The first Step is Often the Hardest (OPEN)

[Deleted]

i was tossing and turning and the nightmare i had was as bad as can be
IT SCARED ME OUT OF MY WITS !

The sun was nearing it's noonday peak when Nox made his way to the central market. The weather was warm and calm, a hint of humidity threatening to stick cloth to skin. Large leafed tropical plants bobbed gently in the small breeze that trickled in from the sea. It was a beautiful day, but when wasn't it in Somniss? The island lived the in the same rut year round.

Nox flicked his bangs out of his hair as he bent to peer down at a basket of fruit. His hair was a pale dirty blond that particular day. His white hair made him to easy to identify, besides he was saving the white locks as a shocking revelation when he finally got his cult going. Well it was more of a religion, considering Darkrai was just the opposite of Cresselia. "Here you go." Nox placed a coin in the vendors palm and picked up a round, pink fruit.

The preist reveled in it's tart juiciness. That hit the spot, now just to find some supplies. Nox couldn't just start preaching on the streets without being tossed in a cage for blasphemy. Not to mention people thought he was crazy already without turning their religion on it's head. Truth must be introduced slowly as to not make worshipers defensive and closed to his teaching. So! That meant anonymously sowing the seeds of doubt into his prey. Flyers would work best, though they could be a bit expensive and Nox unfortunately didn't have a steady income at that moment. Small street performances using his powers and Alym's cute antics was all he had. A sigh escaped his pouting lips. It was a good thing he was completely committed to his cause. A lesser man would've given up already.


That's why the preist was wandering the stone streets and vendor stalls for supplies! If one looked hard enough they could find what they were looking for at a discount. Of course the rough hewn streets were crowded and Nox had to keep an eye out to not trip over children or get his pockets picked. 

a corpse falling to bits then i opened my eyes
AND THE NIGHTMARE WAS ME !

(WORDS) Some (TAGGED) OPEN
(NOTES). So lonely... T.T
(CREDITS) THIS IS BY DYLAN of CAUTION 2.0! Lyrics are In the Dark of the Night - Anastasia.

[Ozdin]

Ozdin yawned as he walked through the market, enjoying the peace of isolation. Sure, he was surrounded by people, but none of them knew who he was, or even gave him a second look. Most didn't even give him a first look. The feeling was exhilarating. Ozdin continued to walk the streets, wandering aimlessly, thinking about the recent going-ons of the Arena.

The fights are getting tougher, I'm probably being put up to higher levels. That's not good, I'll become a minor celebrity like that! But losing is worse...I'll have to tell Josh to back off with the more dangerous stuff...dang it, that means i'll have to actually have a conversation with him![/s] As the young gladiator wandered in thought, he wasn't watching where he was going.

*oof!* Ozdin walked strait into a strange fellow with dirty blonde hair, an fell backwards to the ground. "Hey, watch where you're going!" Ozdin knew it wasn't really the guys fault, but if he shifted the blame properly, he might get away with not being the center of attention. Unfortunately for him, that's when Josh showed up.

"Ozzie, there you are! I didn't know you were a friend of Nox's!" Josh walked up, and grinned at his friend on the ground. "what are you doing in the market? I thought you didn't like people?" before Ozdin could respond, however, Josh turned to the blonde guy. "How are you doing, Nox? I haven't seen you in some time..." Ozdin tried to slip away from the detracted stalker, but Josh lightly and covertly grabbed Ozdin by the shoulder as he tried to scoot away.

[Deleted]

LILITH "LUCY" ALETHEIA !!

Lilith had been watching the street vendors for some time now. The last few days had been nerve wracking, that was for sure. As Darkai had commanded, Lilith had found herself slowly integrating herself back into the society she had so easily abandoned. It was one thing to hide her scythe in the outskirts of the village and walk along the throng of people. It was entirely different to actually hunt down a person who she had only seen in her dreams. Or nightmares, whatever.

A man with white hair is who she had been instructed to find. Lilith had assumed that would be easy. Having spent a few days merely watching the city-goers, she had seen no one with white hair. With trepidation, the woman had finally worked up the nerve to enter the city. When she wasn't immediately arrested and killed on the spot, her confidence began to grow.

It was day four of her "full integration back into the society of heathens" as she would so fondly refer to it. Having been gifted by Darkai with a few precious gems, Lilith had found herself shacking up at the local Inn. No one seemed to recognize the woman with the shining green eyes and Lilith was more than content with that. Having traded in a ruby for a bag of coins, Lilith walked the streets.

Long black hair tied back into a neat little bun, adorned by a large tropical flower, Lilith was turning heads. Not of course, in a negative way, she would later rejoice. The tall and somewhat exotic looking woman began to garner whispers and Lilith couldn't help but giggle and blush at the men who would point a finger towards her. Her soul pokemon, a Doublade, screamed at her for allowing attention to be drawn to them. "Oh D.A," She sighed aloud, patting her own shoulder as if she was talking to someone else, "You worry too much. No one remembers me."

Had it not been for the little situation caused by two men running into each other, Lilith would have missed her prey completely. Green eyes locked firmly onto the man who had just been ran into. His hair was not white like she had seem in her dreams, but it just had to be him. Something inside the crazed woman burned red hot, she wanted to reach out and grab him by his throat, bringing him as close to her as she could without tearing into his supple flesh all at once~

A rather sharp pain started behind her eyes, a typical warning from her Soul Pokemon to reign in the crazy. Letting reason wash over her mind, Lilith found herself taking a step backwards, receded into the crowd. For now she would watch the man, there had to be a reason Darkai had wanted her to find him. However, the God had left out the reason why. Deciding it would be best to stalk her prey until she could figure out more was all she could do.

Of course, she could always kill the man who had run into Nox. Lilith hadn't actually envisioned the man, so he must be unimportant to Darkai's cause. Either way, Lilith held herself back. For now, all she could do was watch.

---

OOC:
Ignore Lilith for now~ I'm going to have her follow you two for a bit before making any sort of appearance.

[Deleted]

i was tossing and turning and the nightmare i had was as bad as can be
IT SCARED ME OUT OF MY WITS !

"Oh dear.I'm terribly sorry." Nox was quick to appologize. He hadn't even seen the person until he'd so rudely bumped into him. He had to pay better attention to such things. Though Nox was the sort to be able to see everyone around him at a glance and see where they were moving to. Perhaps this boy was different than the rest? His hair was shockingly orange after all! What a vibrant color.

A small smile grew to a wide grin as he spotted a more familiar face over the strangers shoulder. "Good to see you Josh. I'm sorry it's been so long." Nox did sound genuinely regretful. "Things are... going a bit slower than I'd like. Pointy pitchforks are just to easy for people to find."

The dirty blond winced and had to stop himself from rubbing his back side in memory. Wounds were harder to treat when he couldn't see them and he hadn't been able to sit down or sleep on his back for a week! Wanting to dispel the horrible memory of the ouchie, Nox turned his attention back to the orange haired stranger. "Who's your friend Josh? I don't think I've met him before." Nox tilted his head to the side curiously. The boy didn't seem dangerous in the least, well other than a fighters toned body. But Alym was still humming happily next to his ear.

a corpse falling to bits then i opened my eyes
AND THE NIGHTMARE WAS ME !

(WORDS) Some (TAGGED) OPEN
(NOTES). So lonely... T.T
(CREDITS) THIS IS BY DYLAN of CAUTION 2.0! Lyrics are In the Dark of the Night - Anastasia.

[Ozdin]

Ozdin jumped slightly. Why does this guy need to worry about pitchforks? He hadn't looked at the stranger closely earlier, he'd been distracted with landing on his ass. But now he saw that blonde figure was wearing something akin to a priestess' robe, although darker and with strange markings on it. the man's bright demeanor stood at stark odds with his dark clothing. But before he could voice his trepidation, Josh motioned to his stalkee.

"Sorry, allow to introduce Ozdin, son of none. He's a local gladiator I've been sponsoring at the arena. He's pretty good, although he tends to not make enough of a show for the crowd sometimes. He's also quite the artist, when the mood strikes him. Oz, this is Nox. He's been working on a secret project. I'll let him tell you about it; it's not my secret to tell." Josh smiled like that alone was letting Oz in on some secret. creepy stalker...

Josh looked up at the sun, and made a face, judging the time. "Sorry, guys, but I don't have time to stick around. Oz, you should spend some time with Nox; I think you two would get along swimmingly, if you'll give him a chance!" and with that Josh was gone, vanished into the crowds. Oz stared after the strange youth for a moment, then turned back to Nox. Guess I'm committed, at least to talking to the guy... Oz got up, offering the robed figure a hand, begrudging the part that came next...

"Hi. I'd introduce myself, but Josh beat me to it." Sho, Ozdin's pokemon soul, held the paint-tip of his tail and quickly squiggled a picture of himself shaking hands with what looked to be Nox, except his face was replaced with a giant slasher smile. Oz couldn't tell if it was a joke or a warning, which matched the odd man perfectly...

OOC: Ozdin would be an excellent way to get images out because of his graffiti, but he's not going to offer to do it (he does it for fun, but for money), so I'm offering for him. He'll probably be really stubborn about joining up, but he'll help if you/Nox needs it *hint hint*

[Deleted]

LILITH "LUCY" ALETHEIA !!

The sinister woman was just about fit to be tied when a third party walked over to the man she had been searching for. 'How dare he intrude!?' She found herself mentally screaming. Clenching her fists onto the long dark green and black dress she was wearing was about all Lilith could do to keep herself from running over and landing a flying kick to the man's gut. Still, Lilith knew she had to bide her time.

At least she knew the man was local now. Turning her back towards the scene, Lilith reached onto a vendor's table and picked up a shell necklace. When the vendor turned to face her, the woman's face had shifted into an entirely evil grin. The childlike demeanor was quickly offset by the insanity that poured from the woman's eyes. Before the vendor had time to question Lilith's motive, she had already stuffed it into her pocket and was skipping away.

Had the vendor decided to pursue the woman, he would have been struck down where he stood. Perhaps it was better than Lilith was so good at simply vanishing into a crowd, despite her rather odd appearances. For all intents and purposes, the woman had forgotten about her prey. If not for her soul pokemon lurking at the edge of her mind, Lilith would have simply skipped out of the town and into the forest where she had hidden her scythe.

'Lilith!' The doublade hissed inside her head, 'Have you forgotten why Darkai sent you to this hellhole of a place?'

This caused Lilith to pause and ponder the question. "Frankly, yes. Why was it again?" Lilth asked out loud, stopping abruptly and almost causing two people following her to crash into her willowy frame. 'Darkai save us.' Came the inner reply. 'That white haired man!'

"Oh! Right D.A! Let's go find him!" Lilith cried, clapping her hands in front of her happily. Turning on her heels she began skipping right back towards where she had seen the trio of men. Right past the vendor where she had just stolen the shell necklace. Lilith paused from a moment and scanned the crowd with bright green eyes. "There they are!" She said to no one in particular.

Instead of waiting to get the man alone as she had previously planned, Lilith pushed her way right up to the two. Giving both of them the once-over, Lilith crossed her arms over her flat chest and made a disgusted clicking noise with her tongue towards the orange haired man. Turning her body away from him in an obvious and quite childish "I'm ignoring you" type manner, Lilith found herself humming in appreciation at the light blonde man of her dreams.

"We've been looking for you." She finally said, asuming the man knew what she was speaking of. "We don't know why though, do we D.A?" Liltih asked her unseen soul pokemon. "But he sent us to find you. Not to kill you, but to find you and we really just don't know why." Came the garbled and completely non-coherent reply. It had been many years since Lilith had actually talked to anyone but herself and her soul pokemon.

Still, with her back turned to the orange haired man, Lilith clapped her hands and made some faint motions with her hands, beckoning the white haired man to follow her. Where? Lilith hadn't a clue. Hopefully Darkai would let her know what to do with him before she got bored and simply killed him.

---

OOC:
She makes an appearance. Feel free to be as mean and totally freaked out at her as humanly possible. Ozdin should tots just try to beat her ass for the disrespect she's showing him.

[Deleted]

i was tossing and turning and the nightmare i had was as bad as can be
IT SCARED ME OUT OF MY WITS !

Nox tilted his head and squinted. Hmm Ozdin really did have an interesting shade of orange for his hair. It would look good purple too, or even black. Mmmm, maybe not black, perhaps some time in the future the boy would let him experiment a bit. Permission was optional most days for Nox so perhaps sooner rather than later.

Ozdin was even a gladiator. Impressive! The white haired man hadn't the opportunity to meet many of the fighters. As a child he'd seen a few of the shows. A messy business really but one main thing kept him sneaking in as a penniless adult. The blood. If ouchies didn't hurt so much, Nox may have ended up in the ring. Fighting and blood were two of his favorite things after all! The mere thought had him giggling a bit loudly.

"Bye Josh! May the truth keep you safe!" Nox waved happily as the man disappeared into the crowd. Wasn't it fun sneaking Darkrai into such simple sayings. Not only were they easily over looked but they were easy to slip into the local dialect. Nox was all about subliminal warfare.

The warlock grasped Ozdin's hand firmly. "Nice to meet you! I'm Nox. Nox Eterna, though Josh seems to have beat me to it as well."Hmm, Ozdin certainly was an interesting character. Beneath the cool exterior of a warrior he was an artist. The more layers a person had the more intriguing they were. Many of the inhabitants of Somniss were no more than stupid beasts with single layers more focused on their daily lives than the good of the country. They were trapped in their own ruts, walking in circles all day.

And artist would be useful though... "So you're an artist huh? I'm glad someone has talent because it's not me!" Nox laughed outright. "I'm trying to make some posters for the reasons Josh mentioned before. Alas I... am not so inclined artistically. I nearly dyed my hair pink permanently and exploded glitter all over my best pair of shoes." Nox sighed, smile slipping from his face. They were his only pair of shoes too. He scuffed one of his feet against the pavement. Flacks of traitorous silver could be seen twinkling in the light.

a corpse falling to bits then i opened my eyes
AND THE NIGHTMARE WAS ME !

(WORDS) Some (TAGGED) OPEN
(NOTES). So lonely... T.T
(CREDITS) THIS IS BY DYLAN of CAUTION 2.0! Lyrics are In the Dark of the Night - Anastasia.

[Ozdin]

exploded glitter all over his shoes? what does that have to do with posters? Ozdin wasn't sure if this man was really sane. And this girl who was apparently looking for him certainly wasn't any less crazy. But Ozdin felt an itch in the back of his head. an itch to draw these two in their separate reveries of madness...

Ozdin carefully stepped aside of the childish girl, preferring to ignore her just as she was ignoring him. "Well, what exactly is this project of yours. Josh said it was a secret, but if you want me to help you with posters, I need to know what they're for..." Ozdin silently seethed at himself. Why was he offering to help this person? Why was he getting himself involved with people? Why was he going to draw for them at the drop of a hat? Why was he doing what Josh wanted him to do!?!

Ozdin looked at Sho, who was busy adding the crazy girl to his caricature to his drawing of Nox. What do you think? Sho paused for a moment, looking at the drawing of the two Gothic characters, and then erased himself from the picture and added his and Oz' Gajinka form, still shaking hands with the blonde man. Ozdin shrugged. Okay, I guess we're in agreement...

[Deleted]

LILITH "LUCY" ALETHEIA !!

"A-am I being... Ignored?" Lilith asked, after a moment when it seemed neither of the men actually responded to her presence. This was an odd feeling, that was for sure. Usually, when things happened that Darkrai asked to be done, Lilith was the center of attention. Kill that man? Yeah, the last thing he saw were hollow green eyes. At least the victim was looking at her... Unlike these two men. Perhaps she hadn't made herself well known? "Um, hello?" She called out, waving her hands in front of her.


Once again she found herself wishing she had her scythe. That would garner some attention. Hell, it could even serve it's purpose in dragging the oddly colored hair man off with her. Maybe she'd kill the orange haired man just to prove her point that she wasn't one to mess with. Shuffling her feet, the woman sort of stood by the side lines and watched the two talk to each other. Quickly becoming bored with their conversation Lilith walked over towards the Smeargle and knelt down next to him, looking at the drawing he had created. "Oh! That's really good." Lilith said, clapping her hands in joy. "Am I really that tall?" She wondered out loud.

At this point it was apparent the crazy woman had forgotten all about the two men she had just ran into. Now she was focused on the whimsical drawing of the pokemon before her.

[Ginger]

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