Just Running Away *open*

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Venus wiped the scarlet liquid from his face with his hand, a wolf's dead body hitting the ground since he released it. Wolf blood, though bitter, held back his hunger. It had been too long since he had been able to feed on a human that the vampire had actually gone to drink from animals. The vampire's fangs slowly shrank until they were a normal human's size. Venus wasn't the type to randomly attack humans from their blood. He actually liked staying away from them at times. Like now. It was much more quiet in the small forest he was in now then it could ever be in Obscur. It was much more calming to the vampire.

Venus had traveled away from his Kingdom, having seen signs of his Clan looking for him there. But they wouldn't find him now. Not after three years of being free. They would not drag him away from the home he had made away from them. And he wasn't afraid to fight them if it really came to that. The vampire walked away from the drained animal corpse, in the direction of the waterfalls. So much water near him made Venus feel secure in this place. Maybe he would camp out by the waterfalls for a week or two so that his Clan would leave Obscur and he could return.

Venus's water-colored eyes twinkled when they saw all of the waterfalls, a rare show of true emotion for him. Well, he did show his emotions. But they weren't usually so excited or happy looking. A breeze blew by the vampire, his short white hair blowing back for a moment as well. Yes, this didn't seem like such a bad place to stay until his Clan had given up trying to find him. But how long would it really take? It had already been three years and they still tried to find him? Even if they found him, he would never become their pawn.

[/Dream !]

~*Maria Taz Ishigami*~

Clouds may come,
But clouds must go,
And they all have a silver lining.
For behind each cloud you know,
The sun, or moon,
Is shining.

The young woman carried her sneakers in her hand, using her fingers as hooks for the shoes. She walked barefoot through the thin forest. It had rained some time in the last few days, as her feet were somewhat sneaking into the ground. She left small indentations in the ground as she walked, but wasn't worried enough to care. Who would want to track her down? Taz only had one enemy, and she didn't need footprints to find her. Her eyes seemed to be glued to the ground, but even so she weaved inbetween the trees with ease. She was aimlessly wandering, she knew, as she had no where to go. And really, where was there to go? Even if she had managed to get to the city that night, there would be no where to stay. She would have much rather slept under the stars than in the alley of some dirty city. At least out here she wouldn't be bothered by angry people. No, out here she would be comforted by the sounds of nature. Nothing could compare to the wilderness, and nothing ever would.

It was troubling, where the people of Xisin seemed to be heading. Even the citizens of Akaika were loosing themselves. People all over the place were falling victum to greed and selfishness. Taz had been alive for 500 years, and knew what she was seeing. She had seen the ups and downs, the wars, the peace treaties. She could only hope that this was just a phase, and that it would pass and people would become their generous selves. Nowadays, you couldn't knock on someone's door without some sort of cautiousness. Taz remembered spending the night at many differrent houses, and not having to fear her benefactors. Now, Taz never so much as sat on a strangers doorstep. This brought a sigh to her lips, and she finally raised her navy blue eyes from the ground.

She knew that she was nearing water from the sounds, but she also knew that this water was not her friend. It wasn't her enemy, per se, but she knew that she would not be able to call on it for help if she needed it -- and this was before she could even see it. A soft wind blew her hair back and pushed off her hoodie. Running her fingers through her hair, she closed her eyes for a moment. It was a New Moon tonight. She could tell without even looking up at the sky, just by the way she was feeling. Even so, she had the urge to just keep moving. So, she pushed the underbrush away and walked out to what she knew would be the river bank. And, just as she did, she let out a faint and surprised, "Oh..." because she was met with the form of someone she did not know, and didn't expect to be there.

[amaie]

A faint chanting could be heard Just a little further upstream, near a smaller waterfall. There was also a faint cyan glow eminating from the same spot. Arawen had set up shop there temperarily. She had a little work bench that was set up directly under the falls, tied soundly to three big boulders that the falls crashed onto.Her bench was lashed to a raft that was bobbing to and fro in the river, making her chants fade then redouble as she floated, tethers snapping like whips with each bob she made. The table in front of her was what was making the glow, which pulsed with each wave of her hands.

Arawen was soked through and through, and would probably come down with some kind of sickness when it was all told and done. It really didn't matter to her though, she'd just use her mask of cures and feel right as rain in the morning. Her work was much more important than bodily harm to her though. In the midst of the table's glow was rack upon rack of copper casings. These were her special bullets, a peculiarly large caliber that really only fit her Magus Gun. Water bullets. Those would be fun she thought, and they would go nicely with the other elemental bullets that she had made. Each of those, had really put her in danger. It was quite hard to catch lightning in a metal casing. It tended to singe.

She was Arawen the Enchantress, the Inventor, the Tinkerer, the Scholar, and last but not least Kitty. Take your pick, it really didn't matter what someone else called her. She was she, and names are superficial. She didn't really remember how old she was, just that she'd tried to enchant her shoes once, so that they would bring forth life as she walked, well that hadn't really worked, she'd gotten her feet instead. It was just like her to forget to take the shoes off first. Instead of shoes that made life, it had effected her whole body, and well she stopped aging. She had paid a dear price for that though. She could no longer practice her craft on other living creatures. She didn't know why, but well it was magic, and not everything could just be explained away.

There was a cyan flash as her chanting ceased. She just had time to snatch the racks of casings as the tethers of the table snapped, as did those of the raft. The casings had dramatically changed to a cyan color rather than the dull copper that they had been made out of, and were now capped with a translucent bullets that seemed to have moving bubbles within their depths. She hastily pulled the bullets out by twos and pushed them into a small pouch at her hip. The pouch was barely the size of a beggar's coin purse, and didn't bulge in the slightest even as the hundredth bullet was pushed inside.

She was now rapidly floating down the river in her raft seat, headed toward the next set of falls. She stood from the seat and quickly gathered her gear to her, which was stuffed in a pack that was just like the little pouch, though the butt of the huge gun was sticking out of one pocket, that was made just to holster it. If it had gone off in that pouch the rest of the area was safe, as there was just a void in that pouch, that would absorb the released magic, instead of letting it blow her pack apart. Once she had everything, she was ready to jump from the side of the raft to the shore beyond. She crouched slightly in preparation of the jump, her snowy white ears laying back, and tail twitching from side to side, like a kitten that was ready to pounce. Instead of the graceful leap she had envisioned, she fell, raft and all down the waterfall.

The raft was dashed on the rocks, coming apart easily. She however was just unlucky enough to hit the deepest part of the pool under the waterfall and be tumbled over and over by the downpour of water. She broke free of the waterfall and surfaced just in time, as she was out of breath. Arawen tread water, trying to keep her head afloat, as the current swept her further and further down the river. She was able to grab part of the raft that had lagged behind the rest, which helped her keep afloat, while her shins banged against the rocks of the riverbed hard. Luckily the log of the raft lodged between two big protruding rocks, and she made her way to the bank. She crawled up it, wet and bedraggled, shins bleeding, and coughing up water from her lungs. When she stopped coughing, she looked up to find two people standing in the woods, facing each other. And here she thought this area was secluded enough for her enchanting.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Venus's mind wandered as he stood alone, wondering why his Clan hadn't given up. Surely they could just find some other water elemental. His train of thought was broken as footsteps approached the vampire. He turned his head toward the sound, staying still. It couldn't be his family. They had just reached Obscur, all the way in the Kingdom if Daika. Had they really already gotten so close to him?

Venus was relieved when a girl appeared from the forest. She didn't smell of vampire and no other footsteps followed her. The female held her shoes up with her hands as if protecting them from the soft ground. The vampire didn't really notice the slightly sinking of his shoes while he had walked in the forest close to the waterfalls. But why was a girl out here in the middle of nowhere? This place seemed so quiet that Venus had thought that no one would be nearby, And suddenly another person came out of the water, looking half drowned.

Venus's fangs tried to come out at the scent of blood in the air but he kept them sized like a human's. Why were two girls here in the middle of the night? Even the moon had hidden itself tonight. The neko coughed, water coming from her mouth for a few moments. Had she just came from over a waterfall? That didn't seem like such a bright idea. The neko seemed to not like what had been the result of whatever she had done.

Venus looked at both girls, wondering how on xisin they had come from. What was next, a killer bunny?((OOC: Oh no Venus, that already happened in your past life with Amaya and Desmond, remember?)) The vampire coughed slightly, contrating on not letting his fangs grow to their real size. He looked back at the drowned neko. "Do you need some help?" Venus asked, being polite.

[/Dream !]

~*Maria Taz Ishigami*~

Clouds may come,
But clouds must go,
And they all have a silver lining.
For behind each cloud you know,
The sun, or moon,
Is shining.

Taz couldn't help but stare at her new company for a moment. It wasn't is appearance, or anything of similar un-importance, it was just the surprise. Though, it only took a moment or two for her slightly widened eyes to return to their normal size and actually take in the form before her. He seemed young, though one could never really know the true age of a person. The boy had ice blue eyes, hidden behind long-ish, snow white hair. He was somewhat small in size, but Taz knew well enough the power someone (small or large) could hold. In her early years, Taz had been repeatedly surprised by the power of individuals that looked helpless. Even some children could easily out power herself. Well, assuming that her sister wasn't nearby.

"I'm sorry," she began, "I didn't mean to interrupt..." she trailed. It was fairly clear that he wasn't looking for company. She could understand that. Taz lowered her eyes and was about to leave, when she heard a disturbance in the waves. Looking towards one of the waterfalls, she watched as someone tumbled down it. In normal circumstances, this would have put a look of something similar to horror on her face -- but it didn't. This largely had to do with the phase of the moon. It wasn't in its place that evening, and this had a strange -- calming -- effect on Maria. At that point, anything could have happened and she would have remained completely calm. Though, her caring nature wasn't affected, and she still felt the urge to help this person.

She couldn't help but shoot Venus a certain look when he asked the girl if she needed help, in a tone that was somewhat indifferent to the situation. Dropping her shoes, she walked over to where the girl lay. She squatted down and offered her hand. "Are you okay?" she asked, balancing on her toes and preparing to pull the other girl to her feet. She knew that the question 'are you okay' may have been a stupid one, but it was the universal substitution for You aren't going to die, are you?. She allowed a friendly, comforting smile towards the girl.

[amaie]

Arawen was still sputtering jsut a bit. When you get water in your lungs, it's always that way, plus a throat ache for a while longer, as well as burning nose and sinuses. If she were to guess on one thing that would be her weakness, it would be asphyxiation due to inhaled water. She hated that feeling. If she breathed water without the benefit of removable gills, she felt as if she was dying a little at a time. She waved away their help saying softly " Ahh, don't worry about me, happens all the time." She said in a croaking voice, very unlike her regular sweet and melodic one.

She moved upwards slowly, rocking back so she could sit on her heels, just kneeling on the bank of the river, as happy as one that just about drowned in a river could be. She cleared her throat, then blew what little water that was left in her sinuses out onto the ground next to her. She also tilted her head to the side, then violently pumped it, to get the water out of one ear, and did the exact opposite, as to get the water out of the other. She then pawed back the hair that was on her forehead, so it was out of her eyes, ears flicking back up instantly after her hand had moved off of them. The last thing she did was twist in place, and run her hand down her bedraggled tail so that even more water splatted onto the ground behind her, the fur that covered it puffed up somewhat comically now that it was free of the water.

Tyr started to wiggle, laughing raucously, unable to sit still. She grabbed her sides, and her yellow and all too big shirt that she had been wearing was jerking and jiving under those hands. It's excess length was tucked deeply in her black leather pants, held by a thick and scaly belt. She grasped at the bottom of the shirt and yanked hard, pulling the excess out of her pants, exposing her all too white belly for a moment before she released it. There were a pair of thick flopping sounds as two foot long rainbow trout fell from inside the shirt. They flopped on the ground heartily as she watched them with an awestruck expression. She only looked away when the flopping slowed and finally stopped.

Arawen stood slowly after that, still dripping in the small pool of water that had formed under her while she was was kneeling, and extended her hand to the girl that had offered her hand earlier. " Thanks for your concern, I'm the Enchantress Arawen." She said with a bright smile on her young face. Whether or not the girl took her hand, in greeting she would repeat the sentence and offer of a hand to the man next, with the same smile, bright in her eyes. After the introductions were complete she grinned even more broadly " Seems I've inadvertently caught myself dinner!" Arawen exclaimed with delight.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Venus looked at the drowned person and decided that it wouldn't hurt to at least seem nice. After all, they would probably move on soon and he didn't need any more enemies. Carefully, the vampire stepped forward, keeping himself in check so he wouldn't do anything he would regret. He would have to find a city full of humans to feed off of later. The wolf's blood would only really work for a few hours and then he could get sick off of it as well, though that only happened sometimes.

He stopped a few feet from the female and, with his hands starting towards her, drew the water from her. Small tear-like droplets freed themselves from the girl's skin, clothing, hair, etc before floating towards Venus at a quick pace. They disappeared into the air as they reached the halfway mark between the two people. In only a matter of seconds the girl before him was dry, as if she had never fallen into the water at all.

As the girl introduced herself, Venus had to wonder how long they would stay here. The vampire wouldn't fed from one of the females and would have to leave soon enough unless something happened. "I am Venus Suzuki. It is a pleasure to meet you ladies." the male said, stepping forward and taking Arawen's offered hand and kissing the back of it before straightening up and released her hand.

But Venus couldn't help but wonder why Arawen had even been in the river to begin with. And why the other female had also been so close to this area. After all, the vampire hadn't seen, smelled, or heard anyone else in the forest. Yet the girl had ended up behind him easily. "If you don't mind my asking, why might you two ladies be in such a place?" Venus asked, not bothering on asking why the enchantress had even been in the water. Perhaps she had fallen in? Then again she had had a raft...until it had been smashed to pieces that is.