Damien had been staring out the one window in the whole building and had lost track of time. It was then that he noticed the two teens staring at him as though excpecting something. He saw on the wooden table was a bag of money that they had just tossed onto it. Damien then snapped back to reality and nodded in approval at the money, smiling. Realizing the two were tired and worn out, Damien used his powers over people's emotions and put a feeling of relaxation in their heads. This talent was useful... Especially when persuading people...

"Good job," he said. Really... Vincent was definately talented, he knew. And Dem... Dem was special in her own way. She was something else, that was for sure. And her mastery of the Sixth Sense was truly amazing. He looked down at Dem's clothing. They weren't in spectacular shape.

"Hmmm," he said. "My dear it looks like your pants are going to fall apart. Tomorrow you should get some new ones. Either that or ask Nightmare for her old pair when she comes back." He wondered if the girl would take his suggestion; most thought Night hard to approach.

-x-x-x-

"Ah..." Squall trailed off as his crimson red eyes followed the beautiful bird's path back into the less-polluted heavens. He wished he could fly as well. It was then that he turned, as well as Nightmare, to face this strange person...

"Who are you?" Nightmare questioned. Squall sighed. She was always so straightforward. Oh well. He wondered if this person also worked for Damien. It looked like he might. After all, not everybody had a pet pheonix. And that wasn't an ordinary pheonix... Not like pheonixes were ordinary either. He might be able to summon it he pondered.

If he wasn't working for Damien yet, the two of them could recruit him.

"It didn't harm us," Squall said right after Nightmare, so as to be a little more friendly.

Zynonia watched the elk for a little longer, before realizing that something else of interestng was happening.  She turned her head just in time to see a new person send his pheonix into the sky.  She wondered if these people knew each other, and if they could be considered threatening enough as a group to make her want to leave.  She decided that she would stay so that she could learn a little more about these strange people.

She soon figured out that they didn't know each other.  She wondered if they were going to fight, but she knew that humans didn't fight as often as they used to.  Times were hard for most living things right now and fighting wasn't the first thing on the agenda.  That thought line made her get a little hungry.  She thought for a second about eating the humans, but she had a sort of extra sense in her warning her away from trying to hurt them.  Mabye she should go and talk with them.  She hadn't talked to any people besides herself in a very long time because she was normally to busy trying to eat them or something else to talk.  This time, however, she wasn't that hungry.

She was about go and try to talk to them, but then she rembmered something important.  these people scared her.  They weren't normal and something in her knew it.  She needed to learn more then ask questions.  It was how her mind planned on working at the moment.   Think first, ask questions later.   She remained hidden, watching and listening.

[[ Sorry I haven't posted anything yet. I cannot seem to think of anything. ]]

[[ Okayz. I'll post something tomorrow. I need to get off before my dad yells at me. ]]

((Okee dokee.))

Zynonia grew bored with watching the people and slunck away to find something more interesting.  Mabye she could go hunting again.  She didn't need the food righ tnow but she would be able to bury it for later.  It might rot though.  Mabye she should just wander for a little while.  yeah.  Wandering sounded good.  And so Zynonia began to walk about aimlessly through the town, seeking something to entertain her.

Kiro wondered how thief headquarters was empty. Did they really leave him there and go on some raid mission he would have enjoyed?  Well, he'd likely end up killing someone, so it was a tactical advantage to leave him behind. He cursed again in that mysterious language, he walked outside, he saw the ruins of humanity. "They got what they deserved." he thought. He looked down to kick up dust, but noticed tracks, and decided to fallow them "Chances state, these belong to one of the less stealthy thieves.." He smiled insanely  "Perhaps I can catch up." he picked up his pace, but morphed into his shadow. And seemed to zip across the landscap.

"Thank goodness."  Dusk was relieved.  "That old Spike has been known to rough things up from time to time."  He remembered the incident when his phoenix had left a dead bear in front of his tent as a present.  It made a big mess, but at least the bird meant well. 

"Oh, and my name is Dusk."  He flashed a smile that showed hidden despair.  "What brings you here anyway?"  His eyes studied over the two.

((Sorry for the icky post, I'm a bit tired.))

OOC: It's okay ;3

BiC: Nightmare stayed silent and didn't look like she was going to answer, so Squall took that responsibility upon himself.

"Me and Nightmare here were just taking a walk after working," he said nonchalantly. "Oh yeah... I'm Squall and she's Nightmare," he added. He was hoping that after all he would be able to be on more friendly terms with this person. Again Nightmare went straight to the point.

"Where did you find that pheonix?" she asked. Squall sighed. There was no helping it. He didn't stop her however; he was curious about the answer himself.

"A Harprognatus exornus!" Erin tumbled out of the bushes while she watched a phoenix dive in the distance. Like a sunshine coming out of grey clouds, a smile wandered onto her ashen face. "It can't be far from here..." she trailed off, quickly calculating the time it would take to reach the location. If there's a living creature, she thought, that must mean there's a clean water source and possibly food in the area, too. The thought of getting to see the magnificent bird up close made her tremble with excitement, but the thought of solid food after two days made her knees go wobbly. Her stomach let out a low groan.

--------

As Erin approached nearer, she realized with a pang there were people gathered there. The last thing she wanted was to have to explain. After scanning the area, she found a suitable tree with a good view. She was able to scramble up and enjoy the bird while observing the people. Suddenly, a brisk wind picked up. Erin lost her balance and in a matter of seconds found her rear settled in the dusk, close to the people. Worst, they noticed her. Seeing all the noise I made, she reckoned gloomily, everyone in the area heard me!

OOC: A harprognatus exormus? -can't even pronounce it- I didn't know there was a scientific word out there for a phoenix.. :D I'm going to wait for Kate to post~

Drakine wandered through the town, wondering where Damien could be hiding. She heard some whispers about him in the flames she p*censored*ed by and was intrigued by him. Though, she did normally hate everybody around her. Running a pale hand through her flame-red hair, she looked around with her blue-black eyes. There was something nearby that made her dragon senses start to tingle.

Growling to herself, she shook her head. "Something is wrong with you girl. Last time they did this, the creature turned out to be a harmless pup," she scolded herself, rubbing her temples with her long fingers. But the feeling still didn't go away. Sighing and muttering something under her breath, she continued to wander.

The air was full of the sound of silence. Of course moment like these are always broken, usually sooner rather than later. This time it was a CRACK then a yelp, and then a dull thud as something hit the ground. Both Squall and Nightmare, out of habbit, whirled around to see what the cause of this sudden noise was.

Apparently somebody had fallen out of a tree. That somebody had probably been spying on them as well. Squall and Nightmare both tensed themselves, ready to fight or whatever-- but the person was only a little girl that couldn't be older than seven years old.

And yet there was something in her eyes... Squall realized this "something" was intelligence and understanding. Weird. Beside him Nightmare sighed and ran her fingers through her straight black hair (how it stayed perfect remains a mystery to this day. Squall was always jealous of this...).

"I feel like we have lots of eyes staring at us," she said. Squall nodded. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.

"We kind of attracted attention, talking and walking loudly. And then there's that phoenix," he added, looking at Dusk.

"So," Nightmare said, "what do you think you were doing, spying on us?"

OOC: Bump~

So wait, lemme get this straight. Pretty much everybody's spying on the scene that's going on now in the little clearing thing, right? ;3

((I think so, Nightmare. By the way, great new signature. NightmareDream= NMD NMD= National missile defence. LOL!))

 Erin didn't know what to do. She missed the warmth of people around her, but these people seemed hostile. She felt trapped, alone and wearly.

"P-please don't hurt me!" she cried, tears leaving clean streaks on her dirty face. "I saw the harprogn- well, the phoenix. I wanted to see it up close!" She balled her little hands into fists and rapidly tried to wipe away the tears depsite the fact that they kept coming. After a bit of a pause she added, "besides, I needed to find shelter. The cumulnimbus clouds are a definate sign of a thunderstorm." Accidently, Erin once again got off track. "The winds are also blowing at a rate of 40 miles per hour, so since the cloud is about 20 miles off, we've got about..." she did the math in her head. "Well, let's just say I want to find shelter within the hour." She clutched the sides of her dress, pleading silently that the strangers would understand.

OOC: Aawww I like your character alot, Flaw. She's so cute ^^ And innocent.... And genius... :3

BiC: The first thing that came into Squall's mind was Aw she's so cute when the little girl broke out into tears. And then suddenly he was lost. Harprog- Wha? Cum-u-lo-nimbus. He stared at the girl. She sounded way too intelligent for one her age. Nightmare had suddenly un-tensed herself, gazing in amazement at the girl as well. But she felt pity for this girl and decided not to question her too much... And she had a feeling Thief could use a person like her maybe. Surely Damien would let her in, wouldn't he? Squall seemed to be thinking the same thing too. Even if she was extremely smart she still was a little girl, right? He smiled gently, feeling sympathy towards her.

"Okay. I don't think me and Nightmare want to be caught here in a raging storm as well" ((-hint hint to everone ;3-)) he began, "and we know a perfect place to stay. Why don't you come with us? It's safe and sheltered...."

Nightmare didn't ob
ject. She was remembering the time she had met Squall. It had been a year or two ago, now... And yet there were still many mysteries behind Squall's past. But Squall would tell Nightmare everything when he felt like it. Night wouldn't prod on a touchy subject.

"I think that Thief could use a person like you," she said. She probably looked pretty scary to the girl; most people didn't like approaching her and got along with Squall more than her. She figured that the girl would be wondering what "Thief" was... But she would learn that later.