Red hood, Yellow Sun *

I was a bit happy that she would let me handle this instead of providing some other type of answer; women weren’t always easy to read. I knew Eri would have attacked by now, so I was accustomed to the idea that a woman may want to fight as well. Luckily I’m saved that type of interference when she gives me the simple go ahead to take care of business. I could tell that she was getting a kick out of that queen thing; maybe I was doing something right? Either way, my attention shifts forwards as the men would already be entering into the mouth of the alleyway heading towards us speaking various threats about how we should not have ran and to prepare for something referred to as the pain train. Mentally I advise Battousai that he was up, to which he cynically complains about over hyping his abilities. I give a slight chuckle inwardly and Battousai finally decides to switch places with me.

A bright light flashes in the alley way as I perform my Phase Shift causing my body to shift and change into the form of Battousai where my hair grew slightly longer, my muscle tone and body condensed to become more ripped and slender as opposed to thick and my eyes glowed slightly more red. It wouldn’t be a huge change from my previous form, just enough to put Battousai in the comfort of his own form. A red tint hangs in the air with the Phase Shift as a weak bind is thrust on the males in front of me.

Now manifest into this world, I had my objective before me. I didn’t consider myself one to fight for sport but rather for survival and the protection of the host body. By the time the clansmen realized their discomfort of the weak bind, my body would have thrust forwards increasing my overall attributes once (Possessed Strength) and my speed twice (Speed Burst). To my advantage, the men here were normal humans, so I didn’t have to do anything too flashy; the bind would hold them well enough coupled with the element of surprise. The first male who had thrown his spear and was now weaponless would be targeted first and cut in my passing. In my passing I would get behind them to cut off the exit of the alley’s entrance. It was a given to m that since they had seem my face, I couldn’t let them live. After passing by the first, a red line forms at his neck where his chest armor did not cover. The line bursts as blood and parts of his throat falls from the place as his eyes roll back and he falls forwards. In his falling, I would still be in motion. My blade would swiftly slash upwards sending a force of wind towards the trio (Winged Slash), causing the sandy grounds below to shoot up dust and sand in their direction, hindering their visibility and kicking up dust in the alleyway. The next step forward places me between the two clansmen on either side with me standing over the body of the fallen first having memorized their positions and postures. I slash in an arching manner diagonally up and out to my left, aiming for the neck to cut the audibility of the victim. The attack hits its target and in turning I duck and slash low, knocking the third male from his feet with a slight sound before I step forwards and thrust my blade down, pinning the male at his neck to the ground with my blade. As the dust begins to clear, pools of blood start to spread out from beneath the three, now dead bodies. While slashing my blade to the side to clean it of blood, I channel my Ki and emit another exert that causes even more dust to fill around us, almost as a smoke screen. The blade is flipped in a reverse manner in my palm and thrust behind me, sliding it into its sheath. With that, I do not linger as I dash toward the young lady who had stayed back in all of this. I had to get out of here and according to Jyn’Rai, she was to come as well. Approaching her at an abnormal rate of speed, I swiftly scoop her up in my arms. My feet push off from the ground and my body ascends upwards to the rooftop of the side building. Landing on the roof, I run along the roof tops to put distance between the dusty back alley and ourselves. In the form of Battousai, I would be more focused on the next objective than being social like Jyn’Rai.

Persona: Battousai | Timeline: 20 AD (Before reaching Rajeh) | EXP: 840 / 7692 | Role: Adventurer

There seemed to be some discomfort from the one being transported, but such a thing was necessary to get us away from the scene of the crime. I wanted to steer away from any further offensive interactions with the tribe that ran this current area. Something that was a bit disturbing was the fact that she didn’t seem bothered by scenes of gore when the men were cut up and left bleeding; rather she seemed interested in them, which would be a bit of the opposite reaction that I would expect from a woman. This would be an internal warning, at least to me coupled with the fact that I got a bad vibe from her overall; I would be that much more wary of the woman that Jyn’Rai seemed to wish to hang around. Either way, as the request came in, I was able to hone in on an alley similar to the one we had been in. My body descends from the rooftops with her in it and I land on my feet, shifting her body to allow her to stand on her own and escape the carrying bounds of my arms. After releasing her and letting stand on her own, a similar flash of light would emit as I would phase shift, switching places with Jyn’Rai; I wasn’t very interested in socially interacting with the woman further than I had to.

As the phase shift ends, my hair shortens, my muscle mass grows a little and I revert to the form of Jyn’Rai. Now back manifested into the world I would comment, “sorry about the roughness… but then again, it looks like you wouldn’t mind it rough.” It would be said with a small smirk; as for where we were, we would be closer to one of the large merchant districts and a heavily populated area of the city.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | Timeline: 20 AD (Before reaching Rajeh) | EXP: 325 / 8017 | Role: Adventurer

With my cover of personas kind of blown, the question made sense coming in that manner from her. I generally tried to keep my personas a secret until I knew someone well, though secrecy wasn’t needed to those that I killed. Of course, I had no intentions of killing the flower before me, but I didn’t get the vibe that she thought the shift was weird in a negative manner. Rubbing the back of my neck I would answer, “well, not really. Only when I need to get it done fast. I don’t really like to use swords all that much…” After my initial words, I would realize that it may have looked like I simply transformed to battle; there was no major indication that I was crazy yet. I knew that some powered up before a battle, though my experience was very limited with such a notion. My hand lowers back down to my side as my neck turns as I watch her proceed around me, stating, “I normally fight without weapons the way I am now. I guess you can say that it’s a specialty mode or something like that…?” I would turn around facing her as she walked around me and take a few steps back in a coy manner as I question with a grin, “why, does that seem strange to you? I can do other stuff too, you know.”

Persona: Jyn'Rai | Timeline: 20 AD (Before reaching Rajeh) | EXP: 242 / 8259 | Role: Adventurer

So by now it was very clear that she wasn’t human since I was the second one whom she had met with special abilities. The question could come up to just what she was; I wasn’t too knowledgeable about all the different types of things that existed in this world. The things that I’d seen up to this point I hadn’t tried to classify, so there was no real need to start now. Still, it seemed like I was failing in my given objective to keep her amused. I still hadn’t gone to hunt and I had pretty much abandoned my current mission of attempting to find leads on the thing that I was searching for. On top of that, since I met her, I had killed three people, which probably wasn’t a good thing either. A grin comes to my face as I think that maybe it would be bad for me to hang around this one.

Truthfully, she posed a good question, though our flight had led me to wonder if perhaps she was like other women in a universal sense. With my question, I would see. Nodding towards the merchant district we were right beside, I would chance the offer, “um… want to go shopping for some new shoes? My treat since I drug you around?” It was a shot in the dark; if this was a no go, I’d probably have to think of something.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | Timeline: 20 AD (Before reaching Rajeh) | EXP: 246 / 8505 | Role: Adventurer

Ah, as it would seem, shopping was not the way to this one’s heart. I did notice the preoccupation she had on people dying; that seemed to interest her, but due to the fact that I wasn’t a murderer, I felt it would be hard to keep her interest in that facet. Still, an idea had come up in my head about something, though I didn’t know if they had such things here; I figured they were big enough to. With that thought process, I decide to check into it a bit later; for now, it was time to eat and my stomach agreed in the direction that this interaction was going. With a nod, I would comment, “sure” a little hesitant due to the fact that I was a human and she was not. Still, I would look around for a cool shade spot since we were in the desert. Getting a better feel of our surroundings, I would simply state, “the place where I’m staying isn’t too far from here. Do you want to go there and eat, or are you looking to sit on a crate or something around here?” I add a bit cautiously, “and does the queen eat the same thing as the humans?”

Persona: Jyn'Rai | Timeline: 20 AD (Before reaching Rajeh) | EXP: 211 / 8716 | Role: Adventurer

In the middle of talking to the young lady, something catches the eye of the young man as his gaze shifts beyond her face for a moment to someone moving through the crowd in the distance. Of course, up until this time, he had been on the eternal quest to find a particular mage of his past, and in that instant, he could have sworn that he had caught a glimpse of said mage. His mood changes from social to heavily distracted as he interrupts his own comments by saying, “um… hold up a moment.” Keeping up with the humanoid silhouette was work in and of itself as it seemed to be actively moving through the crowd with a mirage like appearance. Jyn’s body would lean to the side for a moment as he would verbalize without paying attention, “um… I’ll be…” he takes a few steps forwards and begins to jog, “be right back queen, wait up for me.” With that, the young man would dismiss himself in hurriedly making his way through the crowd trying to get to the area where he though he saw the person he recognized. In the process, he would lose eye contact with the shadowy figure and by the time he reached the area, he would look around to see that it had disappeared. “Tsk,” Jyn would murmur on arrival; mood having been reduced to sour and unable to let go of this opportunity to find what had been lost, he forgets about his prior meeting and moves wholeheartedly into his continued search believing himself to be on the verge of finding his target goal.

Persona: Jyn'Rai | Timeline: 20 AD (Before reaching Rajeh) | EXP: 293 / 9009 | Role: Adventurer