RP:To Fit the Crime

Summary: Rilla and Magik increase their body count going after Llangarlians attempting to free Magik's ex-wife from her icy punishment.

Magik was enjoying a nice fresh cup of coffee in his quaint little treehouse after a lesson with his pyro students. Class went very well and the students have come a long way since being forced out of the Mages Tower. Class was dismissed early and given free and careful reign over the pool area. Veneficus D'Chath kept enough of an eye on them as he sat behind the bar to slowly sip his cup of Joe. Even Vhid was getting in on the fun. That fat ferret managed to make his way into the pool to swim laps around the students. Magik grinned behind his cup when suddenly his eyes pinpointed to nothing in particular in the pool. There was a disturbance in his energy. The elven man remained still with his cup to his lips as he stared through the water of the pool. Careful to not alert anyone, he finally blinked and placed his cup down. As he stood, he calmly barked out some final directions, "Like I said before class was dismissed, no roughhousing. Pool privileges can be taken away in an instant and if you try to get behind the bar, I will know." Magik set an anti-student enchantment around the bar area. Anyone not permitted would be gently pushed backwards away from the bar by an unseen force. He makes his way out of the recreation area and into his room where he grabs his bow in one hand and a machete in the other. Soon after, he's off to the south to pay his ex-wife a visit.

With autumn in full swing and the forest turning colours, Rilla almost blended in. A flash of auburn would normally give her away, and still, it may, but she was more comfortable moving through the trees without a hood and all the mystery that came with it. A shorter cloak took the place of her usual one, covering her blades from easy view, obscuring the hidden blade beneath one black sleeve. She spent much of her time in The Sage now just as she had the last time she’d lived here. Her time was wasted in a lot of different ways, today she perched within the low branches of a tree, legs swinging and booted feet barely skimming the ground below. Her head rose at a sound from the North, and although it wasn’t out of character to creep up on people by accident, this time Rilla opted to take a somewhat civilized route. The young vampire righted herself, slipping out from between the branches with a tilted head. “I know you’re there.” She said aloud, crystalline gaze narrowing as she looked for the source of familiar sound. “And if you’re not doing some fancy trick, I assume you’re looking for someone or another, and that usually means there’s new nonsense to attend to.” Rilla mused, hands on her hips and a crooked smile desperately trying to tug over her lips.

Magik didn't need to be completely silent just yet. As Rilla's words filled the air, the elf made himself visible as he travelled through the forest. There was no time to stop and talk today, "I'd like you to meet someone..now." The elf would keep his heavy boots marching as he passes Rilla regardless of her decision to follow him or not. As he travelled through the thick forest, he would simply bend and snap branches out of his way to forge his own path but would eventually be more mindful and quieter. Suddenly the Lyastri stops and side steps to peer from behind a thick tree. A frozen woman stands in the middle of a clearing reaching out to someone with a hole in her chest covered in just a hint of red. Mirshann was precise with her work. Well done, kiddo. However, two other figures stood in front of Maere. Magik's lip curled at the sight before him before turning around to speak to Rilla if she followed. His voice was quiet, deep, and quite disturbing, "Llangarlians.." One, an obvious cryomancer with his fancy blue robes and his ice staff. An older gentleman, probably highly skilled to be sent to try and reverse Magik's curse on the woman. The other figure, a tall female elf in a full suit of armor. Gold plated. A little over the top, to be honest. Llangarlians were skilled fighters and they knew it. The female soldier swings about her sword as the cryomancer circles Maere to try and figure out another approach to freeing her. Magik stared deep into Rilla's eyes as he thought about how to approach this. It better be fast, Magik..

Rilla had learned to just roll with it when it came to people like Magik. This was no exception, she followed without hesitation, quieter than Magik as she picked through the forest behind him. “This should be good.” She half-laughed while he was still breaking through the forest to forge his own path. He didn’t keep her wondering for too long, as his footfalls quieted so did hers, moving alongside him. Rilla would normally have taken to the trees long before this, but something about the urgency from Magik kept her grounded. She peered around the other side of the tree he stopped them behind, brows furrowed as she surveyed the scene he’d led her to. His voice called her attention back and she straightened, bright-blue gaze meeting his evenly. She studied his face, “you’ll explain later.” Rilla decided, her jaw clenching and releasing, “I’ll get their attention, give you the jump on the man, and take out the soldier.” She could almost feel his urgency, her eyes burning into his for another beat before she nodded. “Any last words?” Although Rilla wasn’t exactly giving him a chance to plan, they’d managed to stay on the same page with fewer words exchanged before. Though she left a beat for any last-minute objections, she winked at him, touched one shoulder on her way past, moving silently through the trees to get a vantage away from him, and yet this was likely her least subtle plan yet. “Hey!” She called out once she was away from Magik, shortsword drawn. Her leathers would be no match for the soldier’s sword, but Rilla wasn’t planning on letting her catch her.

Magik did in fact have some last words. In that same hushed tone he spoke, "Do not let them take her." A slight smirk formed as he took the moment in. This was turning into quite the partnership. Slowly and quietly, he slid the machete into the ground to the point where it could stand on its own. There was nothing wrong with having a last resort hidden weapon. Rilla's hand on his shoulder was met with two light taps before gripping his bow and moving between the trees to get a better view of the cryomancer. Rilla's words caused the two Llangarlians to step their game up immediately. The female soldier started to swing her sword in a more threatening manner as she started stepping towards the vampiress, "You! Not another step!" The old cryomancer spoke loudly, "Dispatch her quickly!" Before the old man could summon another spell to try and break Maere free, one of Magik's arrows flew through his hand. The man turned quickly after a loud yelp then Magik emerged from the forest, "Don't even tr..". Without hesitation, the cryomancer pointed and thrust his staff towards Magik, sending a barrage of large icicles towards the Lyastri. In return, Magik dropped his bow and held his hands out. His familiar black fire erupted out of his hands to meet the icy attack. The two mancers were at a stalemate. Small chunks of ice that didn't melt immediately made it through the fire to start pelting Magik in his face causing him to turn his face closer into his arm. On the cryo side, the black fire started to lick at the old man's face. Magik dug his boots into the ground to get a better grip as he turned up the intensity. The old man took a step towards Magik to try and counter the flames. This was Magik's first ice vs fire fight. How exciting! An endgame was starting to form in his head. It wasn't going to be fire though. This was too close to home to simply let the whole forest burn to get rid of these two.

Rilla smirked, her gaze burning into his as she nodded and continued on her way. Don’t let them take the frozen body, surely there were stranger requests he could have made of her. Despite generally being rather unassuming, she almost laughed at the cryomancer ordering her around but bit her tongue. “Dispatch me?” Rilla taunted, entire body tense, boots digging into the soft forest floor, “is that how you treat a lady?” A hint of amusement flashed across her features as her smile twists upwards and she shifts, rushing the soldier with her shortsword raised not to attack, but to parry the incoming swings. She was more interested in the way the plate armour moved as she did, in the gaps it left behind. Meeting the swung sword with hers and twisting her body around the soldiers, Rilla was more agile without the weight of armour as she thrusts her blade between the plating beneath her right arm. The padding underneath gave resistance, but the woman cried out and when Rilla sprung back her blade was bloodstained once more. She landed back slightly, knees bent and ready to charge, but the soldier wheeled around, blade still clutched in hand and swinging, catching her somewhat off-guard. Ducking beneath it, Rilla nearly lost her footing, twisting to follow the blade with her eyes, ducking into a shadow and disappearing.. The soldier stumbled forward, expecting steel on steel and finding instead empty air as Rilla stumbled in the heavy shadow of a nearby tree, grinning with her chest heaving, leading the woman away from the fight between Magik and the cryomancer.

Magik had enough of this battle of the elements. His left hand closed as if holding onto a rope and tugged inwards then back out. The fire spewing from his hands quickly twists around itself to form a whip which wraps itself around the man's hands gripped tightly on the ice staff. The cryomancer loosens his grip immediately as a reaction to the sudden heat. The barrage of ice stops as Magik grips the fire whip with his other hand. With a quick unravelling, the fire whip goes from the man's hands to the staff itself like a snake seeking out its next meal. The Lyastri gives the whip a tug to send the staff flying behind him and shattering into hundreds of pieces against a tree. Magik does a quick peek to his side to get an idea of where Rilla may be. As he does this, the old man balls his burnt hands together to prepare a quick spell against the elf. Satisfied, Magik focuses on the cryomancer once again. However, the soldier notices the disarmed cryomancer and begins charging at Magik. With his focus back on the old man, the Lyastri opens his palm towards him and forces a black arrow out of his palm and through the cryomancer's eye socket to be lodged to the inside of his skull. Magik was about to be all diplomatic and such too.. shame. The quickly approaching Llangarlian soldier gains Magik's attention. He has something in store for her as well. There's that devilish smirk again.

Rilla hadn’t gotten used to just how quickly she could move now and just how easy it was. The soldier had found her again, but before she could charge her attention was pulled away. Rilla found Magik in the commotion, giving him a quick upwards nod as she watches the scene he’s unravelled while her back was turned. Though she was still for a moment, making sure that Magik had everything covered probably, before springing forward, black boots digging into the soft forest floor. As she approached the edge of the shadow she’d found safety in, she disappeared again into it. Her momentum carried her forward when she appeared back in the shadow cast by the soldier who had the gall to charge her partner. Her hidden blade extended, she used forced it into the gap between the soldier’s backplate and neckplate. This time she felt a familiar crunch, as the blade sunk deep into her neck. Her hand met the gold armour and she pushed the stilled body off of her blade and the soldier sunk to her knees, leaving Rilla behind her. Chest heaving, she wiped her face with the back of one arm, wiping blood from her forehead as she wrinkled her nose. Shaking her head she produced a rag which she ran over the blade before it was retracted back into her sleeve once more until she could give it a proper cleaning. “Who wears full plate armour in a forest?” She laughed, eyes flicking from the very dead cryomancer and back to Magik.

Magik quietly applauded Rilla's sneaky shadow movement attack then turned to forcefully kick the old man's lifeless body to make sure the deed was done. Maere remained in her suspended animation state as Magik spat at her feet, "And I'll off every single one of them that come looking for you. Each death worse than the previous." He takes a few steps closer to his ex-wife, "And you'll -watch- every..single..one of your people..die." Magik's eyes blaze furiously as he stared into Maere's, "Hmph," He then turns to Rilla and steps towards her. In passing, he taps her shoulder once more and asks, "Why didn't you tell me you could shadow hop?" The Lyastri reaches behind a tree to pull his machete out of the ground then walks over to the cryomancer. He stands over the old man then straddles him. The machete is placed on the man's neck. With one hand on the blade's handle and his palm pressing down towards the tip of the blade, Magik starts rocking the blade back and forth until the man's head is separated from his body. Eventually he stands, head in hand, "Should we take the other too or just dispose of her?" This was definitely another side of Magik that not too many people see.

Rilla rarely saw that much rage in one place, but it was noted quietly and filed away as she studied the frozen woman. There was clearly a story there, and she was going to get it eventually. Her head cocked to one side, her shortsword quickly wiped off and sheathed. Her gaze lifted to Magik when he touched her shoulder, and brow furrowed. “Shadow hop?” Rilla questioned, no recognition in her face as she followed the Lyastri with her eyes. With her right hand - on account of her left one being bloody - she pushed back her hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “And besides, I think I get to ask questions first, don’t you?” She chuckled, shrugging as she nudges the lifeless form, armour clanking against itself as she rolls her onto her back. “I’m keeping her sword, for now, it’s decent even if all of this is thoroughly unnecessary.” She gestured to the armour flippantly, bending down and snagging the sword, slipping it into a spare loop on her belt. “Get rid of her if you ask me, she was here to defend him. Although I already did half the work.” Rilla pointed out, hands on her hips, considering her words. “Are you explaining here, or is it too secret for that. The forests have always had ears.”

Magik had a handful of the old man's hair as he swung the head back and forth idly, "Oh yeah. You were there," he points, "then there. Something to work on perhaps..?" He smirks, "No secrets here, love." He's just being friendly.. or was he? The elf scans the forest quickly, "In fact, I hope we have listeners for my little story.." Magik kneels down next to the fallen soldier and places a hand on her breastplate. The armor glows bright gold, red, then quickly turns to black. He then stands, "You might want to stand back.." With that, the soldier's body sets aflame with a more normal orange and natural color. As the flames grow, Magik explains, "That woman is my daughter's mother. These two are from her homeland obviously trying to reverse my curse I put on her. You see, this wench sold Mirsh into slavery while I was in Sylo doing my normal thing. Mirsh was unfortunately abused in various ways and Maere shared our bed with another man while I was gone." He chuckles then shakes his head, "There's twins in there as well. Triplets maybe. Dead though. But, she's not." Magik's voice raises as he directs his words to the frozen woman, "Maere gets to watch the world move on without her." His voice returns to a normal volume, "Mirshann cut her heart out last year and someone hid it after I put some personal touches on the box it still beats in.." The Lyastri then looks to Rilla to gauge her reaction.

For a moment Rilla looked between the swinging head and Magik, but her expression was far more amused than shocked. That quickly changed as she looked between the two points Magik indicated, considering how she’d gotten there. Her eyes narrowed, but something Quintessa had said echoed in the back of her mind about the potential for magic. “Interesting.” She said hesitantly, too caught on the new information to think too hard on what Magik was calling her now though were she human it may have made her ears burn. “I might have done it before. But I thought - and this will probably sound stupid, but keep in mind I’ve never done a magical thing in my life - that I was just going really fast.” She laughed sheepishly, stepping back at Magik’s request, the light from the fire he started casting shadows across her face as she dipped her head away from the heat. Her arms crossed over her chest and she shifted her weight, listening intently with her eyes on her companion’s face as if trying to understand what he wasn’t saying as well. “She *sold* your daughter?” She finally said, eyebrows raised incredulously, “I’d say this is a fitting punishment for the crime.” Rilla said cooly, licking her lips and drawing a breath, shoulders lowering on the exhale and she rolled them back to idly work out some tension. “It sounds like you really know how to pick ‘em, Magik.” Rilla joked, toeing the ground. “If she was unfrozen without her heart would she not just die? Not that she deserves that kindness.”

Magik eyes Rilla at her joke, "I have a terrible track record, I know. I'm trying to improve that." He shrugs at her words as he watches the body in front of them turn to ash, "I don't know what would happen, to be honest. Alive but heartless? I can only imagine what she would be like then.. Regardless, as long as I'm alive that curse will remain..And any Llangarlian who tries to bring her back one way or another, or break my curse, will be faced with certain death until they get it through their heads that this is the way.."

Rilla felt the gaze on her and looked back up at Magik, searching his face for a moment before she looked back to the body burned inside of its armour. “Can’t say mine’s much better.” She shrugged, chewing the inside of her cheek and rising onto her toes before rocking right back onto her heels. “But maybe aim at someone who can work with you instead of against you. Or at least someone who tries to have morals.” She chuckled almost sheepishly, shoulders curling in again and once more she corrects herself, rolling them back and uncrossing her arms. “How did you know there was someone there? The Unseen Hand? Some kind of perk of magic I don’t know about?”

Magik studied the vampiress as she spoke, folding his hands behind his back, "I'll keep that in mind.." He smirked once more but it faded as she asked her next question. "I felt a, disturbance. It's hard to explain. Her being frozen was me draining any energy from her body to suspend her and I felt almost..a pull on my energy when the old man was trying to manipulate what I had done..It felt odd, for sure." He stops then thinks for a moment. He lightly nudges Rilla with his hip. He nods his head towards the shadows created by the trees, "I think we're good here.. I'll race you back to headquarters..See if you can shadow jump the way back.." Black smoke form activate!

“Just a suggestion, I guess if that’s what you’re into more power to you,” she shrugged, “but I’m pretty sure you can do better.” Rilla smirked, her head tilted towards the frozen woman. She fell silent when he explained again, the subject one she knew far too little about for clever quips. “So now you know if someone tries to do anything, you’ll be able to tell.” Helpful. At his challenge, she smiled, never one to turn that down. “I don’t know how I shadow jumped the first time, so I guess we’ll see.” It had felt like falling through space; like she’d never stopped moving. Although she followed at a run Rilla found herself seeking out shadows and the more focused she was on the next one, the easier it got to tell what was running and what was jumping. Certainly not a normal night, but it never was when she and Magik got together.