Preparation (Sai Invite, Open)

[Deleted]

Adrain, awakened from his slumber of amensia at least briefly stood half a mile away from the Arch. While it was the home and focus of his alternate self, he himself saw value in it but didn't see as much attachment in his current state. No matter, it would be useful in the short term to practice. He had already gotten some of his Mysu abilities in line but now he wanted to refresh his combat training. The Suvari assassination and infiltration techniques were what came to him naturally, after all it was his most extensive training in youth by Deidric. His father always hated the fact that Adrain had instinct to fight sneaky to win rather than honorably and face to face.

Adrain formed ten combat golems around him, allowing them to spread out and get into position with some moderately complex combat scripts in mind. At the beginning of it, two of the golems approach at which Adrain disappears, reappearing behind one with his arm through the golem in a draconic claw releasing a blast of energy into the second. The second is phased but Adrain throws the nonfunctioning 'corpse' of the first at it to disorient it before leaping up and doing a spinning drive kick down to crush it's chest into pieces.

The other eight start to manifest, as Adrain forms shadow blades around each hand as he looks about. He lunges for one, splitting into two forms striking on both sides as the golem tried to defend itself as the others approached...

[Sai]

Sai had made her way to the Arch of Ages since the permits thing was now needed she had some issues with some of the children who would wake her up sometimes or scare her because they suddenly are showing signs of magic. It was hard enough before to try to keep food on the table, the children clothed and even preparing the few who had an interesting to learning to fight. Now with the addition of having to deal with the magic permits it was getting harder for her to get provide everything they needed.



Sighing as she walked she had come dressed in something more ‘formal’ since she wanted to ask Adrain for some help. She was in a simple dark faded purple dress that had short sleeves and a scoop neckline, the dress stopped at her hips with a slit follows down on the left. Under the dress as a pair of tight black pants that were paired with a long brown boots. Around her waist was a brown belt with a pouch that held some coin, with a brown leather piece under her chest. To complete the outfit had on a pair of gloves and a dark almost near black cloak. Even if it was a formal visit she did have at least one weapon on her a short sword in a hostler horizontally at the base of her back.



As she got closer to the Arch she heard some noises deciding to investigate she made detour heading toward the sound. Staying within the tree line, she stopped as her eyes took in the scene it looked like Adrain fighting some golems. She was about to step in whens he saw him disappear behind one with his arm through it’s chest before throwing it at the one. Coming out of the tree line she lended against the tree as with her hand on the hilt of the sword ready but for the time being she was just going to watch.


Dress

[Deleted]

In the training exercise, Adrain slashes the nearest golem with his shadow blades, running up and backflipping off of it behind another approaching and lifting it, hoisting the construct and flinging it at a third nearby. He disappears into Shadows and reappears behind the third target and lunges as a shadow lance manifests, impaling both on contact. One of the golems approaches Sai and runs at her with a raised fist, not able to discern friend from foe. Adrain sees it, but gets distracted at the sudden company and takes a hit causing him to fly into a tree. He strikes the ground as shadow spikes launch everywhere nearby immobilizing near golems, but Sai would have to deal with the golem for but a second on her own.

It raises it's arm as it nears...intent to swing down on her.

[Sai]

Sai had to admit as she watched Adrain that she was impressed with his skills, she had always taught that he was just a normal mage but watching this she had to change her opinion on him. Of all things she did not expect the golem to head towards her, unsheathing her sword she raised it above her head to block the arms of the golem.



Doing a quick assessing the situation, she had two options take care of the golem herself or wait for Adrain. Not seeing much to doing the second, she brought her leg up as she twisted her body to the side kicking the golem away from her. Once the golem was a small distance away from her she quickly sheathed her sword, running towards one of the trees grabbing onto the lowest branch as she started to swing herself higher into the tree. “You had to go and not bring more than a sword Sai.” She said as she started to grab onto the next branch.

[Deleted]

Adrain hops through the shadows and grabs the Golem as it begins to recoil from the deflection and punch the tree. He quickly smashes it's head off by his right arm turning into a Dragon's and pauses after it seemed to settle. He looks up at the tree and his eyes widened for a moment.

"Nova?! Can it be..." he starts, seemingly confused for a moment.

[Sai]

Sai kept her balance in the tree as she felt it vibrate against the punches the Golem threw. Couching on her branch, she watches was was going on below her. Her eyes didn’t miss when she saw the head when flying but what came at a surprise to her the most was when Adrian's hand turned into a dragon’s claw? She wasn’t sure she for the most part had assumed that he was maybe Kray but this was different than what she expected.



Noticing her eyes on her, and that it was safe she made her descend down the tree, only stopping until she was on the last branch. Hearing the words he spoke, she stilled on her branch wondering if maybe he was seeing things. “Adrain?” It was one of the few times that when Sai spoke she shown concern for another being as she waited for him to acknowledge her.

[Deleted]

Adrain seemed sort of lost almost as he stared at Sai for a few seconds. The draconic claw returns to normal with a small shimmer of energy as he simply watched. "Nova...I.." he stammers for a minute his arm reaching towards her for just a moment as he approached the tree until logic set in. No...this probably wasn't Nova. This was the assassin his dumber self knew of. Sai...was it? But the resemblance was so uncanny...the outfit almost in the same style.

But this girl...she was paired with another sellsword...a fighter of some sort. Plus she didn't have that flirty, seductive quality Nova did. He shook his head as he looked up at Sai.

"I...I'm sorry. You resembled someone quite strongly wearing that outfit, someone who's time has come and is long gone. Someone.." he wanted to say close but as he tapped into his other side's memories he figured it didn't matter as much to her. he sighed and shifted his focus.

"Anyway...sorry about those golems. I had made them with aggressive setup not expecting anyone to come out this far today. What can I do for you?"

[Sai]

Sai watched Adrain, he called her Nova again now this was interesting. Jumping out of the tree landing in a crouching position slowly straighten up. Walking up to Adrain her eyes betraying her emotions right now, the way he spoke it reminded her a lot of the children in the orphanage, right now he looked more like a wounded children instead of a powerful mage. She couldn’t help what she did next as she pulled Adrain into a hug offering some comfort as she rubbed his back. “Want to tell me about it?”



She held Adrain a while longer in the embrace before releasing him, upon being reminded why she had come there in the first place. “It’s fine I did not expect you to be training. It’s about the magic permits and the orphanage.” Still looking at Adrain she wanted to pull him back into her arms hugging him and giving him the comfort of a mother as she tried to get him to open up to her a bit more, it was times like this that she cursed herself for having a soft spot for children and adults that reminded her of her children.

[Deleted]

As Sai closed the gap and embraced him affectionately, Adrain was stunned for a moment. The similarities were coming back to mind...for a second. But then he remembered: Nova was far too much of a tease for this sort of stuff. Maybe it was an adolescent fantasy from a thousand years ago that made him linger in Sai's embrace for longer than he would any other time but then he exhaled and stepped away, slinking out of her grasp.

"...There isn't much to say. Long ago, there was a woman named Nova who helped me when I had some issues on a mission. She was someone I felt affection for, a first crush sort of thing I suppose since she was a bit older than I was and she had a flirty element to her. I was a lot more naive at the time. But..." he pauses, exhaling a little at the uncomfortable memory, of his first 'sin' so to speak.

"I lost control of a certain power and the end result was I killed her accidentally." he says, then looking away and exhaling in annoyance as he kicks the torso of the golem a large distance away. When the subject changed he was grateful.

"Oh the training...yeah. I was refreshing myself on some old techniques. If you've gotten those dreams of late then you'll understand why. Sometimes a precise strike is more effective than a large blast of magic." he says, then listening to the talk about the permits. He had to tap his head for a moment in thought...reading the memories of his other self eventually putting together that the Noku of this time had instituted permits for magic users.

"Oh I see...you are looking for some sort of financial aid then perhaps? I imagine with the prices involved, you'd either be nonstop refreshing a three month permit for each of them or broke as hell trying to maintain the longer but more expensive one. That is something I can assist with I'm sure."

[Sai]

Sai listened to the story, though she was not surprised that he love interest though she was a bit surprise that the person’s name was Nova. As she listened to his story she lend back against the tree her arms folded over her chest. Hearing that he killed her, Sai eye widen a bit that was unexpected. Unfolding her arms she pulled Adrain into a another hug this one was shorter than the first. Thinking to herself that she could only imagine what it must have been like as he watched the light leave the woman he held affection. She could only pray that she never ended up in a similar situation but life doesn’t always give others what they want.



“The dreams yes… I’m guessing you are going try to stop her too.” Closing her eyes for a moment she sighed. It seems like she wasn’t the only one who was plagued by those dreams. Since the first night she had made up her mind to go and stop Helena even if it might be the last time she did in this life. Opening her eyes, “You are right sometimes a more precise strike is more effective.”



“A bit. I figured since you are the headmaster of the Arch of Ages that it would be easier to ask for your help. Yes you are right trying to maintain the longer more expensive permits is difficult given that some days a new child in my care shows signs of magic.”



Flashing Adrain a small smile, “Now that business is taken care of. Want to tell me more about this Nova. She sounds interesting.”

[Deleted]

Before he knew it he found himself in a hug from Sai again. Since Sai's default height was a little above his own, he found his face squished into her bust momentarily as he twitched. What was with her? It'd be one thing if she was quirky and it was more like Aria but Sai looking a lot like Nova made him feel weird. Once released, he looks away shyly, then mentally smacks himself. He isn't supposed to feel this way...especially regarding Nova.

"Yeah...I'm going to stop her...both her and the dragon." he declares, then listening as she described her dilemma. he thought for a moment. The fact she ran an orphanage and still did dangerous missions was a bit of a problem to his mind. If she got killed on some mission, what happens to the kids? After hearing her describe the concerns, he nodded.

"I'll give you a million...both so you can take care of the permit needs and make sure you don't feel like you have to stab people to provide for them...at least hopefully you aren't a thrill seeker who would still do so anyway." he says, perhaps the Nova resemblance influencing his trust but money was hardly a concern.

Adrain seemed slightly uncomfortable when Sai went back to wanting to talk about Nova. He rubs the back of his head, looking at Sai with a bit of uncertainty. "I mean if you insist I guess but what do you want to know"

[Sai]

Sai scratched the back of her head a back as she laughed just a bit while her cheek blushed a bit with embarrassment having been caught. “Well that is a lot more than I expected, and well… I have to put food on the table somehow even if means leaving the children alone for an extended amount of time. I do feel bad leaving them at times, knowing that they worry if I will come back or if I do what condition I might return in.” She was not going to lie there have been time where she would return worst for wear, then again since she brought the orphanage she did her best not to take any dangerous jobs. Plus with Zyphire helping food was easy enough to provide at the moment though once the cold season comes that would be a different story.



Taking a seat on the grass she thought for a moment, “I guess the first question is: What type of mission where you on when you both first met? Assuming that’s how you met. "

[Deleted]

Adrain nods as Sai explained herself, crossing his arms watching her eyes as she spoke. They expressed a compassion and concern that his dumber self didn't really see. "I believe children should be given the best chance they can. They don't need to be left to risk their provider getting harmed if they can help it." he says softly. "There was a time when I wanted to raise a large family myself but..." he looks away. "Things happened. Things I'd rather not talk about but I'm sure you can fill in the blanks" he says, alluding to Karina's brutal death at the hands of his sister.

He is distracted for a moment, until Sai asks a question about the mission. "Well...it was a mission to save a kingdom from a magical mishap. Before I say anything more though, you have to promise me you won't speak of any of this beyond the two of us. It is complicated to explain things and why, and there is information that could impact me adversely...sort of. Like I said, complicated."

[Sai]

Sai more than understood his words, her heart ached a little for him hearing that his dreams of a big family did not happen. “You know it’s never too late to want that again. There are things in this world that are out of our control. The only thing we control is what we do, how we react and how we cope.”



Nodding her head, she took out sword kind of wishing that she had brought a dagger with her since it would make this a bit easier. Bringing her hair over her shoulder she looked at Adrain as she unsheathed her sword cutting off good length of her hair, so now it was resting on her shoulders in a jagged cut. She didn’t worry too much since it would grow back by that time tomorrow but still her hair had already been part of her and she felt strange now that she can feel the breeze on her neck and the extra weight of her hair gone.



“This might seem strange to you but it’s common practice my father taught me.” She said as she offered her hair to him. “It’s a sign of trust but in this case it’s a sign that I will not speak of this manner to anyone by offering a part of myself to you.” Sai lowered her head to him waiting for his respond, since this was the only way that she felt that she could show him that he could trust her beyond just a bussiness contact but as a possible friend to keep this secret.

[Deleted]

"It's...complicated." is all he could say in response to her. He watches her as she does the ritual with cutting her hair off and looks at her feeling slightly bad, not aware at the fast growth rate. He holds it, since it was already done and nods, holding his hand up as a sound barrier comes up invisibly. "I believe I can trust you then.." he says, his subconsciousness deciding to go along with it.

"...The entity that you know as Adrain before now is...another self to put it mildly. I am fated...twenty years ago I was pulled here by a force unknown to me during the destruction of my homeworld at the hands of my sister. That is an entirely different matter I don't feel up to talking about. But when I was pulled here, I wanted to give up on life, out of sense of failure to protect my world, my people, my fiancee...that resulted in me turning to an amnesiac in the still living body...said body formed a life for itself as the Arch as everything you know now. Perhaps that is the sort of life I would have lived were I not born on Hyperia." he says, musing slightly.

"Back to the entire point of what you asked, the mission. I was on a task to change the past to prevent the destruction of a people. When I emerged from the time portal...I struck my head and lost my memory for a time. I suppose amnesia is a common theme with me.." he says shifting his gaze away. "Then I met Nova that night...curious, quirky, a bit seductive...a lot like you in a way.." he says, his face reddening mildly.

"Sorry...I'm acting like an adolescent and not a millenia old dragon...I suppose I forgot how much of an impact Nova had on me."