Luncheon and other things. (O)

[Blaze]

(Takes place in the afternoon of the day after An End and a Beginning.)

Blaze sat at a table in a diner with a newspaper opened up on the table. He also had a sweet and sour chicken dish that he could never pronounce. It really didn't matter much at the moment, as it was left half-eaten on the table. He couldn't bring himself to finish at the moment, he'd probably have it boxed up so he could take it home to finish later.

He stared intently at the paper while other people were going about their daily routine. He wasn't finding anything worth his time in the paper. It was all just similar stuff that he had read before, it was just done a bit differently. The fact remained was that he couldn't find a job anywhere in town. He'd probably have to move to a different town, which was an expense that would most likely wipe him out at the moment.

"Really Should have chosen a different career route... I'm was one of the best students in my class. Sure I've done some minor damage to the labs, but that happens to everyone right?" He mumbled to himself hoping that no one over heard him.

[Sakuya the White]

"The best in your class, eh?" the unearthly woman intoned with equal parts surprise and admiration in her voice. From her place - leaning over the dark-furred beastfolk from behind and getting a good look at the half eaten meal - she had to make an effort to hold back a lock of hair from falling on his shoulder, or letting the folds of her clothes do the same.

That brief moment of violating personal space was quickly replaced with distance as she leaned back and almost glided around to his left side. Fluid motion brought her graceful form quickly and quietly into a seat, joining his table without wasting time with simple pleasantries of 'Do you mind if I sit here?'

However, what she did say while folding her hands nobly in her lap was a genuinely inquisitive, "So what class would that be?"

[Blaze]

Blaze somehow managed to keep himself from jumping out of his seat when someone repeated part of his statement. He wasn’t exactly expecting anyone to actually hear him, much less take interest in his statement. He was slightly unnerved by the violation of his personal space, but he wasn’t going to complain. She wouldn’t have mentioned anything if she wasn’t interested in his statement.

He could take advantage of this if it meant either short or long employment. He straightened himself out as she sat down at his table without asking. It was kind of apparent that she didn’t waste time, and was probably the type that went straight to the point. Proved by her question.

“Technology... my degree is in technology. I’m partial to steam-punk technology, but I am capable of dealing with all kinds of technology.” He said with a certain pride in his words.

[Sakuya the White]

The fey creature acknowledged his words with the barest nod of her head and the slight dip of her eyelids. 

"Steam," she repeated, with unspoken thoughts behind her mostly unreadable features. Hands folded in her lap, she glanced towards the waitress closest in passing. From the back of the tray, a glass of water seemed to pause in midair before floating more rapidly in front of her. 

"Technology is rather important for the advancement of those less magically inclined," she said rather formally. 

A knife lifted itself into the air, and toyed with the lemon floating in her recently claimed glass, to spread the added taste around. 

"So if you're the best in your class," she repeated the words of his confession, before her tone shifted to one of more genuine curiosity, "What's the problem?"

[Blaze]

Blaze listened to the fey lady, as she got a glass of water and a lemon with what looked to be telekinesis. It was an interesting scene he had to admit, but he wasn’t sure what she was getting at. He fiddled with his left ear while he waited for the other shoe to drop.

Which was the question of what was the problem, a question that he grimaced mentally about. He really didn’t want to go there, but if he had to, he would. He took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

“The problem I’ve been told, is that I don’t focus well. I don’t organize well or appear to be absent minded. It causes problems of an explosive variety.” He sighed out.

While he didn’t give out the exact details of his explosive tendencies, he was sure that it’d come out sooner or later. He hoped that his statement about it would explain most of what happened during his inventive marvels. He was proud of his inventions, even more so when they didn’t go boom every other time. He was still awed by how big of an explosion he could create with simple technology. It was odd really, he was either proud or awed by his inventions.

“Problems isn’t what we’d technically call it... you tend to cause explosions roughly 50% of the time each time you invent or create something.” a random person stated in Blaze’s direction.

Blaze looked over and just sunk into his chair looked kind of defeated at that statement. He looked over at the Fey for any sort of reaction. There was no stopping this shoe from dropping, and he saw any job opportunity from this encounter going down the drain.

[Sakuya the White]

The fey sat with inscrutable grace, waiting patiently for him to speak and when not speaking, to stew in his own thoughts. You could learn a lot about a person, if you don't do anything at all. One hears the most when not talking after all, and learning was technically her purpose here.

"You tend to cause explosions roughly 50% of the time, each time you invent or create something," a passersby commented on what the canine obviously didn't want her to hear.

Case in point.

A cringing canine glanced at her, and tried to turn the skill on her instead. She raised the cup slowly to her mouth again, and took another drink. The water swirled around in her mouth, cooling liquid falling slowly down the back of her throat, carrying relief and nourishment with it - calmness and platitude like she was an island to herself in that small little diner.

Her eyes opened and a pair of blinks took slightly longer than they should have.

"Have you ever thought of another line of work?" she asked rather emotionlessly.

[Blaze]

Blaze still could help but feel like he was never going to get a job. The lady didn't seem to be fazed much by the statement of the person. There was hope after all because of it, even if it was very little. The question now was, how was he going to salvage this possible job offer. Things like this didn't occur very much for him anymore. Her question in response to the random person's statement wasn't as surprising as one would expect. It was a start to show his determination, and work ethic.

He straightened up, and thought about what he was going to say. There was so many things that one could state now, but he focused and started on speaking.

"Yes I have, and tried several avenues of work. All were negative, not really surprising to me at least. Hard to find work in many places when you have a doctorate degree in technology. I'm either not qualified or over qualified for pretty much all avenue's I've checked. The only real avenue I was considering was as a technology adviser, but I have my doubts about getting a job like that." He said softly.

He reached and got his cup of tea off the table. He swirled it around a bit before taking a sip of it. He enjoyed the orange and bitter flavors of the tea itself, which was an art form within itself.

"My only real reservation about being a technological adviser is that, as you probably noticed, I developed a bit of a bad reputation. It's something that haunted me all the way through college. It's a curse you see, from having some genetics that were different from the rest of my immediate family. Or so the tales around the area go, though I don't put much faith in tales like that." He said with a soft grin.

He put his tea cup down and poured himself some more hot water for tea. He hoped that he stated enough to be somewhat impressive. He doubted it though, as she probably heard the song and dance before from others. Still he held out hope that he earned a job or at the very least, a friend out of all this.

[Sakuya the White]

She noted the straightening of his back in silence, and pegged it for a physical gesture of sterning himself. A moment passed, and then a second, and she read further into the subtleties of his silence and his body language, to say nothing of the rest.

"Yes I have, and tried several avenues of work. All were negative, not really surprising to me at least. Hard to find work in many places when you have a doctorate degree in technology. I'm either not qualified or over qualified for pretty much all avenue's I've checked."

She put internal emphasis on "avenues I've checked," for herself. It said a lot about himself: an awareness of his limitations, his lack of knowledge, the realism - not the reality - of the situation, which is to say he recognized that there might be more gems in the mine, if only he knew where to look.

"The only real avenue I was considering was as a technology adviser, but I have my doubts about getting a job like that," he said softly, as the weight of his failures started to slip into his voice. She watched - though not overtly - as he drank from his own cup. Her technically stolen glass of water rose up to her own lips, and she drank along with him like there was an unspoken toast between them.

"My only real reservation," he continued as she herself stayed observant, "about being a technological adviser is that, as you probably noticed, I developed a bit of a bad reputation."

Sense of self and reservation kept the grinning twitch of her lips to as small a muscle movement as possible, and if one wasn't looking, it could have seemed like she hadn't actually moved at all. It wasn't like she had a bad reputation herself or anything.

"It's something that haunted me all the way through college. It's a curse you see, from having some genetics that were different from the rest of my immediate family. Or so the tales around the area go, though I don't put much faith in tales like that," he said with a slight grin that still managed to be far less reserved than the invisible twitch of her own lips prior.

If she was looking for a bait more tantalizing than 'my inventions explode,' "haunting," "genetics," and "tales" certainly peaked her curiosity up a bit.

"Well, that's certainly an interesting story," she said, letting the cat-like quality pick just a little into her voice. "Curses and tales have always interested me, of course. I'm something of a mage."

The slight nod and her subdued smile hid one of the largest understatements of the year, but it wasn't like he'd know that. If he hadn't recognized her yet, he wouldn't recognize her at all - a likelihood she was content with, and something that made this whole process much easier.

"I work freelance for the most part, and sometimes, just free - pro bono, as the need demands. The need demands often of course, so it's a good thing I get by with little. It's like being philanthropic with my gifts. Have you ever considered a career like that? Using your talents to help people? To fix things?"

[Blaze]

Blaze mentally watched the lady as she listened to him. It was nice and a little frightening that someone was spending time listening to him go on like this. It wasn't the fact that she was listening to him that bothered him so much. It was the fact that she seemed so interested in what he had to say. He knew next to nothing about her, or where she came from. That fact alone bothered him somewhat, not that he'd ever admit it to anyone ever.

Her interest in his story was confirmed by her first statement. She made it more clear by saying she was a mage. It made sense actually with her telekinetic display earlier.

"Mage? Mage as in magic using mage?" Blaze said softly. Stupid question yes, but something that just came out. He made his hand spark softly with lightning and quickly dismissed the spark as not to frighten people to badly.

It was the last thing he needed was to cause a panic in the area. It was bad enough causing accidental explosions, he didn't need to add in accidental discharge of magic to that list of things.

Her second statement kind of confused him slightly. He never really considered doing a career like that before. It wasn't so much that he couldn't do it, it just never occurred to him. He let the idea mull around a bit before giving his answer to her. No sense in ruining an offer like this.

"Truth be told... I've never considered that line of work before. I'd probably have sooner or later, given my job prospects." He said drinking some tea.

"You offering a job or something?" He asked looking up curiously.

[Sakuya the White]

"Me?" she replied in the most mild surprise. "I don't have any money to pay you with. I just said how I get by."

She drew the cup up to her lips again, and took another graceful sip. Her eyes closed as she felt the passage of cool water down her throat, and give the moment a chance to grow and stir as thoughts predetermined were brought into light.

"Although … I might be able to offer you an adventure," she said, her face quietly brightening. "There's a cavern outside of town. A group of goblins moved in last week. Normally, the movements of goblins wouldn't be such a concern, but the caverns are large. The police are concerned about a fortified, growing goblin population so close by, so they're hired a few mages such as myself to push them out now before they become a greater threat."

The noble fey leaned in, smiling brightly as much to herself as to him, as if this was the simplest task to undertake. She skipped right over the inherent danger of encountering goblins, with their traps, weapons, and even a few spells if they were to fight a goblin mage.

She skipped that, and simply asked, "What do you say to that?"

[Blaze]

Blaze simply stared at her after she offered him an adventure. This was potentially more then he had bargained for. From what he understood from the explanation of the adventure, there was potentially going to be fighting. Not that he couldn't fight, but he just wasn't good at it compared to others. He was simply better at inventions and things that required thinking rather physical force to do.

"This could be dangerous you know. Goblins if I recall correctly are usually not the most pleasant of people. As I will inform you now, I'm not much of a fighter. I can fight if I need to though, just not very well." he said drinking his tea.

Blaze thought about it, and it was a deep thought. He might as well accept the offer, it wasn't as if he was going to be getting any other employment. Doing one adventure wouldn't be that bad would it?

"Okay... I'll accept." He said with a nod.

[Sakuya the White]

"This could be dangerous you know," the failing scientist said aloud. "Goblins if I recall correctly are usually not the most pleasant of people."

The contemplative "Hmmm" of her mouth tried not to sound too much like he was stating the incredibly obvious. The ability to fight against princes and principalities with minor effort was no reason for her to be rude.

"If it wasn't dangerous, they wouldn't be looking for competent mages to assist," she eventually replied over the cup in her hands, sipping at it the moment she was done talking. 

"As I will inform you now, I'm not much of a fighter. I can fight if I need to though, just not very well," he said drinking his tea.

Silent bits of wisdom were held inside, too early to be shared at this important stage of her analysis without influencing the target; that the ability to fight was second to the will to fight, to stand up for what is right against those same powers. The ability could be trained, and had been trained, to so many people, time and again - by herself included. 

Yet the will to fight for those who can't? You can't teach that. You either want to or you don't. The sad fact of reality was that, while most people say they will, they back out the moment things get hard, or they fight for another reason instead. The rush of combat had lured more than one person into a life of crime fighting.

But it is "Courage" that is a necessary attribute in all knights. Of course, she didn't say that. She simply sipped the water, prolonging it's cool contents and the excuse it gave her to be there, drawing out more time to be there and watch, listen and learn.

"Okay... I'll accept," he said at last. 

One more hint of his potential was added to her mental scale. 

"Well, alright then," she said perkily, setting the cup down. She stood up gracefully, before reaching into the folds of her sleeves. One paper was pulled out, but the foreign symbol marked it as the wrong sheet. She pulled out two others, with the same result, before pulling out a flier. 

"Ah, here," she said, handing the paper over to the dark furred one. "You can use this. Show up at that address tonight, and be ready for conflict, if it comes to that. The officer should accept you easily enough."

[Blaze]

Blaze nodded as he agreed with the lady on the whole competent mages situation. Trained mages to him are one thing. Competent mages are a completely different breed of mage. A master mage was one to be feared, at least according to him. He heard what master mages could do and wasn't keen on finding out himself.

He waited a moment or two after accepting her offer of adventure. He simply watched her as she pulled out 3 or 4 papers. The first three of them didn't seem to be what she was looking for, as she put them away. She handed him a flier, with spoken instructions on what to do. It seemed easy enough, just show up at the address. He could prepare for conflict... though he didn't have much in the way of physical protection.

His lab coat and that could suffice in a pinch if required. He quickly disregarded taking his lab coat and that for battle. It was iffy at best that it'd protect him. He could whip up a few written protection spells on some of his normal coats and that. He would have some time to write down additional spells that could be of help. He had already a few written spells just for emergency purposes.

He looked up at her after thinking and reading the flier. He thought about it shortly and nodded swiftly.

"Don't worry. I'll be there. I'll be ready." He said trying to sound confident even though he was scared.

[Sakuya the White]

Silhouettes of gyrocopters, just visible against the evening sky, alternated betweening perching on and taking off from the roof like giant mechanical hawks on watch. The occasional bulkier shape of a police blimp could be seen gliding to a stop a few feet above the roof, lowering a ramp for engineers to descend and trundle carts of supplies back on board.

Their landing pad was a police station. It was small, all things considered - more broad than tall - but it still held the firm strength of image that so many other buildings were known for. While lights were on inside, there was no need to go to the front door. A pair of vans were waiting on the street in front, the back doors open and waiting.

More than half a dozen men and women were readying themselves, wearing the signature body armor of a special tactics unit. Their guns, large and deadly, were far from the normal fare used out on the streets to maintain peace. Rivetguns and rifles alike were an unfortunate necessity, when one was dealing with the unpredictable nature of monsters - even, or especially, with the more intelligent ones.

Three other individuals, however, looked far from the resident police force. A tall cougar of a beastfolk was wearing armor lined in runes and carrying a similarly enchanted sword, the blade equally as heavy as most of the living around. A short Fey, a gnome most likely, was leaning impatiently against the vehicle, snapping his fingers to make a bit of smoke disappear and reappear above his hand.

The last was a figure that Blaze should recognize well - the woman from the diner. Seemingly the same as before, she sat lazily on a tree branch connected to no tree at all. Gravity seemed to have forgotten she was supposed to be falling. She noticed the approaching figure before the rest.

"Ah. Here he is," she said, just loud enough to get the others' attentions without actually seeming like she was trying to do that.

[Blaze]

Blaze nervously walked towards the area where he was directed to go. He had spent most of the day enchanted stuff for his so called adventure. His coat bore runes of protection, it wouldn't protect him from very specific stuff, but it'd provide a general protection from most everything else. He had teleport scrolls with him that he had prepared earlier for emergencies. With the scrolls he had minor attack spells written on post-it stickers that he could easily activate. The minor attack spells were crude but he didn't have enough time to manage the bigger and more complex attack spells along with enchanting his coat.

He could see the building and the various machines going about their business. It just made it worse as it struck further how much trouble he could get himself into at the moment. He wasn't an adventurer darn it... he was an inventor of machines. Albeit a rather poor excuse for an inventor, but he was a inventor. This was something that he felt beyond his scope of experience, and was berating him for accepting such a thing.

As he got closer and could see the individuals around the area, he got more self conscious of himself. Everyone looked ready for battle with better spell protection and weapons. Not that he had been expecting to go into possible battle before. It just struck home how different his armor, if one could call it that, was from the others. His was hastily put together and had little appearance of cohesion.

It became more nerve whacking as everyone stared at him as he walked towards the lady from the diner. For the first time in a long time, he felt very small, and it wasn't a good feeling. Almost every instinct in him was screaming for him to just turn around and run the other way. He took a gulp and pulled himself together. He got himself into this, and by Jove he was going to get himself out alive if possible.

"Sorry if I kept everyone waiting. Preparations took a bit longer then I anticipated." He said trying to keep all the nervousness out of his voice.

[Sakuya the White]

The knight grunted in reply, eyes scouring the recent arrival for a moment before deciding he wasn't worth a second glance. The police paid him passable notice, but it was the fey he had met earlier who paid more attention to him now.

Standing up from her seat on the branch, she whirled it around behind her until it was sticking straight up and revealing itself not to be any old "branch" at all, but a staff - a magical staff, emblazoned with her own set of written magic, so much different than the runic style popularized in this country.

"Nothing to be sorry about then," she replied succinctly. "We weren't waiting for you. We're not scheduled to leave for another fifteen minutes. The captain will give us the go-ahead soon. I take it by your comments that you have readied yourself, in case things don't go according to plan?"

[Blaze]

Blaze sighed as the knight just grunted in reply to him. He was kind of use to such reception in areas where he wasn't welcome. He wasn't sure if the knight just didn't like him or something else. The police at least gave him more notice then the knight, it gave him a better feeling.

He watched as the lady from the diner turned the branch into the staff. It wasn't surprising, as with magic nothing was as it appeared to be. The written magic was different then his runic ones, but that didn't matter as much. Written magic was written magic, all that matter was intent and that. He used runes as his written magic basis as it was he was taught.

"I prepared as best as I could. The written magical spells I made may be crude but they'll do the job. It was the best I could do considering the defensive spells on my coat took longer then I expected." He replied to her question.

[Sakuya the White]

The knight scoffed in a way that was ever so much like a high school bully, and the shape of his features shared the same feeling as he looked down - literally and metaphorically - on the latest arrival.

"Today?" the armored figure latched on to the implication of his words. The enchanted metal that made up his clothes seemed just a little shinier in the night lights. He scoffed again. "You just made your defenses today?"

The Fey woman looked a little more intently over the coat herself, eyes glinting like the other's armor. Fresh magic wafted off of the recently enchanted cloth like a budding flower, in discernible contrast to the mored 'aged' enchantments that marked other mystic sources around.

"It seems that way," she commented neutrally.

The large cougar looked - almost glared - at the others around. "This is a joke, right? Some kind of magic camera show?"

"No," she replied immediately, still in the same gear. "Trust me. I'd know."

[Blaze]

Blaze turned to look at the Knight with an almost angry neutral look on his face. He had to remain calm and collected. If for the fact that he didn't want to end up in trouble for attacking or insulting someone outright. Though it didn't seem to stop the knight from insulting him or at least doing a backhanded statement. So what, his defenses were made today? They weren't defective or anything. They were based largely on his lab coat spells. They just needed to be altered for what he needed them for, which was, general protection.

"Yes I did make them today. They'll do the job properly. Besides, as i told the lovely lady earlier. I'm an inventor... not a fighter. I don't have those style of spells on hand at all times. I came because I wanted to help out. Besides I have other spells that don't require the written word to work. One simply doesn't put all of one's eggs into one basket and hope it doesn't fall." He said as calmly as possible dispite the insulted look on his face.

Blaze knew this conversation wasn't going to end well... heck he forsaw a lot of trouble between him and the knight. He took solace in the fact that his; horns, eyes, or his inventive problems for once weren't the subject of insults. It wasn't much solace though, he could deal. He handled people like the knight all the time. The trick was not to take the bait that they offered.

"Why would I be joking? Is it so hard to believe that one could make defenses so quickly? Granted that they are general protection spells, but they'll offer more protection then my enchanted lab coats." He said walking past the knight.

He hoped that they'd get underway soon. The sooner they got there, the sooner they'd get done. Then he could start looking for employment again. He was at very least thankful that the lady was on his side. He could always use allies to back him up like that.

[Sakuya the White]

The newcomer glared angrily at the knight. For his part, the knight was unfazed. The pair of Fey watched with quiet neutrality while another pair of eyes from the police looked from further away.

"Yes, I did make them today. They'll do the job properly," Blaze told him. That somehow only made the cougar knight scoff. "Besides, as I told the lovely lady earlier. I'm an inventor... not a fighter."

The largest beastfolk in the area shook his head with a dark laugh, as if he just heard something too stupid to laugh at more.

Off to the side, the woman gave a small start. "Did you hear that?" she whispered off to the gnome. "He called me a lovely lady."

The gnome looked at her out of the corner of his eye as if she'd just gone insane, and gave another snap of his fingers, to start up a levitating fire.

"I don't have those style of spells on hand at all times. I came because I wanted to help out," Blaze struggled to say calmly, yet clearly riled up and affected and only feeding more into the larger one's satisfaction. "Besides I have other spells that don't require the written word to work. One simply doesn't put all of one's eggs into one basket and hope it doesn't fall."

"Why would I be joking?" he continued. The more that Blaze continued to protest, the more the knight grinned, silently leaning over him like a doberman does a chihuahua. "Is it so hard to believe that one could make defenses so quickly? Granted that they are general protection spells, but they'll offer more protection then my enchanted lab coats."

The knight poked a thick, metal-covered finger at the lanky canine's chest.

"I'd offer you a shovel, but you're plenty good at digging your own grave, mutt," the knight told him. "Learn to stop talking. You're only making yourself look bad right now. You're an amateur. You're naive, and if we didn't think so before, everyone here knows it now after that little tirade. So congratulations. Instead of just thinking you're a no-experienced liability, now we all know you're a brat fresh of your mom's teat."

The gnome snapped the flame off. Looking away, he quietly inserted, "Better to be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and prove them right."

The woman remained silent and impassive, her face following first one to the other, then looking to the canine.

[Blaze]

Blaze did a mental face palm... he had already dug himself into a verbal grave from the looks of things. He'd stay and help though no matter what the knight said. To leave now would leave doubt of whether or not he could have helped out. He also wasn't going to give the knight the satisfaction of him getting riled up and leaving. To make matters worse, he now made himself look like a fool in front of everyone. He wouldn't admit it to anyone of course. It was one of those times that his mouth got ahead of his brain.

"Not naive... specialized. The naive would have come without preparation. I at least have some protection. No matter how crude the protection is... it's better then not having it. I'm also fully aware of the dangers. I can protect myself if need be. I didn't waste ten years of training my magic for magic tricks. I trained it so it could be useful for defense and other things." Blaze softly as possible while being able to be heard.

He hoped that would settle matters for now. He knew that it probably wouldn't, and the knight would find some thing to nit-pick about. The most useful thing now would be for the group to move on and get done with the whole affair. He didn't come here to be hassled about his magical defenses. He only hoped that his defenses held out throughout the whole thing. It'd just prove to the knight that he was naive about the whole thing.

He looked around at everyone in impatience. He couldn't figure out what the whole hold up. Other then the fact that he was going back and forth with the knight verbally.

[Sakuya the White]

"Not naive," Blaze tried to return softly. "Specialized."

The words were hardly out of his mouth before the massive cougar was grabbing the side of his head, "Oh Gods, is he still talking?"

He spoke loudly and abrasively, talking over and drowning out the smaller beastfolk who was being soft as possible. The knight turned on the dark dog again, physically leaning over him and this time, the hand didn't try to stab a finger into his chest - he pushed the armored fist hard toward Blaze's sternum.

"You don't know when to shut up, ant," he bit the air at him, then took another jab at his chest. "Just shut up and -"

A pair of hands quickly smacked the cougar upside the back of his hand, and tried to smack the back of Blaze's as well.

"You can all shut up and get out of here!" the bass vibrato crashed out both.

The cougar turned in hostile indignation, one hand already going up to his sword and a curse on his lips, before he noted the full insignia of the chief of police beside them. The uniformed human was hardly at tall, but his presence cowed the cougar instantantaneously.

"You're all idiots as far as I'm concerned and no one here is above being fired!" the chief of police stated loud enough for everyone to hear, mage and cops alike. "Now everyone, fall in line before I have to beat you into it. Load up! We leave in one!"

[Blaze]

Blaze was furious now but he tried to keep his temper in check. The cougar was not letting up on the whole thing. To add further insult to injury the cougar pushed his hand at his chest twice. Blaze was almost ready to give the cougar a good hard punch... he was just exhausted by the whole ordeal.

The cougar himself seemed to live, breathe, and eat arrogance for the amount that was literally pouring off of him. If anything he seemed like the type that'd take on the entire goblin army by himself. Though it'd be a likely way to injure one's self to do so.

His entire thought process was cut short but a whack to the back of his hand. He quickly looked around and saw who did it. A human...a uniformed one at that was standing there. The cougar looked like he was about to do something foolish before calming down instantly. Blaze never understood how humans could be so intimidating yet so fragile looking. In any event he was thankful for the human. He didn't want to think about what'd have happened if he didn't do anything.

Blaze lined up behind a random person, and not the cougar. He didn't want to walk behind him for the entire journey. They'd probably spend more energy fighting each other then marching to the goblins. That part was probably clear to everyone who witnessed the entire thing.

If anything the reprieve of the arguement and the march could give him some time to gather his thoughts and that. More importantly it'd give him time to think of what the goblins could be doing in those caverns. Those caverns weren't that important, at least the last time he heard about them. Though it'd been a long while since he heard any sort of important events about the caverns cept about the goblins. So appariently something was important or changed about the caverns to warrent a large goblin population moving in.

The main question about that was; What? Blaze didn't know, and if anyone else did. They weren't saying anything as far as he could hear.

[Sakuya the White]

The officers and the mages filed into the awaiting vans, with everyone eager to be off now that the chief of police had said his not-peace. The minute given to the crowd hadn't even passed before gears were being shifted and the steam engines set the vans into hurried motion.

The armored sides were windowless, and so prevented an outside view of the world on their journey. They were more than a few minutes on the streets of Greenwich, a chorus made by the sound of other cars racing on the road with them. The sounds died down as they reached the edge of town, and then passed it, following roads less traveled to get as close to the cavern entrance as possible.

The vans bounced more wildly as they went offroad, big wheels slowly grinding down grass and branches and rocks alike. And then the vehicles slowed to a stop, and the officers quietly began to unload.

The cave entrance was less than half a mile away, but they weren't about to get any closer just yet.

"Sakuya," the police chief said just loud enough for the Fey and several others to hear.

The woman gave a small 'step' towards him, but her leading foot slid along thin air, levitating her over to him at the speed of a brisk jog.

"Scan for any scouts and disable them," he ordered.

[Sakuya the White]

The fey woman gave him a quick "Affirmative," before she added in her own, "I'll need back up. The canine will do."

She nodded her head in Blaze's direction, and the chief just scoffed and waved.

"Do it," he said, clearly wanting to think on other things and not waste time. He was already marching off, when the woman returned to Blaze and motioned for the forest.

"We're going in ahead, to deal with any scouts. You're going to accompany me. Think you can do that?" she asked quickly, her eyes intensely looking over him for his response.

[Blaze]

Blaze sat patiently in the armored vehicles as they moved to where they needed to be. It was then did he realize that he didn't have his familiar with him. Then again he usually wasn't in situations which required him to need his familiar. This was one situation that he did need him. Blaze groaned internally and did a mental head desk.

"Stupid person... you didn't call your familiar when you knew you were going into a possibly dangerous situation? I hope you know what you are getting yourself into Blaze. Best alert that lady at the earliest convience and hope for the best." he thought to himself as he looked around at everyone.

The only thing that sucked about the vans was that there were no windows. He had to rely on the sounds that were coming from outside and the vibrations from the van itself. Once the vans started to slow down to a stop, he got ready for one of the most dangerous times of his life.

Once the vans stopped and everyone including him got out, everyone started getting orders on what to do. He received his orders to go with the fey lady to deal with any possible scouts. This was fine with him as it possibly didn't have the greatest risks involved.

"Yes i can handle that." He said with a nervous sigh. He needed to gather up whatever courage he had to state he made a mistake in forgetting to call his familiar.

"Just a note... I forgot to call my familiar so he could come and help. Before you say anything on that, please note that I normally don't get into situations like this. But I can handle myself without him, for one does not rely on brute strength alone. My magic and smarts should get me through this relatively unharmed." he said looking rather ashamed of the situation he was in.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not gonna back out of this now. I got myself into it, I can handle it." He said knowing that he possibly restated part of his statement. He got ready to move on or to be ordered back onto the van as a fool.

[Sakuya the White]

"Yes i can handle that," he replied, in a way that didn't make her fully believe it.

"I will take your word for it," she said with a slow nod, holding her staff more gently at her side. She started to take a few more steps forward - silent, graceful steps that connected to the woods without ever leaving trace of her passage - when she heard her backup speak again.

"Just a note... I forgot to call my familiar so he could come and help."

Her foot crumpled the grass. She gazed stoically upon him once more.

"Before you say anything on that, please note that I normally don't get into situations like this. But I can handle myself without him, for one does not rely on brute strength alone. My magic and smarts should get me through this relatively unharmed."

Her features remained quietly impassive, as she thought about what he said, and the way he said it. Philosophizing, to explain his actions - assuring himself as much as to assure her, that he'd be safe… The tinge of shame he was trying to cover up, for making such an inexperienced mistake…

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not gonna back out of this now. I got myself into it, I can handle it."

Her features just barely gave to an emotion. The lips tugged upwards by just a few degrees.

Then she turned back around, to keep going. She went deeper into the forest, branches and bushes bending out of their way in equal turn - the better to prevent anything breaking and giving away their position.

Her mind reached out, scanning for targets outwards through the darkness. The small beasts and birds nested out of the way, with a group of nocturnals going about their nightly routines. Among them, the greater minds of the goblins stood out like bonfires to candles.

She touched at the mind of the beastfolk beside her, to alert him telepathically.

There are three goblins scavenging ahead, two hundred feet, gathering mushrooms. We can not have them alerting the others. How would you deal with them?

[Blaze]

Blaze had been scared that she’d have sent him away to the bus after what he confessed to her. But his fears seemed underrated, as she didn’t seem to say anything about it. Though her posture said enough about what she seemed to think about it. He took it as being frustration at his failure, which it was to him.

Her posture also stated she was searching for something... or more precisely a group of people. Something he should be doing as well, only he didn’t have the necessary spells or abilities to do it effectively. But he made up for it with superior thinking, or what he thought was superior thinking. In truth it wasn’t really superior thinking. It was thinking that got him into trouble a lot of times. He simply thought to much or too fast. He often couldn’t keep up with what his brain brought up and it led him into trouble.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when she warned him about the goblins scavenging ahead. It wasn’t a surprise considering that, that’s what goblins did. Or at least, that’s what he heard most of them did. What shocked him was that she asked him what to do with them before they alerted others to their presence. It should have been a simple enough question to answer, but he simply couldn’t gather his thoughts together for a few minutes.

His brain was scrambling just to gather up information about the situation. It was clear to him and possibly her that he panicked a bit. A few breaths later and he got his brain into gear. For any inventor, thinking is a requirement of the profession. One must think about what one is doing about any given project. If one was levy to an inventor’s thinking process, one would find it to be very confusing. All possible routes and directions all vying for attention from the inventor.

Blaze’s brain was now no different then other inventor’s. He was trying to think of all the possible spells or actions that could incapacitate the goblins. Many of the routes simply lead to failures, others simply wouldn’t work effectively. It was boiling down to possibly 2 or 3 options... neither of which he was eager for.

The first one was using his lightning magic to produce enough of an electrical current to stun the goblins. But that could produce enough sound to alert others of the danger, and it required lots of energy to hit everyone at once.

The second was a written sleep spell that he had prepared for this possible occasion. But it required time to work and had to be cast within a certain range. Neither of which was possible to do without definitely alerting someone to what was going on. Thus option three was looking good.

Option three was the simplest and possibly most effective. It was what most people fell back on when all other options seemed to fail. Hit them hard and hit them fast. Don’t give them time to react to anything. Granted it had the highest risk of an alarm sounding, but it seemed to yield the best results to his mind. It was risky but the greatest risks yielded the best rewards.

He gave her the options, and hoped that his judgment on their options was good and sound. Currently one of the options had to be the right one. The first two could work given everything went in their favor. The last one definitely could work if they got in and got them before any alarms were sounded. He doubted it, nothing worked perfectly... at least not for him. Granted he was still in the ‘paranoid it’s going to blow up on me’ mentality.

Oh well... the dice were in the air now and there was no stopping them. It was all up to fortune and chance now to decide the outcome. Pity that he didn’t give more credit to the concepts of fortune and chance.

[Sakuya the White]

If it wasn't his first exposure to a real threat, it was one of the first - that she could tell, just from the way he reacted to the problem.

A lack of words, of course, is a response, too, but she waited to see how long it would take him to regroup and fashion a verbal answer to her question. His thoughts bounced back and forth through the ideas, checking off all the possibilities, good and bad, weighing their chances.

That was a good sign. The ability to think things through, to make accurate assumptions, and being able to weigh risks with rewards - all were important mental skills needed for their line of work. They were much more important than the ability to make a fancy suit of armor and being able to bench press a truck.

Those things, are much easier to train.

A sleep spell, she repeated in a passively analytical way. She knew other written magic users, capable of crafting a better sleep spell - ones without the weaknesses his possessed. Yet comparing him to them would have been an unfairness. Walking is an accomplishment for an infant - running, for an adult.

After all, she wasn't testing him on his skill. She was testing him on his potential. He still didn't need to know that just yet, but the ancient Fey was far from heartless.

Her free hand gently alighted on his shoulder, and she gave it an affectionate squeeze.

Be calm, she told him, and her very being radiated it into the air around them, as if nature itself was listening and went still. I asked, how you would deal with them, and you have told me. Yet you are not alone.

She raised her staff just a few inches, and stretched her mind out to the roaming goblins.

Almost at once, the three collapsed under the weight of her mind's magic.

They are down, she relayed to the Beastfolk, then turning to face him, gave him a soft smile. Remember this, inventor: it is not weakness to rely on others. It is wisdom. A strong house is built with many tools - not just one.

[Blaze]

Blaze was interested in the fact that she chose a sleep spell over the others. Not his sleep spell naturally with it's natural flaws with it being written so fast. If he had the time to think he could've made it better. Though he didn't have the time, it's the primary reason he probably wouldn't make a great fighter. He couldn't slow down to make his spells better. He just rushed through and tried to make as many general spells as he could. But that was just him, he preferred to have a bunch of generalized spells that weren't as effiecent but still got the job done.

He looked over at her as she spoke to him. It was interesting listening to her speak and that. He felt as though she was teaching stuff without people realizing it. Heck she probably was teaching or testing people without them knowing about it. He probably was included in the teaching/test thing. He didn't quite care at the moment... just that he'd probably done the same thing as she did.

Her statement about not being alone intrigued him and to an point saddened him slightly. He kind of felt like he was a lone in the world. Heck he was different even from his own immediate family. No one there had horns like he did. Thus he was alone there, even amongst his family. And despite people trying to avoid the subject he always knew they were looking at him differently then the others. His horns were the reason he gotten the name fiend and gentle fiend from. He had often asked his family why he had the horns, but they steadly refused to comment on it other then it was a mistake in the past. He eventually quit asking after hearing that answer.

He shook his head and cleared his mind and watched as she casted a mentally casted sleep spell on the goblins and putting them to sleep. It was an interesting display of magic in his mind. Simple and got the job down without any hassle. To bad his specialization lay in inventing, if he developed his magic more he could have made a living doing wonderful displays of magic somewhere. He snorted at that idea. It was a wimsical dream that probably would've shamed his family into hiding. Probably would've had trouble doing that as well considering his current troubles with inventing.

He kind of smirked at her last statement. He didn't know why it did but it did.

"Understood. My skills are always at service if need be." He replied softly nervous as though someone would hear them.

"What now? I'm assuming that there's more that we have to do other then standing around looking pretty." He asked and waited for a response. He had an inkling of what they needed to do. He just hated being caught off guard if he was wrong.