Adventuring

[Zephel]

The moment the woman stepped closer to Roy and offering her hand, Syani wanted to slap the woman's hands away, but she quickly reminded herself this is ultimately Roy's choice. She has no right to interfere. So, the half-vampire only stared up at the young man beside her, eyes determined.

His response surprised her because of his sudden touch, but totally made her smile wide. Though, Roy's sudden outburst about killing and overshadowing and seals confused Syani straight away. She listened intently to what's going on as her mind's gearing up to solve the pieces of this puzzle by herself, since this is a bad time to ask Roy about it.

The blonde woman seemed taken aback by Roy's choice. Instead of her beautiful shell, he chose the clueless brat instead! The blonde's cheeks reddens in silent rage, feeling all of this so unfair. But she quietly regains her balance, sneering at Syani's direction, before standing straight and proudly to Roy, her chin's up high.

"Fine. If you rather be with that PEASANT than the princess herself, so be it." She spins and turned her back to the both of them. "This body belongs to the princess of this castle, if you want to know. She's dead. Long ago. Her body was carefully waxed and reserved inside a casket. She's the most beautiful young lady in her time...but you chose this...this BRAT instead!!" The blonde turns back to Roy while pointing at Syani angrily.

"Excuse ME, that BRAT is right HERE." Syani sweatdropped, annoyed at how she simply ignored her existence and criticized her straight like that. Then, like she wanted to do before, stepped in front of Roy and literally slapped the blonde's hand off from pointing at her.

With her eyes half-closed and a smug grin on her lips, Syani whispered, "Have I told you I'm a mage?" Her grin widens as she continued slowly, "I can pull you out of your little shell like collecting a strand of thread from a glass of water, and evaporate you from existence. EASILY." She's not kidding. Even though she doesn't looks like it, Syani HAS been in a situation which required her to literally pull a soul out of a body. Life has taught her many things she didn't like to discuss with people much...her abilities being one subject.

But just as she's done whispering that, the half-vampire suddenly stepped back and looks back at Roy cheerfully, which totally contradicts her earlier expression to the woman. "So Roy, are you on a quest to save a DEAD damsel in distress now? Cause if you are, I'll be happy to help!" Syani laughed happily, then slowly turns her head to the woman. "VERY happy indeed."

Truthfully...Syani seems like a real witch just now to the blonde.

[Roy]

Watching that womans outburst like that totally didn`t fit her appearance at all. Next to that Roy was wondering why she was upset like that. Did she really thought she would had ANY chances after what happened ? Probably yes.
Roy gulped though when she literally paired him up with Syani. Sure, he was thinking about that secretly but he wasn`t ready for it to be just yelled out like that. This woman was indeed pretty, but Roy really would prefer meeting that woman with her original soul than this body being possessed by that evil spirit.

Roy didn`t have any chance to interfere though because Syani immediately continued the verbal quarrel. Then he listened to Syanis battle introduction...... "You can do that?" Roy blinked. He was surprised of what this little girl was capable of.

Then she turned to him like if she was waiting for a permission. That spirit stole the body so it definitely doesn`t has the right to keep it. He took a step forward and stood next to Syani now. "Yeah, of course. This time is two on one and she can`t trick us." But still he couldn`t deny the fact that he was alert of what could happen. If this spirit has possessed Syani already once then it could try it a second time too or even worse. It would possess him.
Then Roy drew his sword. "Let's do it!"

[Zephel]

As Roy stepped beside her, Syani shrugged at how surprised he is about what she could really do. "Well before I met you, I have no one to depend on for my life. So who do I call when I'm in trouble? SYANI!" The half-vampire yelled in the end, grinning as she does. She just did that on purpose to take advantage of the huge area they're in now; for the echo.

...But strange thing is, despite the large hall, there was no echo...

"Huh?" Syani's eyebrows creased in confusion, so she tested it again. "ECHO!!!!!!' And indeed, there's not the slightest sound that got reflected by the solid walls. Her eyes widened at this realization, so she quickly warns Roy. "Roy, DON'T MOVE!" She herself froze, but watched the blonde woman sharply.

"Ah...the peasant is quick on noticing.. This is not an easy match, I admit." The lady chuckled, stepping back further from them, before dissappearing completely within thin air. Her chuckles could still be heard, and it grows into a crazy laughter. "You'll PAY for rejecting ME!!!"

"Oh, COME ON~! You just MET the guy, of COURSE you got rejected!!" Syani yelled back, not for just intimidating the spirit, but to find out where exactly is it. "Plus, you overshadowed some princess he actually LIKES, who in the right mind would think you even have a CHANCE?" She continued, still not moving from her spot.

Lowering her voice, she whispered to Roy to explain what's happening, "Roy, we're trapped. In her illusion... If we move too much, the illusion around us will turn pitch black, and that means we can't even see each other, and that will give a chance to the spirit to overshadow one of us and attack the other."

Smiling, Syani then slowly and carefully relaxed her stance. "So the best thing to do in this situation...is be Syani." She almost laughed at this, signing she's enjoying this life-threatening game very much. "Annoy her. Irritate her. Make her angry or something until she reveal herself to us to slap me or...kick you or something. And then we strike."

Anger is the best way for anyone, even a spirit, to loose control. Ahh...manipulating emotions.. Syani haven't done this in a long time. So, she's clearly enjoying this little event taking place.

[Roy]

Roy shrugged, of course Syani had learned to defend herself. Anybody would do so all on their own if there is nobody to depend on. But unlike Syani Roy, who has never stuck in an illusion before got more alerted as her when he witnessed the woman disappearing. "Oh great, one of the shy girls aren`t you?" He stated simultaneously as Syani started ranting.

Roy gave her a weird look though as she declared his feelings for the princess as official 'What the ? I never said anything like that' he thought with a sweatdrop.

Nonetheless he nodded after hearing her well planned tactics of how to get out of this alive. And Roy didn`t waste any second to start.

He made a step forward and drew his sword and his dagger. "Alright, lady." He yelled as he spread his arms out holding the weapons in his hands. "You want me? Then come forth!" And with these words he threw his weapons on the ground in front of his feet. "I don`t need any weapons to deal with someone like you!............ I seriously pity you.." he continued with scratching his forhead and looking to the ground like if he just was told bad news. "...to have even less than none self esteem in your own person at all which makes you to STEAL somebodies beauty to seduce me." Then he raised his head again with a big smile "Are you that ugly??"

Roy just looked like a mad-man right now. Throwing his weapons away and making himself a perfect aim... but maybe thats what he intended to do?

But the next sentence literally would blew up anybodies mood. "I don`t think that any woman without any attractive attributes, like you most likely look like, has ANY chance to find a nice and caring husband or even a DANCE partner!"

[Zephel]

Syani blinked incredulously at Roy as soon as he drew his weapons. "Roy, what are you--" Her sentence was cut off as her tongue no longer works witnessing her friend going all out, throwing his weapons on the ground as he yelled out the spirit having no self esteem and is believed to be...ugly.

The half-vampire winced at how sharp that sounded. At first, Syani wanted to make a grab for Roy since he was moving too much and the illusion they're trapped in might black-out any second, but her attempt was frozen as he said THE most forbidden sentence to a lady. Even Syani was stunned at it. "....OUCH. Wow, Roy, you're a better Syani than I ever could be."

Their surrounding started to blacken, and the raven-haired quickly grabbed for Roy's shoulder, before it completely turns dark. "Nice job." She whispered, while cautiously scanned her surrounding for an expected spirit to finally appear.

"YOU..." That voice echoed, and the spirit, still in the form of the princess, appeared within the darkness, right in front of the duo. Though, spirit or not, she's still a woman, so Roy's hurtful remarks truly did broke her.

"You only know ONE SIDE OF THE STORY, and you're already CRITCIZING ME?!! You're... YOU'RE SO CRUEL!!!! You're not fit to be a man at all, BEAST!!!" She shrieked. Sobbing too in between her screaming, seeming to be truly crying at the time... And using the princess's body with her tenderly graceful face smothered with tears, it's a rather heart-breaking sight for any man.

And while all of this takes place, Syani spreads a sort of powder at the woman after covering her hand with that same powder, and slowly reached her hand to the lady's stomach. Her hand went through the body, like she expected, and grabbed something in her grip.

That startled the lady, and Syani could only stare at the shocked expression the lady is giving her. "I'm sorry." No matter how cruel or how pathetic any spirit is to her, every time Syani's about to pull a soul out of a body, she would say the very same thing; an apology. A moment after that, the half-vampire roughly pulled her hand out of the princess's body, her hand in a fist. The force is so great, she fell backwards and slammed right into Roy.

The darkness that enveloped around them finally dissappears, so is the large hall they're in. The reality that they're stepping on...is a chamber...with a beautifully gem-encrusted casket in the middle of the room. The casket was opened though...and there lay the lifeless princess right in front of Syani and Roy..[/font]

[Roy]

After Roy was done with his try of being Syani and the lady appeared again in front of him his strong appearance vanished in one moment. He let hang down his shoulders and looked at the ground because he couldn`t face the lady at all. Spirit or human, she still has feelings.. Roy should have thought about that before he started to release everything at once.

With the ladies cries in the background his mood darkened. His own pitiful past told to respect any living being and now he just crushed everything at once. Oh how he despised these bullies in the past. And now he wasn`t any better...
To be honest, he actually used his experiences as a victim to crush the ladies self esteem with these two statements. And he can`t deny that the last words of the woman really hit his heart.

In his current state Roy was looking over at Syani and the spirit in disguise but didn`t really notice them at all. Only as Syani was pushed back he got some feelings in his limbs again and embraced her to prevent her from falling. In the same second he went down on his knees to have a save position to avoid that both of them fall backwards.

Slowly the hall appeared around them and the both of them sat on the ground next to a beautiful casket. What a picture of irony. The sleeping beauty who was just possessed by a jealous spirit and next to her the girl which was her rival lays in the boys arms.

Usually Roy would feel something now. After all he was literally hugging Syani... from behind! Something he may have secretly dreamed of when the both of them explored that dark castle.
But the truth is, Roy felt nothing but regret.
"I feel awful..." was all he said as his eyes were wandering over the well formed casket.

[Zephel]

Syani just froze there. The atmosphere was so quiet she could hear herself trying to catch her breath. It took her a while to calm her body back to her normal mode, and also to realize that her receptors are screaming in alarm of the embrace Roy is giving her, eventhough from behind.

The half-vampire stayed silent and still. She didn't want to ruin the mood by yelling 'MUSHY!!' out of a sudden after hearing what Roy just muttered. Instead, what escaped her mouth is, "I'm sorry...for dragging you into this.." She then awkwardly reached beside her to pat Roy on the arm, hoping this would calm him. "I didn't feel too good about myself from the first times I did that technique, if it makes you feel any better.."

Syani smiled slightly as she faced the floor, blinking once in a while. "My master-- no. My teacher, he said, that if you feel bad after killing anything in any aspect...then that means you're humane. Feeling awful about it only further confirms that you have a compassionate heart, Roy." Though she's speaking the truth, she doubt that it'll help.

Frowning at this, the black-haired then carefully pulls off Roy's arms from around her, just to positioned herself to turn around and face him as she sat on her bent legs. "Roy... To be honest, I don't think what the spirit said is wholly true. You're not a beast, Roy. You definitely aren't. You just did what you did because you need to save yourself from an impending doom... She could poison you inside out and kill you, you know?" Slowly, but awkwardly, Syani lifts up her hands to hold her friend by the shoulders, making sure he listens. After that, she lifts up a smile. "Plus, I think she owes you her thanks for freeing her from her seal. Who knows how long she's been trapped here..."

Standing up and dusting herself, Syani stares down at Roy as she offers him a hand. "I mean, come on. Who do you trust most? Some spirit you just met for half an hour, or an ally who's trying to cheer you up and have been accompanying you for the past 3 hours?"

[Roy]

As the both said there and Syani apologized to him Roy didn`t know what to say. He didn`t want her to feel sorry, but next to that, this wouldn`t be settled with a simple 'no worries'. But thankfully she didn`t seem to expect an answer when she patted him on the arm. Her next statement though made Roy wonder: How many times did she actually use that technique... ?
It doesn`t matter anyway, since she would never use it against an innocent person.

Roy smiled a bit. Syanis words are nothing new to him. But just the fact that she tries to cheer him up made him feel a little better. "Well, he is right about that" Roy said and supported a smile.

Also Syanis following words as she faced him made him think about it the other way. Its true that they had to defend themselves. Otherwise they would probably the one who need a casket now..
Still Roy thought that the spirit has just been waiting for a victim to approach her dorm in order to free herself. Syani and Roy haven`t really freed her since the seals weren`t broken yet.....but would be if Syani wouldn`t have a vampire half within her.

As Syani already stood up he shook off his thoughts and didn`t want to start the topic again. He then took Syanis hand and stood up himself. "Well, thats a hard decision.. I just know you 2 hours and a half longer than her. Still she invited me to a dance... and you tried to cheer me up" he started jokingly as his eyes trailed over the ceiling in a thinking manner.

Then he wondered himself if he should ask her if they should look for the exit now since the last half hour may have been an adventure to much for one day. But at the same time... he didn`t want to end it yet. So only a "And....what now?" escaped his lips.

[Zephel]

Syani gave Roy a friendly punch as Roy joked on comparing her with the spirit. "Well, excuse ME for not knowing how to dance. What do you expect from a klutzy butterfingers anyway?" Syani laughed lightly as she looked around the chamber, wondering what they should do next due to Roy's question.

"Hmm...well, firstly... I know I'm only half a human, but I don't think leaving a dead person like that lying around without a proper burial or at least a casket would be nice." She pointed at the beautiful body the spirit just used moments ago. The princess, as the spirit said, was waxed...or whatever the word is. Thing is, she does look young even after a millenium or so, Syani has to admit.

"Let's just put her back to her heavenly casket and stop me if I tried to carve out all the jewels from it." Well, she really can't stop herself if it comes into treasures...especially a dead person's. To her, what would be the use of worldly posessions to the dead, anyway? Walking towards the dead body, the half-vampire then lifts up the woman's upper body, handling the dead body under the arms, and waits for Roy to help her. "...Seriously."

[Roy]

Roy joined in with Syanis laugh, because his words had the exact effect on her what he was aiming for. "Well, to be honest, I also don`t know how to dance..." then added with a low voice "..but I wouldn`t mind to learn it."

She was right about the princess though. Because of his little breakdown he totally forgot that she was lying on the ground still and not in the casket. When Syani told him about her stealing habit Roy blinked at her. 'Was she serious about that?..' He came back to his mind again when Syani already lifted the princess upper body and told him that she was serious about it.

"Uh.. umm, okay" he replied quickly, then walked over to the princess feet and lifted them up. This sure was an odd picture he thought to himself. A boy and a girl carrying an adult, beautiful woman. She didn`t looked dead at all. Just... sleeping. They carefully laid her into her casket again. Then Roy bend over to take her hands, they were cold as stone, and placed them into the position of folded hands.

He didn`t know why, but the glance at her made Roy feel calm and peaceful. It was even hard to look away from her. "O-okay" he said as he finally managed to do so "What about the casket lid? Its probably too heavy to lift it up. Do you think you could use your telekinesis on it ?" Even though Roy didn`t have any nice experience with Syanis telekinesis, thinking back when her vampire self tried to kill him up in the tower, he was sure that she could manage it this time.

[Zephel]

As they both had carefully placed her inside her casket, Syani can't deny she's stealing glances towards the casket's cover...which is filled with gems and diamonds than the jewellery store itself, for that matter. She's not exactly a thief, but without a constant income and with her recent money being stolen, she has no other choice but to steal sometimes.

This is one of those times.

She's been staring at the casket the whole time as Roy folded the woman's hands and taking his time gawking at the beautiful princess. 'Rubies, emeralds, saphires, topaz...DIAMONDS!' Her eyes sort of sparkled like the gems as the half-vampire watched it, almost missing to hear Roy's idea of her lifting the casket using her telekinesis.

"O-oh! Yeah, sure!" Syani snapped out of her daydream and takes a few steps back. Straightening her arms towards the casket, the black-haired focused her mind to it. Telekinesis doesn't need hands to use it, but it made her focus, plus she haven't exactly mastered it yet...much less that she herself isn't the most focused person when her mind's been playing the thought of taking the casket lid with her..

The casket lid fidgeted a bit at first, before taking a grand lift from the ground and positioned right on top of its supposed place, floating in the air. With a slow exhale, Syani carefully lowered down her arms as the lid followed her hands movements, slowly lowering down until it covers the casket perfectly.

After that performance, Syani didn't smile, nor clapping at herself for her good job like she normally would...but just stares at the casket, slightly biting her lower lip. "...Roy, can we please PLEASE take only two or three gems from it...?? Its not like she needs it, right??" And here comes the huge glittery eyes of request...begging for acceptance.

[Roy]

After Syani closed the casket Roy congratulated her "See? You can do it! And you didn`t blow anything up!" he added jokinly and turned around to leave. But something was not right. He didn`t hear an excited Syani whos applauding at her achievement nor a sudden comment about Roys joke. Roy turned around slowly and took a sight of Syanis bright eyes who have been staring at him.

And there she goes with her begging. Roy can`t prevent himself from having a little facepalm moment. "Syani... we can`t do that. It's simply not right. No matter if she needs it or not." Highly doubting that his words have any effect, Roy had to do something else.

He reached out his hand to grab a hold of Syani hand. This time he was really kind of grateful for her fear of being touched. "Okay, let's go" he smiled and pulled her along. "I`m sorry that I`m doing this Syani, but its for your own good."

[Zephel]

Syani pouted at Roy's answer, giving out her best attempt on appearing as irresistably piteous as possible. By piteous, its her large sparkling begging eyes. How on earth she managed to even practice that without the aid of her reflection in unfathomable.

"But..but... The gems are just gonna get corrupted and useless within time if we didn't make use of it--" Syani was just starting to give out her reasons, when Roy suddenly took hold of her hand. Automatically, her spine quickly straightens as she froze for a while, then shivvered by the touch. Usually, she would freeze for the whole minute, but there's something important she's going to leave behind if she is.

"No, no, no! Come on~~! Just one tiny gem! Please, please, PLEASE?" The ha;f-vampire continued to beg while trying to at least struggle a bit to break free from Roy's grip. "A-as a memorial for our very first adventure??" She blinked, now actually seeming sincere. "And for our first ever meeting...and hopefully a start of an eternal friendship?"