Rain Heart

[Anthony]

The clouds have shown signs of rain today, thus is the only reason why Anthony should be hurrying to the nearest shelter. Still, he walks languidly, almost in a relaxed manner, through the forest after exiting out of the school.

He had asked one of the warrior monks stationed outside the forest to direct him to the nearest shelter, so now here he is, strutting his way towards Newfort with a large bag filled with his clothes and supplies clutched in his grip.

As he reached the fort, the rain is already lightly dribbling down the atmosphere. What Anthony didn't expect is for the guard there to literally closed the door of the fort right in his face once he asked if they could spare him a place inside for him to wait out the rain.

Perhaps they don't welcome strangers.

Letting go of his heavy bag so it slammed on the ground, the rain began pelting down heavily. Anthony turned around so his back is facing the door and looked back to where he had came from. It has been a long way already, and now he has no where to go.

Looking up now, Anthony stuffed his hand inside his jacket pockets, welcoming the rain to wet his face as he closed his eyes behind his glasses. 'And I was being civil too by asking them for information instead of reading their minds.'

Shaking his head as he remembers the monk warrior and the guard he had spoken to, Anthony then opens his eyes half-way to stare at the rain drops from behind his spectacles.

'I shouldn't have played nice.'

Just as he thought of that, something attracted his attention. Anthony then leveled his head down to see clearly on what, or who, exactly is it..

[Kari]

Kari had finally reached Ianne and finished one assignment when she was notified immediately after of a new one. Apparently, a few vengeful spirits had decided to infiltrate an old medieval fortress of some sort in the middle of the forest. Kari let out a sigh as she walked through the woods in the direction of Newfort, finding the sudden rain to be especially annoying. She didn't have an umbrella, so her clothes were soaked through quite quickly by the time she made it out of the woods and into a clearing where she could properly see the fortress a little ways ahead of her.

The first thing she spotted as her eyes scanned around the front of this fortress was a person standing in the rain in front of it. She saw that the fortress doors were closed and assumed he was kicked out. She had heard on her way over, however, that this fortress often welcomed visitors. It's no surprise if the management has been taken over by spirits, though, she began to theorize.

Kari's eyes locked onto the man in front of Newfort, staring at him as well as sort of through him. As she grew closer, she was able to see the man's lifeline should he not face an untimely death. She could also see the various sins he had committed and how many years he would spend in hell should he die at that exact moment.

A small sort of smug grin appeared on her face as she stared at him, amused by his crimes. Just my type. She thought as she casually drew even closer. Due to her very Shinigami nature of being, she was not one of this living world. Because of this, her mind, to any telepath, would be like a blank; void of all thoughts and imaginings, regardless of touch.

Regardless of whether or not this man spoke to her, Kari remained silent as she walked even closer. When she judged the distance between her current stance and the other side of the fortress wall to be less than ten feet, her appearance in front of Anthony suddenly disappeared and she reappeared a split second later inside the fortress. This was her teleporting ability, limited by a distance of about ten feet. Despite its limitation, it certainly was very useful.

Upon her appearance within the fortress, there was a sudden uproar from the guards. They questioned her and shouted at her. Kari calmly glanced around at them all with a rather bored expression as she searched for the spirits she was told to exorcise. Once locating the ones in that general area, her bow materialized in her hands; a medium length chain was now visible, attaching her two wrists together with just enough slack.

She held her bow up straight and pulled back the string as an arrow materialized between her fingers. Shock and a sudden uproar was heard from the guards as she let the arrow fly towards the first possessed soldier. The force of her energy caused the soldiers it went through to be knocked back a step or two and pulled the now visible spirit out of the final soldier. The arrow and spirit glowed for a moment before disappearing in a short burst of light. Kari had done this with four others, letting each arrow fly within seconds of each other.

The soldiers, once they realized what had happened and made sure their fellow soldiers were okay, were in shock. Kari walked through the crowd, scanning it further until she spotted a few more dead souls entering the field in the bodies of the captain and his main soldiers. Her eyes looked at them coldly as she lifted her bow again and quickly released another five arrows into those five men, removing the wicked spirits from them.

When she had finished, Kari's bow disappeared suddenly along with her chains. She turned her attention towards the men guarding the door, one of which she had shot with her arrow before. "Open the door." She ordered him with a cold glance. As the door now opened, Kari crossed her arms and looked out with a sort of smug grin towards where she hoped that wicked man still stood.

[Anthony]

"Hmn?" From the distance, Anthony could see a figure of a woman walking towards him. Usually, even when seeing a silhoutte of a person, he's already able to hear distinct sounds of their minds.

Though this girl, even when Anthony could clearly see her and her nearly naked body due to her drenched clothes, 'Bless the rain.' He cannot read her mind at all. Pleasantly surprised by this, Anthony thought of the possibilities.

There are only two instances in where he wasn't able to read someone's thoughts. One, is because they blocked their own thoughts from being read. Two, is because they aren't from this world in the first place. Now, Anthony could tell that if it is the former case, he can at least hear something resembling static noises, meaning he wasn't able to breach the wall in their thoughts.

The latter case however...is when he could hear absolutely nothing. Just like now, as he stares at this girl walking closer to his general direction, 'So she's not...human..' His thought whispered, only now beginning to wonder what on earth is her reason for even approaching him like this.

Assuming that she wishes to enter the fort, Anthony spoke, "I'm sorry, they didn't seem to allow anyo--" Before he even finished speaking, the young woman suddenly vanished from his sight. Anthony paused, quite surprised by this, until he heard a commotion from inside the walls.

Turning around to face the door, he wondered if the girl had somehow entered the place. He can hear yells and screams inside, but Anthony could only stare at the wooden door, trying to theorize what could possibly be going on inside.

He didn't bother looking for any other entries, as the uproar inside had made him chained to where he stood, his expression of shock and puzzlement. Suddenly, after a while, the door began to open in front of him. Still surprised and confused, the first person that Anthony caught sight of when the door had opened is that same girl he saw before, smirking at him.

Forcing his body to move, Anthony then took a step forward, now widening his view to the soldiers littering in the area, beginning to read their minds in an instant to know what had happened. What he had digged up surprised him, that when he had turned his attention back towards the mysterious girl, the surprise in his face had turned into something of amazement.

"What are you..?" He questioned, just when the rain began to get even heavier. Now feeling quite affected by the pelting rain, Anthony quickly grabbed hold of his bag that he had dropped on the ground earlier and ran inside the fort, seeking shelter from the cold rain.

The soldiers completely ignored him, so Anthony settled his bag down by the wall where he had deemed to be dry enough before making his way towards the girl, wanting his curiosity to be satisfied.