Taim had been standing against the wall, being a smart thief and making himself invisible. Now he headed back into the building, seeing the perfect chance to escape. They wouldn't be back for a while, and this /was/ a thieve's den. There had to be /something/ of monetary value in here.

{OOC} note: Taim is headed for wherever Ark and Thid are. feel free to run into him. {/OOC}

Vace smiled, "Looks like someone should work on their sword skills a bit," He said, reaching for some rags he had for just this purpose, when he suddenly realized his left arm didn't want to move. He looked at it and saw one of the bandit leaders knives sticking out of it, neatly enbedded in the shoulder. "Now that's going to sting when the adrenaline wears off," Vase mumbled, getting the rags out with his other arm and giving half of them to Ark, and preparing to use the other half on himself.

Cesia sat in the room that Cid had lead them to, pretty much alone. "Man, I really screwed that one up..." She mentally kicked herself for being so unprepared. Sure, she had taken several self-defence classes, but just training was nothing compaired to real battle, she discovered. She looked down at the knives, "What's the point in having a weapon if you can't even defend yourself." She said angrily. <Whatever happens... I'm not going to let myself be so helpless again...> She vowed.

"Don't be so hard on yourself... At least you could have defended yourself if you really needed to." Dawn walked over and put her hand on Cesia's shoulder. "At least you have weapons. I don't even have that really."

She turned around to hearing someone come in, and found that it was Lynx. After hearing of all that had happened, she started to follow the cat out. "I may not be able to fight like the others, but in my own way I'm useful... Just like you. If you hadn't have warned us about the fire, who knows what might have happened."

Dawn stopped, noticing a slightly impatience stance coming from the cat. "Right... I'm gonna go and see if I can't help the others now." She left the small room, letting Lynx lead her back to where the rest of the group was.

Lynx stopped before leaving the room, and turned to Cid. "Our cover?"

((i'm not gonna complain much, but cesia and dawn should know that kalimare was talking to them))

Kalimare simply grunted at the fact that he was ignored, but decided to let it go considering that it would be unfair for him to do anything to harm them. He realized what he was thinking and then pushed the thought from his mind. Kalimare then decided to change the thoughts to something more useful. He walked next to Cesia.

"If you would like, when we have actual time to, I could teach you how to defend yourself fully. And I could teach you how to turn those daggers into an instant kill weapon. If you want to, that is."

Kalimare about smiled, then realized his sharp disgusting teeth would have turned her away from such an offer. He knew enough about public types like her that being dirty wasn't always the best.

(OOC: whoops, sorry, I must have missed your post. ^^;; )

Cesia looked up at Kalimare, "Really? You'd help me?" She smiled, then frowned a bit, "I've already had training with weapons, so I know how to handle myself in basic combat, but it was just... the inexperience with real combat that slowed me down... So I don't know if training could help me deal with that any better." She smiled wistfully.

Lynx again did the cat version of a sigh. He walked over to Cesia and rubbed against her leg, to get her attention. "How about this. You come with me and Dawn to go heal the wounded. I'm not going outside without someone with a weapon. It will be three bandits at most if we get attacked, you should be able to stay calm in that situation."

"Fine go apply aid to our number. Where is the bandit leader? I want to begin interogating him as soon as he wakes up." Cid said. He removed his helmet.

Cesia looked down at the cat and stroked his back once, out of habit, "Oh alright. I'll make myself useful somehow." She got up and grabbed her knives as she, Dawn, who was waiting for them at the doorway, and Lynx headed out to find the wounded party members, Lynx leading them, since it seemed he knew a little more about their surroundings than Dawn or Cesia did.

"So where and who are the wounded ones?"

OOC: Is this chapter almost over by any chance?

Lynx lead the three through the town, to where the injured were. He answered questions as they walked. "Thid is poisoned, Ark may be poisoned, Vace had a knife in his arm, and the bandit leader is unconcoius with two stab wounds."

OOC: Like Master, we have also forgotten about Raiden... Let's just say he got excited during the fight and chased some bandits who ran... And Ghost... Maybe we should run into her... And Dante... Lets say she is just sitting in that room Cid's in... Ok?

(OOC: Yeah, I don't want to leave anyone too far behind. I think Raiden should be on later tonight, so we'll just say he did some butt-whoopin' on his own and is off by himself for the moment, thinking about how stupid the rest of the group is. And I don't know about the chapter yet. But how about, for right now, we'll keep it going kinda slow so we can catch up those who are behind. We can still do stuff around our make-shift base, but we won't move out on the way to the wizard until at least maybe a little later tonight or tomorrow.)

OOC: I was going to argue about the base thing(IC, not OOC)...

Ark tied a crude bandage on, and stepped. His foot shot into the floor up to his knee.

"Aw crap it all. Little help?"

(OOC you can still argue about the base IC, and do all the other stuff. I'm just saying we might not me moving out to find the wizard until later)

Cesia, Lynx, and Dawn first came upon Arc, who was well enough to walk, but somehow had his leg stuck in the floor. "Uh, Need some help?" Cesia said as she helped him out of the floor. "So you're Arc. Why were you here in the bandit's hideout?" All Cesia knew was during the battle, all of the sudden Arc was there and he was obviously more on their side that the theives.

Ark blew out some air, then grunted. His shimmering leg came out.

He brushed himself off and said, "Well, after I left the meeting and was taking a shortcut to my normal territory these bandits ambushed and drugged me for my phasing ability."

He patted Cesia on the back, except that his hand went through. "I managed to go through my bonds, through to door, systematically climb out of the dungeons using a deck of cards and a toothpick, before finding my stuff. Then I accidentally fell through the floor."

OOC: Ark...

Lynx ignored the fake story and checked the situtation. The only difference was Ark and Vace had some bandages on. "Good to see you've all been hard at work... Thid is still dieing back there, and bandit leader seems to be losing a lot of blood..."

OOC: No, IHMN, my guy was NEVER with the group until now. He was just at the meeting, got fed up and left. AND WHOOPS!

OOC: I know... I meant your duengon escape(Lynx doesn't believe it)

OOC: Heh. Yah. In reality, he swore, walked out of his cell, grabbed his stuff, and fell through the floor.

"I got some extra rags, calm down kitty," Vace said, bandageing the bandit leaders wounds until dawn could arrive. He also bandaged Thid up, but said, "I can only do so much with a bandage, the poison can only be removed by a Dawn. I think that knife that hit me was poisoned too, but my wound isn't as bad so I'm still okay for now."

"Wasn't the knife sticking into your arm? That's worse then the small gash Thid had."

Ark said, "Pfft, there's gratitude for ya'. They complain he's bleeding when you could've just as easily killed him."

OOC: We past 100 post mark!

OOC: It was "a good sized gash", I assumed that meant a fairly deep slash, while my guy was stabbed in the arm by a knife. And yes, we need to wrap this up soon and make a new thread.

OOC: It would still be worse for you. He had the blade just cut him, only some poison would come off. The blade was in your arm for a bit, so you would have gotten more poison... Or, the knife wasn't poisoned.

OOC: Well, my guy could have assumed wrong, or it could be a different type of poison.

Vace said, "Meh, its not that bad actually, after I pulled it out it hurt, but now that it's bandaged it's not so bad." Vace went to sit down and rest because he was getting slightly dizzy, and winced from his arm. "I've been through worse than this anyway, I'll be fine," Vace said.

Ark looked around and said, "But, ya' know, a healer might help. Just a suggestion."

Dawn arrived, just staring all of the men that were hurt. "Where do I even begin?" She asked herself quietly as she moved over to Ark.

"Well, the gash in my side would probably be a good start. Then his arm, then Thid."

"No, you start with Thid..." Lynx motioned to the half dead Thid down the hall. "Ark is not half dead with poison, he can wait."

"Eh..." She heard Arc give one set of suggestions, then Lynx give his. She leaned slightly to look down the hall, seeing Thid laid out and hardly moving. "I think the kitty's right..." Dawn looked back at Arc. "I promise I'll be back to help you, but I need to help him first."

She rushed down the hallway, kneeling down beside Thid and taking a moment to access all that was wrong with him. "Hmm... " She shut her eyes, beginning to focus.

X_X *twitchs* @_@

(OOC: Thank you SO MUCH for waiting! God, this is going to be like "Hunters of the Damned" all over again. I'll try to catch up, just don't get pissed off if I do something wrong. I'm going to need a good post to make up for this.)

There were yells in the clearing of a forest. Dead people littered the ground, and there were still 4 men standing. One of them was Tamakatari, the other three were some of the guards he had chased after from the theive's hideout. Tamakatari was swinging around his two katanas, and blocking the attacks from the guards. One of the guards put his sword down too low, and Tamakatari ran him through for it. He did a flying back flip over one of the other guards, and pierced his back with the last katana. He now had no weapons to use. The last guard charged, and Tamakatari leaped up and plucked a leaf from a nearby tree. He tossed the leaf, which was now made of sharpened metal, and it stuck in the man's throat. Tamakatari stood alone. He decided to take count of the dead.

"..13, 14, 15, 16. 16 dead people. Who needs that group, I'm good enough." Several of the bodies still had swords stuck in their backs. He decided to just leave them there. He checked his injuries. His left hand was cut, and his leg had a nice sized gash in it. It wasn't infected or poisoned, but it did hurt like hell. He picked up a stick on the ground, and changed it into a walking cane. He left the clearing to try and find the group.

He had just left the forest, and he looked up at the moon. Staring at the moon got him back to thinking.

"I don't need that group, do I? I work better alone. I wouldn't have been in that trap, if it hadn't been for those bleedin' hearts. I could make it through that dark wizard's castle on my own. Those other people will just slow me down. I don't need any help saving MY angel."

Then he looked at himself. He was wounded, and that was just from fighting 16 guys. Trying to break into the castle of a dark wizard would be a hell of a lot harder, and being able to make weapons won't get him very far. Whether he liked it or not, he needed that group.

"Well, just because I need the group, doesn't mean I have to be part of it. We'll break into the castle, use the group, and when we find my angel, I'll take her back by myself."

Making his way through the town, he finally found them in a building. He entered quietly, and took a seat.

"Glad to see you made it back Tamakatari." Cid said to the fighter. "I'm most impressed with your performance in combat, my information on you was very good it seems. I may have a place for you in my regiment after this business is done. Our healer is away so you have two choices, wait for her to come back, or try to make due with my first aid skill."

Tamakatari pulled a roll of bandages from his cloak, and wrapped up his injuries.

"I don't trust anyone touching my wounds. They'll heal eventually. And you can take your regiment and shove it up your ass. I work alone."

Tamakatari put his bandages away, and laid back in his seat.

"That seems to be a common problem with this group." Cid said. "I'm getting to old for this Maverick shit." He relaxed in a wooden chair in the store. He picked up a cloth wrapped bit of hard tac. He tossed it Tamakatari's way. He picked up one for him too. "Eat it, you'll need your strength. Do you realize i've been in the military of this nation since I was seven years old. I started out as a page to the king when he was still a prince."

Tamakatari took the tac, sniffed it, and chewed on it. It was habit to not trust any food given to him.

"Wow. And I bet you were the best little page they had, huh? Did he graciously let you shovel the stable, or was that a little treat you could only do on your birthday?"

Cid laughed. "Hostile to authority, but funny. It truely is a shame I won't get to work with you again after this."

Tamakatari popped the last bit of tac into his mouth.

"I'm glad to say, I most likely won't feel the same way. I've got a thing about people in the military. Take away their soldiers, and their big fancy weapons and titles, and you'll simply find a man trying to compensate for something. It's the people who are alone, and still live, that are truly strong."

Tamakatari took out two small sticks in his cloak. One stick he turned into a small knife, the other he kept normal. He started to whittle at the stick.

"In fact, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't even be in this group. But, I have my reasons."

"My troops are all strong individuals, however by coming together my troops are nearly unstoppable. I'm here to regain the honor of my soldiers that was stolen in this security lapse. Your reasons however are substanially less pure. I'm going to be straight up here." Cid leaned forward. "Do you hnestly think you have a chance with the princess?"

When Cid finished his sentence, he felt a small wind by his head. He turned, and saw the whittle knife sticking in the wall, only an inch away from his head. Tamakatari's arm was still stretched out from when he had tossed the knife, and when he raised his head his eyes were dark.

"Honestly, I don't know. And I also don't think that it's any of your business. But, I've never had to worry about this before. Yes, I care about the princess. But whether she feels the same about me or not, I would gladly risk my life to save my angel. And anyone that tries to stop me, will die. Simple as that."

Tamakatari took out a new stick, and made a new knife. He left his old one still sticking in the wall.

OOC: I wish I was there...

Lynx was sniffing the bandit leader, just out of his cat nature. What a pathetic group... And they call themselves a guild...

Vace noticed Lynx disdainfully sniffing the leader of the bandits. "Seems the're much better at making traps against the innocent then putting up a straight fight against trained warriors. They really were only a band of two-bit thieves and thugs after all. Hmm, does anyone know what happened to the guy that led us here?" Vace said aloud, commenting and talking as his dizziness got worse and better, making the room spin at different rates by the second. <Ugh, good thing I sat down or I wouldn't be able to stand straight by now> he thought wearily.

(OOC: If you were there, IHMN, I have the feeling my character would have a new cat cloak after our "discussion".)

OOC: I don't... You see, cats are faster then humans...

(OOC: Alrighty. I was gonna start a new chapter last night... but I didn't. But yeah, I think we are way past the 100 post mark, so I'm gonna go make the start of the next thread now. okie dokie? ^^ )

OOC: Gunna skip all the healing and just have us all back at that little room, or exactly were we are now?

(OOC: Yeah, sure. Do what you want. Good thing, too. IHMN and I were about to get into ANOTHER fight.)

(OOC: I think I'm gonna skip all of the healing for the most part, since it's not a main part, and just skip to all of us in the little room. gotta keep the plot movin' ^_~ hehe )

(OOC: Alright. We're in a little room. Yeah.)

(OOC: yay, you probably already know, but the new thread is up. Feel free to have your characters argue there. ^^ hehe but not OOC argue. ^^ This next chapter might start out kind of slow, but slow, informative, chapters are needed every now and then... ^^;;; )