Far From The Sun (Ana)

[Apos]

Spring 513 AV, Day 22- Midnight

After Apos was given his room number at the Hostel, instead of going up to sight some landmarks along the way, he'd wandered into town and came back. With the events of today combined with his tiredness, they conspired to distract Apos enough to make him forget which room was his. He blinked and rubbed his index and thumb on his forehead in frustration. Somewhat remembering his assigned room he walked down a corridor as he ignored passing residents and stopped in front of what he thought was his room.

Apos eased the door open, and only took one step in before looking around as he did so. This room was obviously occupied by someone and to make the situation more awkward there was a woman in the there. The room itself was dimly lit, the only source of light coming from a few well placed candles. Apos returned his vision to the woman with her back facing him, sitting down. Apos could see a slender hand dragging a writing utensil across a piece of paper on the desk in front of her. The motions of her hand were fluid, and with well-acknowledge purpose. Apos stood still as he took another moment to glance about the room, this time noticing a few papers and an open book on the desk she was utilizing with unfamiliar symbols on the contents of its pages. Apos blinked hard.

For all he knew, he was in a room with a crazy witch whom hid herself away in the hostel in hopes of avoiding judgmental citizens and Nyka's Monks. But that couldn't be true, she looked clean to Apos. Her short light-golden hair wasn't dirty despite its attractive messiness, and her clothing was clean-yet, whilst his studying her, he couldn't help but notice that there was something oddly familiar about her hair.

Apos' pink lips curled in slight confusion as he narrowed his eyes as if it'd give him better vision in the gloomy room. If she hadn't noticed he'd entered the room already, she most definitely would if he moved. Keeping this in mind put Apos in an uncomfortable position as he had to both keep the door open and fight the urge to get a better view of whom she was. With seeing Ximal earlier that day, it wouldn't be an entirely too far-fetched idea to think that the slender woman in this room couldn't be in the same party.

Apos thought of a way to announce himself without alarming her, but figured he couldn't predict a person's reaction in a situation like this so he instead opted to saying her name, hoping that she'd either stay calm at hearing her name or remember Apos' voice. His voice stayed the same since he left the spires, but his attire changed entirely. Instead of wearing t-shirts, and pants, he instead preferred to wear a pair of dark robes with a hood attached, as well as a pair of leather wrist guards and brown leather boots. Apos reached up with his right hand and dragged the hood from over his head, before positioning his cyan eyes to come within view of Ana if she turned around.

"Ana?"

[Ana Sol Starris]

"Ugh, cold.. Will never get over this.." Ana muttered as she held up a severed arm to the light of the candles, holding it by the elbow with one hand, and then by the wrist with the other. Despite the limb being long since disarmed from its owner, it still worked and moved about much like how a lever did. Moving the hand back and forth, Ana layed it on the desk and then began to push backwards on the hand, feeling a strain in its wrist joint, the firmness of the skin, and the resistance it still put up against being bent in unnatural ways. Letting the hand go, Ana held her arm up to the light and slowly began to do the same thing as she had to the dead arm. Getting much of the same reaction, except the harder she pushed, the more a pain seeped in and finally told her to stop. Rolling the wrist around, trying to rub the sting away. Thats the limit to the wrist.. She thought as she felt between the link of her forearm and hand, could feel the bone underneath and to her palm inside her hand too, but she could only speculate they were flesh and more muscle. Pulling her open journal close to her, and dipping the quill into an ink-well, she began to scratch down her observations. Adding small drawings of the arm and hand, pathetic, as they most definitely were, down onto the paper next to her words. How far the wrist could go backwards, and where the end of bone went. It made her wonder what else was underneath her skin that held her bones together, she glanced at the arm with curious eyes. Why practice on herself when she had a dead arm in her posession? Ana had been waiting awhile to try that, but she didn't want to destroy it right away. For how long now did she continue to tell herself that? Since the 8th, and it was the 22nd of the season now. She would have to disect the arm sooner than later, but she still felt squeemish about doing it. Well... Can't do everything in one night, now can I? Ugh.. How long has it been since the sun set? Wrapping the arm back up and putting it underneath her bed as she would think to herself, straightening and returning to her seat at the desk. Earlier in the day she had made a few runs to aquire extra paper, more candles, and a dagger seperate for taking apart the arm itself when she would finally get to doing so. Ana tried to look out the closed window for any sign of the night retreating but alas it was not, unfortuantly for her, sighing and reopening the journal which had shut itself, she stayed on the same page. In hopes of summarizing her thoughts about the link between the arm and hand, she jotted notes down. Speculations, and hypothesis' about what she could possibly morph out of the hand. If she could do it in a split tick of a notice with 'glyphing' a type of magic she had seen Shroud use to force out a transformation on her skin. That night seemed so long ago, she barely remembered how he had shown her, it was such an eery feeling to begin with. The transformation had involved a quill, some ink, and patterns, drawings, but could it be any type of drawing? Much like how making a fake alphabet worked, or something? She jotted down a few things in hopes of coming closer to figuring out how the magic worked, if she could replicate it somehow... Perhaps on the dead arm. It was of living flesh, or had been- at least. Did magic work on dead things? She remembered the red patches of hair earlier in the season, they had all faded away by now, but the hair she had saved back in the Winter was still the same color it had been morphed into. Tapping the feather bit of the quill against her lips, she decided that perhaps random symbols would work best, trying to think hard back to the time of that night. Letting her head lean back a bit, snapping her fingers once or twice in hopes of jarring the memory back into her mind. What had Shroud said? She saw his lips moving, how he had taken the time to draw each flowing line into her flesh, and then the... Snap... Ana opened her eyes as she looked at her arm in a slow coming realization. Snaps. Glyphs had been set off like snaps, and the djed had been the ignition to set off the snap in morphing. Furiously scribbling those thoughts down, she then went on to trying to make the glyphs themselves. Remembering acutely how the ink had dissapeared on her skin when the djed had been set off in the drawings, she decided perhaps using one of the spare sheets of paper she bought earlier today would work well with this. In case she botched something up unexpectedly. Could paper be morphed? Ana pursed her lips in thought, it wasn't as if the paper was living.. but neither was the arm under her bed. But the paper had to have come from living substances, plants? Ana felt she had to investigate on what created paper later on, but it wouldn't hurt to test it out now. Pulling one of the sheets out from the back of her journal, she placed a spare unlit candle on top of the journal to keep it open, and then dipped the quill into the ink. Pictures to her were abstract, 2-dimensional, such as plain circles, triangles or sqaures, there was nothing fancy about her drawings at all. They were plain simple. At first she started with one drawing, a triangle, taking care to make it as straight as she could, she then set the quill down to let the 'picture' dry. Once it had she placed a thumb on it, breathing in, and then out to stir the djed inside like a hungry lion hiding within a cave just waiting for a lamb to stumble in to its bloody death. It could have possibly taken her chimes, but she felt it inside, and she gave it direction..Slowly.. Trying to force its way to the 'picture' that she wanted the picture to morph into, lets say, a white flower, but she wasn't sure on what she was suppose to be feeling.. Or expecting, so when she took her thumb away and snapped her fingers- nothing happened. Huffing at this, she drew two more symbols and did the same thing, getting the exact same result- nothing. What the petch was she suppose to be doing? She had the pictures drawn, had the djed summoned, even though it was slowly creeping back into its cave sad that its backbone was spineless in terms of intelligence. "This is insane" Ana muttered angerly at herself, drawing one last picture, and attempting again, trying to cram it into that stupid little picture on the paper and found her djed snapped at her for being so impatient and careless. Sharp pain emanated from itself inside the finger tips, giving her reason to gasp, and stop what she was doing- holding her hand in the briefest of pains before it sulked its way back to normalcy. As if saying 'don't you dare try to go any farther, you stupid idgit of a mage girl'- that could have been Ana's imagination though.. Grumbling as she heard something shift behind her, ears pulling back at the sound as her heartbeat stopped dead in her chest. Her hand was slow but it found the handle of her dagger to her side, pulling it out of the sheathe slowly as her body would go tense with the unexpected drop in. "Ana?" It was a voice, one that froze her muscles, despite the bubbling rage, and fear she felt simmer hotly underneath the surface. She recognized the voice, but it had been too long to put a face to it, had hardly conversed with the person, and so figured him to be an enemy. A very well informed enemy of her person, she slowly turned her head, craning it to see who it was but making sure the dagger was out of sight as she did so. The thief stared at him, finding her chest being rammed against by her heart, and that she had been holding her breath. Releasing it slowly, she tryed to place who it was, until finally she met those glowy cyan eyes. Apos. Former member of the Crimson Edge, before it had formally disbanded back in Spires, a member that had dissapeared... "Apos" Ana hissed out, quick to get up, turning the chair by a leg and moving to hide her journal, and writing supplies as carefully as she could. "The petch are you here for?" She questioned him harshly, feeling cornered, he had been with them in the old gang back in Sunberth, a place notorious for its dislike over mages. The dagger remained in her hand as she advanced towards him, confidently striding as normally as she could, she stopped but possibly a yard or two away from him. Looking down at the dagger and then back up at him, sheathing it with a glare, disgust riddled eyes at being caught. "You. Outside, now." She waved a hand at him to get out of the room before grabbing her cloak. Like a mouse, she skittered out the door, being mindful of the screech in the hinges and shutting it quietly, she followed Apos down the stairs and out into the streets. Doubling her pace to keep up with him, and pass him to lead him away from the Hostel as briskly as she could, she had to shut him up about what he just saw. When they were sufficiently far away enough, Ana doubled back on to him, bristling with her anger, and definitely not the timid thief he may have known before anymore "tell me what you saw, NOW." She wasn't scared of him due to the fact they had been apart of a gang 'family', she didn't think he would attack her, perhaps she should have been more blatantly visibly afraid of her actions but she was pissed beyond rhyme or reason. Journal Page : ooco_o Oh dear me.. I'm so sorry Apos.. T_T SO SORRY.. Didn't realize it had become this long.. Merp! Also- Expences: 4sm Paper (sheets) x5 = 20sm or 2gm 1cm Candles x5 = 5cm Dagger x1 = 2gm Total Spent = 4gm 5cm

[Apos]

This wasn't the Ana he remembered. He could smell flesh, albeit old, and and she was a lot more...mysterious then the last time he'd seen her. Ana and Apos didn't have a close relationship whilst their running around with the Crimson Edge in Sunberth, or even a relationship at all. His lack of knowledge regarding her made him feel uneasy as he is a man whom would usually only converse with people who knew him long enough to know his real name, and with that came more intricate details of his past. But regardless of the details, Ana knew him, and he knew her- if only by affiliation.

Apos found himself opening his mouth more often, sense he ran into Ximal outside the city, but he would be sure to keep a filter on it and keep quiet when he needed to. Spreading too much information about his person in this city would get him killed, and with no one inside to help keep his name clear or give him safe haven somewhere besides the Hostel he found it safest to venture at night. There were fewer monks, and fewer civilians.

Apos noticed the alarm in her voice, or was it disgust? Despite them knowing each other, he'd still entered her room without warning and without invitation. He looked down at the dagger she fisted in her hand and then then back up to her. Apos thought the dagger to be of more personal use to what she was doing before he entered, moreso than to threaten him with it. He accepted the circumstances of the situation and waited to make sure Ana was finished speaking before answering her first question.

"Honestly sister, I was just passing through."

Apos still referred to his old comrades by brother and sister, though the soft lining of his accent made it sound more accepting than the usual, more formal manner of actually calling someone his sibling. When Ana told Apos to go outside, he back into the hall and watched as she slowly pulled the door closed. His eyes narrowed, upon observing how she did it. Children of the Night are all similar in some way,the Myrian mused to himself, because he closed every door he exited in the same fashion she did.

Apos turned and moved down the hall, kicking trash out of his path as he made his way back down the stairs. There were a few more people in the lobby this time than before Apos went to Ana's room but he didn't recognize any faces, so he ignored the glares of the travelers who'd caught him looking about and gently pushed the unwary out of his and Ana's path as his brown leather boots stepped out of the door and into the streets. He looked back to see Ana double her pace and continued his stride until the Hostel was far enough behind the two before looking back at the building and decided that no one followed them out.

Ana passed him on the street and led them further away, brooking no argument from Apos. The more distance he put between himself and the Hostel the better. Apos reached behind his neck and grabbed the beaked hood attached to his dark grey robes and pulled it over his head. The eyes of strangers annoyed him beyond words, and he trusted very few people. He'd had information about his true identity passed to a monk already, but luckily that was right before he'd ditched his former persona and adopted his current one.

"tell me what you saw, NOW."

Apos furrowed his brows, then rested the muscles of his face as he tried to reassure her that her secrecy was still in fact her own secret. Apos truly only saw a book, to which he didn't see the cover and a few pieces of paper despite him being unable to recognize the drawings on them. He smelled flesh but decided that if she wanted to divulge in the purpose of possessing it he would let her, otherwise it was something else he didn't see, which in a sense is true. The Myrian respected privacy, knowing that there was little to none in the close quarters of the Hostel so he remained calm, attempting to counter her alertness with a more halcyon tone.

"I didn't recognize anything I saw," He said, his facing failing to give away any emotion. "Moreso even if I did, I'm not exactly interested in brokering my friend's secrets and hobbies." Despite their lack of interactions he didn't take offense to her blunt anger. Would Apos have been in the same position his demeanor would have shattered, and his shouting would have awakened every tenet in his hall. Apos could help but wonder though...

"What exactly were you doing?"

[Ana Sol Starris]

Ana seemed to relax at his response, so he had seen nothing nor recognized anything that he did see, though to be honest Ana had been working on a limb concerning the magic. Later she would have to try again, but for now she would enjoy her former comrades company if only for a little while. Waving a hand at his question, she stepped further into the shadows and wrapped the dark cloak around her tighter. "I was experimenting to figure out what I had seen, and how it worked, I did not mean to snap at you for it.. Sunberth habit.. But whats even more amazing is that you're here. Where the petch had you gone?" Ana asked under a hushed whisper, leaning against the wall, looking up at him confusedly. "I suppose you don't know whether or not the Edge is done.. You would have learned if you had stayed in the Spires with us, but the gang itself is no more.. Our people in Sunberth were either slaughtered, or enslaved.." In Ana's eyes, she was the last remaining member, or one who wanted to rekindle the flames under a new name, but she would not do it alone. She would not mention how Wrenmae was the one sending her letters, nor would she mention how she had sworn loyalty to him, and him alone. Ana would keep that secret, as well as the magic, and she would dilute the truth as much as she could. "I was the only member that had stayed in the Spires, didn't die, or hadn't forsaked the group to lead a normal life, Zandelia dissapeared, and came back after awhile.. But I do not believe she considers herself as an Edge leader any more." She would let that sink in. "You remember Ximal? The meandering oaf that posed threat to the group seasons prior, hes no longer a threat and instead has become an ally for all of us.." For Ana, he had, maybe not so much for anyone else bar her and Zandelia. She would not mention the slight fall out between herself, and the other two many days beforehand. It was harsh, Ana felt the emotional strain still. "Anyone else.. I do not know of.." She knew of Wrenmae, but again, she wouldn't mention him, knowing too well that people disliked him. Pausing for a moment to collect her thoughts, she rubbed her eyes with a shaky hand. The last time she had slept.. Gods, she wished she could sleep. It would make telling all this so much easier, sighing quietly, she looked out to the street "we should move around a bit.. I swear the shadows crawl at night.. C'mon, I'm pretty sure we don't want to be caught out past the curfew." With that she began to slowly move alongside the wall towards the other street. Using the shadows of the building to aid in her stealth, light feet over cobble, was exceedingly silent and made little noise. It was as if the city itself had become devoid of sound, and life.

[Apos]

Apos drew and withdrew slow breaths as he listened to Ana. She apologized for her outburst, but Apos didn't see the need in doing so. It was only by the blessing of Myri that it was her room and not some lunatic's. The last thing he wanted was to have a fight that could potentially alert the monks of the city. The assassin's main objective while here was to stay under the Monk's radar and stir as little trouble as possible. He'd ditched his goggles and donned robes and a hood in an attempt to make him unrecognizable but he wondered how far such a weak strategy would take him in this place.

“Experimenting, eh?” He said moreso as a statement and less as a question. “After our...organization disbanded I got lost between the spires and some forest. I lost track of time, eventually made it my home until I stumbled out of that hell hole and began follow the footsteps of distant travelers. I followed them here. I don't think they even knew I was trailing them.”

Apos failed to call the Crimson Edge by its formal name for fear of spying ears. Ana calling it only the Edge was enough of a clue to let Apos know what she was referring to. “I figured they'd fall apart but not like that...” Apos, whom was close to Cade and Mok knew that after their assassination it would only be a matter of time but for the rest of the gang to be killed or enslaved made Apos' eyes widen, if only a little. He leaned on the wall, seemingly only to be doing it but he was actually trying to break down the situation in his mind. There were many whom he could call family in the Crimson Edge along with Ximal, Ana, and Zandelia but to know that they were most likely all that remained of the guild hit hard.

Apos didn't know if anyone had the intentions of restoring life to the guild or to simply let the name be forgotten, but he did tire of being a freelance assassin more than anything. His nature allowed him to live alone for as long as he has, but he feared he'd started losing his mind because of the isolation. He'd see people that weren't really there and worse it interfered with his work. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he needed social stability.

After she told him of those thereafter that chose to forsake the Edge Apos looked at it as if they were were forsaking their own lives and professions. The Crimson Edge allowed anyone of any profession outside of the law to abide there yet still do what had kept them alive up to that point. To leave that behind to pursue something was almost betrayal in Apos' mind. Apos respected honor and commitment above all else, and it seemed all but a few shared his views. The situation made Apos think more deeply about the Edge's standing after telling him about Zandelia but he figured that a woman as complex as her would have a plausible reason for dropping her title as leader.

“Yeah I caught up with Ximal. He was training outside the city when I was entering. Told me about the Monks, the laws, and even you and Zandelia's.” Apos's mind played over the Spar he and the much larger man had. It was intense, and though Apos had speed and maneuver on his side it only took a few solid hits from Ximal to stop the spar. Apos rubbed his now healed shoulder, and looked to Ana as she began making her way towards the approaching street. Apos followed suit, making sure to mask his facade as his dark robes blended into the midnight darkness of the city. He talked in a hushed tone as they walked.

“What are you three doing in Nyka?”

[Ana Sol Starris]

"Well, we were going to Syliras, but ran out of supplies here.. Damned monks won't even let us collect food supplies.. and none of us have any experience with hunting, or living in the wild.." she whispered in response, her aim was to circle around the Hostel area and the Celestial sqaure's alleyways to maintain some form of obscurity "so I guess you're lucky to be able to live like that out in the wilds, we could have really used you on the way here you know. Still could, maybe even to Syliras.." Ana mumbled the last bit about Syliras, they were coming up quickly to a street opening. Motioning to Apos to follow her lead and stopping at the corner to press against the wall, she peeked around the corner slowly, searching the road first with her eyes and then to the roofs above for any sign of life in the moonlight. The eery silence of their surroundings was enough to make her heartbeat flicker with doubt, and fear, but it would not show outwardly on her face nor in her body. The road itself was clear for the most part, but the roofs, the roofs caught her attention as a lantern light ambled slowly across. Her motions were mostly unoticiable, but she pointed to the light. "Careful" she muttered to Apos, her eyes followed the path the light was making with the darkly robed monk holding onto the lanterns handle. Hopefully Apos would stay just as still as Ana, and not reveal himself, for the shadow was all they would need to hide in if they were quiet enough. Maybe Apos will follow after to Syliras.. I know if Zandelia doesn't come around to get moving, or get over this small feud, I am definitely going to Syliras... Zeltiva is so far away, but so close... I can almost smell the harsh sea salt air, and the stench of freshly caught fish.. I'm so close. So. Close. The light turned, to continue forwards the way the both of them were facing, and away from them; Ana took this as a cue to scurry from the shadows and into the road on their right. Scittering across the rock like a small mouse, her steps were mostly soundless until finally she found herself in the shadow of another building. Turning back only to look at Apos, and quick wave him over to follow after her. He hasn't attacked me.. So that is good.. Sigh why are we outside anyways? Theres petching shadows that move on their own, I don't want to be caught by them..