The Divine Curse p.1 (Open / Started)

Koe took his hand and smiled. "Uh-huh. I think I'll be leading the way on this one," She winked and started to pull him along. "Let us be off! I need new clothes, and a bath, and new clothes, and supplies, and new clothes. Did I mention I really need new clothes? These ones are bout to fall off," She muttered, more to herself than Aaron. 

 
Xavier blinked, following Takeo. "Uh.. Yeah I don't mind, considering you just saved my wooden a**," He teased, smiling. 

Faron shot Elza a teasing look. "Just you wait til I can shapeshifting again. You're going to wake up to a lion on your face," He teased, chuckling.

Armistice quickly scooped up his mud covered vest and slung it over his shoulder. "Well, I've never really talked to people. I'm not sure where it would be." He shrugged. "Maybe we head to where the forest is thinning out and hope that means people cute down trees? I could fly up and check also, but then we might get struck by lightning." He paused for a minute and then added "That would be very bad."

Atalia tilted her head slightly to the side, as she gazed at the elf and shapeshifter's interaction. They didn't seem to have any bad intentions at all, and Elza's voice was warm. Welcoming. She nodded in acknowledgement and jerked her lips up in a extremely short-lived smile. "My name is Atalia," she replied.

Kioshi coughed a few times, "It smells like... burning things." Looking around, she saw bright flames. "Well s***." The catgirl jumped down from the tree, her eyes began to water from the smoke. 'I guess a village would be a safe place.' she thought as she sprinted.

Rosa grimaced. She was still soaking wet, as the rain had yet to let up. It was most defiantly not the way a witch who's first line of defense was fire. Of course, with this weather ice would certainly be easier to produce, yet Rosario found it to be less pleasing to manipulate. 

Perhaps she could remedy this...

Rosario stepped under the full cover of a particularly full tree and with a few motions of her hands began the tedious work of drawing moisture out of her clothes and dumping it on the ground while also instructing a plane of air slightly above her to swirl violently, sending any rain that entered it violently off to the side.

It was a bit of a waste of mana, but she couldn't afford to be chilled by the moisture, as it was counterproductive to her intention of staying healthy. 

Satisfied with the result she instructed the disk of air to follow her at a fixed position above her head to prevent herself from becoming damp again as she continued walking through the muddy forest.

"And hot," Will agreed. "Try it." The white-haired boy took his last coin from his pocket. "All right. Heads we go left, tails we go right." He flipped it, catching it in the air and turning it over onto his other wrist. "Tails. Let's go to the right."

Elza rolled her eyes at Faron and returned Atalia's smile. "Nice to meet you. I can't thank you enough for what you did for us, truly. But we should get moving before that dragon comes back." In truth, Elza couldn't wait to get to the village and get a bath, new clothes, and good food. "We'll treat you to a meal when we get to the village, okay?"

Aaron blushed and let Koe pull him along. "Okay, uh I think I still have some money somewhere. And when do you think we can get my sword?" He wasn't worried about it being stolen, because no one but him (and demons, he supposed) could hold it.

Atalia blinked at Elza, then plucked another cigarette out of the batch, held it between her lips and lit it. A cloud of gray smoke tunneled into the atmosphere. She clicked the lighter shut and met the elf's gaze. "No problem, I couldn't leave wounded people out without treatment. Not ever." She replied, then ended with a quick 'thank you'.

Armistice nodded. "Fate is a good enough judge as any, definitely." With that, Armistice began to walk right, confident that they were going the right way. "Will, what exactly are we going to do when we get to town, any way?"

"Well... it's a bit of an awkward request... but do you have any clothes I could borrow? even if it's just underwear? I didn't bring human clothes with me when I visited my family, and I can't go into town naked nor can I be a talking fox... we don't even have money on us to buy clothes," Takeo explained as he continued to lead the nymph to the town.

The scents of the town began to fill his nose, including the scent of alcohol and roasting food.

Xavier blinked and blushe slightly, looking away. "I have some extra trousers," he offered, pulling them out of his bag thing. "They'd probably fit so.. Yeh," he chuckled nervously. Rubbing the back of his head as he looked around. 

 
Koe stopped, looking at Aaron. "You left your sword somewhere," She sighed, "Where did you leave it?" She asked, looking around. "Is it close?"

Elza smiled at the healer, chuckling a bit. "No need to thank us. One meal doesn't come anywhere near what we owe you, but I suppose it's a start" 

"Hm . . . I don't really believe in fate, but . . . whatever." Will stuffed the coin back in his pocket, starting off after Armistice. "And I guess you get us some rooms at the tavern and I'll get food? But you need to give me money. I just have one copper piece."

Aaron scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I think the best guess is that I dropped it in the cave when I Changed last night. I can't hold it in that form."

"Awesome! I appreciate it very much."

Takeo peered around to make sure no one was looking as darkness began to envelope him. His fur retracted, his limbs expanding. As the darkness dissipated, Takeo presented himself to Xavier. He stretched out his body without shame.

" Ugh... it's been so long since I was a human. I barely remember how to walk on two legs..."

He slowly put on the trousers, comfortable around Xavier.

"Thank you!" Takeo said gratefully, continuing to lead Xavier.He couldn't help but wonder if Xavier liked what he saw.

Atalia smirked and glanced back at the burning forest. The vibrant purple in her gaze was then shrouded with the fear of impending danger and she took a step towards Elza and Faron. "We better get a move on then, that dragon is bound to be upon us again." There was a slight snarl in her voice, out of animosity for the hybrid being that attacked them.

"Hmm... Yes, that will work. It'll be better if I'm out of sight as much as possible. Yes yes. I'll get the room and you get food." Armistice started digging his way through his pockets and found two gold pieces. "These are all I have right now, it seems." He handed one out to Will. "Take it, so we can split up when we get there."

"Two rooms," Will corrected. "I don't share rooms with men that smell like one-armed scorched fairies." When the fairy passed him the money, Will nearly dropped it. He quickly put it in his pocket before he could lose it. "Gods where did you get this much money?"

Elza shrugged. "If it comes, it comes. Well deal with it if it does. I mean, now we're somewhat prepared for an attack, so . . ."

((*All the Takevier fangirls die*))

 Xavier quickly turned red, turning around quickly to stop himself from staring too long. On the inside, much to his chagrin, he was having a fanboy momment. Oh yes. Xavier was being a fanboy. However, we are not going to delve into the specifics of what Xavier was thinking at the time. As this RP is PG-13. Let's just say he was definently enjoying himself. 
  As Takeo finished getting dressed, he was snapped out of his fantasies, and started following him once more. His face still very red. 

 Koe sighed slightly, looking at Aaron. "How far away is it? Maybe we can stop by on our way to the village,"

Faron nodded, but started walking anyways. "I'd prefer not to be attacked in the first place though,"

"Prepared?" Atalia grunted, looking at Elza with a scorn on her face. "You were just attacked, and half of your group was severely injured. My treatment was successful, but healing takes time. The next time that dragon attacks, there is no saying whether the wounds will stay put or open up again." She paused, cringing as the aches emerged again. "And I'm not exactly in a state where I could help them again." Then, without awaiting a response, she turned and began to follow Faron.

"Right, right." Armistice nodded at Will's comment about sharing rooms. He'd keep that in mind for later. "Oh, the gold? Good story, that. On the way past here I saw a bunch men in armor and a fat man in all purple. Horrible creatures, they were." Armistice's wing twitched in his anger, his hand tightening slightly. "The fat purple man was screaming to kill of the innocent demons surrounding his wagon, and the tin men agreed, slaughtering them all. By the time I got over to them, all but the smallest one was dead." He spat. "That one didn't last long. I smashed the heads of all the men in metal, and as I moved to the fat one, he tossed the coins at me." Armistice shrugged. "I still don't know why. I didn't ask. He was much easier than the soldiers. He was soft. It was over in one strike."

Rosario had found her way to a rather steep hill. Generally she would just go around, but she could not see either end of the near cliff and decided to go with the easiest route.

She backed away from the edge, about 20 paces, and then took a running start jumping off the cliff all while preparing her low strength wind spell, releasing it when she was about half way to the ground. It was only a drop of about 3-4 meters, but it would be problematic if the spell were to fail. Luckily, it worked exactly as intended, accelerating her speed enough so that she was only slightly jarred upon landing on the ground, her earlier wind spell still  hovering diligently above her.

She wiped off the mud to her best ability and readjusted her halberd before resuming her walk.

Aaron shook his head. "It isn't that far away, but we shouldn't risk it with this dragon about. Too much danger. Too much could go wrong."

Elza followed suit, keeping her annoyance in check. "Sure, we just survived a rampaging werewolf, demon horde, and a psycho fairy before the dragon. I'd say we have a much higher odds of surviving, this time around." She nodded to Faron, "Of course, it would be best if the attack never happens."

Will nodded slowly. "I see. Natural reaction. I wonder if those soldiers were chosen? They were probably just hired, then." The rain was beginning to slacken a bit, but Will was thoroughly soaked to the bone. He needed to get something to fix that. "Y'know, I'm going to get a cloak. I'm tired of this stupid rain."

Injuries like yours would only hinder the experience gained. Atalia let out a half-hearted laugh, but kept her thoughts to herself. Angering the girl wouldn't do her any good right now.

Koe rolled he eyes and continued walking. "Ok ok if you say so Aaron," She answered, jumping over a tree stump, because boredom. She started to hum, then stopped suddenly. Soaked by the rain. "It's cold. I want new clothes. Can we be there yet, I don't do we'll on road trips," She was really talking to herself out loud. She was, aforementioned, bored.

Armistice nodded. "I'll need cloth. Lots and lots of cloth. The tiger is an embarrassing defect of the body meant to turn the tide of this conflict. I don't need it." He peered into the distance and noticed that not far ahead, there were several buildings clustered near one another. "Will, is this the village you were talking about? Is it even a village? Yes, definitely. Is this where we stop, then?"

"Yeah, that'd be it. I'll meet you at the tavern soon. Put down a fake name, just in case." Will said, pulling out the coin and flipping it between his fingers. He wondered if they had an apothecary in town.

Aaron walked beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. "I think this rain is going to stop soon. Plus, we're probably close to the village by now." At this point, they had reached the road. Fortunately for them, there was a steep, yet navigable path down to its edge. "Okay, Takeo said the village is to the East, which means we need to go to the right."

Elza's eyes narrowed slightly, but she didn't say anything else. Instead, she walked next to Faron in silence. The forest was filled with dripping sounds as the rain rolled down the leaves of the trees and plopped onto the ground. Here and there were tiny puddles, and the ground was carpeted with moss and old leaves. All in all, it was very calming.

Atalia fell behind them, maintaining a steady pace and avoiding the puddles that accumulated over time. Putting out her soggy cigarette, the ram spirit felt the rain across her shoulders, the water mixing with the mud and staining her clothes even more. However, she didn't mind light downpour and the droplets of rain hanging from the golden curves mounted on her skull. She watched them in amusement, humming a little tune as they continued to the town.