Genie and the Space-Man [Anri]

[Deleted]

It was nice having someone to talk things over with, usually the only conversations he had involved getting hired and people cursing his name as he ripped their spines out, oh how he loved a good old fashion spine ripping. He always found that women seemed to be more  intriguing in a conversation than males did, finding deeper meaning that what the surface would first reveal. Though he didn't like the idea of a stereo types he did have to admit she fit the picture pretty well, intelligent and interesting to say the least, his mind was still stuck on the idea of magic existing in the universe but the conversation seemed to lean heavily on her asking questions. He didn't mind, most people cared little about others focusing inward, he wasn't much different though it was in his nature to be as such, though knowing it helped him some.

"Eh it's alright, like you said no point on deweling on the past, what's done is done. Everyone goes through different phases of their life, some arent as glamorous as others. We try and focus on the better times and forget the old ones, but one should always remember their past lest they repeat it. Obviously you've changed and it sounds like it was for the better, might have taken some influential people but they got through too you."

Going on about the dangerous world she asked him about the poisons that were in the air. Anri wasn't really sure how educated she was when it came to extraterrestrial things, so it was natural that she didn't understand him.

"Oh I'm sorry keep forgetting earth isn't as into the galactic community like some of the other worlds. Ya those gases are usually considered posionious to most forms of life, not all I mind you but most. Where as earth here as a pretty simple make up of elements in the air other planets aren't so lucky, instead of oxygen you have choline, in the atompshere. Those planets are generally devoid of all life on it's surface, sometimes there could be small life living under ground but for the most part you wouldn't want to set up a summer home there." He laughed remembering his crashing landing on a alien planet after he had let home, pictures flashed around in his head.

"I remember during one of my voyages my ship crashed into a uncharted world, way off the radar, lucky me right? Anyway it was rather heavy planet, much higher gravity then here on Earth. The elemental make up of the air there gave it the most spectacular sunsets as the beams of light penetrated through the dense clouds. It looked like a artist had flown into the skies themselves and painted a moving picture, it gave me a feeling of inner peace which was nice since I was stuck on the hellish planet for two weeks while I fixed the damn stater. Really need to fix that piece of junk up again...." He sighed on his last words.

Though not in operation Anri really did have a ship, he had to get off of Alpha prime some how, he had gotten lucky getting there in the first place but getting off was a completely different story. It was is prime condition we he first got it but over the years and lack of maintenance the poor thing began to fall apart, though it gave him a great deal of time learning how to repair ships. Weapons, cooling, engines, exhaust, if it was part of a ship you better believe he could repair it as long as he had the parts. Now the poor junker sat covered in in debris not to far outside of the town, he would have had it in a storage locker but it was far too big and he didn't have the spare cash to store it anyway.

"Well even though Kemuri is in charge now that won't last forever, all kings succumb from the ashes they were born from. Given enough time he'll eventually die, from what? No fucking idea, could be a bullet too the head or old age. But before that day comes you should know what you want to do with your life, because he won't always be around to keep you here. I may work for the guy but I'm sure as hell not gonna take a bullet for him, technically speaking. I might if I knew my plating would deflect it but I'm not a body guard, I take out hits that he tells me too. Don't get payed enough for that service." He laughed.

[Delashano]

It was all so very interesting to hear about how things worked outside of the Earth, that there were entire worlds like the Earth were no life could develop properly due to the air itself being a poison to imagine an entire WORLD covered in poisonous air was astounding even more astounding was the implication that such worlds existed but ALSO had life life simply hidden deep within the planet, did they have different air down below? Were they of a species that could breath the air like the newcomer could with his gills? But while that had been interesting the picture that the newcomer had painted with his words about the uncharted world he had crashed on had left her stunned, she wanted very much to see the world he described too see the painted skies it was enough to even distract Jenn from talk of the ship again. One of her few true passions was painting and to see something like what he had described would be truly amazing, it almost made her want to return to her world in her ring and get back to work on her mural of the sky, perhaps set up a new room with which to try and create something that might compare to the world he described.

When the conversation turned to Kemuri again Jenn's expression tightened into a frown even if the conversation was on Kemuri's eventual downfall regardless of whether he succeeded in maintaining his hold on the Earth, he was right Kemuri WAS just a mortal man and eventually he would die at least of old age but Jenn was worried that the crafty hyena might somehow find a way around even that, there were ways she knew to accomplish such and eventually he might realize she could hold such secrets and with a command she would be required to provide him with the information that could potentially doom the Earth for as long as it might take for SOMEONE to rise up and even then they would first need to get past herself. "I know what I should do, once Kemuri is gone from this world or I am otherwise free from his control I should return to the Lookout, seek out Kaladar or whomever is the new Guardian if he has passed by then and do as I have done in the past, help to guide the Earth to a better tomorrow. I promised someone long ago that I would do so and have until now followed that promise to the best of my ability." Jenn said sounding a bit uncertain as she did, she knew that was what she SHOULD do and apart of her did WANT to do so, the best parts of her life had been on the Lookout.

BUT.. so much time had passed since then, she didn't know for certain how much but it was plain to see that this Earth was all but a different world when it came to it's civilizations. She had SEEN 'UNITY' and all it was  capable of much of what she had seen had been so far out of her depth she could scarcely consider any of it different from magic but yet by TOIU's own words it was all accomplished without mystical power simply a marvel of advancement in technology. It frightened her to an extent, this Earth was too foreign to her and she wanted once again to escape to flee to the stars and not have to deal with the fact that her home was gone. She could handle such things if they were from truly alien worlds it was almost expected for them to be strange and new but every time she looked out a window and caught glimpse of the Earth or when she had flown over the lands everything just felt so very wrong "I.. to be truly honest however... I want to leave. Even without Kemuri, this world does not feel like home any longer. Everything is wrong and I hate it, and I hate that I hate it, I should find it interesting and want to explore it but I can't and even if I could I don't think I would. I want my home back, and my friends, my family." Jenn said finding herself more just thinking aloud than actually talking to the newcomer much of what she said were things she had never had any intention of voicing to another soul once again finding herself far more interested in the floor than looking to the newcomer. "I apologize, I let myself get a bit overwhelmed I believe." Jenn muttered as she realized what she had said, with luck the newcomer would not give much thought to what she had said.

"I think perhaps it would only be fair to let you ask some questions now, I have pestered you enough with my own I think and it has only brought about a whole lot of negativity." Jenn said with a slightly forced smile "Is there anything that you would like to know? While I may not know of the worlds beyond the stars I do know quite a bit and at the very least I don't believe I ever properly explained my abilities." Jenn said hoping a bit to drive the conversation away from things that made her think of actually wanting to break her oath rather than them simply being broken by Kemuri's orders.

[Deleted]

Arni noticed the hardness return to her face as he spoke about the dog man again, she really did not like the creature. He understood that she was forced to stay here under Kemuri's whim but the hate she had for him seemed to stretch beyond of what he had been told. He always wanted to know more, about what was going on around him, sometimes plans would verge on one piece of information. Whether on not what else she had in store in her mind could have helped him was unknown but nothing is truly known until it's needed. Thinking it best to keep the conversation away from Kemuri he had made a mental note to try and mention him as little as possible from that point on ward, the conversation was far much funner without it. Letting her go on about her plans and Kemuri he sat against the chair watching her, moving her arms about as she talked was somewhat entertaining to the Vennor.

"It's always great to have a back up plan, one never know when things will go awry then what? Of course even the best laid plans of vixi and Vennor go astray...oh right you don't know what those are...umm... mice is it? Right sounds right, best laid plans of mice and men go astray. Sounds like a good plan too me, not really sure what the lookout is but if it's were you want to go, that's what you should do."

Listening as she later corrected herself saying that what she really wanted to do was to leave the planet, something that he could well understand. Feeling trapped on his planet by the laws and order he knew what it was to have the drive under his belt to escape. Though he didn't fully understand the feeling until he was on his own, the universe was a very lonely and quiet place. Out there with only yourself to rely on you really find out just who you are, and what you'll do to live. Though the trip was not for the weak of heart or mind, only to be taken by those with the drive to exceed.

"There is plenty of time to decide what you want too do and the great thing about whatever you decided to do is that you can always change it. Free will is a great thing, I know it's a bit different given your situation but it won't be like that forever. But there is a strong difference between what you 'want' to do and what you 'should' do. Wants are selfish in origin, orientating from one's inner most desires, longing whatever one's heart clings too. Generally they making the person happier than what they should do. Should's are benevolent in nature, orientating from the influences around the person, they don't make the person as happy but make them feel more fulfilled than their wants do. However a person can't usually have both, taking one choice over the other will lose that persons other choice. Double edge sword, wants clinging to the heart and should clinging to those around you." Taking a breath he looked her over trying to get a sense of what she might be thinking, hopefully he fully understood what he was trying to explain.

"Personally, I go for the wants every time. Ever since I've left my home I've never had anyone get close enough to really bond with, therefore when it came to picking myself over another the decision was easy. I know it sounds harsh but it's the reality of the vale. Not only does it pit you against the dangers of the galaxy it pits you against yourself.

"And it's alright I don't mind talking about myself, no one ever really asks unless their asking how many people have I killed. Usually my answer is something along the lines of 'one more than before if you don't get out of my way', it works for the most part." He laughed.

Asking him if he wanted to know anything about her Anri began to rack his brain there were a lot of question he did have for the her, but he wasn't quiet sure where to began. Not sure of what she would tell him even if he did ask a question, or even if she would tell him the truth, he was after all working for the beast that was keeping her locked away in the castle.

"Hmm, well that is a good question. There are many things I could ask, but where to start is what I'm trying to think of. Given  your position and mystical side of you there are thousands of things I could ask.... Well, what exactly are you? I get the feeling your not exactly what you appear too be, nothing around here ever seems to be. You  appear to be human but your 'magical' gifts have proven that other wise. Then again you could just be well endowed with these talents and still be a human. Though I have been traveling the vale for many years there are still things I am ignorant too, I didn't even know magic existed until a few minutes prior" As he notioned to the chair he was currently sitting in.

[Delashano]

Jenn was surprised with what the newcomer had to say, it was amazingly deep and it was rare to find someone who was built like and presented themselves as a warrior or in this case mercenary that could speak so well, his words had her deep in thought about her situation and what exactly was the best course of action it bothered her slightly how he spoke as of she would have all the time in the world to make such a decision as if she would be trapped like this for a long time coming likely because he believed Kemuri would be victorious and of course she could understand why he would believe such, he clearly placed a lot of stock in his own abilities and he was presently on Kemuri's payroll thus he would be confident in Kemuri's victory and while she quite enjoyed talking with him and found him quite friendly she couldn't help but hope that the newcomer was simply overconfident in himself and in the power Kemuri held. There was also a bit of an issue with the newcomers sentiment, while the vast majority of it held true there was of course the last part that 'should's' cling to those around her, she didn't really HAVE anyone now. She'd had more than enough time to extend her senses to push them to search out for anyone ANYONE she might know... and found no familiar energy signatures, it hadn't been nearly as saddening as it could have been, she'd sort of expected it what with how any knowledge of Hazezon had evidently been so forgone that even Kaladar knew nothing of him.

Everyone she knew was long gone, it was a chilling concept to behold she had served the Lookout for so long aided four generations of guardians and in that time she had never quite been alone, she had first had Seikatsu and things had been wonderful, then they had been joined by Astos so when Seikatsu finally passed she had him, and then even when it seemed like she would be alone again another had come to her, Vitam, so many memories that utterly blurred the lines between joy and despair, her child not in blood but in ever other way. Jenn quickly ended that train of thought, she could have gone on but already she could feel herself losing control again as she had come close to not a few moments ago, going over everyone else would just continue to emphasize how alone she was now. She supposed to an extent she had Kaladar now, he had been nice and welcoming but even still much like the Earth itself she had begun to feel that even that was wrong. She had somehow been replaced by another GENIE at that. How such a thing was possible was beyond her comprehension and the presence of the plump dark skinned Genie still infuriated her no matter how much he presented himself in a pleasant manner. He'd stolen the last place she could have felt was still 'normal'

Without quite realizing it part of her Efreeti energy began seeping out of her, small traces of red smoke whisping off her her as her thoughts turned towards the more negative emotions the only thing holding back a full release of power was the newcomers words he gave his taken on how he handled things and it helped to an extent, since leaving his home world he had been alone and thus lacked anyone with which to actually care about 'shoulds' he did what he wanted because he wanted something Jenn greatly wished was within her grasp, she imagined that yes if she DID receive her freedom from Kemuri and managed to return her ring to Kaladar that the man would not require her to stay, but leaving would mean betraying her promise to Sei and of course when Kaladar eventually passed she would be brought back to Earth and while it wasn't perhaps the nicest thing to think the man was not exactly very youthful. Being dragged back to her ring back to the world she wanted to escape would certainly do little good for her mood. She could easily see it becoming something she could quickly begin to despise and in that way she could easily start taking it out on the Guardians whom would act as her summoners and in that way make them less interested in bothering to summoner he in the first place.

Jenn tore herself from her thoughts again as the newcomer took her suggestion and decided to ask a question of her though he had said that he didn't mind being the one to be questioned she didn't quite trust herself with her questions now, both had lead in a direction that had caused a resurgence in her old wish to leave the Earth behind. The newcomers question was an interesting one, he wanted to know what she was based on the assumption that her mystical powers implied her to be something more than human, it was an amusing question to her because of the thought of how someone like Astos would have reacted, a man who prided himself on his mystical abilities but also his humanity. "Mystical abilities were once far more common for the people of Earth, a friend of mine would have been quite cross with you for implying that mystical talent was an indicator of my not being human." Jenn said cracking a bit of a smile for what seemed like the first time in forever "But you're assessment is correct, I am not human though the form that I currently use is in fact that of a human. I am a Efreeti a being of magic and fire." Jenn said the half truth slipping out surprisingly easy, she had managed after her bout with Ketsueki to acquire a small amount of information on what he claimed her to be though the books had been old even when she had found them and that had been long before she had awoken in this era.

"I have this form" Jenn said making a gesture at herself "Because I have the ability to change my form through a mystical ability known as shape-shifting, I tend to favor this shape when I am out and about because- well because I needed to maintain it for an extended amount of time long ago." Jenn explained faltering slightly in her explanation, it was of course partially true of course she'd grown a bit attached to the form when working to aid the Earth but the primary reason was because it was the form that she most associated with herself as 'Vitams mother' it was the form Vitam was most used to her using as she had used it often even on the Lookout since he seemed most comfortable when she was like this.

[Deleted]

Anri watched the girl his legs crossed over the other as his words enveloped her thoughts, he could tell that what he was saying was having an impact on her mind. Whether it was good ideas or bad he had little idea at the moment, that is until the red smoke began to appear around her. He minded it little, he had guessed that she wasn't human to begin with and this just gave more proof to his theory. The smoke wafted around her flowing slowly out the window but almost as suddenly as it appeared it disappeared. The appearance of the smoke made him question exactly what his words were doing to the woman's mind, but at the same time it was maybe just the magic she had shown him a sample of earlier. Breaking away from her thoughts she seemed to come back to conversation as he asked her about what she really was.

The answer was not one he was fully expected but kept going along with the idea because hey, he had heard crazier things before. Not only that but from what she showed him before he was sure that she wasn't lying to him, but at the same time he felt as though he was getting a half truth. Not the complete picture but enough to see the image, Anri took what he could get at the moment though. Just meeting him he wasn't expecting her to tell him her whole back story, if he really wanted to do that he could just read her Bio page.

"A Efreati?" He had trouble pronouncing the word given his alien anatomy, the word was clearly English which was not his first language he had come across. Even with the translator that was embedded into his skull the word still came out funny to the woman. Slightly embarrassed though his plated face didn't show it, he gave up the attempt on saying the foreign word .

"Well I'm not even going to give that another try to pronounce given that it will make me look more like a fool, so for now I will avoid using it." He laughed.

"Well that is interesting to say the least, I'm almost one hundred percent sure I've never met one of your kind before, unless that was they were shape-shifting as well. Then I would have been clueless to their encounter. Turns out everyone I've met before was one of you and I just never knew it." He gave a loud laugh at the silly idea.

"Back on my home world we used to have a creature that was said to have the same power that you possess." He leaned back in his chair as he began to tell the tale.

"No one really knew what the beast looked like as it could change it's shape too any being it so choose too, any thing from the plants that grew in the forests, too the live stock that we raised on the farms. It was elusive creature no would ever saw it, they would only know it's been somewhere after they would find it's victim. It was always a gruesome attack, blood smeared across the ground as if it was a slaughter house. Then one day it was discovered that the creature was only able to take the shape of something that it had eaten, it was growing smarter with each passing feeding and soon it looked towards a taste and larger target. It was said it feasted upon a woman who was washing in the creak, it took her shape and replaced her in her house hold. During that night it killed the woman's whole family, eating them down to the bones. They never found the creature just the bloody remains it had left behind. Though many thought the beast was gone they're are still cases reported every few years of such attacks. At least that's how the story goes." He paused for dramatic effect before giving her a grin.

"One of my childhood stories my dad used to read too me. Used to pretend he was the monster and chase me around the house, your not the monster in disguise are you?" Anri joked with her.

"It's alright if you are, just don't try and eat me, full of fatty acids." He laughed

"Even though we lived so far apart, things aren't so different no matter where you come from. How did you come around to learning such a power though? I think the creature went around taking the forms of things it had killed but you don't much seem like the killing type, unless its the dog." He joked, he knew he had made a mental note not to mention Kemuri again but the joke opportunity was just too good to past over.

[Delashano]

"Eff - Ree - Tee" Jenn said after a brief chuckle over the newcomers attempt at pronouncing Efreeti so that if he DID ever decide to give pronouncing it another attempt he would be better off getting it right, truthfully she didn't much care if he was right or not she had no strong connection to it and in fact the only other Efreeti she knew had tried to kill her... or at least made it seem like he had been, Ketsueki's motivations had been confusing at the time and even after all the time she had to contemplate that encounter it still make little to no actual sense why he had done anything that he had done. He had claimed he wanted to meet with her which meant he had already known her so why not simply seek her out at the Lookout? Or at any point when she had been on the surface helping the people of Earth from the damage he had done? It was all quite confusing and generally speaking Jenn preferred to avoid thinking about the other Efreeti, he was long gone now she had seen to that personally.

Jenn shrugged as the newcomer stated that while he was fairly sure he had never met someone else like her that it was perhaps a possibility considering the shapeshifting, Jenn wasn't too sure herself if that was a common trait amongst Efreeti Ketsueki had certainly been capable of it since he had taken on Astos' form but that was really her only point of reference, shifting had come quite easily to her now that she looked back on it so perhaps that indicated that her people had a preexisting affinity for form changing magic that would certainly be an interesting twist would she have eventually puzzled it out herself if given enough time? Or had Ketsueki also been taught the technique by someone else and it was all just some sort of great cosmic coincidence that she shared similar techniques with the only other member of her race that she had ever met.

Jenn's contemplation was put on hold as the newcomer began telling a story and quite an interesting one at that a shapeshifting beast of some sort that plagued his people for generations. She'd never heard of such a thing before as the only other actual shifter that she knew had been Astos(and of course Ketsueki but she didn't feel inclined to count him) the beast he described however had a VERY diffrent method of shifting and Jenn even cringed slightly at the thought, she muuuuch preferred her method that sort of thing certainly suited a creature of feat and myth though and because of it's ability to become anything it ate it meant that there would be no true way to confirm its existence short of actually capturing it. The fact that it had become a child's story and even a means of fun was quite amusing as well the concept of a young version of the newcomer was surprisngly difficult for her to imagine, she had no real point of refrence for what his people would look like younger heck she didn't even know what a female of his species looked like, did they have as much variety of appearance as the people of Earth? Could you even tell the diffrence between a male and a female without already knowing about them beforehand?

Jenn chuckled at his joking request to not be eaten if that was also her method of shifting but also made the effort to say that he didn't actually belive she was such "I make no promises on whether I will or will not make an attempt to eat you though perhaps getting past all that armor would make such an attempt not worth the time" Jenn said with a laugh quite clearly joking about the potential attempt "As for how I learned my version of the ability to shape shift I was taught it by a friend a very long time ago his father was the man who developed this particular method of shape-shifting though certainly there are other methods. And for reference you are correct, I prefer to avoid killing when possible but I have certainly made exceptions for those I feel particularly strongly about." Jenn said a few more brief tufts of red smoke coming off her as her thoughts were filled briefly by those whom she either HAD killed such as Ketsueki and those she had every intention of killing, like Kemuri and TOIU. "My method of shifting requires me to actually encounter those who's forms I wish to take on, though once I have a large enough volume of forms of a particular species I can create my own variations such as this form which is one of my own design. At the level I have trained myself with the technique I could even take on the form of beings such as you're self." Jenn said with a grinn curious to see what he would think of that.

[Deleted]

"Well lets hope not, most people would need a metric ton press to break through this thick plate, and all you look like you have is your teeth. So unless your jaw has the power of a ton press I think it would be best not to try." He tapped his skull with back of his knuckles making a dull thumping sound.

If there was high quality that people should know about the Vennor it was there thick plating that covered most of their bodys. Developing the armor over millions and millions of years it provided great defense against any wild animals on their home world, eventually when their race advanced to a higher level it proved to make wars against their own people to be difficult. With each side having heavily armored warriors wars could take years just to move a few feet, eventually as technology increased so did their understand of their antomoy.  Though most of their body was protected by the thick shell their were a few spots where it was not, which is were their weak points were at. Though it seems like a disadvantage having open spots in their armor Anri often knew where his attackers would be coming from, giving him great idea how to counter their strike.

Explaining how she had learned the ability from one of her friends long ago as it was taught to him by his father who had developed the ability as she has it today. Mentioned that their are many different ways given by his story the question popped into his mind of what was the first thing that had mastered the ability, everything came from something it just didn't appear from thin air. There was a driving force around everything in the universe, even if it was some unknown, unseen force it was still in action effecting everything around it. Just like a breeze, it would push and pull against your body, though not seen its self its force could be seen effecting other things.

The Vennor society was one that completely believed in  science whole heartedly, seeing it as the answer to all of life's problems. If there was a disease plaguing their people, BAM , science made a cure. Crop harvests aren't producing enough to feed the population, BAM science had the answer. Whatever the question was it could find the answer too it, a system that had never let him or his people down, though finding answers would take time his people could live for around 400 years so patience was something they had. The idea of shape shifting origin spun around his head as he tried to imagine what was the driving force that introduced it to the universe but his mind kept coming up blank. He was no scientist but he did not consider himself stupid by any means even given the brain trauma. Giving up on the idea for now his attention turned back to the woman as she mentioned that she could take the shape of anyone she came across, and eventually make up her own; even stating that she could appear like him if she so chose too.

"Really now?" He scoffed at her words with slight disbelief.

"Well there is a difference between cosmetics and anatomy, while you might be able to look like me I don't think you'll be able to match what's going on inside of me." Laughing he shifted to his left as steam blew out from the side of his head, if the woman could sense power levels she would have noticed that his spiked quite a bit when he did that.

"We Vennor can generate such heat that we can literally blow steam out of our bodies, great for whenever you just want to blind your opponent with boiling steam. Can usually end up in some nasty burns or just enough to give me some space to plan my next move." He pointed at the steam as it rose into the ceiling.

"Our circulatory systems work a bit different than creatures I've seen around the vale, as far as I know my people are the only one's capable of doing such a thing. Our hearts beat much faster than other creatures giving us a higher than normal body temp; too humans it would be comparable to that of a high fever. I don't know what they're complaining about though I feel just fine." He laughed.

"Once we go through our transformation though that's when things really start heating up, I mean literally. Blasts of steams, we generate tons of heat, just one giant mess of fun." He smiled as the flashes of his first transformation came back to him.

[Delashano]

"The shift is not exactly purely cosmetic, there are a good number of internal changes to go on when I shift, I believe a shift into a Vennor for me would end up replicating your increased heart rate and thus the increase in overall body temprature though I am unsure if it would replicate the steam aspect of your body it is possible but it might require a bit more attempts at the form before I got it down exactly. Most of my potential forms are so second nature at this point that I barely even recognize the change in how my body acts, even when I become a cat which is another of my preferred forms. I'd liken a shift to one of your people to the level of change necessary for me to become an animal, not that I mean that as an offense in fact it speaks to just how unique you're people are. The only other sentient being that I have encountered that required that amount of change was a demon I faced in battle long ago." Jenn said memories of her fight against 'the beast' coming to mind, she hadn't attempted it's shape very many times but in the few she had she found it interesting the creature COULD see even though it lacked eyes of any sort instead relying upon a highly advanced sense of taste, smell, and hearing that sort of all melded together. It was not what she would call particularly enjoyable as she had not been quite prepared to taste smells and sounds and the way that it had all melded into a strange sort of view of the world had been rather overwhelming.

The newcomer's talk of his peoples transformation was quite interesting it sort of reminded her a bit of her own transformation, to call upon her Efreeti heritage resulted in her smoke becoming a lot more wild and with it also came an increase in her aggression, she wondered if he was similarly effected by his peoples change or if it was more just a release of pent up power. "I think you were more right than you may have realized when you said that we are not so different earlier, my own transformation of sorts produces a similar effect on myself though where you're generates more of your steam mind simply sort of sends my smoke aura wild. I'm rather curious how you look when transformed it all sounds quite interesting." Jenn said wondering if perhaps she could convince him to release that power, in return provided he was curious she would do the same though she intended to remain in her 'human' guise if only because she was curious exactly what might happen if she did transform while shifted into a form that wasn't actually an Efreeti.

"How strong do you think you are?" Jenn asked a bit out of the blue, she could feel that he was certainly quite powerful even while in a rested state and from the spike of energy when he had released that blast of steam it left Jenn curious as to the full extent of the newcomer's strength level and where exactly he believed he fell in the grand scheme of things, he had claimed to have a good ability to read people naturally but of course this ability appeared to be one that could be fooled as he had been surprised to hear how well she compared to Kemuri and further how powerful Kemuri was himself. Perhaps if he was willing a small friendly fight could be arranged, so long as she was nearby she doubted she was at risk of Kemuri reeling her back in. This would also give her an idea just how much of a danger the newcomer posed to the forces of Earth, as it was he was strong but not necessarily unbeatable by the likes of Carla, Azazel of course would be more than a match for him but she would likely be focused on Kemuri himself.

[Deleted]

"I kind of guessed that it might have some sort of smokey effect too it, I noticed you smoking a bit earlier. Thought it might just have been gas given the look on your face." He joked. Asking about what he might look like when he transformed formed he rose his eye brow with curiosity.

"Why so curious now?" He laughed sitting forward in his chair, the metal squeaked quitely under his shifted weight. But before he could go further about his transformation she asked him a rather odd question about his own strength.

"How strong do I think I am? Well that's a rather good question I would have too say. I'd like to think myself a rather decent fighter, at least after all this time traveling I would hope so. But I know that I'm not the strongest person out there, I've met people that have blown me away with a mere tap of there hand. Dangerous people to say the least, but that has never stopped me from fighting. I know that no matter how strong I become there will always be someone out there that is stronger than I, just something you learn to except once you travel the vale." Taking a few seconds he scratched the back side of his head, his nails rubbing against the smooth plate.

"I'm a strong fighter, was one of the best in my squad when I left my home. Of course I have military training and mercenary work under my belt, plenty of years of doing both. But from what you've said about Kemuri and how strong he is I don't think I'm quite near his level, which is a unfortunate thing to have to say about one's self." He smirked at the thought of the puppy dog being stronger than him.

"I don't have those fancy power reading abilities like I've said before, so I couldn't tell you exactly how just strong I am but I'd be more than welcome to show you." He grinned as steam shot out from the side of his head.

"Though if it turns out your even stronger than I, I think it's going to take a real hit to my ego." He laughed.

It had been a long while since Anri had any sort of decent fight, usually they were one sided leaving him longing for more from his opponents. If the woman was as really strong as she claimed herself to be he had to see it with his own eyes. He had to know what he was going to be dealing with working under Kemuri and this was the first of many steps he needed to take. It was obvious that she didn't like Kemuri any bit and even though Kemuri seemed to have control over what she did he might be forced too fight her one day if she broke free and he was commanded too. It wasn't a day he was going to look forward too as he found the woman to rather interesting to talk to, but one lesson he learned as a merc is never get too friendly with those that you work with.

""So what do you say? A little spar to work some stress off and I'll show you a little thing or two of what my people can do." He stood up from the chair at his full height as the chair he was sitting in fell backwards onto the ground.

"Though I might want to add we should probably do it outside, not sure how much Kemuri cares about his castle but I cant imagine there is going be much standing if we do this here. And I'd much rather not have the damages come out of my paycheck." He suggested.

[Delashano]

Jenns face flushed slightly at the joke about her smoke, she hadn't even actually realized that she had been doing so throughout their encounter. Usually this form produced a more 'normal' aura of energy rather than the smoke produced by her true form, perhaps that meant that her Efreeti power would in some aspects overpower the shift at least enough to shift her aura back to what was normal for her. It wasn't necessarily a BAD thing though of course it meant that perhaps down the road she would need to keep her temper in check if ever she needed to disguise herself, it wouldn't do to have someone realize she was an imposter simply because she let her emotions get out of control and of course perhaps with a bit more practice with actually using the power she would regain control over how her aura displayed itself. "I'm not quite sure, I suppose the similarities that you described peaked my interest." Jenn said with a shrug.

the newcomer's description of where exactly he believe he fell was an interesting one to listen to as she had noted he did think highly of his abilities but was not so overconfident that he believed himself invincible and even went so far as to admit to having encountered people able to blow him away with ease, she wondered where those such people ranked? Stronger than Kemuri perhaps? As it stood she was relatively certain that Kemuri could do much the same as he described but then again this was the newcomer at rest, relaxing in a comfortable chair talking civilly, not a man prepared for a fight with the ruler of Earth. The fact that he would be willing to face such odds impressed Jenn much as Bear's willingness to continue the battle against Kemuri by himself had.

"I didn't expect an exact reading, in fact I was merely curious on how you personally felt you stacked up. It's rare for me to encounter a person of a level where you feel to be at that lacks the sense so seeing how you 'read' people is quite interesting. I've had the sense for as long as I can remember I may even have been born with it I can't quite say as memories that far back are blurry at best."  Jenn said with a laugh, truth be told she wasn't even entirely sure how old she was at this point, so many years slipped by in her sleep, she knew it to be at LEAST several thousand years, she'd seen the rise and fall of a number of civilizations and as well she had at one point occasionally kept track of her time awake within her lamp and that accounted for many many years. But getting an accurate idea of her age? She really had no clue where to even begin.

Jenn let a sly smirk spread across her face as he mentioned that if it turned out she was stronger than he was that it would be quite the blow to the ego and then proceeded to request just what Jenn had been thinking of requesting herself, a sparring session between the two of them. She had half a mind to start the battle right here in the castle if only to see if it would piss off Kemuri BUT the fact that it could also theoretically lead to the hyena ending the fight early was enough to have Jenn concede that it was in fact better to move things outside if they were to do battle. "I like the sound of that, the only combat that I have gotten to experience lately had all been the 'fight for your life' kind so a chance to have a friendly match would be a great way to see how I stand now. Though of course I should warn you, it may be best to prepare your ego for the worst." Jenn said as her smirk widened slightly. "There should be more than enough space around the castle for a proper battle all we will really need to do is make an effort to avoid direct fire on the castle itself, the walls are quite a bit stronger on the outside than in I believe so glancing strikes on it should do minimal damage." Jenn said and with that she would allow herself to tip backwards and fall out the open window "Meet you below."

As Jenn fell from the window she adjusted herself slightly until she was close enough to kick off the side of the castle rocketing her a bit further away from the castle itself and allowing her to land gracefully on expansive property that surrounded Kemuri's stolen fortress, a brief look around as all Jenn really needed to decide that this area would be suitable enough for a fight, plenty of space with which to manuver for the both of them and more than enough room to avoid direct attacks on the castle, now all she had to do was wait for the newcomer to join her below, she was vaguely curious how he would do so, take the long boring route of actually walking through the castle or do as she had and take the quick route through the window, the fall was negligible for her and likely just as such for him the castle was quite large but a simple application of energy allowed her to lessen the impact of the fall and even if such a thing had not been an option there was of course the fact that she could fly, a curious thought popped into her mind, could he fly? He lacked the sense which was to her a fairly basic ability, could he also lack flight? Jenn vaguely hoped that was not the case as it would make things a bit less fun.

[Deleted]

"I may not have that fancy power that you have to 'sense' others power, rather I use my visual clues to try and figure the person out. Worn knuckles, strong shoulders and a broken nose on a person would tell me that person was most likely a boxer that didn't figure out how to block until after their accident. I don't necessarily have to talk to a person to get a general idea of what they do, but that's not always the case. Like for you for instance, smooth skin, you take great care of your hair suggests that you haven't worked a day in your life. But that's not true in your case, from what you told me your a valid warrior so to speak, your shape shifting ability throws my 'reading sense' off. Since I've never come across a person with such a ability I've never had a issue with it before, but even a beautiful rose has it's thorns. Though one person might not be received as a threat one should always treats others in a unknown territory as a threat." He coughed slightly as his words tried to get caught up with his words.

"Really gotta stop smoking." He joked, laughing at himself once again.

Agreeing too his idea of a spar he could feel his heart kick up a notch in his chest his body temperature rising slightly at the notion of a good fight. Suggesting they take their fight out side the castle in nodded his head in agreement, as much as he wanted the fight he would have rather not have to pay Kemuri back in damages; might not never stop working under him that was too happen. Without saying much else the woman leaned backwards falling out the window, he was a little confused to her actions under he looked down and out the window. As delicate as a feather she bounced off the castle walls seeming to almost float across the grounds, landing out from the castle a few hundred feet.

"Ya, that looks about far enough." He talked to himself.

"Now...how do I get down with out showing off all my tricks off?" He stood there thinking for a few seconds, rotating he looked around the room trying to think of a idea. Walking down would be too slow and he didn't want to show her that he could fly...then the prefect idea hit him like a train.

As she was looking around the grounds the woman turned around just in time too see the Vennor slam face first into the ground with a loud thump, he even managed to shake the ground with his massive weight. A few of the statues that stood around the area fell over breaking on contact with the ground.

Or the idea hit him like the ground.

"Ah...that's more like it...cracked my back." He groaned in pleasure.

Arms spread out like a snow angel he picked himself out of the ground which now had a impression of his body embedded into it. Large patches of dirt fell from his armor as he pulled himself up right from the ground, though the impact looked to be quite painful he looked rather unphased by the hit, rather he seemed almost happy about it.

"Nothing like a good slam into the ground to make you feel alive." He took in a deep breath of air as he stretched is arms over one another.

"Don't worry about that, something we used too do back on my home. Gravity there was even higher than this planet and that didn't even hurt me then. Helps to strength our plating, each time we survived a fall with out getting hurt we would do it again from higher. Good times." He laughed joyfully.

Walking towards the woman he looked around at the area she had chosen, it was far enough from the castle so that they shouldn't hit it, and there was plenty of room for them to run around and blow shit up. Prefect soil for getting a good grip on the ground and nothing above to block any flight if he needed to use it.

"Great place for a fight. Let me just power up here and we shall begin." He stated standing less than twenty feet away from the woman.

In Vennor culture it was the idea of when you went into a fight to go in with every thing you had, not starting out weak and ending strong, but decimating your opponent before they had a chance to properly fight back. Taking a stance not much further apart than his shoulder he began to power up as a red aura appeared around him. Already the woman would began to feel the air around her heating up, almost burning her if she was close enough. Small lines began to appear over his body as steam exploded out from him blowing out his backside; it sounded almost like a tea kettle but screaming against one's ear. The grass that surrounded the Vennor began to wither, drying up from the immense heat that he was putting out. If the heat wasn't enough as the steam began to thin around Anri she could see that now through his plated armor spikes now stuck out from him, pointing out in many different directions. Each one looking razor scrap to the touch, something best not touched by any one.

"Alright then, I'm ready if you are." He spoke as steam wafted from his mouth.

[Delashano]

The newcomers description of his ability to 'read' people was interesting even if she didn't quite know what a boxer was it was simple enough to assume it was type of warrior, the fact that he could gather a fair amount about a persons capabilities simply by looking at them was interesting it was a tough trait to master and while Jenn liked to think she was good at reading people she was actually fairly certain that he was in fact better at it than she was his appeared to have been honed over a long time in order to act in a manner reminiscent of the sense and was likely the primary way he discerned how much of a threat someone was, without the sense such a skill would NEED to be quite impressive if it was apart of the long term survival of a warrior like he was considering he had claimed that he had been doing mercenary work for many years. The obvious hole in the skill was of course those that had a level of power that did not obviously translate to a powerful appearance or those with the ability to change form such as herself. Astos was likely another man who would have escaped his ability to perceive active danger from despite being a very powerful individual in his own right.

Once she landed Jenn watched the window with interest curious as to how he would make his way down, the answer to that was certainly not what she had expected but also somehow entirely appropriate from what she had learned of him in their short time talking, diving out through the window the newcomer slammed into the ground with enough force that Jenn even cringed despite knowing he would be alright, it had been clear he had intended to do this and upon impact she hadn't felt his energy signature snuff out as it certainly would have if he had actually killed himself not had it even taken much of a hit form the impact only barely fluctuating likely as his energy was diverted towards protecting him. The crater his landing had made was certainly an impressive one and Jenn made a mental note to never give him the opportunity to launch himself in such a manner on her she was very much NOT in the mood to be flattened.

"And I suppose those statues were broken long before we arrived." Jenn said with a smirk making a vague gesture towards the statues behind the newcomer that had been knocked over and destroyed much in a similar manner to the bust from earlier. Jenn was quite impressed with the fact that he appeared no worse for wear from the fall, evidently that armor was not just for show it was almost certainly just as impressive as it looked and would be something she would have to keep in mind, the explanation of WHY he had made such an entrance was as amusing as it was informative, it appeared that the armor of a Vennor was sort of like a muscle provided it wasn't TOO badly damaged(or perhaps even if it was and the Vennor could recieve medical treatment of some sort, Jenn was unsure) it would rebuild itself stronger than ever.

Jenn raised an eyebrow as the newcomer declared that he simply needed a moment to power up, perhaps he went about sparring differently she was more used to beginning out at a lower level of strength and eventually building up over the course of the fight but this was not necessarily a bad way of doing things it would get the slow start out of the way and let them launch right into the thick of things. Just as he had described earlier the transformation to his full power WAS quite impressive he was exerting an incredible amount of heat so much so that the grass around him was beginning to wither and there was a bit of a shimmer to the air that reminded her of the more excessively hot days in the desert, it was in that moment that Jenn found herself thankful for her years spent living in the Diablo Desert it would at least make things more bearable when fighting.

"Well I suppose if you're going to power up than I may as well do the same." Jenn said with a smirk and with that she would begin powering up hitting her full base power quite quickly Jenn would then push past that and begin actively drawing upon her Efreeti strength, the tick over from 'base' to 'Efreeti' was quite a bit more than she had expected as her aura finally took visible form unlike her true form the aura was like a wild fire and the warmth of the transformation actually did quite a bit toward making the heat being generated by the newcomer even more bearable unbeknownst to Jenn her 'human' form had also undergone a few physical changes her eyes were now a bright blazing red, her facial feature becoming a bit sharper her body shifted to appear far more like that of a warrior gaining more visible muscle and what would appear to be dimly glowing red tattoos would outline her eyes. Jenn let out a breath as she held back the influx of negative emotion that came with accessing this power. "I should perhaps warn you as this is a friendly spar and not a fight to the death, the side effect of me using my full power is I tend to grow more aggressive as this form draws upon my anger and other negative emotions to fuel it I will do my best to keep control." Jenn said managing to keep a surprising amount of control over herself, perhaps it was because she held no actual anger towards the newcomer himself.

"If you are ready then we shall begin." Jenn said a smirk spreading across her face as she pushed her energy to throw herself forward rocketing at the newcomer at full force, while dashing into melee two long blades would form into her hands, she needed to test his durability see how hard of a hit he could take and if her normal weaponry would be enough to do the trick, and most importantly see if he held any weak points. Once up close to him Jen would lash out with her blade striking at as many normally vital points as possible the blades themselves might be able to do some amount of damage to the armor but likely in doing so would cause even more damage to themselves. Jenn expected as much and already as kicking herself for not having worked on developing a variation of her enhancement technique for melee weapons, perhaps that would be the next on the list of things to do.

[Deleted]

As Anri powered up to his full transformation the woman followed suit as her body began to change before his eyes, where once she was a frail frame of a person now her body filled out with muscles under her tight skin. Even her new found aura that enveloped her literally set her aflame as the fire licked at the air around her. It was appearing ever clearer than this was going to be one hell of a fight between the two of them, and he was ready for it. He longed for a good fight were he didn't simply have to smack his target once and they fainted from it, he wanted this more than all the drugs he consumed.

Mentioning that if was a friendly fight and she often had trouble controlling her rage in this form he gave her a grin, it was just how it liked it. Why kill someone in a spar? No honor in that, plus if they were a good sparring partner he wouldn't want to kill them.

"That's fine by me." He laughed as thick plumes of steam shot from his mouth.

In a instance the woman tossed herself at the Vennor lunging at him with all her might, though he was going to slam straight into her the blades that extended from her body made him think twice about the action. Rather than going in full swing in he decided to play a little defense before going in for a full attack. As much as he wanted to dive straight into the fight, it was a much better plan to see what else she would do before picking a plan of attack to follow. As the blades came ripping through the air at him he kept light on his toes dodging the incoming attacks, over the years he had learned how to track when a person was going to strike by the motion of their hips, it's were all the powers from physical attacks came from.

By no means fast on his feet he did managed to bounce just out of reach of the blades, there were a few times the blades struck him, lucky though his toughed skin was strong enough to withstand such blows. Seeing as though she would keep striking at him he needed to gain some distance between them. Taking in air from his gills he converted the surrounding compounds in the air into a poisonous chlorine gas, releaseing it out through his neck the plum of gas in coated him as it started to spread out towards the woman. The plan was to get her away from him as it was proving difficult for him to strike her while she was moving so quickly, not only that but he was curious as too what types of ranged attacks she might have up her sleeves. Given from the flames that shot out from her body he imagined that her powers might revolve around fire themselves; something else they had in common.

[Delashano]

Jenn found herself quite impressed with how well the newcomer could move for someone weighing as much as he did and covered in metal plating she had expected his combat style to veer more towards simply taking the hits and rolling with them but it was a pleasant surprise to find that he was quite capable of weaving in and out of her attack pattern and as expected the tough hide hindered the amount of damage that she could do with her blades, perhaps it would be necessary to move away from a high attack rate and instead move towards pushing in singular powerful attacks. The weapon she was most well acquainted with for attempting such would be a broadsword and thankfully it would be a simple weapon to manifest especially as she could use the two blades she had already manifested to create one and take less time to do so! As Jenn completed another flurry of strikes the majority of which clanging off of his hide doing at most what appeared to be superficial damage she prepared to take a step away from him in order to imitate the transfer from longsword to broadsword however as she began to take her first step away the newcomer too appeared interested in gaining some distance.

Jenn noted a strange shift, the gills around the general neck region on the newcomer flared out slightly and a strangely colored gass began expelling from them, not quite trusting this Jenn continued her motion backward putting a bit of distance between herself and the newcomer as he began to expel even more fo the strange gass, there were very few things that a gass style technique could do that Jenn was NOT worried about thus making her decision to pull back to asses the situation much a much more favorable idea, as she pulled back Jenn brought her hands up to her face in a partially guarding manner and as she did so manifested a mask around her lower face the mask that would inhibit her intake of the gases provided she got too close to it assuming the gass was a danger and not simply a strange means or byproduct of the newcomers flight method. Not wanting too put TOO much on the workability of her mask Jenn backtracked away from the gass as it approached, she had a few options at this juncture.Ignore the risks and continue her melee assault, an option that would put her within a gass of unknown risk, OR begin a ranged assault.

The simple choice was the second, for now it was best to avoid the gass see if he made any further attempts to position her within it and if that was the case it meant the gass was likely dangerous and further precaution would be necessary as well switching to ranged combat would mean getting a chance to see how tough that hide of his was as he ranged capabilities were far more powerful than melee for the time being. With a smirk Jenn brought her sword together and returned them to magical energy the two blades would for a few moments become fire before reshaping into the form of a bow and two arrows already in her grip, shifting her stance to one better oriented for archery Jenn took aim on her target and let fire the arrows, once released from the bow the arrows would appear to burst into flame as the energy imbued within them created an aura around them to mimic Jenn's own.

[Deleted]

The gases that expelled from his neck where rather quite poisonous too any and all that would come in contact with, but not wanting to kill his sparring mate he made sure not to make it deadly. Though seeming simple from the outside the process was quite in depth and complex as he had to control every muscle movement in his gills otherwise the density of the gas would kill his target. Holding back was actually harder than just out right killing her, it was a rather different way that he usually fought people, but he always liked a challenge. As the cloud expanded it grew larger and thicker eventually enveloping Anri and following out and over the grasses too the woman, even though she had given him some distance it was quickly rolling over the ground towards here.

Too anyone on looking the fight it would look like a flood of gas had leaked from the earth, almost impossible to see through unless one's eyes were made too see through it, such as Anri's were. He could see clearly through the gas almost as if it wasn't there, however the woman wouldn't be nearly as lucky. Now seeing that were her twin blades used too be they had been replaced with a single bow, already she was notching the arrows and letting them rip into the cloud that surrounded him. With barely a second too spare he put up his arm with the intent on blocking the on coming shots, however something told him that the bow would be more powerful given it's extra torque from drawback. Using his Ki he made it flow through his skin, hardening his plates even further then they already had been, sounding similar too metal scraping against metal the plates grew in density. The process would have hurt if it had not been for the fact that he had done this thousands of time before, with the incoming attack he braced himself as the arrows hit his skin. Impacting his chest the firey arrow sparked with flames on contact, if it wasn't for the extra layer of protection he had just added it might have been a more fatal blow. Even though the arrows ricocheted off his smooth armor the force was enough to push him back, his feet dragging lines in the soil.

"Flaming arrows huh?"

Taking a running stance he charge at her from inside the cloud his feet slamming against the ground sounded as though a rhino was heading full speed at her. He knew she would hear him coming long before he arrived but that was the plan after all. Anri had seen the masked she put on in order not to be exposed to the gases he released however that was only one of the many gases he could expel. Going full speed out of the cloud his wind trail pulled some of it along with him, jumped towards the woman his hand was clinched into a fist, ready to strike into her. But right before he would strike his gills would expel another gas but this time rather than it be poisonous it would be acidic in nature. Making sure not to burn either of their faces off he made sure it wouldn't be a deadly effect, rather just irritate one's eyes and dissolve exposed clothes. It was his hope that he could get that mask off of her, maybe then he could try and gas her once again.