For the unknown

[Rinka]

Passing time here with fun rp with people unapproved because of a certain silly member who likes to roleplay. Not to name any names! *cough* me *cough*
Won't count in the real WoC, so hoping this is alright!

[kazen]

Kazen strolls through a burning town, obviously bored, staring at the night sky. Unlike the rest of the village, he is completely unharmed by the dark, almost black flames.

"Man, I was hoping for something more fun then that, oh well, guess I'll just find another village tomorrow."

As he nears the entrance he sees a half charred, but still living, man trying to crawl out of the town.

He sighs, "Just die already, you're used up."

Creates a dark fireball in his hand and flings it casually at the man, burning what's left of him to nothing but ashes and strolls out of the village entrance.

[Rinka]

In need of supplies outside of Darkridge, Rinka was headed out to another town to get what she needed for a more powerful curse spell to lay upon someone that had trampled over her precious garden. It didn't take her long to realize that she was either a bit late to find what she needed, or right on time.

Wandering out of the woods into the fiery town, she was quick to take first pick of anything at all she could scavenge up. Hopefully there were still some things left unburnt in the rubble.

Pillaging a recently burnt down town may not be very moral of her, but her supplies were running low and who was she to pass up on some free ingredients. Though the smell was hideous, she still searched, only looking up when a strong scent of recently burnt flesh came to her delicate nose.

Looking up, Rin was too late to see the thrown fireball, but just in time to see a 'survivor' of the wreckage. Curious as any cat, she made an approach to try and find out what exactly had happened here. "You be okay standin' there?"

[kazen]

Turns quickly, not only to see a jaguar woman standing behind him, but she's actually talking to him. He starts and jumps back a little before calming back down.

"Whoa, I didn't expect anyone to have survived that is as good of a shape as you"

Looks around at the burnt buildings then back at her.

"Actually........you're in too good of a condition. Did you come late?"

Seems slightly disappointed as he talks.

[Rinka]

Rinka doesn't seem too surprised by this man's own shock at seeing her at first, knowing her race's rare nature and dislike of civilization.

Raising an eyebrow at the disappointment lining the the edge of his voice, she questions, "Yes.. I came to trade in this town but found myself pillaging the remains instead. I take it you're the one responsible for this then since you didn't expect survivors?"

Obviously this man seemed quite dangerous and not someone she wanted to get on the bad side of. Unless of course she wanted a flaming coat.. which she didn't..

[kazen]

Kazen is slightly surprised she figured it out so quickly then just chuckles and shrugs.

"I may be responsible, what are you going to do, call the guards?"

Glances around at the charred town yet again and at the pile of ashes next to his feet.

"I think they're all dead at this point, and the nearest town isn't for a couple miles, what do you plan to do?"

Smirks and creates a dark red rune under her feet, trying to keep her attention on him as he casts the spell.

[Rinka]

Ever quick to react to her animal instincts, Rin stays calm as she casually strolls around behind him in a half-circle, away from the sensed magic. "Oh no, I wouldn't try to call them even if there were guards left to call. I wouldn't want anyone around to try chasing me down for thieving."

Flicking her tail, she stops on the opposite side of where the rune had been, looking the stranger over whether he turned to follow her movement or not to try assessing how strong and fast he might be physically.

"You wouldn't happen to want to call the guards on my, would you?"

[kazen]

Glances over his shoulder and chuckles.

"I see you saw through my little trick....."

Looks down and sees the faint outline of one of the runes he used to start the original fire about where she is standing, sensing it still has a little power left in it.

"Sadly, you aren't as smart as you think you are."

Smirks and activates both runes, creating a wall of flames with the one he just made to cut off her escapes and using the remaining power in the one that she just walked onto to send a wave of flames at her.

[Rinka]

Narrowing her eyes at the first comment, Rinka noticed this man seemed just as perceptive as she was. Her reply about seeing his 'little trick' took on an off-handed note, "Well.. perhaps it were little, but one ne'er knows. Gotta stay cautious."

Against the second comment, Rin didn't particularly think herself 'smart'. She was well aware of the many things she had yet to learn about many things. Also, those that thought themselves smart, usually thought they were smarter than they actually were- and that led to a bad choice in opponents and possibly death. Maybe she wasn't smart, but she wasn't downright stupid.

Either way, his words didn't stand right with her, fur standing up at the smirk. It wasn't long before she felt magic under her yet again and took a hasty leap back, but what followed looked to be a large wall of flame.

Rather than try outrunning this fire, at the risk of his magic far-reaching and possibly burning down any surrounding forest, Rin instead covered her arms over her face and closed her eyes to jump through it instead. Perhaps it would mean a collision with the hostile stranger if he was taken too much by surprised, but she would rather risk that than having the forests catch fire.

[kazen]

Kazen watches the cat-woman's surprise as the flames erupt around her and sighs to himself, having hoped she'd last longer then that. He turns to walk away when he it smashed into by something large. He attempts to look at what smashed into him to see that the cat-woman had somehow survived his spell and had managed to escape the flames, mostly unharmed. Kazen chuckles and manages to land on his feet and jump away from the cat-woman and turns to face her again.

"Well, it seems you'll be more entertaining then this used up place."

He creates two fireballs in his hands and launches them at her, and waits to see what she does next, casting a light barrier on himself, enough to stop a blade or small spell.

He thinks to himself, "Never hurts to be prepared for anything."

[Rinka]

Shaking off embers that clung to her singed fur, Rinka was not a very happy kitty. She took great pride in the short pelt like most girls do for their hair, having it get burnt and take on a bad scent made this trip bad, no matter how many ingredients she managed to stock up on.

"Why ya be fightin' for no reason!?"

Keeping her own footing easily, Rin zigzagged one direction then another to avoid the balls of fire less they burn her even more. During the second leap, however, she tumbled and rolled from a sharp pain in her side. The wound she received from being chased by the undead army had yet to fully heal; She only hoped it wouldn't open back up as she returned to her feet.

Unfortunately she hadn't come prepared for a fight, the only things on her being two daggers and a pouch at her waist to carry the supplies she had came for. Melee combat wasn't her expertise, but for the moment at least, it would have to do as she took them in hand. Slashing an X where she stood, Rin held her blade to the ground as she swiped it over the ashes, charging the man to attempt an attack, unaware of his own spell.

[kazen]

Kazen watches her casually, if nothing else impressed she could dodge his fireballs so easily. Seeing her draw daggers, he congratulates himself for being prepared, and just stands still as she strikes, putting a little more energy and another layer to his shield and lets it absorb the strikes.

He chuckles at her comment about fighting for no reason. "No reason? Who said anything about that?"

He watches her daggers strike the shield then quickly strikes her in the stomach with a strong kick to knock her back.

"I fight to keep myself from being bored, and I must say, you are one of the most entertaining creatures I've ever met, kitty"

Kazen smirks and holds out his hand, casting a spell creating a black cloud that slowly expands, knowing time is the key to a good spell and creating his favorite sword, a black katana in it's sheathe. As the spell finishes, he grasps the sheathe and holds it at his side and grabs the handle with his free hand, ready to strike when she tries anything.

[Rinka]

Cursing under her breath as she was knocked back, a small spot of blood started to dot the side of her fur at the hard kick to her stomach. 'So much for keeping that closed' She thought. But why hadn't any of the assaults with her dagger made it through?? It was bad enough this guy seemed to wield fire, but protection spells as well? ...Either way, she didn't feel like entertaining for long.

Rather than take the time to watch him start casting another spell, Rinka plunged one of her blades into the ashes and sliced up, making her own black cloud as a sort of veil. Continuing this through his spell she hoped the few yards of coverage would give her enough of a cover for his accuracy to be hindered while she made more precise strikes into the ground with her second blade.

If only it was dark.. She shouldn't need a make-shift cover in the dark where she at least had the advantage of her night vision. Shaking her head, Rin kept up the slashes at the ground, needing the time he didn't strike at her for as long as possible while she concentrated on some way to get out alive.

[kazen]

Surprised by the sudden dust cloud, Kazen takes a few steps back to reevaluate the situation. But seeing as it was just a cloud of ashes he sighs and gets ready to cast his next spell. Just then, he picks up a scent he didn't get to smell often as his enemies were usually charred before they could let him strike like this. Blood. He stops what he's doing and focuses on remaining calm, worried that his inner demon may take control despite his years spent learning to control it. After he feels himself calm down some, he casts a spell not to create fire, but a burst of heat, creating an updraft he hoped would clear the ashes around the cat-woman.

Seeing his efforts only partially effective, he grabs his sword again and draws, doing a quick horizontal slash as he coated his newly created blade in fire. This wouldn't be great for the sword, but he only needed it for a second. As he slashed, he used the sword's extra power to cause the flames to launch from the blade in a wave of dark fire straight at where he hoped the cat-woman was.

[Rinka]

Time. That had been all she was after, and just what she had gotten. Something had stopped the man for awhile longer once he back peddled from the cloud of ash and dust. Whatever it had been, she thanked her goddess for the delay, it gave her just enough time to finish what she had started on that first attack. Where she had made a straight slash through the ground in what appeared to have been an attack.

The cloud that hid her true intent with all the movement and hiding though, was fading despite her efforts to keep dust in the air as she worked. After the updraft she felt a second burst of heat and another powerful source of magic coming toward her. He was on the attack again. She had to act fast. Raising her own daggers, Rin jumped back out of her cover cloud to dodge the slightly-off flames, but earning a nasty burn on her foot- unable to get away completely. Bringing one of the daggers back down she didn't aim at her opponent, but instead plunged it into her side since the wound was already open.

Letting out a vicious hiss at the pain of her burnt foot and wounded side, Rin quickly took out the blade and through it into the cloud of dust.

The clouds swirled, power seeming to leak out of the dust as it soon revealed a summoning circle in the ground. The slashes she had made inside crude in her haste, but effective. The blood-stained dagger an offering and plea for it to accept her invitation into battle. It was a gamble to reply on another creature to come to her aid, but she needed something powerful fast to take on this foe.

At first the circle simply hummed with power as the thing seemed to debate whether or not to come, but in the next second a beast was lured out of the circle. Its claws dug deep into the ground as it pulled itself up, jaws parting to let out a mighty roar as its scaly head was next to appear, sharp teeth gleaming for more blood, wings pressed in tight soon unfurled, nearly twice its body length and last a long tail with spikes at the end of its tail. It wasn't as large as most its civilized kin -perhaps only 600 years of age- but Rin had asked for a Fire dragon, and she would take the fierce, if young beast that took pity and came to her aid.

Magic drained from the beast devouring it coming through, Rin collapsed on her knees to the ground, conscious, but weak.

[kazen]

Kazen jumps back further, startled by the strange roar from the cloud, only to see a fire dragon rise from the ground.  Though this one seemed small, he knew he needed to be careful about this, for a dragon was nothing to mess around with.

Kazen mutters to himself "Can't this cat do anything for herself? Now I might actually break a sweat."

Kazen extinguishes the flame on his sword and sheathes it as he prepares to face this new foe, knowing his flames won't be of much use anyways and having to think this through more then usual. Charging at high speed, hoping to defeat this foe with speed and not have to worry about it overpowering him, he attempts to get into the dragon's blind spot to strike, only to be faced with the tail. Managing to avoid it, he slashes out at the dragon, slashing it's side dozens of times only to find it ineffective against the beast's natural armor. Having to rethink his strategy, he retreats behind a charred building, hoping to buy some time to constraint, knowing that though he hates this ability, it is the quickest, and likely the only for the moment, path to victory against this thing.

[Rinka]

Rinka watched the Dragon twist and turn as it's hide deflected any slash from a blade, catching her breath as they fight, neither seeming to take any damage; The dragons defense being too high, but the stranger too fast for a powerful blow of claw, teeth, or tail to hit. While they fought, Rin dug through her bag to produce a few charred herbs to push against her wound. She may have managed to call the beast, but she still had to get away and recover, she just wasn't upfront combat material, she was more atuned to support or subtle assassination.

Standing up carefully, Rin limped over to take up another dagger and started carving another circle in the ground, trusting her dragon to keep the man busy until she was finished.

[kazen]

Kazen concentrates, gathering his energy and trying to remain calm through this technique, because he knew if he didn't remain in control of it he'd quickly more then destroy most things within at least a mile. Hearing the dragon roaring and feeling the heat of it's flame, he knew there wasn't much time. Gathering as much power as he could, he reached inward to what he liked to think of as his "other self," waking it and dragging out to the surface, struggling to remain in control as he transformed into his demon form. Screaming as his body was transformed, not really a scream but more like a mix between a loud roar and a wail, he gasped for breath, already tired from stupidly trying to fight off a dragon with just some conjured sword.

Turning to the wall, he could see a faint aura of the dragon through it with the abilities this new form gave him, he gathered energy between the horns on his head, but instead of fire, he fired a beam of pure energy at the beast. The beam easily obliterated the wall and sent the dragon flying back a few yards, ignoring it's natural armor and badly hurting the beast. Seeing the dragon not quite dead and getting up to charge him again, he again held out his hand and conjured a sword, but this time he created a special sword he only could in demon form, a pure black katana with demonic enchantments embuned to it.

Standing calmly as the dragon charged him, Kazen swings his sword, easily piercing the dragon's scales and almost completely decapitating the poor beast and steps to the side as it's momentum carries it past him.

Looking around, Kazen quickly locates the cat-woman that he assumed summoned the beast while the ash cloud was there. Emitting another wail-roar of frustration, clearly not happy with her, he charges her as he sees her trying to cast a second spell.

[Rinka]

Panting, Rinka did her best to keep her shaking hand still. These runes needed to elegant, and precise if it was to take none of her magic to activate. The runes glowed faintly, taking in the magic around them rather than from her.

Looking up sharply at the sound of a loud crash, Rin was down-hearted when her mighty beast fell. Shaking her head, she focused on her task at hand, but it was quite hard when the Dragon didn't seem to be dead. She had looked over just in time to see the decapitation and thought she might be sick. Dragons were ancient, powerful beasts, they were beautiful and to see one slaughtered so mercilessly... it was simply horrible.

It was just when Rin had finished the spell that the man was charging her. She had to get out of the way just as the portal back to the forests of Darkridge was opened, rolling back out of the charger's way while he went toward what had been meant as her escape.

[kazen]

Seeing the portal open, Kazen knew his quarry would soon escape. Knowing this, he increased his speed as much as he could, in an attempt to intercept her from entering the portal.

Uttering another roar, he yelled after her, in a voice that sounded somewhat like his but had another mixed with it, like two people talking. "That portal won't save you!"

Gathering energy in his hand, he launches a large fireball at the portal, not sure whether this will stop the portal or just go through to the other side. Either way, he'd be happy with the results.

[Rinka]

Rinka gasped when she saw the gathering of flame in the man's hand. Taking up her last dagger, she threw it at the ground where the runes that made up the portal continued to glow under it. She barely managed to break the binds that made up the portal before the fireball made its way through to burn down the forest.

"You idiot! Do you seek the wrath of the goddess!? You think she would let you burn down her woods without retaliation??" Rinka may despise this man for trying to attack her and basically take her life for his own entertainment, but she wasn't going to let him throw his life away by incuring a god's anger. Although, she had to admit, for the most part it was so that she didn't lose yet another home to fire.

Now... with her only way of escape cut off by her own doing, Rinka was at the man's mercy in her weakened state, just managing to gather the strength to face her death standing.

[kazen]

Kazen is surprised that she cut off her escape, and even more surprised at her reaction to the fireball. He comes to a stop roughly a yard from his foe and realizes that she was either trying to save him from some forest goddess, or prevent him from destroying what was on the other side. Either say, he lets out a chuckle, his new strange voice echoing with it.

"You'd cut off your own escape to save what was on the other side of that portal? You truly are an idiot, if you open a portal to somewhere to escape death, don't open it somewhere you value, cat."

Kazen raises his sword and charges, swinging it and creating a fire wall on either side of her, then reaching out with his other hand and grabbing her by the throat and pinning her against a nearby tree.

"I believe this is the end, cat. I'll make you a deal, since you've given me more entertainment in this fight then I've had in the last ten years, I'll let you live as my pet, what do you say, little kitty?"

Kazen laughs, both at his taunt and the fact that he know she's likely to decline, and raises his sword to her neck and prepares for her inevitable "no" so he may kill her quickly and leave.

[Rinka]

If he was trying to impress her with the walls of fire on either of her sides, he didn't. She didn't have the strength to dodge whatever attack he had used, and the blocking of her escape was just a waste of magic. If anything she was disappointed in him for trying to show off, or his inability to tell that she was too weak to do anything but stand.

"I be valueing all the places holding life, I wouldda stopped ya no matta where I tried ta go." Even if she had a desert to go to, there was life even there to destroy.

Once the man had mentioned that this would be the end, Rin could have sworn that she would have been strangled right there, her throat crushed. That wasn't what happened though...

"A pet ya be sayin'?" Raising a curious eyebrow, she seemed to think this over for awhile before continuing her words, "A'right then. Long as ya be knowin' that it be dangerous ownin' a big cat" Rin was not some house cat to keep locked inside, but if a few days of playing house was what it took to keep her life, that seemed a small price. Eventually she would be able to escape back to her home.

By a string of curses or other means...

[kazen]

Though his expression can't change in his demon form, Kazen is surprised by her answer and loosens his grip for a second before tightening it again.

"You value other life other then your own?"

Kazen chuckles and tosses her on the ground behind him then turns to face her.

"So, you really think you can- gah!"

His sword fades into a black cloud and he takes a step back, grunting in pain as he transforms back into his mortal form.

Kazen looks at his hands for a second and thinks to himself, "Dang it, why now of all times?"

He sighs and looks back at the cat-woman who just agreed to be his pet.  "Don't think just because I lost my demon form for now, you can defeat me, cat."

He half walks half stumbles over to where she had created her portal and resurrects the rune on the ground, changing the destination of the portal and begins using what was left of his energy to create one back to his home outside Darkridge, which was little enough since he was completely drained from maintaining his demon form. Glancing back to make sure the cat-woman's still there, but still focusing on creating the portal, he thinks of something he may need if she was staying with him.

"So, cat, you have a name or what?"

[Rinka]

It was about time that Rinka had the opportunity to smirk. Apparently the man's powerful form drained a great deal out of him just as her summoning's drained her. While she didn't fully understand this, if he went on these rampages often to keep himself entertained there would likely be another time where he would use this form and be weaker from the drainage. She'd still be strong though, and have the energy to get away.

Giving him a sly look to say she could tell he was weaker, but didn't bother to attack or get away just yet, knowing she was as well. "Oh, 'course not. I would no be darin'~" she purred, thoroughly enjoying the fact that he actually thought her enough of a threat to let her know she couldn't defeat him still.

Watching the man stumble over to her portal was quite the show, but she soon had to follow, walking over unevenly herself. She watched over his handy work, scrutinizing it; a man's hand always seemed to be less elegant than a woman's. "Indeed, I do, but ya may just be callin' me Rin. An what 'bout ya? Or I just be callin' ya Shir?"

[kazen]

Glances over his shoulder at her "Sure, just call me that."

Finishes the portal and by then his strength is finally returning, and he's able to walk normally again. "Alright, once we get back I'll show you where to stay, understood?"

Kazen checks over the portal and rune to make sure everything is right so nothing goes wrong during the travel.

[Rinka]

Leaning over carefully, Rinka straightened out his lines, making the curves just right to her own expectations. It may have been good enough to get them to the proper place, but he was using her portal, it needed to be perfect if anyone was to come across it in this rubble. She had a reputation to uphold.

Rolling her eyes, Rin wanting an actual name to put to this man, "A'right shir weakness" He never did say sir what.

[kazen]

Kazen snaps his fingers and torches the tip of her tail. "Learn some respect or that will only be worse." He also knows she adjusted the rune but lets her get away with it more out of laziness then anything. He stands and opens the portal motioning for her to go first with a slight smirk. "Ladies first."

[Rinka]

Hisses as he burns some of her tail, quickly patting it out. She looked into the portal caustiously, but didn't think it was too far from her home since he didn't change the runes much. "I know some respect. I only be showin' it to those who deserve it."

With that she turned and stepped into the portal to see where her temporary home would be.

[kazen]

Kazen follows her through the portal, and they exit in the middle of Darkridge, out of sight of anyone but near the town center. He closes the portal behind them and destroys any trace it was there before looking around then turning to Rin.

"Stay close and keep up."

He walks down the street toward the gate, all the while glancing behind him to make sure that Rin was following. As they walk he decided he should try to get to know her some if she's going to be staying with him. "So, Rin, was it, do you live nearby?"