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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:23 pm
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Cassandra had noticed the disappearance of one of her skeletons; but she didn't care. As soon as the skeleton's leg was grabbed, she noticed the change in sounds from their march, and shot a look over her shoulder. In truth, she was worried that it might have attacked a civilian, but instead noticed a black 'shape' that was apparently a hand of some sort, and knew instantly that it was to do with that girl from the train; after all, the little creatures from before had been talking about hurting their 'master's' feelings - it wasn't hard to figure it out from there. Of course, this didn't mean that she actually cared - it was only a mindless animated shell, after all. As soon as the skeleton disappeared, whether it had been teleported, destroyed or otherwise, Cassandra instantly halted all the magic that had been animating it, leaving it as simply a normal skeleton in armour.
In all truth, she couldn't care less what happened to them. She could easily animate another hundred skeletons without even breaking a sweat. She pretended not to notice Zazie's little disappearing act on her skeleton; just because she couldn't really be bothered with starting any sort of fight at the moment; even a mock one - and she didn't want to ruin the show for the tourists. Besides, if she used a slightly longer, more complex variant of the spell, she could simply re-summon the exact same skeletons later if need be. She simply continued walking onwards, her remaining four skeletons following. Even if the rest were to go missing, she wouldn't react or care. She had actually been secretly planning to ditch them somewhere - having skeletons follow you around all day can really be tedious - the sounds of skeletons marching eventually began to grate like nails on a chalkboard.
She had no real plans at this point; she was just focusing on keeping an eye out for any familiar faces from Tatsumi's sketches. She began to wonder what Grundy was up to; after all, a deranged 8-foot orc with a two-handed, soul-consuming axe would be a useful ally in her little quest to help rescue the Dean's daughter. Ah well. An infinite army of undead minions would just have to suffice.
Xenon smiled, glad to see Satomi so happy. After seeing her in such a bad mood last night; and her sudden silence on the topic of her 'dream', she was happy to see Satomi so excited and enthusiastic. However, the actual task itself was not one that she was particularly comfortable with. It wasn't that she didn't want to help; she was always glad to be given a job to do, but what did Satomi actually want her to do? As far as Xenon was concerned, clothing was suitable as long as it covered a few essential points of the body; she had no idea of fashion or style - she barely even understood basic colour matching concepts. The outfit she wore now wasn't designed by herself - it was just programmed into her by whoever her old owner had been. She nodded and hesitated as she began looking through; but it was clear from even a glance that she didn't really have a clue what she was actually looking for.
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:10 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:20 pm
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With a small sigh, Sosuke let his arm drop down to his waist after hearing Satomi's message. No problem. "Hana-kun, why don't we enjoy ourselves until Satomi-chan arrives. Here, look there. Someone's performing, Hana-kun." Sosuke pointed to a area, where Cassandra and Zazie were. Being in the back of the crowd, Sosuke couldn't really see the faces of the performers, so he had no idea. Clapping when Zazie had made the skeletons disappear, Sosuke looked around him, for any sign of Satomi and her group. None.
Later, Sosuke saw one of the performers going, but he still couldn't get a good view. Tempted to congratulate the performer, Sosuke thought against it. Well, the shoe was practically over, so Sosuke pulled Driviline along with him to a trinket place. Poof. Inspiration hit Sosuke. Sure, Satomi didn't want a huge present and a celebration, but she didn't say anything about small presents. Looking at all the little trinkets, Sosuke looked them all over to decide what to get for Satomi. Item number one out of hundreds of presents.
[Note: EDITED.]
((Oops. >_> I have a bad habit of skimming. I'll edit.))
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:38 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:45 pm
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[Mikhail enters with Satomi with the rest of group 2.]
Eyes looking around, taking in all of the details, Mikhail had loyally followed Satomi around for the first bit, until Satomi went off on her own someplace, and Xenon had followed their group leader. Left with a guitar case-carrying girl, another boy, and a red-haired reporter, Mikhail wondered what they'd want to do. Twenty minutes wasn't too long, but Mikhail barely knew Asakura, Mana and Ken. Who knew what they wanted to do? Turning to the others, Mikhail gave them a 'what-should-we-do'? look.
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:45 pm
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Even if it didn't bother Cassandra, Zazie had continued her act to get rid of the rest. Even if Cassandra could create more, Zazie was doing this to get rid of them because this was just simply not the place for such dark creatures. In nature, her own spirits were more curious then harmful, and would obey Zazie under any circumstance. On the other hand, Zazie had no idea of Cassandra's intentions, and she felt it would best be safe than sorry and get rid of the rest of them now.
And so, her act continued, a candle going out each time as one of the spirits vanished into the ground as if they had melded into the earth itself and pulled down another skeleton into the abyss until the last one had been taken care of. As her final spirit had vanished and the crowd applauded, Zazie shook her head slowly, raising her pointer finger as if saying 'hold on a minute.' "The show hasn't finished yet." She said calmly as people tried to make sense of the act. The closest and most reasonable explanation was that the people in these costumes used a series of trap doors, and there was something buried to cause the ripple effect. But Zazie just smiled behind her mask at what ever theory people tried to come up with. They were right if Zazie hadn't chose to use her spirits, the act would have been close to something like that to manipulate this. But this was the real thing.
"I need my assistant." She said with that same tone before she turned and pointed towards Kaede, casually motioning for her to come over. Zazie had caught her audience, and she wanted to keep the act going, she never wanted to leave her audience disappointed.
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:54 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:03 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:09 pm
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Hmm.... there were so many, she just couldn't decide! Slowly turning towards Xenon as she didn't get a suggestion from the android, she could see by the expression on her face, prompted by a programmed response that her data couldn't really provide a solution for this. Satomi, tilting her head just a little had looked at Xenon, raising an eyebrow as she asked, "So.. you don't have any money? They do have discount kimono's here for as little as 1500 yen. Not as good in quality, but they would still look good, especially on you." She said with a soft smile, admitting in her own way how her programmer had really given Xenon quite a body structure and figure. Satomi had nearly done the same for her Chachamaru when it came to her physique, but since she hadn't provided real flesh to her, she couldn't really pull off the look as well as Xenon, as much as she didn't want to admit it. Satomi would have bought a cheaper one for Xenon, but she doubted she would have much money leftover after this...
Zazie could see that Kaede did not have a clue what she was supposed to do, but that was just fine, she didn't need to. Zazie had this completely under control. After all, when was the last time she actually messed up on a trick? Turning away from the crowd, Zazie lifted her mask just a little, giving Kaede one of her rare little smiles, assuring her ninja friend that she would be fine.
Zazie stepped out of the circle, and motioned for Kaede to enter where she stood. As she did, her spirits that had vanished remained gone as well, but unknowing to Kaede, they had been waiting beneath the ground where Kaede was motioned to stand, and surrounding her the five candles, all of which had been put out would surround her in that star like formation they were placed. Just a little preparation and her vanishing act would be perfect~
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:15 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:27 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:34 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:38 pm
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((Yea, the most expensive out there reach that much. And knowing Tsukuyomi, I could see her choosing the most expensive. xD Of course, some are quite cheap, depends on the quality and such. ^_^ ))
The crowd continued to watch, surrounding Zazie and Kaede in a circle of excitement while she prepared the act. She seemed to be uttering a chant, but in reality, her words were just a distraction, adding to the illusion of the magic act. It wasn't really magic, well, aside from her spirits anyway, so she still saw this as a true trick, relying on skill rather than simply casting a spell.
Finally, she stopped chanting, and with a snap of her fingers, the five candles that surrounded Kaede burst into an incredible flame that spanned out farther and higher than Kaede, making it look like she had just been consumed by the flames. And since the crowd was watching from all around her, it was impossible for Kaede to have left the circle before hand. But that was the point, making something look impossible then defying it was the basis of magic.
What they didn't know was that her spirits that had gathered where Kaede was had pulled her under. To Kaede, there would be a few seconds of nothing but darkness, feeling as if she was being guided and floating in the air; almost like a dream where you were never really asleep. In the darkness too could be seen the faces of the spirits, the Noh masks they were floating without bodies, all staring at Kaede. They didn't do anything though, simply watching her like they were guiding her. And in seconds when the process was over, Kaede would find the darkness had vanished, and she was now well outside the circle, standing on the rooftop of the nearest shop just as the flames had vanished.
The crowd was shocked, some even in horror as they had assumed that the green haired, busty ninja was consumed in the flames. But Zazie promptly pointed over towards Kaede, leaving the crowd stunned and in an uproar of applause.
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:38 pm
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'That was... a compliment? No, it can't be, that doesn't- but it can't be anything else!' Although Xenon had been used to mild compliments related to the fulfilment of tasks - 'good job', 'well done', that sort of thing - she wasn't quite prepared for such a spontaneous, unnecessary compliment. Although she didn't blush - of course not, she lacked the actual blood required for such an act - her expression quickly changed into a rather embarrassed smile. "W-well, I don't really think, that is, I'm not..." She paused for a moment, shaking her head and shutting her eyes for a moment, emulating deep breaths as she regained her composure. "I wouldn't want you to waste your money just for the benefit of me." She said through a smile; but the way she spoke, her smile, made it seem like there was something she wasn't quite revealing...
Cassandra didn't care as the last of her skeletons were removed. Personally, she preferred skeletons to have something a bit stronger than a Katana in their hands, anyway. After all, compared to Axes, Katana were notoriously easy to sunder. When she organized the fight between the 'skellies' and the zombies, she'd make sure to equip them differently. Battleaxes for the skellies to cut up the zombies; Maces for the zombies to smash the 'skellies' to pieces. She began to regret coming alone; she could probably have earned quite a nice bit of cash if she had soemone else to stand around and take bets. Ah well. After a brief pause for a photograph, she continued her patrol, keeping her eyes open at all times.
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