Lorcan smirked, but his eye was still cold.

[I]"No, little lass, an Eiran never backs down. And I've fought bigger, badder men than you. You'll fall, like the rest. You'll meet the same fate you seek for the young miss here!"[/i]

He took one step and jabbed with the long spear, aiming for the shoulder of the hand that was up.

His spear, from what he read and saw in the temple in which he found it, was designed to pierce the hard scales of dragons, with some unknown metal making up the blade and shaft, and the obsidian armor surely wasn't a match to dragon scales.

And if the man decided to dodge and try to disarm him by means of wrapping his arm around the spear, he was going to get a rude surprise when he was picked up and slammed against the rafter above.

[small]

Cacophonous shouts and frightful screams would parade through the streets as drunken men and townsfolk scattered like a herd from a hungering predator in a hunting spree. Pale lips pressed together, fingers tangled within her necklace and stone which was tied around her neck. Such a noise that filled through the streets would trigger a flashback to replay in memory-thought: Panic and chaos of people running from one another, fires set aflame within the walls and the sound of iron and steel clanking with shrilling screeches like that of nails raking down chalkboard. Morgäna-. Tiger companions' thoughts would tear through repressed images. She hadn't realized that she was suddenly on her knees as if she 'd fallen. Sweat beading her temples and her heart racing. Rounded ears on the tiger would fold back against his skull as he approached, his expression would harden as if to scrutinize again. I'm fine. She would respond in quiet thought, finally. Though he would simply raise a brow in disbelief. His whiskers would quiver with anticipation, though too catching the off-putting stench which loomed through the kingdom walls.

Using the tiger to support her weight, Morgäna would stand taking a moment to gather her bearings. She would retrieve a few things such as one or two throwing knives stashed away and her hooded cloak and pyrite lantern. “Where are you going?” Lowly growl ruptured from the white tiger. Long tail flicked agitated motion, side to side. Envy light would dance with euphoria within the grasps of the woman again. Anticipation flicked with dangerous adventure to face. The sun would be rising soon – though the skies remained dark enough for the stars to mingle a little while longer before sunlight would bring forth a new day. “Out.” she would simply say, preparing to leave though stopped as the tiger would tug on the ends of her attire. He was waiting to be struck which tended to be one of her stubborn little quirks when she refused reason. Though the thought of the tiger even expressing concern of what ever was out there did raise a few red flags. However she was reckless enough to overlook them.

“You are foolish to think it wise to venture in your state.” Black indigo eyes would search at the fire dancer woman and then to Orion for another voice of reason – not that it would do any good. She was stubborn enough to ignore any concern that involved her well-being.

[/small]

ooc: - I love Jason's dry commentary lol.

[ I'm going to wait a little while before posting. Give others a chance to go. Especially I hope you're getting well :/ ]

ooc: Thats perfectly fine! c:

((OOC:sorry it's so short. Azierr can't do much obviously. please do keep in mind ,theminorfall, not to make it an unwinnable situation as it then becomes a practice in frustration for others. Otherwise all good))

Asvin watched in horror, his face set into a grim mask. He moved to attempt to free his sister but she shook her head sharply, her face mask of determination and discomfort. "I will not go anywhere. You fight" He understood her meaning, break his focus, loosen his hold enough to allow her to free herself. He nodded and turned with his blade raised. His eyes took on a flash of gold and the air in the building chilled. His sisters light had not dimmed and he would use that to his advantage. He edged about the man like a cat on the hunt. "Cowards hide behind your tricks and attack the innocent. You are a bastardized shadow of a twisted and useless sect that has outlived it's own use and I'll have to look into that but in the meantime THE HOUSE OF LEOS WILL NOT FALL"His hand whipped three throwing knives from his sleeve at once, all aimed to strike the figure and baring poisons that he rarely used and he rushed toward the figure with his blade aimed for it's side, stepping in a zigzagging pattern. The light in the room dimmed for a moment but quickly returned in a blinding brilliance, his sister attempting to do something though she was ensnared.

[ I understand, I should have given Azierr the chance to counter and I apologize for that. That being said, I intend on Cain being a long-term bad guy. If you demolish him now, I lose that fun :c lol but I get it.]

Cain was about to drop another finger when the girl's dagger slipped between the plates on his glove and lodged in his hand. His hand sign was ruined and the spell was broken. The princess would now be able to breathe again, but before he could regroup, the big one thrusted a spear into the same arm's shoulder. Reflexively he grabbed the spear only to be thrown upward into the rafter above, smashing it in half in a rain of splinters. He managed fly off of the blade in the midst of the smashed rafter while simultaneously ripping the dagger from his hand. He landed and prepare to take a step, but something was wrong. He felt strange.

One of the small, poison-coated knives had slipped between armor plates, and managed to get through his clothes just enough to scratch his skin. He knew as well as any assassin, that was all it took. It was likely that this royal had more black on his ledger than Cain had previously anticipated. A foolish mistake, but this was not lost. He would purge this poison later. For the moment, he had to take a drastic measure. He took a quick step, anticipating the royal's movements and accepting his sword. With a precise maneuver of his torso, the blow was more of a graze, but deep enough for him to bleed from the point of entry of the poison. This slowed the toxin's effect, but he lost a little more blood than intended. His training was keeping pain out of his focus, however so he was able to push the blade away and administer a pelvic kick to the Royal. This did little damage, even inflicting minimal pain, but it's purpose was otherwise. He assumed the man could withstand Cain's immense strength, but the pelvis was a human's center of mass. When the hips are moved, the rest goes too. With the forced he kicked the man, he expected to have about seventeen seconds to shift and tactically retreat.

Orion was at the ghost-woman's side when she fell. He didn't understand this imprinting thing fully but so far he was beginning to care about nothing other than her well being. And he didn't even know her name.

When she declared she was leaving, he had no choice but to go too, but the moment they got outside was the moment that a great dark being smashed out of a building and soared off into the distance. Orion scowled, that was the source of such a stench. He could feel it. "He looked to his imprintee, "I smell blood. If you insist on killing yourself with your work, we might as well go there and help the wounded." He suggested.

Lorcan grinned. The man didn't disappoint, and went for the disarm.

Lorcan leaned back, locking his arm, and lifted up the spear. He was much stronger than he looked, and it showed when he smashed the man through the rafter above.

The man sailed off the spear, and Lorcan prepped to spin and swing, when his Boss decided to step in, throwing knives from his sleeves with accuracy, and a quickness as if he had done this move before, following close behind them with a slash of his own, scoring a hit on the darkly clad assassin, drawing blood, what little it might have been. Lorcan grinned.

[I]"Ah, seems to be more to ya than just dashing good looks and an obscene amount of money, your highness! But, your gonna have ta do better than that!"[/I]

In truth, he grew tired of this fight. Not physically tired, but more like fed up. All he wanted was a few ( a lot) drinks and to go to bed, but no. Someone had to come along and make his night difficult. He sidestepped a couple times, trying to circle around while the handsome prince( king? duke? he didn't say.) Did his thing.

[ um no. I'm not trying to be... A jerk? But I ended that post like that so the rest of the characters could react. No hard feelings, just please edit.]

She ignored the tigers retort and the odd reaction Orion had, slightly taken back that he took to her side when she had fallen. Morgäna never did recall the fall, just finding herself on the ground after an argumentative flashback to taunt her to her knees. The word of blood lingered through pale ears though would snap her attention to Orion with confusion. “We?” she questioned with insulted demand. Heated debate began to form. She wasn't expecting anyone to tag along – the tiger was just a given however he wouldn't always follow if he never felt the need to do so. “I can fare alone quite well,” she argued coldly. “Besides.” She would leave no room to interruption, she was irritable as it was, simply because she'd been running off steam since day two. “You should rest after that encounter with the tree earlier.” Her hands would place themselves upon her hips; the pot calling the kettle black. White tiger would roll his black indigo eyes as he shook his head. “I will go and tend to any wounded, you stay here and rest.” Morgäna huffed as she would pass by him and help herself out the door, barely leaving time for either he or tiger to follow. “Damn woman.” the tiger cursed, kicking his right paws at the ground. Eventually following after, and beckoning the other shifter to follow along

It would take several minutes for her to arrive to the dark tavern. Wolfish hearing guided her senses as she listened to the voices from within. There was shouting and the sound of metal clanking together of what she assumed to be combat. Morgäna had ran, feeling her heart pounding against her chest with heavy beat. Pale fingers trailed against oakwood frame that supported a door, nickel eyes peering through window to see if she could see anything-anyone before entering. She was hesitant to enter right away and would wait several minutes longer, trying to catch her breath. She was having a difficult time to maintain focus

((Sorry for the late post all!))

Jason mentally kicked himself when he found that his blade wasn't able to penetrate with a simple swing. He readied himself as the man finished his spell. The former knight had plenty of time to parry the blade and jump back, only to find himself too far away to riposte. "I mean, you're not wrong in any of those aspects, but sin? Hardly." The young man said with a smirk, proceeding to jump down from the rafters to make way for Lorcan's attack.

Jason remembered Lorcan using a similar technique on one of the guards during training, expecting the same tactic to hold true. While the three kept the man preoccupied, the former elite guard quickly made his way to the royal woman to help her up, gently raising her to her feet after falling from the spell's grasp.

Jason nodded to Azierr before returning to the fight. Seeing the assassin's eyes flit to the doorway and back to the royal Jason placed himself between the exit and Cain, doing his best to block the man's escape. Jason attacked again, forcibly driving his blade into the back of the knee of the darkly-clad as he attempted to kick the royal man in a rather... Sensitive area. "Hey, where's the sportsmanship of hitting someone below the belt?" Jason said, with a hint of irony in his voice.

{{Theminorfall- I get that}} With a grunt, Asvin was thrown back several feet by the kick, his eyes glinting icily but he had to respect the move. While the move was not honorable it served a purpose and Asvin had always been a firm believer that everything served it's purpose. Azierr took several gulps of air to catch her breath as the invisible grip released her, her whip falling to the floor beside her with a tinkle of wires. She accepted the knights hand up with a nod before quickly placing herself between her brother and the fleeing assassin, her eyes unreadable. "Let him go,As. There is no point in drawing out this fight. Those strikes were not enough to level the playing field. He scowled at her but jerked a nod, still standing as close as he possibly could in the event the assassin was not truly turning tail. The ache in his nethers gave him little pause but it did irritate him enough to bring out the cat in his eyes.

Asvin cast a narrowed look at the dirty adventurer, a wry smile turning up the edge of lips. "To have survived as long as you have, I'm sure you know that there is always more than what is seen" Azierr shook her head and stepped away "Yes, well in this situation what meets the eye is you should all stand down before someone dies." She jerked her head about to meet the knights eyes, making her meaning clear. She was putting her best effort into not letting the bone deep ache of her leg and burning of her lungs from the stress of her magic seep into her words or her posture but that would not last and drawing a bad situation out only worsened it.

Trained assassin or no, Cain knew when he was at a disadvantage. Now he was going to need real healing magic. He had no choice but to abandon this fight and regroup. Draining what little magic he had left he used his metal style to wrench the blade from his leg with another series of three hand signs.adding another hand sign, he pointed his extended fingers at Azierr. Directly following this action, a black-red curse rune appeared on the girl's neck. It was nothing more than a tracking spell for when he was ready. Rarely, if ever did he use that method, because rarely did he ever fail on the first attempt. He would have to regroup and try again with a new tactic.

He allowed his magic to take hold, morphing his body in a writhe of shadow into a dragon not much larger than a horse. His scales were plates of black metal, as were his talons. "You will die." He said, directing the growled comment toward the Royal girl. With that he launched upward, smashing through the roof and taking his shadows with him. The tavern candles relit themselves and he was gone, flying off at tremendous speed. The only trace of his presence that remained was the coagulating blood on the floor, and of course the destruction.

Orion wanted to defy Morgäna and go with her, but as he took a breath to speak he felt a strange tugging sensation at the back of his neck. The symbol was almost completely imprinted, he could not defy her. His wolf curse would not let him.

[sorry it's short, but I needed to get something down]

[I]"Aye, sometimes this is true. Sometimes people are just as they seem. I don't think you'd be surprised to see which one happens more often."[/i] He called to the Prince, raising the blade of the spear neck height with the assassin, when the princess told them to halt.

He cast a look to her, the spear still posed to thrust and pierce the man's neck. [I]"Do ya not recall my little spiel, your highness?"[/i] He turned his gaze back to the assassin, when something he hadn't seen before took place.

The man turned himself into a dragon.

A damned, honest-to-the-Gods dragon.

And plowed his way through the roof.

Lorcan watched the man leave through the hole he created, the spear slowly dropping, his jaw hanging just as low.

[I]"Ja-Jason. Tell me I'm seeing things. At least, I know that my spear is effective against dragons. But the heavens be damned! I haven't seen anything like this, a man changing like that! And I've seen /a lot/ of stuff."[/i]

He set his spear and shield down, grabbing a cup of ale from the bar, gulping it down quickly, letting out a small chuckle.

[I]"For someone so certain of how much death they could deal, he sure retreated rather quickly! How's the pretty lady?"[/i] He spoke as he rumaged behind the bar, pulling what looked to be an expensive bottle of wine up. He uncorked it with his teeth and took a long drag on it, pressing the bottle to Jason's chest.

Just as he was heading his way out the door, the tiger paused and looked back to the man with a puzzled expression. “Will you not follow?” he asked of him. Dark lips pressed together, befuddled by the mans obedience. Rounded ears flicked as he watched the woman head down the streets, her shadow stretching as the sun was beginning to rise with an early morning glow. Black indigo eyes returned back Orion with a continuing tilt of his head, sitting for a moment. His chest tugged with rattled nerves, by not following abruptly behind felt off and unsafe. She was barely able to function properly at the given moment, despite her argument. “Your actions are strange.” he implied. “I do not trust her on her own due to recent events – it is not wise to just sit and do nothing.”

….

The utterance of a threat hissed within the tavern before the noise of what sounded of exploding wood as an entity took to the skies, leaving behind a large gaping hole in the tavern roof. Alabaster eyes widened as she recognized the shape of draconian nature and she felt her stomach churn with nausea. Pale fingers grasped the side of the door frame as if to catch her fall, feeling her legs grow weak. That cannot be right. she thought to herself. As far as she knew, she was one of very, very few last surviving shifter with dragon blood. While hers was only half of course, even then it was still an extreme rarity. It had taken her several moments to regain her composure before standing brushing linen with the palms of her hands; Morgäna stood and cleared her throat. [I] Nostalgia. [/i] expression relaxed upon pale face, pushing the door open as she entered the lit tavern, One two... six? Beings standing sporadically in the emptied bar.

She adjusted her hood keeping it close to her face as if to hide her identity, bringing the basket of supply to her front, both hands held the handle rather curtly. Delicate nose twitched, wolfish senses picked up on the stench of coppery blood. “The drunks have been stirred from their post.” she mused a hum, though her lips never cracked a smile as she remained relatively calm. She was mentally fighting the exhaustion that battled against her. “Is there anyone in need of assistance?” She didn't quite get a good look at the twins, though she had recognized them right off the spot, she would have high-tailed it out of there if they had recognized her.

Orion crossed his arms and furrowed his brow as he sat down on a nearby chair. The tiger was right , but, " I cannot. I come from a lineage of wolf-men. Shifters tied so close to their shift that they take on certain qualities. I'm starting to think I've imprinted on your Morgäna for one reason or another." He admitted, "I'd like to ignore her order and go knock her out just so her body can rest, but if I'm right, there is no disobeying an Alpha."

The wolf shifter pulled down his collar and exposed his neck to show the tiger, "There will be some kind of Mark here if I've imprinted." He told the cat.

[ ah! So short but I don't want to put much since I've just posted T.T love this story! ]

Jason watched as the Prince was knocked at least a couple yards away, and he turned his gaze back to the assassin to him an emergency amputation, however the Prince's sister called for peace before he could act. He gave a questioning look to the royal woman, but as his eyes met hers, he knew what she meant. Begrudgingly, he helped the assassin pull the silver blade from the back of his knee, half tempted to twist it on the way out.

With that, Jason sidestepped out of the darkly-clad man's way of the entrance, however the assassin seemed to have a different idea. In a matter of seconds the man's form twisted into that of shadow, which in turn took the shape of a smokey black dragon. Jason raised his eyebrows as he blasted through the roof, dryly stating,

"Why couldn't he just use the door?"

Jason slightly turned his head to his old friend, saying, "Trust me, Lorcan, I've seen a man turn into a manticore, but never a dragon. All things considered, though, I wouldn't have doubted their existence before this."The former knight examined his blood stained blade and sighed, muttering to himseld, "I suppose I'll have to clean this." While he spoke to himself and looked over his blade, he hardly noticed Lorcan walk up to him before he found the man pushing the fermenter alcohol into Jason's chest. He shook his head, politely pushing the bottle away from him, saying "We shall drink later, but right now we have wounded to attend to."

As Jason searched the bar for medical supplies, another woman entered the room, a basket in her hands. The young man stood from his kneeling position behind the bar, stating, "Unless you've got bandages and medical supplies in that basket, you'd best leave."

((OCC Is this the Role-play you spoke about on Deviant art sometime earlier in february? Is it too late to join in or anything?))

"Finally!" Leeda though, seeing her blade slide between the attacker's fingers. She watched the rest of the team attack, deciding her skills would not be needeed, and possibly hitting somebody who was a possible ally was not a good idea. When the creature left she nearly fainted from shock, she was not expecting a dragon to appear. The surprise tuned everything out, her ears barely catching the comment about leaving through the door. She smirked, "That would have been too nice of him, make a nice normal exit and all." she commented, seemingly calm as she went to retrieve her knives. She felt weak as the basketed woman entered what was left of the tavern. "There's a few that might need it ma'am." she piped up, barely giving her a second glance as she hunted for her blades.

[small] Long tail swayed from left to right in a single swing, rounded ears flung forward though remained silent as he observed the shifter man. He noted that the sun was beginning to rise now, morning had started as he caught sound of the birds outside trilling their morning symphony. Black lips pressed together with a curt tilt of his head. Catching small indications of a few things Morgäna never did address with the stranger. “Hm.” he huffed with a leisured sigh. His nerves still tugged, beckoning to go after the woman. But his interests had been piqued by this other shifter. He'd taken note that the human girl had fallen silent, wherever she may have gone was not a concern of his. “Interesting –...” was all that managed to slip from inky lips in rolling grunt. Scarred face turned and directed attention to the man, his tail curling around him as he came to a comfortable sit. “I do not recall her giving her name to you.” His head then tilted to the side, black indigo eyes nearly demanding an answer. He wasn't foolish to ignore this fact, however to learn that he was imprinting could show a balance of positive and negative. It was evident that the tiger was the voice of reason between himself and the pale maiden.

The tiger blinked as the man shifted his collar to expose his neck. White striped head tilted to the right then with inquiry noticing the bold mark in which was spoken of. “I see.” he rumbled gruffly standing on all fours. He made no comment towards Orion's mention of the possible connection of Morgäna and a leading title. She was not going to take kindly to this news at all and the last thing he wanted was to add another stress factor. So instead, the tiger decided to remain silent on this matter. “She did not quite give command.” the tigers shoulders rolled as he motioned the door with his head, to beckon the man from his seat. “She simply implied that you stay, there was no order to follow then. She has a nasty habit of turning away aide when she does not see fit.” The cat was just as sly as a fox. While he was some form of guardian for the woman – just as she was stubborn to listen, he had often completely ignored her and walked through her sharp tongue without care. He did what may have benefited him, and not necessarily always the shifter maiden.

….

Back at the tavern, Morgäna entered and assessed the situation to the best of her ability. Candles were alight, filtering the room with the dim glow. Though the sun would soon take over and filter its natural shine through the windows, assisted by candlelight. She kept the basket and lantern close to her self. Uncertain of what she may have just walked into – though whatever it was that had caused the ruckus then, had since fled. Alabster eyes would turn as a young man spoke, a small frown tugged at the corner of her lips upon his comment. She never fared well being told what to do, in part, a little rebellious but mostly having the freedom of doing has she so pleased without the worries of politics looming over her head. Which is perhaps why she kept herself so hidden away. Though there were other factors as to why she would not return to the castle – and by those reasons only the Tiger would ever know hidden facts. “My clinic is just around the corner from here.” She refrained from grabbing a bundle of guaze and tossing it at the man's head – instead she swallowed hard and kept her composure … and it would have been such a waste of supply.

Eyes then turned as the girl in the background spoke, seeming distracted – looking for something – perhaps something she'd dropped? Though mentioned that there were some that may need attention to. “I've brought some basics enough to seize bleeding and some ointments to deter infection.” Attention turned briefly to the twins, catching something quite familiar though her stomach churning in hopes to be wrong. [/small]

OOC Be sure to read up on my rules located here: OOC Forum - and fill out a character sheet and post it there and await for approval. If you have any questions, just sMail me :)

Also everyone Reminder that I require responses with a minimum of 250 words! You all are doing great so far and I can understand the writers block happens occasionally but please do keep that in mind. It makes things easier to work with <3 (also sorry I posted in again, I wanted the tiger to converse things ;o; )

- I ALMOST HAD HER THROW SOMETHING AT HIM but it wouldn't have been her character to do that :C But it would have been comical.

{{Azierr's mouth gets foul when she gets mad, just a bit of a warning XD}} Azierr felt the sting of the rune etched on her skin but quickly forgot it as she was battered by ceiling debris and stumbled, caught off guard. She blinked several times, her heart hammering in her chest as her brother grabbed her shoulder and gave her a gentle shake "Azi?" She blinked and turned her head, slowly coming back to the now, her hand sliding up to rub the mark at her throat with a grimace etched with pain "Why do we always attract this shit, Vin? For fuck sake" She threw up her hands and made to stomp toward the bar only to end up stumbling and landing on her rump in a coughing fit, unable to answer the dirty, be-skirted adventurer. The flare of sharp pain in her lungs made breathing impossible while she clutched her chest, angry at herself for not realizing how far she had let herself use her magic and aggravating her own body.

Asvin nodded, acknowledging the healer, grateful that there would be some relief here, only to be drawn away by the sound of his sister landing on the floor. He cursed, dropping his blade with a clatter to rush and search his discarded bag for her salves and tonics to find many of them shattered by being thrown about in the commotion, He looked over the bar to the adventured, his eyes glittering with frustration "Someone get her something to drink, now!" He began digging through the hip bags and her satchel, trying to figure out the herbs that she kept there. "Do you have any knowledge of herbs outside of this land, healer? I have medicines but no idea which ones will help. The premixed tonics are ruined and I need something to ease her lungs now!" The ground about him was littered with clothing, bottles, and trinkets while he pulled varying satchels of herbs from the bags in a frenzy.