File: image.jpg (96 KB, 575x784)

96 KB JPG

>>46188205
>>Ask Emi what she was dreaming of
Is Emi more reptilian in the top side or more human the top side?

>>46188205
>Are you annoyed?

>>46188205
>>Are you annoyed?
>Ask Emi what she was dreaming of

>writing

"Are you annoyed?" You ask.
"Are you an idiot?" Ilica asks.
"That's the third time someone's asked me that" You say.

Ilica squeezes her eyes shut, and extends her claws.

Emi slithers in between the two of you and holds her hands up in front of Ilica. "C-calm down Ilica, let's not lose our cool" She says.

Ilica lets her claws back in, turns, and walks back to where Fran and Derrick are without saying a word.

You watch her go for a moment, before turning to Emi. "Is she mad?" You ask.
"She'll be fine... probably" Emi says. "She just doesn't have much patience"

"Oh..." You say. Well, not much you can do about that. "What were you dreaming about?"
"Hm? Uhh... nothing much, really" She says.

Emi fidgets for a moment, while you decide to look her over.

If you could only see her top half, you would almost think she was human. But from around her belly-button down, she's like a snake.

Emi's scales are green on her... would you call that her back? Maybe... Anyway, her back scales are green, while her front scales are a little more yellow. Her hair, in comparison, is long and black. Like Ilica, her eyes have slits, but they're yellow instead of green.

Her cheeks seem a little scalier than the rest of her when you look closely, and her front teeth seem a little odd too...

"S-sssomething wrong?" Emi asks.

>Ask about her teeth

>What's a demon?

>Go see Derrick and Fran

>Other

>>46189163
>Ask about her teeth

>>46189163
>>Ask about her teeth

>writing

"You have weird teeth" You say.
"Oh, these?" She asks, pointing to her mouth. More specifically, the two teeth in the front that look weird. Those probably have a name, but you don't know it. "Those teeth have grooves for my fangs"

"You have fangs?" You ask.
"For venom" She says. "I don't use them much"

"Groovy" You say with a smile.

Emi looks at you in confusion. "What does that mean?" She asks.
You open your mouth to answer, but come up with nothing. "I don't know" You say after a moment in silence.

Emi leans in and looks closely at your face. "Are you sure you're okay?" She asks.
"Pretty sure" You say.

...

"Well... if you say so" Emi says, as she raises herself up and away from you. It hadn't occured to you how much taller she could get if she did that... it makes you feel sort of small.

Maybe you should get stilts.

You don't know what those are, but they sound like they would come in handy.

"Come on, sounds like they're done talking over there" Emi says. "Let's go see what the plan is"
"Kay" You say.

>[1/2]

File: maxresdefault.jpg (21 KB, 1280x720)

21 KB JPG

>>46189648
>Groovy
I know imagine us as Ash, and nothing can stop me.

You and Emi go to where everyone else is sitting.

There are some lines and points drawn on the ground between them, as well as several words you don't recognize.

"Done planning?" Emi asks.
"Oh, hey you two" Derrick says. "Yeah, pretty much"

You crouch next to the lines and dots to get a closer look. "What's this?" You ask.
"It's a map of our immediate area" Derrick says, as he points out some of the named dots. "This is where we are, a few miles north of Mortifas"

"I see..." You say.

"Over here to the east is Contique, where Fran is headed" Derrick says. "And to the east are the towns of Sherton, Bell's Run, and finally Locke"

"Locke is where you're going?" You ask.
"Yes" Derrick says. "You three are welcome to come along, if you'd like"

"I'll stick with you" Emi says. "I've always wanted to meet Altea. From the stories, she is quite the woman"
Derrick smiles. "That she is..." He says. "What about you, Ilica?"

Ilica leans back onto her hands, and points at a point on the ground with her foot. "I'm on this ride until Sherton, after that I'm in the wind" She says. "This rebellion's got nothin' to do with me"

"I understand... I suppose" Derrick says. "What about you, Yuu?"

You look at the map again. It's sort of hard to get a good picture of things from such a crudely drawn thing...

>Fran's not coming?

>I'll go with you

>Other

>>46190049
>Fran's not coming?

>>46190049
>Fran's not coming?

>>46190049
>>Fran's not coming?

>>46190049
>Fran's not coming?

>writing

"Fran's not coming?" You ask.

Fran smiles. "No, sweetie. Like he said, I'm headed the opposite way" She says.
"Right... your daughters?" You ask.

"If they're as smart as you say, they won't be in Contique anymore" Ilica says.
Fran looks troubled, but she shakes it off quickly. "I have to start somewhere" She says. "I'll still have friends there and with any luck, Lance will be back as well"

"Lance?" You ask.
"My husband" She says. "He's a hunter, but he was off on mission when the inquisitors came..."

"A hunter, huh?" Derrick says. "No doubt the inquisition would have been far less hasty to lock you up had he been there..."
Fran sighs. "You're probably right, but... what can I say?" She says. "Devils like myself just... aren't well loved"

"Hunter?" You ask.
"It's an organization" Derrick says. "They eliminate monsters that become strong enough to threaten society, and harvest their essence for use in mana reactors"

You blink a few times.

Ilica chuckles. "How much of that did you actually understand?" She asks.
"Uhh... monsters are bad?" You ask.

"It means that Fran's husband is strong" Emi says.
"That too" You say.

Derrick gets a worried look, and scans around you. "If you're coming with us, I guess we could go more in depth on the way... but I'd rather not stick around here for too long" He says.

>I'll come with you

>I'll go with Fran

>Other

>>46190507
>I'll go with Fran
It sounds like the Hunters might know more about what we might be.

>>46190507
>I'll come with you

>>46190507
>>I'll come with you

>>46190507
>>I'll come with you

Goal: Get Ilica to like us.

>writing

"I'll go with you" You say.
Derrick grins. "Alright then" He says, before turning to Fran. "Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?"

Fran smiles innocently. "I'm not exactly a pushover" She says, as the area around you darkens. "If anything, I should be asking you that"

Derrick picks up the sword that was lying next to him, the same one he must have nabbed from the guard you kneed in the face. "I'm quite the swordsman, and there's no more Chaos engine holding me back" He says, as the sword in his hand catches fire.

"And you three?" Fran asks.
"I have some skill with my own element" Emi says.
Ilica extends her claws. "Not my first rumble" She says.

Fran looks to you.

"I... I can punch stuff pretty good... I think" You say.
"He seems to have the good stuff that comes with being a demon, without the attitude adjustment" Derrick says. "But, we'll have to see if we can't get him to a Mastery stone... I think there's one in Sherton, if we can get in to use it"

"Mastery stone?" You ask.
"We'll explain later" Derrick says.

Fran closes her eyes and nods, then she stands up. "Well... I hope to see you all again" She says.
"Likewise" Derrick says, as he stands as well.

"If you happen to see my daughters, tell them I'm looking for them" Fran says.
"How will we know them?" Ilica asks.
"They're both devils, like me" Fran says. "Daisy is the younger one. She's about 6, and she looks a lot like me. The elder is Lily. She's 8 years old, and a red devil"

You try to imagine a younger Fran and a red younger Fran... the image is kind of cute.

>[1/2]

"Well then, we should all be off" Derrick says. "I think we've just about used up any leeway we had, so they'll be coming for us soon"

"Agreed" Fran says. "Thank you for helping me get out of there..."
"It was your tail that undid the lock" Derrick says. "After that... I think Yuu did most of the work"

Fran smiles, and reaches over to put a hand on your cheek. "He is a strange one..." Fran says.
"Is that bad?" You ask.
"I hope not" Fran says, as she pulls her hand away and steps back. "There's a Scholar I know... Stoencht is his name. He lives in Leon, so you may not be able to see him anytime soon"

"Think he might know something about... Yuu?" Derrick asks.
"If anyone knows anything, it'd be him" Fran says.

Derrick nods. "Thanks for the tip" He says.

"Well then-" Fran says, as waves to you. "Until next time"
"Until next time" Derrick, Ilica and Emi all say.
"See you later" You say.

Fran smiles as she turns and walks off to what you assume is the east.

After a moment, Derrick turns and walks to what you assume is the west. You, Emi and Ilica all follow.

"So, Yuu" Derrick says. "I said we'd explain on the way. What do you want to know first?"

>What's a mastery stone?

>What am I?

>Are there normal women?

>What's a rebelilly?

>Other

>>46191405
>>What's a mastery stone?

>>46191405
>What's a mastery stone?
>What's a rebelilly?

>>46191405
>What am I?
>Why does Ilica not like me?

>>46191405
>>What's a mastery stone?

>writing

"What's a mastery stone?" You ask.

"Ah, yes" Derrick says. "Those are special stones that you find in most armories...well, most higher end armories at least"

"What do they do?" You ask.

"You hit them" He says. "You can only scratch a mastery stone with the type of weapon that you have the greatest affinity for. They're used to help people find out what kind of weapon they'll be best with"

"Have you ever used one?" You ask.

Derrick holds out his sword. "Knicked it on my first go" He says. "Wasn't hard to find, my family has always been good with a sword"
"Neat" You say, before turning to Emi "What about you?"

"I put a dent in one using a longstaff" Emi says. "Though I've never been much of a fighter..."

You nod, and then turn to Ilica. She looks sort of annoyed again.

"Never touched one" Ilica says, and then she extends her claws. "But I can skin a carcass in no time at all with these"
"That's... kind of gross" Emi says.

Ilica shrugs. "I do what I have to" She says. "Sometimes that means getting some blood on my paws"
"So you do call them paws..." You say.
"What was that?" Ilica asks.
"I was wondering if they were called hands or paws" You say. "Now I know"
Ilica sighs as she retracts her claws. "Sherton is how far, again?" She asks.

"Relax, we'll get there" Derrick says.

>Ask about where they come from

>Ask about Demons

>Ask what a Chaos engine is

>Other

>>46192009
>Ask about where they come from

>>46192009
>>Ask what a Chaos engine is

>writing

"So what was that red thingy in the dark room?" You ask.
"You mean the Chaos Engine?" Ilica asks.
"Yes" You say.

"I think the better question is how the hell you survived it... but I doubt you can answer that" Ilica says.

"That's a bit more complicated..." Emi says. "Do you know about Mana?"
"Nope" You say.

"Well... we'll give you the short version, since I don't think we can go too in depth" Derrick says.
"I'm okay with that" You say.

"Good" Emi says. "Basically, there are two energies that exist in this world: Mana and Soul. Mana is the power that gives life to all things, but it would be pointless without the Soul"

"Why?" You ask.
Emi thinks for a moment before answering. "Think of it this way: the 'soul' acts as a container for your mana. Even though mana exists everywhere, it is only considered yours if it exists inside your soul" She says. "On top of that, all magic is simply mana converted into elemental power"

"Sounds useful" You say.

Emi nods. "Now, given that mana is the source of both magic and life, you have to be careful about how you use it. If you use too much magic, you risk using up your mana" She says.
"What happens then?" You ask.
Derrick snaps his fingers. "You die" He says.
"Oh" You say. "What about that engine thing?"

"I was getting to that" Emi says. "The Chaos engine is part power source, part weapon. Most cities and towns have mana engines that supply them with power. The Chaos engine was made as a possible replacement"
"But-" Derrick says. "Anyone who gets close to one gets their magical abilities cut off. Too close, and you die"

"Unless you're a freak of nature" Ilica says. "Like you"
"Am I not normal?" You ask.
"I'm afraid not" Emi says, looking sorry.

You shrug. "I think I'm okay with that" You say.

>[1/2]

"Still... you seem to know your stuff, Emi" Derrick says.

"I read a lot" Emi says.
"Is everyone from the Isles as well read as you?" Derrick asks.
"N-not really" Emi says. "I'm just... a bit of a bookworm"
"I thought you were a snake" You say.

Emi giggles. "It was a figure of speech" She says.

You don't really know what that means, but you let it go for now.

"What are the Isles?" You ask.
"The Southern Isles" Derrick says. "As you might guess, they're south of here. It's a bunch of tropical islands which are each run by a different house"

You open your mouth to ask what tropical means, but Ilica beats you to the punch. "And before you ask, tropical is a fancy way of saying really warm"
"I see" You say. "So she's from the southern Isles... where are you from?"
"Me?" Derrick says. "I'm from a city to the north of here. A place called Dendron, which sits on the shores of the lake with the same name"

You nod, and then look to Ilica... and she ignores you.
"Ilica" You say.
"I'm not from anywhere, okay? So drop it" She says.
"Like me?" You ask.
"I don't think anyone is like you" She says, as she quickens her pace to get ahead of the group. "I'm gonna go up ahead a bit"

You watch for a moment as she walks away...

>I don't think she likes me

>What are demons?

>Other

>>46192851
>>I don't think she likes me
>>What are demons?
Man, IIica a shit.

>>46192851
>I don't think she likes me

>>46192851
>I don't think she likes me
>Why doesn't she like me ?

>>46192851
>>I don't think she likes me
>>What are demons?

>>46192851
>I don't think she likes me
>What are demons?

>>46192851
>>46192934
adding >Why doesn't she like me ?

>>46192851
>I don't think she likes me
>What are demons?

>>46192851
>>I don't think she likes me

>writing

"I don't think she likes me" You say.

"I think it just takes her a while to warm up to people" Emi says
"She seems to like you two" You say.

"We learned not to rub her the wrong way in the time we spent together in that cell" Derrick says.
"There's a right way?" You ask.
"You'll get it eventually" Derrick says.

"But she's leaving, isn't she?" You ask.

Derrick and Emi both look a little down.
"Right... I guess so" Emi says.

Derrick pats you both on the back. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it" He says.
Emi smiles weakly and nods. "Yeah" She says.

"So what are demons?" You ask.

Derrick gives you an incredulous look, and then laughs. "Straight back to the point, huh?" He asks.
"It seemed like a good time" You say.

Emi nods. "I guess so" She says.

>[1/2]

"A demon is someone who has committed themselves to one of the three sins" Derrick says, as he lists them off on his fingers. "Sins of the mind, Sins of the flesh, and Sins of the blood"

"When you become a demon your sin consumes your heart, making it rot away while your body continues without it" Emi says. "From then on, your sin becomes your life"

"A Demon of Blood would be doomed to kill until he was killed in turn, or a Demon of Mind would steal or cheat or lie... the list goes on" Derrick says.

"What about the eyes?" You ask.
"Ah, yes" Derrick says. "Along with the heart, becoming a demon changes your eyes as well. A demon of blood's eyes will turn red, a demon of flesh's eyes will turn purple, and a demon of mind's eyes will turn green"

"Like Ilica's eyes?" You ask.
"No... it's a different shade than hers" Emi says. "You'll know it when you see it, because you'll feel it"
"Feel what?" You ask.
"The chill" Derrick says. "It's the only surefire way of tell that there's a demon around"
"What does it feel like?" You ask.
"Hmmm... it's sort of like a cool breeze suddenly hitting the back of your neck, making all your hairs stand up" Derrick says.

"Like goosebumps?" You ask.
"Goose... bumps?" Emi says. "What's a goose?"

You shrug. "I dunno" You say. "Sounds tasty though"

Emi and Derrick exchange and glance, then they shrug as well.

>So what does that make me?

>Why are people being killed because of demons?

>Other

>>46193572
>>So what does that make me?

>>46193572
>>So what does that make me?
What color are our eyes again?

>>46193572
>>>So what does that make me?

>>46193572
>>So what does that make me?

>>46193609
Gold.

>>46193609
gold/yellow

>>46193572
>So what does that make me?

>>46193609
Gold I think.

>>46193609
Yellow, I think.

>writing

>>46193572
TIME FOR BLIND AND BLATANTLY WRONG SPECULATION

Blood/Red: Wrath
Flesh/Purple: Lust
Mind/Green: Greed
???/Yellow: Envy

They think it's 3 but it's 7

"What does that make me?" You ask. "I'm not evil... am I?"

The idea that you might be evil scares you... you never asked to be evil, and you don't really feel evil, but what if you just are?

Would there be anything you could do about that?

Emi gives you a comforting pat on the back. "I don't think you are" She says.
"You were nice enough to let those soldiers get out of the way before blasting them all to oblivion" Derrick says. "I doubt an evil person would do that"

"Oh yeah" You say. "Was anyone hurt?"
"Not from the looks of things" Derrick says. "They seemed alright with letting us run away after that though, so you may have scared them pretty bad"

You nod. That's good to hear. You weren't really looking to hurt anyone, you just wanted to get through.

"Plus, gold eyes don't really fit into the description of a demon" Derrick says. "And while we may not know where you got that wound on your chest from, I don't think your heart rotted away from sin"

A smile comes to your face. Even if you might still be evil... it's nice to have people that are willing to convince you otherwise.

There's probably a word for that...

Ah... whatever.

>[1/2]

>>46194015
If there are demons of sins, is there angels of virtue?

test

As you try to place what you might call people like Emi and Derrick, you spot Ilica coming back to you.

"See anything up there, Ilica?" Derrick asks.
"The road is just ahead" She says. "I could see the town from where we'll be getting on"

"Great" Emi says. "I didn't think we'd be so close..."
"Sherton's got some high towers" Derrick says. "Unfortunately 'visible' in this case doesn't mean close"

"How far is it?" You ask.
"If we keep a good pace... we could get there by midday tomorrow. Maybe even by nightfall tonight if we go quickly" Derrick says.
"What'll we do when we get there?" Emi asks.

"If I were you, I'd start by getting heartless there a shirt" Ilica says. "Beyond that..." She shrugs.
"Good call. If we don't want to be noticed, it's probably not a good idea to parade around barechested with scars like that" Derrick says.

"Do we have a way of getting money?" Emi asks.
"We could sell the mana sto-"

Suddenly, Ilica shushes the group. You look over to see her hair standing up, and her ears flicking about.

"Something wrong?" You ask, quietly.
"How long did you say it would take to reach Sherton?" Ilica asks.
"If we go fast-"
"How about if we run?" Ilica whispers.
"What is it?" Emi asks.

"We have company" Ilica says. "Big company"

That's all for tonight!

Next thread will be tomorrow night. I'll try to run this weekend if I can, but it looks like I'll be busy.

As always I'll be sticking around in case anyone has questions or suggestions.

>>46194397
>Big company
Are we gonna have a bad time?

>>46194412
thanks for running

>>46194412
I appreciate the same OP image every time, makes fining the threads much easier.

Also, when you do >writing could you also greentext the options you're writing for? no big deal but I'd like to know what was chosen~

>>46194412
Great thread, Smiley!

>>46194502
The OP image will probably change eventually, once I stop being lazy and get an actual picture done for it instead of something I snagged off google images. But I'll put any new OP image up at the end of a thread before actually using it.

And I'll try to keep that in mind. Usually the winner is pretty clear cut, but i guess it would be helpful to clarify things before I start.