Field test No.1
Rosario sat on the balcony of his hotel room, looking over the city's bright lights and neon signs, the crowds on the street, even in the late night, the streets remained busy as people walked from casino to casino and the other offerings the city had. He twisted a small black stone blade in his hand, turning it over between both fingertips. He heard a voice in his mind, “What are you doing, Lorea?” the smoking mirror asked. Rosario tosed the blade between both hands. “I keep forgetting that I can hear you out here now, too. You’ve been quiet recently. What's with that?” Smoking mirror made a sound like clearing his throat. “I apologize for my outburst of emotion. I am not one to give in to my feelings like that.” Rosario tossed the blade from one hand to the other. “Don't worry about it, it's what makes us human, I think. I'm not sure I'm no philosopher, but I'd like to think that.” Smoking mirror quietly said, “Well spoken, but what if I'm not or was not human? Would I still feel those things: yearning, fear, loss, anxiety, sadness ?” Rosario rubbed his chin. “Hmm, good question, I don't know. Demons are rare unless you count beastfolk, but they aren't really demons anymore; they're closer to how humans are related to the elves, I assume. I never met an angel or a god or goddess, but then again, no one alive has that we know of; it's always puzzled me, right, if there are demons, how come we don't see the light-sided divinity doing battle with them, you'd think opposing forces would be fighting right?” Smoking mirror hummed in thought, “I don't know that's a good point though, maybe they don't see demons or mortals as threats?” Rosario began to speak as the smoking mirror interrupted him, “Heads up, someone just opened the door to your room.” “How did you?”
The door to the balcony opened. Senarre stepped out, still wearing the band shirt and shorts. “Yo,” she waved as she pulled out the chair next to his. She placed a small wooden block on the metal railing with a stick poking out of it. “Can't sleep?” Rosario said in passing, looking out over the city. “No, just too busy thinking to sleep too many thoughts.” Rosario pointed to the wooden block. “What's this?” She leaned over, resting her elbows on her knees. “Lost all my Yerba Menthe and my lighter when we fought the archdemon. I killed people today, so I need to run the purification ritual. Don't have Yerba Menthe so I bought an incense burner and incense that smells close enough to the otherside on our way back to the hotel.” Rosario leaned forward in his chair and held out his hand. A mote of fire appeared. He held it gently over the incense stick as it caught fire, and then he waved his hand, extinguishing the flame. “What god is the whole purification ritual for?” Senarre leaned back, the smell of mint filling the air near the balcony. “Don't follow any of them. I suspect that Pa didn't either and that he started this whole purification tradition, so i didnt just kill to kill to show me that it's bad to kill for nothing, although one time when I was around 10 or 11 some creepy ass elf an old looking one too so this guy was ancient tried to buy me off of Pa said they needed me, never saw him draw the sword so fast he was ready to kill of the rip there he usually avoids killing at all if he can.”
“How are you feeling about the situation? By the way, I don't want to pry.” She frowned, “As well as I can, I guess I don't know much about how to relate with others, so I don't know how I should feel.” She stopped talking. Silence filled the space between them. She said, “Are we friends?” Rosario thought, “Yea id think so. I'd like to think so, at least i dont have many friends id like to consider you one of the few.” She smiled, “Well then, I'd like to give you the honor of being my first friend then.” Rosario put on a formal tone mimicking the one she had made the night before upon their arrival at the hotel, “Well, my dear friend i accept the status humbly.” She looked over at his hand holding the small shard of black stone. “What are you doing with that?” He leaned over, showing it to her. “A good answer would be training, but in reality, I'm just fidgeting with it, practicing making shapes, I guess, more versatile than blades.” She pulled her gun out of her waistline. “Try making it?” He took the weapon, taking care not point the barrel anywhere and keeping his finger off the trigger, he ran his fingers along the weapon carefully memorizing every line and held out his right hand, black stones layered on top of each other making a close approximation of the weapon he handed the gun back to her and spun the one of black stones around his finger “Its nice its weight and size are right but i cant get the engravings right what do they mean anyways?” She reached over to take the false weapon of black stone from his hand. He pulled his hand back. “No, wait, I don't think it will.” The weapon held its shape, the stones trembled, the place where her fingers sat faded, and the weapon turned to dust. “I don't know what they mean. I'd assume some of the runes are Elvish, but I can't read them. I'd assume that some of them are also Uncle Tex makers' marks since he's the one who made them.” Rosario looked at the gun carefully. “Can Uncle Tex make me a weapon?” She smiled, “You got a taste of superior craftsmanship?” Rosario laughed, “No, I just think a ranged weapon is optimal for functionality, also to supplement the black stones. Using the blades burns my energy too fast, and i havent summoned the Obsidiana since that one time, but I'd assume it will burn me out even faster.” Senarre said, “I'm sure Uncle Tex would be happy to make you a weapon if you brought him some silversteel to work with, as you've seen mine have a piece of silversteel at their core.” She yawned and leaned back in the chair, looking at the city in front of them. He yawned and leaned back; all of the days of walking had tired him out more than he thought.
He opened his eyes as a pigeon pecked at his hand. The rising sun of the morning had woken him. He looked over the chair that Senarre was sitting in. She was gone, and he stood up and walked into the room. She was fast asleep on his bed, the blanket was hanging off the side of the bed, and her arm was as well he shook her awake she opened her eyes “Wha-” He pulled on his boots “we were going to meet Jameson on the otherside to see the machine he build get up we need to get ready.” she jumped up and walked for the door he followed close behind. The door swung open. Carmilla was sitting in the conversation pit, sipping from a large frosty red glass mug with a stick of celery out of the top. She turned to see them both walking out of the room, and her eyes went wide. She dropped the glass mug on the ground and said: “Dammnit, you made me drop my bloody mary.” She scrambled to clean up the spilled beverage. Senarre ran into her room and emerged shortly after with a poncho and boots on and walked for the door.
Ryvr was sitting on the couch in the living room of his penthouse. He had a long, spiraled cable connected to the radio on his neck; the other end was connected to a small box with an antenna poking out of the top. He twisted his finger around the cable as Carmilla walked in. He stopped and said, “Hold on, Khalid ill call you back later. Yes, our deal still holds, yes, I'll be there for your wedding. Remember, if you're catering, my party consists of six people. I'll let you know if that changes, ok, yes I'll call back later, gimme a second, yes I know to account for the difference in time zone, ok, bye.” Ryvr unplugged the cable from the ring around his neck and looked at Carmilla flatly. “What do you want?”
Senarre and Rosario ran through the jungle. She had her arm in a cast, fingers pressing on the ring around her neck. “What the fuck do you mean theres issues with the gun? Get out of here were being chased by one of those fuckers.” the voice on the other side said. “Ooh i got it, sorry, just some voltage irregularities.” Just then, the wyvern crashed through the trees. Rosario raised the gun and fired at it. “Why would he give me this? It didn't do shit?” Just then, the machine crashed through the forest, its massive rifle like an artillery piece in hand. Senarre shouted, “Cover your ears.” They both dropped to the ground as the machine's finger pressed on the massive trigger. The rifle fired a massive round that blew into the side of the wyvern and exploded outwards, painting the nearby trees with crimson spray. Senarre stood up, whooping and screaming, “That's what I'm fucking talking about.” Rosario stood up, rubbing his face. “I think my teeth are rattling.” The machine placed its other hand on the rifle and pulled back the bolt, ejecting a casing as large as an artillery round. The bolt stuck open. A voice came back through the radios on both of their necks, “Looks like the big one is jammed, I'll have to fix it at the workshop. I guess that means I can test out the other armaments.” The machine reached down to either mechanical thigh and pulled forth two large guns resembling submachine guns with drum magazines. Another wyvern crashed through the trees into the clearing. The machine raised both machine guns and sprayed a short burst with a resounding “Brrrrt.” At it, the creature dropped forward as one came flying in from above, clawing at the machine's head. The machine dashed backwards, leaving a trail in the mud from where it came, grinding to a stop, its shining emerald eyes the weapons raised once more peppering the wyvern with gunfire until the guns clicked. Jameson from inside the cockpit said, “Damn, I should've brought spare mags, I didn't think there were more than one or two.” The machine placed both machine guns back on its thighs before reaching onto its back and pulling forth the massive blade of its sword. The machine's mechanical hands gripped it, and the blade ignited a pale red as a wyvern twice the size of the machine came into the field. “This big one must be the brood mother that things like 30 meters tall can't wait to test this.” The machine spread its stance, raising the sword behind its right shoulder as the wyvern rushed forward, the machine dashed to the side to evade the maw of the broodmother and brought the sword down on its head, cleaving through it in one clean strike, blood sizzling off the blade. Jameson pulled the release lever on the cockpit and opened the hatch. “You little ones alive?” Rosario and Senarre walked into the clearing Soaked in crimson. He began to say, “Close enough,” as she shouted, “Better than alright i wanna shoot the big gun next.” Jameson laughed and said, “Sorry, little lady, but the mech can only be piloted by me.”
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Carmilla and Ryvr were lying on their stomachs on the roof across from the Roulette, looking into the windows of Rosario’s Penthouse. Carmilla elbowed Ryvr in the side, “Move over, i cant see.” He pushed her back, “I can't either hold on, are you sure they walked out of the same room this morning and you weren't drinking again?” She laughed and said, “Piss off, we’ve been over this already, you know I can't really get drunk easily i just drink cause the burn of the alcohol reminds me I'm kind of still alive.” Ryvr focused the binoculars. “I can see them.” Carmilla snatched the binoculars out of his hand. “What are they doing?” she frowned. “They’re playing chess?” Just then, a burst of wind cut through the hot air. A woman in a long coat stood behind them, wrapped in one arm three cylindrical objects wrapped in foil. “What are you two nitwits doing?” Carmilla and Ryvr turned around and in unison said, “Mom? Lady Lorea?” Yaren rubbed her face with one of her gloved hands and pointed at Ryvr, “I expect this behaviour from you.” She pointed at Carmilla, “I haven't known you long enough to anticipate your actions, though.” Ryvr said, “Oh, so you're not interested in the potential relationship your youngest son has with this random woman he just showed up with one day?” Yaren frowned, “Don't be an ass, Ryvr, I am, but he is an adult, so I just have to trust his judgement.” Ryvr made a flat expression, “Is that why you brought food up here?” Carmilla turned over and said, “I thought I smelled something good. What is that?” Yaren sat down, her joints cracking as she did so. “Shawarma, I happened across a vendor yesterday, and today I went back and bought their entire stock told them to feed the community and to just bag me up three. I got chicken, beef, and lamb. What do you want ?” Ryvr leaned over. “I'll take the lamb, and please tell me where you got it from. I think Eshara, Nysa, and Itzel would like to try it; they are the most adventurous eaters.” Yaren handed over the Foil cylinder with a big “L” written on it. Carmilla said, “I'll take whatever, I'm not picky.” Yaren handed over the foil wrapping with the “B” on it and smiled and said, “I'll take the chicken then, it's the same I had yesterday, very good, never tried anything quite like it i may have to have the chefs at Lorea Manor learn to make it.” Ryvr took a bite and through a mouthful said: “This is good, I've tried- wait, how did you know to bring three?” Yaren brushed her hand through her black, greying hair. “Half of bounty hunting is reconnaissance, and the other half is physical work, but I take it you are very well aware of how useful intelligence operations are in levelling the playing field on a potential asymmetric situation.” Ryvr laughed, "You've read Lorena’s works?” Yaren laughed, “Of course, I have you think i wouldnt read the works of the best strategic minds of the great demon war, and also our ancestors.” Carmilla said, “I remember Lorena’s works my mom used to shove them down my sister and I throats all the damn time.” She made a shrill voice, “You need to learn this because Lorena’s battlefield tactics are useful in the navigation of political and social situations.” She dropped the tone, “My mother was always hard on us. Did she live long?” Yaren said, “What was her name?” Carmilla quietly said, “Sare De la Rosa.” Yaren leaned forward. “Lived to around 80, I think she died quite a while before I pruned the tree.”
“Cousin told me about that. Why did you do it?” Yaren frowned. “It had to be done, my mother was the clan head, she was running us into the ground, the finances and everything, she was too lost in her delusions of opiates and assorted substances to see that she was going to cause the clan to tear itself apart at the seams both the main clan and the branch families so i was going to forcefully take the clan sword and name myself as head to try to undo the damage that she did, she saw me coming called out my sisters and the members of the branch family that were the most loyal to her they got in my way it was unfortunate what i had to do but it had to be done like excising infected tissue trimming the disease so that the animal may continue to live, they got in my way but they stood little chance i cut through them it was a regrettable outcome i gave everyone who raised arms against me three strikes to lay down their weapons their blind faith in the head is what sealed their deaths. To not get into the gory details, once the job was done i buried them at their family graves and claimed the sword. When I wrapped my fingers on the handle, Abundant Delusion reshaped itself into the Threefold Song.” Carmilla looked down at Yaren’s hip, pointing at the sword. “Is that the name of your iteration of the clan sword ?” Yaren pulled the sheathed sword off her hip. “Yes, she is a good friend,” she said, pulling the sword from its black scabbard, revealing the fine, honed edge of the black blade inlaid with gold. The motifs of gold on the blade bore the image of a ship, followed by bell shaped flower, and a series of prayer beads connecting the series of motifs was a gold inlay pattern like thorned vines. Carmilla looked at the blade, eyes wide, "She's beautiful, has she always had the patterns?” Yaren shook her head, “No, she used to just have a pattern of thorned vines when she became mine. When Ryvr was born, the pattern spread upwards same goes for Hana and Rosario. I assume that the motifs on the blade are tied to them.” Carmilla looked at the blade carefully. “shes very beautiful. I understand that Ryvr would be a ship and that Hana would be the flower, but why would Rosario be a set of prayer beads?” Yaren shrugged, “Don't know, could be that he lucked out, maybe a god threw him a bone on his first day, when he was born, he wasn't breathing, took a bit for him to come around, but once he did, he was screaming bloody murder.” Yaren pointed at Ryvr “on the other hand that one was an asshole” Ryvr took another bite “Not my fault i was 4135 grams when i was born thats all you and probably some to blame on my father whoever he is.”
Carmilla looked at her interestedly as she placed the sword back in its scabbard. “Who is their father? It would explain both of their mana pools being that high because once I felt the drain of the bloodiron off of a single activation i felt like death i dont know how he could manifest those black stone blades consistently and seemingly just generate them off the rip or to play with to keep his hands busy much less how Ryvr can call a dragon of lightning the size of a medium sized airship a 7 percent strike.” Yaren smiled, “The father of my children is mine to know and yours to theorize on.” Carmilla smiled, “ahh so they all do have the same father then.” Yaren raised her hand to her mouth and made a motion like closing a zipper. Ryvr turned over with the binoculars, “THEY CLOSED THE DAMN CURTAINS !”
“You think they're still watching?” Senarre leaned over the chessboard, moving the pawn to D5. Rosario smiled smugly, “Most definitely, if we hadn't run into Nysa at the laundry, we wouldn't have known we could pull the wool over Ryvr’s eyes like this.” Senarre frowned. “I'm sad my poncho got drenched in wyvern blood. I hope it comes out, I just bought that thing.” Rosario walked over to the window and reached for the curtains, pulling the string on them, allowing them to fall shut. He let out a slight, malicious laugh. “I'm sure the wyvern blood will wash out if it doesn't, we can ask Ophelia, I think she’s staying in moms room.” Senarre carefully observed the chessboard, planning her next move. “Is that what having siblings is like? Messing with each other?” Rosario waved his hand, “Eh, kinda, I like to mess with Ryvr because it makes him break his composed persona, besides, don't you have Jiawei as a sibling?” “Good point, but it's not the same. I wasn't raised with her. I met her after a while with Pa. He helped them out, and they saw him struggling to take care of a kid, so they took me in for a while, but that doesn't matter. What's your move?” Rosario looked at the board and said, “Pawn to A5.” Senarre leaned over the board, hands crossed across her face, “I guess, but I don't think that blood ties are necessary to be considered a sibling. Is this about the frozen forest?” Senarre leaned back. “Kinda i have a lot of complex feelings, i dont quite know how to unpack right now, and on top of that, everytime i try to go back there i keep seeing my own memories and the tall woman hasn't appeared recently its weird i thought she’d be like your smoking mirror but she just comes drops a bombshell of information on me then leaves, i tried to dig in there last night before i came out to your balcony and nothing i just kept seeing the bathouse in the outcast village or when we were eating the chocolate at your manor.” “Is there anything I can do to help?” he looked at her curiously as he said. She let out an exhale and said, “I don't know now that we're friends, be there? I don't know how much more of what I can ask of you. I've asked for so much, and you've only given.” “That's not true, you taught me a little of how to swim, and you got me chocolate, I'm happy with the simple stuff.” She sighed and changed the topic, “How much longer till the dryer is done with the clothes?” Rosario turned his head to look at the clock on the wall as she reached over and moved his pawn back one space, “bout 37 minutes i think, once we get the clothes out of the dryer we can change back into them and them and head out to the Jive turkey to touch base with Ma and Pa, i feel weird wearing pajamas in the middle of the day.” He turned to look at the board as she shrugged and said, “Doesn't bother me all that much.” He looked at the board more closely. “Did you move my pawn?” She looked to the side and said smugly, “I don't know what you’re talking about.”