"Ah... I see," he said as the bird they rode upon rose higher yet. Being cleared from view of any palace guards, they were now able to properly take to the skies without worry of being noticed by Sorio's underlings. "I'm a bit jealous. I'd love to say this is how I see the world, but I barely go past the end of the ravine where I'm from. I've never been on an adventure or anything like that, really."
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Even higher up than they'd been before, they flew free of the gazes of the palace guards and thus into the freedom of the skies. It would seem Shadiya appreciated the view as well as the company as it was explained to her by her new friend that he'd rarely left the area he was from before this moment. A smile came to her face. "I know what that is like... and no one should abandon their home completely." she said knowing that she had similar experiences with Parthevia until of course, a couple of random dungeon capturers had invited her along on their adventures. "But... after everything is settled, you might find it fun, to go out and see the world. It's full of interesting things." she said as they flew towards her villa.Comment
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Hearing about the perks of adventuring, Aiolia considered how the outside world operated, and what he was liable to think of it. As he did so, a grin crossed his face. "That sounds fun," he said. Afterwards, the bird Seras descended upon the villa and landed in the garden Shadiya had spoken of. Once the bird was situated, he hopped off and reached back to offer Shadiya an escort down. "When you go... are your friends going as well?"Comment
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Having landed in the open air garden of her villa, Shadiya relaxed immensely. Of course, once they were situated, Aiolia offered her a hand down from Seras which she gladly took and extricated herself from the large bird which was her main form of transportation. "It is fun, but I have no idea whether or not they are going to come with me. I know at least one person who will come with me, he came here... but..." she looked across the garden and approaching the giant bird, herself and the new comer was a certain pink haired dungeon capturer. A grin crossed this pink haired girl's face as she got close and noticed that her friend was unharmed and in the company of someone new.
"Shadi, you're back, and with new friends. Everything went well then?" asked the girl who received a nod from the purple haired girl. Who found this girl's reaction to be about what she expected. She'd taken note that Yasmin was unusually kind to everyone she came across, people, animals and nature alike. It was almost like she didn't really like to count anyone out as unimportant. With that she acknowledged the newcomer and seemed a bit surprised. "Hi, I'm Yasmin. It's nice to meet you."Comment
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"He?" Aiolia questioned, though it did not seem intentional; it had simply fallen out of his mouth. Luckily, the approach of the pink-haired girl allowed him to move past this immediately. With a bow, he gave his greeting to the girl named Yasmin. "Aiolia Angelis. The pleasure is all mine. And this is Seras, one of my animal friends," he said as the winged beast, while adjusting to its new location, looked betwixt the nearby humans.Comment
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"Yep." it would be a moment before Shadiya spoke again, after all she didn't want anyone getting any kind of wrong ideas about what was going on here. Still, she couldn't help but chuckle at the rather fascinated Yasmin as she took in this view of the giant bird and began walking circles around it. "Nice to meet you... and your friend." she bowed in return. After a second though she seemed just enthused. And would quietly spectate for just a few minutes waiting to see if anyone else would join them outside.
"I should explain a bit more, myself and three others here are dungeon capturers. There are also three others who are staying here, and they are our household members. The one who travels exclusively with me is a man named Shaka." she said with a nod. But to her this was normal there was nothing going on between them. As this conversation occurred Yasmin found herself going to look for Fudo as she wanted to ask him something, about the suspiciousness of a giant bird just being in their care, as well as whatever plan the young man had besides simply picking up the potentially endangered individual. As such she headed across the open air garden to the door which would lead inside, in the hopes of finding their other friends.Comment
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"Three? There are four total Dungeon Capturers among you!? That's incredible!" he said upon gaining the knowledge that Shadiya and three of her friends were Dungeon Capturers. Something else she said didn't quite click with him, though. "What do you mean Household Members? My sister is a Dungeon Capturer, but I've never heard that term."
It was then that another person would approach them. This person was the aforementioned Shaka. "I'm a Household Member. Households draw power from the Djinn of a Metal Vessel user, and inherit their will. It's said that as long as a King's Candidate has their Metal Vessel, a Household Member can use their power," he clarified. As he did so, however, his eyes fell upon Shadiya with a look that seemed a bit anger-fueled.
Meanwhile, Fudo remained on the window sill of his bedroom, but now he had retrieved a piece of buttered bread to munch on while he sat in solitude. As for the white-haired lad, Bakura... well, he was nowhere to be seen.Comment
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"Yeah, I suppose it is. Actually our group is kind of big now that I think about it..." she said seeming to have forgotten about it for just a second. Before she could answer the curiosity about Household Members, her own appeared to answer the question which made her smile. She enjoyed her knowledgeable also blonde Household member, but the anger-fueled look he had didn't get past the purple haired girl. "You look upset Shaka... is everything okay?" she asked, completely astounded as her Household member was normal in a much better mood than the fury his eyes had within them.
Yasmin on the other hand wandered about the house. She knew that Bakura hadn't returned since he'd sneaked out the night before, but she wasn't worried about him really. She also knew that Nasira was having a go at one of the Gladiators, though she didn't know which one. Which should leave the teal haired Sindrian prince somewhere within the house, and soon enough she stumbled upon him eating a bit of buttered bread seated in a window all alone. "Oh, there you are, Shadi's back... with our new friend from Artemyra. Are you alright... you've been awfully quiet today." she said of the young man as she joined him in his room.Comment
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"Ah... that's news to me," Aiolia stated. The words of Shaka were quite helpful to him in giving him the information he sought, but he couldn't help but sense a bit of animosity toward this supposed vassal of Shadiya. Of course, he was out of place here, so he remained silent as the other blonde replied to the girl. "You've still got your Metal Vessel, but I can't use my Household Item."
As he chewed his bread, Fudo was joined abruptly by Yasmin. He continued to look out the window, and waited until he had finished chewing and swallowing this meal of his before speaking with the young woman. "There's no avoiding this war. I knew Artemyra's residents typically rode large birds, but I never thought they would fly one all the way over here. I hate to say it, but... As we speak, the people in the palace are probably being told to search the land for a giant bird. Find the bird, find the person who brought it... find the key to a war."Comment
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Meanwhile the words of her household member made her a bit surprised. She thought about it for a moment, but couldn't get to any real explanation for it. "Hmm, I don't know why that would be... I do still have mine." she reached up and touched her locket and in so doing made the eight sided star which denoted the housing of the Djinn glow there. "I'd ask Shula, but she went off with Malik while he did his training this morning..." she said looking around she thought about it some more. "Maybe Samiya or Ali, if either of them are still around can explain it." she said still she was in a good mood, and she figured such a thing was nothing to worry about. Surprisingly enough the redheaded Magi was on the roof where she hung out most of the time.
"I figured that as well." said Yasmin after Fudo went on to explain what he thought would happen as a result of the giant bird being the main method of transportation for an entire group of people. "If there is no way to avoid the war, perhaps we should just figure out how best to help everyone involved. Starting with our new friend from Artemyra... who is surprisingly male." she said of the young boy who she'd seen outside with Shadiya.Comment
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"It doesn't matter. I don't care much for it anyway," Shaka replied. He then went on to eye Aiolia up and down, coming to a simple conclusion after a few moments of observation. "This your new boy-toy?" he asked. This question caused Aiolia's eyes to widen briefly, but he still had not place to speak in the midst of this conversation. "Going for the strong military type this time, I see."
"A male? That's strange. I thought Artemyra was full of women. Whatever the case, we should make sure we're prepared. If I'm right, and they did see the Artemyran, then they've seen Shadiya now as well. They'll be coming for all of us, and our mentors by association." Fudo said these words while holding out the bread he had been casually biting, intending to offer Yasmin a bit of it. The more he thought about this situation, the less of an appetite he had. Of course, Fudo had also come to a few conclusions that others had likely yet to realize.Comment
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"Aww, don't say that. I am sure there is a very reasonable explanation." said Shadiya she was after all, a bit of an optimist, though she hadn't missed the apparent jabs being taken by her present Household Member. She couldn't well let this continue, and as such she simply shook her head no to his question and followed up by chastising his apparent summation of this present situation. "That's presumptuous, he's the representative from Artemyra I went to find earlier. It isn't like you to act so jealously, Shaka. He's a new friend and he's done nothing to earn this sort of animosity and nor have I." Shadiya mentioned. It was rather unusual that this young man was in such a funk and she truly wondered what had caused it. But before she could go further into this line of thought the Magi Samiya descended from the roof and stood in front of the large bird, and was immediately a bit confused by what she was seeing but this young boy was at least a little familiar to the redheaded Magi. "I didn't expect Myrina to send you Aiolia." she said of the Artemyran boy. Beyond this she looked between Shadiya and her Household Member and her brow rose for just a second, she then rather calmly explained that situation as well, though only after moving so that her words would only be heard by the two of them, lest their argument spread any further. "Your Household Vessel won't activate because you are no longer acting in the best interests of wielder of the Djinn who is the founder of the Household of Light. Familiars of Djinn are kind of fickle that way... since they are spawned from your desire to serve... any deviation from that makes it impossible for you to access the power given to you, if you don't intend to serve with it." she finished up this explanation hoping it would be enough to stop the ongoing squabble between this Household and she did this mostly as a favor to Shula as she didn't want to see anything bad happen with the King Vessel she'd chosen.
Meanwhile Yasmin was discussing their current situation with Fudo and she had to agree with the points he had made. She thought more about it, and decided that there had to be a reason that their mentors and Malik had been allowed to continue, especially given they're living within the exact city as the palace. "Hm, well it could be that we walked in on the end of a long game and made it a bit more complicated as a result." she thought of this entire situation and found it to be a bit like a set up of a game of chess. With all the pieces in place spread out and forces weakened, it would be easy to consolidate power after. But the introduction of several unknown Dungeon Capturers was likely more than anyone had thought of. "I mean, the Fallen Magi wanted us to join her, obviously this means we won't be attacked for death only capture. And if they intend to capture us, they will probably try to use the others as bait to lure us out if we disappear, for some other reason... they've been leaving the Gladiators and Malik alone, even though the latter admitted to causing an undo amount of trouble from time to time. Maybe we're just missing something about the situation here." she said. After which she finished the last bit of bread she'd been offered with a smile. "Thank you."Comment
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"Just sayin'. Can't say I'm surprised you went blonde again. You're about as bad as that brother of yours with the redheads," Shaka replied immediately. He did intend to continue speaking along these lines, but Samiya approached and offered clarification on the lack of power in his Household Vessel. Apparently, this had something to do with his willingness, or lack thereof, to continue following Shadiya in the way he always had. When he heard this, the young man scoffed and turned away. "Tch! Nothing about me changed here." Without another word spoken, the Household Member took his leave yet again. He had been mostly absent from group activity and interaction since he was retrieved from Parthevia, and it seemed he would continue to be so.
"Well... anything's possible," Fudo replied as he released his hold on the bread. Though he was about 90% certain what would transpire in the near future, he could hold out hope that things would be as easy as what Yasmin suggested. "Again, I hate to say, but I think the simple reason the Yambala Gladiators have been avoided is because of that man called Dio. There's no real reason for them to have an inside person otherwise. Malik also has the protection of the gladiators, and apparently a reputable amount of strength of his own. That old man said he was at least stronger than the two of us, and we faced a Magi yesterday. We'll have to make sure he stays out of trouble today. I get the feeling Shadiya is about to be in danger."Comment
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"That... was mean Shaka." Shadiya said about the jab taken at her older brother. It wasn't as if she went out looking for anyone to suit her preferences, literally all she had done was go to pick up some person from a foreign country to keep them from being killed she had no idea why this was such a big deal to him. The Magi who had spoken to the other young man alone didn't seem to be at all moved by his present bit of a fit. She was only stating a fact nothing more and nothing less. Whether or not he recovered from this moment was no choice but his own. She'd noticed his behavior towards the others and she also felt that it was either something to correct or something that would lead to friction and she was never sure which given she didn't have much foreknowledge of this young man. Shadiya felt the need to apologize to the newcomer so she did, with a bow and a bit of her blush on her face, seemingly flustered by her Household Member's actions. "I'm sorry about that... I didn't expect him to react like that." she said apologetically. Still there was the matter that Samiya seemed to know this young man. "Samiya do you know him?" she asked to which the Magi only nodded while standing by the large bird. "Yes, I once visited Artemyra and raised a dungeon there. I lead that woman through it, she happened to be the Queen of the country and his elder sister Myrina. I was introduced to him and the rest of his siblings while I was staying there." mentioned the Magi much to the surprise of the young dungeon capturer.
Yasmin heard out what Fudo had to say and she completely agreed with him. Even so, she couldn't bring herself to worry unnecessarily about things which hadn't happened yet. Instead of being really upset or overthinking the situation she held out her hand to Fudo and smiled. "Alright, so the easiest thing to do today is protect Shadi and Aiolia." she said this with the same attitude she had about everything and intended to have Fudo meet the newcomer so they could figure out what to do about this situation while talking it over with everyone present.
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"You have nothing to apologize for," Aiolia replied. Now that the bit of tension had left, he felt more comfortable speaking aloud, but in no way did he believe Shadiya was at fault for anything that transpired here. "Do you... have any idea what he could have actually been angry about? It didn't sound like it had anything to do with Metal Vessels." Aiolia had a genuine bit of curiosity about the other blonde male he'd seen on this day, but he also realized he had been addressed, and was now being spoken of, by Samiya the Magi. "Ah... Sorry, Lady Samiya. It's good to see you again. As for me being here, well... I think I'm the only one suited to do this kind of thing, besides the queen herself."
"Right," said Fudo. He remained wary of people from the palace locating them here in this villa, but Yasmin made a good enough point that they could simply protect the two he thought to be in danger. As such, he took the young woman's hand and removed himself from the window. "At the very least, we should be able to handle whoever they send at first."Comment
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