Shattered Innocence (IC) [M]

[Sprocketsdance]

With the comand she wanted to explain in a very angry fashion 'I AM CRONTROLING MYSELF' but that never happened. Chance's anger, although quite strong, wasn't really a match for the good vibes that Ked and Garis were sending her. She prefered to be happy anyways so that might have ultimately aided in her calming down and becoming a bit friendly again.

She realized that she did not know the name of the fox who told her to control herself.. but he already turned to Ked, plus she felt guilty for getting so angry. She looked to Garis and smiled a bit sheepishly. "I'm sorry I snapped at you.. I'll behave now." Her smile widened, wondering if she ever did behave herself. "Well, I don't know what clan I belong to.. my parents told me it was the sort of thing we should learn on our own. As for the abilities I know of some, like mind reading and thought projecting.. and emotions are basically the food. I can feel emotions around me sometimes although I don't think they benefit me much.. at least in the way that 'food' goes. Oh! and you get head wings!" With this she squealed, bouncing lightly as she sat.

Without Garis being right in front of her she could get a plain view of Zanfib now. For some reason he just caught her eye, most likely from his tail swishing around. He looked terrible! Like someone about ready to.... oh no... she thought. Needless to say her bouncing stopped, and thank goodness there was still some freshly sent 'calm' in her because she was pretty sure she knew at least what he wanted to do to the demon, she wasn't sure if he could yet.

"Zan! What are you doing?!" She called out to him, getting to her feet again. She wasn't sure why she suddenly cared about what would happen to the demon.. perhaps she didn't, perhaps she just didn't want Zanfib to be the one to carry out terrible things.

[Azlan]

Tyrian shrugged at Kassin's refusal and backed off a bit.  With Kassin occupied and Raffiele afflicted, he remained as the sole defender.  Turning to scan their surroundings with his eyes, the mage quickened a spell of perception from the realm of air.

He reached out in a 100 meter diameter with every sense he possessed: sight, hearing, smell... even to a certain extent taste as canids used part of that sense in tracking.  It was the best he could do and remain capable of responding to threats that might present themselves.

"Kassin, please make it quick, this area is still not fully safe.  The others have not yet returned, they must still be dealing with the other demon.  I wish not to linger too long, hopefully they return soon."

[Noone]

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Eilan broke away from Kedered to observe the demon, and Zanfib, standing over him. He was slightly alarmed at first when he said "Goodbye demon.", but became far more alarmed when he started screaming in agony. He raised an eyebrow, Kassin's not going to like this..., and watched. The demon continued to writhe.
You are able to see what the demon was doing, apparently, they were claws, searching for Kassin. They captured Chance in order to use her as bait for Kassin, they spent day upon day torturing her, abusing her, hoping that her emissions of pain would attract Kassin. It doesn't appear like any of them knew why Nakata wanted Kassin however, but only cared to have him brought back to her, alive.
The demon kept screaming in agony, he was undisciplined and badly injured. But finally, Eilan, now convinced that Zanfib was only torturing the demon, not extracting information from him, pulled out one of his blades, gripped the hilt with both hands, and swung at the demon's neck. The blade got stuck in, cutting deep, and was instantly fatal. Eilan put his right foot on the demon's chest, and extracted the weapon, still quite bloody from this encounter. He looked at Zanfib, visibly angry.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?", he growled at Zanfib. "We needed information, not for you to torture him! I believe I thought that loudly enough for you to hear that. I know enough about thought reading to realize that the two don't necessarily have to go hand in hand. We don't have the time to be wasting on frivolously torturing our foes when we could just cleanly kill them. Or better yet, we could get something out of them rather than senselessly abusing them. Besides, aren't you forgetting that Kassin's hypersensitive? I just hope he's still sane after what you've likely exposed him to."

With a grumble, he put his weapon back in his hilt. He shook his head in frustration. He let out a deep, angry breath before he made a few steps back. He made a motion to the others. "Let's go, we've wasted enough time already."

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Kassin nodded as he heard Tyrian. He was about to touch the demon, when he clutched his head with both hands. "aah! AaaaAAH!", he screamed in pain, and fell to the ground. He was in unbearable agony for a while, whimpering softly while feeling like his head was melting down. It continued for a while, but finally, he clutched his neck with his left hand, and let out a gasp for air. Lying down on the ground, he alternated between soft whimpers and deep breaths, gasping for air.

[Tipod]

Rafa had kept quiet until then, simply nodding and keeping the rest of his body still for Kassin. "...oh, what the hell is it now?!" Rafa made another strangling motion with his hands, about to grab Kassin and haul him up. If only he didn't have that wretched curse placed on him. "Snap out of it and get to healing!!" The one problem with empathics: always breaking down around the wounded.

Glancing over towards the others, he yelled angrily. "Which one of you screwups set him off?!"

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Torn between a desire to protect Kassin and wanting to see how the interrogation played out, Kedered hovered until Eilan executed the demon. After observing it with a nod, he wrapped himself in a speed spell and sprinted back towards the area they were attacked in.

[Sprocketsdance]

As Chance watched her last captor be slain she shuddered. She figured she would be more angry about that being taken away from her, but she was fine. Finally that chapter has ended and she doesn't have to be reminded...

But when she seen the fox yell at Zanfib she growled low. Again she knew what the fox said was logical.. and ultimately she was glad he didn't let Zan proceed any further, but it still irked her. She did not interfere, though, instead she waited for the fox to start heading back where everything started, and then she went to Zanfib. Of course right after she appologetically smiled at Garis.

"Zan? Are you ok? What happened?" Chance stopped, realizing she was probably over doing it with the questions. "Hey, lets talk while we go back." She lent a bit of a smile, hoping he wouldn't explode... or rather pent up. She waited for him to stand before she started walking back.

[Lisky]

Garis first replied to her apology by bringing his broad smile back and replying "no apology needed, i know what demons are capable of, especially the young, and childishly cruel ones... I'm just sorry we didn't find you sooner."

He was starting the motion of sitting down next to the cubi girl when she burst out with a shout to zanfib.  He had already shifted his weight to slide down, and Garis wasn't 100% sure what was going on, as he'd been largely ignoring Ked, Zanfib and Eilan.  He turned the motion into a shoulder roll and landed in a crouched position, wings folding in on themselves forming tentacles.  

When he saw it was just Zanfib continuing his ripping apart of the demon's mind he relaxed slightly until Eilan nearly took the demon's head off.  As Chance got up and left, he knew he didn't stand much of a chance with the girl if Zan went for her as well.  He shook the thoughts off, grinned wryly at the others, and without a word, cast a speed enhancement spell while taking to the skies and heading back towards Kassin and Ty.

[Ghostwish]

The moments before the demon was slain were brief, but Zanfib did answer Chance. "Your revenge, Chance. With a little information gathering on the side." He said simply, as if his actions were as simple as baking a pie. He continued to plunge into the demon's mind, much akin to a spear, when suddenly, he felt the connection go dead. It then donned on the psion that the mind of the demon was dying, along with the demon.

After the execution, Zanfib simply glared at Eilan as if he were a mildly irritating insect. "What I was doing was gathering information. But thanks to you, all I have is a name! Nakata, and that's it. Whoever it was wanted Kassin alive, but thanks to your idiocy, that's all I could get." He said, before turning away from the fox and facing Chance.. almost as if Eilan didn't exist. His demeanor softened quite a bit when he looked at Chance though, and he said, "I saw what they did, Chance.. They were trying to use you as bait for Kassin, it seems, almost successfully. I am sorry for what happened, and sorry that this fox prevented me from exacting full revenge. Come now, I suspect now is the time to reform the party and get moving." He said, and then followed her back to the others..

[Sprocketsdance]

Chance flinched when Zanfib mentioned how he 'saw' what they did to her, she didn't like it at all, but there was nothing she could do about it. She nodded to his notion for leaving and walked with him. "It's ok Zanfib, really, at least that part is over. Now we have to figure out how to go about this whole thing with Kassin. Even though I'm new to this whole situation, it seems to me like hiding from whoever wants him isn't working out so well. Is that where everyone is heading? To defeat this crazy person?"  She looked around, realizing they were alone and probably way behind she added "uhh.. do you think you could get us back more quickly?"

[Ghostwish]

"Honestly, I do not know." Zanfib replied to Chance. "I have been following the group after noticing an unusual series of bounties on them, and all I have gathered thus far is that the Claws are after them." He said, and then paused for a bit, smirking over at Chance. "You always did like teleporting a bit too much, didn't you? Well, I am sorry Spots, but we're walking this time. Psions specialize in rapid, quick teleportation, not the long range variety." He said, and started walking off towards Kassin's group.

[Azlan]

Tyrian swung around at first utterance of Kassin's scream, the fox's spell crashing down around him.  He did not care about that trifle and knelt down to Kassin's crumpled form scooping him up into his arms.

On a tone bordering on cloying, Tyrian whispered to the young angel as he embraced him, "shhh, it's okay little brother, it's okay... there's no pain, please come on, come back to us... it's okay.  Shhh."

The fox sat cross legged, rocking back and forth almost cooing to the tiger angel.  What the hells am I doing??!  Screamed some logical portion of his mind, but his emotional side silenced it and continued to pour positive vibes at their little empath.

[Noone]

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Eilan growled softly at what Zanfib said, he certainly wasn't in any mood to have a calm debate.
"Yes, thank you for finding out information we already knew, and instead choose to torture our captive. You could have pried whether he knew anything from him without having to have harmed him, and then have relayed it, but I guess a little finesse is asking for too much." Eilan grumbled. "It's lovely to see you behave like the Claws, wasteful, crude, and barbaric." He shaked his head and grunted in disgust, as he walked along. "I'm sure Kassin's good health was what was driving your thoughts after all." He said in a sarcastic tone. Eilan shook his head in disgust as he walked along.

It's easy to find the way back though, the tracks in the snow are still visible.

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After a few more deep breaths, Kassin recovered from his ordeal. "Th...thanks.." he said to Tyrian, as he rose to his feet, and out of Tyrian's grasp. A few minutes later, he turned his attention to Raffiele. He took note that there was no one else visible besides himself, Tyrian, and Raffiele.

"Please hold still, I'll attempt to remove it." His hands glowed with a soft, bluish white light, as he placed his hands on the demon's shoulders, and coursed energy through him.
It's a pleasant, soothing feeling

Kassin channeled energy into Raffiele, attempting to remove it, his first go is unsuccessful, and after briefly withdrawing his hands, he scans Raffiele again, detecting that the curse is still intact, after spending a moment thinking, he resumed it again.

"It resists... please stay calm. I hope it doesn't try to protect itself virulently." He continued to put more energy into removing it. The process  takes a while, but eventually, he succeeds in removing it. Kassin withdrew his hands.

"There, it's gone." He spent another moment examining Raffiele, eyes glowing while making sure that it was truly gone.
Indeed, it's finally gone, you can feel it.
Kassin put on a weak smile. "How are you feeling?"

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Under a speed enhancement, it only takes a few minutes to reach Kassin and the others, you arrive in time to hear Kassin say "How are you feeling?"

Under a speed enhancement, it only takes a few minutes to reach Kassin and the others, you arrive in time to hear Kassin say "How are you feeling?"

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Kedered darted into the clearing, noted with relief that Kassin was all right. He was kneeling over Raffiele, odd, since the Demon hadn't been hurt in the encounter. The two of them were talking, and Kedered didn't want to interrupt. Instead, he strode over to the fox Angel and asked him. "Any problems? The last demon didn't make it, I hope we were far enough away that the backlash didn't hurt Kassin." He paused, considered. "Is there any sign of those bracers? They might come in handy." His own eyes began to dart around looking for them.

[Tipod]

The hex certainly felt removed, but one could never be too sure. "...well, let's give it a test run." Rafa gripped the fingers of his left hand and, with a quick and dirty snapping sound, bent them back until they reached halfway to his wrist. Raffiele managed to suppress the agony by sucking a rush of air through his teeth. "Fff--" Soon after, the broken digits mended back together, good as new. "...yeah, you got it out." As much as he hated to say it... "Thanks, Kassin."

[Sprocketsdance]

Chance flattend her ears, hearing the fox's speech as they walked along. She wanted to say something, but thought it better to just let him fume and get it out of his system. Hopefully that would be it for the arguing. In an attempt to change the mood she skipped a few paces ahead to where the fox was and tried to smile a bit at him. "I never got your name, I'm Chance." She gave a wider grin, feeling more brave after the awkward introduction. Her steps felt a bit more light and hurried the closer they traveled towards the group, so she kept skipping along. She hoped to either distract from the tension or to create a lighter mood... besides the fact she hasn't felt this good in quite some time and needed to let out some good energy.

[Lisky]

Garis used his flight back to put his thoughts in order, he decided that if he couldn't get the girl this time, at the very least, making a new friend wouldn't be a bad thing.  His mood steadily raised as he glided on his wings, just above the treetops.  He effortlessly skimmed over branches, following his path and lazily sailing along.

He quickly found the clearing with Kassin, Rafe and Ty.  He came in quick, again feeling a bit showy of his physical prowess.  He came in fast, landed in a shoulder roll, then exploded to his feet... Garis was fairly certain his display went unnoticed, but he didn't really care.  It was fun for him and that was all that mattered at that moment.  After taking a second to get himself properly oriented, and his sense up, Garis walked towards Kassin and Rafe, making sure things were and remained civil.

[Azlan]

Tyrian shot Kedered a menacing look as the jaguar incubus mentioned the backlash, "the unwise actions used to deal with the other demon reduced Kassin to a whimpering mess... he recovered, but whatever you did to kill it, and whatever else was happening over there could be felt by him.  Kassin is far too sensitive for many of our heavy handed approaches, we will have to be more mindful of that."

The fox rose to his own feet, and approached Kassin, "Raffiele looks to be fine, but the question is, little brother, how are you after the earlier ordeal and the cleansing of the curse?  Be honest, or I will carry you to our next camp anyways no matter what you say if I suspect you are putting on a brave act."

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib, in his ever arrogant fashion, seemed to completely ignore Eilan as he walked away, only paying the fox the slightest bit of mind when Chance promptly ran over and introduced herself. He felt the same, hot rush again, before his chilly calm surfaced again, and he actually did a mental check for a moment, half-wondering if he was under some manner of hidden assault.. But his mentor had introduced him to such tactics, and this did not feel like a psionic attack at all, so what was it? As he pondered over this, he projected some of his thoughts to Chance in the form of a message. Come now Chance. Although I am sure that your warming demeanor could overcome the most stubborn of fools, that particular being is stuck in his habits, and terribly short-sighted. Best not waste your time with him.

One could never call Zanfib a hypocrite, oh goodness no! That would just be silly!

[Noone]

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As Chance came over, Eilan took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down from his recent ordeal. After a deep breath, he responded to the inquiry.

"I am Eilan Kalathka." He stopped to examine Chance, looking her up and down, taking note of appearance and behavioral tendencies, he found Chance's light mood, despite having been almost killed, quite bizarre. Eilan's facial expression was still serious, and alert, as if expecting another group of demons to come out from hiding and attack. After some moments of silent travel, he made a soft nod.

"I've heard you say that you wanted to accompany us. If you wish to, I will not object. I do however, feel obligated to say that doing so may put you in a lot of danger. Kassin has managed to attract the wrath of not only the Claws, but many adventurers, and possibly special animosity from the Thularians as well. If you come with us, you risk feeling their wrath as well. I wouldn't want to place you in such peril for his, or my benefit, especially after how we've met. If you wish to stay however, that is your choice."

"We should meet up with the others shortly.", he said, following the trail of footprints in the snow.

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Kassin recoiled and grasped his left hand. He let out a soft groan. When he regained his bearings, he looked at Raffiele with a pained expression. "You're welcome... but please, don't do that." Kassin took a few deep breaths, he shuddered slightly. The place felt cold to him, and in more ways than one. He turned his attention towards Tyrian.

"I'm more shaken up from the onslaught of pain I had felt recently, it felt... vile, and I can't erase it from myself, it lingers, even though I cannot feel it anymore.... I hope to put this event behind me, forgotten." He sighed, and exhaled deeply into the snow. "Removing his curse isn't what has drained me, healing, I find, I feel better after doing it, not exhausted. I don't think there was anything exceptionally brave about what I did." He stopped himself for a moment, he felt safer with more people around him. "I do think I can walk on my own though, I'll be well for travel shortly, speaking of which, we should probably wait for the others."

Fortunately, new snow hasn't arrived in sufficient quantities to bury anything beneath a new layer. A cursory search reveals them dropped near the corpse of the bloodhound demon.

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Eventually, Eilan, Chance, and Zanfib came to the others. By this point, Eilan was relatively calm. He paced over to Kassin.
"How are you holding up?" He asked him.

"I'll be fine," Kassin responded, he took a few more deep breaths. He looked dizzy, and let out a soft groan. Eilan nodded, this seemed to be enough for him.

"Now that this disaster is behind us.., I think we should move on." Eilan stated.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Kedered strode through the snow, scooping up the bracers and discarded key that went to them in time for the others to return. Astarian restraining bracers, to be sure. He idly wondered how a trio of demons such as these managed to obtain them. The thought of these three doing battle and winning against the Astarian peacekeepers was ludicrous, as was anyone who was capable of such a feat entrusting them to the same. Still, they obviously stopped this Chance incubus. Her anger was too genuine to be fake, and that meant prisoner, and that meant real restrainers.

He put a cold smile in the face of Eilan's imperative to move on, and said "not just yet." He strode over to Kassin and placed the key to the bracers in his hands. "I am not attempting to make you a prisoner, but if you put these bracers on, it should cancel out your healing abilities. It should also cancel out your empathy, which means that people can be harmed in your vicinity without you falling to pieces. Furthermore, if someone is tracking you by your power, it ought to sheild you from scrutiny. Lastly, if we have you so restrained, we can, on reasonably short notice, make ourselves look like the adventurers hunting us, with you as our "prisoner". I obviously do not wish to force you to wear them, but you will probably be a lot safer with them on. With the key, you can always take them off later."

[Sprocketsdance]

Chance just smiled and nodded at Elian's warning, glad to know the reason for his severe behavior is just because he cares. She was glad to have the cloak as they neared the group, not just for warmth but to cover the bloody mess that was still on her fur. Making a note to clean herself first chance she got she looked at everyone with a smile on her face, practicing putting names to faces. Then she saw the demon, her face went blank and she froze in place.

What is this? What's wrong with me? Sure he's a demon but.. he can't be all that bad since he's with the group. No! I will not have a prejudice against him for no good reason.

With that she squared her shoulders and forced herself to move towards the demon. She darted her hand out to him and introduced herself. "Hi, I am Chance. Nice to meet you."

[Lisky]

Garis watched the on-goings of the group with mild amusement, especially as Chance approached the demon.  He'd been picking up her concern with the blood all over her, and her wanting to bathe.  He waited for the introductions to be done, then approached with a wide grin.  He placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "This will only take a second, but you should feel a little better"

Garis' other hand gave off a dark mist and he traced the outline of Chance's body with it, keeping it an inch or so away.  As his hand moved over an area, the blood that had stained her fur was lifted, as if it evaporated into thin air.  He smiled broader as he finished and said "there, perhaps now you'll feel a bit more presentable for a good first impression?"

[Azlan]

Tyrian nodded to Kassin satisfied enough with the tiger's explanation, "you are quite cute sometimes, but as you say, it is not a brave act."

He gathered what few things he had dropped to participate in battle and stood ready.  It was best that they got moving and Eilan voiced that same sentiment as he thought it.  Of all, only Eilan seemed worthy to make such decisions. 

"Indeed, we should move out.  I hope everyone is done looting the dead." 

As Kedered approached Kassin with the shackles, it was Tyrian that crossed his arms and judged the cubi.  Only a fool would blatantly play his hand and show his side so openly, but it was best to cease all trust of the cubi.

"I do not think that is wise... it is like sticking your own neck in the noose so the hangman can't place it there himself.

[Noone]

Kassin looked at Kedered, then at the bracers. He took the key, but stared at it perplexed, as if he didn't know what to do with it. He then looked at the restrainers. "Wha.... what are those?" Kassin asked.

Eilan stood by, listening to Kedered's points, he stopped to answer Kassin's question. "Those are restrainers, they're bracers that negate the magical powers of those that wear them. They're commonly used in Astarea by their peacekeepers on magical deviants, so they can be more safely imprisoned. They can be found elsewhere, but they're not as common. I suppose it's possible that the claws could have some, they do cause problems in Astarea and it wouldn't be too unlikely that they could have gotten a pair from a slain peacekeeper."

"Regardless..." He continued. "I doubt it would allow us to fake Kassin as a prisoner, the bounty lists him as wanted dead, not alive, and we would have to hide Tyrian and Raffiele as well, or that would blow our cover. On the other hand..." He stopped to think for a moment. Kassin seemed nervous. Eilan turned to face Tyrian. "We should consider all possible cases."

"They would prevent him from healing us, if one of us got hurt, but I suppose if he had the key, he could take them off and put them on when he wanted to. It's a similar case with his empathy, the Claws knew about it, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think our other enemies would want to use that to their advantage." Eilan continued to ponder the situation. "Your call though Kassin."

Kassin stared at the key, unsure of what to do. He remained silent.

[Ghostwish]

"I think.." Zanfib butted in, ".. that for once, Kedered has a good idea. Your empathy is a weakness to be exploited, Kassin, and those bracers could effectively nullify them at your discretion." He said simply, before returning his attention to Chance. He watched with curiosity as she nervously approached Rafe, followed shortly by Garis. He watched intently, more than he meant to, as Garis removed the filth from Chance's fur. Part of his mind silently calculated how difficult or easy it would be to crush an incubi mind. Open, for their telepathy and empathy, but not nearly as well shielded as a trained psion, and hence vulnerable to psionic assualts- but Zanfib caught himself there, and again found himself wondering why such thoughts were entering his mind, especially considering it was Garis. Kendered, maybe, but not Garis!

Never the less, his tail was nearly invisible towards the tip, what with all the twitching about it was doing.

[Sprocketsdance]

When Chance felt Garis' hand on her shoulder she stiffened slightly, still trying to get used to these new people. Once his hands started moving around her.. so close.. she kept herself as stiff as a statue, her hair standing on-end. Holy crap, what is he doing?!His hands are so close! Why do they have to be so close!

Once the process was over she looked down and around, opening up the cloak and turning once. She squealed and jumped once, throwing her arms over Garis' shoulders in a grateful hug. "That is awesome!! I can't wait to do stuff like that!" She then remembered she was in the presence of a whole group of guys, she stepped back, cleared her throat and straightened herself out. "Um.. I mean.. heh, thanks." She smiled kindly, closing her eyes while doing so.

Chance opened her eyes again upon hearing a weird sound.. "What's that buzzing noise?" She looked around to find Zanfib's tail doing it's thing again. She giggled, unable to help it from the silly sight.

[Tipod]

Raffiele gave Chance a mildly annoyed glare, eyes darting from her hand to her face before giving a half-hearted handshake. Like, 'what am I doing shaking the hand of this vagrant?' "Raffiele." He gave her a few other looks before shooting a disapproving stare in Zanfib and Garis' direction. "Look, are we going to take in every indigent we find? In case you forgot, we're kind of in a bind here. I'd rather not have to travel with a young, female creature belonging to a race known for its emotional tendencies." Having the curse removed certainly didn't change his usual surly attitude.

[Sprocketsdance]

"Emotional... tendencies?!" Chance was preoccupied with giggling at Zan's tail until she heard that last bit from Raf, knowing he was referring to her. She slowly turned, eyes narrowed, and looked at Raffiele. "I was trying to be nice to you, but I can see you won't have any part of it. You would think one would be thankful to be around something other than this overwhelming sea of testosterone!" She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to calm down and to not give the wrong message. Finding her center she continued, "Look, I'll try my best to not hug you, and you try your best to not be such a grumpy-butt." She smiled, returning to her normal self.

Figuring she wouldn't care much for his reply Chance quickly turned and skipped over to Zanfib. "...speaking of grumpy-butts.." She said with a smirk, ruffling her hair a bit with her fingers, trying to get back to business. "We've been here way too long, the familiarity of this place is starting to make me antsy,  but what direction are we heading?"

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Although most of his attention was on Kassin, and wondering whether or not the young Angel was willing to try on the Restrainers, travelling with this group had conditioned him to always keep a part of mind focused on Raffiele, and that made him aware of the encounter between him and Chance.

Mind blank, he frowned slightly, and then let words fly in Chance's general direction. As repugnant as the Demon is, he has a point. You experienced firsthand what our enemies will do to random people just to get at us. This is a serious matter child, and your buoyancy, while attractive, is dangerous, not only to you, but to all of us. What if there were Thularian scouts in the wood while you nattered and shouted? Would you want to bring thousands of warriors upon your own head? This is no game, and if you want to, what was it you said? Repay the debt incurred by your life, or something like that. This is serious. You should be too.


A second later he added. And trying to befriend Raffiele is probably a waste of time.  His thoughts move in dark circles. If you do wish to make the attempt, it will probably necessitate a display of raw power or callous brutality. Such is his yardstick of worth.

[Noone]

Eilan gave Raffiele a distrustful look. Or traitorous tendencies., he thought, as he stared at the demon, watching his every move, almost as if looking for any excuse to express his distrust. His trail of thought was interrupted by Chance. "I don't see you in that way, so don't get any ideas."

Eilan paced over to Kassin to help him put on the restrainers. Kassin rolled up his sleeves, and put the bracers on. After doing so, Eilan took the key and locked them into place, then gave it back to Kassin. He pocketed the key, and, after giving them a cursory glance, rolled his sleeves back over the bracers. Observing Garis's spell, Kassin started examining Chance again, looking for any injuries he might have missed.

Eilan turned back to Chance, feeling the need to answer where they were going. "Darrins farm, we should be able to make it there shortly. It's the site of a soul murdering that Kassin is accused of. We're trying to find clues as to who is really responsible, and hopefully they haven't all been picked apart." Eilan stopped himself for a moment. "Speaking of whi...... what the?" he turned his attention towards Kassin, whose eyes were glowing as he continued to look around for other injuries he might have missed. Eilan stared at Kassin, taken with surprise.