Shooting (Open)

Tick ... tock ... tick ... tock...

The tall worn down grandfather clock's arrow pointed towards midnight as crowds of people happily chatting passed inside to eat in the small old fashioned diner and leave. At one of the round tables, a young man that appeared to be behind his age due to having a small size stared out at one of the windows, patently waiting for someone. He was deadly still while waiting to meet up with someone. That poison seller should be here soon, he thought, I wonder if he's dead... wouldn't that be a stroke of luck, me not having to do all of this since there'll be no heir to take over the Darwind Herbal Company?

The man, Theodore, was up to another scheme to bring another group down that supported the war on the Ellesmarian side. The Darwind Herbal Company had been slowly becoming powerful ever since they've breeded a type of plant being made into a sort of gas that could kill easily on the battlefield once released. The head was old, quite the oblivious type really, so he was easy to trick. Taking the company down would be easy if he had just died since all resources and brains came from him, but it would look too obvious if Theodore killed him since the old man liked to linger around Theodore. So he would have to plan his death a different way. There had been rumors that Darwind was planning to poison government officials of Ellesmaria, so maybe I can create fake evidence that that's true, Theodore started to plan as he rubbed his eyes.

President Darwind is such an annoying bother, Theodore thought as he started to see the old man trying to cross the street and enter, just another stranger trying to get in my way. He finally entered the building and sat across Theodore, smiling.

"So you little rascal, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Darwind asked. Theodore tried not to wince at "rascal." Disgusting, he thought, treating me like his dead grandson. Suddenly, Theodore hourglass that was worn around his neck started to glow red and vibrate. He frowned and started to look around. Something's horribly wrong, he thought, Mitella is never wrong.

"Why so ser-?" The old man started to ask, but then the glass behind his head started to shatter. What followed afterwards was a bullet behind Darwind's head. Theodore's eyes widened from surprise. Gunners started to enter through the door, shooting down every where. Dead bodies, wounded individuals, and shooken people started to appear, covering their heads. Theodore made a quick transition to go under the table, surprised from the luck of Darwind dying but worried about the current situation. One of the gunners stopped shooting and asked,

"How many people have the disease affected by Darwind? He said he just tested it here on a few people a few seconds ago! Come on, we need to protect our city! WHERE ARE THE GOD DAMNED PLANTS?!"

The gunner started to march towards Theodore and grabbed him out from behind the table by his collar. A gun was placed hard right onto his head while the gunner yelled, "You! You're that kid that keeps hanging around him! Tell us whose infected?" Theodore looked at him for awhile. What, he thought, these people just bust in here with guns and kill people for that? They must of had some sort of evidence since they seem like they mean it. I wonder if they told someone and they just didn't listen ...

While Theodore was trying to think, the gunner hit him in the head with the butt of his gun. His head started to spin and get foggy until he tried saying something,

"First of all ... isn't it rash to just go here and start shooting? ... If it's so dangerous ... why not um .... get someone to figure this stuff out, like a ... detective? Yeah! Like ... that." The gunner started to release his grip on his collar, causing Theodore to snicker in his loopy state. He suddenly took the hourglass.

"This looks important ... do you mind if I crush it?" He asked. Theodore didn't know what happened next, just pleading not to do it. When his mind cleared up, he took his katana and put the blade against the gunner.

"Please give that back." Theodore asked with a small smile. That's my only family there ... you better let it go, he thought. The hand around the hourglass started to go up as if it was going to be thrown down. I don't know what to do now ... I didn't want to do this but, he thought inside his mind. Theodore made it look like his grip on his weapon was going unsteady and slit the wrist holding the hourglass, getting his precious hourglass back. He would have cut his hand off, but he didn't want to look like he knew what he was doing so he could catch them off guard. All of the gunners started to circle around him. Theodore looked around at the situation he got himself into. Can I take them on, he wandered to himself, then smiled.

"Maybe." I'll try to dodge them for awhile and see what happens, he planned, "You better not touch that." He added with a quick smile. Though it was a quick move, he believed he would come up with something. There were other people around and anyone capable of fighting could come inside soon...

The woman closed her only contact with the one named Gil, understanding and getting ready to perform the task he needed. Apparently he wanted some sort of plant that could kill many on the battle field with a simple gas. Of course, that would include his own soldiers but that wasn't Gil's main concern. What would be needed is to gain this plant, and a lot of it. And for Mizu, she needed to find a way to get this plant and make sure the soldiers would survive it. She wasn't one to enjoy the idea of her friends or co-workers getting harmed because the boss just wanted killing and destruction.

Mizu knew that what she needed was to find the man named Darwind. With finding him, she could talk to him and possibly learn a thing or two about the plant as well as how to protect the soldiers from dying from it. The woman made her way towards The Darwind Herbal Company before hearing a gunshot. The woman grabbed her cloak and brought it over her being and made her way towards the place. As she made her way, she heard the man's demands.

The female waited as she watched the man grab the other and grab a small hourglass which hung around the civilian's neck. Without much hesitation the civilian had a blade to the man's neck but instead of killing him, brought it down and slit the man's wrist. ~'What's this...? Hiding your skill? Interesting.'~ The woman thought before she began making her way inside and towards the group.


Slowly the clicking of boots echoed as a slender figure made her way into the large open room. With each step she clapped. A cloak over her being, the hood up and blocking her face. It could be seen she had long black hair which waved down her her thighs. Her body covered by a black top with tight black pants and boots which seemed to have small pointed edges along the inner and outer sides of the heel.

The woman stopped clapping as she placed her left hand gently upon her hip and smirked at the scene. "My my... Quite the show so far. Sorry for interrupting. Please please. Do go on. I won't interrupt again, I promise." The woman said as her hands raised as if giving up on something.

With the men's eyes on the female with a slight shock to it, the motioned for the civilians to leave with a very settled wrist movement. It was obvious the boy would be unable to leave at the moment and she didn't mind that. He would come in handy. Once the civilians cleared out, Mizu smiled at the men, her hands remaining in they're previous fashion as she walked slowly towards the group.

"Stop there girly or there will be hell." The man said as he aimed his gun at her. A soft laugh coming from the female as she tilted her head a bit, allowing her metallic gray eyes to be viewed through her midnight black hair. "Then don't mind me... I'll just be putting out hell's flame." She said as she moved her hands toward her being. With her action a trail of water seemed to coiled around the man's neck and condence into an ice form. With this happening, there was a slight thinning around his neck, making a blade of ice around his neck.

The man's eyes widened as he realized that there his neck had slightly been cut, causing the ice to turn red at the source of blood as well as a small amount of blood to go down his neck and towards his collar bone. The woman smiled at this scene as she man kept his gun up towards her.

"So... Are you going to lower that, or not?" Mizu asked the man who seemed to not realize what was occurring. That or he just didn't care. The man pressed his finger on the trigger, firing at her and with a swift movement the woman moved out of the way, her cloak being shot by the bullets but the ice ring around the man's neck quickly closed in, sliding the man's head from his shoulders.

With the body being killed he fell back, shooting upward as the body fell back. A sigh came from the woman as she placed her hands on her hips. She didn't normally like killing people but she didn't like people harming the innocent either. [color]"I prefer not to fight... Anyone have objections with that?"[/color] The woman asked.

The other men seemed to have been scared and quickly ran out of The Darwind Herbal Company. The woman merely shook her head before removing the cloak from over her head. Her eyes looked at the man with their gentle gray gaze. "Are you alright, sir?"

Theodore started to snicker a little nervously around the gunners, suddenly feeling stupid. No one was coming for awhile and he didn't expect anyone to take the hourglass. He was starting to not like the circumstances, seeing how he might get hurt easier in the process. I should have known death is always a possibility, he thought, I should keep that in mind if I want to for fill this goal of mine and not dork off so carelessly. Oh well, he continued in his own head while his eyes narrowed at the gunners, learn as you go on in life. All of the gunners were staring at him with intimidating glares whole they slowly moved forward. Theodore started to back away and hold up his katana to shield himself. Why aren't they firing, he thought as he started to worry.

Luckily, the door did open pretty soon after the chain of events occurred. In the silent atmosphere, everyone's attention seemed to turn towards the shady figure. Theodore didn't want to lose his concentration of of the offenders since he suspected one might pull off a fast one if he didn't look, but he couldn't help but take a quick glance at the new presence himself. It appeared to be someone with a feminine figure. Some one odd and mysterious enough as it seemed, and bold enough too if they would easily just go in a place like this like no one's business in such a calm way.

Maybe too calm, Theodore thought suspiciously, would she be someone dangerous for everyone here or on their side? She did seem to be like a criminal since her face wasn't visible to the young man. The only recognizable features seemed to only be her hair and clothes. Another thing Theodore took as odd was the way she clapped as she walked. It reminded Theodore of the type of clapping one would do to encourage the crowd to clap along to a performance. He raised his eyebrows tot his, thinking it was odd anyone would clap at a time like this. Then again, he himself was still in his confident and optimistic state of mind that was being focused at the matter of hand and not panicking or fearing for his life, so who was he to say someone else was odd. Maybe she's a sadist, he thought.

Theodore started to laugh when she started to mention how it was a show. Wow, he thought, what am I kidding? Is the situation less dangerous then it really is or is this someone with a large ego? Theodore did continue to wait and look at everyone else around him. He wanted to see what would happen and examine to decide what to do next, seeing how things were changing quickly. When water appeared, Theodore quickly recognized who this woman might be. An expert in the field of water magic, he thought, and this person knows exactly what they're doing. He hadn't seen the kind of mages in awhile in town due to the war lately. This person was causing a large change of events in such a large amount of time, from helping the citizens to getting rid of the danger. The hourglass started to glow blue slightly when everything settled down.

Theodore's smile grew bigger as he spoke to her, "Alright? You just saved me, so I'm more than alright! Thank you, miss! " He made sure to wipe off his grin when he saw Darwind's dead body, "You didn't come exactly on time though to save some, though." Theodore walked closer to Darwind and looked over his body. Darwind's eyes were wide and blood was pouring out of the bullet wound in the back off his head. He couldn't react so emotional to death since Theodore was use to the entire event, but he didn't like the way Darwind died. To him, it seemed so unexpected and random, even though it was a bit of luck on his part. If he said it didn't shock him, he would be lying.

"We were just discussing some business together," Theodore told the person in the room while he used his hand to brush Darwind's eyes' closed, "All of this will cause will cause some sort of ruin to the people here, I'm guessing." Theodore paused for awhile before continuing, "I think I'll search him for a will. I don't know where people usually keep their will, but most of them I know have a copy with them and others elsewhere in their home." He could have cared less about the will, actually. Theodore just wanted to have an excuse to look for ways to see if he could try to take away what's left of the company's dangerous plant or anything else that might have been useful. He started to pull things out of his pockets as he searched Darwind.

A pocketwatch ... a wallet ... a picture of a beautiful woman ... a useful looking map of the company building ... a child's doll .... and two packages of plants that had their names on a piece of duck tape on top of each bag. No will though.

"I'm worried," Theodore started to say as he took the two bags of the plants and the map, "I think I should make sure his will's followed and manage what's left of his whole show that's been drawn to a close. I worked with him that much, so I think I should continue to do so til the end. That's the right thing to do, right?" Easy plan, right there. Get rid of everything so it'll never be manhandled in a dangerous way from people that would just take it once the man's dead, that would be the cover up. Too many dangerous products left laying around. And I think the ramble I just made would make it seem like I didn't just take his stuff, he thought, but if I know better, this lady must be smarter than I think I know ...

"I'm glad you're alright. Couldn't have an innocent man killed. Especially when he has skill in battle. Not in these times anyway." The woman gave a kind smile before noticing the dead corpse of Darwind. The table pooled the man's blood like a smooth yet thick table cloth before dripping onto the standard wooden flooring. Slowly the woman walked over to the corpse with a slight frown.

"Truly is a shame when good people die, huh...?" She asked the man as he searched for a will. It was obvious by his tone he was doing no such thing, though. The woman didn't mind, she only kept her eyes on the man as she noticed he grabbed two plants which had tags on them as well as some other things. The woman then walked a bit closer before tilting her head a bit and allowingher spooth pale lips to part as she asked the man a simple question, showing her slight curiosity.

"Are those the plants they were looking for?" She asked calmly. Her head remained covered with her hood, hiding her face but her cloak continued to flow with each movement she made. With a soft howl of wind coming through the window, the woman sighed with a slight annoyance. The sound always would bother her, so she used a nearby source of water to cover the hole in the window before letting it condense and freeze.

The woman's eyes then looked at the man before she held her hand out to shake his. Her slender fingers were covered with a light fabric for gloves but the gloves seemed to be just water and ink as they vaporized. A soft laugh came from the woman as she tilted her head and let her cloak's hood fall back, revealing her metallic gray eyes. "My name is Mizu. Mizu Fydan. It is a pleasure to meet and save you, sir. What would your name be?" She said in a friendly tone. Somehow her attitude had changed from a dangerous and slightly blood thirsty manor to one that was friendly and childish. This was just Mizu on duty. When near the enemy she always tended to be rude and killer but with civilians and friends she was a completely different person.

"Thanks, but I don't think I have skill really. I'm not much of a fighter, I just use it for emergencies. These times are getting more violent though ..." Theodore said while trying to make out the blurry words scribbled on the tape. On the bag with a darker plant it said 1# while the lighter one said 2#. The man must have some sort of idea what type of plants he was dealing with but if this was an experiment conducted right here, it would make sense to have the plant given to these people with you, Theodore thought as he stood still staring at the plants. If he did give these people the plants while being here, but he was late to his meeting, and if there were any of his employees, they ran out too so they had no idea what was happening so they couldn't have helped him, unless .... Theodore's large gray eyes became more of like saucers when he came to this final thought:

He was going to give out one of these plants, the dangerous one, to everyone somehow. He didn't live to do it, though. Most likely, these had to be the plants. There was also the possibility that they may not be the plants and they could be somewhere else.

Theodore shook his head a little, chastising himself in his head by thought how stupid he was acting now. He then noticing how the woman was now closer. What was that she said again? Oh yeah ...

"I wouldn't say good or bad really exist overall, just what someone feels towards another... but that's not answer to your question, is it? Yes, it is a shame. The ones who deserve to be labled good die too often.And about these plants, well, I'm not the master of plants like Darwind here was, but I'm guessing it's a good chance they might be." Theodore calmly said. He figured in the years of being a con artist, it was good to be as open as you can be. (Save for what you were doing as your objective, of course.) Might as well let her know that he thought that they might be them. Why would be concerned though, he wondered, I better be more careful around her. Theodore quickly turned his head towards a sound that sounding like someone was hitting at the ceiling. There was wind awhile ago, but the small man didn't think that was the cause.

His eyes started to focus more at the woman before him again and followed at her movements. He looked up at the taller woman's eyes while she introduced himself. At times like these, Theodore felt embarrassed having a young appearance due to his bad condition in the past since it would meddle with business, but she didn't seemed to notice. He took a small quick bow that caused his light blond hair to move back quickly and replied ,"My name would be Theodore Marion. Honor to meet you, miss." Theodore started to look around to see if he should wait and see what to do next. Would this lady want him around longer? He couldn't just run along and be on his way, so he would have to find out more about this woman before anything else.

"So," He begun after clearing his throat, "What may have dared you to have come into this place? "