Parthevia Empire

[Bloodedge]

"I agree. We should be on our guard." As Fudo extricated himself from the cart as well, he looked back to check on the long-silent Bakura, whom he was surprised to see was... no longer in or near the cart. "Wait... Where's Bakura?" he asked of Yasmin, being unsure himself where the lad could have, or would have gone.

In the meantime, Bakura was inside the building, sneaking around various slaves and appointed guards until he reached a room in which he could not sneak around its only resident. "Meh. That's boring. This place doesn't have anything in it, and now I can't just get around you," he said. If there was one thing Bakura could not do, it was slip around someone who had their back against the wall. So, he stood at the other end of the room, knowing full well this woman in her chair was awake.

[Apollymi]

Yasmin looked back as well finding Bakura wasn't there, was not a great surprise to the young pink haired woman. Instead of being distraught about it she shrugged it off, stepping towards Nasira as she explained the likely actions of her Household Member. "Baki is prone to wandering about to find ways in and scope things out." Yasmin offered. "He's likely inside already..." she said of the white haired lad who had been her companion throughout her time as a slave. Even so, Yasmin didn't seem too worried about this, the likelihood of anything happening to the young man that he couldn't get out of was very low by her own approximation. A second after she spoke the Magi who'd been accompanying them finally stepped forward this time between the pair of them.

"Bakura hopped out the back a few moments after he was sure of Nasira's victory..." she mentioned heading towards the door of this place and pushing it open. After a second she paused in the doorway and frowned a little. Staring around the pair of them like there was something she hadn't seen before. Nasira herself was stepping forward seeming to be interested in why Bakura had run off ahead without anyone else. But as she stepped forward a bit more her vision seemed to become a bit blurry and a step she took next seemed a bit unsteady. It would be Samiya who reached out for the girl. "Now now... your Magoi Manipulation is very good, but that was a lot for a first go... patience." she said but even so her eyes travelled across the Metal Vessels of these two Kings and she was confused but would simply continue to watch until it became necessary for her to interfere.

Inside however, the redheaded woman with her back against the wall so to speak, opened a single eye towards the boy who had spoken to her. He was not exactly what she'd been expecting and with this in mind she didn't bother changing her position or moving from the spot she was sitting in. "You aren't the one who made Shaka have a fit... but why are you sneakin' around like that?" she said apparently content to do noting until this situation was fully explained.

[Bloodedge]

"I see. That's potentially very bad. We should find him before he gets into something." Fudo walked forward with the others. He didn't fail to realize how Samiya was looking between Yasmin and himself, but it wasn't until after Nasira's little hiccup and the Magi's explanation of her Magoi expenditure that he addressed it. "Is something the matter, Samiya?"

"Oh, y'know. Just checkin' the place out. Shaka's that skinny guy outside, yeah?" Bakura asked. It was his intention initially to survey the building to give the others a path of least resistance to go by, but through a couple of windows on his way through the building, he had seen Nasira's fight and been motivated to take this challenge himself. "If you're with that guy, I gotta fight ya'. Nothin' personal. Just gotta do it 'cause you guys don't wanna free the slaves ya' got here."

[Apollymi]

"I wouldn't worry too much about that. Baki is more than capable of taking care of himself." Yasmin said of Bakura. Though he wasn't formally trained in anything, that young man was a street urchin with a good heart. He was beyond used to surviving all on his own, and beyond this was quite wise beyond what was normal. Even if he found himself at a physical disadvantage, she trusted him not to let anything bad happen to himself. Still, as she approached and saw the near falling of Nasira she nodded at the explanation given by Samiya about why this occurred. She supposed that was something she should keep in mind as well, though she hadn't felt the least bit fatigued by the use of her own vessel, she supposed that was among the things which were different for each person.

Samiya's wandering gaze it seemed didn't go unnoticed at least by Fudo. The Magi was still unsure of the circumstances unfolding before but she wasn't one not to answer the question. "The Rukh around you two behave strangely... they are trying to communicate something... but I am not sure what it is yet..." she said seemingly space out, only to snap back a second later. "It's nothing to worry about though... run along... seeing whatever Bakura is up to ahead will likely be good for all of you." she said a smile appearing on her face. This woman was very enegmatic at the moment but none could argue the urgency of moving forward. Having regained her footing Nasira stepped forward. "Thank you... I'm fine now." she said continuing on inside.

Meanwhile, the girl with her back to the wall and her head leaned back spoke again. This time opening her eye to have a look at the boy. Her attitude didn't change, if anything she simply chuckled her voice carrying the slightest bit of arrogance and dismay. "Oh, well... I am not at all with him. In fact I am only here because Kaarim wanted to chat with his sister, but didn't want to leave this place just to that skinny guy." she said seemingly having no problem revealing this information. "I can't say I care either way about the slaves, but they aren't by business so... I can't do anything about them." she said seeming to have absolutely no care in the world. "Still you can't fight me. You and your little friends should scurry on off back to the gutters and take your victory over Shaka as something to be proud of." she murmured. The chain around her neck began to move along with a pendulum located at its center which looked like a cat's eye. When it did, it showed the same eight sided star other metal vessels appeared to have, but instead of doing anything massive the metal of the chain seemed to extend outward rapidly aiming only to knock this boy clean out of the room without any effort to move from her spot.

[Bloodedge]

"Is that so? Well, I trust you'll let us know if they communicate anything strange," Fudo said with a chuckle. Without further ado, he continued moving onward, deeper into the building in search of Bakura.

Meanwhile, Bakura stood before the red-haired woman without a care in the world for her apparent lackadaisical attitude toward his challenge. Her aim was to knock him out of the room they inhabited with her Household Vessel, a chain which had the power to increase its length greatly, but Bakura was quick enough on his feet to easily maneuver around the item while closing the distance between himself and the woman. En route to her chair, he drew a knife from his waistline, holding it in a reverse grip while aiming to bring it up to this woman's throat. "Sorry, love. Never been big on taking pride in somebody else's work. I gotta do something to earn my keep, y'know?"

[Apollymi]

"Mm-hm." said the magi who apparently was still more than a bit distracted by the Rukh which seemed to be doing crazy things around the pair of them in a mix of the Fire Element and the Wind one. Still they were moving right along and with that in mind Yasmin, Nasira and Samiya all entered this place and began looking around for wherever Bakura had scuttled off to.

Inside... Bakura had artfully dodged this initial assault and that was worthy of praise, but as he came in close aiming to put the knife he carried to this woman's neck it would find itself meeting the metal which belonged to her vessel the chain around her neck. And because of this boy's proximity this woman's eye would open as metal met metal in a chiming sound. "Ah..." she said. She wasn't particularly smart or anything but if this boy felt he had something to prove to his friends, obviously she had to show him the error of this line of thought. "What a drag." she mentioned the power of this chain was being manipulated by the girl as she finally placed her hand against the metal causing it to shift and open leaving a whip in her hand while the res of it shifted with that cat eyed gem floating in the air at the end of it. "I don't care about what you earn... I just want you to go away." she said flicking her wrist in a way that would cause power to leave the chain whip through the part where it met the boy's blade as her chair fell onto all fours and she let go of her relaxed position seeming to get a bit serious. "I suppose since there's no one else. I have to do something about this." she said most arrogantly as the free end of the whip trailed around and appeared to try and encircle the young ashen haired boy only to have the chain links begin disappearing as the woman's magoi forced the chain to shrink.

[Bloodedge]

Bakura's blade was halted before it could reach its destination, and by none other than the very same chain that had so recently been used to attack him. Moreover, this chain seemed to be all over the place in no time at all, so his eyes were darting about as this woman spoke. "That's not a good attitude to have about it," was his response to her lethargic decision to combat him. Bakura could see that the shifting of her chain was moving toward it shrinking again, but there was one thing he believed he would be able to do while pressing against the chain between his blade and her neck. A rotation of his own body allowed him to slip his knife's blade into one of the chain links closer to the end of the chain. 'I hope this works,' the boy thought while continuing his movements, coming full circle to also jam his blade into a link closer to this woman's neck, connecting two opposite points of the chain by it. In doing this, he hoped to halt both the growth and shrinkage of the Household Vessel she wielded. He would then hop back a few paces, taking hold of his own Household Vessel. 'Well, I got no knife now. You in there, Paimon? I dunno how this thing's supposed to work.'

[Apollymi]

The woman seemed to scoff just a little. She still didn't want to do anything, and more over this boy's maneuver which had temporarily put a stop to the growing and shrinking of her chain whip was an annoyance the likes of which she'd never faced before. "Fuckin' brat, couldn't just leave me alone." she said sounding supremely angry and causing a surge of power in the chains which began to steadily shake the links aiming to force the knife from between the links. All while, this boy apparently questioned his vessel with no idea how to use it properly.

Strangely enough a small light appeared and a Rukh did as well, answering this young man's mental question with an explanation. Something that Paimon likely would have desired as well, as she was rather free with herself in how she spread herself about. 'I am not Paimon, but a familiar of hers. The piece of her power... that she gave to you... so that you can help the one she chose.' mentioned the kindly spirit which seemed to understand exactly what this boy would need to be able to properly use his household vessel. 'You can call upon my power in the same way the others do, you simply have to use your Magoi to do it. And feel deeply within yourself that it's what you wish.' said the kindly thing as it settled once more into the ring. It would be after this, that the knife fully dislodged from the chains and the enraged woman who began moving forward as the chain was shrinking again.

As this climax of a moment was reached Yasmin, Samiya and Nasira reached the entry way and stopped observing what was going on here. They'd seen Bakura jam his knife between the chain links and then his subsequent moment of silence where he simply looked at the Ring which was his household vessel. They wondered where this would go with the woman closing in on them, still, Yasmin had faith in her friend and knew him to be capable of getting out of tricky situations.

[Bloodedge]

Bakura was astounded by the presence of this familiar, but it gave him more of an understanding as to how Household Vessels operated compared to Metal Vessels. His power was a direct extension of Paimon's, drawn from this entity. With a grin upon his face, he spoke aloud: "I get it." With that, he released his hold on the item. A deep exhale followed as he thought about that which he wanted to accomplish, and with the little knowledge he'd gained about Magoi manipulation, he found himself able to focus his energy on the pendant. It began to tremble as the star at its center glowed bright. A very small torrent of wind blew from the center of the ring, and the five points positioned around it disconnected to be carried by the wind. As the redhead approached him, the five darts, as they seemed, were virtually hovering around his person. "Oh... That's cool." With that said, Bakura pointed his right hand forward, willing the wind to fire the two darts to his immediate right at this woman. One was aimed at her left shoulder, and the other at her left thigh.

[Apollymi]

This redheaded woman seemed to be enraged but even she gave a bit of pause to the fact that this young man didn't seem to know what to do with his household vessel. With this in mind a huge grin spread across her face. "Well, this just got easier." and with that said she saw the little darts created by the boy's manipulation but thought nothing of it. She willed the growth of her chains and sent them out towards the boy once more, but was a bit surprised when this pairing of darts he shot forth found themselves wedged within her skin. Her eyes widened drastically as she ignored the pain of this situation and caused the chains to rapidly and forcefully grow aiming to toss the pendulum end against the boy's chest and knock the rest of his little projectiles away in the process.

Yasmin watched and she was quite happy with Bakura's developments. And though she saw the attack meant to both stop and maim the boy she still had the utmost faith in his abilities. 'That isn't going to work.' she thought absently a small smile appearing on the pink haired girl's face.