Lost Ruins of Chaos Rising

Vienna took hold of Obsidians arm and shoulder and held it momentarily before forcing it upward and back into place.  She then took a step back, as if admiring her work, although her face held it's usually annoyed expression.  "There.  It works, I think."

Obsidian shot a glare towards Jest. "I'd like to see you try go against her one on one. Zerinika is not like her minions. She is a lot more powerful than her Rouges by far, but then again, you already know that, don't you Jest." Obsidian said, emphasizing the cyborg's name with a hint of venomocity, hinting Jest's play in Zerinika's current state. Whatever. He was just happy he could take his annoyance out on someone. When Vienna pushed his forelimb upwards, Obsidian felt the joint pop back into place, along with a searing white hot stab of pain. "Son of a bitch! Damn that hurt."

Jest grinned and shrugged. "We all know how well that ends- regardless of who's opposing her." He stepped back and pretended to examine Obsidian thoughtfully."Although You are worse for wear than I expected." Jest held up his hands and sighed with a slow mocking shake of his head. "What a let down. One would think the infamous rouge would be able to deal with a little pain."
Jest teased, resisting the urge to hold up his own mutilated limb. An arrogant grin spread wide across his features, rendering sharpened teeth to glint in the pale light. However his pink hair outweighed any threat his teeth posed.

"You'll surpass your master eventually. Just not today." The cyborg advanced until he was standing in front of Obsidian. Jest held up a hand and tilted his head while weighing the risks of petting his annoyed companion. "She is one of my greatest accomplishments; one that I doubt you and your shadows could hold a candle to. How about we make a little bet, my friend?"
Throwing caution to the wind Jest patted Obsidian. His fur was surprisingly coarse, although it looked fairly soft up close.

Obsidian growled at Jest as he petted him, his tail whipping around and stopping millimeters from hitting Jest's wrist. "Unless you want to lose another limb and have to replace that one, don't touch me." Obsidian threatened, ducking away from Jest's hand. "And just so you know, someone who does not have as high a pain tolerance as I have would be writhing on the floor in agony right now. Have you ever dislocated a bone? They hurt like hell. I can ignore it." Obsidian said, venom laced through his words. "And for your information, I am no one's minion. Zerinika is not my master, though she still regards you as her master. I do not take orders when one asks me to, I do them in my own time. If someone tries to say I have a master, I am quick to prove them otherwise. I only joined The Rouges to gain access to information on Zerinika. If she is your supposed perfect creation, why does she give away her secrets so easily? She was the reason I managed to find you. You are not the hardest thing I've had to track down." Obsidian said, narrowing his eyes at Jest.

"A bet you say? Do tell. I'm sure I can rise up to it." Obsidian said, sarcasm eminent in his tone. He knew jumping onto the roof would be a waste now, especially since Zerinika didn't know Starshooter and Cyan were there. Him jumping up would only give away the other two. He'd have to go with the decoy party for now.

Jest raised an eyebrow. track me down you say? " Good to know, Mimic. I shall keep that in mind when considering who to choose to run my errands for me." Jest smirked amusedly.His ears perked up when Obsidian got to talking about his old companion. "Oh no, I never said she was prefect. Quite flawed indeed, but so much potential does balance it out. However that itself is useless unless applied correctly. I am flattered that she still considers me her master... though more with disdain than affection i assume."
Jest shook his head. Even now it seems that whether or not she realises it Zerinika is still too trusting. He raised his head and met Obsidians gaze head on.
"To counter your previous statement; do not assume that I have lower pain tolerance than you. While losing three limbs may not compare to dislocating one by your standards, I am sure that having someone poke around and remove your brain and organ matter would. And my colleagues were not kind, to say the least. I felt as much raw pain as anyone else undergoing these procedures."

Jest shifted his weight and brushed some hair back from his face. Keeping the same steady-  slightly mocking- tone as he'd had throughout the conversation. "Though quite simple I'm sure you will find some amusement to it. My bet is for you to fatally injure Zerinika within your next encounter and in return i shall preform two tasks for you. Seeing as you apparantly planned to use me for your scheme, this may work in your favour. If not, you will help me with my own scheme in the near future without complaint."
Not much of a bet, however both parties will benefit from it.

((Not as good as my first try at it, which was erased due to internet failure, but i tried. And dammit Jest why do you talk so much.))

Obsidian grinned. "I guess that explains why you're so idiotic then." He said, a joking tone in his voice. Upon hearing Jest's bet, Obsidian snickered. "Jest, I've been betting myself to fatally wound that wyvern for ages. Your bet is nothing new. I will however accept this bet. Just adds more reason to kill Zerinika." Obsidian said, glancing towards the corpse of Mend. "Now then. I suppose we should head for the blacksmith?"

Cheetah watched as Jest and Obsidian exchanged remarks, threats and bets. They certainly were an odd two, they were hostile one moment, and joking he next. Not to mention Jest's hypocritical remarks. When Obsidian started walking off towards the Blacksmith, Cheetah walked up to Jest. "I know that Obsidian is an arrogant bastard, but do you actually think he can take down Zerinika? She's murdered three of us already. Azure, Serpentine and Mend. He has an advantage knowing her weakness, but I doubt that he can take her on." Cheetah said to Jest, making sure Obsidian couldn't hear her. He acts like he can take the world, but I can tell. He's hiding something and it's a big secret. A very big secret.

Gravity walked behind Cheetah and Jest, Cosmic at her side. Cosmic was shaken by Mend's murder, they all were. The murder of the guy had made Cosmic even more protective of Gravity and his patterns glowed in thought, lighting up the area dimly as he thought. We have to keep moving. Zerinika took us out when we weren't moving. Azure and Serpentine. We were all stationary, only they were moving. Mend, we were all standing still. Mend was walking. I notice a pattern in this and that means me must keep moving, or else another one of us will be taken...

Jest smiled at and fell into step with Cheetah. "Now, now, let's take note that i said 'fatally injure' not flat out kill. All he has to do is, in a sense, bring her a step closer to death. Not actually kill her." He glanced back up at Obsidian and lowered his voice. "I think we can both agree on the point he can't do it by himself. Somewhere in Obsidians mind he knows it himself; hence why we're tagging along and not being chased off yet."

Jest stretched and rolled his head to one side. "Earlier on you asked me what i was planning to do, yes? I think i'll be heading down to my lab and resume my previous work. Maybe take a few things out for a field test when i have everything back on track. " Jest paused in stride and groaned, his demeanour darkening. "Never did like the smell of corpses. I'll have my work cut out for me."
Or whichever unlucky soul i can get roped into it. Jest smiled to himself and looked upwards for any sign of the worm.

Cheetah grinned. "Well I guess that means I'm certainly not going to stick around" Cheetah joked, before switching her thoughts back to Obsidian. "I can tell, Obsidian's hiding something and I have a feeling that whatever it is; it can only mean bad news for whoever's on the receiving end of whatever it could be."

Rakata, throughout most of the duration of conversation, stayed hovering somewhat close to Jest, whom she had decided was her favorite person to hover beside. Although she neglected to say anything, partial eavesdropping was still fun to do.

While the group started moving forward Vienna noticed that Dali seemed just a little preoccupied with the spilled blood, as he was still standing motionless and blankly staring at it. Vienna sighed. She had been far too helpful lately, but even so went up and grabbed the vampires left arm, dragging him in the direction of the group. He stumbled after her, obviously surprised at her sudden tug. "Come on, slowpoke." Vienna said. "We don't need another rotting corpse."

((seriously, I wanna draw some fanart of Rakata! She is adorable))

Jest laughed, a loud hearty sound that vibrated off the stone walls.  "What about you, Rakata? Any plans for after we defeat the assassin queen?"
He walked along with a bounce in his stride, smirking contently to himself. Creating some sparks with one hand Jest rested the other inside his pocket. He watched amusedly as the electricity flashed and moved to his will, shooting at various objects as he pleased and calling it back to dance in his palm.

Obsidian had a feeling that Cheetah had already clicked onto his 'secret'. It wasn't a 'secret' so much as an 'ability' that had come with his Shadow Freight powers. It wasn't like he could use it whenever he wanted either. I just hope I don't end up using it if we do come upon Zerinika again. Obsidian thought, spotting the blacksmith up ahead. Glancing back behind him, Obsidian saw Jest playing with what looked like electricity. Slowing his pace a little, Obsidian drew level with Jest. "Just make sure you don't electrocute yourself playing with that Jest." Obsidian joked, quickening his pace so that he was once again ahead of the group by about a meter and a half.

Cheetah watched as Obsidian walked ahead of them. Obsidian certainly knows how to deal with the Rouges and being a former member, he'd know what tactics they use. He's keeping us all in a group, as well as keeping us moving for that reason. We were all separated and stationary when Mend, Azure and Serpentine all were killed. Which leads me into thinking that Obsidian knows more about this than he lets on. Cheetah thought, her emerald eyes reflected her thoughts and her tail flicked back and forth lazily. Obsidian's distrusting of some of us, and maybe he has reason to be. Cyan is one of the ones I know we all distrust, as well as Dali. A starved vampire is always dangerous. Vienna is unstable, though I think she's bordering on the loss of trust and even though Jest's helping Obsidian, I can tell Obsidian hasn't the slightest bit of trust for Jest. Cheetah thought to herself, muttering inaudibly to herself.

Rakata looked momentarily surprised at having a question directed toward her, although she quickly replaced it with a more thoughtful look.  "Not really."  she replied after a few moments of silent thought.  "Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever planned for anything."

Cheetah snickered at Rakata's response. "Maybe that's why you get into so much trouble."

Jest grinned up at the hulking dark shape of the creature in front. "Maybe you should try her approach sometime. All your others seem to have failed or are in the process of it."

He fired the electricity at his outstretched arm and carved a series of runes into the flesh above his wrist. Jest's eye twitched at first contact but gradually relaxed as the healing process kicked in and sealed the open wounds.
Jest directed his next question to the pixie at his shoulder. "Surely you must have some sort of goal you wish to achieve? Something you wish to obtain or aspire to be? Why not set yourself on the course of that?" He gave a smile and relaxed his arm to his side. "If not why not tag along with me? I would have great use for entertaining company; all these people are terrible bores when it comes to humour or the finer arts of trickery."

(( Jest you just want a partner in crime, you're not fooling anybody))

Obsidian rolled his eyes at Jest's conversations. "Jest, your only looking for someone to do the work you don't want to." Obsidian called back, his eyes locking onto where the blacksmith was ahead of them. The keeper of the stall was a tall bipedal creature with a large black cloak with runes on the material. There were many different runes, but none that Obsidian had seen on Cyan's sword, Runescathe.

Cheetah saw the blacksmith ahead and nodded to Jest, quickening her pace and walking up to the stall. "Hello, I don't suppose you do repairs on blades?" Cheetah said, taking her dagger from it's hidden sheath and setting it on the counter. "Ah, a lovely blade. Very nice condition. I can fix those chips in the blade easily. Have you anything for a payment?" Cheetah nodded, pulling out a bag full of assorted jewels. Taking a clear gem with red highlights out, she passed it to the stall keeper. "Ah beautiful, this will do nicely. Give me just a moment." Cheetah nodded again and put the jewels back into her pocket. Leaning against one of the stall posts, she waited for the blacksmith to finish. Within two minutes, he came over with her blade, sharpened and fixed. "Here you go. Take care." Cheetah waved in thanks and walked back to Jest and the others, putting her dagger back into it's hidden sheath on her hip.

Starshooter watched as Cheetah pulled out a clear bag of assorted gems and jewels. When Cheetah came back over, he walked up to her. "That's a very nice jewel collection, May I take a look at them?" He said, curiosity in his voice. Cheetah shrugged and took out the bag, "Sure." Starshooter took the bag and opened it, using his magic to levitate the gems out, looking at each one in detail. "Quite the collection here, I see opals, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, quartz and even a lot of jewels I haven't seen before. Where'd you get these?" Starshooter said, levitating them back into the bag and closing it. "I collect them. I've had my collection for a while. I always keep it with me in case I find any more." Cheetah said, taking the bag back and putting it in her pocket.

"No, I don't really have an ambition either." She folded her arms over her chest as she flew, similar to how someone would do it if they were cold. "Though I think I was already sort of tagging along with you." She took a short yet sharp intake of air, briefly glancing over at Starshooter as he went through Cheetah's jewels.

Jest smiled at Rakatas statement and flicked his tail. "That's true. We're officially traveling partners then."
Curiously Jest moved closer to where Starshooter was talking with Cheetah about her jewels. He snatched one out of the air and studied it closer.  "Interesting. These jewels are very different from those in my homeland. Are they all singular colours? That must be quite boring, being only one when there's such a wide range on the spectrum." He tossed the jewel back into the air and the mages magic caught hold of it again. "An impressive collection non the less. Perhaps you could add this to it? It's dead weight to me now."
Jest said, pulling out a small rectangular shaped gem from his pocket. It was a pale purple mottled with silver and green, and each way you turned it the colours changed. The surface was clear and in pristine condition, regardless of how many years it's been underground.
"It was an engagement present, but such things are terribly boring. It can't even power a golem." Jest shrugged nonchalantly.

Cheetah took the jewel fon Jest and studied it carefully. It was certainly an inquisitive gem, though she probably had another that was of equal, if not better in the colors in the jewel. "I do have a few multi-colored jewels, five if I remember correctly. The one you took earlier was one of my more dull gems. I have a certain gem that was quite hard to come by. A peridot, however it has rivers and lakes of sapphire, ruby, opal and onyx running through it. It is a natural formation, a rare phenomenon if you will, where three to four stones merge together to form one large stone of exquisite quality." Cheetah said, certainly knowing what she was talking about. Taking the bag from her pocket, Cheetah opened it and took out a smaller bag that sat inside the original bag, this one had five large gems that were quite dazzling.

One had a clear base color with dark orange, bright red, deep purple, blue, two shades of green and a pale ice blue in it, much like an explosion of color from the center of the jewel, exploding outwards in a whole array of colors from the spectrum. Another jewel had a dark emerald green base color with right blues, reds and oranges snaking inwards towards a bright green vortex in the middle. A third gem was round, almost a perfect sphere with a pearly white sheen, with metallic blues, reds and pinks around the sides. The fourth jewel looked the same with slight variations, a black gem with a slight transparency, with purples, oranges, reds, blues and pinks throughout the translucent jewel. The fifth one was the peridot that she was talking about earlier. Each gem was about the size of Jest's fist. "These five were really hard to find. The clear one is what's known as a Spectrum Jewel. It's extremely rare. The emerald one is a merged jewel, a emerald, ruby and sapphire. The pearly one is what's known as a Dragon's Pearl. I got it from a very hard to find clam. The last one is a Fire Opal."

Cheetah put the jewel Jest gave her in the bag with the rare gems, putting it back into the original jewel bag and putting it in her pocket.

Jest gave a low whistle as Cheetah showed and talked about the gems. If he was honest the whole conversation went straight over his head, but it was most impressive. "Yes, an impressive collection indeed. I myself have never been fond of things without use- jewels just sit around and look pretty. You would love my country, it has an abundance of gems of all shapes, colours and sizes." Jest said, resting his tail on his shoulder and gave a teasing grin. "Who would've thought that our little kitty had such a big mouth on her? You open up like a book when your interests roll around."
He looked around the others, "Anyone else have an unsuspecting hobby other than murder?"

Cheetah let out a quiet snicker at Jest's comment. "I like to talk about things I like." She said, flinching away from Jest's tail at first, more startled by the coldness of the metal than anything. Starshooter casually floated upwards, crossing his legs in a sitting position so it appeared that he was sitting on air. "Back in the archmage's guild I have a menagerie of birds. I have a magical golem looking after them because of the long field trips I tend to take on a  regular basis." Starshooter said, an orb of magic appeared in his palm, a picture of what seemed to be a large enclosure full of birds of all sizes shapes and breeds. There was a special enclosure for the carnivores and for the nocturnal birds. In the center of it, a golem of rock went around making sure the birds had water and none were injured.

"Birds are scary." Rakata remarked, hovering more or less above Jest's right shoulder.  "They always stare at me."  She shivered slightly, almost as if to prove a point.

((OOC: Why thank you laptop for deciding to crash randomly on me and make me lose three paragraphs of writing -3-))

Starshooter grinned at Rakata's reaction. "I can understand that, you are the size of the insects most birds prey on. The golem with my birds would keep that in check, so they're quite safe. Even for pixies." Starshooter said, glancing over at Obsidian who seemed to be getting irritated. "So, we all done sharing stories? I'd rather keep moving. The marketplace will be a good spot to stay. It's large enough that we can keep a good eye on the skies, and with all the citizens that are bound to be there, it'll make great cover." Obsidian said, glancing at Jest's-still-pink hair.

"And Rakata, turn Jest's hair back. It's too easily spotted."

Rakata looked for a moment like she was going to argue with Obsidian, but something stopped her and she instead just reached over and lightly tapped Jest's hair, causing it to melt back to its original color. She muttered something to herself as she did so, but other than that gave no further means of defiance.

Jest felt another tingle as his hair was changed back to its original colour. He fingered the ends of his bangs and smiled up at the pixie. "Thank you little one, although there is not much difference when comparing the two colours on the spectrum." He gave a mock sigh. "But we shall make do for our dear Mimic who does not approve of people walking around in bright shades of colours."

Jest gave an amused smile and started forward towards the market, swinging his arms as he whistled a tune from an old rhyme he was told as a child. "I have quite interesting company do I not? Never would of thought you had an interest in bird raising Senpai. Do you keep them for show or are there special talents that you train them to secure?" Jest asked, continuing with the subject much to the annoyance of Obsidian. He kept his ears open for an attack on Zerinika, but suspected that she would wait until they were at the market. It was to be more fun to scare the wits out of unsuspecting villagers.

((OOC: Finally! Sheesh! Took you long enough!))

Obsidian growled in annoyance as Jest incited on continuing the topic. Starshooter however happily continued. "The eagles and hawks I use for falconry - They can catch great specimens for magic experiments - And I use the song birds for putting on yearly shows. It's quite fun and fairly popular, I can even be away on my own and the golem will set up the shows." Starshooter mused, his silver eyes scanning around curiously.