Ambience trudges in from the southern avenue, lugging a fairly heavy-looking backpack with him. He's dressed lightly this evening, going so far as to be wearing shorts instead of his general playtime attire. A very subtle, nearly indiscernable green glow encompasses his entire body was he walks along, but either he's aware of it and doesn't care, or he doesn't notice it.

Ambience stops near the fountain's edge, setting the backdown with with a small, 12-year-old's grunt.

Helios walks in from the northern road. He is still in the disguise of the vacationing Wutai citizen as he was the last time he stopped by. He glances around the square before scanning the sky as well. seeing nothing, he sighes and walks over to Ambience. "Hello Ambience, how are you? Did you bring the materials we requested?" he says as he sits down on the bench near the boy.

Ambience looks up after a moment, rubbing the side of his face. "Yeah, but I didn't realize the stuff was so heavy. Da makes it seem to easy to cart this stuff around, but then, as a reploid, he's prob'ly a lot stronger then me." Ambience hauls the backpack up a little ways, hoisting it around the fountain and onto the bench beside the Wutai Citizen, with another grunt. "I guess all metal's s'posed to be like that."
"I actually had to sneak some of it without telling him. I'm sure he wouldn't have minded, but Da gets... paranoid, sometimes." Ambience offered a small shrug.

Helios opens the sack and pulls out a medium- sized titanium ingot and begins examining it, looking for imperfections. "Well, thank you fot the effort. This should restore enough of our armor plates to provide a better defence. It is not quite the standard material that we would prefer, but it will suffice." Helios stands up and places the ingot on the ground in front of him. Helios dissolves the disguise and moves the cloud into position over the ingot as his lens begins to glow an angry red.

Helios "Please stand back, as we cannot direct the flow of our lazer as well as we would like until we restore the correct ammount of reflective flakes."

Helios fires a lazer into the cloud of flakes, causing it to reflect hundreds of times within the cloud before coming down im several thin beams that begin to slice the ingot into more thin flakes. Several moments pass until the ingot is reduced to a pile of flakes on the ground. Helios shuts off the lazer and begins scanning the pile of flakes on the ground.

Aurum enters from the east gazing at the sky causally; carrying a light sack. Cloak wrapped tightly around his right arm while hanging the extra slack on either side of him. "Looks like I made it for the fireworks" Aurum said with a small smirk

From the direction of the port there was a dull crack and a rippling of reality like heatwaves dancing in the height of summer heat. Excited voice and people in the port gathered near it, but quickly jumped back as someone was blown through the rift burning with blue flames. He was shot all the way from the rift into the fountain, body hitting it with a solid smack that left him curmbling into it in a heap. Keeryu didn't stir even with the cold fountain water running over his face, washing away blood from a busted lip and cuts over one eye.

Ambience shields his eyes from the display, having backed up just enough at Helios' request from the activity going on. His nearly-transparent green aura dissipates rather rapidly, causing him to like perfectly ordinary otherwise. He looks toward the backpack after a moment, then at Helios again, starting to inquire something as the explosion took place, and abruptly backs up from the fountain as the body lands within it. "Wh-what..?"
Helios finishes the scan and manipulates the flakes up into the cloud surronding him. He then turns to look at the new arrivals while lifting the stainless steel ingot out of the pack. "Someone should do something before that guy drowns in that fountain.

Helios says 'Ambience, will you grab him for me?'

Sylana glances at Aurum and nods before returning her eyes to the specticle at the fountain.

Ambience looks at Aurum for a moment, having to pause on the introduction for a moment as he pulls himself up onto the rim of the fountain, kneeling next to the prone form half-inside the water. He sighs, and holds out a hand; with a short whisper, a burst of white light envelopes his hand briefly, right before a small "cloud" of some kind appears in his hand, two tiny eyes blinking within the center of it, glowing a soft white all around it.
"Can you help him?" Ambience seems to be addressing the cloud-thing in his hand, which bubbles and gives a short squeak-like sound in response; it stretches out somewhat then snaps back into place, disappearing in another burst of white light immediately following; in the aftermath, a series of sparkling light envelopes Keeryu's body, glimmering softly.

Keeryu started to drift as he was overcome by the light of the creature as well as the light of the azure flmes that raged across his body, and yet weren't scorching his clothes. The light was drawing him to consciousness.

Aurum sighs loudly..." Is he even alive to help?"

Helios begins cutting the stainless steel ingot in another flashy light show while keeping the scene in the fountain in the corner of his vision..

Helios says 'Is he alrigh? He hit pretty hard.'

Keeryu groaned apparently in pain, but his eyes slowly fell open to stare up at the night sky. He was stable even with the azure flames that covered his body. Somehow they weren't scorching him or his clothing, but the moment they hit a wound his eyes shot ope, and he let out a shout beore flailing in the water, hand shooting out to grasp the edge of the fountain for something to steady himsel "A-ah! Stings, hell that stings!"

Rathorn enters the square from the north in time to see someone thrashing in the fountain. He moves closer to the fountain, attempting to get a better view of what is happening.

Aurum lets out a small laugh " The sting is a good thing it lets you know your alive."
Rathorn glances towards the fountain, and at the person who is in the fountain. "And to think I was going to drink from that fountain." Rathorn says, seeming unconcerned with the condition of the person in the fountain.

Ambience falls back against the fountain rim with a yelp as Keeryu suddenly regains consciousness, scooting back and sliding over the side. He stops for a moment to make sure Keeryu was alright, but seems generally glad he was able to help, at the very least. "Good."

Keeryu looked around at the source of the voices, and then at the fountain which explained why he was soaked and wet. Slowly he climbed from the fountain to fall over onto a bench, and check to make sure nothing was broken. Just a dislocated arm that he shakily pushed back into place.

Helios finishes cutting the stainless steel ingot and begins scanning it. He chuckles at Ambience's reaction before lifting the pile of reflective flakes into the cloud. "Well, it looks like thats all the flakes we were missing. We are indebited to you, Mr. Ambience" He looks around at the growing crowd.

Helios says 'Quite a crowd.'

Aurum "Well there goes my plans...I just wanted to drink some nice clean water and you've gone and gotten blood in it." Aurum sighs again

Sylana looks at Helios as if seeing him for the first time, then shrugs. "I heard there were fireworks... however, this seems far more interesting." She nods towards the fountain.

Keeryu glanced around at Ambience with a wince as the last of the fire died down, flowing into the wounds. "Thank you... Ah the fountain water. I'll fix that.. Just give me a moment." As he spoke he looked back at the water, and raised his hand toward it. Something like a mist started to roll down his arm, and gradually went into the fountain wwater. What looked like mist became more evident in the water as looking like some kind o snake. It scummed around inthe water, seemingly swallowing the blood be

Ambience seems a little standoff-ish as the amount of people has increased at the fountain, but tries not to be too obvious about it. The impression is that he doesn't do too well in a crowd. He addresses Helios, regardless. "No, there's no debt. Knights are supposed to help people, that's what we do. Or at least, it's what I've been told."

Ambience looks at himself for a moment; his skinny twelve-year-old frame hardly looked the part of a knight, but perhaps there was more to it. At least, that was what he figured.

Helios shrugs. "Well, we still will owe you a favor, it's the way we operate."
What looked like mist becsmote blood before it slithered back out, and crawled up onto Keeryu's shoulder, curling up around it and an arm.. Before the mist itself disapated and just dumped the collected water on Keeryu. "Damned familiars..."

Aurum "Well thanks Mr...." Aurum then shrugs towards Keeryu.

Ambience looks toward Keeryu thereafter, with a tilt of his head. His red irises regard Keeryu curiously, and almost studiously, as if checking for something.

Helios chuckles. "A farmilliar, you say? Would you mind if we ran a few scans on it? The information might aid us in our quest for a soul."

Keeryu says '"Ken Keeryu, and I think I should ask who you are, and where the hell I am... Because the last thing I remember I was fighting a summoner. Next thing I know I'm here"'
Ambience shakes his head after a moment, and starts to say something to Helios, but abstains, keeping to himself instead.

Rathorn glances towards the cleaned water after seeing Aurum drink from it. "I suppose it's clean enough now." Rathorn says, taking a drink from the fountain before looking towards Keeryu.

Aurum "well seems like I didn't waste the trip." Aurum opens one eye widely curiosly towards Helios. Turns towards Keeryu "Well I am...Well you can call be Aurum"

Keeryu looked over at Helios quietly. He frowned a little, and raised his arm. The serpent rolled from the sleeve of his coat, seemingly pulling together from the water that till logged the scale material it was made of. It was long, but seemed intelligent judging by it's joke earlier.

Aurum turns again towards Helios " What good does a soul have?"

Helios dosent notice ambiences attempt to talk to him and plows ahead. "Welcome to Cleft, Mr. Keeryu. You should make your stay comfortable, because this place is much like the Hotel California; you can never leave."

Helios says 'In answer to you, Aurum, we am trying to get a wish granted and it requires a soul, unfortunately. We do not posess a soul, so we are searching for a way around the requirement.'

Ambience frowns at Helios' words, something familiar coming to him at the mention of wishes being granted, or more specifically, the requirement of a soul in return.
"That's... I don't think that's a good idea."

Keeryu nodded to Aurum with a slight smile. He was surprisingly in good shape for someone that slammed through the air like a cannonball. "I'll remember the name..." He turned his eyes on Helios though... He was stuck here?... And they needed a soul.

Aurum says 'Sounds like you may have been on the bottle a little too much today...'
Helios turns to Ambience. "why do you say that?"

Ambience says 'Crossroads said there were... consequences. Bad ones.'

Rathorn turns towards Helios at the mention of a wish. "A soul? Why would you need a soul to make a wish?" Rahtorn asks curiously.

Keeryu says '"There has to be a way out of here. Someones gotta contend with that summoner. Was trashing my bloody house man!" His eyes flickered momentarily, and then dimmed. The soul talk hit him again though and made him blink. "I've heard of healing with souls...and fighting with souls. Never have I heard of wishes being granted with them..."'

Helios shrugs. "Well That's what that odd not- cat told us." He ponders for a moment. "Can you be more specefic than 'Bad consiquences,' Ambience?"

Aurum says 'Since you know all this stuff about "souls" why don't you start by telling us what exactly a soul is and how you can use it.'

Ambience shakes his head. "I don't 'member much of the details. Something about... Witches. All I know is that people who receive wishes eventually become corrupted." He looks uneasy, as if the mere discussion of this thing was uncomfortable for him.
Helios says 'Mmmm... That sounds detrimental to our purposes... Perhaps we should reconsider..."'

Rathorn glances towards Ambience as the boy mentions the wishers being corrupted. "Corrupted? But there must be some way to keep from being corrupted, right?" Rathorn asks.
Keeryu checked his clothes while they talked. At least all his weapons seemed to be on him. His attention got erked back to the conversation though.. "I dn't think it wise to persue this... Your talking on the essence of life itself..."

Aurum says 'And while I'm at it how did you obtain this information about these wishes and soul trading for them?'

"It isn't even so much the corruption, I don't think. It's just... selfish. You shouldn't need to have a wish granted to make the most of your life, and what is given to you for it." Ambience looks a little sullen from the concept.

Helios ponders that for a moment. "Well, the not- cat said that he will grant a wish in return for a soul. As to finding the information, we just turned on our long range scanners and walked down the main road. The not- cat was giving off a strange signature, so we stopped to talk.

Sylana looks over at Rathorn, then shakes her head. "Using souls to grant wishes...? It sounds far too dangerous. It'd be best not to inquire too far into it... these two might be in over their heads." She glances back towards Helios and Ambience.

Helios says 'The reason that we wanted our wish granted was to be free from the influence of the Company. Even after we escaped here and wrecked the portal generator, we still know that the Company knows where we are.'

Helios shivers.

Helios says 'If we become free, then the Company will no longer be able to find us.'
Rathorn looks towards Sylana. "The greatest rewards often come with the greatest risks. Although I suppose that the corruption of one's soul might be too great a risk. Then again, it depends on the priorities of the person making the wish." Rathorn replied to Sylana.

Helios says 'However, becoming corrupted sounds... bad.'

Ambience starts to say something else, this time to Sylana and her remark, but his mouth freezes as it opens, and he blinks a couple of times, his eyes... unfocusing. "M..mama?"

Helios twitches.

Aurum says '....So what of this "wish" part....can it be anything?'

He took the reasoning into consideration, but finally Keeryu sighed, and laid back on the bench. "If your sure about this then I can tell you what I know... I don't like it though. Souls...and tampering with them disrespects who they once were..."

Helios thinks for a moment. "We think that it can be anything within reason... Nothing foolish, we should think."

Looking at Rathron, Sylana prepares a response, but suddenly turns to Ambience with a shocked look on her face. "What!? I-I'm not your mother!"

Helios snickers at that.

Aurum stares intently at Helios "...What exactly does that mean? Could I wish for power, or...life?"

Ambience frantically turns around after only a moment, offering Helios a short bow. "I gotta go! Mama's comin' back from the Holyland!" He completely disregards Sylana and her statement, not even going so far as to reclaim his backpack as he sprints off to the south, a huge grin on his face.

Helios has become increasingly disillusioned with the idea of the wish throughout the conversation. "Life... What do you mean by that? The ability to live forever?"
Keeryu says '"Eternal life is bloody overated..."'

Aurum has an increasingly intense stare " I mean the power to give life.

Rathorn watches as Ambience runs off. He was slightly confused by the boy's actions, and glanced towards the backpack that was left before his gaze drifted back to Helios, listening with interest to the conversation about wishes.

Sylana watches the boy run off, a perplexed look still on her face. Eventually she turns away from the south, and notices the boy's backpack lying near the fountain. "Oh, he forgot his pack..."

Helios looks at the retreating figue of Ambience. "Agreed." he mumbles. "What did he mean by 'coming back,' we wonder..."

Helios glances over at the forgotten pack, still loaded with titanium and stainless steel ingots. "Oh, so he did. We should keep that for him until he returns, we suppose"
Sylana hesitates, then picks up the pack, sighing as she does so. "Perhaps I should go and return it to him? It would be a shame if he forgot something important."

Keeryu rose to his feet slowly, and looked them all over. Ragtag little bunch considering one appeared to be some kind of robot. "Your probably right..ms?... I don't know what to call any of you aside from Aurun..."

Helios looks over at Aurum. "That is a dangerous power, friend. It should not be given lightly." Helios then turns to the woman. "Oh, dont worry too much. He always comes back here eventually."

Sylana turns over to Keeryu, and looks at him for a moment before bowing deeply. "Ah, forgive my rudeness. I am Sylana." She finishes, then turns back to Helios, and nods to
him. " Alright, I will trust in your word."

Aurum walks towards Helios stopping just before his face "...Is it possible? Or not..."

Keeryu slid his hands throuh his hair to slick it back, tosseling it a little before he pulled his hand away. "By what do you mean "Give life" There are many interpretations for
that..."

Helios' lens flickers abruptly, much like blinking. "Oh, how rude of us. We go by a long identification number, but non- drones call us Helios." He then rotates to face Aurum. "Wether it can be given or not is not something that we know, unfortunately. However, if we find that not- cat again, we will ask for you, is this acceptable?"

Rathorn glances towards Helios, noticing that everyone else had introduced themselves to Keeryu except for him. "I'm Rathorn." Rathorn said, introducing himself to Keeryu, as well as the others near the fountain. "Would you happen to know of any way to find this not-cat, as you put it?" Rathorn asked, turning towards Helios.

Aurum steps back a step. "I'm sorry for my rudeness..." Aurum turns towards Keeryu "But by give life I mean the spark of life of course."

Keeryu looked at Aurun for a moment before his head gently shook. "Forgive me, I'm just used to necromancer's and litches giving 'life' to a corpse. I'm a little gun shy of it you see..." he did not say anymore even though he knew a lot more than he was letting on...

Helios seems to smile slightly. "Think nothing of it. As to wether we can find it again; if we were able to use our long range scanners again we should be able to find the not- cat again." Helios seems to wince abruptly. "Due to a lightning strike several weeks ago, we have lost several critical functions and damaged several others."

Helios says 'The long range scanner system was one of the damages ones, unfortunately.'

Aurum says 'How may I find more about these wishes....'

Aurum says 'You say I must find the "not" cat.'

Helios says 'Well, you could try to find one of the ones who have had their wish granted...'

Helios nods. "Yes, the Not- cat. It looks like a cat, but it is far more than an ordinary cat. Our memory database indicates it is called 'Kyyubey,' though this may be incorrect. Our memory subsystem has also been damaged.

Sylana listens to the conversation unfold, and glances at Keeryu from the corner of her eye. "Maybe it would be best to be... ah, 'gun shy' of such a thing. These wishes seem to contain more catches and dangers than meets the eye... If anything that boy said was true."

Aurum says '....Well where may I find this Kyuubey?'

Rathorn glances towards Helios. "It's too bad your scanners were damaged. I suppose the only way to find this 'Kyyubey', as you call it is to search." Rathorn says to Helios.

Helios nods vigorusly. "We do recall seeing some who we suspect had their wish granted fighting some sort of monster in the cave nearby." He nods to Rathorn. "Yes, we know how to repear ourselves, but we need someone who has the materials and know-how to do so."
Keeryu frowned as he heard such eagerness to pursue a fools errand. It continued to seem more and more like a bad idea to follow after what they were searching for by the second... "A being who grants wishes for the souls of others... I pose a better question for you all to wrap your head around... What kind of being has that kind of power?"

Helios says 'It is impossible to repair ourself to this extent.'

Helios begins to ponder Keeryu's words. "Yes... that IS a good question..."

Rathorn was about to say something, but stops upon hearing Keeryu. "I...never thought about that." Rathorn says quietly, starting to ponder the implications of the question.
Aurum says 'What does it matter if people have something their willing to give part of themselves for.'

Rathorn says 'But what if there is nothing left of themselves after?'

Aurum Smirks " Well then make sure it's worth it..."

Keeryu says '"Where I am from we have a name for something like that... A type of demon though this is a bit different. They grant you a wish, but in so doing they may well steal YOUR soul..."'

Helios begins quietly muttering, thinking aloud. "The data we recieved from scanning the not- cat indicates that it does not gain sustenance through thr regular channels. It seemed to feed off of some sort of negitave energy...""

Rathorn continues to ponder the consequences of making a wish. "But there has to be a loophole, right?" Rathorn asks, his question directed at Keeryu.

Aurum says 'Thank you for this information....This could be most helpful to me...'

Sylana responds to Keeryu's comment, "But if you don't have a soul in the first place, does that mean there is no risk?"

Helios says ' During the fight in the cave, the group stabbed the monster through the heart and removed some sort of black crystal completly loaded with a type of volatile negitave energy.'

Helios finishes the thought. "If the 'witches also have this crystal... then the not- cat must feed off of the 'witches.'"

Keeryu looked at Rathorn quietly. He seemed to roll it in his head, and finally nodded, "To match wits with a demon though is a risky affair. They're usually old, and clever little shits..." His words trailed off, and he bit his lip as he looked at helios, what..kind of monster..."

Helios says 'And the not- cat grants wishes, taking the soul of the granted and giving them some sort of crystal..."'

Rathorn look at Helios after hearing about the crystal and energy. "So it doesn't feed on souls then." Rathorn says, started to consider the possibility of finding this non-cat.
Keeryu looked at Syl quietly and tilted his head, "In a sense no... Undead usually have no soul, and yet some live like the litchess and vampires..." at that he flashed a fang...and yet he had a soul, and warm blood ran through his veins.

Helios flickers again. "The not- cat, Kyyubey, feeds on the corrupted souls of the ones who's wishes have been granted, assuming the crystals he gives them are their souls."

Keeryu says '"Helios...do you realize what your describing?..."'

Helios says 'As to the monster...'

The cloud of flakes swirling around Helios abuptly jerks and forms into the shape of some sort of deranged looking beast. It speaks in Helios' voice, saying "This is what were able to see of it.

Sylana simply nods at Keeryu's response, seeming not to fully understand his implications, then eventually turns to Aurum. "You surely don't mean to go on a wild chase after something you don't know even exists...?"

Rathorn says 'So the witches and monsters were orignally people who had their wishes granted?'

Helios nods, as the beast dissappears, revealing Helios again. "It would seem so."

Aurum turns to Sylana " It's better to chase nothing with hope, than sit with nothing real."

Keeryu slowly looked back in the direction of the port, and ground his teeth a bit. This sounded more an more like something that where he came from, he'd have had the duty of hunting down, and killing... But he kept his cool. "Helios, if you don't mind later, can you run a close range scan of the cave you saw them fighting in..."

Rathorn ponders the implications of asking for a wish after hearing this new information. "I suppose that the only way to know for sure is to find this cat." Rathorn says, mostly to himself.

Sylana stares at Aurum for a long moment, then finally shakes her head. "Perhaps you are right. But hope isn't worth getting killed over... or becoming like how the other wishers did, whatever that may be.

Helios nods. "Why sure, anytime. This whole situation seems wrong on many levels."

Aurum says 'What caves do you see this cat near?'

Suddenly, a rapid beeping noise is emitted from somewhere inside Helios' frame. He jerks in suprise. "Oh dear, low power..."

Helios says 'It looks like we will have to return to out temporary base for now. The not- cat can be found in town sometimes, actually. We would reccommend looking around here, though we cannot be certain it will appear.'

Aurum says 'Well Thanks for the information again...'

Helios nods to each of them in turn. "Well, we will be off. We shall see you here later, after seven days have passed."

Helios hovers up into the airspace above Truce and heads off north.

Sylana watches Helios fly off, then sighs. "He certainly was... unique. He left his companion's pack behind, as well." She gestures to the forgotten backpack next to the fountain.

Rathorn continues to weigh the risks and benefits of asking for a wish with the information he has heard. "I suppose it couldn't hurt to find this non-cat and at least ask it about the wishes." Rathorn mutters, before looking towards the backpack Sylana gestured to. "Hmm, I suppose he did. Well, maybe that kid will show up to get it later." Rathorn says.

Keeryu slowly shook his head, and pulled his arms against his chest. "If what's been said is true... This creature is dangerous. VERY dangerous. If what Helios has said is true... Then this thing makes litches..." he glanced toward the bacpack at the fountain, and knelt down to pick it up a little. "If I see that kid I'll pass this off to him... I have a feeling I'm going to cross paths with the lot of you again."

Aurum Gazes upward...."I suppose I shall go off looking for this *not* cat" waves to the others "Oh and thanks for the warning Keeryu"

Rathorn looks towards Aurum. "Would you like some help looking for this not-cat? I have a few questions I'd like to ask it as well." Rathorn says to Aurum.

Aurum looks at Rathorn.

Sylana looks over the group, and after muttering something under her breath, replies, "Yes, perhaps we shall all meet again. I think I've had enough excitement for a while, though... some fireworks show this ended up being." She smiles faintly, then heads off to the west.