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Post by Illusion on Dec 17, 2014 19:06:15 GMT -5
Twilight Town was a world Xenon knew rather well, and had become rather fond of. It was a nice enough place, one that saw a lot of visitors come and go; said visitors were mostly travellers or adventurers, using this world as a 'pit stop' of sorts, to top up their supplies and get a little rest before moving on. Twilight Town was good for that kind of thing; aside from the odd problem with lesser Nobodies or, more rarely, Heartless, it was relatively peaceful, something she liked. Xenon knew this place like the back of her hand...this was because she had actually been living here for a few months now, with someone else whom had lived here much longer, someone whom had become much more than just a friend to her. She wasn't with them for the moment, though... She had somewhere to be, and someone to meet up with.
Xenon walked casually down one street and took a turn right, ending up in the town square. Sure enough, just as she had expected, someone else was waiting for her. She had her back turned when Xenon entered, but she knew who it was; that deep red hair that faded into black, those angelic wings... That young woman was unmistakable.
"Hey, Grace!" Xenon cheerily greeted her friend, with a smile. The woman she was addressing turned around, and smiled politely.
"Good to see you, Xenon," Grace replied. "How have you been? It's been a while."
Xenon grinned brightly. "I've been doing pretty well, thanks for asking. Sorry for not talking with you in a while. I've been, um...busy." What exactly she meant by 'busy' was unclear; she gave a soft cough and changed the subject. "Anyways, uh...I hope I wasn't troubling you in asking for help getting that thing I mentioned."
"Not at all, my friend," Grace replied, waving her hand in a gesture to dismiss the thought that her friend had been of any bother to her. "I was happy to help. I have the material you were looking for... Just remind me, though, why was it you needed it?"
"Well, I don't," Xenon admitted, with a shrug and subtle smile. "But I know someone to whom it would be of great usefulness."
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Post by Archer Zero on Dec 19, 2014 19:49:20 GMT -5
That someone that Xenon mentioned ran a shop only a few blocks away. Well, a clerk he had hired took care of the business aspect of it. The person himself forged its goods - weapons and armor. They were not the mass-produced, cheap kind of items either. The store sold those, but the clerk just bought them and resold them. The main profit of the store came from the items he personally forged - custom-made weapons and armor, tailored for situations, powerful objects that would be the envy of all. Such equipment was extremely expensive... and every bit of coin was worth it.
Azrael cared little for the complexities of business save for the fact it brought in money. He cared little about dealing with others unless it was his mate. All he cared about was his work; he always sought new, rare materials - be they some organic matter, a rare or undiscovered ore, or even parts of creatures - and wanted to refine them. He made exceptional things with them - armor perfectly fit for mages, transforming weapons, firearms that never needed reloading and were much more powerful than anything ordinary. He had centuries to hone his craft, to the point where one could say he was one of the finest blacksmith that existed. And still, he wanted to experiment. He wanted to learn. He wanted to know.
As he finished hammering out a blade and dunked it into water, he looked at the clock. His mate Xenon had left a little while ago - something about getting materials he would be interested in. Their relationship had been like this: When they first met, she had been curious about his smithing and remained even when he tried to brush her off. She started bringing him exotic materials - some had already had, but many he either only knew the existence of or didn't even know. Soon, they fell in love. She continued to tend to him and bring him materials, as well as other matters, but he cared deeply for her as well. Shadowflare demons like him were only supposed to treat their women like cattle or breeding machines. But they also valued using merely their brawn rather than craft weapons or do things intelligently. Among the Shadowflare demons, Azrael was a freak.
Said freak became the strongest of them all.
He sighed and continued to work. No matter. He trusted her. He wondered what material she was going to bring though...
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Post by Illusion on Dec 20, 2014 5:27:58 GMT -5
Xenon had happened across Azrael's shop one day simply by chance, on one of her regular visits to this world. Very quickly she had become deeply impressed by not only the quality of work put into those extraordinary weapons, but also by the dedication to his work Azrael had. That admiration of the Shadowflare Demon steadily grew into something closer to attraction, although at first the feeling was hardly mutual. Soon, though, Xenon developed a fascination for the sorts of materials that could be incorporated into a forged weapon, and began to bring some of the most intriguing ones she could find to Azrael. It was through that process that, eventually, the two developed a deep love for each other, regardless of how odd it might have seemed to outsiders. She was a lively, energetic and cheery girl who enjoyed the company of others, whereas he was a serious, hard-working and relatively reclusive demon who much preferred to spend time alone. Despite their differences they had formed a very strong bond, thanks to their shared curiosity and fascination for Azrael's line of work.
Xenon had only vaguely been told about how females of Azrael's species were usually treated by the males; from what she could gather, females were typically little more than breeding machines, kept in line by the more dominant male individuals. Her relationship with Azrael, however, was rather different; he treated her with respect, and treated her as equal to him rather than asserting dominance over her. He truly was different from others of his kind, and Xenon was grateful for that. Thus she continued to seek out rare resources he could make use of. After all, she wanted to make him happy, and assisting him with the work he so loved was a good way to do it.
Grace raised one hand and opened her palm, summoning up what appeared to be two vials of transparent gold-coloured liquid, which she held up to show Xenon more clearly. "The venom of a Lissom Storm Dragon," Grace explained. "You won't have heard of them. Very few of the species are left...just one colony remains. Their venom has two properties; it is strongly neurotoxic, working rather rapidly to paralyse a victim and render them helpless, and it also carries a compound that amplifies the power of electricity-based attacks. I hope this is the kind of thing you were hoping for."
Xenon grinned brightly and nodded. "It's fantastic!" she said, enthusiastically. She carefully took the vials of venom from Grace and slipped them into her pocket. She had no doubt that Azrael would be able to find a use for the rare resource. "I can't thank you enough, Grace...this really means a lot. Let me know if there's ever anything I could do for you, ok?" Grace smiled and nodded, modestly accepting the thanks she was given. She opened her mouth to reply...
Without warning, a strange sound cut her off; the noise had been quite loud, sounding like something half-way between a hyena's laugh and a beast's growl. Neither of the two had heard anything like it before. They remained still as silence fell again, and stood there for a few seconds, as though expecting to hear it again; that they did, and this time, the growl was louder... Whatever was making that sound was getting closer.
"What is it...?" Grace whispered, summoning her Keyblade to hand just in case. The distinct weapon had been hers for a number of years, and had served her rather well; it almost seemed to glow slightly, pulsing in her grip. Xenon also possessed a Keyblade of her own, but those days, she favoured a different weapon; a sword, one that Azrael had forged for her some time ago. She didn't reach for it yet, though. They didn't know what they were up against...
The growl came again, louder, lower-pitched...much closer now, close enough that the two could tell where it had come from. Behind them. Turning around cautiously, they cast their gaze over to the other side of the town square...and saw it. Something was standing there, watching them closely. It looked nothing like anything either of them had ever seen; it had smooth, black skin, four muscular legs with clawed feet, a long tail and, most distinctly, a row of large red crystals along its back.
"What the hell is that?!" Xenon whispered, not looking away from the creature for even a moment. Grace shook her head; she had no idea, either. The mysterious creature growled again, more softly, and began to move; it began to slowly circle the two, staying at the edge of the town square for now; it almost seemed to be assessing them somehow. Neither Grace nor Xenon made a move to run just yet; making such a move would likely provoke it.
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