Brink of Delusion; Crystal's Shine ((Full))

[MadameDPomp]

(sorry, there just didn't seem to be much of a place for her XD...i wasn't sure if we were heading to the outpost or not)
Jolyre strode up to the crash. Yeah. It would be a cyborg from Metrino. She tried not be judgmental against the people of Metrino because it wasn't the Angeal way; she just couldn't understand the thought of slowly replacing one's flesh and humanity with metal.
She shuttered at the thought of her battle-lean body replaced with metal organs and wings.
"He's the only one. The fool flew alone." she said to Rigo to answer his question. Although Jolyre had never been aboard an airship, she'd seen many and studied their schematics and mechanics. It was obvious that it was near impossible to fly alone. And through Tylem to boot.
Gio had gone to the stranger, who named himself Suri Nee'tal, to help him up. Then the boy started to freak out. Jolyre gazed down on him with mistrust and hate. She refused to trust any move the boy made. The wound left from the mantis was half healed. and it had been sustained...maybe an hour ago? Tops?
How fair was it that this whimpering boy healed lethal wounds in a matter of hours while her father lay slain by his or his Nero brother's hands?
Seething, Jolyre didn't move to help the crashed cyborg man. He was too close to that murdering little scoundrel. Instead she turned away from them.
"I think it would be wise to leave now. Before we get shredded to ribbons by these confounded winds and sand." she offered curtly  

[Draconia Crystalis]

Gio looked over his shoulder as he got ready to help the cyborg to his feet. The Angeal woman's tone had returned to ice. He really shouldn't be surprised, given the reasons she had for hating him and his brother, but still, it wasn't Rigo's fault he had to kill the assassin. He was protecting his own life, along with avenging the deaths of their family members. Anyone in that situation would have done the same, even her.

"Great, she still wants to kill me," he muttered under his breath, his gaze dropping away from her back. It made him feel awful that she was in this state too. He wished he could help her find peace, ideally in a way that didn't require his death.

Gio looked to his older brother and the ranger, straining a bit as he tried to lift the cyborg to his feet, "Could one or both of you please help me? He's too heavy for me by myself."

((Short post, just helping break the ice more for others to find a way to continue.))  

[Scythe de Zaran]

Piloting an airship along? Surely that was folly. Rigo's thoughts were the same as Jolyre's. However, he couldn't judge Suri yet. There must be a reason, or maybe cyborgs could drive airships by themselves. The Nero Angeal sighed as he observed Suri and his brother. "The lady is right. Sir, please lead on." He addressed Harrier, as Rigo had no idea where the outpost was. Since he knew Harrier longer than Alane, he naturally had asked Harrier.

Rigo, upon hearing Gio, immediately walked over and supported Suri on the other end. "Gio, you are hurt.... don't stress your body too hard..." For a moment, Rigo's eyes narrowed at the sight of Gio's wounds once again appearing to be much smaller than he remembered. It was unnatural. "Alright, ...Suri... " Rigo pronounced the name slowly, trying to get the sound right. "Let's get you out of this storm then." He looked at the cyborg with a slight reassuring smile and then back at Jolyre, Harrier, Alane, and lastly Gio.  

[Jest_A_Clown]

Suri was rather pleased that these were such kind people. However, he planned not to take advantage of it. Noticing the one called Gio had recovered from his shock and was helping him once more, Suri tried not to lean too heavily on the boy. Thankfully, the lad must've realised Suri was perhaps a bit too much for just one person to handle, especially being wounded, because he asked for some assistance. The Nero Angeal man came to help out, Suri noticed the Angeal woman was keeping her distance, and she positively radiated an almost tangible feeling of barely contained wrath. "Her eyes look like they were carved from ice. Best not to tangle with that one." he thought with a slight shudder. "Let's get you out of this storm then" the Nero said, and with a smile and a look to all the others, they set off.

Thankfully, it wasn't too long of a trek. Though the harsh winds driving sand and grit at their faces didn't help much. The air was becoming darker and more hazy with the advent of the storm, but the outpost was quite visible. With his weight distributed between the two males, Suri hobbled along at a good pace and didn't slow them down. Soon the party was within a few paces of a decent-sized building that looked like it had seen its fair share of storms. There may have been some sort of sign above the doorway depicting what this place was, but it was illegible between the flailing winds and hazy air. The ranger Harrier and the outpost woman Alane moved to pry open the door, which was inconveniently located in the face of the wind's full power. Once they got the thing open enough, they quickly ushered the others inside and slipped in themselves, the door slamming shut behind them.

Suri took a look around, it appeared to be an inn or tavern of sorts. The place looked somewhat busy, a few of the patrons raising a hand or glass in greeting to Harrier and Alane, and a kind enough nod or wary gaze towards the others. Suri was just glad to be out of the weather, but he held his chest shut for fear of his crystal drawing even more attention than necessary.

He'd let Harrier and Alane handle the talking if there was any to be done for now.  

[Black Claided Cat]

Enter- Harrier A'Cal

It took a few minutes to get to the outpost, and when the party finally stepped in through the wooden doors the relief was visible. A few rangers greeted them, one of them Cadar who stood up to guide Suri to a seat.

“Alane, can you get some supplies?” Harrier asked her. She immediately nodded her head and jogged into the back room. When she was off he turned to Suri, “Where does it hurt the most?”

From the back ground he head Cadar question him with amusement, “You leave on a dime and come back with Alane. What had happened to bring in so many people?”

The older man was leaning on one of the tables, looking as nonchalant as the rest of the people in the outpost.

“How 'bout you do something useful and get these people some food,” Harrier gritted his teeth, taking a look at the injuries Suri had. At the moment he had a lot more damaged than the other kid, but Harrier would still have to take a look at them both. Alane was better than him with patching up wounds, but he had his own share of medical training.

Cadar just shrugged and left, he came back a few seconds later with a few loafs of bread, water and cheese. He passed it around right in time for Alane to come back with her hands full of bandages and medicine vials.

“I didn't know what we needed, so I just got the basics,” she explained, setting down the different things. 'Water, medicine, cloths, ointment, bandages, needle, threa-' Harrier already reached over to take a wet cloth and whipped the blood off of Suri, to see what he was looking at.

“Is there anyone else hurt?” Alane asked, looking at the two Angeal and human. She wasn't sure what had happened before they came to the crash sight, but they looked a little beat up.

Exit- Harrier A'Cal  

[Draconia Crystalis]

With most of the tension gone, Gio felt suddenly a little flustered when Alane asked if anyone was hurt. He had been able moments ago to talk to the Angeal woman without so much as a stutter, but whatever resolution that had overwritten his impulsive nervousness had faded back.

"I-I should be fine," Gio mumbled, trying to hide the hole in his chest with part of his traveling cloak. "I don't n-need anything." Whatever strange thing was happening to his body, it was apparent that his wounds were healing faster than should be physically possible.

He blushed scarlet as his stomach rumbled loudly, showing he was in need of something, if not bandaging. He lowered his eyes to the ground, quietly taking some bread and cheese from Cadar, and began eating. Some of his aristocratic raising showed in how he carefully took bites and chewed slowly to avoid making a nuisance of himself.

He wasn't sure if the Angeal woman was glaring at him, and he didn't care to look, but he could still feel her hostility permeating the air around him. It chilled him deeply and made him shudder involuntarily. He quietly hoped that he could appease her, whatever he had to do.  

[Jest_A_Clown]

Suri grinned as he saw that the others were being taken care of as well as himself. "Heh, Tylemites aren't near so bad as the stories I heard back in Metrino...maybe it was those fish people that were the bad ones...bah, forget about it! I'm out and about and I'm gonna learn the truth for myself! This is an adventure!" he thought with excitement. All his life, Suri had always done everything in search of knowledge. In Metrino, knowledge was power, but to Suri, it was just amazing to have the gift of learning. His mind whipped back to the present when Harrier asked him a question. "Where does it hurt? Ah, just my ankle really, but I already sealed it shut, A stiff bandage couldn't hurt though. The rest is just minor cuts n' bruises. Nothin I can't handle. Besides" he said as he rapped a metal knuckle on his metal torso. "Ain't much human left to bang up anyway."

Looking about the room, Suri saw the young one, Gio, eating quietly and looking like he was trying to be invisible. "Odd...didn't take him for such a mouse at first. Maybe he's just tired." Suri thought. As Alane returned with some supplies to fix him up. He thanked her with a kindly nod as Harrier went to work, cleaning up his legs and the few cuts on his neck and face. "It's such a bother, these fleshy parts, but it's something all of us cyborgs face. Whether to keep some part of the old us, or become the machine we envision." he turned to Alane and said, "You asked earlier if all cyborgs are like this" he said while gesturing to his body. "Most aren't, most Metrinos only make a modification or two to their bodies and leave it at that; an eye, a hand, maybe a bum leg or defective organ. But there are others that lose themselves to the metal. Full body replacement, complete weapon system enhancements, even so far as to replace most of their brains with circuitry. Illegal stuff like that is publicly frowned upon in Metrino...but in the shadows, there are many many people who will do anything in their quest for knowledge and power. I'm a little by-product of that quest, started by my father." he said as his eyes glassed over with the memory of his first replacement part. But he continued on so that he couldn't dwell on the past.

"But enough about us metal-heads over in Metrino, what's to know about you guys out here in Tylem? The weather always this...dirty? What do ya do for fun here? More importantly, tell me bout yourselves! I'd like to hear at least a smidge bout the people who came and helped me out from the kindness o' their hearts." he said jovially. All the while he had talked, he had kept an arm casually laid across his chest door, keeping it in place. That odd pulling sensation had vanished the moment Harrier had begun cleaning the blood off him, but he still felt it from the other two across the room. "Crystal resonance? But what is it about them that it's resonating with?...do they all have some sort of crystal on them as well?" he wondered idly as he talked with Harrier and Alane.

Suri had never questioned why he was bestowed with the Lightning Crystal, for he wasn't a strict follower under the 'pseudo-religious-dogma' of Glorion Crystalis as Suri's father had so often named it. Therefore, he hadn't quite learned the legend behind the Crystals due to his father and was largely unaware of why everyone looked at him like he was something 'special'. He had always thought it was for his experimental parts and how perfectly he had merged with his metals pieces, nothing more. But somewhere in the back of his mind, Suri had always wondered, " If there's Lightning Crystals, wouldn't there be Crystals of other elements too? I wonder if other people like me have them."  

[MadameDPomp]

Jolyre didn't answer the woman, only gave a curt head shake and retreated to a remote corner of the room to brood and glare and attempt to look regal amidst her roughened appearance. The cyborg was far too jolly for her recent tastes in humanity, the people from Tylem were strangers to her, and the others killers.
What a lovely predicament. Caught in a storm with murderers and people I've never met.
Within the crowd she heard Gio's voice, back to it's trembling, pathetic old sound.
Good she thought.
It wasn't just that he should discover newly found confidence as well as an inhuman healing process while she sat idly by, losing those around her, her life being slowly consumed.
Watching everyone in the room, quietly observing, Jolyre found that all the carefree joy made her resentful; as if, by being as happy as they were, they were trying to make a mockery of her. She knew this wasn't true, of course, but Jolyre couldn't help but think it.
I never actually thought I'd find them... she realized. Jolyre had never actually counted on finding her father's killers. She always said she would and looked for them, remaining faithful to her vow of vengeance, but never quite believed it. Now, when their throats were with arm's reach of her gauntlets, she wasn't sure what to do.
Did she want them suffering and, finally, dead?
Yes.
Did she honestly feel they deserved such brutal hostility from her?
Yes.
But something was pulling her to them. The man, Rigo, was obviously connect with her through the crystal. And the sniveling boy, well, Jolyre couldn't even begin to see what his role was.  

[Black Claided Cat]

Enter- Alane Shoudu

Alane looked doubtfully at the boy, he seemed calmer earlier- maybe the storm had racked him up. But she shrugged and turned to converse with Suri who had answered her earlier question.

“That's... interesting. Honestly, I would never have thought have replacing anything from my body with metal,” she started, leaning against the table and looked over at Harrier bandage Suri's ankle, “I wonder what it must feel like. Did it hurt?”

When the topic of her homeland came up Alane gave a grin, “Well, from the outside lookin' in it's pretty boring. But if you've lived here for a while you know how to have fun.” She was cut off by Harrier who threw in a comment, having just tightened the bandage and stood up, “Or crazy.”

Her glare followed him as he went to wash off his hands in a basin, when all he did was shrug she took the roll of bandages and threw it at him.

“As for the weather, it's not like this year-round. The winds lighten up in fall and are nonexistent in the winter; but it gets unbearably cold then. So still not a lot of people come then. The summer's wind season, bringing in the winds from all the bordering countries and combining them. As you can see, creating sandstorms. Spring and fall are the best times, and also the times we have our festivals. And, uh, what else? I think that's just about it.

“Ah, that reminds me, I never caught your names,” Alane said, addressing the other people. “I am called Alane Shoudu, daughter of Kashmir Shoudu. Born and raised here in Cecil, Tylem. Notorious wyrum rider and ranger help!”

She finished this off with a perky bow; looking up for Harrier to formally introduce himself as well.

“Harrier A'Cal, son of Tircel A'Cal. Ranger of Cecil, Tylem.”

“Notorious grump and Crystal guardian,” Alane chirped in, unaware that the others were, too, crystal guardians. Harrier turned at her, giving her a glare of her own.

Exit- Alane Shoudu  

[Draconia Crystalis]

Gio coughed involuntarily, and began hacking on the piece of bread he had in his mouth. Had she just said what he thought she had just said? A Crystal Guardian? A Tylem resident could only be....

"The Bearer of the W-wind Crystal?" Gio asked aloud. He gasped a little as if once again felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest, as though the recognition of another Crystal had stirred something. "Just like you two, huh? L-light and Darkness," he said shakily, looking over at his brother and the Angeal woman. He still remembered vaguely seeing them use their Crystals in the fight against the monster, having been slipping in and out of consciousness the whole time. He already had known about Rigo's Crystal, of course, but the Angeal woman had been a surprise.

He hoped it was alright to say that out loud. I mean, he was another Crystal Bearer, so it couldn't be a bad thing to say so now. Crystals are coming together, he thought to himself. There's Wind, Light, and Darkness. I wonder if they'll go on a journey? I wonder if Rigo will leave me behind. After all, the destiny of a Crystal Bearer is far more important.

The thought was depressing, and he wanted to follow Rigo wherever he went, whether he was in danger or not. But he would just be in the way, wouldn't he? And if Rigo went on a journey with other Crystal Bearers, then there would be problems because of the hatred Jolyre had in her. If he could alleviate that, then he could make their journey all the easier. If he let her kill him, saying that he had been the one to kill her father, and not Rigo, then that could be his contribution to destiny. He just had to figure out when to do it. He should probably draw her and Rigo away from the rest and handle it all.  

[Black Claided Cat]

Enter- Harrier A'Cal

Harrier hadn't wanted Alane to blurt it out like that, and if these were the wrong people it could have turned out disastrously. He still adorned a frown, but he was equally surprised that the two Angeal were also bearers.

“Light and Darkness, I should have guessed,” he said gruffly, “Yes, I bear the Wind- now I know what that pull was from earlier.”

It all made sense now, Harrier thought slowly; the wheels in his head turning. He sowed together the little information he had; a fight between the two Angeal, an assassin, crystals, higher powers, a pull. He frowned, realizing that he still didn't know who the three other were; or why they were in the canyons.

“The next thing we know Suri will be the bearer of Fire,” he muttered quietly. From beside him Alane was looking down, processing the information but also in guilt.  

[Scythe de Zaran]

((I'm going to wait for Suri's response first, so if he reveals he's a Crystal Bearer, Rigo can respond to that all together.))