"Think what you will Itsuka, but don't take me being silly as anything more than." Was the artist's answer. He had to convince her this was just a game and his call simply a joke and perhaps maybe, just maybe, it'd convince him as well. When the sculptor brought up her observations of Illaya's fighting style, Lavernius' ears burned red at what she meant by how he watched her differed from simply an analytical standpoint. It seemed her opinion was set in what she thought his relationship with Illaya, or in this case, Gwennifer was. He was glad his hair covered his ears as he addressed the other half of her acute observations. "Indeed, compared to the others, it does look a lot more like dancing than fighting. We simply met at the bar of the inn I'm staying at. I didn't know she was a fighter until now." The artist flipped through his own collection of sketches and noticed he was missing the one for her and remembered why. He flipped back to a blank page in preparation for the next battle.

It was an interesting observation Itsuka made, that Illaya was experienced rather than trained. It was confusing to grasp at first but easier when Lavernius simply put it into terms he understood better. A painter with experience is one who creates his own form while a painter who was trained simply follows a form already created. He wondered what it meant exactly in Illaya's case. "So do you think she is going to win the tournament?"

Waiting around for the intermission to end didn't interest Thalia too much. She would much rather be praised for her performance and to tease Lavernius some more, since she was in a particularly good mood. There was something magical about being in the middle of a crowd of people, at least in Thalia's case. Perhaps it was just being another face in the crowd, blurred out of actually existing in one form or another, or that the commotion was enough to keep her mind from listening to the voices of the dead, beckoning unto her. A smile was wiped from her face as she neared Lavernius and Yasuno and heard the artist's question. "Of course I'm going to win the tournament, were you not paying attention?" Thalia shooed Lavernius' hands away as she sat on his lap and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, facing him and Yasuno, "Vermon is their favorite, and I could beat him five times in less than a minute with any of those weapons."

Mari quickly made her way across the Legion building, heading for the armory. As soon as her beloved daggers were presented to her, the woman did not hesitate to snag them off from the table. Without a moment of hesitation she spun around, intent on leaving that facility as soon as possible.

"Pff, fat chance." she muttered as she exited the room. She had never been caught by the Legion ever since she started the Fangs, and this chain of events was but a slip up. The threats of the Lord Commander were empty, but she was intent on keeping her part of the bargain with Mr. Grayore, at least for the time being.

Once out the door, she waved off the two guards at the entrance with some attitude, and headed straight for the streets of Salvation Point. Although the rendezvous point was at the warehouse, it was still quite early. Besides, Mari could have used some fresh air. Maybe it's worth checking out the plaza. I wonder what's the deal with those crowds she thought as she navigated through alleyways and streets, headed for the Monolith Plaza.

Lavernius looked up to see Illaya and tried to argue. "I wasn't saying..." he was stopped by her brushing away his hands and sitting on his lap. "I-" the artist caught her name in his throat and continued, "Gwen please." He paused momentarily before tucking his sketchbook back into his knapsack and he placed his hands softly on her waist as he slowly got up, gently helping her onto her feet while getting up himself. "You can have the seat, you only needed to asked." Lavernius let go of her and smiled. "I'm sure you'll win handily, but a little more rest won't hurt."

Lavernius Mylarc, Thalia Valgeiros & Marianna Laranis, the Plaza of the Monolith | Duelist's Tournament
Marianna found herself in a huge crowd as she arrived in the plaza. There seemed to be lots of hubbub about a tournament going on as she hears from the various voices in the crowd. She could hear names thrown in the air such as Vermon, Peton, Gwennifer and Lanaya. The amount of people wasn't much of a tight squeeze, she'd find the streets of Lorcas a bit more choking than this during rush hour.

As she passed through to the crowd, she came slightly closer to the center. From there, she spotted a familiar face, the one that talked to her during her time in the inn. The girl¹ who warned her of what Grayore's possible motive. She seemed busy talking to the another man whom she recognized as part of the table the girl shared with.



Yasuno chuckled, hiding her laughter with the palm of her hand. "You make a fine couple, Mylarc."

The izukani woman then looked to Thalia with curious eyes and bowed her head slightly. "Mrs. Mylarc, may I ask you something? I'd like to know of your profession; you've got marvelous form in your movements."

FOOTNOTES
¹Thalia Valgeiros.

Thalia whined in disapproval as Lavernius stood up, "you're no fun." Regardless, she took the seat he offered her and sat with her ankles crossed and lounged rather loosely, fingers interlaced in her lap. "I'm not a one shtick bitch, I've done a great many things in my short life, and plan on seeing and doing many more." She shrugged and continued, "had a few older brother's teach me the basics, and I sort of obsessed over learning how to fight ever since. Spent a lot of time out at sea on a fishing boat with a bunch of men, so it's something I'm definitely very proud of and thankful to have. It's hard for me to imagine being a pretty woman in this world without the ability to defend yourself."

Faye once more remained surprisingly quiet, keeping her thoughts to herself. Something must've stirred up inside her mind however, as the girl clenched her fists by her sides. Realizing that herself, she was quick to let go before answering, still very much calm.

"I...understand." Although the Thaa'nas' teeth were almost clenched as she spoke, there wasn't much of a change in her tone of voice, except for how blank it got. "Same as Ravhin, I'm a Thaa'nas of Staff. Why does that matter?" Probably just a matter of seconds before an assumption that she can't even defend herself is made, just because she's no Sword or Shield.

Faye Petralis, the Glorious Legion Outpost | Infirmary
The commander nodded. "Then there is a way that you could assist me and to an extent, Jocasta. I will notify you of developments, hopefully you'd still be here when I give you the news."

With that Lord Ashtoreth left Faye in the infirmary alone with the Wands, nurses, and her thoughts. Cyarin was nearby but she didn't approach, she simply crossed her arms and waited for Faye to move, as if waiting for the reaction from whatever the Lord commander had given.

Lavernius Mylarc, Thalia Valgeiros & Marianna Laranis, the Plaza of the Monolith | Duelist's Tournament
Yasuno nodded and leaned back on her chair, getting back to her sketch. "Quite interesting," she said as she continued her sketch of Thalia, lunging forward, dealing the final mortal blow to Merylin Day. "I apologize if my asking was a bit too forward but I do like to know the people I am sketching, helps me figure out possible quirks in body movement other than what I see."

"No, you're fine. I didn't mean to sound so defensive, it's just that I've had someone else prying an awful lot into my life lately to the point where personal questions with certain implications have been rather annoying. It's not the questions that bother me, but rather the way some people feel a need to dig, like there's some deeper truth that magically explains it all or something, y'know? It's like if I asked Lavernius how he learned to paint so well and he told me it was through years of examining the works of others and practicing, but I kept asking away, looking for some truth to undermine his story that simply wasn't there." Thalia shrugged and shifted a bit in her seat, "honestly, I've lived a rather interesting life, and I've been trying to work on not getting so worked up over these things. If someone told me half of the stories I've experienced I would probably have doubts as well, truth be told." She looked up, observing Lavernius with an eager, yearning look in her eyes before turning back to Yasuno, "So how do you two know one another?"

"Oh I can answer that one." Lavernius was content with staying quiet but he felt it would be a bit too strange to be simply a silent observer. "I met Itsuka while I was living in Izukani. She was the apprentice of a renown sculptor who I had decided to visit one day to get some tips on how to sculpt. He wasn't so keen on sharing his secrets to someone who wasn't his pupil but Itsuka was kind enough to help me out. We found out shortly thereafter that sculpting wasn't exactly my calling." He chuckled and held up his hands. "They've all faded by now, but I was expecting a few of those cuts to become scars." True to his word, his hands were an unblemished light tan, slight callouses on his palms and finger pads, but besides that his hands were soft. His fingers were long and graceful, quite like that of a musician. "Me and Itsuka tried a couple of other art styles together, like music. It was a lot of fun actually. I enjoyed the experience immensely."

Intrigued by the nature of the cleaner, Mari slowly slithered her way through the crowd, intent on getting a bit closer to the action. As she neared their position, she kept a bit back, observing from the crowd and listening from afar. The woman was chatting with another one and a companion of hers from the inn. As she eavesdropped on the conversation, the couple of words that she caught made Mari understand that the two women had just fought, as they were sharing their battle interest.

The Twin Fang leader wasn't planning to reveal herself, merely gather more information, something that Erenzo Grayore did not furnish, although he appeared quite interested in the two individuals in front.

As the commander left and took her to an extent terrifying aura with her, Faye remained still in a spot for a while. The girl once more hopped on her toes and gently clapped her thighs with open palms, as if in some awkward anticipation. "Well that was truly reasuring and insightful, thank you." The Staff muttered to herself. The talk with Ashtoreth went about as 'well' as she would expect. Still, she did what she was expected to do, so theres nothing to wince at. Faye watched the spot where the woman disappeared from her sights for a little longer, before she turned to Cyarin who's been staring at her. "Well she's quite...something, huh?" The girl smiled sheepishly.

Faye Petralis, the Glorious Legion Outpost
Cyarin huffed. "You don't know the half of it," the Wand replied then shrugs. "But she does mean well. But hey, you handled that pretty well. I would've stormed off not giving me any concrete information."

The Wand moved closer, intent on not increasing her voice and keeping it out of possible earshot of the commander. The nurses around her began to fix some of the tools and others waved at Cyarin as they left the infimary; the Wand just gave them a curt nod as a reply.

"Seems she may have something in store for you," Cyarin said as she approached. "And I suppose the Path Leader of the Staff has a handle on this as well, hmm?"

Lavernius Mylarc, Thalia Valgeiros & Marianna Laranis, the Plaza of the Monolith | Duelist's Tournament
Yasuno finished her sketch and flipped the book to face Thalia. "Accurate?" She asked out of the blue, the picture was amazingly accurate down to the folds of the retired assassin's garb to the tufts of hair. Thalia could could have sworn like it was looking at a mirror. Or if she was looking at someone in real time.

"How we met?" Yasuno pouted for a moment.

The izukani woman tapped her finger on her chin thoughtfully but Lavernius had answered faster. "Well, that's it. But to be perfectly honest," Yasuno leaned clsoer to Thalia, blocking her mouth with the back of her hand to mockingly hide her voice from her old friend. "Lavernius can't sing very well." She even nodded playfully with a grin.

Thalia chuckled softly at the though of Lavernius torturing himself with sculpting clay and was about to inquire about Lavernius' musical experience when Yasuno confided the truth in her. The voices were practically screaming inside of Thalia's mind for her to get back on track, as they knew far better than she did how off track her thinking had just become. A clap, a grin, and a nod in agreement with Yasuno. "It's settled, then. Lavernius, if I win this tournament you must sing me a song." She looked up at him, yearning for something that wasn't there, "a good song. The kind that a woman needs to hear after a long day to make her swoon and forget about everything else." Lavernius had to have grown used to seeing that devilish grin of hers as she continued, "and of course I would be beside myself if Yasuno wasn't there to capture the moment with her amazing talents as well."

While it was fun talking with Lavernius and his friend, Thalia was growing bored of the intermissions since her match was the first therefore she had already been on break. Even as she was talking with her husband and his friend she was keeping tabs on the other competitors the best she could, as well as scanning the crowd for any other familiar faces. Feeling thirsty again? I'm sure they would all understand if something were to happen to cause the loss of life next round. Accidents do happen after all. They know the risks. She shook the thought off. Today was about fun, not survival.

"I came here to tell you guys what I know and maybe learn something back, not the other way around. That's how it should be, no?" Faye sighed. "I'm not the one who's supposed to chase those criminals after all."

Doesn't mean I won't try, though...

"Also, I kind of had my wrists slapped recently for asking too much questions already, sooo..." The girl shrugged with a smile. "Eh, as I said its fine. I did what I was supposed to, and so did she. Although I wonder..." She looked back at the door. "Why would they need m-...a Staff, for whatever they're planning. And why not just tell me now, while I'm here and...well you know, still alive." The Thaa'nas' grin widened for a moment. Despite the whole situation, warnings and reminders, Faye seemed to show close to no sign of worry. At least not on the outside.