[I]"Using Hexes corrupts the mind, just like pulling the Father Flame too much. So unfortunately, None of them would have left. Hexxing is like alcoholism, like those who use the Pipe to smoke Moonlight Flowers, it is addicting. Greatly addicting. The other reason Hexing is banned under penalty of death. Because /they/ /can't/ /stop/ once they attack the soul of another. So what better way to spread your hatred and take over the world, than to have your deciples think the crooked way you do, and want the same as you?"[/i] He looked to Avery, eyeballing her arms as the water fell.

[I]"You're forgiven. Just remember. I'm over 400 years old, I just don't do things for no reason. I'm a very fair man, despite what you think."[/i]

He puffed on the pipe, still looking out the window. He mentally grinned at her whole 'detesting killing' thing.

Wrong line of business she was in aboard this ship.

((OOC: There are fire Wizards. The ones who ignite the cannons are fire mages, remember?))

Matthew reclined in his seat as he listened to Rous' story. He hadn't heard many tales about the Father Flame in his little town of Fyreside, but before he could ask, Beelze materialized next to him, saying "If three of us demon lords were a single entity, we'd be as strong as it. But unfortunately, we're not." By the looks of it, the others couldn't actually see Beelze, which was annoying at times. Matthew glanced at the demon lord, whispering "What are you even doing here? Shouldn't you be like, torturing souls or something?" The demon lord shrugged. "I just came to check up on my favorite champion." Beelze said, ruffling the hair between Matthew's horns.

Matthew shushed the prince of pride as Rous began to speak again, right after Avery stated her dislike for killing. The crew's mood began to turn pretty negative, with the doctor getting angry with the captain before he could tell everyone to calm down, Rous roared his command for order. Matthew simply blinked at the shout, and Beelze stretched, saying "I'd best make my way out of here before things get too angsty." He quickly stood up from his seat and walked into a screaming portal. Matthew turned his attention from his patron back to the captain, who was explaining the different types of magic. The young man glanced over to Nikki, who was comforting the deer child as Rous yelled.

Once Avery apologized and everything calmed down, Matthew decided to speak up, saying "I'll have to stay neutral in this subject. We must take into account how many crew members would die if we were to help, or how the crew will function in your absence if you decide to go on your own, Rous." The young man sighed, taking a moment before saying, "But I dunno. Why don't we just get to the town for now, and see where things go. I'm sure we all have jobs to get back to on board."

Tressa flomped back down into her chair with a tiny yelp of surprise at the captain's bellow, as if the force of it was enough to knock her back. She said nothing as she listened. She still felt similarly to Avery - who was to say that truly, everyone in the kingdom had been guilty of his wife's murder? In a tyranny like that, surely there were those who would rather not be a part of it but didn't have a choice. Even if it was the case that it was addictive... but now, nothing could be done about it, not something that happened centuries ago. No point to arguing, wondering. Folding her hands in her lap and around what became a knot in her skirts, Tressa turned her thoughts to the fight of now, where something could still be done. It did sound as if those who were left were of more of a cult following - that they weren't some oppressed people doing what they felt like they had to. Maybe they were just a group of unreasonable hexers. With magic like that, it didn't seem prudent to try and talk things out. And it also didn't seem prudent to offer her support in fighting them - even if it was a long while before it came up again and she'd learned a thing or two about combat, she certainly couldn't fight magic like that. She liked her soul as it was.

Rous nodded, agreeing with Matt.

[I]"Right. If you're done eating, get back to work. I'll gather the crew later, explain the situation we are in. I'm sure they will enjoy hearing that they might get to bust some heads later. If you have a job, do it. If you don't, learn one!"[/i] Rous stuck the stem of the pipe back in his mouth.

Killing the rest of the Sha'tar will be a job for a later date, indeed. Right now he had a job he needed to complete, and it was gonna pay very well at the end. Wyrn sat by, amused at the whole exchange between Avery and the captain.

[B]"What a bold bunch you have here, comrade!"[/b] He boomed, laughing.

((OOC I type up a post and get distracted from submitting for like five seconds due to baby and all of a sudden there's a dozen couple more posts from when I last read :P Anyway edited to fit a little better, sorry.))

Feathers was too preoccupied with loving the contact from Nikki to be frightened by the captain, but the water lady didn't seem to be feeling good and she didn't seem to get why the sages were so mean. He let go of Nikki, climbing over the lap of the other lady who was arguing, and arriving next to the pale water lady. He spoke an incantation learned from the Oak Tree as he pressed all five fingertips to her forehead. "ün cza dé köl" he spoke, and with that the water lady's mind joined to Feathers' memory. He showed her through his own perspective as a cloaked man with greeting skin and wretched fingernails tore at his body wth tools and ripped at his soul with black magic. The pain was unimaginable. This torture lasted over a couple years. They finally decided to kill him with a fire seal mask so he would starve to death, but during application he slipped away and was chased for days before he lost them.

He pulled away from her, breaking the memory connection, then held an open hand over her chest, hoping to mimick what had happened between them before. It was successful. His eyes glazed over as the energy inside of him flowed into her. After he sensed her magicka had been restored, he pulled away.

He began to slip from his precarious perch on the water lady's seat, but saved himself by launching off into a backflip that ended with the super-light kid gripping onto the captain. He barely weighed anything so it probably didn't even phase the man as he clung to him like Tarzan to a tree. Suddenly the boy noticed who he was clung to, and offered a big smile to the scary man he had made friends with by way of melon offering, "Cap-ten." He said excitedly.

Before Avery could get up and leave the captain's quarters Feathers jumped onto her, with no time to react his antics she went stiff as Feathers touched her, her eyes glazing over. She wanted to fight and tear away from the memories, but remained frozen in place. After he broke the contact he filled her reserved, confusing her immensely. "Thanks for that, Feathers." she said, a touch bewildered and angry. She rubbed her temples, unsure of how to process the information, especially without an explanation to his actions. "What they did to you was wrong kid, I'm not arguing that. It just doesn't mean that thousands of people need to die for the mistake of a few. Not in my book anyways." she added after a few moments of thought. Avery was too slow to react to his movements, and remained sitting in her chair.

She continued to think of a way to explain her position to the boy. She wasn't coming up with much, all of her examples involved humans hurting things and she didn't want to damage his opinion of humans any farther. Her thinking caused her to miss his greeting of the captain. "How would you feel, Feathers, if a beaver used too many tree branches for his dam when chewing branches of only one or two trees would have been enough. If it had killed those many trees with its destruction rather than using all of one tree." she ventured, the question wasn't worded as well as she wanted to, but not using humans as part of her example was proving difficult for her.

ooc/ sorry if this didn't make a lot of sense, I wanted to get something out before the weekend but I'm too tired to write things that make sense. I work on the weekends and don't know how much I'll be on then.

((I'm so sorry everyone! I had a lot of things going on. If any of y'all wanna catch me up I'd be grateful.))

((Alright anyone lemmie know if I missed something.

So Rous and his friend's dealie is that there's the Father Flame, and they went to find it, and it shattered into pieces for reasons and now they ARE the pieces. Two of them. Totally immortal unless all the pieces are killed.

Also the reason mages are rare: a type of magic is hexing, which is super badevil magic that targets the soul and is highly addictive and highly warping to use. There was an ancient empire that forced every citizen to learn and use this magic and destroyed any other kind of magic. Making mages rare. Relevant because Rous and his wife, back when this thing was a thing, happened into it. Rous' wife was a water mage (like Avery) and so they grabbed the two of them and utterly destroyed his wife and tried to kill Rous too with hexes. But because Rous had The Father Flame in him, he survived. Just a teensy bit PO'd about the whole wife thing, he turned their entire kingdom into glass. He apparently missed a few because their descendants are the ones who caused Feathers all his problems.

Avery originally had a huge problem with Rous murdering an entire flipping kingdom and Tressa, once Avery voiced her concerns, agreed with her. Rous explained the whole, no srsly had to be done addictive thing and while either lady is still uncomfortable (to say the least) with supermass death sentence, they accept Rous' reasoning. Feathers has made friends with Rous via melon and was kept calm by Nikki and tried also to help convince Avery that hex users are superbadevil via a vision (though she had no argument that what happened to him was wrong), Rous wants to hunt down the people who hurt Feathers and kill them and NO ONE ELSE IS INVITED D< (but that's probably a good idea because hexes) Matthew (whose being a demon's champion is still totally a thing) endorses this well enough, most others in the crew at least begrudgingly accept this.

I think that's the highlights.))

ooc/ I like your summary :)

(( haha, thanks, summarizing is one of my favorites because I don't have to take the narrative seriously.))

(( Thanks! A party that no one else is invited to, eh? Sounds like just the sort of party a certain blond would enjoy))

"Heavy shit," Blackfire sighed loudly. She'd been quiet, just absorbing it all. "Makes me sorta miss home." She pantomimed wiping a tear away, and it was hard to tell if she was talking to herself or everyone. Probably just herself at this point. "In any case, this has been fascinating. I missed a lot in my time down under, it seems. Good thing, too, or else I might've felt responsible to help. Not that I won't, I just mean I guess I don't feel a sense of urgency about it. Hahaha, sorry!" The longer she spoke, the more forced her words sounded, until she started coughing from the (fake?) laugh and excused herself from the room.

The moment she was free of company she made a beeline to her room. God, she hated stories. Stories meant connecting with people. Which wasn't a bad thing, but more often than not ended horribly one way or another. No thank you to that! She closed her door behind her and scooped up her new companion, tickling the small creature. It let out soft cries that sounded like a laugh, eagerly exposing that food-bloated belly for rubs and attention. Now, animals, animals were nice. Animals could love you, be there for you, and not once have the urge to tell a single story. Quietly she sighed and wiped her eyes; no time for that now...

(( sure thing! Ehehehe, Blackfire be all, "I DON'T WANT TO CONNECT WITH OTHERS IT ENDS HORRIBLY." /runs off to connect with an animal. Sure, an animal is not generally likely to say, "Blackfire, I'm leaving and taking the kids," for several reasons, but we ARE talking about a wyvern here. So much potential to still end horribly XD))

Tressa jumped as Feathers crossed her lap, but if nothing else it convinced her that her first impression of him wasn't fair. He was just an adorable kid with some tough powers. She'd have to find out what he liked to eat best - maybe pick up more melons. Avery left, and she watched Blackfire run off, too, knowing full well what she was eager to get back to. She was going to have to learn to be less conspicuous if she wanted to keep a secret like that. Maybe she could help. A little later. It was too close to Blackfire's escape to mention anything. Plotting, she leaned back, surprised to find Fer's arm again.

(( Shh, if I could leave people to go connect with a dangerous animal, you bet I would!!))

OoC// still in on this, or.....?

Rous stared out of the window, off somewhere else in his mind. He only sort of snapped back to reality as Feathers latched onto his back. He simply, absentmindedly mumbled

[I]"There's a boy on my back... "[/i] Before resuming daydreaming.

All he could hear were her screams, her hysterical crying as she was enveloped by an inky, black mist.

When he could catch glimpses of her, she was coughing up, vomiting the inky black liquid, the liquid running down her cheeks from her eyes. After a minute, the fog cleared. And there slumped Saro, tied to a stake, with the darkness flowing down her face, and the color drained from her beautiful red hair. She looked like an old, old woman....

The townsfolk cheered, laughed, three rocks at her corpse, and then turned their sights onto him. But there was a flash.

And some screams. Screams that were cut short as the fire instantly expanded out.

The square in the center of town was black, as screams and shouts filled the streets. Rous crawled on his knees, mumbling incoherently as he picked up his once beautiful love. He felt the Father Flame lash out as dark, angry orbs impacted his body. He wiped the black residue from his wife's face, his vision going blurry with tears. He could hear one man come running up on him, Hexes flying from his hands.

But those Hexes couldn't save him from the massive twisters of fire that suddenly spawned, spinning off in 6 different directions. The smoke from the burning stones gathered in the sky, lightning beginning to spark, and it started to rain. Rain fist sized balls of fire.

Every step Rous took from that city, the sand glassed underneath his boots. He carried his wife, his eyes a-glow, smoke wafting from them. Pillars of fire errupted from buildings as he passed them, blowing holes in rooftops and instantly igniting the stone that held it up, the blue flames giving way to bight white and red of stones burning.

Wyrn patted Rous on the shoulders as he left, shaking his head.

I've been waiting for some sort of reply to stuff

((I'm here; thought I had replied more recently than I did, though. My internet at home is out for the next two days, but I'll try to get a reply after that.))

((Yep, still here :) I just...replied super recently is all ^^; ))

((Yep, still here :) I just...replied super recently is all ^^; ))

OoC// It's fine, I literally just needed someone else to post anything so I could continue, keep the ball rolling.

Rous snapped from his daydream, the boy still clinging to his back. [I]"Training."[/I] He said stately to himself. He gathered up the pyromancy gloves he had made, and proceeded to walk to the deck, grabbing as many people as he could on his way up, saying. [I]"Meeting! We're having a meeting! All crewmembers above deck!"[/I] He shouted as he climbed the stairs, rocking sleeping crewmembers almost all the way out of their hammocks.

When he got topside, the gathering of crewmembers behind him grabbed the attention of the others bustling about, stopping what they were doing. He dropped the gloves in a pile on the deck, looking around at all the new faces. He smiled. [I]"So many eager faces on tough men here today. Hello, for those of you who don't know, I am your Captain, Rous Al'Shineran, and Welcome aboard the Jester's Legacy!"[/I] The men whooped and cheered for a moment, before falling silent again at the wave of their captain's hand. [I]"Now, I've been informed that we will be sailing through some tumultuous waters. A civil war is going on, and we are going right through the middle, So tonight or tomorrow morning could see some trouble. Make yourselves ready for it. Who here isn't a pyromancer?"[/I] With that, hands went up, and he looked around. [I]"Excellent, I have almost enough pyromancy gloves for all of you, might be one or two who don't get a pair just yet, You'll just be riflemen for now. Come, grab a set. The rest of you, get back to work. School is in session!"[/I]

He pulled aside the signaler as everyone dispersed, pointing to the other ships sailing with them. [I]"Signal to them to fall back a ways, and to not fear, we are just doing training."[/I] The man nodded, and went off to find his flags. As soon as everyone had put on their gloves, he clapped his hands, and rubbed them together. [I]"Alright! First lesson in pyromancy! Close your eyes, and imagine a flame..."[/I] He paced around, watching everyone as they did so, some with skeptical looks upon their faces. [I]"...and push every thought into that lame. Every feeling, every emotion goes into it, so there is nothing left but that roaring flame. [/I]" He could see faces go from concentrating too hard to serenity, relaxed. [I]"Now, hold your hands out, palms facing each other, like you are holding a ball. I want you to push that flame to your hands, will it to your palms. If you aren't distracted by your thoughts, you should be able to... Ah-ha! There you go! Everyone open your eyes! You've taken the first step into being a pyromancer! If you have failed, keep trying to clear your mind! Something is distracting you. Put it in the fire, let it cease to be."[/I]