In the Eye of the Beholder

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

I followed after Balenth, letting Aqua and Xion have as much space as they needed. "Yea. She's porbably going to blurt it out if they stop kissing anytime soon." I said, smiling. After a moment, I laughed as well. Knowing those two, they would be kissing for a long time. "Wanna take a walk?" I asked after a moment of silence. It was a clear night and I was bored sitting there.

[Calmay]

Balenth nodded. There was nothing to do here but wait and that could get bored quite quickly. He pushed himself off of the wall and made his way out of the inn. He did not know much about this town and he wanted to learn more about it. It would not be that hard to walk around and find out what this town had to offer. The only problem were the people that lived here. They seemed to think the worst of him right away. Did he really look like such a bad person. He looked at Axel wondering what to do next. "Want to help me go buy a weapon. I think I should have one on me just in case." He had seen how useful it had been to have a weapon when fighting the dragon. He did not know when he magic would be useless.[/size]

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Axel nodded at Balenth, also thinking she would feel better if Balenth had a weapon after what had happened. The night air was fresh and Axel took it in gratefully. It seemed as if she could finally relax. Way too much had happened that day but Axel was wide awake, taking in the details of the night version of the town she walked through almost daily.

Axel watched as a skinny purplish cat made its way into the street from an alleyway. It's coat was glossy though one could tell it wasn't a pet. Axel tugged on Balenth's sleeve and pointed to the cat as it walked right in front of them, yard ahead. It had a brown leather collar and a handcuff (pawcuff?) on one of its ankles, a little bit of broken chain hitting the sidewalk as it walked. Axel wanted to see the cat, because she was a eight year old girl and the cat was cute.

[Calmay]

Balenth made his way through the streets. The city was a nice place at night. It made him forget what had happened earlier. The city grew on him. He thought of staying longer than he had to say. He walked forward and noticed the cat. Unlike Axel who wanted to see the cat, Balenth was suspicious of the cat. He had never seen a stray cat that looked like that, but he also had not seen many stray cats. Something told him not to bother it. He placed his hand on Axel's shoulder and looked at her. "Don't go touching stray cats. They might attack out of hunger." He hoped the cat would continue on its way and let them go get a weapon for him. He had enough trouble today, he did not want to get involved with another situation.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

When the two of them stopped and Balenth spoke, the cat turned around and seemed to glare at the dragon. It's ears twitched in slight amusement. It sat down in front of them, looking over both of them. Axel wanted to pet the cute little cat. It was almost like it understood them!

Axel walked over and squatted to the cat's level and looked it in the eyes. After a moment she smiled and laughed. "It's not a cat Balenth. she stated, reaching out a hand and petting the cat's head. It purred lightly and its ears turned backwards.

[Calmay]

Balenth looked at the cat with more suspicion as it stopped and sat in front of them. Was this cat trying to annoy him, well he was not going to give in. He wanted to get to the store before it closed. It was already nightfall and he doubted that the shop would remain open much longer. When Axel said that it was not a cat Balenth wanted nothing more then to continue walking and not get further involved. He had enough trouble today and if a cat that was not a cat just reeked of trouble. He started to walked forward not wanting to get involved.

Not knowing is Axel was following he decided to say something. "You can bring the creature with you if you want. I'm going to get a weapon before the store closes." If Axel wanted to bring the not a cat with her she would have to take responsibility for it if it did anything wrong.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

"The creature can bring themselves, thank you very much. And it's nice to see you again Axel. a teenage boy said, who was standing next to Axel when Balenth walked past the cat. And it just so happens the teenager had purple hair with matching cat ears and a matching tail as well. Axel laughed quietly as one of the ears twitched.

Axel had met the neko before many times. His name was Terra and he usually hung around their base for a while. He was nice but he probably didn't like how Balenth had spoken about him. Most people acutally mistook Terra for a girl and it was pretty funny.

[Calmay]

Balenth looked at the teenager with surprise. He was sure that he had not been there moments before. He was now sure they had attracted some sort of trouble, however he just did not know what it was yet. He looked at Terra and slightly bowed. "I apologize for insulting you, but you have no idea what I have gone through today. So excuse me for being weary of another person crossing our path." He then turned around. He was getting distracted again. He was not going to let the male teenager, yes he could tell he was a male, distract him from getting a weapon. If they wanted to talk they could do it while talking. He continued to walk and eventually stopped in front of a weapons store that was open. He smiled, so not everyone had closed for the night.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Terra laughed as Balenth apologized. He then looked back at Axel, who was looking at him with that look. Sighing playfully, he crouched down and put his arms behind him. Axel smiled and climbed onto his back before Terra stood back up, giving Axel a piggyback. He then turned and followed the dragon up to the store.

"No need to say sorry. I'm just an old friend of Axel's. Nice to meet 'cha by the way. Terra said, still holding Axel on his back.

[Calmay]

Balenth looked at Terra. "Nice to meet you too. I go by Az..." he stopped saying that name when he remembered Axel say his real name earlier. "Balenth. I hope we can get along." He then opened the door and entered the shop. It was not as empty as he thought it would have been. There were three men talking to the owner. By the looks of it the owner was being ganged up on to by something from them. Balenth made his way to the counter wanting to see what they were trying to sell. He leaned against the counter and looked at them while pretending to look at another weapon.

"Listen this blade killed a dragon. I'm not kidding. See this make it was made as it deflected an attack by a dragon." Balenth looked at the blade and knew right away it was a fake, but it looked like the owner was not that sure about it. The blade did have an enchantment on it, but it was nowhere strong enough to take on a dragon. It looked like it would break if it were to be attacked buy a dragon. Balenth chuckled at the thought of the blade actually being able to harm anything more than a human. The three men looked at him. "Do you have a problem with what we are saying." Balenth looked at the men directly this time. "Yes I do, I appreciate it if you stop calling that blade a dragon slayer. It could not even cause a nick on the scale of a dragon." The leader of the group moved to Balenth and placed the blade to his neck. "Are you calling me a liar." Balenth smiled and changed the skin on his neck to his scales but kept them his skin colour. He knew the blade would not cut his skin.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Terra placed Axel back on the ground before shifting into his cat form. Axel picked up the small purple cat and followed Balenth into the weapon shop. Axel instantly didn't like the way things were going in the store. But none of the men seemed to notice her. She looked at the blade and blinked. It wasn't powerful enough to fight a dragon surely.

"It must have murdered a baby dragon whose scales weren't hardened correctly. Even I can enchant a sword with a better blessing but it would be stupid to take on a dragon no matter what weapon you have. It's suicide. Axel said after Balenth picked up the sword. Terra climbed from out of her arms and onto her shoulder. He was so small in cat form, just the size of a kitten.

And you three should know not to gang up on innocent people. If you want to gang up on someone, try it on me. I could beat you cowards in a heartbeat without help. Axel said. She hated when other ganged up on others, which most evil creatures did. And Axel was willing to kick their butts if they tried anything with the poor store owner.

[Calmay]

Balenth was still smiling as the leader pressed the blade harder on his neck but no blood came out. He did not understand what was wrong. He did not know he was attacking dragon scales and not just skin. He would have pressed harder if Axel had not spoken up. Balenth looked at her. He had the situation under control and now she was going to mess everything up. Not only that, but she was putting their attention on to her. They turned to Axel, unlike Balenth she looked like she was much easier to pick on and beat up. The moved towards her and Balenth reacted faster then they would move. Within a second Balenth had the leader pinned and a knife against his neck. "You just made a big mistake trying to harm her."

The leader smiled. "Do you really think you can go against a sect of dragon slayers. When my bosses hears about this he is going to use you as bait for a dragon." Balenth placed the blade closer on the man's skin. "I don't think so. Now you two back off or I will slit this man's throat." Balenth was not bluffing he would slit the man's throat if they tried to harm one hair on Axel. He did not want to see her hurt even if she was able to protect herself from these men.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Axel's eyes widened when Balenth threatened the men. Terra jumped off of the mage's shoulder, shifting to his normal form. His ears twitched, along with his tail as he looked at the other two men. Well, not looked as much as glared. Axel was surprised at their behavior, not used to being protected like that.

Axel was usually the one protecting others. She didn't really like being protected for some reason. Axel was used to coming to other people's rescues, either on her own or with Roxi or someone else. Drop it Balenth. It's fine.

[Calmay]

Balenth heard Axel tell her to drop the blade but he did not comply. He was not going to move until the other two left the shop. He looked up at the two and growled. The two took a step back and then broke into a run out of the shop. Now all there was left to deal was the one that he had a knife to. "It does not feel that good when the knife is at your neck does it." He lessened his grip but made sure that he could not fight back. "I'm letting you go this time, but next time I catch you doing this I will not let you off with you life." He then got up and wiped the little blood that was on the blade. The man got up and ran out of the store. It looked like Balenth had taught him a lesson. He placed it on the counter and looked at the owner. "I'm sorry for that. I was wondering if you have any blades that you can sell me." He was looking for a specific blade, but he doubted he would find it here. For now all he needed was a regular blade that could fight against other creatures.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Terra growled, ears flattened, until all three men left. Once they did, he shook his head. Humans should never fight a creature they didn't understand. Terra was sure they were human because they couldn't feel any of the group's magical presences. From what Terra had seen, Balenth was a dragon or something close to it. Axel had a rather magical presence as well and he liked the feeling of her aura.

Balenth's smoothing aura had suddenly taken a dark turn. Terra turned back into a cat and jumped onto Axel's shoulder again. Axel absently petted Terra's fur. The dark side of Balenth had almost come out, and that was never good.