there was a full bag next to him. “Stop them! Show these fools that we shouldn't be messed with!”

“So cliché!” Raven spun as two moved to flank him, and a third went for the girl. The man to his left suddenly sped up, moving alarmingly fast. Raven barely had time to lean back under the knife thrust, only to see the other man barreling towards him. Raven twisted his whole upper half to the right and pumped his legs. He went sailing past the charging man who had to twist to avoid impaling himself on his friend's knife.

Rolling back to his feet, Raven pushed himself to reverse his momentum and came at the two men. The one with the knife tried slashing out, but his arm got caught. However, the bigger man punched Raven right in the face. It was harder than Raven expected, so he stepped back. But then his grin widened. Oh yes... These two were making it fun!

So he charged back in, this time drawing out the big guy's attack. Only to slug him in the face. Then he ducked and delivered a right hook into the knife guy's stomach before he could react. He turned back to the big guy and gave him a solid kick that knocked him off his feet. Then he was back at the knife guy who was staggering backwards. He punched him square in the face before grabbing him by his arm and throwing him into the far wall. Dusting off his hands he looked back at the leader by the door.

(920/1000. One goon and the boss left.)

[Verity Lohlepher]

Vera wasn't impressed when the head goon, as she liked to call him, tried to rally his 'forces'. His forces weren't very impressive. She agreed with the auburn head that it was so cliche. She didn't have time to comment though because then, some guy came towards her while the other two attacked the 'cliche comment' guy. Obviously, they hadn't been impressed. The guy who came towards her was kind of an idiot. Apparently he thought a full frontal tackle would be the best way to attack her. His mouth was wide open and all in all, his face didn't look pretty. Possibly he was trying the 'intimidation' tactic but it really wasn't working on her.

While she wasn't exactly sure how to deal with tackles, she decided the best thing she could do was dodge. He was halfway to her when she dodged - or tried to. She hadn't counted on an object lying next to her feet so she ended up falling to the side with her feet still in the way. This worked better in her favour than she could have hoped for and the man tripped over before he could stop himself. She knew she couldn't miss the opportunity of having an opponent on the ground. The girl scanned the nearby vicinity and within seconds, she had twisted over to grab the nearest object – a plastic bin – and whacked it on the guy’s head with as much force as possible. His eyes rolled to the top giving her a clear indicator that he was knocked out. She looked back to the rest of the fight scene and saw that the other who had come charging had been dealt with. The ring leader saw this too and backed away. His eyes sneaked a glance towards the bag next to him and then before she could move, he picked it up and dashed out of the shop.

“St-“ Before the man could finish the sentence, Vera had untangled herself from the floor and was giving chase.

1427/1000

[Raven Flametongue]

For a thug he sure was quick as he carried all that stuff in the bag. Raven was out the door giving chase, not glancing back. The other five were knocked out cold for sure. There was no doubt in his mind since the girl seemed to be able to hold her own. And so they were running down the streets chasing after the man.

The man knew he was being pursued however, and was knocking things over and pushing people in their way to slow them down. He had to jump over a pile of fallen fruit crates and push his way past people as he moved. It didn't seem to slow him down that much though, as he had kept the thief in sight. People seemed upset that things were happening, but Raven was focused on catching the thief. Crates could be fixed, fruit and vegetables could be grown... but only if people weren't stealing them.

The train station loomed over them and Raven pushed himself harder. He had to catch the man before he boarded the train, or else he would lose for sure. His legs burned from the parkour he'd already enduring chasing the man, but it didn't stop him from trying to get closer. There was a crowd of people that slowed him down this time. And by the time he was through, the man was climbing onto the back of the train as it was starting to move.

“Wait!” Raven shouted as he burst out running again. The train was starting to pick up speed, and the man had to drop the bag to focus on climbing up. Leaping, Raven grabbed the man and pulled him from the train. The two landed on the tracks behind the departing train, though Raven was sandwiched between the rail and the thief. Feeling the wind get knocked from him, he let go of the thief, who quickly picked himself up and began trying to crawl back up onto the station platform. Raven himself was slowly picking himself up off the tracks, but it was clear he was in pain.

(1272/1000)

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity was certainly not slow but by the time she caught up to the pair ahead, they were lying in the middle of train tracks. That was a tad risky. The guy who helped seemed to be in more pain than the robber who was already attempting to climb out. She decided her first priority would be making sure the robber didn't get away at least temporarily, then making sure the guy was okay. She summoned Hauskor from the pocket dimension and it wasn't long till it appeared in her hands. The thief didn't seem to notice her yet. Good. That worked in her favour well enough. She hefted the slight dagger in her hands testing out its weight before wrapping her fingers around the hilt. In one fluid motion, she drew her arm back and flung it forward, carrying her momentum with it. The dagger flew fast and hard towards her target - the robber's leg. Wordlessly she activated her binding spell as she jumped down onto the train tracks. He gave a sharp yelp of pain as the electric ribbons wrapped around him. She shot a glare at him to shut up his oncoming moan.

The blonde turned before crouching down to face the stranger who was slowly picking himself up. "You're okay?" She asked fairly roughly, not one to be overly concerned when there was a job to be done. She glanced over her shoulder to see what the other man was doing. He was still bound.

250 + 1427/1000

170/200 MP

Ribbon Shock:

[Raven Flametongue]

“Urgh....” Raven pushed himself up when the thief cried out in pain. She hadn't been armed before... but he supposed magic was funny like that. He stood on his feet, and after making sure the thief wasn't moving checked himself over. It hurt to move his back, but it could have been worse. So he offered her a grin. “Just had the wind knocked out of me.”

“As for this guy,” Raven walked over and grabbed him. The binding spell wouldn't last long, so he bound the man's hands and sighed. The chase had been tiring, and while he was playing it off as nothing, those kinds of falls didn't used to hurt that much. He was getting sloppy... He pulled the man to his feet. “Thanks for helping catch him. It certainly made my life easier.”

In truth he'd been kind of disappointed, since he'd wanted to fight them all and all that. But he wasn't about to deny the fact that she'd done something good for other people without a promise of pay. People like her were a reminder to him that humanity still had hope. It didn't change that the bandits were still a pain in the ass.

“Here,” He pushed the man towards her before grabbing the bag that had been dropped. “Let's bring the stuff back with the bandit. We wouldn't want someone else stealing it because it was sitting in the open, now would we?”

(1514/1000)

[Verity Lohlepher]

The blonde sometimes wondered what it was with people and not responding to 'are you okay?' type of questions. Today was not one of those days. Instead she shrugged her shoulders and straightened up again. Doing her own quick assessment from the corner of her eye, she'd say he looked fine but she wouldn't be so sure. Well, if he wanted help he'd tell her. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd appreciate being pressured into asking a trivial question as such so she wouldn't bother. She yawned and stretched her arms outwards. God it had been a long time since she'd physically fought someone. The break was definitely welcome. While she liked staff fighting and all, it was good to feel the actual physical pain in her hands and feet again. "No problem. Thanks for taking out most of the other bandits, it saved me a lot of trouble too," She grinned at the guy before grabbing the robber and hefting him over her shoulder.

While the man put some extra strain on, she didn't think she'd be unable to manage hauling him all the way back. And the shoulder was the easiest way. "Sure," She responded simply, tossing the man onto solid ground again before following him up, tossing a look behind. "We also wouldn't want to be run over by a train either because that would be a rather depressing way to go out," She smiled to show that she was joking before picking up the man and putting him in an optimal position for her to carry. Once she was finished, she waited for the auburn hair dude. "What's your name?" She asked out of curiosity. Also because it was kind of tiring differentiating all the guys she was meeting today by occupation/appearance. There was robber 1 with the ugly face, robber 2 who was angry, robber 3 who was knocked out pretty easily and you get the idea. "My name's Verity but you can call me Vera if you want," She added. She realised that some people didn't like the idea of one-sided sharing. She didn't particularly get why that would bother people but she figured it didn't matter what she thought.

2046/1000

[Raven Flametongue]

"Yeah, it would suck,” Raven agreed when she made the joke about getting run over by the train.  He bet even he would be killed in such an event. Dragon Slayers were a durable bunch, but even they had their limits. What his were? Raven had no idea. He’d not been pushed to his limits since he was much younger. Once she was moving, he hefted the bag of loot over his shoulder and moved to follow. Though he did wince in pain. He wasn’t as okay he was thought, but nothing was broken.

“I’m Raven,” He responded when she asked for his name. He left off his ‘last’ name though, as that tended to turn heads occasionally. He shifted his load and moved to be walking next to her. The whole breathing fire thing tended to make people question what kind of magic he had, and where he learned it. Both were questions he didn’t like answering. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Vera.”

“Well, meet and work with I guess,” He responded chuckling and instantly regretting it. So he’d have to rest a day or two before starting his training. That was fine. Once they were back at the building he set the loot down with a tiny sigh. “A hand full of crooks knocked out, stolen goods getting returned, and no one was killed in the mess of things. I think I’d call that a good day. Hopefully this lot learns their lesson.”

(1760/1000)

[Verity Lohlepher]

She nodded her head when he said his name. "Raven... heh, that's funny since you have auburn hair," As usual, she spoke as she thought. Effectively, it left her quite empty headed at times. She grinned at his pleasure to work, meet comment. "You too! Usually I don't work with anyone so I suck at teamwork," Perhaps not the things one decided to inform other people but Verity didn't think it mattered. Her beautiful display of teamwork had already been showcased at the tournament so if this guy ever watched lacrima vision, he wouldn't be surprised.

Once they were back, the no longer needed to be called the auburn haired guy made a comment. She opened her mouth to respond but the guy who had been knocked aside came up to them at this precise moment so instead, she said something else. "Here's your stuff returned. And captured robbers," She gestured to them on the floor. Before she had even finished her sentence the guy started nodding his head. "Yes, I can see that. Thanks for your help, both of you. Here's your payment. And I've got work to do now." The man handed them payment before walking briskly off to whatever he had in store to do. "Well that was quick," She stated bluntly before storing the money away. She didn't actually need to be paid - fighting off bandits was her job after all.

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