A lone figure sat underneath a large tree just outside the Apple headquarters, a wide brimmed hat on his head as he goes about his work. He was cleaning his rifle, oiling the gears, checking the flint, adjusting the sight, all redundant tasks by now, he had done this a dozen times in the last hour. The real reason for his monotonous cleaning was that it helped him think, something he needed right now.

He was in over his head, and what’s more, he knew he was in over his head. Since leaving his father’s shop Theo had quickly learned a few valuable life lessons, firstly, speaking your mind can get you killed, secondly, people don’t care about how smart you are, and thirdly, also most importantly, he was only human. Vampires, Lycans, demons and all manner of strange and dangerous creatures reside in the world, and all of them seem to have advantages over mere humans, at least when it comes to things like violence and destruction. The more Theo thought about it, the more he realized that if he was going to survive out here he needed an edge, something to level the playing field. This edge turns out to be his weapons, it wasn’t much, but it was something.

Suddenly and without warning he bolted upright and spun around, drawing one of his wheel-lock pistols and firing off a shot at a tree trunk less than fifty paces away. Although there was a loud crack as the shot was fired, there was no thump of the shot hitting home, he had missed. “On the flip side, I do have another pistol.” He muttered and decided not to think about what would have been the result had that tree trunk been some creature intent on his demise.

He sat back down after a moment and reloaded his pistol, “I’ll just have to get better!” He said with a grin, “Besides, there are crazy creatures of doom and destruction on my side too.” After a few moments of assembling his rifle again he leaned back against the tree trunk and took out his old pipe, quickly lighting it he started to puff away happily, his lips breaking into a wide smile. At the very least, he knew he wouldn’t be bored.

Jim was upset. Earlier that very morning, he had been attempting to draw something, and had failed. Again. Then his last pencil broke. When he tried to sharpen it again, he slipped with the knife and stabbed himself. This was not, he decided, a day for staying at home. Thus he was heading in a roundabout way to the Apple headquarters.
While he was circumnavigating a small patch of mud, he heard a sound. Specifically, two sounds. Firstly, a faint, brief crack as if from a powder weapon, then a thud as if from a bullet impacting soft earth with little velocity. Should this be an attempt on his life, it was a feeble one. If, on the otherr hand, it was shooting practice, then firing randomly in this forest was not a good idea. Jim wandered off in the direction that the bullet came from.
A few moments later, he found himself just within view of the Apple headquarters.
"Oh. I thought it was further east. Hmm." He muttered to himself. He should stick to his path in future, he wasn't made for navigating forests.
"Aha!"
Jim had just noticed a few wisps of smoke coming from behind a tree. As well as the rifle. He was reasonably sure that this must be where the shot came from. He ambled over, then leant around the trunk. He had seen Theo about on occasion, but had never been 'employed' alongside him. As such, he didn't know how good the man was with a rifle.
" Would you mind, in future, not firing random shots into the forest? Even this close to the edge, you never know what you might hit. Or frighten. Or annoy. Or miss. Though you'll miss a lot of things. But missing everything is rare. But you did."
Jim realised he was rambling, and shut up.

Theo’s eyes shot open and he jerked forward, clearly a bit startled by the large creature’s sudden appearance. After his moment of panic was over, Theo was left standing a few paces away from the tree, pipe hanging lazily from his lips, and his eyes narrowed at the tall red creature. In the future he decided that he would treat all odd sounds coming from behind him as being dangerous.

“I’ll tell ya what boyo, you promise to never do that again, and I’ll do my very best not to accidentally replace your gray matter with a lump of hot lead!” He took a long drag from his pipe and let it out slowly before turning to address the man hanging out of the window, “We’re all fine here good sir, I’m just...” He shot the creature an annoyed look, “Entertaining our neighbors.” Theo knew this rather tall, dangerous looking thing could most likely rip him to shreds in a heartbeat but, in true Theo style, he decided not to dwell on it.

In what some would call the "mess hall", due to it being the commonplace of leisure after a day's work, there was a lone figure sitting alone. From within the embrace of a dark corner's shadow glistened a set of crimson eyes. It may have been the reflection of the "red wine" in the glass in front of her, but the same glint lingered as Veronica's gaze diverted from her glass and to the few who carried idle conversation afar. A pink tongue ran slowly across tainted red lips as Veronica drifted into a minor state of euphoria. Veronica hadn't been on a mission in a few days, or nights rather. While dangers still lurked the Grimloch forest, the usual bandits she slaughtered had been quiet as of late. Others may see this as a sign of good things to come, but Veronica's brooding thoughts only weaved skepticism as to their whereabouts and wrongdoings. The "wine" reminded her of previous ventures, and left Veronica literally motionless for longer than awhile.

A shift in the postures of the others who had been in the hall caught Veronica's attention. A fellow rogue took notice of Veronica as he stood and gave her a hearty wave accompanied by a smile. Veronica apparently didn't respond quick enough, as the rogue's expression slowly faded. Veronica delivered a smirk of her own, revealing the fangs gifted to her by lineage, and returned the friendly gesture. The rogue chuckled slightly before disappearing out of the hall with his buddies into the corridors. Raising the slender glass to her lips a final time, Veronica finished indulging in its contents and stood as well. She gave a yawn, more out of stress rather than exhaustion, but was interrupted mid-stretch by the faint sound of a gunshot. "Close." She murmured to herself.

Curiosity piqued, Veronica made a quick dash out of the hall and into the corridors herself. Anyone watching at that moment would have been privileged to witness her speed and live to tell the tale. Open window in sight, Veronica's body was vaulted from the floor and sent barreling to the outside. A short gasp and an instinctive grab of the window sill would signify her halt, as she perched the sill. Veronica gave a heavy sigh, making it obvious her annoyance. She had almost dove out into the direct sunlight of a Summer's day. Pushing the mishap to the back of her mind, Veronica took a moment to inhale the aromas that drifted through the air. The former scents of ale and the like that filled the mess hall were replaced by various plant life, a faint waft of blood most like from the nearby forest, and a smoke mixed of tobacco and gunpowder. Veronica's gaze quickly diverted to the source of the smoke, and it was only then that the scent of a beast reached her nostrils. "Pretty close to the fortress." She pondered.

The two figures had been identified. One was obviously an Apple member, but his name escaped her, if she knew it to begin with. The other figure in the distance was what currently grasped her mind's eye. It was obvious the beast wasn't of any immediate threat, or else he would have been filled with lead by now, but what was he doing so close to the Apple headquarters? "Must be that beast." Veronica grimaced. "I always wondered what the blood of a demon tastes like." The words seemed to come out like a purr. Equipped with the devious expression written across her face and the coursing of her tongue along her lips, the sight was surely unnerving to witness.

Jim blinked. He had not expected such a threatening response from the man.
He scratched his chin, thoughtfully, then glanced around at the headquarters as Theo called out. Noting that there were two people poking out of windows and observing the proceedings, he waved at the one he recognised, pretty sure it was someone important, and ignored the silent stare from the woman. He was used to stares, what with being remarkably non-human.
"I believe that calling me 'boyo' is inacurrate, as a boy is a young humanoid mortal. Assuming you're done with the threats, I'd like to point out that I was merely offering advice."
He gave a slight belch, and a puff of smoke escaped his maw. He leant forwards and briefly lay a clawed hand on Theo's shoulder.
"Whoops. Sorry about that. Must be the bear. Another bit of advice, don't eat bear."
He removed the hand, and walked off. He had no desire to provoke the man anymore.
Jim wandered over towards Reid. With any luck, there was a something to do.

Theo muttered darkly under his breath, watching the demon creature meander over towards the Headquarters. The bloody thing almost looked surprised when Theo lost his temper, what did he expect was going to happen if you’re A) a giant red demon being and B) you sneak up on a man as he enjoys a relaxing nap! For a brief moment Theo thought about shooting the creature, and his mind was filled with delusions of grandeur, slaying the demon, saving the world, all that nonsense. But that was only a moment, besides Theo had a strange feeling that even if he shot the creature, it would just make it angry.

A heavy sigh escaped Theo’s lips as he picked up his rifle, running his fingers over the ornate wheel-lock system, checking the pyrite, making sure the wheel is well oiled and runs smooth. It was a technological masterpiece, a marvel of engineering, chemistry and physics, a perfect marriage of function and form , and it was next to useless against the majority of creatures that wished to do him harm. Theo often wondered about technology and magic, and it was his theory that technological and scientific advances were severely hindered by magic. Necessity is the mother of invention, he read that somewhere, but in a world where most problems can be solved with magic, why invent something? Take his rifle for example, it took him years to make it, many more years to train with it, not to mention his extensive education, and all he has is a device that propels small bits of lead at high speeds. If he were a magic user, and spent all of that time learning magic, he could do a whole plethora of things.

He continued with this train of thought as he made his way into the Headquarters, paying no attention to the demon creature or his superior, his mind now entirely preoccupied with half baked theories and ideas. As Theo entered the Headquarters he promptly made his way into the mess hall where he sat down and lit up his pipe again. Tendrils of sweet smelling smoke rose towards the ceiling as he puffed away happily, content that this time he wouldn’t have random demon beings pop up to frighten him into early gray hairs.

Had it not been apparent, Veronica's curiosity could have been compared to that of a child's, due to her pointless interest. She withheld her grip on the window sill, cautiously noting the trajectory of the sunlight. While all of this idle multitasking occurred, Veronica watched as the two distant figures parted ways. One had escaped into the mess hall, while the more delectable one lingered about. Veronica's grip tightened on the sill, resisting the urge to lunge forward. Fortunately, before any mishaps were to take place, Veronica's train of thought was shattered by a familiar voice.

"Nice to see you're feeling energetic. Too bad the weather's so fine."

The irony in his statement stuck out to her, compelling her to smirk uncontrollably. "I've been without work for a few days, and with the lack of enemy movement during my nightly strolls, I do admit that I am a bit restless." To be honest, Reid also resembled a very delicious meal. He even came with ornate wrappings to better appeal to anyone ignorant enough to pursue him. Veronica was strong, but she also knew how to pick her battles. Beside that point, Reid was someone Veronica highly respected. She mentally reprimanded herself for even thinking such a dastardly thought to begin with. As Reid spoke of Jim's acquaintance with Apple, Veronica simply nodded as he spoke. She faintly remembered Jim's scent, but it had been awhile since their last encounter.

"Hopefully not." Veronica murmured to herself in response of Reid's question to the red beast.

OOC: Hope this' okay. :D

It seems Theo managed to attract the attention of some of the more opinionated Apple members, probably because he was bragging about how his weapons were the next technological step in warfare. A shifty little rogue in particular seemed adamant on getting a rise out of the pipe smoking clocksmith. “I’m telling ya Theo, those guns of yours may be fancy, but that’s all they are, fancy, kinda like a kings royal garb! All pretty lookin’ but it’s all for naught if ya aint got the stones to back it up!” And with that the rogue flicked his wrist and sent a dagger flying towards Theo, where it embedded itself in the back of his chair, not an inch from his face.

Having a dagger thrown at you is not something Theo was used to, and he flinched involuntarily, to the amusement and laughter of his comrade in arms. After he took a deep breath he calmly picked up his rifle and pointed to an apple on the table in front of him, “Toss that in the air for me.”

The rogue grinned and picked up the apple, “Ya sure mate? It is rather small.”

“Just do it boyo.” The rogue shrugged and tossed it in the air. For a few brief moments the apple soared up into the air, and then down again, where the rogue caught it with a chuckle, “So much for that then, did ya forgot to-.” It was at that point in time Theo decided to pull the trigger. A deafening crack echoed throughout the mess hall as the shot was fired, the apple exploded into a white mist and the bullet embedded itself in the far wall, sending metal and rock shards pattering about harmlessly. The rogue, for all his former bravado, was white as a ghost. Theo couldn’t help but allow himself to grin like a boy on his birthday.

It was also about this time that Theo noticed the entire mess hall was quiet and all eyes were on him, he blinked a few times before lowering his rifle and getting to his feet, “Sorry about that everyone! Just umm... Hmm...” Theo puffed away on his pipe a moment, thinking of some excuse for shooting off his weapon indoors, in a densely populated room no less, when nothing came to mind he just went with the truth, “I had to make a point.” Satisfied he quietly sat back down, a few other Apple members muttered half heard insults, something along the lines of ‘crazy’ and ‘fool’ not to mention a few comments about ‘the new guy’. As for the rogue, he was nowhere to be seen, and Theo could care less, his mind was once again off on another tangent about what would happen if Apple decided to pool it’s gold together and become a bank.

Jim hesitated briefly before answering, reminding himself that Reid had no actual interest in the morning's events. As he got closer, he noticed the pale woman leaning out the window, and nodded to her.
"As well as can be expected, considering the hideous beasts lurking in every shadow."
He realised that Veronica wasn't giving off any heat, and was avoiding the light.
"No offense meant."
A sudden thought struck him. Originally, he had come to see whether he could do anything to ease the tedium of being a demonic hermit, but his encounter just before had given him an idea. Despite his manners, he still gave of the wrong image. He needed something to make people think twice, give him time to explain that he had no interest in devouring them. Mostly.
What Jim needed, he thought, was a hat.
" As you may have noticed, I just had a slight misunderstanding with that young man. I was wondering whether, in order to reduce the likelyhood of this happening, it would be possible to acquire a hat of some sort. What do you think?"

Jade looked in the little mirror, admiring herself. She had spent ages combing her long hair, and pulling it into an elegant style. She had even attached a little red ribbon on the top. The long tails of it fell into her hair, and blended in with the dark strands. She had thought that the red would go nicely with this so-called Apple's red theme. She was also wearing a short white dress, tied with a similar red ribbon, though she also carried a bag that held more suitable clothes for travelling. Although Jade hated to wear those, but it was only sensible after all. She folded away the little mirror, and tucked it into the bag that she carried with her. She looked up at the Apple headquarters, sighing to herself. It was the only way that she was going to get through the forest…with help.

Not like Jade really minded being a bit late to go home…she had been enjoying herself, away from her father and his stupid expectations. She knew exactly what would happen when she got home. She would be dressed up like a doll, and paraded around in front of the young men who had promising careers, or whose fathers were prominent men. Basically, anybody who her father thought would better his career, his status. Not his daughter’s.

But still, Jade had never rejected money, or the things it could buy for her. She certainly liked to look pretty, as evidence of her many hair ribbons and nice dresses. And Jade wasn’t going to deny that, it was just the way that she had been raised. As a proper lady. She smiled to herself, oh how her father would kill her if he only knew that things that Jade did while he wasn’t around. There were times when she was anything but a ‘proper lady,’ but today was not one of those times. She knew what she had to do, and that was why she was standing here now, about to approach the headquarters of the infamous Apple.
Jade took a deep breath, and plastered a bright smile on her face, and started to walk to the entrance of the place. She herself had never been through here, had never requested such a service, but she had heard a lot about it. She shouldered her little bag, and walked towards the building slowly, quite unsure about where she needed to go to talk to the people in charge. Though she supposed she would figure it out eventually…

In an adjacent building of the mess hall, where line of sight was provided by a large window, a dainty little figure peered through with makeshift binoculars, eyes locking onto her fellow Apple comrades as they murmured their discontent about the shooting range fiasco. This sightseeing activity would not normally be unusual for someone with Maggie's repertoire of hobbies, but its purpose at least would raise a few eyebrows. Or roll a pair of vampire eyes.

Maggie was stalking. More specifically, she was stalking the newcomer gentleman sitting quietly in the centre of the spotlight, gun close to one hand and pipe in another. She noted the absent-minded look on his face, the kind he normally phases into when his mind was working gears. He might be thinking about some romantic notions about her, but that may just be wishful thinking on her part. For all they knew, he could have strategized the siege of Erlein using bear cavalry, even with the fact that there were no bears here for a few dozen miles. And that was what always made her swoon.

Finally, she called it quits on her stalking business, satisfied, and proceeded to take a more direct approach. The inflatable cotton tank top and baggy jeans were no more, replaced instead by a ruby-red dress that she's seen the Dugan folk wear and bought from the marketplace. If this didn't get his attention, she didn't know what will. Perhaps a heart-shaped statue of stone, complete with the aorta and chambers.

Her journey from her personal treehouse to the main headquarters was completed with wobbling knees and sweaty palms. Despite the breezy weather, she was in a cold sweat. "Smile," she reminded herself, "Smile and compliment." With one drawn breath, she parted the doors open with a shove, and quickly assessed the room. Jim was on one of his rare visits, trying really hard not to look intimidating and sadly failing at it. Close to him was Vicious, and in the far corner, Erin the sight of whom instantly brought a smile to her face. Their friendly competitions in the shooting range still remained fresh in her mind.

Then there was Theo Oswald, sitting in his usual seat, wearing his usual clothes. Her legs froze into place. Smile and compliment.

With slow and unsteady steps, she shuffled slowly to where he sat, standing a few feet away from him. She threw him the best smile she could garner at him, which came off as dorky in her personal opinion, and clearing her throat, she began what would soon plague her nightmares for many days to come.

"H-hey there. You're . . . you look, erm, you . . . train of thought . . ." she said, and rapped her temple with her knuckles, eyes shut in concentration, "Appealing, you're very appealing today." She bit her tongue in silent rebuke.

It took the young clock-smith a few moments to realize that the girl was speaking to him, this was a surprise to say the least. He blinked a few times as he looked the girl over, red dress, hindered speech, vulnerable demeanor, it was enough to sound alarm bells in his head, this girl wanted his attention but for what possible reason? In addition to this, her particular choice of words made Theo slightly nervous.

“Appealing am I? Usually I’d take that as a compliment, but in these here woods being appealing can mean something else entirely, and I dare say I won’t just keel over and let you eat me.” He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, tendrils of sweet smelling smoke curling up from his pipe. He took careful notice of her reaction, and seeing the look of horror come across her face he quickly came to the conclusion that she was indeed, not going to eat him. Also of note was the reaction of the other assorted Apple members, they threw a few cautious glances their way, knowing smirks on their faces, something was going on here, and for some reason he was out of the loop. Theo’s mind almost swept him away from the fact that the girl was still standing there in front of him, looking particularly embarrassed. Quickly overwhelmed with guilt he decided to put her at ease.

“I’m just pulling your leg girly, I’m a bit paranoid is all, not everyday a finely dressed young woman such as yourself comes out of the blue and gives me a compliment.” He smiled warmly and pulled out a chair next to him, offering her a seat, “But I do hope you don’t plan on wearing that out on a mission, dresses tend not to work so well when arrows and swords are flying about.” She seemed innocent enough but he couldn’t help but remember a tidbit of advice from his father. Listen lad, outside that door there are a whole sack full o’ dangers, all of which can, and will kill ya given half a chance, in a number of horrible and undesirable ways no less, but understand me when I tell ya this: God help ya if you ever attract the ire of a woman. Theo couldn’t help but to agree with his father, his guns could help him against a wide variety of threats, but they tended to be useless against pretty young girls in red dresses.

"What, me? Wear a dress out to work? Ha! Ha-ha!" Maggie let out a nervous chortle and slid into the chair, suddenly feeling the weight of a few dozen pairs of eyes boring down on her, "Why, that's absurd! Of course I knew that! It would be stupid if I did that. Of course!" She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"I save it for, you know, uh, special occasions. Days worth dressing up. Like . . . like when there's special occasions," she stuttered, a feeling of panic sweeping over her. Where was her impressive grandiose vocabulary when she needed it? Hadn't she planned for this social procedure already? "Er, you like it, don't you?" She resisted the urge to get up and twirl the dress. After all, she paid a good amount of coin for it, the least she could do was make sure it was worth it.

Instead her hands gripped the handle of the rusty old hammer, her little lucky charm that she kept hidden behind her back and now left sitting on her lap. She didn't want to send the wrong first impressions to Theo; the sight of a hammer-crazy barbarian with enough grease on her to fill a tub would have probably sent him scurrying in the opposite direction, several miles at least. Men, according to her friends in Apple, had an eye out for a proper lady. That meant social graces and ladylike etiquette, key aspects she completely lacked. And evidently now, impossible to substitute.

Too many variables. Lacking the proper apparatus. Large uncertainty margin.

Leaving the comfort zone of an uncommunicated crush might have been a big mistake after all.

Bijou stood slowly, knees cracking from being knelt on for so long. She glanced down and casually brushed off the dirt and vegetation from her pants before bending down to pick up her basket of now wilting plants. She picked up her bow from where she had left it leaning against the tree while she gathered the mushrooms growing in the shade beneath the great canopy. Reslinging her bow across her back, Bijou made her way back towards Apple headquarters, searching for useful plants or unusual species she could study later.

After the last escort, one of the archers had been shot and Bijou had used not only her healing magic, but some of her supply. Not wanting to be caught short-handed, she had come out here to replenish and was delighted to find a wonderful little colony of Greanid mushrooms. Very useful for dulling pain as well as senses for the occasional gruesome injury. It helped to keep the victim from going into shock and after drying them out, Bijou would have a good supply for a while.

Her shin was hurting her from healing the archer's own shin and Bijou hoped the lingering pain would soon stave off. Trying her hardest not to limp or flinch in pain, Bijou slowly made her way back to headquarters. Keeping her eyes open for any plants she wanted, but not finding anything she needed, Bijou shortly broke through the edge of the forest, catching sight of the buildings Apple occupied.

It'd been almost a fortnight since she'd been driven out of her territory and four days since she'd found the main road; Vrrasha was getting pawsore. Judging from the terrain, she knew she was getting close to the forest's edge, though it was still somewhat tough traveling, given that she was merely following the road from a safe distance rather than traveling along it. 'Be safer tha' way,' she thought to herself, pale gold eyes cast to the vague gametrail she made her way along, 'Giv'n tha' it won' be t' far a stretch fer some group a' trav'lers t' assume tha' I'm jus' some forest nasty, out fer an easy target. 'Specially those're not famil'r with my kin'.' A twinge from the barely-healed scar on her chest brought her out of this inner monologue. She paused to undo the first couple toggles on her jerkin and pull the corner back, checking to make sure the scrap of cloth that protected the still-healing scar from the rough leather, as well as held the poultice to it, hadn't slipped. Satisfied it was still well in place, Vrrasha closed her jerkin once more, though just before she started on her way again, a none-too-distant report rang out, sounding vaguely like a lightning strike, though much less grandiose a noise.

Not long after, Vrrasha picked up on the sound of voices, alerting her that she was close at hand to her intended destination. This caused her to set out with a new determination, though not a small measure of caution, as she made her way towards both the sounds and the main road. 'Migh' as well come by th' road,' she mused, somewhat ill at ease now that her destination was close at hand, but unwaveringly determined none the less, 'They're prolly less like as t' take potshots at me if I'm comin' 'long th' road like a normal trav'ler.' Reaching the roadway, Vrrasha paused a moment to steel herself before stepping onto it, and it took only a few more minutes walking before she drew within sight of the large masonry and wood buildings, causing her to stop once more in astonishment.

She was taken aback by the size of it, as before now she'd only seen the simple shelters some brave and foolhardy folk had built in the forest, most often near some prime source of medicinal herbs, or the tents and lean-tos the bandits had used. Recollecting herself, Vrrasha forged ahead, slowing only when she saw the young female human approaching the massive structure from the other direction, and the man who came out to greet her. Bringing herself to a halt just a little past where the road entered the cleared area around the buildings, Vrrasha hesitated, trying to figure out some method of approach, of what to say to convince them to take her on as part of their company.