Still strolling through the shadows, part I

[Shin]

Shins smile faded, he had to remember that just because the creature was not human did not mean that it wasn't intelligent. It had caught him in his lie, or more accurately had poked holes in his half-truth. Shin cursed himself. Using a sword was so much more simple then words. For a moment he though about using the sword...he could always force it to lead him out. But to what purpose?

Shin had to make up his mind, he did want to talk to Sturm but he also wanted to leave. But if he left, where would he go? How would he get out of this weird place? Brenden had been his guide to get here, without a guide he would become lost out there.

The Azure Engima just walked away. He took a right at the 'T' and walked briskly towards the double doors at the end of the hallway. He would either find Sturm or Usurii or the exit. He was done wasting his time with the creature.

[Nayt]

((Whoops! Didn't know it was my post here. Sorry 'bout that. Also, short post is short.))

Shin would find no resistance in his departure of the facility, albeit the obvious difficulty in leaving the place--not for a collection of people, for which Shin would find a bare minimum, but the fact that the place was like a fucking maze. If there were going to be any complaints about the facility, it was not going to be the fact that the place looked like it was falling apart, and just generally too old to be a remotely sanitary environment. No, it was going to be the fact that it was structured in a clearly psychotic way, with signs in a language distinctly unreadable by any known civilization pointing in various directions, giving directions, and failing at doing so.

Eventually, though--perhaps after nearly an hour at this--he'd find his way out, and into the city eclipsed within permanent darkness, the City of Shadows . . .

[Shin]

Shins naturally sense of direction was non-existent, and when combined with the maze-like hallways of the facility he was in it proved near impossible for Shin to navigate his way out. It was only by sheer chance, and over an hour of speed walking that he made his way to the exit.

Once out into the darkness of the city Shin had to let his eyes adjust to the lack of light, a minute or two would pass before he moved at all. He remembered something Brenden had told him on their way here, his coat made him near invisible to the Shades. While not 100% confident in that, after all he had worn the coat before when attacked by them he did make sure every button was fastened tight and the zipper was pulled up and hood pulled down over his eyes, he even took the gloves out of one of the pockets and placed them on.

Truly looking the part of an enigma Shin made his way away from the complex, moving slowly at first, getting his footing and letting his senses become attuned with his surrounding.

[Zach Kaiser]

Normally, Isac Hazker wasn't a patient man. Waiting for anything was a pain he had difficulty enduring, at least quietly. If he wasn't occupied with something, he tended to get frustrated and ornery very quickly.

The hour since Usurii left him in front of the building was an exception, for once. Firstly, because he wasn't too fond of that building, nor of their "master." Not that he disliked him, either, he just...made him uncomfortable. He couldn't express just what it was, though more perceptive Ersatzshad might note there was something different about the way Sturm treated him, almost the opposite of the difference in the way Sturm treated Usurii.

Secondly, he had company, and his company never seemed to get particularly bored with his antics. Whether he was making objects out of ice or giving her piggyback rides, she was pretty easily entertained.

It just so happened that he had his back to the street, showing the young girl something, as Shin passed. As the former enigma only caught the briefest glimpse of him back in Meridian, his features--especially with his back turned--would likely be unfamiliar to him.

What would be familiar to Shin was the sword strapped to his back--even if he wasn't paying attention, Shin would be hard pressed not to notice it, as amidst the dull colors of the city and sky the brilliant gold of the sheathe and hilt practically shone.

Even more noticeably, it was not the first time Shin would eyes on the sword...though that was a fact he'd only recently become aware of.

[Shin]

He couldn't help it, normally one to pay keen attention to his surroundings Shin couldn't help but play over the recently remembered events of his life. The fight that took place... how he had been so easily dispatched of. Which of only course made him angry, and an angry Shin was not a good one.

His fist tightly clenched the Shiden Blade at his side, enough so the gloved hand was bone white. How could have he forgotten all of this? Even for parts of the fight he had wavered in and out of consciousness and he remembered flashes, bits and pieces of Zach Kaiser fighting. One of two people he considered his friend.

At first he thought it his imagination, but after a second glance it became apparent. The Aquasoul. But... that wasn't Zach, was it? No, it wasn't even human. So focused on the sword that Shin paid attention to nothing else. That sword could have only been gotten one of two ways. Stolen or off of a corpse. Either way, Shin was becoming madder. If that was possible.

Stopped in the middle of the street, the only light coming from the constant storm above and the light from the Aquasoul, Shin was caught between a rock and a hard place. He wanted nothing more then to put his sword through the mans spine take the sword and be on his way... but Zach would want something different and because of that Shin did not attack.

"You. That sword does not belong to you." Shin said loudly and clearly he did not advance but his voice suggested he was on the edge of exploding.

[Nayt]

Mimik heard a voice. It wasn't a pleasant voice. In fact, it wasn't a remotely pleasant voice at all! An all too familiar one, that voice! She had a habit of looking for the positive, and was easily amused--very easily amused, but there was a bit of a problem that the young girl had! She was skittish. If something or someone hurt her or caused her any discomfort, she was quick to be extremely weary of it, but gave anything a chance when first encountered--a very shade-like attribute. Shades, when harmed, became extremely cautious of what harmed them, but were as weary of a lion as they were a mouse. It'd walk right up and attempt to feed, 'less it were experienced enough to know the difference between the dangers of attacking a mouse versus attacking a lion.

The young girl poked her head out; she had been standing in front of Isac Hazker, a young girl looking no older than fourteen or so, if that, watching a spectacle he had to present to her. When she poked her head out from in front of Hazker to see what was behind him, Shin would see the familiar adolescent, the little girl with chin length black hair (slicked back, bangs and all, showing her forehead in an almost boyish fashion), almost obsidian skin color, scarlet eyes, and long ears pointed not up, but out--and horizontally out from her head.

As soon as she saw Shin Shiden, she remembered him and how much he scared her, and she instantly jumped, let out a squeak of fear, and hid in front of Isac. He was a big guy. A bigger guy. Not really a huge guy, but still bigger than she was! And bigger than Shin, too. He could protect her, if need be! And by the way Shin was talking, it seemed like that might even be the case. Mimi looked up with scarlet eyes, pleadingly, at Isac's face; she really didn't feel comfortable around Shin, and especially didn't want him hurting her. Again . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Isac was neither particularly bright or observant person usually, and this was no exception. He didn't pay much mind to Mimi's reaction to Shin, since he was clearly the one being addressed. That wasn't to say he wouldn't protect her if need be, but currently it seemed she was overlooked entirely.

Whirling around at the voice, Isac only just remembered to adjust his movement so as to not smack Mimi in the head with his sword as he did so. "The hell it doesn't!" he replied indignantly even as he turned.

It was only after that was out that he even became aware of who he was talking to, and even then if it wasn't for Shin's unusual hair color and distinctive cloak he probably wouldn't remember him at all.

"What the-" he remarked in surprise. "What're you doing here?" The last time he saw the man, he'd gone off to fight the pink lady in a surprisingly noble gesture considering he'd just finished--

And it was only then that Isac realized he might need to protect Mimi, and he made a note to keep himself between her and the newcomer, though she was doing a pretty good job of that by herself.

[Shin]

He ignored Mimi completely, he noted her presence, but he no longer cared about her. His mission had been one that ended in failure, and now that he no longer held ties with the organization, other then wearing the coat still.

"No. It doesn't." Shin stated flatly.

"The Aquasoul belongs to a friend of mine. And You are not him." Shin took a step forward, using his free hand to pull the cowl of his cloak back, revealing blueish-white hair that was pulled back into a pony tail. His hair, even his complexion had become more pale since the last time anyone say him, only his eyes stood out, a vibrant sky blue.

"How did you get it? Did you kill him?" Shin was shaking his head before he finished the sentence. "No..you are too weak. He wouldn't loose to a kid like you. You must have stole it."

Shin extended his left hand outward, palm up as if expecting the boy to hand it over. "Give it to me and I'll let you live... "

[Zach Kaiser]

"The Aquasoul?" Isac looked momentarily confused before realizing Shin was referring to the sword. "What, no I didn't steal it! At least...I don't think I did." Serious uncertainty crossed his face.

Unbeknown to just about everyone but Usurii and her master, Isac Hazker was missing his memories from anytime before around half a year ago. He wanted to say for sure that he didn't steal it, but truthfully for all he knew he did.

Even so...

"I've had this sword for as long as I can remember," he said truthfully, though that was probably far shorter than most people thought. "I can't just hand it over."

He regarded Shin uneasily...this man had fought that terrifyingly powerful girl and lived to tell about it. If he truly chose to attack him, could he stop it?

"Wait--are you sure it's the same sword? Who owned it before?"

[Shin]

This boy wasn't a warrior, that much was obvious to Shin. There was so much emotion displayed across the kids face that Shin could tell what he was thinking before he spoke. A warrior wouldn't be that easy to read. That would make it easier to take the sword.

"Well you must not have had it very long then. That sword belongs to Zach Kaiser. A personal friend of mine and one that will be happy to learn I retrieved it for him."

He raised his arm a little and beckoned the boy to toss the sword to him. There was a way Shin could think of taking the sword without even having to cross swords with the kid, surely Zach wouldn't have argued with that. Kaiser had always struck Shin as one that could appreciate a good illusion.

[Nayt]

Yes, Mimi was afraid of Shin. That was a given. He had hurt her, and prior to that, he had scared her. She didn't how how to feel around him before, and now could only feel intimidated and generally put off. This also meant that she could be lead into not liking him, much like she didn't like automobiles. They were frightening, could hurt her, and made noises that were louder than necessary, quite a pain to her ears! Since Mimi heard everything with a bit of amplification (likewise, she could smell, see, taste, and feel better than most--something she really didn't put much thought into, feel all that concerned with, or even notice at all), any sort of overly loud noise hurt her ears.

So, if Shin hurt her ears too much, he was going to be just like automobiles! Though, he seemed to be doing something else that was making her dislike him: picking on Isac. The two men went uninterrupted for a time, before Mimi again poked her head out, and finally stepped to the side a bit to stand by Isac, and hurl a rock at Shin. Not that it was going to do anything . . .

"You leave Isaaa~c alone!" she demanded with as much intensity as the young shade girl could--which wasn't much, and with her scrunched up expression and pursed lips, it may have been difficult to near impossible to take her seriously. One could, at the very least, deem it "cute," though.

She just didn't want someone picking on her friends! Or friend. Isac was her friend! As long as someone was kind to her, Mimi was going to be quick to call them a friend, and the more she saw friends get in trouble, the more she started to feel the urge to help them out of that trouble--if she could. She could at least try!

[Zach Kaiser]

"Zach Kaiser..." Isac's brow furrowed in concentration, trying to decide if the name meant anything to him. Unfortunately, he came up blank...he didn't recall anything, nor did he even feel an impression or any emotion attached to the name.

"Never heard-Mimi?!" He was interrupted by the young girl suddenly poking her head out and tossing a rock at the azure haired man, taking him by surprise. He couldn't blame her for not liking him, but it was the first time he'd seen her at all aggressive.

A bit nervously, he prepared himself for the reaction. If he were alone he'd have no problems with duking it out--he might even prefer it to trying to talk his way out. But with Mimi along, he didn't want to get into a fight if he could help it. Even if she wasn't involved, she might get hurt anyway, and Usurii would probably kill him if he put her in danger...

[Shin]

"Well, it's obvious you are not going to give it up." Shins hand snapped up at the moment catching the rock that would have struck him in the shoulder and without missing a beat he gently tossed it back to Mimi.

"There is only one other option I see." Letting out a deep breath he told himself it was the right thing to do. "I am going to have travel with you until I run into him again ... and then..." Shin laughed allowed as he thought of the spectacle. "...then you can convince him that it's not his."

Shin was sure Zach wasn't dead, a gut feeling told him that the man was alive out there somewhere. He was sure to run into him again, a man like that didn't stay quiet forever, his brash attitude and cavalier ways would bring him to the lime light eventually.

Shin gave Mimi a rather polite smile, bowing to her as was Cizokian custom. (Though he couldn't honestly remember the last time he followed a Cizok custom.) "Mimi-san, what happened to everyone we were traveling with after the Pink Enigma showed up?"

[Nayt]

Mimi couldn't really answer that question all that well. Truth be told, she didn't really know. All she knew was that Shin hurt her, and then she woke up at Usurii's with her and Isac, and then she stuck around the two of them and became their friends. That's all she could recall. Usurii told her that Christoph would likely be back for her, and had just taken a journey on his own--but nothing about Shin or Jonathan, and she hadn't been awake to meet anyone else. Then again, Shin wasn't there to meet the young Ersatzshad, Teos, either.

Shin did know what became of Jonathan Lank, though. A horrid fate, really. His mind had been essentially warped, destroyed. There was a small chance that it was temporary, but a great chance that it was permanent. If Mimi knew about that, she may well have been devastated!

Mimi liked Jonathan Lank a bit--he had started to grow on her in their travels. At first, he was a bit creepy, real scary and such. But after awhile, she started to appreciate him being around. If memory served her correctly, he had also refrained from talking about killing shades earlier, unlike Shin and Christoph, who had both been practically bragging about it, something which had greatly upset her.

"Mimi-ku . . . no know!" she shook her head, "Shide~n all BOOM! And Mimi-ku hoouf!"

It was a creative rendition of what happened. Mimi threw out her hand like a punch to talk about what Shin did, and then stumbled, herself, as a way of pretending to almost pass out, to suggest what happened to her. She stood up straight again shortly thereafter and looked up at Shin with a disapproving pout. He was going to have to do something super colorful and nice if he was going to get her to ever forgive him for that!

[Zach Kaiser]

Isac just stared as Mimi reenacted how she was knocked out. She was, perhaps, the only person in the world who could somehow make an assault on her person seem cute. It wasn't very informative, but it did manage to destroy all the tension in the air in one swift, decisive blow.

This was a very good thing, as Isac had been about to rather rudely reply that Mimi had no way of knowing what happened to them since a certain individual incapacitated her.

"Blondie...had some things to take care of..." he said instead, biting his lip and looking away from Mimi. Neither he nor Usurii mentioned what happened to him as Usurii seemed to think he was pretty much dead for sure. This left Isac with mixed feelings--on one hand, if that was the case, Mimi would surely be hurt. On the other, if he did show up Isac would be tempted to kill him himself for all he'd put Usurii through.

"And that demon guy just kind of vanished from under our noses."

His brain worked a bit slowly sometimes, and only now finally registered the other thing Shin said. "Wait, what do you mean you're coming with us?!" he exclaimed.