Sudden Vanishings

Mimi walked leisurely along the dirt road, humming to herself as she went. The sun was shining brightly over head, creating a beautiful silhouette against the mountains that framed the kingdom. She clutched a letter in her hand that was worn from being opened and re-folded multiple times. She had the words committed to memory, but it still made her feel special to actually hold it. It was an official summon from the capitol, Imentum. It had been sent to her from Ayoka, her former teacher. Mimi had sent her a letter several months ago telling her that her brother had disappeared recently, and her mother had gone before that. Sometime in the past month this summon had gone out, asking for skilled warriors to gather in Imentum to discuss the strange disappearances. The letter wouldn't have been sent to Mimi's small village, so she was thankful that Ayoka had thought to send a copy to her.

She wasn't a warrior, exactly, but she knew how to take care of herself. Her plan was to present herself for her true talents which lay in the fields of herbal medicine. She was as skilled of a healer as they would find anywhere else, and her abilities as a shape-shifter could come in handy. Her mother's sudden disappearance had hit her father hard, but he had almost lost it when her brother left as well. She would do whatever it took to bring them home. She had promised him that much.

She swished her monkey tail behind her, using it to double check that all of her belongings were still in her pack. She had never traveled by herself; the last time she was in Imentum she had been accompanied by a hired guide. She was nervous, but she kept optimistic. This was her chance to not only help her father recover from his current state of depression, but perhaps even find a way to get her family back home. She would not leave Imentum without being chosen to search for the missing. There was no other option for her. She smiled to herself to give her confidence and picked up the pace. The sooner she reached Imentum, the sooner she could start looking for her mom and brother.

Alisson with her cholocate brown hair slowly walks to the captiol after getting a summon to help others to find the missing people. Her best friend in the whole world when missing with a few others from her office, and the higher ups don't like that. The weird thing about the people who dissapper is that they are not on file as being dead. The ringed eyed young woman keep going hoping that she will find her friends soon.

Her sychte is in it's earing form, and she is wearing her usual black suit. She hopes to find others on this road with the summon, because it is a little sad and lonely without anyone to talk to after a few weeks.

And they waited....

And they waited....

And they waited some more....

And, yes! They waited.

Oh wait! Leth's scratched his arm. Aaaand back to waiting...

Yes...The excitement aboard the Dove's Arrow never ends...

Waiting...waiting....waiting...........waiting..................

"FOR Fffff..." The door to Dom's room swings open just as Leth snaps. The anger boils away immediately now that Dom looks ready. In fact, as Leth made this noise he did look like he was loosing the pent up anger through steam.
"Yes?" Dom requested a sufficient reason for the irritation.
"We're going to a meeting of warriors. Why did you spend half an hour applying just the moisturiser?" The urge to kill for Leth was rising. Standing next to him was becoming worrying for the diminutive Ben. He steps to the side in case of damage to his pom-pom.
"You can't rush art." Dom said, walking across deck to the gang plank. "Come on or we'll be late." The other's followed on behind but Leth sped up to his brothers side as soon as they all touched down on the quay. It was fortunate that the airship was water-tight and floated.
"I've known girls that can get sorted faster than you can. Why do you have to bother with all that crap?! Maybe making sure your human skin looks nice would be good by why must you spend hours blow-dying your fur! No-one except you and us see it and we don't care! Right?" Leth's head snaps towards Ben and Osiris, who are just looking around at their new surroundings without a care about the brotherly squabble.
"I'm not getting involved in this." Osiris said, raising a grubby hand.
"I think Dom looks smart after he comes out, kupo." Ben added after Osiris backed away.
"Ben cares!" Dom said, all too quickly.
"What about the chunk of profit that goes on this stuff? Aaand the hours of noise coming from your hair-dryer alone!"
"I hurt no-one! Leave me alone. I try and look after my appearance and body rather than spend all my time in the dark with micro-ships and that Pantheress swimsuit calender."
"Oi! Your inside a lot too! Either grilling your skin or smearing stuff on it!"
"I'd half-expect to find out your skin has a protective layer of Cheetos."
"And I bet you'll turn yourself into a Ken doll if you keep on going." Oil-stained, rough but slender hands flop heavily on the brothers' shoulders.
"Easy. We need to be focused on what we came here to do. You can bicker when we have heard about the mission, got it?" Dom and Leth nodded as soon as the stern words were issued. You can sometimes wonder who's meant to have employed who...

Anyway, the light's of the meeting hall were close by.

(I apologise for the lateness of my reply.)

It had been James' idea to make a small base in the capitol of this new kingdom. Although he argued it was a strategic point Madric and Rhiana knew it was because the place had a lot more technology then any of them had every seen where they were from.
Although for the first few months everything had been good and James power had progressed reasonably well (After a while he even managed to figure out it when to stop before he fainted from exhaustion.) it had all went bad. One of the first people to disappear had been part of there family.
By the time of the kings summons there already small group had been reduced to just four. Then in the time before they were ment to submit there names to the king another of them disappeared. Now it is only the original evolved who remain, Rhiana, Madric and James.

James was paranoid that he would be next. Out of all the families around it was the evolved clan who had lost the most people. But even with them, the disappearances didn't seem to have any order, nothing to tell them what was happening. So James, had hardly touched his ability since the disappearances started, he had gotten it into his mind that they would strike when he was exhausted or busy.

Madric and Rhiana had a different approach, training as much as they could and preparing for the journey. Going over their weapons and abilities trying to strengthen their skills as much as possible.

But now, after what felt like (For James at least.) years, they were walking through the city. All dressed in there battle gear (And James in his hoody.) towards the place of the kings summons. People gave them frightened looks. Everyone wanted a solution but nobody wanted to act incase it angered whatever was doing this into a more blood thirsty state.

Mimi stopped to stretch, her limbs feeling a little sore after walking all day. Maybe I should have rented a mule or something, she thought idly. I've still got a few days trip. I really should have thought this through better! She sighed in frustration. She could always shift into something quicker, but full transformations took a lot of energy, and she didn't know how long she would have to recover once she reached Imentum. Perhaps she could find a cart or something that was heading in the same direction. She had a small amount of gold on her, enough to bribe someone if it really came down to it.

She tried to imagine what it would be like to be back in Imentum again. It hadn't been all that long since she had studied there, but it felt like so much had happened since then. Would it still look the same? She wondered if the Vanishings were affecting the capitol too. There had been so many people there; how many would be gone now? There would be new people too, she realized. That letter had gone out to all corners of the kingdom. It was more than likely that hundreds of people would reply. She had seen quite a few new kinds of people in the capitol, but this letter would bring in an even more diverse crowd, assuming that the Vanishing was affecting everyone equally. She shook her head. She didn't like not knowing what to expect.

Her cat ears perked up as she noticed someone that seemed to be on horse-back up ahead. She jogged forward, waving her hands in the air to let the stranger know that she meant no harm.

"Hey," she shouted, "can you hold on a minute?"

A cart pull past her and she heard a woman's voice saying hold on, but the cart keep on going like it is afirad to stop and become one of the lost. Alisson runs up to see a woman with a tail, and smell of healing heds. "Hello, Ma'am. They will not stop until they get wherever they are going. People are scared these days." the death god said nicely to the woman.

It has been a while since the ringed eyed woman trained in Imentum, and she wonders if it changed in anyway.

Ben slips in first, the small moogle in a mac is easy to spot in any crowd. There's no particular reason as to why he has arrived in the sparse town hall first. He is followed by Osiris and Dom.
"Is there anyone about at all?" Dom said, looking over at the three thugs that have gathered here for some reason. Each looked like they could smash a table in half if they so much as flicked it. One was kind enough to have his ill-fitting shirt on while the other two stood in their metal helmets and their leather trousers, abs on full display, waiting and chatting. THey seemed like brothers in how they seemed alike.
"We're on time..." Dom mutters as he rolls up a sleeve to look at his watch.
"Maybe this is all the help we can expect from here?" Osiris said. Even he seemed unconvinced by what he was saying. Leth wonders in.
"Hey!" He says, jerking a thumb back outside. "It says that we're two hours early. We got the time wrong." This was met with an unified groan. Dom palms his forehead.
"oh fer...Right..we might as well sit around here then..." He flops back into a chair, his arms coming to rest on its back like lounging at a photo shoot.

Within ten minutes the doors opened in front of the trio. Madric and Rhiana stepped through while talking although nether of them had touched the door. James still looked scared and stood behind the other two staring straight ahead.

Moving into the room the door shut behind them as if it was automated, a second later James seemed to come out of his trance and looked around at every, promptly moving to a seat he seemed to collapse into it "Thank god! I swear I didn't think we would make it. I was certain the thing would attack us or something on the way here!"
Madric and Rhiana looked at each other with raised eyebrows before bursting out in laughter, James not seeing the funny side scowled at them until they stopped.
"Oh get over it's just funny! It's not just me ether Rhiana thinks so as well!" Nether of them could keep a straight face at the look he gave them then.
It was only after another bout of laughter they realised a good portion of the room were looking at them "Ah... High everyone!"

Mimi looked up into the cart as she ran beside it, hoping to change the driver's mind about stopping. They seemed dead-set not to look at her though, simply urging the horses into a trot to outrun the small girl at their side. She sighed and slowed back down, putting her hands to her hips. Well, that was rude. She thought. Mimi's ears perked up as she heard someone approaching from behind. She turned to find a tall, slender woman walking up to her. She swished her tail behind her, anxious and excited that someone would actually talk to her in these times.

"I'm not sure why everyone is so jumpy," she responded cheerily. "I mean, it's not like I'm gonna grab her an' make her disappear, y'know?" She shrugged. "But whatever. People will do what they want, anyway. I'm Miyan. Or Mimi. Whichever."

Mimi smiled. This lady seemed nice, so far. Maybe she would have some company for the trip, if she was going the same way. It wasn't as good as a ride, but she would take it. Having someone to talk to would make the trip go by faster, if nothing else.

"I know, but people will still running scared. My name is Alisson. Would you like some compeny?" the chocolate color haired woman said with a light smile. Her silver earing sway lightly in the wind. She hopes that this person is going her way, and may work together on what is going on with all the dissaparings. Ali fix her suit after her run and short talk with Mimi.

Do you think it ironic that these four men gave a quick, quiet glance at Madric before looking away quickly? Ben resumed chatting to Osiris while the elf tried to look for a clock in this room. Leth looked back at a small PDA that he continued to poke with a stylus while Dom's gaze fell straight on the young woman.
"Hello to you too." Dom said, smiling slyly as he rose to his feet. His eyes travels up her chest, along her neck and into the radiant eyes. In fact, that last part seemed almost literal. He offers a hand to her.
"I am Domanic, Captain Domanic of the Late Hunt At Dawn. What brings a beauty such as you here?" Dom continues the attempt at dashing with his curtious but slightly flirty smile. The extra time preening might come in handy after all....

Leth barely looks up to realise what's going on. The short answer is 'he's off again'.

James snorted and sat back for the show. He doubted Rhiana would appreciate someone looking over her like a piece of meat for sale. Oh, and of Madric would make things interesting. Although nether of them admitted it, it was obvious there was something between them. Madric liked Rhiana and she liked him. Funny that nether seemed to believe that the other could like them enough to make a move.
It made things even more interesting when they were so obviously defensive of each other.

Madric was besides her in an instant his gaze on Dom, when he offered his hand Madric attempted to reach forward and deliver a bone crushing handshake but Rhiana's hand on his chest stopped him, looking up just in time to catch a sly wink from her he backed off and went to sit next to James.

A brief smile crossed Rhiana's face as she offered her own hand in return. But instead of a handshake she put her hand forward palm down as you would see in an olden day film where the man kisses his way up her arm. Rather then letting him kiss her, the moment any contact was made she would reverse the grip into a strong handshake, a second later the sound of a blade being drawn.

(Think Assassins creed, just longer and thinner.)
From under his wrist a blade would flash out straight towards Dom's own wrist, but rather then impaling his poor hand the blade would curve around it with much the same movement as a snake. This time a wicked smile would lay itself across her face as the blades twists around Doms arm, growing thinner and longer, then just below the elbow the blade would curve, it's pointed end still moving rather like a serpent, very lightly it would scratch his arm, leaving but the faintest red lines. All the while Rhiana would stare straight into his eyes.

James broke the tension with a loud yawn followed by a lazy call of "Hurry it up."

Fast as that same snake snake striking the blade withdraws into it's sheath, Rhiana lets go of Dom's hand, leans forward and kiss him on the cheek very softly while stoking the other side of his face with the hand she had shown to have the blade hidden in. As she takes her lips from his 'skin' she speaks, not overly loudly or quietly, but yet it seemed to echo. "Hun, I don't think you could handle a wild girl like me, so go sit down and refine your style before trying that on anyone. Hey?" She pats his cheek softly before walking back to Madric and James.

As she sits down James yawns again "God you are such a drama queen Rhia. Ouch." He was interupted by one of the nails in the seat he was sitting in deciding it didn't want to be blunt or point down, but rather point up pretty sharply straight into James.

((Why do all my female characters do this to Dom?))
((Just noticed my female characters seem to be the most frightening... I'm sure a shrink could make something of that lol.))

(First question: Because Dom believes in a sort of full force method of getting a date and I have no idea. Have you large groups of strong women in your life? Or have you never tried to write a quieter character that isn't homicidal because you find it boring?)

Dom barely took any notice of Madric's advance as Rhiana placed her hand on his. He couldn't help but let out a grin with was was, for a second at least, a triumph.

Then the blade made it's self-known and the sudden urge to peck lightly up the good ladies arm did vanish quickly. Meh. A cliché anyway. He could do better than that. Interestingly, so could she. Dom watched her party piece as the assassin wrist blade wormed around his arm as though it had melted and gained a life of its own. A still very sharp rubber band that draws itself thinner and thinner as it winds round, digging gently into Dom's arm through his shirt. It pokes at the side of his stomach. He jerks out of the way.
"Kinky." Dom said. Interestingly, the grin hasn't really gone away. More something of aloof knowledge of what's going on.

James breaks up the party.

A quick snik and the blade had shot back up Rihana's sleeve. She gives a quick peck on the cheek while sliding her fingers across his face and shooting a look at him with flirtatious eyes as she moves towards her seat.
"Hun, I don't think you could handle a wild girl like me, so go sit down and refine your style before trying that on anyone. Hey?" Dom's grin gained an extra layer of cockiness. He stifled a snigger.
"Babes!" He replied, folding his arms. "I guy like me has enough lives to survive anything any wild girl could throw at me." He swaggers after Rhiana and slides into the row in front of her, kneeling on the chair.
"We got an hour and a half, I think. Maybe we should chat. We'll probably be working together."

"At some point, we should think about a spray bottle for him." Osiris mumbled to Ben next to him. He was jerking his head towards Dom. Leth sniggered into his PDA screen.
"If only..." He added.

Mimi hesitated for a moment before answering. She had been quick to approach someone for a ride, but was it really a good idea to travel with someone she didn't know? She could suddenly understand the other person's concern, even if they over did it a bit. In the end though, she really did want the company. It wasn't like she didn't know how to take care of herself, after all.

"It's nice to meet you, Alisson! I'd love someone to talk to, if you're going the same way. I'm on my way to the capitol. You know, they've been calling people there."

She began walking again, trusting her new companion to keep up. It shouldn't be too hard for her, since her legs were so much longer than Mimi's.

"I am going that way my self. The elders has calls me to see about the vanishings of a few death gods and people." Alisson said calmly with a light smile. She keep up with Mimi easlly, and glad that they have the something in common. She hopes that she will meet more people that will help with this prolem.

Mimi nodded, sobered a bit by the reminder of the purpose for her journey.

"A few people from my village have gone missing too," she said, looking down at the ground while she walked. "It's weird, you know? They just up and dissappeared. I looked around m-" she cleared her throat, "the house of someone that disappeared. I didn't see any thing strange, you know? It was like, they were there one minute, doing their normal stuff, and then the next they're gone. I'm hoping someone at the meeting will have a better idea what's going on."

She glanced over at her companion, trying to read her. She had said something about death gods, but Mimi wasn't familiar with them outside of a few bedtime stories. Alisson seemed like a normal girl to her. She wondered what kind of things made a death god different. The name itself sounded a bit ominous.

"I know, and I hope the Elders have some ideas." Alisson said with calm tone. She knows that most people think that Death God are only bedtime stories that parents tell there kids. She push her glasses up to the top of her nose. Her ring green and yellow look at Mimi and sees that she also lost someone close to her. Her feet starts to hurt and she sees a inn.

"I am not made for long disents. Can we stop at the inn to rest our bodys and get some food?" the woman in the dark suit ask nicely. Even thou that Death Gods don't have to eat, some of them do because it is good.

(Ah no actually... I've got no idea lol)

Madric growled as Dom continued his advance, but other then that he made no move. A cold laugh escaped Rhiana's lips as Dom's gun suddenly went off without anyone touching it. The slug went through the chair he was sitting in and stuck into the floor. James couldn't help himself "Really, maybe you should work on your control first... Mr Quick Shot." Then he started laughing at his own joke until he realised Madric was giving him a look like he was pondering why they were friends.

Completely ignoring James, Rhiana ginned coldly "If they put us together I would shoot, you." She said this in the tone in which one would say they would shoot themselves. But to back up her point she put her hand behind her and drew out a small pistol, only half the size of a .44 Magnum although just as lethal.

Mr Giggles decided to pipe up as Dom's shotgun fired for no reason. It splintered the wood of the chair near by then smashed the tiles underneath.
"Really, maybe you should work on your control first... Mr Quick Shot." Ah, temptation to slap him was rising steadily but Dom kept the coy, subtly sadistic smile. He looks down at the damage before looking back up at James.
"And next time, I'll point it at you."

"If they put us together I would shoot, you." Rhiana said in the same manner as an execution order. Dom turns to her.
"Huh, your into some strange things." he said, the same cocky grin he gave her hadn't faltered despite the obvious death threat or the new presence of her weapon. "But hey! I'm not one to judge who likes what. Maybe you could tell me all about it over a drink after this, huh?"

(Feel free to shoot him. Killshot if you'd like, providing Rhiana's that nasty.)

Mimi nodded. She, too, was hoping that someone would have a better idea of what was going on then she did. Perhaps someone even had a plan. She didn't want to get her hopes up too much until she heard the king's announcement, whatever that was. She looked up at the sky, surprised at how late it had gotten. It wasn't quite dark yet, but the sun was beginning to sink in the sky.

"I wouldn't mind stopping, I guess," she said, pulling out a hand drawn map she had been given. "There should be a town not too far ahead. We should be able to find somewhere there to stop. If we're lucky, we can even hire a cart."

If they could get a faster means of travel, they might be able to reach the capitol tomorrow. She wanted to get there as soon as possible, just in case the gathering started early. It would be a shame to travel all this way and still miss the announcement.

((No, no. She isn't that nasty. She is worse...)

As Dom spoke Osiris' PDA screen went blank. After a second it began to show lines as if they were being written on a typewriter, just extremely fast. "You really need to control this guy, he is going to get himself hurt. - James." Below that three figures printed themselves onto the screen, one of each Madric, Rhiana and James. An arrow flashed at the picture of James and as Osiris watched that picture winked and then make a 'gun finger/hand' and made a firing motion. A second later the PDA turned back to the screen it had been on previously.

All while he spoke Rhiana's gaze turned steadily more icy. Malice was obvious in her voice as she spoke "Threatening my friend put you on thin ice. Do you know what happens when you put pressure on thin ice? Well, typically there is a sharp crack and liquid is spilt." As the last word left her mouth she flipped the gun, caught it and shot, not for the head or heart. No instead her deadly aim directed her bullet straight at his groin.
Before even waiting for any sort of shocked silence to form she was speaking again "What do you do when two male dogs keep fighting? Desex one of them."

((Writing this made me cringe.))

(Aww...that's no fun...great...Also, I might not have made this is clear as I could have done but Leth has the PDA, not Osiris.)

There was a few tense, muffled screams as Dom keeps his mouth shut. He then reaches for his shotgun.

"Should we have stopped him, kupo?" Ben said, oddly nonchalant about Dom's sudden but crustal injury. Leth scoffed.
"Nah. How else will he eventually learn to pick the right women?" Leth said, never taking an eye of his PDA. "We should have picked up a few Gikon after all..."
"Should have brought bags too..." Osiris added

Dom, still trying to stifle the occasional jet of pain as he brought the shotgun to his temple. He swallows, wiping his weeping eyes.
"Ah...Your an interesting lady but I think I've got to leave you for a few minutes...excuse me..." He said, hoarse with the pain. And with that, he pulled the trigger for the next round while aiming the other side of his head away from the four of them. The cascading explosion was muffled by his imploding skull, caving in on gray matter then spraying out on the floor on the other side. He flops back in to the mess, one leg on the chair.

"Should we..."
"No. He made the mess, he'll sort it out." Leth looks up from his PDA and over to James, Rhiana and Madric. "Don't worry. He'll be back in a second or two. Dom doesn't see death as the handicap it's meant to be. You see..." He stops as the lights in the room dim heavily then power back up to full brightness.
"You see he's not human..."

Two minutes pass and the doors swing open. An out of breath but perfectly alive (and whole) Domanic walked in carrying a bag and a tube of something in his pocket. It looked like a tube of children's sweets, even with a cartoon rabbit head...Speaking to no-one but clearly wearing a newly cleaned copy of what he was wearing, Dom fished the contents out of his own pockets; ammo, gun, sword and other bits and pieces before readying the plastic bag. He covers his last body with it and drags the corpse towards the corner, all without a single glance at Rhiana.
"Your cleaning up the next one!" Dom said as he took a seat back with Leth, arms crossed and throughout annoyed.

Xane sat in the limbs of an oak tree resting from the previous night, the missing were growing greater in number from what he heard. So far none has affected him yet, but there was times, when he was younger, that he wished one of his “siblings” might have disappeared, if ony it wouldn’t have made Kathy and Jack upset. He pulled out one of his knives and started to sharpen it, it was out of habit but it calmed him down a bit. He hadn’t been called to the capital, they had already called some Rangers to look for them. Steven, his master’s apprentice before him, was sent from them along with his old apprentice Jordan.

A hawk’s cry reached his ears, he held out his gloved hand for the hawk to land. The goshawk landed on the outstretched arm and took the piece of jerky Xane offered it. She offered him his leg to where he untied the letter attached to it. He quickly read the small note, all it said was: Come Here ~Nicole. Xane stared at it for a little while, it seemed urgent, but the last time he got a letter from Nicole and them that seemed urgent, they just wanted to see him and say hi.

“Should I go girl?” he asked the preening goshawk. She just rustled her feathers at him, and he gave a small chuckle. The hawk hopped off his arm allowing him to jump down from the tree. Placing his hood on, he took off into the darkness.

“Where is he!” he heard as he was climbing up the wall to Nicole’s place, “he should have been here hours ago!”

“Calm down,” another girl said, “he’ll get here as soon as he can.” Xane jumped into the room silently as he was taught.

“Who’ll be here soon?” he asked with a smirk. Breanan and Nicole rushed over and hugged him, however Shawna she just looked at him and collapsed to the ground crying.

“Woah, what’s wrong Shawna?” he asked giving her a hug.

“Chris! He’s vanished!” Xane stood there shocked as she cried into his chest.

"I see an Inn from here. I hope they have a nice bed to sleep on." said the woman with ringed eyes of green and yellow to the young woman next to her. Alisson is worn out from walking all this way and still more miles to go. She wonders why she cannot use the portals that all Death Gods use, but that is not her call. The brown haired woman have to find her friend as fast as she can because Mr. Spears her boss is wory sick about his wife.

Alisson hopes that with help from other beings they will find the missing and get them all home safe. Everyone loves Alice and she is the only one that can really deal with Grell. When she left, she sees that even Grell is down and tell her to find Alice.

The whole group of three sat silent as they watched the strange ordeal. Only James flinched when the shotgun went off and even he only minimally so. Leth's PDA lit up again as a few words appeared on it "He was lucky, she can do much worse."

Rhiana smiled as Leth explained "Oh I guessed. I once met a man named Alan in a tavern. He was an even greater flirt, and cocky beyond belief. I managed to find out he was not human and that he had no fear of death."

They were silent again as Dom moved back into the room and got rid of his old body, but Rhiana could not help but rib him a bit further "You know, you are lucky I allowed you to shoot yourself."

At the same time Madric and James were talking in soft voices to each other, wondering when the rest would arrive and when it would all start.