Amaya "Rin" Miyuzaki's Story

Ariana Hasani

The walk back to the village was a bit shorter than the walk to the cave had been but it felt longer to Aria due to her ribcage squealing in protest with every breath. It was like a constant dull ache and she made a mental note to put ice on the area (though she doubted by that point it would do any good). Unconsciously her arm moved to rest under her breasts, as if in an invisible sling across her mid drift, as if somehow holding it there would make it a little less painful. This was the only sign of pain she gave, however, has her face was again carefully blank with only the faintest frown upon her lips. Tatsuo was right, she probably should've thought that through better, but that would've meant she'd have been standing on the sideline uselessly as the others stood in the way of danger. She'd not known them long nor did she know them well, but they were her guildmates and she refused to simply stare as they fought a beast.

Despite these somewhat disheartening thoughts (none of which she voiced of course) and the bruises that were soon to be coloring her midriff, the travel itself was rather pleasant. Tatsuo and Dyandin bickering (something that felt oddly familiar), Miya humming or talking to herself / anyone listening, and Rin quiet. It felt almost normal and was actually somewhat comforting, though Aria couldn't place the reason for this. Regardless it was nice - definitely preferable to silence. 'Perhaps being on a team wasn't so bad,' she couldn't help but to consider, 'there is certainly power in numbers and it makes the long journeys less dreary.' What a curious idea.

When they arrived at the village they went immediately to the steakhouse / butcher's shop (most because Tatsuo was so insistent on food - Aria made the mental connection between Miya's voids and the bottomless pit that seemed to be Tatsuo's stomach, judging by how much food he claimed he intended to eat). Upon entering the shop the man, bearing a name tag that read "Mr. William", came out from the back room and made a noise of delighted surprise. "You're back! How did it go? I didn't think that running off a few goblins would take so long..." he eyes moved to Dyandin, brows furrowing in disapproval at the dirty armor, a quiet scoff in his voice, "What happened to you? Did you decide to go camping or something and forget your tent?"

Aria stepped forward clearing her throat. "It was somewhat more difficult than anticipated, Mr. William, as there was a wyvern involved." Upon hearing this the immediately shut up, paling a little further as Aria went on. "The goblins seemed to be serving it as a deity of sorts and, though we scared the goblins off with ease, we were caught by surprise. However in spite of this we were able to kill it and you ought not have any more problems with your supplies being raided." Her voice was somewhat chilling, in all honesty. There was no true hostility, but rather a disappointed tone, as scolding the man for being rude to the people who'd just risked their lives for the sake of his restaurant. That was, in fact, exactly what she was doing and the man seemed to understand this as he nodded rather quickly and took the paper from Aria's hands.

"R-Right. Sorry. Thank you. I didn't realize..." he trailed off, reading through the paper (though Aria had the suspicious that this was only so he could avoid her eyes). "I tell you all what; let me get you all the money and a warm meal, on the house, to make up for the trouble. Had I known there was a wyvern..." he trailed off again with a hushed awe, his eyes traveling over the group in poorly concealed surprise. After a moment he cleared his throat, straightening his back, and flapped the paper in their direction. "Go on and sit - we just closed and I was cleaning up, but let me get you some menus to look at while I get your payment." Then with that he turned and walked into the kitchen.

The doors swung behind him only once before he burst through them again, menus under his arm. "Sorry about my, erhm, earlier, um, rudeness. I didn't, uh, mean to be scornful. Ahem." he said quietly to Dyandin as he handed him a menu then, after the awkward apology, moved to give menus out to everyone else, lastly to Aria who'd taken a seat in one of the booths by the window. "Let me know what you'd like - I guarantee that everything is delicious," he said proudly, bustling back towards the kitchen, "I'll be out with your money and to take your orders in a few minutes." then vanishing behind the swinging doors.

Aria opened the menu, absentmindedly brushing away the hair that fell in her eyes (it normally held back by clips, but....). Glancing over the items she had to admit; everything looked delicious. Maybe it was because she was already pretty hungry or because she rarely ate anything as expensive as steak (for free, nonetheless) but either way she could feel her mouth watering slightly.

~Miya Winters~



"Hmmm..." Miya tilted her head, staring blankly at the owner as he first reacted rudely to them, then apologized and decided to treat them. When he promised it was delicious, Miya asked, "If it isn't does that mean I can cut your tongue out?" It wasn't a serious question, but Miya didn't really like this man, and she thought having ones tongue cut out for lying wasn't an unjust punishment. After the man got their menus and such, Miya gazed around the place, watching as her puzzles chose their seats. A smile came onto her face once again as she went to sit next to Aria who was looking over the menu. Seeing the girl's hair fall made her remember that Aria had stabbed the Wyverns eyes with her clips. The image of Aria removing the clips, along with the Wyverns eyes, from its head played in her mind for a moment, making her giggle slightly as she opened her own menu.

Everything pretty much looked the same to Miya. It was food, neither appealing nor unappealing. She didn't find any sweet things listed, so her cheeks puffed out slightly, since sweets were the only thing she actually had a taste for. In her disappointment, though, with where they were it should be obvious the sweets wouldn't be on the menu, she glanced at Aria and then at Dyandin. When she saw him she blinked, tilting her head slightly. He seemed off somehow, and mumbled something Miya couldn't quite hear before putting down his menu. He must have figured out what he wanted, but again, she thought he seemed off somehow. Her curiosity was currently caught by the king who now wore casual clothing. She would be paying closer attention, else she miss something.

Moving her eyes back down to the menu in front of her, Miya's eyebrows furrowed as she hmmed. Finally, she clicked her menu down onto the table, "Well, everything looks the same to me, sooo..." she smiled over at the girl beside her, "I'll just get whatever Aria gets. Problem solved!" Content with her decision, her eyes once again went to Dyandin. Usually Tatsuo would have done or said something to gain her interest by now, but currently, she simply stared at Dyandin as though staring would reveal the inner workings of his mind.

Ariana Hasani

Aria's eyes moved slowly to Dyandin, resting upon his form that had taken a seat at a booth across the room from where she and Miya sat. He'd requipted out of this normal, gold armor and into a fairly normal looking set of clothes. This may have been purely for comfort reasons (she couldn't imagine that the shiny plate gear was comfortable in and of itself), however she suspected otherwise. His eyes were downcast into his menu though they were unfocused as if his mind was far from the idea of food. She wasn't a mind-reader or anything, but she had an acute ability to sense the emotions of others and from he was simply radiating negativity at the moment.

Dyandin felt what seemed to be grief tinged with guilt. It was fairly apparent that his pride had taken a severe blow (which Aria couldn't say was a bad thing) and that he felt bad. Though whether the guilt stemmed from the fact that he had failed to beat the wyvern, or because he'd abandoned his teammates and then failed to beat the wyvern, she could not possibly know. Either way, Dyandin was sad and in spite of herself Aria felt compelled to help. Slowly slipping out of her chair and setting her menu down on the table she walked over to where he sat. She became aware of just how tall he was in comparison - even sitting down his head still came up to her shoulders.

Looking down at him there was no emotion in her expression, but in her eyes there was a distinct softness which was reflected in her voice as she spoke. "It's awfully unbefitting for a King to hang his head so low," she said with an unusual gentleness in her usually monotone voice. Admittedly she'd chosen to appeal to his pride, but she figured that that was were he'd taken the most damage. "Don't blame yourself Dyandin. No matter how powerful a king may be, he alone cannot defeat an army." her eyes flicked around the room and by her side her fingers twitched slightly, before she reached out and placed a light hand on in Dyandin's shoulder. "That's why he has his own."

Unbeknownst to him, she was using Emotion Manipulation. It was a very minor bought of magic and she was using it extremely discretely, however what Dyandin ought to experience as a result was comfort for his damaged pride, reassurance for his guilt, and a bit of a confidence boost - all of these emotions seemingly as a result from her rather simply speech. It wasn't much but with any luck it would be enough to return him to his old self (though hopefully he'd learned his lesson).

Withdrawing her hand there was the slightest bit of a smile tugging at the corner of her cheeks (very similarly to how it had when she'd told Tatsuo to try and keep up). "So do us a favor your highness," she said, the faintest trace of humor on the edge of her otherwise level voice, "and try not to run off without your army next time. Alright?"

Amaya "Rin" Miyuzaki

After Ayumi pulled Dyandin off his horse and finished yelling at the armor-clad man she got distracted by Tatsuo. Meanwhile Rin and Mamoru spoke before he disappeared and Dyandin approached Rin, lowering his head. "I apologize...for making you worried. Amaya." Rin looked at him and was about to snap at him that she wasn't worried but then he said her first name, rendering her speechless. Dyandin raised his head and straightened his stance before continuing, acting as if his use of her first name was a common occurance which it definitley wasn't. "Of course, we should get going. My subordinates are waiting for me, Rin." Dyandin then turned and walked away, following the rest of the group, which Rin hadn't even noticed leave.

After a few moments of silence Ayumi walked over to Rin. "Onee-san's in looovveee!!!" Rin swore loudly and slapped Ayumi in the back of the head. "God damn it! Shut up about that!!!" The white haired celestial spirit yelped and grabbed her head. "Ow!!! Onee-san that hurt!" Rin shook her head and sighed. "Thanks for the help Yumi but I was serious about starting to get dizzy. Two of you at once with Moru using healing magic and you using Ares armor as well as two weapons and I had Phoenix's gate open earlier... All of it together is making my head spin." Ayumi giggles and smiled. "You know, most B-Rank wizards only have enough magic to summon one of the sacred zodiac spirits and they can only do so for half as long as you did. And that's with no minor spirirts as well. You're only real problem is that you don't train your magic and you refuse to work with a team unless forced." Rin rolled her eyes. "Alright alright. I don't need a lecture. Thanks for the help." Pulling out a key Rin spoke softly. "Close, Gate of the Sheep. Shu-Ling." The little girl crossed her arms and pouted before disappearing in a flash of white light. Putting a hand to her head, which was now pounding, Rin started after her teammates. Once she had caught up she removed her hand from her head and set her face to an annoyed expression.

Rin followed the others into the butcher's shop and watched the interactions between her teammates and the butcher silently. When the butcher insulted Dyandin Rin's eyes became cold but she stayed silent and let Aria take care of it. Once the butcher left and everything seemed to be settled Rin nodded and turned. "I'm going for a walk. Aria when I get back I'll summon Moru so he can heal your wounds. We can't have you traveling back to the guild with those injuries." Not waiting for an answer Rin exited the shop and moved out of sight. Though her teammates could no longer see her Rin could still see them through one of the shop's windows as she leaned heavily against a tree. Black spots danced across her field of vision but even so Rin saw the interaction between Aria and Dyandin. Frowning Rin shook her head before turning away and traveling deeper into the woods. While usually she would call on Moru he current problem was due to an overuse of magical energy and therefore calling Moru would only worsen her state.

~Miya Winters~



Miya only glanced as Rin as she left, but watched carefully as Aria made her way over to Dyandin. Her actions and words were always surprising as they were difficult to predict. That, of course, would become an easier task the longer they all spent together. For now, though, Miya decided that Aria was a caring person who had great empathy despite appearing emotionless. The thought came to her that that might have something to do with Aria's magic. Dyandin as he spoke seemed to be very noble and caring as well. Both of them, Miya thought, seemed to be taking the situation entirely too seriously, though their 'overreactions' were similar to how Miya found most people would probably react. They were all fine, so what did it matter? They killed the Wyvern for survival, successfully passing onto the next level of a game others preferred to call life. If these 'overreactions' were part of their puzzles, though, Miya couldn't complain no matter how much she didn't understand it and stored the information in the back of her mind. Besides, they were interesting and she found the reactions from both of them kind of... cute. Miya would call it Aria's comforting wisdom, and Dyandin's exaggerated noble fantasies. Her eyes moved to the door that Rin disappeared through and she tilted her head for a moment before hopping out of her chair, smile replacing the blank expression she didn't realize she'd slipped into.

She skipped over to where Dyandin and now Aria where, taking a seat comfortably beside Dyandin. "As long as the king doesn't break. If a king breaks protecting his people, there won't be anyone left to protect them, right? So even if you want to protect us, don't let yourself break again. We're here to support you too!" Miya smiled giving him a wink and a thumbs up. Moving her eyes from Dyandin to Aria, she threw her hand in the air in an exaggerated gesture, "We should all eat together! It isn't very fun to eat alone." She felt it wasn't very fun to be alone period.

Saying that, her eyes wandered again to the door Rin had left through. Miya, on their walk back to this place had gotten the feeling there was much more to this puzzle than the uptight, overly serious girl she'd assumed her to be. She still didn't like her, but she was more curious about her now.

Ariana Hasani

"As you wish. Miss Aria. Next time I'll make sure to bring my subordinates. Though, Mark my words! I'll be everyone's shield. It's a king's job to protect his people!" Dyandin declared, and she could sense resolve in his emotional state of being. She was immensely satisfied that her minor manipulations had had the intended effect, and the corner of her mouth turned upwards slightly. Miya skipped up to the table they were at, smiling as she added, "As long as the king doesn't break. If a king breaks protecting his people, there won't be anyone left to protect them, right? So even if you want to protect us, don't let yourself break again. We're here to support you too!" then gave a playful wink at Dyandin before throwing her hand in the air spontaneously and declaring, "We should all eat together! It isn't very fun to eat alone."

Aria had to agree with this and took a seat across from Dyandin as Miya slid in beside him. At this point Mr. William walked out from the back with a notebook, first taking Tatsuo's order and handing him something before approaching their table (looking strangely pale - Aria assuming Tatsuo had proven his claim of hunger). "Here we are!" he said cheerfully, handing each of them some bills, "Your rewards. Now, can I take your orders?" Aria nodded, pointing to a few items on the menu. "These, please. And a water. Rin walked out before ordering and I have no idea what suits her tastes, but I'll go ahead and choose something for her. This, please, in a to-go box." Mr. William nodded, jotting down the order before turning to the others.

As he took Miya and Dyandin's orders Aria's eyes wandered to Tatsuo, but she remained quiet. She wanted to invite him to join them, but was unsure if he would accept. He'd been very unhappy with her in particular after her stunt with the wyvern, and he and Dyandin seemed to have very different opinions on just about everything. Plus he was bothered by Miya's touchiness (which bothered Aria a little bit too, but didn't make her uncomfortable enough that she'd say or do anything). "Tatsuo," she said evenly, her voice again an average-volume monotone, "You're welcome to join us, if you wish."

Then, as Mr. William walked away with a cheerful declaration of how he'd have their food out right away, Aria turned her eyes upon Miya. "I have a bit of an odd question," she said, sounding vaguely curious, "Your portals - where do they go?"

Amaya "Rin" Miyuzaki

Once she was quite deep into the woods Rin let herself lean heavily against a tree, sliding down it's rough side, before passing out at the base of he large oak. As the sun traveled across the sky above, the wind blowing gently through the trees, shadows danced across the forest floor. After about fifteen minutes passed the food was served to everyone. Rin, still unconscious, didn't hear Dyandin approach. "You know. You shouldn't walk off like that worrying the king is a punishable offense." After a few moments without a response Dyandin spoke once again. "The color of your face. Do you have a fever? Amaya?" As Dyandin put a hand to Rin's forehead her eyelids fluttered a bit but she remained still and quiet, her forehead icy-cold.

As a gentle breeze went through the forest Rin shivered a bit and her eyelids fluttered once more as she shifted. Suddenly, as if someone had slapped her, Rin's eyes snapped open and she looked into Dyandin's face with shock. Moving back away from Dyandin quickly Rin used the tree to help push herself up, looking around to see if anyone else was around. When she realized no one else was there she looked back at Dyandin, frowning though her eyes were still open wide, partially due to the shock and partially from her trying to clear her blurry vision. "Sorry... Um... What?"

Ariana Hasani

As Mr. William brought some food out, Dyandin stated that he'd bring Rin's food to her and left. Aria's eyes followed him as he went and she took a small sip of he tea as he disappeared from sight in the direction Rin had gone. "You guys realize that he's hiding something right? He knew a wyvern was out there. I could hear his heartbeat grow unsteady as he talked about it. More so than when we first saw him. Usually their would be some sign of relief when you tell people that you've killed a giant monster that's been terrorizing the village." Tatsuo said calmly as he sat down at the booth with Miya and Aria, "What do ya think? Think he's just a cheap bastard? Usually something this scale would give you a lot of reward. Twice, or sometimes triple what we got. Depending on how nasty it is."

Aria glanced towards the kitchen doors where she could hear him working, dishes clattering around, though she got no sense of cheerfulness about it. "Unfortunately you may be right. I got the feeling that he wasn't as surprised when we mentioned the wyvern as he ought to have been. But whether he knew of it's existence or not prior to our arrival is beyond me." she said quietly to the two of them as she poked her food with a fork. Truthfully she had lost her appetite, but knew that she needed to eat and that it would be wasteful to order food and then neglect to eat it. As Mr. William walked out with more dishes in hand Aria stood to help him.

"Mr. William, pardon me if I'm being rude, but you didn't happen to know that their was a wyvern out there waiting for us, did you?" she said, and noticed that he deliberately averted his eyes, his cheeks reddening slightly as her indirect accusation. "Well I mean I'd heard that there'd been some nasty thing out there in the woods lately," he grumbled, "I'd figured it was a bear or something; no idea that it was a wyvern." Aria watched his face and paid attention to his mood as he said this, concluding that he did not in fact know that it was a wyvern, but that he'd deliberately left out this bit of information. "Perhaps it would have been a good idea to mention this rumor to us before we went wandering out in those woods, Mr. William." she said calmly, though there was a firmness to her voice similar to the one she'd scolded him with earlier. "Yes, well, everyone makes mistakes," he huffed in retort as he reached to set down another dish of food (presumably Tatsuo's - who seemed to have ordered literally one of everything), "Besides it was only a silly little rumor, and it's not like you lot weren't able to handle yourselves after all."

But when he extended his arm Aria reached forward and grasped the dish, the tips of her fingers touching his hand too, holding her hand there for a moment as she spoke. "This is true, but had you told us of this 'silly little rumor' perhaps we'd not have been caught by surprise nor would members of our party have been injured." she said haughtily, not yet letting go of the dish nor his hand as she worked her magic - though not quite as subtly as she had with Dyandin.

The change was almost immediate in Mr. William as he was suddenly overwhelmed with remorse and gratitude. However as tears welled up in his eyes Aria wondered if perhaps she'd gone a teensy bit overboard (she was getting somewhat tired of dealing with his haughty attitude towards them) and removed her hand from the dish, instead taking another one and setting it down. "O-Oh, oh my goodness, you're right. What was I thinking? That was to dangerous - you had no idea what you were going into! Oh I'm so sorry - I shouldn't have been so negligent!" He began to blubber, absurdly out of character, and Aria in turn put a seemingly comforting hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps there is something you could do for us," she said, gentleness in her otherwise even voice.

"As some of our party was injured, the journey home will be significantly more difficult. Though perhaps you would be able to remedy this by calling a carriage for us and paying our fair back to Magnolia?" The way it was phrased was like a friendly suggestion, and judging by the expression on his face he seemed to take this to heart. "Yes, yes, of course! Let me go do that right now." he proclaimed, setting down the set of Tatsuo's food before bustling away with his suddenly change of heart towards the phone, "Really I am so, so grateful for what you lot have done for me. I don't know what I'd have done had you not come to help me. Who knows how long those goblins would've been raiding my store before that wyvern decided to do it himself?"

Aria sat back down in her place across from her two remaining teammates and took another sip of her tea as Mr. William placed the call before hurrying back into the kitchen (presumably to prepare the rest of Tatsuo's food). "Tatsuo, are you certain you'll be able to eat all of this?" she asked in her normal monotone as she glanced at the near ten plates of food that were displayed in front of him, almost in mockery of her and Miya's single dishes of food. It was actually somewhat amusing and an excellent opportunity to engage the others in a topic other than Mr. William's sudden generosity. There was faint humor in her voice as she took a bite of her own food. "I don't know if we'll be able to get to-go boxes for everything if you can't."

Ariana Hasani

Tatsuo took the bait. "You doubt my eating ability? I'm a Dragon Slayer, we're big eaters." Tatsuo said with a smirk as he cracked his knuckles and stuffed a napkin in his collar, "I take it I'm the first Dragon Slayer you've met huh?" Then without waiting for her response he started eating... if you could even call it that. Within minutes (MINUTES) he'd completely cleaned off half the platters of food, continuously tearing into the meal and shoveling it into his mouth. If Aria didn't know better she could've sworn his jaw unhinged like a snake in order to allow more food in. Truly it was a sight to (never) behold; one that didn't seem like it was going to be ending any time soon as Mr. William brought more food out and set it before him.

As Mr. William did this Tatsuo glanced up at Aria, who (thanks to years of practice) had been keeping her face very carefully blank through the scene, but cracked the smallest of smiles as he winked and said "Ye of little faith." With a small shake of her head Aria began eating too, appearing almost dainty in manner by comparison to the Dragon Slayer, taking her time with the single plate of food that had been placed before her as the rest of Tatsuo's food arrive. She was midway through her own plate when Tatsuo spoke again. "So your magic, what can you do?" Aria glanced up from her plate at him as if asking what he meant, though it was fairly obvious. Despite taking the bait he'd not forgotten his initial curiosities, and Aria made a mental note to once again not underestimate the dragon slayer.

"You... altered that dude's mind. Do you have like mind control or something?" He asked, his mouth full of food, "And those goblins back there... you did something to them also didn't you?" Tatsuo's voice was casual (and somewhat muffled by food) however she could feel very clearly his suspicion and the wariness of his words as he mentioned mind control and reading minds. "Yes I did, though I have no direct power over a person - I can only manipulate one's emotions." Aria said simply, without any trace of emotion in her voice or face as she did (well aware of the irony behind this), "What you saw were minor manipulations of emotion. Mr. William I made to feel gratitude so he'd quit behaving so rudely, and the goblins I made to feel fear so they would leave the area." Tatsuo swallowed (which made it considerably easier to understand him) and asked "What else can you do? Can you read minds or something?" Though his voice was still casual, upon uttering these words there was notable wariness about him that immediately tipped Aria off: Tatsuo had secrets he'd rather others not know (though truthfully who in this world didn't? Even the tiniest child wished to kep secret the cookies they'd stolen before dinner). Though as curious as Aria was, now was neither the time nor the place to pry; quite the opposite, Tatsuo needed to be reassured that his secrets were not in danger of being exposed.

"No, I cannot read minds, merely sense the emotions of others." Aria said calmly with a small, casual shrug as she took another bite of her food. "I can drain one's emotions until they are unwilling to fight, but other than that mine is a magic best used outside of combat, hence why I have Dawn." And she tapped the weapon by her side, the morning star with it's spikes retracted so the metal sphere was perfectly smooth, with the smallest hint of pride. Aria knew she was talking down about her magic, one of the long lost arts, as it could be exceptionally powerful in combat (assuming the right people were influenced). However if her companions believed she was powerful enough to manipulate them they may fear her, and then she'd be no better than Elison. At the thought of him Aria's mouth turned to slight frown and she got quiet, covering her sudden silence with another bite of her food.

After a few more minutes of them eating relatively quietly, they all seemed to have finished their meals more-or-less, and Tatsuo spoke again, taking Aria's mind from Elison (a distraction she was grateful for). "This was your first legit mission right? You should buy something here. A memento or something." He suggested, and at her raised eyebrow he added, "I don't know, a snowglobe or postcard or something? Just something so you won't forget it. That's what I did, I got me a postcard from the town I had my first job in." Aria considered this for a moment. She'd never really kept any trinkets from the places she'd been as the memories they'd carry would have the potential to make her emotional. But he had a point; this was her first successful mission and maybe she ought to pick up a small trophy of accomplishment. "I guess I could." she said, sounding rather indifferent, but contrary to her voice her eyes were already peering out the window and gazing into the windows of other shops as if already trying to identify an appropriate item. "Perhaps some barrettes to replace the ones I lost to the wyvern." She added with a small smile, once again amused by the mental image of whomever found her clips before glancing at Miya who wasn't quite done eating yet. "Miya, if you're not finished eating yet, would you mind waiting here in case Dyandin and Rin or the carriage arrive?" Aria said as she stood up and stepped out of the booth, turning her unreadable violet eyes to Tatsuo as Miya nodded in response to her request. "And if you're finished, Tatsuo, you're welcome to join me."