Cleyra Act 1: The Protector of the Sanctuary - Open to Cryptic & myself

Things didn't went as anticipated. Who could possibly imagine that it'd end up in such an odd, distanced way, of course? Just two days ago, they were drifted into the coldest parts of the world, and, now, they were desolated into what looked like a vast desert. What had gone wrong, however?

They had just reached the cavern, and Jade was explained of what she had missed, and what the way of course was for now. Clearly infuriated, she initially protested, but later realized she had no other option. However, as soon as they were to leave this underground hole, with merely reuniting with Ginji and leaving this frozen forsaken lands, never to return again, it occurred. The volcano erupted, and chaos ensued.

Things went by so fast, so complicated and perplexing, he still wonders how did they even managed to escape. Of course, her ability of flight was an important factor, but even that only got them so far. Eventually they ended up into the frigid waters, a Devil Fruit user's natural enemy, to drift away and seemingly reach their doom.

Yet, eventually, just this morning, upon waking up and, realizing that somehow he, miraculously, survived this madness, he got himself up, difficult a task due to the soreness across his entire body, to witness an oddity; well, compared to what was the last scenery he saw that wasn't just volcanic asses and fireballs. He was at apparently some shallow beach, and from each side, massive, sharp mountains were erecting. There was a passage in between, which led to what looked like an endless brown; it was sand. This was a desert. Where on earth did he ended up being?

Hours after, walking around, trying to find his bearings, Hawks sits under a conveniently broken down mass of rocky materials that were between some of the ever-moving mountains of sand; a lucky break that he happened to stumble upon it. "Pfff ... did anyone else survived?" he speaks to himself, before he looks at his hand, which he made a fist with. "Is Jade alright? I had her .. hopefully she didn't drowned but ... she is a fruit user so .. dammit." he laments, bitter smile. "What did I got myself into?"

There was a stiff pounding at the back of Jade's head. Slowly the darkness blurred, replaced with a blinding light. The side of her face against something rough as something cool seemed to tug at her feet and legs. Her eyes finally came into focus as she pushed up on her arms. She wiped the sand from her face from where she had been laying unconscious as the approaching surd has begun to lap against her legs.

Oddly, her clothing that wasn't in the surf was dry and she felt oddly comfortable for the first time in a long time. The cold clamminess always gave her a perpetual state of unease - she wasn't meant for such climate. Now - where ever they were, it was HOT. The blistering heat was slowly giving her more energy. The cuts on her body were healing very slowly because of the layer of dried salt from the sea.

As she tried to pull herself the her feet, every part of her body ached and the precise spots of soreness reminded her of the horrible events of the previous day - what happened to everyone. They had all become separated after the explosion ... the last on she was was Hawks after she fell into the sea ... what happened to him? She had little reason to be optimistic. Every crew she touched was doomed to a terrible fate ... she was the black Sphinx of death ...

As she wondered, some of the stiffness worked itself out of her limbs. Some of the dried salt began to flake away as the heat continued to invigorate her. She follow a thin tree line to a small clump of trees. Following the daring movement of a pair of small sand foxes, she found a clearing. Near the center was a pool of clear water welling up from the ground. The small collection of small animals around the spring quickly scattered at her approach. She too a moment to drink and rinse all of the remaining dried salt from her skin.

Carefully she removed the magician's shirt she was wearing, which was much too large for her, and rinsed it as well. Using the remaining pieces of gold plate from her armor she creates a sort of belt. Deft claws shred and reshape the shirt, attaching it to the metal in such a way to make a light weight skirt with an armored waist. With the rest of the shirt, she makes a sort of bandage-wrap of a top. She keeps her wrist cuffs and collar intact. After cleaning and sharpening her katana, she uses the blade to remove several inches from her long aqua hair, so it just comes down to her shoulders - much more suitable for hot weather.

He body had begun to hear much faster now that the salt was off of her skin. The dry heat filled he with energy. She curled up on a rock along side the pool so her clothing and hair could dry in the delicious sun. Suddenly footfalls caught her attention - the most certainly were not the footfalls of an animal. She gripped the hilt of her weapon, green eyes gleaming wildly as focused on the direction of the noise.

From a small sandy hill right on the west side of this otherwise wonderful oasis, a figure begins to emerge. Not much was visible about the person's, as it seemed to be humane, appearance, however, as a white armor, complete with a white, oval-shaped helmet were covering most of the figure's appearance. The individual did seemed to be fairly tall, probably two feet or so, taller than the average human. There was also a contraption held, resting to the side of the creature, it resembled an over-sized barrel gun of sorts.

The creature initially didn't seemed to have noticed her; it looked more interested to just approach the oasis, possibly it too was seeking for water and a place to rest. However, upon noticing her, the creature seizes any movement; visibly surprised. Which probably implied that other humans in these lands were probably a rare sight. And then, the creature swiftly grabs on and pulls the contraption up, a large barrel's hole was now aiming at her. As this movement occurred, something became visible, but only briefly; the creature sported a faint carrot-colored like, thin, nimble tail, with a small red ribbon attached near the end of said tail. That was bizarre.

"Are you a member of the "Red Rose" pirates?" A voice, a husky, female voice is heard. The question may as well have been "friend or foe?". Ah, Jade was thrown into the oddness right off the bat, again!

The Sphinx heard the nearby movement but did not change her movement. A cat can rarely be disturbed from a proper bath and grooming - and certainly not from sunning after said bath. She stretched a bit, casually before turning to observe the new comer. Her wounds had healed and her skin had its characteristic golden glow again. She stood slowly, clear droplets of water trailing down her skin and glistening in the sun. She quirked a brow at the creature's unusual armor.

"I am not. I wasn't aware that they were still around. Are you lost? These lands are not frequented by pirates as there are too few resources and fewer places to hide. It is a land of sun and death. You are a bounty hunter, aren't you?"

The creature, potentially female, hears Jade out, and, once she is done talking, remains silent, merely observing her for a few moments. This calm, yet awkwardly uneasy situation was about to be broken and replaced by a more tight and unnerving condition, all due to the sound of her weapon. A sound that suggested that she had actually just prepared the weapon for use.

"That was a good try, villain. However, your story is riddled by two misconceptions. The first one is to assume that this place is deprived of resources, a sigh than you are not from here; not that this isn't blatantly obvious by your ... appearance. And the second misconception is-" the barrel now comes close to where her face should be, a small hole seemingly allowing her to see from within that helmet; the weapon's muzzle now aiming at Jade, but still no action beyond that. "-that you merely assumed that I am a bounty hunter, rather than question whether or not I am a native of these lands .."

Jade quirked a brow. She was indeed familiar with these lands and roamed over them in her younger days.  Resources were scarce but native dwellers could find enough to easily survive - but many of the lands treasures were deeply hidden and required a long trek over empty desert land to reach. It wouldn't much bother her, nor her people, but most travelers gave up before coming close.

The new creature commented on her attire being... inappropriate as if wandering through the desert in a full suit of armor was completely acceptable and practical behavior. The suit provided no camouflage and seemed to have no other purpose than capturing head and getting sand stuck in it. What a lunatic.  The sphinx didn't say a word.  She had seen this sort of thing before.  Travelers would wander too far and get so dehydrated and overheated that they'd start hallucinating.  Best to just ignore the creature.  What an absurd weapon to bring to desert.

Jade stretched out a bit before settling on a flat rock in the sun and wrapping her arms around her knees.  The warm dry air felt perfect on her skin.  For the first time in a long time she felt physically at ease ... but within her mind she was still tortured.  She remembered so little - what became of her crew?  She didn't know much of their background or if they could survive in a place like this.  They seemed more functional than she was in the cold - which was a bad sign.  Perhaps they were  washed to another place of the found her ship and escaped - she could only hope for the best.  The was no reason to do anything else - she could not help them from here and worrying about the unknown would only destroy the energy she should be spending to find out what happened and reunite with her crew so they could complete their missions.

She pawed through there remaining scraps of fabric left from her garment construction and found a small cache of wet bugs. A bit of sadness tugged at her - hopefully the magician survived and protected Sasori from the sea - she still wasn't sure how she ended up on this island instead of the bottom of the sea ... the last thing she remembered was ... an explosion... flying... darkness ... then only bright light and warm sand.

"Excuse me, but are you seriously ignoring me?" The unknown female questions, her tone indicating some degree of awkward shock, despite the attempt to camouflage it by sounding apathetic and emotionless. Then her hand, not coated into any sort of armor, and, revealed to look very elegant and silky soft, reaches for the gun's trigger. "I cannot allow you to wander around; you look suspicious, and our hands are already full with the appearance and constant threats of the Red Rose pirates."

Pulling the trigger, a blast of energy is fired, and it looked like it'd be really dangerous and powerful against even considerable foes ... if only she could actually hit the target. Instead, the blast went on a completely different path, blasting down an unlucky palm tree, which was at least a hundred feet away from Jade; still the gust generated was powerful enough to reach her as a moderately strong breeze. The figure stands still for a moment, as if trying to understand what she just did. Her voice, slightly trembling, but still a decent attempt to remain adamant and apathetic, follows. "..That .. was a warning. Tell he who you are and why are you here!"

"Idiot. You do know that when you start destroying trees in an oasis, the dessert will reclaim it and you will have very far to travel before you reach another potable water source and shelter from the sun." Jade stretches out a bit before standing and frowning at the carbon dust of the vaporized tree. "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to destroy my lands. This island - and the entire archipelago it belongs to has been in my family for 14 generations. It has been protected and free of harm or corruption. Stay as long as you like but do not destroy it. You really don't remember me, do you?" Jade turned away from the poorly aiming creature as her body twisted and shrank to the of a small cat with golden fur. She settled back on her sunny rock and began washing her paws. It had been some time since her band of Khafra warriors had roamed and protected this land ... some left and some stayed. Their rampage of bloodlust for anyone who threatened the islands kept intruders far away.

Before her death, Jade's mother secured and hidden a pair of devil fruits for her twin children to find and their father left a complex set of clues leading to their location. The fruits were both those of guardians - intended for the siblings to keep the lands secure. Jade became a Sphinx, guardian of the sands but her sister was killed before she could claim the other fruit, which Jade still had - kept hidden. The smells and colours of this place were full of memories. It was refreshing and agonizing.

"What do you speak of, 14 generations? I have no knowledge of who you are, and your appearance doesn't strike any resemblance to me to anyone that I should know of. And-" Her tone became somewhat agigated. "-Do not tell me how to behave! I was born in this land, and our entire Kingdom is adapted to flourish in these seemingly inhospitable lands! Do not try to play with me, hum-!!"

She was stopped once again, as, from above her, and into the air, a figure appeared. It was the figure of a blonde male, who had seemingly leaped in the sky. But why? Soon enough, an enormous centipede appeared, following him, even into the sky. "Stop following me around!!" Hawks yells in frustration. Obviously he was trying to rid himself of this annoying, absolutely enormous-sized creature.

"Another one?!" The female screams.

Jade quirks her cat brow and rolls over on the rock to sun her other side, utterly uninterested in this weirdo-trooper and her delusions. Again her peaceful sunning is obnoxiously interrupted. What now? Glancing up, Jade observes a familiar figure -- followed by a large, unfamiliar one. Jade was more surprised to see Hawks alive than she was to see that he was randomly being followed by a giant insect for no apparent reason. Maybe the big bug took a shine to Sasori. About time that scorpion had to deal with amorous weirdos like the rest of the crew. Then again I could have been some of Ginji's nonsense at work - who knows? With that damn crew, there were any number of possibilities that could "reasonably" lead to this strange outcome. It any case the little sphinx was pleased to see her lost crew mate alive, well, and invariably involved in the most bizarre situation imaginable.

"Dammit, I loathe this place already." Hawks speaks to himself, while running around in a zig-zag pattern, an attempt to disorient the dangerous creature that was pursuing him. Just earlier, he heard the sound of gunfire, not too far from where he was, so he decided to investigate. However, as soon as he got up from what he assumed was a rocky surface, was in fact the creature's head! And said creature, apparently dozing off until that time, was awakened and, decided to have the blonde magician as a small, delicious treat.

This nap apparently wasn't meant to be. Jade washes her paws with cat like apathy for a moment for before stretching out. That magician's new friend could possibly destroy the entire oasis would would be very inconvenient, indeed. She soon began to grow exponentially as she hopped down from the rock - her towering, monstrous sphinx form taking the place of the small golden cat. "Enough of this!" She steps between the bug and her awkward crew mate, snarling with annoyance. "I can't let you destroy this place - especially not to eat that blonde thing. Don't you know better than to eat junkfood?"

"Ah, Jade, you are-!!" Hawks gasps, surprised to see her here. His surprise was quickly replaced by a sigh of relief, along with a smile. So, she had made it. Hopefully, the others made it too; well, to be fair, he wasn't very concerned about Ginji, since that man could seemingly survive the end of the world itself. But she was different. Different in that, she was in his own hands, and was lost from him when all this happened; if she was killed, it'd all be his fault.

But, no time for conversations inside his mind. That creature was apparently quite agitated and, while it halted once she appeared, there was no reason to assume that it wouldn't just go on a rampage again. "And who did you called junk?!"

His attention is then caught by a buzzing sound. Swiftly turning his head, he sees a figure move towards him, aiming a kick at him. As he moves to parry up the blow, he notices that the figure goes next to him, and then spins around, before it stops and turns, armor instead of a face, glaring towards him. Moments of silence follow, before ...

"You demon, you managed to dodge this ..." The female speaks, a tad awkwardly. "I didn't even tried to dodge ... what the hell is this creature, Jade?" Hawks asks, tilting his head in confusion.

Jade is pleased and relieved to see her crew mate survived and ended up in the same place but she currently had no time to appreciate the fact at the time. Any distraction could be detrimental to their lives and the well-being of the oasis and island in general. Between the angry bug and the fail-trooper, the place could explode any minute.

"Sorry - I have a tendency to discourage others from eating my favourite treats. No that I was going to eat you ... or that ... er ... treat was a poor word choice on my part. Carry on."

Jade moves toward the bizarre giant insect, her giant claws protruding as she leaped over it, the sound of steel impacting it's armored chitin abdomen shattering the awkward silence after her awkward statements. She'd tear ever leg off of its body before she'd allow it to destroy the island.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees the armored odd creature move to attack the unaware magician - with great, inexplicable failure. She quirks a brow as he asks her just what this odd creature is. "Not sure about that one. It seems to think it lives here and I think it ate the miss-miss no mi - whatever it attacks, it misses ... I think it tried to go home and um ... missed - and now thinks it lives here? You could offer to kick it home - your aim is pretty solid."

"You are as .. unnerving as always. Good." Hawks comments, letting out a soft sound of relaxation that she was fine. As much of a pain and, as much of a creeper as she was to him, he couldn't deny it; he was too used to it and would not particularly appreciate this to change. Odd, wasn't it? But, it was, once again, not the time to think of things like that. "Could you do something about that insect? I think it tries to chase after Sasori." He then adds, his words confirming that the adorable scorpion was also safe and sound.

"And you ... are you a dumbass?" Hawks turns his attention to the unknown figure, who was left frozen, probably frustrated at her own self, but always attempting to appear as cool-headed and unfazed as possible. "... I merely ... wanted to test your reflexes." She slowly claps. "Impressive." she adds, as if she actually believed that terrible explanation of her dread-awful aim. "Like I'll believe that!" Hawks yells, sweat of awkwardness rolling over his forehead. "Look, I have no idea what is going on, but I have no intention to harm you. So, don't try anything funny again." he then calmly speaks to her, his hand reaching for his sword, readying himself for the possibility of her lashing out at him again; not that he would be in grave danger, it seemed. Miss Miss no Mi must have been an exception to the rule of Devil Fruits; clearly it must have tasted delicious to bestow the user with such useless skills. Well, not that such a thing really existed.. right?

"Unnerving?!  You're one to talk! You and your selective memory are out to kill me." Jade couldn't bee too annoyed with the magician.  She had so few memories of what happened but she had been washed up from the sea - and that was a place she could not have survived without help.  She would have sunk like a stone if no helped her. The fact that the magician was here on the same island gave her reason to suspect he pulled her out of a watery grave ... again - granted, one of those times was certainly his own fault ... specifically for being creepy.

Upon hearing of her arachnid friend's survival, she murmured with relief. "My sweet Sasori is safe... " The bothersome bug she was fighting now became a cause of great fury - how dare a creature seek to harm that adorable scorpion? She tried to focus on the task at hand as her claws continued to shred the armor of the giant bug which was currently thrashing about ... she almost was in range of catching its face with her mouth before it thrashed again - despite its size, its mouth was smaller than her own.  If she could destroy enough of its armor which was the only outer barrier it had, she could expose enough of its innards to kill it anyway.

Jade was never sure if there was such a fruit granting the skill of missing - like the awkward opposite of Mato Mato no Mi - could their be a set of anti-fruits that inflicts mirrored opposite traits of other fruits?  How annoying that would be.  She kept an eye on the strange incompetent creature - she still didn't trust the strange woman and she wasn't above eating he for bothering her magician.  That one was her treat to torment. In her moment of distraction the large bug gave its last defense of launching a pair of envenomed projectile spines in the direction of her crew mate. She looks up in terror, helpless to stop the launched spines. "HAWKS - look out!"

"Your attire ..." The woman begins to speak. She then pulls a handle off her armor, revealing a katana with a heart-shaped, cyan protector. "You look like a Red Rose member!" once these words were spoken, Hawks eyes widened a tad, a sight of surprise. But why was that so? Was he just shocked by her denseness and irrationality?

Jade's voice makes him swift his attention, only to see a flash, followed by a deep, penetrating sound. "?!! ..." Hawks was stabbed right through his chest and abdomen!! "T-that man ...!!" The female is surprised as well, as she was too preoccupied to notice these things fly towards their path. But what was more surprising was that Hawks then disappeared with a puff. "What?!~"

"Shallow's Nest."

Appearing behind the female, Hawks was now sheathing his sword; while the female was pushed backwards and up, blood blasting out. What had just happened? "Magic." Hawks calmly states, his expression a bit more agitated and serious than usual.

Jades eyes widened in horror as she watched a nightmare unfold.  She was too mate and the spines pierced through her crew mate who was warned too late. "HAWKS ... " Blinded with rage, both sets of her claws jam into either side of the insects head, shredding everything inside - it fell limp under her with an unsettling crunch. Only one out of every thousand of these very rare bugs were poisonous so she didn't take it seriously - it was her error and her fault ... and now ... the price for her error was unimaginable. Drained and broken, her body shrinks, returning to her human form, still wearing the clothing fashioned out of her crew mate's shirt and bits of her armor.

She raised her chin - forcing herself to open her eyes with great reluctance, not wanting to see the gruesome site.  Much to her shock, he was gone?  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the strange woman flying through the air in a spray of blood. No way she'd survive whatever that was - now what awful enemy had appeared. A familiar voice caught her attention.  "What...?"  

She turned to to face - the magician sheathing his blade?! She had never actually seen him use magic outside of playing with that stupid deck of cards which never did much of anything except confuse the hell out of his enemies who expected them to actually have some kind of effect.  She had always referred to him mockingly as a magician - thinking perhaps it was a nickname for something he was good at ... like making clothing or pasta disappear? She still stood there with her mouth open in shock. She shakes her head and rubs her eyes to wipe the admiration off of her face.

She narrows her eyes and stalks over to the magician.  She seizes the collar of his shirt roughly and pulls him close as she snarls words at him in a low and threatening voice.  "Worry me like that again, Magician, and I'll kill you myself. "  She lets go pushing him away a bit "Why was I not informed of your skills?!"

"Hm?" He didn't had time to do much else after what was unarguably quite a cool action; she had already approached and pressured him in a hypothetical corner. Her question however did deterred him from overreacting or just pointlessly flail around; or maybe he was simply too used about her always being "too close". With a casual smirk, and a faint tilt of his head towards the right, he addresses to her. "When did I hid the fact that I am a magician? Isn't that .. my epithet?"

He had changed a lot since the first time they met. Back then he was basically a bystander. He'd almost never talk, and when he would, he'd be so dull, slow and boring that you'd almost wish you hadn't interacted with him. And he couldn't stand any of her behaviors and habits. But now he was surprisingly used to all this. Could this be just some sort of a horrible set of side-effects of Ginji potentially experimenting with them without them being informed or aware of? No, I mean, him doing that was perfectly a possibility, but it wasn't why he had changed. She had made him become more active and more of an actual human being. Maybe she helped him forget about the past, that led him to be as he was ... Oh, let's not skip ahead now.

"Excuse me now." He speaks to her, while putting something on her hand. It was a dagger, a familiar one. "Am sure you missed him, so, have a chat. There's something I'd like to examine. And, good job beating that vile, vulgar creature."

Finishing that, he approaches the female, who was on down on the never-resting, moving sands of the desert. Her spread arms and open legs suggested that she was incapacitated. Bending over next to her, he notices that her helmet is turned towards him; she was conscious. "I didn't strike in too deep on purpose." he calmly explains. "I ... ugh, I need no sympathy off a pirate ..!" Seemingly ignoring her, he continues. "I want you to tell me everything you know about the Red Rose pirates ... it is a matter of extreme importance ..." "?!! .."

Jade was still a bit stunned by Hawks' demeanor. He always found new ways to disarm her rather prickly and violent shell. What the hell had he done to her? "I always thought it was a misguided title attributed to a - that isn't the point! I - " She is cut off as she feels a dagger pressed into her hands. She silences and eyes the weapon fondly - even if it did not possess the spirit of the friendly arachnid, she would have had a similar expression of fondness.

She always connected better with animals and inanimate objects than humans - particularly blades. He behavior was so different - much more contained, focused, and confident then she had ever seen - all of the flailing spazzery was lifted away - she wasn't sure if it was shock or admiration but she could no longer speak.

When Jade looks up, he is gone again - did he disappear again? No - she could see him bounding over the sands. Odd - he seemed oddly suited to the arid climate which she did not expect. Where in hell was he going? She wasn't going to allow him to get lost again. She cradles the dagger in her hand as she bounds after the slipper magician, stopping as she sees him questioning the armored oddling. They had been on this island for little more than an hour - and already have had two random conflicts, a brush with death, and a kill tally. Why did trouble always find them - even on a bloody "deserted" island!

"What are you talking about .. don't you lie, you are one of them, what kind of a little play is this?" The female asks, but quickly she lets out a squeal, as she notices that Hawks has placed his hand over her helmet. "D-dont take this off!" Ignoring her once again, Hawks pulls away the helmet to reveal what was a really surprising thing. The female didn't seemed human. Rather, she looked like she was part human, and part something else. White, silky, and short .. fur? And a pronounced snout? What was she?

"I see .. an individual of the "Ratman" race, huh? I've heard and read about them back then." Hawks begins to nonchalantly speaks to himself, while the female glares at him with anger, eyes blue. "Y-you .. how dare you call us Ratmen! That is not how we are named! You vulgar ...!" Hawks then sits next to her, while at the same time he notices Jade had approached them. "Hmmm, would you be so kind as to leave me for a moment? There's something important I have to ask this .. person. Now, you .. you are only half mistaken. I am not from the Red Rose Pirates, but .. I used to be. So, tell me everything."

The mystery deepens!

Jade approached carefully then stopped quite suddenly upon seeing one of the rare creatures. The ancient race had been driven away, most killed - she had not seen one since she was a small child. She whispered with a mixture of half disbelief and half wonderment. "A Talani ..." Jade winces as she heard the very derogatory term "ratman" tumble out of her Hawks' mouth. It was like calling them vermin - unwanted pests - which was even more hurtful considering the mass genocide inflicted upon their kind.

She stiffened as her crew mate dared to ... dismiss her?! Why?! What did he have to hide - whatever it was he did not trust her with the information if he was willing to send her away. Where the hell was she supposed to go? ... It's a desert, wander off 20 steps and you have no idea where you are nor where you've been. Her tone was icy cold as she agree to his terms, "As you wish." As she wandered back toward the Oasis she heard a comment about the Red Rose Pirates - she hadn't heard anything about them in year - she assumed they had all died ... she certainly could not picture that relatively gentle and easily flustered magician on that crew. Did they keep him as a pet?

She curled up next to a tree, close enough to keep an eye on him and the creature he so tactless offended in the worst possible way. Attacking a person individually was fine - but casting scorn upon their entire species was too much. Did he just not know better? She began pulling away pieces of interlocking plates of armour from the insect creatures carcass. She settled and placed Sasori across her lap while using her own dagger to carve out shuriken from the jagged rigged material.

Perhaps that magician could actually do so damage with these rather than those confusing playing cards he was so fond of. She worked quickly with her own dagger since Sasori would likely interpret the process as being fed snacks and she would have no shuriken left. She also did not wish to restrain him - he had a way of knowing if Hawks was in danger and so she gave him freedom to snack on the softer parts of the insect or keep an eye on his companion.

She kept her eyes fixed on the two - it was very odd to see a Talani like that - they were always so elegant and quite scholarly, preferring long robes, ornate dwellings, and lots of books -they were masters of engineering. They had the potential to change the world at some point - but it was never allowed to pass as they were hunted down one by one, their civilization crumbling. No wonder she wore a helmet and learned to fight - well, tried to anyway. A creature capable of constructing a 4,000 kg door that could be moved with one finger can't manage to hit a person with a projectile 2 meters away. The though made her head hurt. She shuddered to think what Red Rose had to do with the Talani.

Quite some time passed. It must have been at least an hour, before Hawks became visible again, returning back, alone. He seemed to be alarmed and lost in deep thinking. Noticing her, he approaches her, then makes a small nod towards the direction he came from. "I wrapped up her wounds and let her go. Chances are, she will inform others of her tribe so .. we will probably have to hide to avoid their attention. Is this alright?"

Having said that, the blonde male sits some feet away from her, and his removes his cards off his bag, and just begins to shuffle them around and look at them; he was just distracting himself. But why was this. After some awkward moments of silence, the magician slowly turns her way, with a serious, yet with a hint of despondency. "Or rather .. take Sasori, and leave. I have this-" he draws out off the bag a small, folded piece of paper. It was a vivre card. "This one's leading to Ginji, look, it's reduced but still intact so, he must be alive. You can go and then the whole of you can return to Wally .. or, I don't know, do as you please."

Just what was this request about? What was going on?

Jade regards him coldly. "I trust you found what you were looking for after generally degrading an entire population needlessly? ... you don't know do you? Their tribe as been nearly wiped out and they are not a militant group - she may be part of a small band of refugees, if anything. "

Jade narrows her eyes as he took out the fading card and she was yet again dismissed... "Damnit... stop this.." She storms over to him, her green eyes racing with something between race and hurt. "I joined your bloody crew after I lost everything that meant anything to me ... I don't have a reason to be careful for my life or return to the pack of strangers that constitute the rest of your-... our crew. You idiots are the only thing I have and if you wish to saparate me from the only thing which distracts me from the empty holes of my existence, then you may as well take your bloody scorpion monstrosity and run it through me right now. I can't help you if you won't let me ... Stop treating me like a child... mad of glass. It is the highest insult you can bestow..." Her anger radiated from her skin, she seemed almost shaking, her eyes glassy and watery, Sasori had tumbled from her hand to the sandy ground. There had to be something more to her reaction .... memories... loss... not being allowed to use her strength to protect things she cared about.

"Oi, what are you doing?" He escapes her being close to him, and walks to the side, speaking to her but without looking to her. "Things are not what they look like." slowly, he turns to her, his glare cold and apathetic. After some moments, it looked like he was thinking about something, he looks up to her again. "I'm not what you think I am. And it'd be best for you to go, now. I used Wally, I used everyone. I used you." the last part of what he said, the one regarding her, he actually took a moment to say it, and his tone was slightly less strict and lacking of emotion wasn't as apparent as it was on everything else he said. "You have Ginji. And Sasori. And everyone else. Go now, for there is something I must do and ... IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! GET LOST, YOU ANNOY ME! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

He didn't meant that. He knew he didn't mean that, but he had no choice. Fate had finally worked and brought him to what he was aiming all these years. Ever since he was 15, that tragic event, when he lost the person that meant everything to him. And he couldn't bring anyone else into his own path to calamity and potential death. So, he assumed, if he was to speak to her like that, she'd go. She was proud, after all.