The calm before the storm (Open)

[iblisvoidwalker]

Irvine had walked casually through the city to the Shamrock Inn, observing the generally peaceful populace with concern, why is everyone so cheerful and peaceful? The kingdom is in a horrid state of disarray the prince and princess are forced to lordship before completing their training and anyone including Aragon could come in at any time to take the throne. Raiders had attacked Irvine's home which was situated in the middle of town and yet they were calm and acting as though nothing was going to happen. Perhaps his time becoming a Knight would give him the knowledge of what was happening to this world, perhaps there was something Irvine had missed out on.

Walking into the Inn, the place looked pretty empty with only a couple tables in the main hub having people seated, Irvine made his way to the front counter to talk to the receptionist, who was a middle-aged looking female, dressed just as any receptionist was expected to be she had short brown hair with a very tight suited and proper looking uniform, she greeted Irvine with a smile and asked what he would like in which Irvine responded with the following:

"How much is a room here?"

"5 gold for our more cheaper rooms, 15 gold for middle class and 30 gold for our most expensive rooms which would you like?"

He placed 5 gold on the counter silently and the receptionist scooped it up and placed it in a drawer in her desk

"Can I get a dinner to go with that as well?"

"No problem, have a seat over there and a waiter will bring you the house special for today!"

Irvine nodded and took a seat in a table situated more towards the center of the room most of the corner ones being taken and sat patiently his hand folded together like scissors and rested against his nose.

[Angelique]

Heads turned and whispers rose up when the dark girl entered the Shamrock Inn. Critisizing eyes took in her pure black outfit, which was revealing and risque enough without the bells she had attached to the ribbon that was currently tied around her slender ankle. A black snake was wound around her body, its huge head resting on her shoulder. Her own dark blue eyes scoured the room, her gaze cold and penetrating. She walked with pride, dignity and importance, of which she had none. But she could have fooled anyone with her attitude as she strode up to the counter, and bowed slightly at the waist.

"May I be interested in a room today, miss?" she asked, her tone suggesting that she were selling something to the less-than-ordinary woman, rather than the other way around. She laid her hand casually on her bag, and twisted slightly as she waited for the woman to answer.

"5 for a normal room, 15 for middle class and 30 for first class" she said, as if she was too bored to say the full, rehearsed line, which the woman had already heard many times before. Smirking slightly, she put 15 gold coins on the counter, and leaned back. As the woman put the coins away, she looked around the room to scout out potential customers. When she heard the little ching sound, she turned back to the receptionist with a smooth, cool expression.

"I would also like some dinner" Another five coins. She grinned wickedly, not giving the woman any time to respond. "Thanks, Maggie" she said, winking at the woman. Maggie's face darkened and she turned away with a "hmph!". "I'll have my usual"

She turned away somewhat haughtily and headed blindly for a table. She had already gotten situated, having put her bag away, leaned back and let Chii slide to the ground to wrap himself around the chair leg, before she realized that there was already somebody sitting at this table.

She turned her head slightly and said, in a tone that completely belied her statement, "Sorry. Didn't see you there"

[iblisvoidwalker]

Irvine only looked up casually at the sound given off by the other diners in the inn, obviously intimidated with what looked to be a young women donned in all black walking into the Inn. His gaze went directly to hers though he could tell she hadn't looked at him he felt a strange presence when he had looked in her eyes, like a dark magic had shot through her eyes and sent a serpent of fear through Irvine's brain. He shook the feeling away believing it to only be his mind playing tricks on him on account of all the exhaustion of walking. Turning his head back away to his table he overheard some of the customers whispering amongst themselves

Look at that girls attire, she must be some kind of witch...

A witch you say? I heard rumors of a mysterious death that could only be linked to sorcery, a few towns over...What was her name...I know it started with an "S"

Before Irvine could continue to eavesdrop on the diners, the mysterious girl had taken a seat at Irvine's table, his head turned to meet her gaze whom had only just realized herself that she had sat at a table that was occupied, he also heard another presence come with her but sat under the table, leading him to believe it was some kind of animal, he could only hope it wasn't some kind of canine, because ever since he had been attacked by one as a kid he had gone out of his way to avoid confrontation with such beasts, fearful of their bite and their ability to kill without logical reason. His eye twitched slightly as he pretended that what was under the table was not what he assumed. The girl then turned to look at Irvine and with her uninterested tone stated that she didn't realize Irvine was seated where he was. He could also tell from such a tone that she didn't have any plans of relocating herself either.

He wasn't sure what to say to her, what else could he say? Perhaps it was best he said nothing, the two of them were obviously mature enough to share a public place he merely nodded at the girl and bowed his head again, awaiting the food and contemplating his course of action for the journey that was on the horizon

[Angelique]

The man remained silent. That was fine with her. She had no real desire for conversation right now anyway. She was starving, and she was pretty sure Chii hadn't eaten in a while either. She tapped the table with her fingernail impatiently as she waited for her dinner to come. While she waited, she looked at the man whose table she shared, taking him in in her boredom.

He was pretty young, maybe her age or younger. Or how old she looked. Or whatever. He wasn't bad-looking, but she wasn't into that right now. His hair was dark and his skin was pale, and his eyes had a hunted, but determined look about them. If she were anyone else, she might find the strength in those eyes to be inspirational. She sighed. He had a weird look about him, and when Chii had slipped under the the table, he had suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable. She wondered if he had a problem with animals. Well that was just great.

"You don't have to worry about Chii" she said suddenly, startling herself as she broke the silence that had stretched between the two uninterested beings. "He doesn't bite, eat humans or do anything like that. Unless you step on his tail, he's quite a gentle boy, really" She didn't know why she even bothered reassuring him, most people didn't care what she said. They were probably going to be scared no matter what.

She looked up as their food finally arrived. She pulled hers close with a speed that probably might be considered offending to people who cared. She began eating without even really looking at what she was eating, just grateful to finally have something in her stomach after almost three days of not eating. She felt Chii crawl up her leg and she turned her head to him slightly. He rested his head on her shoulder again, his tongue flicking in the direction of her food.

For the first time, she realized it was meat, and handed him a hefty portion. He swallowed it in one gulp before letting out a slight hiss and sliding back down again. She knew he wasn't full, but he apparently had more social graces than she did. He didn't want to scare people.

[iblisvoidwalker]

Irvine looked up at the food brought before him, he too was glad just to eat after just coming back from such an tiring journey home, digging into the slab of meat and mash potatoes as well, he occasionally looked up to his table mate who was equally as hungry and then again to see her great beast of a wolf to eat up the meat she had offered it before slinking back under the table. It wasn't like he had some kind of crippling fear of canine or anything it was just he would rather not be near one or touch one he was able to keep his cool while it resided under the table, especially since he was such a paranoid about picking up the noises of movement.

He kept thinking that he should say something, anything to the girl that was seated before her, not because he felt obligated to, more like because society had subtly trained him to do so, but what? What was he supposed to say to such a strange girl, she gave off such a distant and hateful aura that he knew the pleasantries of the commoner were beyond her and yet interaction with anything more then that was out of Irvine's range of social know-how. It was just then that a group of men came into the inn, they all wore clad in a kind of leather armor that split down the middle of the chest to reveal its muscular build and how counter-productive the armor actually was. They were also all armed with blades on their sides and one could see from their expressions that they were serious about their work, instead of the usual arrogant bandits that seemed to appear in other works of fiction. There were five of them total and as the group walked in slowly each one began to block an exit until the one in the middle was at the front counter that Irvine and Anqelique had ordered from. The girl on the other side of the counter moved breathlessly to the container of cash and began to give it to the leader, almost as though this Inn had been hit more then once by the vandals. Others in the group began to walk about the tables silently expecting tribute and slowly closing in on the two and their table.

[Angelique]

After they began eating, the table fell into silence. While she knew that her companion was probably uncomfortable, Angelique enjoyed the silence. For just a little bit, she wanted some quiet. She might have to strike up conversation with the boy sometime after she had eaten; he didn't look like he was going to buy anything from her, but he might be of some use later on.

Huh she thought bitterly. No wonder no one likes you, Angie! You're mean, cruel and think only of yourself! Maybe the flash of pride that washed through her at that thought had something to do with that, too. Well. She shrugged and continued eating, occasionally slipping Chii some more meat. He was very still beneath the table, probably feeling a bit sorry for their dinner companion.

She looked up from the food that she was enjoying very much when the doors to the inn opened with a loud bang that was unnecessary. She felt the thud where she sat, and it wasn't a nice thud either.

"That's just great..." she murmured when she saw who it was that had disturbed the quiet.

The men looked formidable, and they clearly were not going to take no for an answer, no matter what the question may be. They looked slightly familiar, and she thought back to all the bandits she had encountered on the road here. Most had left her alone (with good reason, she had quite a reputation), but these looked like they didn't care one way or another what she did to them, so long as they got what they wanted. They had already blocked off all the exits and begun to take money from the cash register by the time she looked up from her meat and took notice of them.

A couple of them began walking the tables, demanding money and other valuables from everyone they encountered. She supposed other people might consider it lucky that there were few people in the inn that night. Well...until they started to go up the stairs. She rolled her eyes at that point. The things some people went to for money.

Look who's talking

Stupid mind. Stay out of this.

She looked up as one of the men came over to their table. She just looked up at him almost stupidly, and waited for him to make his demands. She had absolutely no intention of giving him whatever it was he wanted.

"We have another patron at our table" she commented, her voice cold, and took another bite of her food.

[iblisvoidwalker]

[OOC: Sorry for the wait]

The man that looked down at Irvine and Anqelique wore the same armor as the rest of the outfit though his stern and gruff features made him appear more stupid and controlled then anything, it was clear that this man was hired muscle and the one making a withdrawal was the ringleader. He extended his hand towards the two of them and with an equally gruff voice he uttered

"Alright, hand over everything thats worth anything, and I won't have to kill you or your girlfriend."

Irvine rolled his eyes at the man, trying to sound tough and making inaccurate assumptions, but at the same time he knew regardless of the enemy's nature this was a real life situation, these vandals here were quite capable of killing him without a thought of remorse, he couldn't gamble with his life when he had so many people expecting success from Irvine. Irvine was going to become a knight, that was all there was to it and if a knight was able to make his way through these vandals...then so would Irvine and so without much thought or reason Irvine took advantage of the fact that his hand was extended and shot his arm down to the vandals hip and drew his sword from its sheathe and then brought himself to his feet and shuffeled around the man until he was behind him and merely pointed the blade at his back He had never done anything like this before and he was trembling with anxiety and fear, he was not afraid for his life anymore he was just afraid of messing up what he had started, because now all Irvine would have to do was walk the man out of the Inn and report all of them to the guards.

The man held hostage merely held up his hands an amused look on his face as he turned to face Irvine and the other guards in the room began to draw their swords and draw closer

"You just made the stupidest mistake of your life kid..."

[Angelique]

She didn't really mind that he was robbing them. She didn't mind that he looked at her like a cowed woman who would do anything. What she did mind were his stupid assumptions and apparent lack of observation skills.

"Alright, hand over everything that's worth anything and I won't have to kill your girlfriend" he said, his voice menacing and gruff. He clearly expected absolutely no resistance, but his comment completely did it for her. She was pissed.

She rose to her feet slowly, and turned to him, ready to do whatever she had to to beat some sense into the nimwit. To her surprise, the boy had already moved...and she resisted the urge to smack herself in the forehead. He was now behind the brute with a sword pressed into his back. He was shaking, however, and his face looked slightly apprehensive. And, surprise, surprise, the other thugs around the Inn had drawn their swords, and were making their move towards the table. That was stupid!! she thought angrily, and looked around.

"You just made the stupidest mistake of your life, kid" the man chuckled, his hands up slightly in a mock of surrender. His stupid face only looked stupider while it was twisted with satisfaction and she threw up a little in her mouth just looking at him.

She let out a sigh. "I hate to seem like a downer here, kid, but Thuggy-Mug here is probably right" she commented, leaning back against the table with her arms crossed. Chii slithered out from under the table and wound his way around her body. She looked around at the thugs, counting them in her head. There were four others...that wasn't too bad. If they were as stupid as they looked, this should be no problem at all. "I don't think they're interesting in 'friendly negotiation'"

She stood up as one of the thugs got close to her, turned to him and said, "I don't suppose you'd be interested in buying anything? before she reached into her bag, pulled out a trinket, and threw it at him. It hit him on the chest and just stayed there. She murmured a quick incantation and stepped away from him, waiting for the illusion to kick in.

Three...two...

She was right on time. He stopped moving, looking around with a confused look on his face. She wasn't quite sure what he was seeing, but she was certain it wasn't reality.

She turned to the next one in line, not planning to use the same trick again. That would be a waste of material.

[iblisvoidwalker]

He looked over the mans shoulder to the girl further commenting on Irvine's sad and brash move. It seemed strategically sound when Irvine had thought of it but now as he was actually living it, he realized all he had done was paint a bullseye on his head. Irvine spoke up for the first time, tuning his attention back to the thug he had "hostage" and donning the only kind of bravery that would get him through such a tough situation

"There is no reason that anyone here should have to adhere to these vandals, The King and Queen may be dead but since when has such idiotic acts of violence been allowed? Its scum like you that I plan to exterminate...I'll beat all of you!"

As Irvine spoke he wondered if what he spoke was what he actually felt or what was merely the right way to think, his reasons to become a knight were selfish, but important, he wasn't out for the benefit of everyone and perhaps that was what inclined Irvine to continue the conflict even if it meant taking lives. Also as he spoke the men advanced towards him drawing their blades, he had lost sight of what Angelique was doing due to the man that was advancing towards where his back was turned.

It was now or never for Irvine as he kicked the man he had held hostage to fall face first on the table(though he would recover from the fall quickly) and swing his blade at the one coming from behind, the thug already having his blade drawn locked Irvine in a parry, the sensation that came from the locking of two blades, It made Irvine sure that combat was what Irvine was born to do, he threw a vicious left hook knocking the man against the wall. In rage the man bounced off the wall and went for Irvine, however through awkward positioning the man had ended up accidentally impaling himself on Irvine's blade and while both of them would fall to the ground, the thug on top of Irvine his blade was far embedded into the thugs torso causing him to bleed on Irvine profusely.

This was a new feeling altogether, the feeling of blood, the knowing that Irvine had taken a life, it was strange but he felt...good he felt, alive! He pushed the body off of himself, blood covering Irvine's torso and a wild look in his eye he pointed his blade at the one he had held hostage earlier, the thug should now know that Irvine was serious and that he was disarmed. The thug threw a punch upon seeing Irvine's hesitation and he stumbled back a few feet though keeping his footing a trickle of blood rolled down his mouth. And so began the life of combat for Irvine.

[Angelique]

The boy was forgotten by Angelique as she faced her now two opponents. As far as she could tell, he was handling the other two or three, so she just had to handle these ones. That should be easy enough. She wasn't exactly helpless, and she had learned how to defend herself after years of living on the edge of society.

Her leg flew out and spun around, but instead of kicking the man, she changed course at the last minute and kicked a bowl of what she hoped was hot soup at him. She laughed when it was, and the man before her howled as the liquid splashed across his face and eyes. She barely had time to think about that small victory, however, before another was upon her. She turned slightly and ducked down under the man's punch, but she found his knee coming towards her. She slithered abruptly to the side, but he still caught her side. She cried out, but while on the ground, she quickly swung both legs around with all her might and tripped him.

She stood up quickly and brought her foot down hard and harsh onto his neck. She thought she heard a crack, but she didn't make sure as she turned to deal with his companion.

Or she would have. If she hadn't stepped back into the boy at that moment. Apparently, he was stumbling back as she was, and they hit each other.

"Ow!" she complained loudly, as she felt herself falling sideways. Her head had smashed into his, and she found her vision blacking out slightly.

[iblisvoidwalker]

(Your free to start offing these NPCs as you see fit)

Everything was becoming a blur upon hitting his head against Angelique's head, but that wasn't just because of the impact of the hit, in fact a lot of it was the over-flowing of emotions and experiences that Irvine was going through. Before he had lived a docile life as a farmer-hand for his family but now here he was toe to toe with a gaggle of bandits, drawing blood for the first time and even being locked in combat, it was all something new to him and his innocent mind was having a hard time taking it all in.

However he had no time to reflect on such as the man that had dealt the first blow to Irvine wasted no time in taking advantage of the stunned Irvine and tackled him to the ground, in the confusion of it all and worked Irvine into a pin. It was at this time that the leader of the bunch turned around, from the front counter, holding a great bad of money, he bore a lazy expression over to Irvine's direction, his pale white skin and long, blackened hair gave him a kind of sinister appearance. His eyes slowly surveyed the situation, locking eye contact with Angelique and then to the dead bodies Irvine and Angelique had created.

"Restrain her."

The two guards around the apparent leader moved over to Angelique to quite literally restrain her there goal was to put her hands behind her back and keep her arms from moving. Then the leader moved over to Irvine

Release him..."

The thug Irvine had been fighting with rose to his feet releasing Irvine, while the leader took a few steps away from him keeping his back turned to him. The thugs seeing what was about to happen formed a kind of circle in the Inn where Irvine and the boss was closed in the center. Irvine rose to his feet shaking his head from the pain and wiping the blood away from his mouth, he barely had time to realize that the boss had thrown a sword and shield at Irvine, he fumbled to catch them and then looked to the boss questioningly to which he responded with a cold voice

My name is Iblis. I have defeated many a knight before, for merely getting in my way, and now you whom I have no quarrel with have killed one of my men. You think you can purge the world of scum like us? Then take up your blade and end me.

Iblis readied his single blade and Irvine put in a tricky spot merely brought up his weapons as well not sure what was going to come of this. Iblis only seemed to stand where he was, his ominous figure attempting to intimidate Irvine but Irvine would not be fooled and instead moved quickly forward and went for a low vertical slash, in which Iblis countered by thrusting the hilt of his blade down on Irvine's arm and then with his other hand threw Irvine to the ground, while laying prone he slashed a single slash on Irvine's back.

After the third strike...You die

Irvine quickly came up to his feet, amazed at what had happened to him and how quick it had happened. It was clear that Irvine would have to think carefully for this.

[Angelique]

(I think I'll start doing just that...in a little bit)

The boy was tackled by the thug he had been facing when their heads collided, knocking Angelique once more to the side in the process. She hissed angrily as the stupid men once again shoved her aside like a rag doll, and kicked the man (not the boy, she really couldn't risk hurting an ally) extremely hard in the head. She wished as much harm as she could to him, but barely had time to even consider giving a curse before she heard a voice.

The voice itself inspired nothing from her, just another man's voice in the world. What the big thug said, however, made her feel both fear and angry resentment. "Restrain her" She almost opened her mouth to retort before she felt the arms wrap themselves around her. She whipped her head around at the two men who held her, and they both blanched at her furious gaze. Her almost pitch-black eyes inspired fear in the bravest men. However, though their grips shook, they did not release her.

She stopped struggling with an exasperated sigh, wondering if these idiots still clung to the ridiculous notion that she and the boy meant anything to each other. She didn't even know his name, and, given the chance, she would leave him in her place to suffer without a second chance. She stopped, however, with the idea of watching how this played out. If things looked to go badly, she could escape with little trouble, but, right now, she wanted to see how this boy played things out. She had no faith in his ability to take out all of the thugs, but how he handled the leader could decide the tide of the battle when she entered it again.

"My name is Iblis. I have defeated many a knight before, for merely getting in my way, and now you whom I have no quarrel with have killed one of my men. You think you can purge the world of scum like us? Then take up your blade and end me" the thug said, and she found herself scoffing in spite of herself. Defeating "many a knight" was a claim she had heard many times before, and she hoped that the boy wasn't impressed or frightened by it. Whatever previous achievements your opponent had completed were irrelevant.

She had just blinked, and the boy was on the ground, bleeding from a cut on his back. She sighed. So the thug hadn't been lying.

She shrugged slightly and turned to the thugs that held her. She had a few tricks up her sleeve as to how to get rid of them, but she really wanted to see how the battle went out. And while they thought she was no longer a threat, she would bide her time.

[iblisvoidwalker]

Irvine rose to his feet his eyes wide open with fear. This man was not joking and it was clear that he would not even bat an eye to Irvine's death. He took up his blade and then pointed it at Iblis ready to fight, Iblis mimicking his motion locked blades with the boy and then the two of them struck out, Irvine swinging a little more cautiously then before but Iblis made hardly any effort to parry each of his blows until finally a loud "Clang" as the man had swung harder then before to knock Irvine back though it only knocked his arm in the air he was able to keep a grip of his sword and his own footing but that time was not wasted as he elbowed the boy in the gut and then set another gash across his back. This time Irvine not even waiting for them to start again swung at the man while he was still slightly bent over to which he brought up the blade to of course dodge. Slowly Irvine rose up from his first position and instead moved closer to him, the two of their blades locked and slightly twitched from the opposing pressure the two were placing on each others blade, a look of determination on Irvine's face and and a look of neutrality on Iblis, Irvine then went to deliver a great head butt to Iblis yet as his head zoomed forward at Iblis' he saw a slight smirk on his face which seemed strange to Irvine, and he could have sweared he felt a strange sensation in his brain when he did so, but he chalked that up to the heat of the moment and then with a swing of his sword cut Iblis' head clean off.

Blood spilling all over Irvine, it covered half of his body leaving the other half pure, he looked down at the corpse and the head, watching the blood flow, it was hard for his brain to register the carnage he was looking at, feeling almost mentally broken he looked to the other thugs in the bar who immediately let go of Angelique and left the bar at this point Irvine had also noticed that most of the common people had left long ago, probably up stairs or out of the room, leaving only the two of them inside of the building. He looked over to her and then uttered out quietly

"...Are you alright?"

[Angelique]

She was...surprised. That was the only word that came to Angelique's mind as she watched the little boy cut off the thug's head. Almost immediately, she was released, but the retreating footfalls of the would-be thieves didn't even register. She was focused entirely on the boy standing in front of her, shaking slightly, covered in blood. Her head tilted slightly to the side, and her eyes widened slightly. Shock paralyzed her for just a moment, and then she shook it off; she was used to surprises, and experience told her that it was bad to stay in one place for too long, no matter how safe you believed you were. She looked around the inn and chuckled darkly. They were the only people left. Everyone else had probably run long ago in the fight.

"Are you alright?"

Her head jerked toward him, and she narrowed her eyes. Looking at the look in his eyes, she shot back, "I don't think I'm the one you need to worry about, kid" A small, snake-like smile slid over her face. "You look like you just saw the ghost of your dead parents" She looked him and down. "And you're covered in blood"

She crossed her arms over her chest. Taking care of other people wasn't something she usually did (or even really considered), but this boy had just killed several people in the course of several minutes and, judging by the look on his face, he probably hadn't done that too much before. Looks can be deceiving she thought with a chuckle, but she still stepped forward.

[iblisvoidwalker]

The foreboding imagery could not be more evident in Irvine's appearance and it was this figure that roughly summarized the rest of Irvine's journey for as he stood there it was clear that only the left half of his face was covered in blood while there were only a few specs on the right half. A boy trapped on the thin line of neutrality would be shaped by the darkness and blood the world throw his way the first being the girl that stood before her. More and more Irvine could see the hatred in her heart, letting it flow out like an aura, she barely flinched at the sight of blood or the dead bodies. At the table Irvine hadn't really gotten the best look at her for to him all she appeared to be was a figure in more obvious attire then most sitting opposite to him, but now that he was awakened, he could only wonder as the girl took a step towards him if she really was some kind of witch like the people had whispered...or perhaps something far deeper...

He quickly rose his hand up to see the blood that was on it with his own eyes, not sure quite how to assess the situation he utters out quietly and quickly

"Right..."

He then reaches for a towel on top of the counter of the inn and began after wetting the towel begins to wipe his face clean but the stains on his clothes probably would not get out without a through washing and due to Irvine's current situation he only had the clothes on his back and a bit of money to support himself.

This reminds Irvine of Iblis' body and as he kneels down to it he pulls out the bag of coins he had stolen earlier, digging out the bit he spent on the place (as well as some extra cash for reparations) and then extends his arm to Angelique to offer her the rest of the coins, his expression stoic and slightly confused.