MISSION: Central and the Fall of Power

Argh... What was taking these guys so long? Apos was running out of cigarettes... He pulled the box out of his pocket, ready to light another one. Empty. The fucking box was empty! Well wasn't that great?! He'd only bought the damn thing that morning! Like, two hours ago! And it was a huge box of the suckers too! He sighed, and threw the empty cigarette box into the trash. What now? He looked left, he looked right. Nobody else was in the cafe, it seemed. He shrugged, and pulled a ball out of his pocket.

With a small whistle, he started to throw it into the air, and catch it again. Every few seconds, he threw it, and caught it. Throw, catch, and so on and so forth. The ball landed in his palm for the 45th time. Okay, he was bored now. Putting the ball back into his pocket, Apos tried to peek into the cafe to see what was going on. Well, nothing, it seemed. Just a whole lot of people. And some pretty cute ladies to add to the mix. Waitasec... He cautiously walked into the cafe, and studied the man sitting in there. It looked like Spade. But he wasn't flirting. He was just having coffee. And it didn't smell like liquor. Then he remembered one more thing. The car. It was black. Spade's was green! DAMNITALL!

He knelt down to the man with the sweetest, yet most evil smile he could muster.

"Where... is... Spade?" The man was just flustered, and instantly gave him the right address. Huh. So he was on the other side of the city? Fucker. The man suddenly BURST out of the cafe, and began running at an unnatural speed.

"AEEERIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!" Skirts were blown into the air, and newspapers were sent everywhere. And as he finally reached the cafe, he noticed Acra, Shula and a couple of other people conversing outside.

Hell-o beautiful. He was about to go and flirt with the pretty blond thing... But he had something else to attend to FIRST. He stormed into the cafe, and stood behind Spade, a slightly malicious grin on his face.

"Oy, Shovel! Mind telling me what I was supposed to be doing on the OTHER SIDE OF TOWN?" His eyes were on fire, and his fists were clenched. One thing was for certain. Apos was PISSED.

Reila Tsukino, head of Fort Briggs, Ice Queen of the North, Lieutenant General second only to the Fuhrer, and one of the kindest normal girls you'd ever meet rolled from her bed with hair that stuck up in just about every direction. Last night...she had stayed up late. No, she wasn't that normal; it was paperwork she had been doing. Ever since Fort Briggs' renewed treaty with Drachma, many soldiers requested a transfer. This was surprising to Reila. And she again, lost her second in command. The strawberry blonde had legit face-palmed when she heard the shocking news. It seemed...the position was very much cursed.

Dulled golden eyes sulked into the mirror. She ran impossible fingers through the tangles, and eventually gave up. She needed a shower anyway. The last time had been--oh shit. When was the last time? Suddenly she was struck with sharp pain: cramps. Wonderful. She punched the wall lightly and made a face. Today sucked. She could feel the onslaught of a headache as well. This could only mean one thing!! Something else was going to happen; something big. She narrowed her eyes and stepped behind the shower curtain, blasting the immortal Briggs hot water.



Reila stepped out wrapped in a pink, pokadotted towel. It wasn't her's. It also matched her office door. She sighed and flipped her drying hair out of the smaller towel, tossing it at the rack without looking. She stalked to her wooden dressed and creaked open the drawer, staring into it until she realized that she was supposed to wear her uniform. Ugh... not today. She kicked the drawer closed with her foot and stalked over to the closet, staring at the hangers propelled by gravity. Another sigh later and she was dressed in her uniform save for her beloved skirt. Today was a pants day for obvious reasons that everyone can go to hell for thinking lightly of. She chose a customized (Everything of Reila's was in some way customized; she would go to get her laundry and find it missing. Later, she would discover it in the science department, transformed for various reasons.) pair of military pants. These were more like cargo pants than anything else, what with the huge pockets, buckles, and huge black leather belts that crossed in X's around her, adorning pouches to hold things as well as a clip for her tachi. What? They were comfortable... Today had to be a comfort day dammit.

She exited her room, still wet hair spiraling behind her in elaborate, natural curls. She entered the training room and for a second thought she was back in the shower. What...was going--oh wait. It was Houka. Who else would it be? She sighed at her own slowness and massaged her temples. Today was going to be a long day...

"Yoshi~~" she called into the abyss of mist.

"Hyuhyu~ So Spade Aeries has sided with Kyle after all ne~" Celes replied with the same sing-song voice as always. He watched the exchange between the two military personal, one named Shula Brighton and the other Acra Schiwatas, and was silently revolted. Indeed a very good relationship, however... He viewed with searing blue eyes as the man known as Acra showered Alena, the blonde beauty (under Kyle as well) with unprecedented praise. Celes took a deep breath and looked the other way. Killing him here would serve no purpose, but hinder the overall plan as well as tarnish his unknown reputation. He pocketed his hands nonchalantly and looked up at the blue sky of which he was very aware matched his eyes to the pixel. Karis had had the same eyes as him, but now they were burned to nothing. A bitter smile washed over his lips, unlike his usual, meaningless smiles. This one held a strange sadness.

"I supposed you two are waiting for him to come out of that cafe over there?" He pointed to the far off building and beamed to cover his previous facadal error. Then he motioned to the lady with a thumb like a little kid who was bragging that this was his mother. "I'm following her."

A man walked up. No, it wasn't a man, it was a cleaner; one of those people that cleaned up throw up, spilled beer, and-- wait... this was a cafe. Spade's mind had been not in the gutter, but in the bar. He was so in need of one, that his mind had strategically tricked him into believing that he was in one momentarily. It was a lie! A lie!! Aeries' world was now turned upside down and everything as he knew it was going to-- wait... that was taking it a bit too far. Spade sat up straighter and flashed his trademark, crooked smile at the cleaner. Then, very politely, he spoke, "Dude, we're obviously not done here, can't you see that we're in the middle of a conver--"

Shit and a line break for significance.

It seemed that Spade's wonderful distract-Apos-for-a-good-two-hours-at-a-fake-meeting-place-until-he-notices had failed...epically. The lovely playboy almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the fume-enhanced version of his name. Except... that wasn't his name but the ridiculous nickname that the idiot insisted on referring to him as. No wonder the monkey always lost at cards and never landed a woman: he mixed up spades with some strange suit conversion called 'shovel'. How fail. Spade rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses and pushed them further up his nose to look both annoyed and cool at the same time. He took a drag of the last bit of his cig and blew the smoke up into the air with a sigh. "Yo,Saru." He stood up, breezing around the cleaner dude to get a better look at monkeyman's fail. "Way to mess up my plans. There was a dire reason for you to be there."

Houka moved through the mist towards the sound dispelling the mist slowly as she went until she was merely covered in a thin layer giving her an air of mystery. She stared at it for a moment and then dispelled that as well. She would have to remember that. It could discourage opponents if she looked scary. "Mist monsters. Convert the mist in certain ways to create the illusion of beasts and trick the opponent into thinking i'm in other places." she said to herself, it would be a good idea if she could work it. She saluted to Reila and smiled.

"Morning." she said. "Don't mind me. I'm just trying to develop every aspect of my alchemy into combat and creating new things based on the principles." Houka's attire had been customised so that it was more aero-dynamic and cut through the mist better. It also allowed her to reach higher speed. "My hair seems to be slowing me down."

Riku didn't get surprised from Spade's reaction. It was only natural, that people would think a person who had cleaned that cafe for hours for an ordinary cleaner. But that just proved how good Riku was at this. He didn't answer quite yet to that interrupted sentence. Mainly because he turned towards the person who interrupted it. Anyone would have been able to tell, that that person was extremely annoyed. Also, for some odd reason, Spade had just called him a monkey. Whatever the case was, Riku decided to explain his presence to Spade before more wondering could occur. ''I would like to cut into this conversation and explain my reason to be here, Mr. Spade''. He reached for the inner side of his black vest, which was located over his white shirt, and pulled out a small bladed weapon. It was thin enough for not to be easily noticed by others. Riku put it on the table. ''I work for Kyle. And your awareness seems to drop after one threat is stopped''. Riku assumed that this would be enough to extinguish questions.

The train screeched to a halt as at reached the station, a crowd of people waited at the side, ready to board the train themselves or to meet up with family or friends getting off. Simple handshakes among business associates, long embraces between family members, and blatant displays of affection between lovers, none of these things awaited Josef Draper as he stepped down from the passenger car he had sat in for the past four and a half hours. It was an exhausting trip, but certainly rewarding. Josef had spent the last few weeks on a sort of vacation to the country of Xing. He had been looking forward to that wonderful occasion for months, and he finally got the leave he needed to make the trip. The ridiculous amount of paperwork Josef had to take care of in preparation keep him grounded for weeks before he could make his planned trip. Spade was so insistent that Josef leave as soon as possible, being the fun loving boss he was, but Josef knew better than just to leave his post for that long without squaring everything away, so he filed reports until his hands were covered in sores. Well Josef got his leave, flew out for Xing, traveled out into the country-side to live with and old man and his family on a rice farm. The old-man helped Josef improve his martial arts and his kind family helped him improve his Xingese to the point where he was capable of reading every book in their house, which he did! In return, Josef helped out on the farm and run errands in town. It was all such splendid fun!

But here Josef stood, now back in Central, back to the paperwork, back to the daily grind of work. But Josef was happy to do that kind of stuff, it was calming and peaceful. It was the war Josef hated, despite his abilities as a tactician, Josef dreaded the possibility of war, but thats what came of working in the military. How did he ever get caught up in such a career?

The scholar of Central then set off, luggage in tow, ready to collapse on his bed back home, well, after a nice hot meal of course. Josef got a lot of stares as he shuffled down the busy streets of Central City, and why wouldn't he? Having just came back from Xing, Josef was actually wearing a nice black Xingese style silk jacket with matching pants that his host family had given to him, but even those who might have just suspected a Xingese tourist would be confused to see the Cretarian-descended Josef in such attire. Josef's luggage actually consisted of only rather large backpack, the contents of which included a change of clothes, several books, and a couple bottles of Chinese rice liquor for Spade (Which he had requested. Actually Spade had requested two things, the rice liquor and a nice beautiful Xingese woman. Of course the latter was not obtainable). Speaking of Spade, in had been over almost a month since he had spoken to the self proclaimed "playboy". Perhaps Josef would pay him a visit before day's end, just to say hello and maybe catch up on recent happenings in Central.

Speak of the devil! Josef thought spotted the man from the corner of his eye as he passed by a cafe. He stopped in his tracks and squinted to get a better look in. "A-ha! It certainly is you, isn't it? I'd recognize that shady attire and trademark shades anywhere!" he exclaimed in Xingese, simply out of habit, which caused a few pedestrians to give him an odd stare. But wait....what was Spade doing in a cafe when there was a nice bar down the street? Was that not Spade after all? Josef crept closer to get a better look, maybe the exhaustion, hunger, and glare from the sun was playing tricks on his eyes. As he drew closer to the cafe entrance, Josef noticed the man who he assumed was Spade speaking to several people at the table he sat at. He recognized the man standing behind Spade as one of his subordinates, though Josef had never really spoken to him. But the others, they were unknown to the scholar, he certainly had never seen them before. They sort of gave Josef a bad vibe, they certainly weren't with Spade for pleasantries, no, as he observed the situation more carefully it seemed all too serious.

Josef quickly changed the direction in which he was walking, turning away from Spade and the shady group he was sitting with and instead heading towards a table in the corner nearby. He was careful to keep himself from drawing attention to himself, sitting at and angle at which Spade could not see him. Josef knew better than to interrupt his superior officer during what could be something direly important. "He's in civilian clothes....." Josef mused quietly to himself as he analyzed the situation, still speaking in Xingese. He doubted the people he was meeting with were in the military anyway, they didn't seem like and there would be no need to hold a private meeting in public if it was between military personal, not unless conspiracy was the subject, which knowing Spade's involvement in the coup of Creta, perhaps it was. Josef's paused for a moment, realizing just how far he was taking this coincedintial situation. He smiled faintly to himself, reaching into his bag for one of his books. Conspiracies? That was a bit too much. While it was true that Josef was out of Spade's reach for quite sometime, and wouldn't really know if he had got himself caught up in anymore schemes, it was highly unlikely that Spade was dealing in such serious matters. Yet still, Josef felt an overwhelming desire to investigate the meeting anyway. Burying his nose in the Xingese novel he had drawn from his bag, Josef kept his face hidden so that the shady characters sitting opposite of Aeris would not be able to read his expression while he was in deep contemplation.

Josef listened intently, hoping to catch a few words in order to properly assess the situation. Hopefully Spade just happened to decide to go out with a few friends who just happened to look overly serious and just a bit suspicious, maybe Josef was just so tired that he mistook an innocent outing for something else. But as Josef's curiosity dictated, he would have to confirm this before he set out for home again. Ignorance was far from bliss in Josef's mind.

Misty... Damn. The redheaded Alchemist yawned and rubbed his eyes calmly in the Training Area, now full of Houka's mist. He'd seen Reila walk into there earlier, and decided to, after he'd taken a good long shower, see what was going on. Most people... wouldn't be able to see past their own noses. Dai sighed softly, and clicked his fingers a couple of times. He wasn't too worried about not being able to see... But his hair!

As the magnetic field around his body grew, he walked into the mist, the water particles in the air moving away from his body like there was an invisible force field around him. He still couldn't see a thing... But at least he'd stay dry. A small laugh left his lips, and he suddenly sat down, closing his eyes and breathing in deeply.

"Mist monsters. Convert the mist in certain ways to create the illusion of beasts and trick the opponent into thinking i'm in other places." Houka's voice. Somewhere in the room. He still couldn't tell exactly where... It was too open, too much echo messing up his hearing. The redheaded Alchemist shrugged lightly, and laid down on his back. He couldn't be bothered getting up, he was actually quite comfortable right here. If they found him, they'd find him. Then again, it'd be quite funny for them to hear him... He smirked lightly, and started to sing...

"Pokarekare ana... ngā wai o Waiapu, Whiti atu koe hine marino ana e..." The slightly chilling folk song spread through the mist, and Dai smiled to himself as he sung... in his "okay" singing voice. They'd find him, eventually...

{OOC - Translation Notes: "They are agitated the waters of Waiapu, But when you cross over girl they will be calm..."}

Drabble. All it was. Meaningless. She knew what they were after. It seemed that Spade agreed. Good. Made things easy. Looked over to Kyle. Nothing showed. Sudden shout. Shovel? Ah. He was referring to Aeries. Looked coldly at man. Blond. Idiot. Easy kill. Not that it mattered. Not part of job. Sighed. Turned head to table. Another person. Tried to look at man. Didn't work. Too far to turn. Uncharacteristic. Reverted to position. Felt handgun on thigh. Weight was good. Stared coldly at Spade. Nothing else to do.

"We need to do this fast. Who knows what will happen." Voice was flat. Emotionless. Tried to hurry things up. Used to slow processes. Unusual for her. Looked out window once more. Strange. Blonde man. Different one. Who was he. Oh. Right. Celesto. Another person in her team. Strange. He seemed... different. He seemed... very different....

*10100010111110110001011001000111011111*

Ugh. Headache. Looked back at man. Just seemed normal again. Strange. What happened. Confusion. A new emotion, but not unknown. Sigh. Stretch. Looked back at Kyle. Nothing yet. What was happening?

{OOC - Random Numbers = Emotional Inhibitors in Action}

Kaoru was sitting on the train it had been about a week since he left northcity in the slopey state that he was in riped shirt pcut pants a stab wound which had practically healed up and i scar on his arm from the cut the woman gave him that beautiful and mesmerizing woman. Kaoru bearly even had a chance to get changed from his clothes since he left in a hurry fromm north city where his events with that woman alena Kaoru had managed to buy a black trench coat would reached down about mid calf at one of the station stops=. then the Train had finally made it to its destination and as the train screeched to a holt making that unbearable noise. With Sword in hand Kaoru rushed up a burst out of the train doors as soon as they were opened which made him break out into a sprint to get a few thing which he needed to get done so he could do what teh beautiful and mesmerizing woman had so kindly asked him to do well after the beating which left him rather agitated and quite annoyed more then usual in the large crowds on the large city of central KAoru rushed to that damn apartment which that damn abandoning adopted father of his.

It had been a few hours from when he had entered teh apartment and where he was now many things had happened well only one thing but it made Kaoru head spin with the whole craziness of the whole situation. Sine that is all over Kaoru can now do what hw had plan to do get revenge on that woman since Kaoru new that the man that spade of course KAoru had no idea had teamed up with but Kaoru did know that he would get close to the person how he had to issue his own revenge to which was brilliant Kaoru didnt care what Spade did jsut as long as he got what he wanted which was revenge on that beautiful and mesmerzing woman called alena. Kaoru with his sword in the usual place and his mind on the woman which would feel his wrath.

Kaoru walked past the cafe where Spade was supposedly ment to be and KAoru glanced into the Cafe as he walked past and Kaoru saw the group of people there but the person who was Spade didnt seems to be Spade the person seemed different maybe becuase he's in a Cafe not a Bar and he was wearign a colour he really didnt wear but what Spade was doing had nothign to do with KAoru and he keeped walking on his way down the road

‘Alena…’ The name had such a sweet tone to him. Suddenly she had reached up and placed her soft dainty hands to his face. He felt his cheeks flare up and his lip crooked into his charming smile. He didn’t want to brag but he had an handsome face and rather fine hair. Quite prince charming like as his mother had always called him for a pet name. He smiled to Alena. He stood to his full height which was rather tall and smiled to her. “It’s a pleasure to meet such a fine woman.” He charmed.

Flicking his eyes to shula she seemed angry about something. ‘What have I done now?’ he taught but shook it off. “How about after this….affair is over with I treat you to a nice meal out…anything you want all on me.” He offered feeling a bit over confident. But no one else was offering the fine lady a nice meal out.

Official Statement: NO WIP ALLOWED.
Post...or be OVER-POSTED! D<

And keep it going people. There is NO order. Don't wait for people who are busy, slow, and unproductive!

(OOC: Yeah thats right I posted XD.)

Today had been kind of a regular day for Brigadier General Tataki Masu. He came into the He woke up at 4:00am and began exercising, a few crunches, pull ups, sit ups and etc. He then showered off the scum of yesterday and then ate a relatively "good" breakfast. He then proceeded to work. The day was rather normal, mostly paperwork though that was to be expected. He actually managed to finish early today which made things go by rather slow. He thought the day go on forever...well, thats until a idiot thought it would funny to light the building on fire. It was caught and put out in time and the man was caught after being chased down with no mercy. After Tataki put the fear of god into the man and was sure he would never do it again they threw him into one of theholding cells to stew. A few hours in there would do him some good. At least, thats what Tataki thought.

Today was going to be a long but at least they didn't have to deal with that everyday. Tataki thought to himself as he cracked open a book. The book was entitled "Cute things" not that he would ever let anyone read the title as he had taped paper over the cover as if to protect but it was more to protect others. He might have to kill them if they saw it, he thought kinda chuckling to himself.

Lucas looked over to eclair when she entered. "come in. lock the door behind you. I just wanted to go over the emergency plans with you. I'm sure that many people have gone over what to do in-case of a fire, and the like but this office has a couple of special programs that can be enacted by any of the high ranking horsemen." as he was saying this he walked around his desk and sat down at it and pulled out a folder and handed it to Eclair. “in summary, this plan occurs after a unlawful takeover of the current government. If that is to occur then the horsemen are to disband and I will be heading to Rush Valley further information will be given upon arrival to the address listed in the folder. Understand? We can have no slip ups with this one. Give it a read over and ask any questions that you might have.”

Apos put his hand onto Spade's shoulder, an eerie grin on his face.

"Do you think I'm that stupid, that I wouldn't think there was a dire reason for me to be there? It was so I didn't screw anything of yours up, right?" His eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head to the side, watching Aeries carefully. That bastard... he seemed to forget that Apos' level of intelligence was almost on par with his! He sighed softly, and then walked past him to that strange man from before. He hadn't noticed anything earlier, and he didn't now, either. He looked at the other woman at the table, and realized that there was nothing different about her too. Strange... He looked around the room, and saw nothing else out of the ordinary.

"Look, it's obvious that there's something you don't want me to know, so I'll get out of your hair, alright?" The blonde sighed, and walked out of the building and into the street. Those people that were with Spade, Apos was suspicious of the lot of 'em. Ah, well. It didn't matter. If Spade trusted them... then he'd try and get along with them. The blonde shrugged, and walked down the road to a dairy. He went to the counter, and sighed softly, pulling about 2000 cenz out of his pocket and handing it to the store-owner.

"Packet of Royal Blues, please. Extra strength." He was handed a blue box of cigarettes, and as he left the room, a voice came out from behind him causing him to turn sharply.

"Beware the man with the moving face." Apos blinked, and then left the room once more, walking out onto the street with a soft sigh. Things were strange, and the man had to know more. But how? Spying a costume shop across the street, he smiled roguishly.

Time Skip - Five Minutes Later

A bearded man in large shades and a brown trench-coat walked into the cafe, and looked around the room. There was Shovel and his group, now where to sit? Ah, a nearby table? Aha. He went to sit order a coffee, and received his number, taking a seat near Spade and his group. He would now sit there and listen in. Hopefully Spade wouldn't recognize him, because he didn't really feel like incurring the wrath of his rival.

Houka heard Dai's song and smirked briefly before finishing the full dispelling of the mist except the the exact area where the sound had emanated. Dai's face. Currently he looked like a human with a cloud for a head and Houka's could not help laughing. Then it gave her an intriguing idea. A new way to use her mist. If she could put it around an area, in this case dai's head and rapidly cool it to turn the mist into ice. She smiled. Done the right way she could create an air pocket for the person to breathe for a short while, suffocate them, incase another area, maybe a hand or a weapon in order to disarm a target.

"Mist is a very useful form of liquid would you not agree Reila?" she asked her commanding officer and in a non-biological way...big sister. That was how Houka thought of Reila and she knew Reila thought of her as a sister as well. "For stealth, combat and as Dai just demonstrated...comedy." She treated Dai like a brother, not only because he was close to Reila, but because it just felt right to treat him that way. She technically outranked him, but she would never give him orders unless it was in dire need.