First encounters, connections and self-redemptions

  : On a cold winter night, as the sun began to set and painted the grown and cloud in this reddish orange, in a small but growing city. A young blonde woman with an odd ponytail wandered through the city sidewalks, directionless and scouring the places for people who are committing  crimes. She was wearing a blue jacket, one with fuzzy fur around the hood of the jacket and her hands in her pocket, carrying a metallic blue purse that had a light blue glass shine, with golden edges and gems decorated on it. Her heavy jeans were soaked near her feet from all the sludge on the ground, and her gold colored boots stomping the earth she was walking on.

  : Her brown eyes stared at the world around her, avoiding eye contact, as her breath made puffs of vapor, tiny clouds of fog that made it a bit harder to see where she was going. She almost had this expressionless look upon her face, as if bottling up her feelings so she looks disinterested, and letting others know to avoid casual chatter with her.

  : Within this growing city, a young man, wearing a simple hood, adjusting it once in a while to hide what's under it, other than his simple looking short hair. He examines the area as he was holding a simple briefcase, containing some of his work and items. Sighing, a stream of cloud coming from his breath. He seems a bit troubled about something.

  : As the woman walked about the city, the sounds of feet walking ringing all around her, she heard a scream coming from an alleyway. Purse snatchers trying to get their way. She sighs, as if this song and dance has been done many times before. She starts heading in that direction, as she begins twirling her purse.

  : Tenkai blinks and notice the sound of the screaming, a bit worried about the individual. He isn't going to just ignore it. Gritting his teeth and risking a possible exposure to what he might be, he rushes to the screaming to encounter the situation at hand.

  : She sees the man running to the cause and just sighs again. but this one more irritating. Another one trying to be a hero, another one getting their hands dirty, she just hopes it's not another one ready to be her shadow.

One of the guys noticed her walking up, "Oi! What the hell are you doing over here? Want to end up like he-" one of the two guys said, until she walked up and swung her purse at him, but ended up turning into an anvil right before she hit her in the face to get the woman out. She started thinking about what to do and how to finish this situation quickly, as the woman was able to escape from the robbers unharmed.

  : the man find the group, noticing something off: the big looking anvil-ish purse that the woman is holding. What in the world? He thought for moment that she might be the one crying for help.. then again....might be another person encountering the group.

  : The woman ended up changing her purse into a bow staff, and thrusted a rounded edge right into is left eye. It wouldn't be that bad except the force applied to it made it feel like a mini wrecking ball just swung into his eye. Her expression was still emotionless, almost having a bored feeling to it, but with a dash of intense concentration with the slight anger her eyebrows were giving off.

  : the man eyes widen, surprise that someone with such strength actually can do that with a simple bow staff. Plus, the theory of her being the damsel in distress. He scans the area, hoping that no one is going to mug them from behind. If so... he might need to defend himself

  : Before he could spot anything to use, she spun and slammed that part of the staff again against the right side of his head, leaving a red imprint from the it.

  : The other gang member notice the bystander and runs to him, hoping to use him as a sort of leverage against the young woman. he grabs the man's neck and use him as a human shield. " D-Don't come any closer or i'll kill this dude!" the member said, pulling his knife out and place it on the man's neck and facing him front of her.  "Really.... oh man." the man thought, kinda annoyed about the situation.

  : She finally expressed an emotion: Annoyed, she ended up changing the staff to a gun, a revolver with a Gold grip and a glass light blue main body, the gems and all carrying over. She pointed at the man with the knife, looking ready to shoot.

  : Before she can, the man seem to lean forward and forcefully hit the individuals face with the back of his head. A normal individual would just stagger away. But instead, the man flies backward with sheer force and lands hard against a large garbage bin, leaving a bit of a dent on it. "Geez, that's the second time this week that someone threatened me." the man sighs, looking over at the man that he knocked out and laying against the garbage bin.

  : She ended up just changing the gun back to a purse, making herself look like she was never in that scuffle. She soon looked at the man, but only for the purpose to reinsure acknowledgement.

  : "You ok, miss." the man asked, though he might already know the answer. He examines her a bit, a bit surprised that such power can come from a small figure.

  : She just replies "Of course I am," and started walking out

  : he blinks, "Miss? are you from around here." he asked.

  : "No, I'm just passing by," she continued walking off.

  : "Well if you are a tourist, i suggest a good hotel. You seem tired. Plus its a safe place." he pointed out. He blinks as he notice something. " oh no...."

  : "Tired? No," she thought, "not even close, I guess I'm so...so-" Her concentration was cut short by him saying oh no. "What is it?" she asked, slowly looking at her but not really wondering what made him so worried.

  : "ugh... my briefcase." he sighed as he looks around for it. "must have dropped it around here."

  : She was about to groan, thinking that it was another person who lost an item, but kept that contained. "What does it look like?" she said, readying to go look for it.

  : "its a black briefcase with a small logo of a dragon." he stated, looking over at the man if he took it when he went flying.

  : "May I ask what's in the briefcase?"

  : He looks a her, a bit hesitant about it. "... if i.. can you not tell anyone about it." he asked, justa bit worried.

  : "Sure," she replied, looking around as she probably wasn't going to really use the information in anyway

  : "It's blueprints .. various ones, from powerful filters for polluted water, and prosthetic parts for bodies for some examples." he sighed about one thing. "...and some blueprint for weaponry.."

  : She rolled her eyes, science,  body parts and weapons, like she's heard and seen all of that before. She soon find the briefcase next to the man, not too far away from where he dropped it when being picked up. She looked unimpressed.

  : As she pick it up, there seem to be a small piece of paper poking out of it... a sort of letter.

  : She looked like she was ready to leave him, seeing her work done and the night was about to rise, the lights of the city slowly taking over the sky.

  : The man check the briefcase as he walks out, walking the same way she is.

  : She looked behind him irritated, she felt like this outcome would happen, thinking the man was following him now but did nothing about it.

  : He seem to be looking around, looking for the place he is going to stay in. He doesn't even notice that she is in front of her.

  : She ended up just going to a café, she didn't feel tired yet and just wanted a place with a relaxing atmosphere, and maybe something sweet to take her mind off of things.

  : He seem to "follow" her into the cafe as he goes to an employee about the location.

  : She sits down, ordering an iced tea and cupcake, she stares out the large window to the streets, slowly getting lost in her own thought about what this scenario would of been like if her life choices would of been different.

  : As she looks out, the man seem to sit down where she is at.

  : She doesn't notice him, the sound of the café becoming louder in her ears

  : Tenkai looks over at the window as well, also looking a bit lost in thought.

  : She exited the moment when the waitress gave her the order. She snaps back to attention, tells her thank you and was about to take a sip, only to notice the man sitting next to her.

  : He seem to be lost in thought... though he doesn't notice that his hood isn't fully on.. showing an unusual feature: dragon like fin ears.

  : She wasn't worried about the ears, he was more worried about him. She felt like he was following her, which made her worried about him tagging along, then him trying to get close, and then him dying because of her, and her inability to save him. She shook her head, telling herself to snap out of it and went to take a sip of her drink, hoping he notices nothing.

  : He seems to mumble a bit about something, seeming to speak his mind a bit. A few minutes later, he snap out of it and turns to her. "Ah, sorry."

  : She didn't respond for a while, but then said, "It's fine," before taking a bite of her cupcake. "I'm guessing those ears are real?"

  : He nodded, "Yea, Well... the only real thing than this ' human' form." he stated. " if i show what i look like, i think some people might be a bit scared."

  : "Uh huh," she replied, making herself sound unimpressed when she did think the ears looked cool. She kept making herself look uninterested in general, that's something she hasn't tried, right? Maybe that will finally get people to not follow her... hopefully.

  : He seem to notice something a bit off. He takes a sip of his drink and place it down calmly. "...i assume that you aren't human yourself."

  : She blinks in shock, turning her head away from him so her bang covered up here eye, making it hard to tell what she's feeling, "And why do you think that? Just because I look weird with this ponytail?" It was extremely long with two ball beads, there was a split in between the beads with her hair, making a more oval shape to it.

  : "No, i think the ponytail is fine, adorable to be exact." He chuckles, " i mean your little trick of changing your purse into an.. anvil and a staff." He begins to list some ideas of who and what she might be in his mind.

  : She started getting more worried, even startled but didn't turn her head around, the adorable comment she just chucked into the mental garbage as some kind of pickup line. She picked up her cupcake and started eating it quickly.

  : "...i have a few ideas though: Shapeshifter, yokai.....free genie." he listed quietly.

  : The freed genie makes her the most spooked but she didn't want to show that, as she kept eating until there was nothing left of the cupcake, wondering what made him think of a freed genie of all things.

  : "Might i ask....why are you here? just to beat up some villains?" he asked drinking his beverage.

  : She started drinking her beverage as well, "It's what I do. I do from place to place and fight those who do wrong."

  : "i see..." he said, looking as if he is pondering a bit. "might if give you some people that are doing wrong?"

  : "Sure," she said it rather quickly.

  : "Do you still remember what i told you about the weapons blueprints? Well... half of them were originally my plan but not for weaponry.....in short they were going to mass produce my work." He stated. " from something that is supposed to be made to help people into something that would kill them."

  : "What do you want me to do about it?" she asked, her drink was soon running dry.

  : "There is a manufacturing facility that is making these weapons.. thankfully they aren't being shipped out yet. I want you to destroy the weapons." he said, finishing his drink. "I can go to the computer data that is in the facility and erase all information on the product."

  : "And you can't why?" she asked as she finished her drink, slamming it on the table, trying to make it intimidating.

  : "I get the feeling you have more firepower than i do for destroying some weapons of mass destruction. Plus a bit more quickly." he said calmly, not phased by her intimidating drink slam.

🔵 : She quickly gets up and just says, "I'll think about it," before quickly walking out.

⚪ : He blinks, " i'll be here." he goes to check the briefcase and opens it.

🔵 : She walks out of the café, soon stopping at a hotel 10 minutes later, paying to stay a night

⚪ : out the window, she can see the cafe from below.

🔵 : She looked to see if the man was still down there, her curiosity getting to her.

⚪ : the man was still in there, looking at a letter in the briefcase

🔵 : She ended up going to her room, turning into her genie form in private and turning her purse back into her bottle on the counter. She slowly went on the bed, pulling the covers over her as she goes to get some sleep.

⚪ : As she does so, the man seem to talk to talk to himself on the cafe. " hmm.. i guess if she doesnt come here tomorrow i might need to go alone." he sighed as he slowly gets up and goes to the hotel... the same one that Claudia is in.

🔵 : The next day, she woke up, covered in sweat as she was panting, looking scared out of her mind. It was the same dream, the same nightmare, that kept repeating. The one where her recent companion died from a powerful shotgun blast, split in half, as she hold his torso, blaming herself for his death. But his head came alive and said "why did you let me die?" over and over as other companions that died came out, chanting the same thing. This dreamed happened so many times to her, but she always managed to scream during the night, crying until she woke up.

⚪ : The man was already awake, though a bit tired from doing so, as he cooks something in the small kitchen of the room. He looks at some of the blueprint, remembering that he had high hopes for them, that they would help some people live on, have a good life..... never to suffer again.

🔵 : She slowly curled up, hugging herself as she let out some more tears before stopping herself. It would take her an hour to mentally collect herself, to hide this depression once again, and reappearing her clothes on herself, her tail turning into legs and the bottle into a purse. She grabbed it and headed back out, looking emotionless yet again.

⚪ : As she does so she can see the man from before coming out of his hotel room and closing it.

🔵 : She noticed but did nothing, and ended up walk away from him, going to the lobby to exit this place

⚪ : The man walks out and goes to the lobby to exit the place

🔵 : "Where are you going," she asked him without looking at him, the bright sun of the morning being a spotlight on the people below, and reflecting off the glass of skyscrapers

⚪ : "Well i am going to the facility.....might be better to go alone." he chuckles. "I'm not going to just sit here and let them do this."

🔵 : She just nods and turns around to go to the café, also to see where he'll go.

⚪ : He seem to go to the opposite direction, not realizing that he dropped the letter.

🔵 : She just sees the letter and picks it up, inspecting it and then looking towards Tenkai.

⚪ : the letter seem to belong to a 5 year old girl... a thank you letter for him letting her be the first person to have a prototype of his prosthetic arm. Tenkai wait at a stop sign, waiting for it to turn green as he looks at his map.

🔵 : She just goes up to him, and gives him back the letter, "You dropped this"

⚪ : "oh.. thanks..." he nodded. " i guess you aren't coming eh?"

🔵 : She just walked away from him after giving him that

⚪ : he sighed as he walks across the street.

🔵 : Once in the café, she kept stirring the spoon in her drink, her mind wandering back to that man. But she kept telling herself to stop that, that it would lead to him having the same fate as the rest, but she felt this need to help him, her kindness wanting to step in and aid him. She stirred faster as she felt more and more inclined to aid but more and more worried about what would happened if she stepped in. It was about 15 minutes later until she decided to say to herself that she should help him and decided to leave the café and journeyed to his location, repeating to herself that this is a bad idea.

⚪ : a few minutes later outside the border of the city, a facility can be seen.

🔵 : Once she was on the premise, she changed herself into an elf archer to sneak into the building. Using her bottle that changed into a bow, she shot roped arrows to ascend and sneak into the place, keeping close to the shadows.

⚪ : Two guard can be seen patrolling the area, chatting between each other.

🔵 : She got close to them to hear them, but made sure not to be seen

⚪ : "You heard about what we are making, those prosthetic part can be interesting, having weapons on them and all." one guard said, chuckling. " Yea it, and to think it came from a guy not wanting to make them. But the boss did so without him anyways eh." he laughs loudly.

🔵 : She knocked the two out, and started looking around for the man, arrow at the ready

⚪ : As she looks around she can hear a sudden grunt and a thud not far from where she is.

🔵 : She blinked and quickly went to the source of the sound, crouching and staying hidden

⚪ : It seem to be one of the scientist that is knocked out called, and someone.... dragging the body out of view and taking the card, coming into view. it seem to be the man.

🔵 : She quickly came out and started pointing her bow and arrow at the man holding the card, aiming right at his head.

⚪ : He get into a defensive stance but notice who it is."Hey your that woman from before."

🔵 : "What's your reason for being here?" she asked him, just trying to confirm his identity.

⚪ : "Getting rid of those weapons," he pointed out. his hood coming off to reveal his full dragon ears.

🔵 : She nodded, removing her hood to show off the little changes to her head, mainly the pointed ears as she got closer to him. "And they would be in here?"

⚪ : he nodded. "Indeed, they would have the blueprint on the computer for the machines to make quantities of these weapons."

🔵 : "Alright, get them off the computer and I'm going to look for any of them made already." she said as she entered the room with him

⚪ : He nodded as he use the card to ope the main computer room, which also leads and over looks the manufacturing area of the building.

🔵 : She starts running to the manufacturing area of the building

⚪ : the man begins to use the computer to stop the manufacturing of any other weapons and begins to delete the blueprints. Claudia can some of the machines at the end finishing the the products.

🔵 : She wastes no time destroying the ones making the weapons, making her arrows more explosive to take quick work of the metal parts.

⚪ : As she does so, the man in the control room is deleting as much of the data as possible, as he hears the sound of soldier coming through the halls." oh shoot..."

🔵 : The woman however continues blasting away the weapons into scrap, ones that look unable to rebuild

⚪ : He focused more on the computer as he is almost done, even though her can hear the soldier getting closer.

🔵 : She stops and goes to hide in the shadows once more

⚪ : as she does so, she hears the sound of a gun... a shotgun in the control room.

🔵 : She blinks, looking for a way to sneak away. She kept whispering "No, no, no, no, no," her heart started racing as she found an opening and rushed out, sprinting towards the man, worried that she wasn't able to guard him, her emotionless expression gradually falling away as she looked more worried.

⚪ : as soon as she does so.... you hear the sound of screaming and fear. " W-what the heCK!" one soldier said, running out of the control room in fear as another soldier scream, getting thrown out of the window. " WHAT IS THAT!! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!"

🔵 : She rushes over and increased her pace, worried that something might of happened to him.

⚪ : Once she is inside, she notice that instead of the man, it was a different being. a dragon humanoid like creature, muscular and tall  with large horns as he huffs and growls at the soldier cowering in corner.

🔵 : The monster that was now there didn't scare her, more startled, but of all things, the muscular build made her have PTSD of her previous 'masters' before her freedom, all of them before her last one were cruel, took advantage of her, and had these big muscular builds to them. This made her scream like she saw a familiar serial killer coming back from the dead, her face looking horrified as her elf archer form started faltering as she slowly backed away from him.

⚪ : the soldier runs off in fear as the creature seem to grown and kneel down a bit,looking like he is in pain, holding his waist a bit.

⚪ : "shoot... did they know about this form?" the being said to himself.

🔵 : The woman was still in this flight mode, as she continued backing up and breathing heavily. dropping her bow on the ground as her legs turn into a genie tail, she soon went on the ground and continued backing away from him.

⚪ : He looks over at the woman and blinks. " you ok?" he said as he winces a bit, "Ah, right, that's usually what people do when they see this form." he chuckles a bit as he coughs, having a bit of trouble getting up.

🔵 : If that was the usual, do people often look like they are staring at a monster from their past, blinded by it and unable to see what's truly in front of them and only focus on the horror? Because that is what she was doing, her heavy breathing making the man/creature's voice and the world around her muffled, she ended up returning to her genie form and her bottle returned to normal, her back right against the wall, getting more scared as she has no where else for her to go.

⚪ : the soldier seem to be returning as the monster slowly get the door closed but by doing so, opens his wound more due to his moving too quickly, making him grunt in pain. " Hey, miss! Get going! i'll distract them, ok?!"

🔵 : She didn't know what the hell was going on anymore, the fear getting to her to the point that all she could think-all she could fear about, is the beast doing.... terrible things to her, and returning to a thought process of being powerless to do anything. The man could just see her in a mix of horror, fear, and powerlessness on her face. Her arms slowly raised, like she was going to push him if he got close, but her arms were shaking as she kept breathing heavily, close to hyperventilating.

⚪ : "...ah.. i see..." he sighed. He felt like this might happen, he decided to do something a bit risky as he seem to prep himself up to barge into the halls to get them away from here. "... hey... don't feel bad if i die ok?" he said as he readies himself. " Monsters shouldn't exist in this life."

🔵 : Die..... Die..... that word, something she didn't want to cause someone to do ever again. It took her around 5 to 10 minutes to snap herself out of this trance of fear, taking time to breath at a steady pace, and to relax herself. As soon as she was able to stand again, she grabbed her bottle and changed into her elf archer, running through the halls looking for him. She kept whispering, "Don't die, don't die, not again, not again!!" fearing that because she was scared of him, he went to sacrifice himself.

⚪ : She can hear the sound of screaming and the sound of shot firing, as it seem to be quite a small conflict

🔵 : She kept running, and running, until he meet up with him.

⚪ : she can see some bullet wound on his body, but not too severe as he seem to be holding a metal piece of the wall he tore out as a makeshift shield.

🔵 : She went to lean against a wall, feeling relieved that he was still alive. But he had to keep herself calm and collected, she could feel her arms shaking when getting close to him.

⚪ : he grunt in pain as he breathes fire at the soldier, making them retreat a bit as he seem to drag himself back up on his feet.

🔵 : She watched him, tempted to go and aid him, but she was still hesitant despite her still trying to go help him.

⚪ : as he tries to move he collapses again, groaning in pain as he seem to be struggling not only to get up.... but to keep himself alive.

🔵 : She looks and quickly goes to him, repeating in a low tone "No" as she went to look at how bad his wounds are.

⚪ : He seem to be holding to life by a string, trying to get up and grip the shield tightly.

🔵 : She starts helping him get to a safe area. "please don't die, Please don't die!"

⚪ : "h-hey....why are you still here... shouldn't you be running?" he questioned her, having a hard time standing up.

🔵 : She started going a bit faster, becoming more worried that he's going to die.

⚪ : He groans as he begins to feel weak and numb. in his mind he wonder why she is helping him? Wasn't she scare of him?

🔵 : "Please! I don't want another one to die on me!" she said, as she started blasting holes in the walls of the building to make her own exit, "I don't want to lead someone to their death again!" she kept blasting until they could see the outside world. She started heading towards the "light" while helping him stay up.

⚪ : He looks up slightly to see the light, feeling as if this might be the end. Is she..... pleading? worried?....another one?

🔵 : After awhile, she got him away from the facility but gently laying him on the grass, kneeling next to him and going back into her genie form, scared and looking all around his body at the wounds, slowly panicking on how to help him.

⚪ : it seem to be mostly bullet wound, thankfully missing the heart and lunges. he winces a bit, feeling the pain again.

🔵 : She still was scared that he was going to die. But then... she remembered something that will help him live. She know healing magic! And the wounds weren't terrible enough that healing would solve nothing! She started turning her hands into a green-like liquid coating, as she started rubbing her hands on his wounds, as she slowly started crying.

⚪ : he winces a bit from the sudden touch but begins to ease up. relaxed as he felt the wound slowly healing, the bullet lodged into him being removed.

🔵 : As she heals him, her tears running down her face, she told him, "Cl....Claudia...."

⚪ : "m-hm..?" he looks up at her, feeling his energy also returning.

🔵 : She kept healing, seeing that he's getting better, she slowly smiled while tears ran off her face like waterfalls, "M...My name.... is Claudia...."

⚪ : "....Tenkai...." he said, telling her his name. He felt his body healing and feeling much better.

🔵 : "Tenkai," she said, "Thank you Tenkai..."

⚪ : "hmm? for what?" he asked, a bit confused of what he did. " shouldnt i be thanking you?"

🔵 : Claudia kept crying, but said, "Because... as cheesy as this sounds..... you made me realize...." she sniffles before continuing, "that I can save..... a companion." She smiles more, as she continues crying.

⚪ : He looks at her for a moment and realize what she meant, why she was so emotionless. Smiling he slowly gets up and nodded, "I see..... and... you're welcome."

🔵 : She just smiles as she continues healing him.

---

🔵 : The next day, as the sun began to set and painted the grown and cloud in this reddish orange, in a small but growing city. A young blonde woman with an odd ponytail wandered through the city sidewalks, heading towards a particular place to look for someone she meet yesterday. A smile was on her face, as her clothes looked more open, she had short shorts and a V-neck t-shirt with no sleeves as she hopes he didn't forget the "tickets".

⚪ : the man, in a more casual clothing, wait for a particular woman as he check the "tickets" he has, waiting patiently  in the cafe as he sip his beverage.

🔵 : Claudia soon plops into the opposite seat of the man, her eyes looking at the tickets, "Ah! Good jo-" she soon notices his ears sticking out and looked unamused.

⚪ : he blinks a bit as he slowly puts his hood back up. " er... my bad, i guess it fell off when i was lost in thought."

🔵 : "mmhmm.." she wasn't buying that excuse. "So," Claudia said as she got up, "let's get going!"

⚪ : he nodded as he gets up, " right."

🔵 : Claudia soon walks outside and stops at a crosswalk, waiting for the signal to let them cross. "Tenkai," she said, as she turned her purse into a bow staff, laying it on her right shoulder.

⚪ : He blinks and notice the bow staff. " see something?" he said as he scans the area for any one doing anything unlawful.

🔵 : "No, but I wanted to ask," she said looking at him, "Are you sure you want to follow me? Be my companion and just stroll around the country to solve crimes? It can get pretty nasty, especially since sometimes I find magic users of all kinds." Claudia was asking him once more, just incase he had second thoughts.

⚪ : He looks at her, a serious look on his face and nodded. " Yea i'm sure. Beside, I'm use to magic users.... been raised in a small town full of magical folks." he paused for a second as he looks around. " beside, i am somewhat resistant to some elemental spells due to the other form."

🔵 : Claudia smiles, "Alright them." Looking confident for a change as she looks forward. The signal goes off as they cross the sidewalk, the majority of people walking the opposite direction. As she looks at Tenkai then back at the beautiful red sky, she says "You know, I get the feeling that the future...

 ...is already looking brighter