"Looks can be decieving." Izumi said, eyebrow raised as if in a gesture of using herself as an example. "Besides look at this place." She added, spreading her arms as if to show the entire village. "Not one place can be this...this...perfect!" Izumi had paused as seh searched for the right word. "there are secrets in this place, Ill bet my life on it." She said holding up a clenched fist to make her point get across. "Either way, our job isnt to figure out whats wrong with this village, its to get to Arubeil." She said walking over to one of the monsters, the pitying look on her face sending it into a frenzy as it tried to swipe at her face. "We will kill them then leave this village in peace."

((look guys! I'm using werewolf lingo now!))

"Looks can deceive, but the nose always knows," Elizabeth insisted, indicating her nose. "I'm a werewolf, not a yappie*."


*a werewolf that depends on Terrans for food when they are capable of hunting for their own food; domesticated wolves (dogs)

"Tch, if Ryu wants to, go ahead. He can kill them without regret, he can kill them with the least mess, there are less problems if he does it." Ayu was getting bored with this. Murder was a stupid word, killing was the answer. She didn't want to argue about this. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, blah to blah. They die, they die. Just as long as they don't infect anybody else.

"Ayu, we can't leave here until we have made absolutely certain that this sort of thing isn't going to happen here again once we have left," Elizabeth remarked. "Besides, Rion might know what we should do...does anyone know where he is at the moment?"

It was evident while Izumi and Elizabeth talked, Ryu was getting more and more annoyed, his scythe shaking in his hands slightly as he tried not to snap at all of them. "Thats it!" He said loudly having taken all he could take and swung the scythe, neatly beheading a number of them in the one stroke. The fire pulsed with each contact with thier skin it made and enveloped both the neck and head, frying the ends and catching the liquid before it had time to drip. "Enough talk!" He said holding the scythe menacingly in his hands as the monsters faught with a new purpose to get at him, the ropes loosening as thier now limp comrades slumped on top of the alive ones. ""One of you may as well fetch the village elder while I finish." He half said half grunted as he swung his weapon again, neatly decapitating more till only a few were left.

"Nope, no idea. Anybody got paper and something to write with? I want to try something more." How much of these people's intelligence degraded? Could they still recognize some symbols. For now, charcoal and pieces of wood would have to do. Writing 'name?' on the wood, she held it up so that the men could see it. "Name? Name? Name?" She passed one of them a piece of charcoal and wood. Which he immediately threw back. And she passed it to some of the others, but got basically the same result.
"No common sense." But then Ryu interrupted. "You don't seem to have any either. While this is good, wrong timing." She blew a flame towards him. "Next time, give warning. You are becoming a monster yourself, in what your people's words. Which I think are still stupid."

"You wont get answers like that anyways." Ryu said as he finished up. Finally the last head flew and he pulled his scythe back, the flames retracting back into his arm. "Ive been a monster for a long time now." He said, sliding the scythe back into position on his back. "Now watch and learn" Ryu added, eyebrow raised as he untied one of the men. When he was out, it took a minute longer but Then Ryu found his head and he pulled both of them away from the giant pile. Slowly he took his scythe back out and began to etch something onto the floor before throwing the body and head into it. Ryu began to murmur unknown words then, his hands held over both the symbol and body, till he clapped and suddenly the flames rushed down and engulfed the entire area of the symbol, the body and head being lost to sight. A minute later the body stood up slowly, its head cradled in his arm as the flames retracted. "He might still be brainless but maybe we can get something out of him without having our heads bitten off."

A droplet of the crystalline blood of one of the creatures splashed on the wooden floor near Elizabeth's hind paws. With a sickening sizzle, it burned a hole in the wood. Elizabeth yipped in surprise and leapt backwards away from the smoking hole.
It would have been laughable, if the situation weren't so dire.

"Tch... emo resurrection king..." Surprisingly, Ayu wasn't really all that disgusted. She was still bored and contented herself to sketch on the wood. "Well, ask him a question and see if he can answer it."

Disgusted by their behaviour, Zeke left and went to the back of the kitchen. He was a mercenary, a man who made a living out of fighting - and killing, yet watching those people's eagerness... it made him feel so hollow. Screams pouring forth from the chamber told him exactly when they had made the killing moves, and Zeke could only grit his teeth as he felt his temper flare. "Damn it, Rion, where are you when you're needed the most?!" He had a feeling that the boy would be able to explain a lot of things to him, if not everything.

With a snap of his gloved fingers globes of light appeared, hovering at each corner of the empy kitchen as he walked about, sniffing the air. Beneathe the usual scent of spices and such, it lurked there. He began investigating and he realized that the light did not glow correctly for him on most of the jars around the room. Tainted? He thought to himself as he walked forward and reached for one. A bottle of vingar was to his left, and he reached for it. Popping out the cork he let the pungent smell of the liquid wash over him, and then expectedly, the strange smell that he could not quite recognize. He poured some of the liquid out onto the floor and let the dark liquid splash freely about... nothing. He left the bottle and investigated more of the substances about the kitchen.

When he turned about to head to another section of the kitchen, however, he realized that the surface of the puddle seemed to reflect light at various odd angles. Kneeling down onto the floor, Zeke saw that it had crystalized. He took the vinegar with him and walked out once again. "You know what those creatures were?" He asked curtly, sparing a glance at the dead creature. "I think I may have found the source of contamination... most of the ingredients have been tampered with in the kitchen, mostly the liquids." He showed them the bottle of vinegar, and poured some more onto the floor demonstrate his point. "Watch, it crystalizes. If that's how they lost their humanity, through digesting the food, then I doubt we may get much answer out of the... corpse."

He hated Necromancers - the dead, in his opinion, should stay dead.

[[btw, I don't think their blood is acidic... I thought Rion said it simply crystalized with extended exposure to air.]]

Izumi had turned away, wide eyed at the realization what Ryu was about to do, the screams and chopping noises she knew even then would give her nightmares despite the fact she knew it had to be done. She remained turned once it stopped and the others started talking, scared to see the actual damage.

From what Izumi could tell Ryu was doing something to get them to talk, but how? Didnt he just chop them up? She didnt even want to turn around to find out as she began to shake noticeably, her hands over her ears. At Zeke's entrance though she promptly stopped and tried to get ahold of herself once again. This was stupid, she was acting like a weak damsel in distress who had never seen people killed before. Taking in a breath and eyes squeezed shut she turned around and pretended to know exactly what was going on. At Zeke's words though, he eyes flew open in shock. "Then why hasnt the food effected us?" She asked now wanting to look at him so as to block her vision from the pile of dead.

"Either the alcohol killed whatever was tainting my drink, or the person meddling with the food never got around to it." Zeke said with an easy shrug, not too worried about his own well being. "The cake was probably made before he, or she, or it even got here, and as for the tea, the water - damn."

He swore rather vehemently at that particular moment as he realized that none of the water in the kitchen had been tainted - a strange exception that he failed to understand until that moment. "The water wasn't tainted - probably because the kitchen uses it up so fast that only the original source was of concern. I bet Mia has easy access to one - none of the water storage devices were extremely big. There's probably a well or more unfortunately, a stream behind this building." And that means the entire town might be corrupted by this time tommorow. But he didn't want to say the dreaded words aloud, as if their very utterance would make the event irreversible and the catastrophe unavoidable.

((crystals are the precipitate when you mix an acid and a base. they can sometimes be acidic themselves, depending on the crystal in question))

"Remind me to start drinking alcohol more often then," Elizabeth remarked dryly. "May I have a whiff of that tainted vinegar? It might help us find out who is behind what's behind this."
She held out a forepaw to take the vinegar container from Zeke.

[[Dang... You are smart.... *is totally lost with the crystal information*]]
"If that stuff is all over the town, I think I might just.... Urg..." Just the thought of all those toxins made her feel sick. "I'm not going to smell that where ever I go. I'm going to stay here, thanks. I'm better at the scene of a mass murder than with the smell of that stuff. I wonder if they have any jerky in the kitchen..."

Izumi had started to calm down at Zeke's words, until he suddenly swore. "What? What?!" She half yelled paling noticeably running up and gripping Zeke by the armor. "What was wrong with the tea?!" Did it matter how much she drank? Izumi knew she had only drank about half the cup and the rest had spilled but what if it didnt matter? She suddenly felt like she had to throw up.

Izumi was just about to when Zeke's next words lessened her concern. If what he said was true, then Mia hadnt possibly filled the containers up since the water had been contaminated. She might be in the clear. Izumi released Zeke, placing her hand over her mouth, shaking again as she fell into a nearby chair. It seemed she reallyhad almost made herself throw up. "So we have to find this source?" The words came out faint from behind Izumi's hand as she looked up between Elizabeth and Zeke. This had been too long a night.

((i took chemistry twice, since I failed it the first time. i managed to get the highest grade in chemistry for the second semester this past school year))

"Goddess willing, we won't have to burn down the entire village," Elizabeth remarked as she sniffed the vinegar.
She made a face, wrinkling her nose.
"Why can't evil smell like chocolate cake just once!?!"

[[Uh, I thought when you mix acid and base you'd get a neutralized solution? And plus in this case 'crystalizing' simply referre to the fact that the molecules of the substance would shift to form tight orderly patterns on contact with air...]]

"Calm down - the original source of this contamination is probably long gone by now, if it's smart." Zeke said as he eased himself away from Izumi as he handed the vinegar to the werewolf, out of range from any further possible outbursts from the girl to avoid being clung to once again. It was rather... uncomfortable. "I didn't take you for one to easily succumb to hysterias..." He muttered with a smirk at Izumi before turning his eyes about to scan the faces of all the people about him. "If I were the one doing all of this, I would've taken my escape when all the employees were herded out into the open."

"Either we find a fast way to reverse what's happening - if there is a way - or we have to warn the townspeople before they start drinking the water."

[[I'm taking that next year. Any pointers? n___n]]
"Because chocolate cake doesn't make us sick to our stomachs when we smell it. Though it would be better if it smelled like strawberries. Blood isn't too bad though. A little metallic, nothing anybody would really be bothered by. Anyways, we can just go about yelling at them, and if we have to, we may need to resort to our 'guardian' status."

((I remember learning about the neutralized solution part in Chemistry. It can only remain acidic if its a mixture between a stong Acid and a weak base.
Edit @hatake: Study DD: OMG it was so hard, I barely made an A. after I didnt do much first semester. Second semester came around and I was like Oh shizz This is hard! Basically the most important thing to know, how to balance Equations!))

Izumi frowned at Zeke, trying her best to recover as she was now faced with the pile of dead people. "Theres a lot about me you dont know." She muttered back, looking away again and uncovering her mouth in order to cover her eyes. She couldnt remain in this building much longer.

"Well we've been discussing a way to reverse it for the past hour." She said standing up, one hand still over her eyes. "At this point its best to let the village know whats happened and wipe our hands of this unfortunate matter." And with that she started feeling ahead as she slowly but surely made her way to the door blindly.

((don't ask me, I was actually had to ask my mother about whether crystals can be acidic. she said it depends on the type of crystal))

"Then let's warn the townspeople that they will become rabid* if they drink the local water," Elizabeth replied. "'Cause I highly doubt it's reversible."
She pocketed the container of vinegar for experimenting on later. She hoped to find a way to turn the vinegar into a viable weapon against Arubeil.

*a condition in which a werewolf craves the flesh of sentient life; also used to describe a werewolf exposed to the Gene

[[lol I thought Chem was fun. The lab reports are the worst things but they get you ready for college... if you plan on doing science related stuff.]]

"Your Guardian status," Zeke said a bit contemptiously, his lips curled in a sneer. He stared after Izumi as she tried to stumble to the door and with a sigh, took her shoulders and steered her towards the portal. "Let's just hope that they'll listen to your words when they learn that you're a Guardian, though I would say that it's best if you hire heralds - if there are any - to do the job, and give them a darn good reason why they shouldn't drink the water. Estelle?" He called as soon as he was out of the doors, letting go of Izumi as he looked about in the darkness. "Should we go find Rion now?"

((too bad we can't get kamui to cause a drought or...wait that gives me an idea!!))

"I should be the one to tell them. I'm the Nature Guardian after all. I should be able to come up with a plausible reason for not drinking the water," Elizabeth remarked, her voice clearly indicating her doubt in that actually happening.
She began to stride towards the door, then stopped suddenly.

((I didnt do any lab reports D: -thinks she missed out now-))

Any other time Izumi wouldve laughed at the fact Zeke had to guide her towards the door but now wasnt really a time for it. "I doubt this place would have Heralds." Izumi pointed out as she stood on outside, seeming to breathe a little easier now that she wasnt surronded by that smell and the corpses. At Zeke's question Izumi looked away. If she went to find Rion then she would have no choice but to tag along in these Guardian games. She knew she had to delay this at least as long as she could.

Izumi was about to start walking again when Elizabeth walked up and the blue haired girl had to curse under her breath. Elizabeth had a point, now Izumi was stuck with no other reason to not look for Rion. "Alright then Elizabeth. Id just let Mia and the help know. They could spread it afterwards." She stated, finding it doubtful they could gather the whole town at this time of night. Izumi glanced back up at Zeke, still slightly pale enough to be evident in the darkness. "I guess we probably should then, while she tells the town."

((i stopped in my tracks for a reason...I need some one to ask me what's wrong, since I can't ask myself what's wrong, what with kamui in the orphanage still at the moment))

[[Sorry guys... I'm kinda in a major writers block right now... I'll try Dragoness. ^^]]

"Elizabeth, it is possible to walk outside, and I know that you remember how to walk, so what is the problem?" Ayu was developing a cynical side. One bad thing about Ayu, she seemed to absorb qualities from people and things around her. And, she just acquired Ryu's personality. Terrific. I'm Ms. Emo. This has got to be one of the worst qualities I've gotten...