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Her gaze turned to him when he spoke, and her expression darkened slightly. She let him speak, and held her silence. It was obvious from her expression, that whatever progress he'd made... he'd just put himself back at square one.

She observed his powers without comment.

As soon as she felt the pain, she withdrew her hand and threw up a barrier against whatever power he was using. A look of distaste crossed her expression and she narrowed her eyes at him, before turning her back towards him, focusing her attention on the other people in the tavern.

Miriela was a tough egg to crack, and using sheer power or trickery was not the way to break her. If she was honest with herself, she'd preferred him when he was smooth talking and coaxing... not being a show off. But she was rarely honest... least of all with herself.

Sensing a tense moment, Pluvio became a little distracted from his conversation with Kiari. He turned to Miriela with a half-smile on his lips. "You've hardly touched your duck", he told her in between speaking with the slightly older female.

He smiled a bit and noticed her distaste was quick. She was not impressed, though he was not really trying to impress her. And she was looking away quite harshly. He wasn't bothered that she moved away, he obviously deserved it considering he burned her, but he felt need to do something about it.

"Allow me to apologize." He spoke softly, moving forward a bit so his voice was noticable over the banter. "I didn't mean to seem like some kind of idiot doing this work and hurting you. If I had meant any harm you would have seen that. I'm sure you can tell by my actions and word I'm not a man who can hide things well." His lips cracked into a smile as he placed both his hands down onto the table, seeing there was no reason to have them at his side or lap.

"Besides, my fire would be doused quite easily due to your ability, that is the lower portion of my power." He admitted, though there was not much to admit about fire. "If it pains you to be here and make small talk with me, don't mind anyone else, go ahead and leave." He glanced to the door and gently dug his fang into the corner of his lip, making himself unsure of his words considering he just invted her to leave.

"But" he spoke a bit louder, "I would hate to have shooed off a fellow wanderer and mage because of my stupid idea of showing off." He spoke a bit more sincerely, making sure his words were made across, but the real problem was her desicion of staying of leaving him to the elves, which he felt was not a good thing to deal with in being the third wheel of this situation.

He didn't pay much attention to the Drow, he wasn't helping, nor harming the situation, just trying to avert the Wizard's stupidness. He pulled back slightly as Pluvio spoke, but decided to keep up his position, making sure he wasn't to waver away from this stance.

She glanced at Pluvio when he spoke and muttered. "I'm not hungry."

When Sasuki started talking again, she tensed more, but she listened. With her back to him, she couldn't tell if he was being honest or not. Not that he seemed like the type to lie in the first place... but she rarely trusted anyone to tell the truth.

After he finished speaking, she let out a sigh of resignation and turned back towards him to look at him. "I'm highly suspicious that you want me to stay just so you don't have to be the third wheel..." She started, keeping her expression and emotions guarded. "... but... I accept your apology."

Her brown eyes were completely serious, and also sending the message that if he did anything harmful or upsetting again... he'd likely feel much worse consequences than her turning her back to him.

With that said, she stared down at the table, not entirely sure what to do with herself.

He smiled a bit more comfortable and laughed a bit, "yes." He commented flatly to her statement, he hated the idea of awkwardly sitting and waiting for something big to happen.

He looked over at the food that was placed by her, now realizing that the duck was made for her and brought back here with her. He smiled a bit and looked to her with a chuckle,

"Honestly, if you walked over to chat with people and they started to focus more on each other than you, wouldn't yo-..."

shut up he blared mentally as he realized the statement and example he was giving was dumb to her and would not work as well for her, considering she never would talk to people, she had exampled this when she entered there was no needed to guess here.

He paused a bit and cleared his throat after a second and grabbed his drink. Intaking the drink and placing it back down.

"My point stands, I do not enjoy being dis-included from a group of three that was..." He paused in his action, remembering that he did come up to them and talked, but the fact of it was that they were probably engaged in conversation before he even did anything.

He hated how idiotic he sounded and he had wished one of his statements were at least correct or made sense. After a moment of thinking it over, he decided it would be better to just try something else.

"S-So when did you start using magic?" He asked, now curious of her power and throwing everything else out the window.

She folded her hands and rested them in her lap, studying him for a moment. He was interesting. She couldn't decide what species he was. Not quite human... not quite elvish... and yet he didn't seem cruel enough to be a demon or anything like that.

A small smile tugged at her lips when he stopped mid-sentence... twice.

"Just because I'm unsociable now doesn't mean I never was." One eyebrow quirked at him as she said this, but she then focused on his question.

For a long moment, she was silent, as if she was trying to decide what to say.

Finally, she settled on a truth... with lots of omitted details. "I've been able to manipulate water for as long as I can remember." She paused, before adding. "What about you?"

He felt a bit more comfortable with her comment, he also noticed that she smiled a bit at his stupidity, of course. every girl loved the idiot guy.

He smiled a bit more as she seemed to look more comfortable with the idea of being here, at least she was not mad at him any more.

"I started with fire when I was eight, apparently no body in my life line was meant to have the power of magic usage besides my great grandfather of fifteen generations." He paused and cut his smile half way, feeling it was a dumb idea to go into such detail.

"After that." He spoke after taking a drink, or what was left now that there was an empty glass, "I got tired of just fire and decided to work on other things." He smiled a bit and tapped his index finger to his now empty glass. "Ice being first on my list." He commented, though he doubted that the idea of him learning ice second would ever be something that would catch her interest. He just liked telling stories, really.

He glanced at his glass, craving more of his delicacy of bloody alcohol, though he didn't want to cut off the topic or talk. He smiled a bit as he took his glass in hand. "Do you want to come up to the bar with me to get some water or something? I'd get it for you but you don't seem to like the idea of that." He smirked a bit, "and I'm getting my wine this time, please don't splash me with that." He spoke with a chuckle.

There was an unspoken awkward tension that had settled upon the group, causing Kiari to become distracted and fold back into her shell. It took a few minutes to lapse for her to think up a description to give to Pluvio.

"It's very..." Corrupt. Traditional. Lonely. "... well, the weather is often pleasant, " she responded, dryly.

The stone continued to be toyed with within her hand as her expression darkened. It was obvious that her home was not a dinner table topic among strangers. Her eyes lingered in the space between two tables to the left of them while she listened to the two across from them as they went back and forth in a separate conversation. It was a pleasant surprise to see that the woman could bring out a softer side to the man. Though, she wondered if it was a ploy to get her alone, but somehow, Kiari could not see him being that kind of man.

Giving them room to speak, she sipped on her water before studying Pluvio. Was it embedded in his nature to be a peacemaker and a gentleman? A man who could bring forth thunder and make chaos rain from the heavens, appeared to have nothing but honorable intentions. What then drew him to wanting to study storms? Kiari wanted to speak her mind, but she feared his response would be influenced by their environment. Also, it was a hefty favor to ask someone to trust them with their personal life and adventures.

"The elven have very strict conditions and expectations in my village. My mother is actually from a long line of royalty but due to circumstances, she was exiled and forced to move. In a few more years, I will marry and restore some reputation and wealth, " she explained, her eyes downcast beneath the weight of overhanging shadows. "We actually grow many diverse kinds of fruits and vegetables. Luckily, I have a green thumb and can keep us afloat for the time being."

Kiari finished her water and pushed the glass away, no longer thirsty. A smile broadened her lips and her dimple appeared once again.

"We could make better money with livestock, but animals tend to either bite me or push me into thorn bushes."

She laughed at the memory of their old mare who had accidentally bumped into her and caused her to fall into a bush full of sharp thorns.

"What is it like at your home? " she asked softly as the laughter dissolved.

Pluvio could tell by the wide range of emotions displayed that her home life was very complex. He was glad to see her laugh at some passing thought.

It was interesting that things could be so different, but so similar. The elven village sounded pretty stuffy. But then again, one might think a drow enclave was pretty uptight.

"The drow have something they call silent grace." He folded his hands as he spoke. "We aren't a very emotional people. And the village reflects that."

A lot of Pluvio's character was right on the surface. The answers to most questions were visible in the odd clues with which he carried himself. For example, that curious bowl of cherries.

"An emphasis is placed on work and not so much on family." He started to hope that he wasn't poorly reflecting his race. Of course his people loved and had families and connected with people. But society's view was sometimes different than the individual's wishes.

"But its home", he said with a smile that broadened his square jaw from cheek to cheek. Just as Pluvio went to adjust his chair again, the doors burst open.

"Help! Help!" An urgent looking, short man with thin wire framed glasses ran into the center of the room. His shrill, desperate cries even caught the band's attention as the music stopped suddenly. "There is a problem in the clock tower! Lord Bulwark has requested that a team be sent to repair it at once!"

A silence took over the room. The old clock tower was in an isolated part of town. The kind of place that people gradually learned to stay away from. It was rumored to be 'haunted' by an insane individual and was expected to be laced with booby traps.

Why was this? Time was something that was to be so strictly regulated that it was dangerous to those who practiced in it. They were not necessarily malicious. Just 'touched'.

The man who had burst in the door was an official government messenger. Bulwark was one of the village lords, someone responsible for governing the town. He needed the clock tower fixed at once. In this society, if time was lost it would be hard to get back. The big tower was the town's major timepiece, the one everyone synched on.

The graveness of the mission had obviously set in by the new somber attitude that had quietly swept over the crowd.

The stout, little man had struggled to catch his breath. He had run a long way. His wire framed glasses were now in his hands as he spoke. "Lord Bulwark requests a team of volunteers to get into the tower successfully, investigate and report back. Fix anything you can, but escape with your sanity."

The man did hope the graveness of his words were understood by all those who heard it.

Pluvio immediately thought about volunteering. The only thing that kept someone of his lifespan alive was the thirst for adventure and new activities. He had never been to the clock tower before and had very little experience with the element of time. In some ways, it wouldn't make sense for him to volunteer alone. But as a member of a team, he would be very beneficial.

Storm Magic fell under water magic, which fell under blue magic, which fell under countermagic. All this meant was Pluvio's powers were defensive in nature. The whole nature of his work was to protect others, usually from the elements.

"And what of a reward?" Someone shouted out the abrupt question from deep within the crowd.

"Lord Bulwark is prepared to offer a reward to the group... If they make it back alive."

There did not seem to be a rush of volunteers for this mission.

She listened intently to Sasuki, showing some interest in his story. Hesitantly, she admitted. "I don't actually know who I inherited my magic from..." It was true... since she'd never met her father. But she shrugged off the thought, she didn't want to think about that anymore. The past was past.

His offer to get a drink made her relax a bit more. "I'm alright for now. But you can get something if you really want to." As an after thought, she added. "And I won't splash you with it."

Her gaze shifted to the other woman as she heard the tension, and sensed the complicated emotions attached to a complex and less than ideal home-life. For a moment, her expression turned slightly gentle, as if she could empathize with what the elf-girl was feeling.

She listened to the two speaking, but whatever her thoughts were of... they were disrupted by the sound of someone entering the tavern and yelling.

Her brown eyes shifted to regard the man as she listened to what he said.

He smiled a bit more, comforted by the comments of her voice, though the fact of her missing parents was nothing short of a surprise, everyone and their missing mother has missing or forgotten parents, even his parents were gone, though it was not meant as an action of being pushed away, but for other reasons.

He stood up and took his glass, mouthing, 'I'll be right back' as he got up and walked around her, "I won't leave you behind with these two, I promise." He spoke softly as he leaned down closer to her before leaving to get a drink.

The man bursted through the door and caused Sasuki to back up, though he was more prepared to walk right through the man. He shouted a bit and panicked over the clock tower, being a man of interest with clocks and blacksmithing, those two being minor interests, he smiled a bit and walked passed the man.

"I'll go, but I will not be going alone." He spoke as he placed his glass on the bar, taking gold out and placing it on the wood as he asked his drink. The keep seemed slightly worried at the request, but it was not something that would define the words spoken.

"I mean," he spoke as he turned around, "why would someone be gawking around at night in a busy city full of magicians?" He spoke with a contorted and darkened smile, he was obviously pushing the man's buttons, "I'll partake in this errand, but the consequences for those who get in my way of this will be dire and a grave mistake." He said with a laugh.

As the keep came back with the drink, the bloody liquid looking a bit thicker than before, the Wizard picked it up and took a sip of it, distaste ran though his jaw for a moment and a shadow limb spawned from his shoulder and started to mix the drink with its end finger. He looked around with a soft smile and half lidded emerald-hazel eyes that surveyed the area, "anyone want to join?" He questioned quietly, being happy that he could be quiet now.

"I swear I won't be too violent." He spoke with a laugh as he took another sip, feeling pleased now that the drink was mixed correctly.

Pluvio leaned forward and grabbed his satchel. He secured it over his shoulder and behind his back as he finished whatever remained of his drink. Maybe it was the sense of competition that had arisen, maybe it was just the promise of adventure, but soon the storm mage spoke.

"I'll go too." He looked over at Kiari. His eyes locked onto hers, almost in a longing way. It wasn't meant to be romantic. He just hoped this would not be the last time he saw her.

Of course, she had volunteered to study the Ways of the Storm. She would probably be up for a little adventure tonight. The brief look of worry was replaced by one of calm resolution. First he spoke, now he had really made up his mind about going.

A wily smirk that crept slowly over Pluvio's face foretold the sarcasm with which he was about to speak. "Besides, I can't stay couped up in here with you bunch of drunkards all evening", he said as he turned away from his table and to the dancers and revelers who had gone silent.

The comment drew a mixed reaction of laughter and jeers from the crowd. A little of the tension had been broken at least.

Bulwark's messenger pulled out a map and handed it to Akane. "You'll need this", the little man said tersely. He turned his wire-framed eyes back towards the crowd and scanned. His chubby arms were bent, hands on his hips.

Another shadow limb reached out and grabbed the paper, making sure it would not touch the man's as it grabbed it. He opened it and looked it up and down with a smirk. Sipping his drink with slight interest.

He glanced over at the table where the two women were left behind, he felt kind of bad to have up and left everything he was working on in on the table.

"Why don't you come with, miss?" He spoke to Miriela as he smiled a bit more, "we could continue our chat as we take care of this little chore. Besides, you seem to be the less excitable one out of us, maybe we can change that." He put his left hand up and put his index and thumb apart with little space between them, "just a bit, perhaps." He spoke with a laugh.

He hated to drink this all down and leave, but he had no choice.

He tipped his head back and drank with deep and full gulps, the keep looking mortified to see the man drink the whole thing. For only the two of them knew what it really was. He cleared his throat as he placed the empty wine glass down onto the wood of the bar.

"Stir it better." He mumbled to the keep as he took a step forward, placing his foot down hard and balancing himself out for a moment. He didn't seem drunk, considering he had one and a half wine glasses of alcohol and one water, but the act of him stamping his foot was more of a 'this is it' moment.

"I wouldn't want to ruin my word by leaving you behind anyways." He spoke as he straightened himself and placed his hands down onto his hips, the shadow limbs had fallen off of him and burned into the ground, the form of their presence stuck into the ground.

Miriela was still pondering what exactly this clock tower business was. What was so dangerous about it that no one wanted to go?

But of course, it was the two men that volunteered... of all the men in the tavern... it had to be those two. Internally, she was griping to herself and planning to leave as soon as possible, because she didn't imagine the other woman would have much to talk about aside from whatever it was she saw in the Storm Mage.

Then, why didn't she expect it, the man, she was beginning to suspect he was part demon... and not just because he rubbed her the wrong way, invited her to come, too.

She opened her mouth to refuse, but somehow instead said. "Sure. But I don't think even a near death experience will make me lighten up." After he drank his entire drink in a matter of a few gulps, she quipped. "Besides, you'll need someone sober to keep you from falling face first into the first booby trap."

A small smirk formed, subtle, but it was there. With that, she stood up and picked up her bag. "Right... which way?"

Kiari nodded at the mage's words but before she could say anything, a man burst into the room and ranted on about a dilemma. In truth, she had contradictory emotions about going, but even it turned out to be a misadventure, it would be worth while to have excuse not to go home just yet. The two men were seemingly thrilled about the idea, but Kiari's gaze were on the woman across from her. She wanted to go, but not alone with the two men.

Once the woman confirmed that she would go along with the men, Kiari smiled and nodded her head.

"I will go as well, " she said. "It is better than staying here and getting elbowed some more."

She took a glance at the map curiously but she could not read it in the dim light.

"So where are we going exactly?" she asked.

Kiari fished out a coin and left it on the table as she rose to her feet. The bones of her knees rubbed together and popped from having sat for an extended amount of time. It felt good to stand again. Patiently, she waited on Pluvio to take the lead since he was the one with the directions. She looked out of the window and dreaded how dark it would be during their travels. Most elves had enhanced vision, as well as hearing, but due to an accident at twelve, her vision wasn't exactly the best. Her mother had hoped that as the years went by, her vision would return to normal, but that was over nine years ago.

"It's just ov-..."

He paused as he heard the sound of Kiari's knees pop. He shuddered with delight and his face was flooded with embarrassment, that was one of his problems.

"It's just over the next three blocks and to the left from there, seems to be a little trot to the tower." He spoke as his voice was slightly cracked, but cleared about half way through his statement. He rolled up the map and smiled a bit as all the group reassured that they were ready. He walked to the door and turned back to them, surprisingly not bumping into people-or no one dared to touch him.

"I'll be waiting outside, hopefully the storm had quit and we can move on." He spoke with a soft smile and winked to Pluvio as he walked out of the doors and stepped on the cobble streets, feeling comfortable with the environment,

The air had that crisp smell of a recent storm. The brief deluge had left the grasses and the cobblestone slick with a thin coat of water. The mage couldn't help but appreciate the perfect timing of the storm. It was late enough that the meadows would not burn under intense light.

Now the moon was a silent witness to the mage's trickery. A chorus of crickets were the only protestors as the doors to the tavern closed behind the group of four.

There were those moments in life, where on realized there was no turning back. One could either embrace the excitement or succumb to anxiety. Right now, Pluvio was somewhere in between.

He drifted towards Kiari as the group began to head off. "We're headed to the old clock tower." He was answering her question from inside the tavern. "Seems like there is some sort of malfunction and all we have to do is go in, spring a few gears into place and just like that.... Reward."

The sarcasm was out in full force now. Many people did not know much about the tower, just that it is where the ruling elite set their clocks. Commerce, and therefore the government, depended on it. There were many rumors about what made it so dangerous.

One said that it was guarded by an insane and powerful time wizard. Someone who would make a simple repair well... Not so simple.

As the group made their way down the city blocks, it slowly began to get darker and darker. Because of the brief downpour, many of the village's torches and fires had been put out. It would be a dark journey indeed.

While walking, he accidentally bumped his shoulder against Kiari's. Embarrassed, he smiled at her in the dark. "Sorry", he said through a sheepish grin.

Miriela trailed at the back of the group, adventures weren't exactly new to her. She could only hope that this job would pay well. Money didn't grow on trees and she wasn't the type to steal, so her wallet tended to be very light.

She looked up at the moon, enjoying the dampness of the path beneath her bare feet. It smelled like rain.

Her gaze wandered back to the others in the group. The Storm Mage walked near the Elf girl... why wasn't she surprised? Miriela kept her thoughts to herself, focusing on walking.

As she walked, her mind wandered... back to the place she'd been born. It was nothing like the cool and humid climate of this area. The desert was hot and cruel.

She wasn't particularly worried about the danger... she did have two other mages with her... how dangerous could a clock tower be?

Darkness was something the Wizard had relished and kept close to him, but the flames of his eyes and his powers held him from making darkness come in full.

The flames of his eyes left two lantern like lights to look around everywhere he left his eyes to look. He smiled a bit as they traversed down the road, he lead the group and kept close to them all, making sure that they didn't stray away from him and be left for dirt, though he wasn't the kind to leave people behind with such callous actions.

He had his right hand out, making a large fire ball to allow light to follow them as he walked, searching around and glancing back and forth, making sure everyone was there. He smiled a bit as he was certain everyone was around, but he would make sure everyone was safe if he had second guesses.

"So what is the rumor for this tower and why is everyone freaked about the place?" He questioned the group, hoping someone would know out of the group, if not he would just find out himself.

As she had feared, it was undoubtedly dark outside. The black silhouettes of trees stuck out here and there along their way. Thankfully, her eyes could make them out enough to keep her from running into one. Kiari mainly relied on her ears to keep track of where the group was, but it surprised her to be bumped into. She had been containing so much on not falling behind, she had been unaware that Pluvio had been as close as he was. Kiari was not able to make out his darkened cheeks but there was a slight change to his voice that hinted embarrassment.

Her hand reached out and took ahold of his forearm in order to gain stability in her footing. The slippery ground made it difficult for her to do so, but at least she didn't fall. Once she had righted herself, she let her hand drop to her side.

"No harm done, " she said.

A smile could be detected in her voice as she spoke.

"You make the task sound like a trip to the market, " she said, amused.

Maybe, if the market was filled with possible lurking danger, the two would be similar, but then only danger at the market was rotted fruit and Mr. Jenkins who was had the mind of an ogre and a temper as short as a child dwarf.