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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Feb 11, 2008 11:22:42 GMT -5
Vyncent looked amused as they finally wandered in through the gates of Valley Town, the hood of his cloak pulled up over his face so that he was unrecognisable to normal people. He doubted that anyone would visibly go after Evelyn in this busy little town, not with so many people already packed into it hence why he hadn't given her a cloak to disguise herself. It was market day, typically, so the streets were filled with people making it hard to even walk around in a straight line. Brilliant.
He'd stopped numerous times to let her pick those silly little dandylions, figuring she may as well enjoy herself before getting dragged back into civilisation again. But here he was, finally after that long trek and, quite frankly, annoying detour to the village. Though not the largest of towns, Valley Town did its job for him; shops, taverns, a small library and god forbid, a gambling parlour. Lifting his crimson eyed gaze from the cloak, he scanned the notice board of the town as he walked past and halted for a moment. Well, he shouldn't have been surprised.
His own smirking face stared out at him levelly, looking fiercer though prettier than usual from the artist's perception. Stupid artist, making him look more feminine than he was. He hated that god-damned picture, would burn them all one day when he got the chance. He'd been branded 'extremely dangerous' and that people should 'approach with extreme caution'. Nevertheless, Vyncent Schwarz was still wanted dead or alive for the grand sum of 500 000 gold coins. Yay for the law.
"They're probably printing new ones of you..." he murmured to Evelyn, hoping she was still behind him and hadn't decided to wander off into the crowd or something. Evelyn's poster was faded and almost entirely run through with ink, because she'd been absent for so long. Until now.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Feb 11, 2008 12:06:30 GMT -5
Evelyn had pulled her coat back on by the time they stepped through the town gates, the jingling of the bells on her skirt lost amongst the noise of the town on market day. Caution entered her eyes as she followed along after Vyncent, shaking the dandelion seeds from her hair as her gaze flickered from person to person suspiciously. It had been a long time since she had dared to venture into a town and she couldn't hide how nervous she was. Towns meant people and people were evil, Evelyn had avoided towns and people like the plague since she had broken free of her Master.
Evelyn had even reached forward to hold onto the back of Vyncent's coat to make sure that they weren't split up, fear of getting lost here alone outweighing any revulsion at the thought of almost touching him. Her head was down as she walked, shoulders slumped as she shuffled along. Towns reminded her too much of the past and she felt heavy under the weight of her memories, biting her lower lip as she followed him. No, she didn't seem comfortable here at all, her mere body language telling how uncomfortable she was.
Her gaze fluttered up to the notice board as they paused in front of it, studying his picture before wrinkling her nose up. "They made you look like a girl." She mumbled with a shake of her head. "They drew you all wrong, you should burn the eyes out of the man that drew that." She nodded to him before looking to the parchment beside it, which only contained a blur of red and the faded print of her name. "Maybe they will draw me better this time." She murmured, tilting her head a little. "Maybe I'll even have a price on my head."
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Feb 11, 2008 12:28:00 GMT -5
"You say it like it's a good thing." Vyncent smirked over his shoulder at her, still speaking in a low voice as if someone would overhear them talking about the posters. "Trust me, when you get a price on your head they just don't want to leave you alone. Though I doubt you have a choice now, if I'm sticking with you." he murmured, turning back to the drawing with disgust.
"I know. They must have mistaken me for a woman or something. Jeez." he rolled his eyes and moved away from the posters, seeming to have noticed that she was uncomfortable... that and she was holding on to the back of his cloak pretty tightly there. He hadn't realised she'd be that uncomfortable among all these people. Perhaps they should move out of the crowd for a while; ah, the reason to go to the gambling parlour was becoming more and more clear as they walked away from the noticed board and through the crowd at a quick speed.
People tended to part away from them, not really liking the sense of unease that accompanied Vyncent wherever he went. This meant there was a much less likely chance of people nudging into Evelyn, which was good - he didn't want to be the one to pick up the pieces of whoever got maimed from that experience.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Feb 11, 2008 16:30:12 GMT -5
"It can be a good thing, life can never be dull when you have a bounty on your head." She pointed out with a nod, as if picking out the positives of the situation. "Plus you will be known through the Kingdom, maybe through the whole of Syrunn, so people will fear you and give you what you want." She added with a light smile. "People remember evil more than they remember anything else, so if you want to be famous you're better being evil than trying to do good." She nodded again before smirking. "It would be pretty hard to mistake you for a woman, was it dark when the artist saw you?" She asked with a giggle, amuse by the fact that he looked so feminine in the pictures, seeming to forget about the crowds for a moment to relax.
Her grip on the back of his coat tightened a little again as she followed after him through the crowds, glad that people seemed to part to allow him through, glad that there was n pushing or showing. Ugh! She swore that it anyone even brushed past her she would disembowel them for it.
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Feb 12, 2008 8:54:42 GMT -5
He seemed surprised at her little speech, not having expected her to come up with something so... well... true. She truly did know more than she let on sometimes, though it only came out with her certain moods. Vyncent smirked to himself - he was learning more and more about her as time went by. "Life can never be dull, you're right about that." he laughed, the sound lost in the crowd.
"I'm already known throughout Avalas; I can't go anywhere without some ignorant hero trying to take me out." he snorted, still amused by the 'valiant guardians of the continent' and their idiotic little attempts to dispose of him. "People remember evil more only because they fear it. Heroes die and get lost in history, but evil... take Umbra, for instance. Do you think anyone remembers the name of the last hero who took him out anymore? I'll bet not without having to rack their brains for the answer."
They were getting closer to the parlour now, the high demon's eyes lighting up a little as they drew closer. "...He was probably drawing it from memory. Maybe he wanted me to look like a woman?" he shrugged, referring to the drawing again, "Either way he got me wrong, and now that poster is plastered everywhere. Hell, the amount of times those bastard heroes have told me I'm much more masculine in person..." he seethed, pouting. "At least yours gets re-drawn."
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Post by Angel ♥ on Feb 12, 2008 12:01:10 GMT -5
"I don't remember any of the names of the people who defeated Umbra." She confirmed, as if to prove his point, nodding a little. Yes, even Evelyn had heard stories of what had happened with Umbra, and though she didn't remember the specifics she knew that Umbra wanted to destroy the world and everyone have joined together to stop him. However, Evelyn had been unable to understand why anyone would want to destroy the world or control it, it was all too much hassle and pointless bother, in her opinion anyway; maybe she just didn't have the mind of an evil genius.
"But they didn't see human me when they came for us, so does that mean that my picture will be of a cat or a tiger?" She asked, head tilted to the side a little, running the fingers of her free hand through her hair as she trailed after Vyncent, not bothering to watch where she was going because everyone moved out of the way for him. "The picture before made me look really evil..." She informed him rather randomly. "But I'm not all that evil...right?" She pouted a little as she asked that question, shaking her head a little. No, Evelyn wasn't evil, she just had a bad temper.
"Are we going to the gambling parlor, like you said before?" She questioned him, suddenly changing the subject. "Will you teach me one of the games? I like playing games."
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Feb 12, 2008 12:20:42 GMT -5
"See? Nobody remembers them. They only remember me because I keep showing up and making peoples' lives miserable. They can't get their heads around the fact that right now I'm just happy to cruise around for a bit - I have no current interest in taking control of anything." he murmured as they stopped in front of the gambling parlour. "Then again... I guess that's why they're trying to get rid of me now... hm."
He shook the thoughts away - they got on his nerves, especially when he wasn't in the mood to deal with them. He would let his megalomania come back in its own good time. He thought for a minute at her question, frowning. "Well, either they'll use your old picture or wait until you've actually shown your face in public." he reasoned, pushing open the door to make it obvious that yes, this was where they were going. The parlour was well lit and pleasant - much like a tavern, but almost everyone was around some kind of a card table, or playing with dice.
"Which game?" he asked, smirking as a few heads turned towards them but, when they didn't recognise the two at the door turned back to their game. "Though I don't suppose you'd know any of the card games, would you?" he glanced over his shoulder at her, seeming to find what he was looking for instantly and drawing a seat back to sit down gracefully. "Alright, I can teach you blackjack. That's an easy one." he nodded to the empty seat opposite him.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Feb 12, 2008 13:00:57 GMT -5
"All my old ones will be faded and ruined from the weather though, so they won't be able to use those..." She nodded a little before shrugging. Oh well, they would find someway around not having a current picture of her, either by waiting for her to show her face again or by finding the artists that had drawn the original picture, though she doubted it would be the latter because she didn't see herself as being a huge threat to them on her own, she was just a threat when she was under Vyncent's influence.
The shifter released the back of his cloak as they stopped in the doorway of the gambling parlor, her eyes sparkling with childlike curiosity as they darted about, trying to take in everything at once. The people, the atmosphere, the strange games which were set out over the multiple tables, the men and a few women huddles over whatever they were doing, most of them with that strange glint in their eyes that she had spotted in Vyncent's eyes.
She moved over to sit across from Vyncent, studying everything carefully. "Ok...but when does Black Jack get here? I hope he won't be long because I'll get bored..." She pouted as she lent her elbows on the table, propping her chin in her hands as she peered over at the demon.
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Feb 12, 2008 13:16:09 GMT -5
"No, see Blackjack is the name of... nevermind." Vyncent didn't waste his breath, already shuffling the deck of cards set out on the table in front of them with speed that couldn't have been human; the cards were literally a blur in his hand as he shuffled them, gaze elsewhere as he smirked. "The objective of the game is basically to get to 21." he murmured, flicking out two cards for each of them, all of which were face down.
"...They'll probably wait until they see you again human before making any new posters then." he nodded as he set the rest of the deck down and waited for her to turn her cards over, settling back easily in his seat. "Which shouldn't take too long, I'm planning on making a scene here to be honest." he smiled over at her, his white face hidden in the shadows of his cloak. It was odd seeing him in the black cloak - it made him look cold when he wasn't. Being a fire demon, he was anything but; so this was an odd contrast.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Feb 12, 2008 14:46:13 GMT -5
The speed of the cards coming toward her brought out her feline instincts; which had been invading and overcoming her human instincts for a while because she spent far too much time as some sort of cat or another. Her hand darted out to pin the card to the table, her pupils shifting into slits as she leant forward and sniffed at the cards experimentally, as if to find out what they were. Oh, these were a part of the game? Riiiiggggghhhhttt, she understood now.
"All the way up to twenty-one?" She gasped as she flipped her cards over to reveal the numbers, not realizing that she was supposed to keep her cards secret. "Ok...so...one...um...two...three...five, no, four...five..." She was sat counting the hearts on one of her cards a look of complete and utter confusion crossing her features as she looked up at Vynce. "There are numbers after five?" She asked, gasping a little, as if that were a completely new concept for her.
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Feb 13, 2008 4:53:46 GMT -5
Vyncent looked rather puzzled as she started to count the hearts, before sighing exhasperately, rubbing his eyes and leaning back in his seat. "Yes, Evelyn... numbers are indefinite. You at least know how old you are, right? And you can read. Tell me you can read. I need to hear it." he muttered under his hand. No, this wasn't going to work at all - he couldn't be travelling with an illiterate shifter now, could he? Nope, he was going to have to fix that.
"Don't worry about it, I'll teach you some numbers later..." he murmured, collecting the cards back, shuffling them again and setting the deck down. He was being unusually nice, all things considered... maybe it was because he was in a place he liked. Yeah, that had to be it. "Come on, let's go wreak some havoc. That always makes me feel better." he nodded, rising from his seat so that his cloak flared out behind him. "First things first - we go to the town hall. That should get some people's attention." he told her.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Feb 13, 2008 5:54:17 GMT -5
"I...um...forgot..." She mumbled, rubbing the side of her head as tried to remember how old she was, which was practically impossible; she had no idea. Oh well, age wasn't all that important anyway, not in her mind, it was all just unnecessary numbers. "I can write my name though!" She told him, unmistakable pride in her voice about that little fact. "And I know the alphabet...knew the alphabet..." She nodded to him, as if to tell him that she wasn't stupid. "Bah, reading is useless anyway." She huffed and nodded, pouting as he took the card back. She couldn't believe he was so surprised about her lack of education really, she had been a slave, who would bother teaching her?
"Havoc sounds good, I can do that." She smiled to him brightly and nodded, hopping to her feet so quickly the bells on her skirt jingled madly. "Okay, the town hall it is...you think those nobles from before will be there? The ones that ran?" She asked him as she moved around the table to stand next to him, tilting her head back to look at him, as if finally realizing how much taller than her he was.
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Feb 13, 2008 7:11:26 GMT -5
"I do hope so." Vyncent smiled and glanced down at her, seeming to realise at the same time she did their height difference. "And reading isn't not useless, not when you're trying to find your way somewhere. Though I suppose that wouldn't really bother you, would it?" he threw her that crooked smirk of his and turned away from the table, heading back outside and not even sparing the other patrons a glance.
"Town hall... centre of town. Seems logical enough." he murmured, frowning slightly now. If the nobles had escaped then they'd have found that awful silver chain... and he was NOT going through that again. He was going to lose his temper doing this, there was no doubt about that. He could feel it behind his eyes, just waiting to burst out and destroy everything. Preferably the nobles, but he wasn't picky. As they walked he slipped the deck of cards from his pocket; they hadn't even seen him lift them from the table, he sighed to himself. This was getting too easy.
"Pick a card, any card, Evelyn." he offered her the deck, fanned out in one hand. "You get a red card, I use Amor. A black card, I use fire. A royal card, then a bit of both... and an ace, I'll think of something special." he grinned through the shadows of the cloak.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Feb 13, 2008 10:38:07 GMT -5
"You can ask someone, or listen to what other travelers are saying. Hardly anyone I've ever known could read." She informed him with a small pout, latching onto the back of his cloak again as they headed back outside. "This cloak doesn't suit you at all, you know, I much prefer your coat." She nodded to him. This cloak made him look like a suspicious criminal rather than his usual proud demon look. Then again, he did fit in with the crowd more with the cloak didn't he? Though that didn't suppress his presence; she doubted anything could suppress his presence and make him seem like everyone else.
"The town hall is usually the big white building in the middle of the town." She nodded to him, rubbing at her throat lightly as she followed him. They knew she was with him now, so they would probably be prepared to fight a shifter...they would have some sort of amber collar...probably with silver on it so neither her nor Vyncent could get it off. She could feel a growl bubbling in her throat at the mere thought of them stopping her shifting, a scowl settling over her features. If they tried she would make sure that their bodies were so mangled they were unrecognizable.
She blinked as he turned to her, flashing the card in front of her face, dragging her up from her bloody thoughts. She gazed down at the cards, thinking for a moment before selecting one, carefully pulling it from the deck before looking at it, grinning as she turned it to show Vyncent the ace of hearts. "Looks like you are going to have to think up something special." She nodded with a smile, "I'll be expecting fireworks." She grinned at him mischievously.
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Feb 13, 2008 14:18:57 GMT -5
"When you've been around as long as me it helps to learn to read... and learn a few languages." he shrugged, glancing over his shoulder at her as they wandered into dense crowd; though people still avoided him like the plague. It was good to be Vyncent, people stayed out of your way unless they wanted to pick a fight. He stared down at the cloak as she commented about it, pouting to himself. "I know, I hate it as well. Good stitchwork, nice cloak. But not for me. You want it when I'm finished with it?" he asked her; well, he didn't want a good cloak to go to waste. He'd PAYED for that!
He grinned as she pulled out the ace of hearts - he'd been hoping for something like that. If Vyncent could be creative about anything, it was about killing things. "Fireworks among other things, I promise." he grinned under the shadows of the cloak, moving to place the deck of cards back into the folds of the cloak, though kept the ace of hearts up his sleeve.
They were walking pretty quickly through the maze of pathways now, the demon wanting to make it to the town hall within the hour. He was eager to get his hands on those nobles more than his cheerful attitude displayed... they would regret ever even thinking his name. Regret even noticing that he'd existed... and that chain was going to get melted down and buried somewhere. His eyes blazed beneath the shadows of the dark material as they walked, those foolish enough to even glance at him getting a glare that would probably haunt them forever.
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