Chaos Is MY Theory

"Claes Alfson." Kiara repeated the name, making sure to commit it to memory. "Well it's nice to meet you miss Alfson. My names Kiara Ferro." She paused a moment, studying the officer's face. While her family wasn't famous, they were certainly well known. It was a quick connection to the odd disappointment of the family known as Kiara Ferro.

Just another reason to skip town.

Either way, when the officer decided to actually sit down and listen to her story, Kiara couldn't keep the joy off her face.

"Okay okay, so you're gonna love this." Kiara trotted over, bringing the wagon in behind her. Rather than sitting, she stood a few paces back and raised her hands. "So, it was almost two years back, the first time I struck out of town. I'd set up a small shop near the border, lotta good and bright eyed tourist stop there. Figured I could make a lot of good money pretty fast. I was right and wrong." She giggled and shrugged. "A-anyway, My business practice was stupid back in the day and I had a lot of weapons pre-enchanted. I guess some bandits or thieves or whatever found out, cuz one night my special 'security system' went off." She paused, wondering if she should explain.

Nah.

"I was on the outskirts of town, so there wasn't really anybody around who'd need me so late, and they certainly weren't rude enough to just..break in. So anyway I go down my stairs to meet three big dudes, in the process of stealing MY weapons. Naturally I splattered the first one against the wall with good ole tulip here." She reached out and held up the massive hammer with a single hand. If the officer looked closely, she could see the light glowing of runes just beneath Kiara's hand. She mimed a swing, standing far enough away from the officer of course, before planting the hammer on the ground and leaning against it.

"Rather than running, one of em punched me right in the face and you see..." She raised a hand and pointed at her now exposed teeth. "I wasn't used to these suckers yet, bit my tongue clean off." She shuddered a bit at the memory. "Anyways, the punch man used my pain against me and tore tulip from my hand. So now I had this stupid idiot with ten times his original strength after me, plus his dumb friend who stole like four of my swords. I don't really know why he needed THAT many."

one FOR EACH LIMB!!!

What if she replaced all her limbs with swor- no that was really stupid...though she could practice a bit of necromancy and replace a CORPSES LIMBS WITH SWORDS. Aw she needed to note this do-oh shit the story!

"Oop sorry bout that, a thought occurred. The next ten minutes involved most of my shop getting trashed and me hiding in my cellar with a dagger. I couldn't vocalize for any of the spells, was losing blood pretty fast and couldn't write any runes on the ground cause cobblestone was 'in'." She sighed. "Well, the only carve able thing around was me." As she spoke she leaned forward and held out her hand. "It's pretty covered up now, but if you look close you can still see the scars." She gave her a moment before leaning back once more. "The issue was charging it. I was kinda worried about what it would do casting directly from my skin you know?"
She gave another shrug. "Actually, this was how I came up with one of my most-actually the most powerful spell I know. I was short on time and wanted these guys gone soooo...well anyway I needed something to help with the casting since I didn't want to immolate myself and, as luck would have it. I had an inkwell nearby. I did some notation down there occasionallydontaskwhy." A quick laugh and she moved on. "Anyway that was super painful, but I figured there were some traces of metals. A long shot but they were closing in and starting to gloat. So...I lined them up and BLAM!!!!!" She jumped into the air, throwing her hands out for effect. "There was nothing left of them...or my shop." She let out a giggle. "Also my hand was just...Well there's a reason I stick to alteration with my tattoos, well aside from these." She waved her hands briefly. "Anyway I lost my shop, my products and had to pay a biiiiiig fine for some reason."

Another shrug.

"But that's what gave me the idea. Finding an artist who'd help tattoo these was tough truth be told, but there's a few people who like me well enough in town. I did a bunch of tests first though. Needed to know what was safe to use. I got stories on stories of those tests if you're ever interested." To prove her point, she turned around and showed her back. Aside from the tattoos, two long scars ran down from her shoulder blade right to the arch of her back. "Finally I got a perfect combination of all purpose spells. Though one day I'd like to get some sealing spells inked on. A-anyway I requisitioned a special kind of ink, with enough trace metals in to hold a better charge, but not enough to kill me. And, well, here I am. The girl with glowy tattoos." She grinned wide and put her hands on her hips proudly.

As Kiara spoke, Claes relaxed into a crossed-leg position, her cheek resting against the arm propped up against her thigh as she listened curiously.

On one hand, the girl's feat was impressive. Not many people knew how to be that resourceful in tight situations. On the other hand, she was nuts. But Claes had already figured out the latter part from earlier. When Kiara finished, Claes offered the smallest semblance of a smile.

"That was definitely a lot more...colorful than I expected the story to be," she said. "Not a lot of people would be willing to resolve marking their own skin in order to make a spell. Let alone one as...destructive in proportion as the one you mentioned. I'm sorry to hear about the shop, though it does seem like you've been picking up since then?"

Claes straightened up and stretched her arms. Her hair, which was in two straight twin tails today rather than a restrictive bun, brushed against her shoulders and swayed as she did.

"You almost make me feel sorry for having to make you move," she said. "But as a favor, if you need help tracking down those bandits, I'm sure the Expiate can do something about it. I can even bring up the case to the station and follow-up on it if you want--"

Kiara would notice Claes pause. The girl had noticed something moving in the forests and slipping into the darkness. Almost as quickly, she heard the drawing of a bow. Without warning, Claes leapt over Kiara as something shot through the air and landed on the patch of grass near them.

It was an arrow with a bright silver tip and a black-feathered end. The grass beneath it started to corrode, as if it had been touched with some sort of acid.

"Get out of here!" Claes told Kiara as she got up.

What soon followed were more arrows, at which Claes glared and drew marks together to form a temporary barrier.

"I'll cover you! Get going!" she said.

"Well, colorful is one way to describe me." Kiara puffed out, clearly proud of the descriptor. "In any case, I did what I needed to do at the time. It served me well so I figured, why not make it a permanent aspect of myself." She tilted her head, looking pensively. "Basically I'll never be without a weapon." And like that the look was replaced by a toothy grin. "N, yeah! I'm doing pretty well know. Almost got enough for a personal goal of mine."

Kiara didn't say WHAT goal that was, she just simply laughed to herself and rocked back on her heels. She was surprised, and delighted, to hear the officer offer to bring up the bandit incident to her station. While Kiara had already dealt with them, it was still a nice thing for Claes to say.

She didn't get the chance to tell her though, as an arrow quickly cut their conversation short. She felt her feet leave her as Claes rushed forward and tackled her to the ground. Kiara's eyes never left the arrow itself though. She stared at it with wide eyed wonder. "It caustic. Strong enough to kill the grass but too weak to eat away at iron-slash-steel? Maybe magic. That plus flesh equals bad." Her eyes quickly darted back towards Claes, only to laugh at her attempts to make her leave.

"But what if I don't!?" She excitedly tittered. She got up, spun and placed her fingers on the tattoos that lined her arms. She dragged along their interconnected lines, rune to rune. A light followed, then a flash and. BANG. Kiara felt her mind and senses become just a bit more focused and her reactions much faster.

And she had a great idea!

"Psst, don't freak out." As Claes was drawing marks, she'd suddenly feel Kiara's arms snake around her from the back. She was muttering, casting some kind of spell. In a flash she was done, the arms receded and Kiara was suddenly VERY intent on staying directly behind Claes.

Claes would suddenly feel like a weight was put on her. It was heavy, but still light enough to move around and continue casting. Almost alarmingly quickly, her skin became gray and reflective. Within a few moments, Claes would find that Kiara had turned her skin into steel.

"Okay, you're unstoppable now!" Kiara gave a thumbs up, still keeping Claes between her and the arrows. "They can't kill your flesh if it's not fleshy!"

Despite Claes' imperative, Kiara seemed eager to stay. Looking at the girl pinned down under her, Claes yelled.

"What do you mean stay? This is dangerous! I can't let you--"

But Kiara beat her to it as Claes would feel Cartic energy buzz through her and what felt like a tougher layer go over her. Claes wasn't used to alteration magic and she'd lie if she hadn't felt the tiniest bit jumpy when Kiara cast the spell. That said, there was no time to waste as two people in cloaks trimmed with gold started appearing with their bows and swords. The swords weren't the typical ones found in Stahlmin or most of Esterelf either as some had curves and others had forked tips like the end of a snake's tongue.

Claes got on her feet, but not before grabbing Kiara by the collar. A mark of strength placed on her hand, Kiara would feel herself lifted and then flung out of the way like a sack of potatoes towards the bushes. Claes in the meantime unsheathed her cutlass and pulled her pistol out with her other hand.

"Freeze or I'll fire!" she demanded.

The two cloaked figures would lift their heads revealing colorful masks that covered their entire faces. Instead of speaking, they'd charge for Claes. Reluctantly, Claes fired a bullet, but to her surprise one of them flung it out of the way with their sword.

What the...!?

Simultaneously, they'd strike, causing Claes to use her sword and barrel of her pistol to block the blades. Her eyes temporarily left her focus, if only to check if Kiara had fled.

Kiara was quite proud of herself at this particular moment. Claes was safe and sound and probably impressed by Kiara's display. The attackers would be forced to come out soon and together they wo-

Wait...

Kiara then realized her feet weren't on the ground again. In fact, she was in the air. Her eyes looked towards Claes. She could clearly see the mark on the woman's hand and it honestly made Kiara smile. Then she crashed into the bushes with a heavy thud.

Still, she didn't waste any time getting back up and peeking out of her cover. It seemed that there was some creepy masked people rushing towards the officer. Well, that was kind of dumb unless their swords were REALLY good at cutting. Still, no time to waste, she had to help Claes. Kiara knelt down and ran her fingers across the tattoos on her legs. A light, a flash and BAM!!!

The next moment Kiara dashed out of the bushes. She arched to the side quickly, seeming to rush towards one of the masked people with inhuman speed. Before she reached them though, her arm reached out and grabbed tulip, who'd been lying on the ground nearby.

She straightened out, rose and jumped, going straight towards the first masked folk's face. Oddly enough though, Kiara jumped again in mid air. Then she jumped once more. Small marks appeared briefly in the air wherever she 'jumped' once more. Her objective had never been to rush head on in the first place.

With a wide grin she let herself fall rose tulip high above her head and activated the secondary rune on her beloved weapon. A blast of fire shot out of the back of the hammer's head and propelled it forwards. Kiara tucked herself into a small ball as she flew straight towards the masked folk leading the charge.

The impact of Kiara landing on the first individual was enough to send everyone else flying in different directions.

"What did I say about fire!??" Claes shouted as dug her feet into the ground to keep her from falling. And as if only registering to her now, "Are you okay!??"

The masked individual that had been attacked had been hammered into the ground, as if someone had forced him to create a snowangel five inches into the dirt. The second one, however, didn't hesitate. The figure and Claes would clash swords again, this time however, Claes would parry, sliding out of the clash and redirect her gun at the individual.The assailant would lift up a butterfly knife in time to block the barrel.

The two would continue to block and parry before Claes summoned a Cartic mark for ice. The second time the assailant's sword clashed with hers, ice would form on both their blades and made them stick together. At this, Claes would sense the assailant tugging. They tried swiping the butterfly knife at her, but Claes raised her barrel and blocked, proceeding to use a second mark for strength on her knee as she pulled the assailant closer and kneed them in the gut.

Kiara might here the assailant groan as they doubled over. Claes would then shatter the glass and ram the pommel of her cutlass against the assailant's head enough to knock them out.

The second assailant was only now coming to and trying to get out of the miniature crater the impact had formed. Upon seeing their partner out cold, they would pull a miniature knife from their sleeve and try to toss it at Claes.

Kiara managed to stick the landing ONLY because this wasn't the first time she'd done this. Still, it made her dizzy to the point of seeing triple, so it was a really good thing it blasted everyone back. "S-sorry, it won't catch though. It's only a small b-.." She'd been propped up against her hammer as she'd spoke, trying to get her bearings. Sadly, her stomach didn't like all this activity so soon after whats he'd just been through.

"Bluuueeeeghhhhhh."

She leaned over and threw up all over the ground in front of her. It was only then she realized that she was standing over someone. Naturally, the poor soul she'd hit with the hammer had been pushed into the ground below her. Honestly Kiara didn't understand how she forgot that all the time.

Still, she wasn't feeling good now and that was her main concern. She clutched her stomach, looking up at the battle unfolding before her. Yup, Claes had this one covered. She was just gonna sit do-

Wait..

Her eyes went down coldly to the idiot now trying to throw a knife at her new friend. "Your life should be gone." Maybe she needed to work on the force of her hammer? Ah, no time to consider. She was still really dizzy, she just wanted to sit down! Guess she needed to solve this little problem first. With a blank expression she simply raised her hammer once more and brought it down as hard as she could on the man's head. Afterwards, she'd stagger backwards and collapse to the ground, sitting and holding her stomach.

The knife shot at Claes would miss by an inch and hit a nearby tree as the person suddenly yelped in disgust at the vomit they realized they were in. It would only take a moment before he was knocked out, however, with the hammer, and fell back into the pit.

Claes, quickly performing a binding spell on her unconscious assailant, hurried over to Kiara who was looking a lot greener and woozier.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" she asked.

As she did, she'd place a second binding spell on the unconscious assailant, thin white ribbons of light tying him tightly. With two of them down, Claes was still looking around, wondering if there were more. After not hearing anything, she relaxed a bit and looked at Kiara. She raised a glowing white hand with a Cartic mark for healing.

"Are you injured anywhere?" she asked.

"Nnnn." Kiara just nodded, just trying to regain her senses as Claes checked her over. It was odd, Kiara had a PRETTY high pain tolerance, but one thing she was ALWAYS bad with was her dumb stomach. She briefly wondered if any alteration spells could change that...

She'd research that in a bit...

Anyway, it seemed that all was nice and quiet once more. Kiara started to feel much better now that she was moving around and talking. "I'm good now, my stomach just wasn't ready for that." She let out a giggle and finally sat up straight. "You were fantastic! Managed to take him alive too, that's normally harder than outright killing them from what I know." Speaking of...

Kiara looked over to the man she had fought. Her smiled dropped quite a bit at the scene before her. "Miss Claes, you must be really good at healing magic." She looked back, now wide eyed in wonder. "I didn't know you could un-crush a head like that. Seriously there was nothing left probably!" She didn't exactly SEE his head go pop, but honestly it couldn't have done anything else. "Can you teach me how to heal like that!? When I try to heal myself it's usually SUPER painful. Like, bones snapping back into place, but like, without any numbing you know?"

Claes dispelled the Cartic mark after Kiara gave her reassurance that she was fine. A bead of sweat trailed down Claes' temple nervously.

Should she be acting so reckless if that move makes her vulnerable afterwards? she thought.

Kiara then mentioned she was impressed that she had healed the man from being..well, pulverized with a hammer, at which Claes arched an eyebrow.

"I did no such thing," she said incredulously. "Though I'm surprised he's alive, too."

She was also surprised Kiara had gone so far as to try and kill the guy, but she half couldn't blame that possibility when she carried a GIANT HAMMER around.

Suspicious, Claes stooped over the man and inspected him. There was no blood and save for being out cold, the only trace of damage was a crack on the mask. Gingerly, Claes placed two fingers on the mask, and she could sense the buzz of Cartic magic.

"It's enchanted," she said. "That's probably why he's still alive. That said, the impact was still hard enough to knock him out. I can't imagine what would have happened if he wasn't wearing this. Also, maybe try not to kill people right away? I mean, it's still self-defense, but I like to keep my assailants alive for questioning."

Claes peeled off the mask, a bright and colorful thing painted with blues and oranges in wide stripes. It was extremely festive for something that should have been a covert operation. Kiara and Claes would notice the man looked about their age. Tan skinned with spiky black hair, he wore a round necklace made of auger shells. Minus the splatter of vomit, he also wore a silk blue shirt trimmed with gold and trousers of the same material. His feet wore woven sandals.

"The attire's definitely strange," she said. "I mean I get adventurers wear what they want, but these clothes almost look too fine for combat. And definitely it's not in fashion with what higher-ups wear around these parts."

Claes stood and considered taking the person's weapons, but remembered the vomit. A little hesitantly, she asked, "Err..mind searching him for weapons? I don't want to him to suddenly come to and stab us. I'd do it but err..."

Yeah, she didn't have to say anything.

She walked over to the next person. Her mask had also been enchanted. Claes presumed the reason she knocked the person out with ease was because the pommel had hit the top of their head and not their face. The person this time was a young woman wore different attire that consisted of a beige pink silk blouse and an intricate set of pants that gave the allusion of being a skirt. She wore gold bangles on her wrists and what looked like gilded necklaces on her neck. Her hair was thick and curly and her skin was as tan as her counterpart.

The girl's face would scrunch up as her eyes opened. Claes flinched but quickly drew her sword to the girl's neck.

"Hold it," she said firmly. "Don't even try to pull any moves. Who are you and why did you attack us?"

The girl's eyes widened but she still looked dazed. Her thick lashes bat about as her brown eyes scanned the area.

"Atlan...." she murmured. "Where is he?"