Five of a Kind.

It was the hour of dusk when the imp, Afreet, stepped foot once more into the capital city of Bathlaszarhara. Using his hand to fiddle with it, he tightened his turban a pulled it down far below his brow. Being an outlaw, he was used to being assailed by guards should they ever see him, but this was the only city in the country where he was wary of the lingering eyes and crooked smile of the merchants and citizens alike. You couldn't walk down two corners without a bounty board or jailer's shop listing dozens of pictures and sketches of various criminals. While the normal passerbye might not focus on anyone in particular of those faces, Afreet's eyes were drawn to a picture of his everytime he saw it, even if it was partially covered or slightly torn. Why? Because his visage was the only one to grace those boards without a listed name. He couldn't help but dwell as to whether that would cause people to remember him any better amongst all those scars and snarling faces.

Passing bye the guard stations coming into the city had not been too much of a hassle, especially when you've made yourself purposely dirty enough that no guard would want to get close enough to check. Speaking of which, the smell and grime was beginning to draw a few wayward glances, which was counter productive. His first goal was to find a place with sufficient public bath arrangements. Bathlaszarhara didn't have public bathhouses, too bulky, and there was only enough flowing water in the city to support one way movement, clean water goes in, dirty... water comes out. This meant that unless you were rich you had bath with buckets and the like. Afreet was rich enough, but it was something he would want to be tagged as walking down public streets alone.

Alone, the thought plagued him, there was not enough movement down the streets as of now, most citizens were smart enough to stay clear of market passages towards the end of the day, when merchants and their guards were at their most reactive. There was enough lights coming from various windows and lamps to not stumble down the less-walked streets, but without his horse, Afreet felt uncomfortable being completely alone in this city. A moment later that worry dissappeared, he'd reached the non-residential housing district. Public laybeds for servants line a rigid collumn down one street, and inns townhouse were spread about elsewhere, for those that could afford a room of their own. Afreet made his way toward the most noticeably clean one, which happened to be a large, stone constructure with another, wooden building attached and springing off to the left as well as a wooden upper floor. It was obviously an expanded building, he could tell the original material was atleast as hold as he, while the wooden seemed to be only 5 or 6 years old. Layers of plaster and clay peeled off on the outside, but it had a stone porch that was obviously washed with some decent care. Inside, lights flickered from a common hearth and glasses clinked to the sound of out of tune songs. There was a sense of comfort that radiated from it, which was good, comfortable people didn't ask questions.

He made his way inside, wordlessly he handed a gold coin and 3 smaller, silver ones to an older, fatter man behind the counter. The apparent owner looked at him once, sniffed once and without picking up the coins tossed him a wooden doorsign with a black 5 chisseled into it. Most of the common inns in the capital did not offer keys to their guests, but they had their fair share of reasons to deny that bit of privacy to them. Afreet caught it with both hands and carried it by the rope to the back of first floor. Through a doorway, he found a line of simple, wooden, handleless door numbers scrawled in peeling paint. At the end of it, he could see small amounts of water coming out from the bottom of a slightly larger, numberless door with multiple nails in it. On two of the nails were signs with the numbers 1 and 6 on it. Afreet got the idea.

He stepped inside the fifth room and drew off all his heavier travelling clothing. He pulled out a light, bundled tunic from his bag and put it over himself. He left his clothing on a hard bed in the corner of the room and walked out, carrying the sign and his bag with him. He saw a young, prepubescant girl tread out of the room marked 1 with arm full of clothes and a cloak. She didn't stop to look at him at all, but carried it into another unmarked room at a swift pace. Afreet continued down the hall, when he reached the nailed door he could feel whisps of steam coming from the other side. He hung his sign on a free nail and made his way in.

To his suprise, the inn had actual tubs for use. There were five in the room, placed in a rather chaotic arangement. Simple linens hung from tethers, two of the tubs had these pulled back around to hooks on the other side of their respective tub. Near one of the taken tubs was a large, empty cooking pot. Afreet walked forward a bit, but only a moment later the young girl came back in, seeming to struggle with a matching pot full of hot, steaming water, which she placed on a bench. Making no fuss about it, she grabbed the empty pot and left. Afreet felt a hint of deep respect to someone who was obviously to working incredibly hard, the full pot almost looked as if it weighed more than her.

Afreet took time with his bath, hoping to give them enough time to atleast get started on his clothes. When he eventually returned to his room, his clothes were still gone, but they had provided a dark brown robe, that was patched with leather at places, but clean, as a temporary replacement. Putting it over his clean tunic, he made his way back to the common room. What women had been there when he came in were now gone, but it still had its fair share of tired, working men, drinking and gambling. It was warmer, more comfortable in this room because of the fire, so to pass the time, he sat down at an empty, worn out, wooden table. Scattered around its surface was a collection of cards from an abandoned game of whatever form of gambling this city had probably decided to make illegal. Absent mindedly, he collected the cards and began to shuffle them back into themselves, staring at the fire, and thought.

The sound of the wind rushed past the female as she rode on a black stallion. Her grey eyes remaining hidden under the hood of a large cloak which she wore. As she made her way towards a large city, a smile came over her lips. This was a new area to her, which was always good. Ever since she was younger, Mizu wished to travel and explore the countries around her. However, being young and without money made such a thing impossible. With her new standings of work and the people she knew, it was easier for her to go from location to location and just relax herself over all.

The sound of iron hitting the ground arose like rough heartbeats as the horse trotted to the front gate. The woman was stopped by a guard who insisted on speaking to the female as she came to a silent halt. "Who are you and what is your business here?" He asked the woman who decided to merely remove her hood as her piercing gray eyes looked upon the man. "I'm sorry sir, I am merely a traveler looking for a place to rest for the night. Will your city allow me such things or will I have to camp out in the sand and await bandits to attack my tent?" She spoke calmly but at the same tie with sarcasm. However, it didn't seem that the man noticed. He stepped out of the way and the woman made her way into the city.

Her smooth fingers arched into her hood as she took hold of it and lifted it back onto her head, hiding all but her lips as her companion moved quietly through the market. Her eyes scanned the people who walked past her as they parted to allow her horse passage in the streets. The soft breathing of the horse remained mellow besides the occasional heavy breath at someone at which the horse did not like, merely for their appearance or attitude. A soft laugh came from the woman as her hand extended to the mane of her friend who only seemed to relax to this touch.

As they finished their way through the market place and weaving through people, an opening of the street was obvious to see as the narrow path broadened. The street seemed to the town center, besides the market. She found her way towards an Inn which seemed to be a bit ore eye catching than the others. It was probably because the place seemed a bit cleaner than the rest.

The woman dismounted from her horse and brought it to the stables which were located out back. She left the horse in the stable after comforting it and walked inside. She placed down two gold coins and smiled at the man who seemed to be the owner of the place. He returned the smile as he handed her a doorsign with the number 2 chiseled into it. The woman nodded her thank yous and as the an tried to give her change, she shook her head. "Think of it as extra funding for any future repairs or upgrades. Have a good night." She said before making her way up the stairs.

She entered her room, placing her back, which was located over her shoulder, onto the bed along with her cloak and sighed as a young girl peaked in. Mizu motioned for the girl to come forth, and the girl obeyed. "Young one.. I need you to find me a change of clothes, okay? Anything that you think is pretty. Here. Use this and buy what you think looks pretty for a grown up to wear. Okay? When you buy it, just leave it in my room and keep the rest of the money." She said to the little girl while handing the girl ten gold coins. She knew nothing would cost that much but at the same time, she wanted to see what the young girl would find.

With that done, the young girl smiled before running out to continue working. Mizu smiled and shook her head before making her way out of her room. The idea of a meal sounded good as well as a drink. She made her way down the stairs and towards the opening where she believe there was a bar. Indeed, she was right. Most of the other tables seemed to be full but then the woman noticed a man that seemed to be sitting down and playing with cards aimlessly. She made her way over before placing her hand on the chair across from him. "May I join you?" She asked as her soft gray eyes looked at the male.

The night was young and there was a chill in the air. The town square was slightly more deserted then a young man would have liked his green hair and red eyes seemed to glow in the torch light. His name was Markus and he had arrived in this town early this morning, He had expected there to be some kind of nightlife in this town and found himself slightly disappointed by the lack of one.

Markus muttered under his breath at this rate it wouldn’t be worth grabbing his poi from his travelers bag. For a nomadic like Markus who depended on his performance art to stay alive that was kind of bad. He would have to go without the majority of his funding for the night, eventually the young fire dancer took up his bag and left what center of commerce there was.

This hole town seemed to be surviving off one horse. The tavern and inn that he had passed on his way in. if you would call such a place an inn, as far as he had noticed they didn’t even let you lock the doors. Still he had already set himself up for a room for the day, and as he returned to the only really lively place in town he recognized the smell of smoke.

They had a warm fire going some softer piano music the atmosphere was pleasant and livly. He went to the back entered his room and ditched his travelers bag changing into clothing which wasn’t covered in charcoal, after a small shower. The feeling of warm water against his skin was always nice, but at the same time it just felt awkward. Like if he used too much of the water he would slip and die. Still he was able to change and bath well enough.

Leaving into the front room now in fresh clothing he walked to where a man and a woman were sitting down and about to play cards. He smiled and gave a polite bow to the woman and only a minor nod of his head towards the man. Sitting down in a chair. he cleared his throat. “can you deal me in? I have enough to play a few rounds.”

Markus spoke casually. The two figures at this table were familiar to him but he said nothing of the sort. And only instead presented his money on the table arranging the coins both gold and silver into small and neat piles on the table. What was the fun of playing a few rounds if you didn’t play for keeps? He looked over to the warm fire that they seemed to be sitting next and let out a small sigh. It was nice and warm here all in all good seats.

Afreet snapped out of the dazed expression he'd been carrying when a young girl rushed out of the backhallway connected to their rooms. It took him a minute to remember he'd seen her before. She made quite a scene, she ran up to the owner excitedly. It was obvious they were related, maybe her father or uncle. She tugged on his dirty apron, getting him to lean down. She opened her cupped hands, with a large lump of something shiny... gold?, illuminating her palms. By then, most of the room had gone back to their dedicated path of getting drunk for the night, but from his angle Afreet could see the many taking on an angry expression. He shook the little girl semi-violently, proceeding to snatch the coins out of her hand, before returning a small pinch, two, maybe three, back to her before pushing the young cleaning girl back toward the kitchens. With a mild attempt at subtlety, Afreet saw him relay most of the coins back into the cashbox.

The imp shook his head, he felt a bit sorry for the girl, whose eyes seemed to have watered up a small touch as she ran back to her duties, but this was obviously a business, and the Onochoan people had always been... disciplining towards their children, they had to grow up tough. Afreet could forgive the man for that, atleast the girl was not struck for whatever she had done. Still, Afreet could not help but wonder where she had managed to get that much money and not have the owner know about it. Unconsciously, Afreet's hand slid back behind him to where his satchel hung, he checked the knobby latch on it and tugged it closer to his body for a moment, then, his hand slid up toward his neck, and he began to fiddle with the bottle that hung there for a moment, before it shot down to the table when someone else walked in.

A young woman tapped into the hearthroom from the lodgings areas. She wore a dress, specked with dirt a bit, but still fair kept up. Her entire outfit screamed foreigner, even if the colors slightly matched the Onochoan style. Her dark hair matched, but it was straight, not slightly frayed at the end like the women, even noble women, who spend all day in the burning sun of the country. With her also came a slight whiff of something through the air. It didn't smell like it was meant to be pleasureable and Afreet was having a hard time identifying it. Various men around the room eyed her a bit, including the owner, whose eyes almost showed a sort of nervousness as he began to scrub the counter he'd been working on way to roughly. Afreet looked her up and down, she was beautiful, but nothing special, his race had long since taught that a pretty face didn't mean all the internal machinery worked. Pretty women were either crazy or to much trouble.

Surprisingly, she approached his table, asking to join a game that didn't exist, from a man she had never actually met. Afreet was put off a tad by someone so outgoing, briefly pondering whether she was part of some kind of ...illegitimate business, but quickly tossed the idea out. She didn't match the profile at all, mostly the lack of some kind of painted face

" Yes, ", Afreet's head was zipping around to much to put any kind of spin on the word. When the woman finally took her seat, his mind finally caught up to his nose.

She smelt like two things that were incredibly rare in this desert, old wood, old trees, and sea water. He'd only visited the sea once, and making the connection between the oaks he'd read about and the calm palms that grew on northern side of the desert was a pain. No wonder it'd confused him for a second.

He was began tossing the cards between the two of him, his mind still in the clouds instead on what he was doing, causing the cards going toward the woman to skew off a noticeable bit. He was about to make a witty comment that implied she was a foreigner, when another sensation, not so much his own feeling, but like a newfound emotion sparked up inside, and he found his mind warping back to the moments he had spent with Gil, discussing agents around the known world, and his mouth followed an agenda of it's own, " You smell of the sea... water witch." The words came out harsh, but not angry, Afreet's eyes a bit wide and unfocused. He'd already managed to deal 4 cards to many, when footsteps cut off any chance for the woman to respond.

A man approached their table, making the same request as the woman before him. Feeling a bit akward as began to scramble for the cards on both side of the table to reform the deck, inadvertantly snatching some from the girl. It took a few moments before the sensation flared up again, this time it was warmer though. And even though he'd only turned towards the new man's face once, he felt that he would remember every detail for the rest of his days. " Yes, yes, join us," Afreet managed to spit out, scrambling to reclaim order in the deck. His eyes focused on the work of his hands, he didn't feel like looking up at either of his new guests who had managed to bring to him the tenseness of a great storm within his own mind.

As the woman had made her way into the large room, she noticed the small girl who had run out and seemed saddened but tried not to let such a thing bother her. The female took her seat once the male told her she could and watched him deal the cards. A soft laughter came from her as she noticed he over dealt her hand a well as his own. Her delicate fingers glided over the cards, removing the extras he had given her before clearing her throat slightly.

It was obvious something was bothering the male but she did not wish to pursue his thoughts until she heard him speak. "You smell of the sea... Water Witch." were his words. They did not take the woman back in the slightest. In fact, she liked being called such a thing. The sound of Priestess always seemed too innocent for her liking due to who she worked for. But none the less, she shrugged it off. She parted her lips in order to thank for the name when another figure moved to the table.

The woman's gray eyes looked up at the new guest as she smiled faintly before looking over the cards that she had kept. Her slender digits stroked the back of her cards out of habit, which also was like a good luck card for her. However, she did expect them to think it meant something. A few mind games within a card game were never bad, just entertaining.

The woman decided she had best introduce herself to the new company. After all, it was only kind of her to do so, especially when in a town that she did not completely now nor did she understand the customs of such a place.

She doubted they'd give their names, then again she couldn't blame them. She, however, would remain respectful like a proper priestess. Though, that wouldn't stop her from gambling this night. She placed down three stacks of coins. One being gold and the other two being silver, letting the men know she didn't mind a bit of gambling, before speaking.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two, gentlemen. I am known as Aqua. As for calling me a water witch, thank you. Though I believe the term goes more along Water Priestess. I smell of the sea due to being from Kanto." She stated, speaking slightly of herself though not giving all information to the men. They were strangers after all. However, something about them seemed to be familiar.

The woman paid it no mind as she tried to relax, though couldn't completely. The smell of the fire bothered the female and with sitting so close to it, she couldn't help but feel uneasy. Her eyes remained on her cards to distract her, as well as glancing at sources of liquid around the room. The sight of water or any liquid helped calm the woman in slight portions while she waited on the other two to respond to her words.

These two people weren’t exactly a running riot. as he sat down he couldn't help but notice and ignore the tense feeling he was getting from the other male. for all he knew this could have been some kind of couples date that he had interrupted but then why did it feel like there was about to be a bar fight at the table? Still the woman seemed relaxed enough when her eyes weren’t darting around the room.

when she spoke introducing herself Markus gave a slight nod. Aqua it was an odd name he gathered, but at the same time she was from Kanto, a country which he had always wanted to visit. The elves were from kanto and actually now that he thought about it this girl did seem to have some higher end traits to her body. she was human her ears wern't nearly pointy enough to be an elf, but she had some of there traits particularly in her eyes.

Markus finally pulled himself out of his daydream and smiled a bit the woman had given what he could only help and feel was an alias, and so he responded in kind with his own. “My name is Aduro”

Markus spoke quickly answering her question but then thought about it for a moment. her name aqua meant water, and he gave a small shudder though he couldn’t really smell anything but the smoke in the loungue she did mention that she lived next to the ocean. He did his best to ignore that fact as the two went on.

Markus sighed inwardly looking at his cards the results were promising with an actual pair but he didn’t want to put his money on it just yet. He smiled as he looked over too the woman who also was aligning her money, with any luck there was a chance that Markus could actually remake tonights lost earnings.

Something however didn’t sit right with the man he couldn’t help but breath in as he thought about it, the womans name was aqua the Imp had yet to say his name why then were these two so familiar, and why couldn’t he place that feeling. He tried to distract himself from that uneasy feeling. “Think we should wave over a waitress and get some drinks?”

Markus spoke trying to make some kind of polite conversation what he really wanted to ask was if he had ever meet these two before, but that was a question that couldn’t be asked out loud. at least not here.

The Priestess thing gave it away.

With a sigh, Afreet fell back into his chair, with a bit more relaxation in his shoulders and bit more smugness in his demeanor. He wasn't sure why it seemed he was the only one that could pick up the real underlying static at the table, no one else seemed to be reacting from any latent feelings.

He kept his eyes focused on the elven woman. Yes, she was elvish, the Kanto part gave it away mostly, but even bypassing that, Afreet had all the info he needed on the woman in front of him. He'd been working for Gil for a while, and he was sure he got the same run down any higher up agent/puppet received. This feeling, he a flowing, high pressure feeling coming from ' Aqua ' and a warm, growing and waning one from ' Aduro '. A female water priestess from Kanto who had managed to end up in this leg of , effectively, Aegis territory. Not a coincidence.

He knew who she was, not so much the guy to his right, but by comparing this weird new sense, he could tell exactly what chess piece pretty boy was. He had names of most, if not all known agents, but he admitingly didn't have record of a guy who looked like that, giving off Aegis magical scent embedded in a sense of flame, but it was ok, the devil recognizes his own, now to see if this water witch knew hers.

" My name is Firion, or was it Luneth, maybe Cecil?" He said, chuckling a bit sarcastically, then he leaned forward with his arms crossed, staring the elvish woman straight in the eyes, " Oh, now I remember, my name is Afreet. "

With that, he leaned back, kicking his legs up onto the edge of the table with satisfaction. Without waiting for a reply, he began tossing out 6 cards to the three of them. Hangman's Dare, the game was called, a poker derivative where aces were useless, except you could use one to 'kill' the value of any number or face card before the hands are shown. It was a simple game for those looking to start fights over the table, because half of the strategy was randomly fucking with other players. Afreet wasn't half good enough at it, but he hoped his actual familiarity with it would beat out any foreigners at the table. He felt... cool, lucky. Keeping with this, he arrogantly flagged down one of the barmen for drinks with just a hand and no words, drawing a nasty glare from the balding fellow.

Afreet began humming to himself, waiting for the response from his fellow Aegis comrades.

The woman gave a slight double take at the mentioning of the man's name being Aduro. She slightly shifted in ehr seat, away from the fellow. ~'Really...? His name is fire. Very unlikely. I swear. He's probably another pyro! Great! More fire happy bastards.'~ The woman thought as she placed a smile on her lips for a second before letting it quickly fade.

She noticed there were 6 cards dealt and smiled at the dealer who called himself by the name of Afreet. Something about the an was oddly familiar. She then looked the man's being over once more before letting her eyes slightly widen before quickly closing. ~'Afreet... Aegis? Another one? Really? This should be good.'~ The woman thought before letting her eyes scan over her cards.

This was obviously not any game of poker. Hangman's Dare. Or as she liked to call it, "Asshole". The game was Made mainly to just give people a reason to fight one another and make some cash for doing so. The woman had no problem with that. If the man beside her really was a pyro, she would have no problem putting out his flames with a full downpour of water.

The female's fingers continued to stroke the back of her cards as she heard the an name Afreet hum. He seemed to be suddenly jolly. He probably realized who she was, or decided there was no threat among them. Wither way, the female was rather please. Slowly she relaxed as well, removing thoughts of fire from her entire being as the bartender walked over with their drinks. The woman only smiled at the bartender who in turn nodded rather than glaring as he did to Afreet. She didn't mind this, she just wanted the night to continue.

Afreet the name was familiar he had heard it before that he was sure, and as he thought about it the pieces all seemed to fall into place. they were Aiges! The imp was no doubt the Aiges of wind and the woman well with little she had given away it matched the story of the water Aiges.

She had said that she was a water priestess in Kanto since the shina elves only had one of those and the Aiges of water was currently at work there according to gill it seemed reasonable to guess that she was the same.

Markus looked around the table the simple card game becoming something a little more complicated now. He looked over his hand hangman’s dare he used to play this game with his sister it was an island favorite. Still he hadn’t played in years since his home was washed away. He quickly organized his hand, and noted his pair.

“I have to say that this is kind of interesting meeting the two of you out here in the middle of no where. But tell me water what is a priestess doing out in the middle of nowhere? A woman of the ocean so close to the fire sands, if your not careful you could evaporate.”

He passed two cards face down to the discard pile and threw some of his money as the buy for the new cards. He wasn’t making any kind of threat but rather actually curious about the water priestess. His eyes stared her over for a moment half examining her out of fear, and half examining her out of the fact that she was pleasing to the eye.

It seemed that the three of them were all on the same side for now, and he was at least grateful for that. his eyes glistened with a type of curiosity he wanted to know more not just about the woman but the imp also, it was odd to see one of his type out here, in fact he couldn’t actually think of the last time he had ever seen someone of that race.

Afreet gave little thought to the sly looks that the water witch gave him. It was obvious the pieces were beginning to fall into place in her mind as well, but Afreet would always believe that he'd been the wittiest for discovering their connection first. That said, it was odd, the inner feelings that were sparking up in response to his two Aegis companions didn't seem to be something the three of them shared, it was only the imp. The conundrum rapped at his brain, but he did not let it touch his feverish smile.

He let the words of the pyromancer slide by after he realized what the man was speaking of. All he cared about was that all three of them had come to terms with the current perdicament. That said, he was impressed that the man kept the composure to continue playing the game, unlike the water witch. This one was straight forward, but rude, something Afreet could appreciate. It complimented the rude mentality he was beginning to develop for the other two players, but it was all in good fun of course.

He didn't want to accidentaly piss off two coworkers that he could be working with for upward of 200 years.

Bending over his hand once more after giving the elf enough time to try her hand, though the woman didn't have the descency to actually say pass, he flipped a three over to the discard pile that was beginning to form. Drawing one more card, he was happy with his results. Two pair, 4's and 9's, followed by a king and an Ace. Scratching his chin for a moment in though, he reached, grabbed the Ace and flung it to the table in front of him. " Anyone's Jack is now worthless," He had a bit of strategy to go with this, killing the Jacks usually meant straights, and by extension, Flushes became even rarer throughout the game, and it's not like it actually hurt Afreet to do so.

Watch it, he said to himself, such luck doesn't normally stay for long.

The woman glanced at the man as he spoke of the desert. She only smiled at him, though mainly trying to keep her composure. His statement on her being a woman of water, so close to fire put her a bit off but she ignored it and moved on to respond. "Every desert needs an oasis. Just as every fire can be put out with a bit of water, either at the source or the extension." She said with her smile remaining on her lips.

The woman then glanced at her cards and placed them down. She had two pairs, two 6's and two 3's. As well as having a King and a Jack which was now voided. She didn't mind it though. The woman's body relaxed a bit as she picked up her glass and took a soft sip before placing the glass back onto the surface of the table with a soft tick sound.

The woman's soft gray eyes glanced over the imp, realizing why he said nothing. He wished to not let too much be revealed of himself. She did not mind, her eyes watching the room around her until she heard the soft pitter-patter of feet.

The woman glanced to the side and saw the little girl from before who had a garment in her arms. The woman turned her attention to the little girl who held up a tan and gray dress which was simple and would help the woman blend in with the society more. The woman gently placed her hand on the young girl's head and nodded. "Return it to my room, please. Thank you little one." She said in a kind voice before the little girl ran off to the room. The woman turned back to the men and only smiled for a second before letting her figure relax into her seat.

Markus blinked was the water witch really going to be threatening him? "Against the hottest of flames all water will boil and steam away, but personally I like a good sauna, and a nice warm bath, so why don't we call it a truce water aiges." he said in a low tone.

Markus honeslty didn't mind the woman's tone against him, she was probably the incarnation of water, and as pleasing as she was to look at she probably just like any other body of water. pritty to look at but give it a chance and it will drown you in depth. he looked at the fire for a moment as he shuffled his hand around.

Markus finally yawned and played down his ace. "2's are out." the idea here was that by taking out two of the farthest ranging cards jack's and two's no one could get any real stretch of cards. they could no longer have any straits be them high or low, that and it didn't really hurt his hand which had two three's and three fours.

Afreet smirked and laughed a bit to himself in response to the witch's treatment of the servant girl. He could not help but sympathize with such a young face, but he'd long since learned to keep it behind his face. The Onochoan culture was one of daily grueling tasks unless you were a bandit or militiaman, and then you were risking your life to get ahead a bit. The woman, no matter how much appreciation she showed or gold she gave, would not be able to save that little girl from a lifetime of backbreaking work and cleaning. Hell, looking at her age, she would probably be married off within her next two years. Such was the life of the working class, be glad she wasn't one of those who had to travel alot, atleast working in the city she would appear young for a few more years without the sun directly beating onto her skin each day.

When he finished thinking, the girl had already scurried back to her room and the two other God Shields had resumed their arguement over the fundamental elements. They were both right and wrong, to a point, but this Aduro fellow was closer to the truth, regarding a balance between the two. No matter how much disdain this elvish woman showed, she would not be able to overturn basic principles, in equal representation, neither fire nor water could overcome the other. Great flames would rise up, and the tide would come in to deal with them as they may, the land and the sea, the morning and the dusk. Afreet was just glad, he'd grown up in a nation of earth magic, he was already on good turns with the mate of his source of power, the land to his sky.

The woman had managed to talk enough for Aduro here to pass her by, Afreet was, sadly, a bit dismayed as he saw the other Ace go down so anticlimaticly in response to his. It was a solid move, but each individual Ace was more powerful when they weren't all in the same hand, it would make the next few hands boring until another one showed up. Even so, his hand was a solid one, unmarked by Markus' move, but still, the other man at the table had a certain briskness to his eyes that made Afreet feel as if this hand wouldn't be his best, but still, there was still one more player left who had not acted, the imp could only hope she would make some move that would put him back in a good position.

Afreet turned his cards slowly down toward the table, careful not to let prying eyes get a look as he leaned over and grabbed a swig of what ever watery ale this place dispensed and waited.

The woman smiled at the man of flames. It was obvious he realized her wording more of a threat than ideology but that didn't bother her. "A truce sounds just fine." The woman said as she gave a light smile. She then placed her cards, revealing her hand with the two pairs, king and jack. The woman then took her glass up to her lips an took a soft drink. She closed her eyes to wait on the results from the others.

There was just something about these guys that helped to relax her. Probably because just like her, they were also under Gil's influence. There were two others she could recall who also were, one of them she had met but never the last. The man of darkness, Kel. She met him once or twice, nothing too bad. He entertained her if anything.

The woman's eyes opened as she looked over at the Inn owner as he scolded the little girl for burning herself. It was interesting to see how rude he was to the girl but had been kind to her when she had first come in. The woman didn't mind the laboring class. She loved to see people with actual work ethic. As the young girl seemed like she was going to cry the man had grabbed the young girl's shirt and told her to shut up or he'd strike her.

The woman sighed and glanced at her glass of water then quickly at the man, the water moved out of the glass and lashed at the man, stinging the back of his neck before returning to her glass. The woman then sat up completely and yawned as she heard he small pitter patter of the girl running off to continue working. The woman then glanced at her glass and sighed. "Yup.. Not drinking that.." The woman said to herself.

Markus smiled holding his cards up as Mizu accepted the truce, and then did a very liberal use of her powers for nothing more then punishing a man. Markus shrugged the man had deserved it no question but he doubted a bug sting was really the way to solve that problem. still Markus was not about to light a fire under the mans ass nor was he about to show off his powers in such a tight and confined area where innocent people could be consumed by his fire on accident. for now the man would have to get away with the sting of water.

His thoughts drifted to the other aiges at the table the imp Afreet was an odd one. Markus had traveled the world paying his way with the entertainment of people but for his life he couldn't even think of what continent the man was from. in all markus' travels he had never come across the mans people and that made him curious still Markus wasn't about to ask it could after all be a sensitive subject, like asking the wood elves why they were so mad about that mile of cindered land he had created? seriously the forest would grow back stronger then ever so why did the elves act so hostile over a small forest fire.

as the first set of cards went down markus smiled playing his down. "Full house, I accept cash or clothing in my terms of winning thank you very much." as he spoke he gave the water aiges a small smile to tell her that he was just joking. there was still Afreet's hand yes but he hardly doubted that it would be all that intresting, after all the full house was a hard hand to beat, that and Markus was naturally arrogant about almost everything. "So if were all Aiges then why don't you guys talk about yourselves? were all working together lets get to know each other."

(( Jace knows Afreet's an Imp? ))

Afreet shot a stern look at the elf woman in response to her irresponsible display of power. This was a country of magic, which would mean anyone with enough sense and knowledge, of which there was an uncommon, but hearty amount of in the capital, would recognize the flow of magic. Even a small display would draw the attention of the magically talented in such a small building like this. Water mages were rare in many of the inborn countries, where control of the tide was not such a big deal, but the magic was recognizeable. Afreet swept his eyes about the room before returning them to the Water Witch's face, no one had turned their head, and the fat man seemed more stunned about the entire incident than angry, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to get his mind back on track.

" You shouldn't do that," Afreet's voice was not loud enough to over hear, but he wanted her to know that this was his territory, his responsibility within the Aegis, and he was not was not afraid to talk down to someone who might even be more powerful than him. " It is childish to use your powers in such a way, who are you justifying, do you think ANYTHING you can do would manage to buy that child even an hour should her father turn on her. You are nothing in this land at this point, and when the time comes, you will be an invader to enslave and knock assunder the people of this land. You are no one's champion, so stop acting like you're here to help anyone. " The imp took a deep breath before relaxing himself back into his seating position. " Try to trick yourself into believing you're innocent on your own time and in your own place."

What frustration the imp had flooded out with his words, making him have to pause and rethink what the fire user had just said to him. With a bit of a shocked expression on his face, he turned to Aduro, " Umm, yes, I agree... share information." He felt a bit guilty about having to make the atmosphere more serious during a card game. He dropped his gaze slowly down to the table towards the cards and flopped his hand over lazily as if he had more on his mind now than their game.

He said, lightly," Clothes shouldn't be a problem, but we'll deal with that later." He noticed then, how much a hurry they had been in orginally, there was no actual money on the table. Afreet pressed his lips together and dug into his bag blindly before flicking a single gold coin over towards Aduro. He looked back toward Mizu, then toward the coin again, shook his head regretably and picked up the deck and began to dispense more of the remaining cards.

The female's eyes glanced at the Imp and gave him a dark glare before she stood up abruptly. She left her cards on the table as well as her glass before making her way away from the other two. Though she knew she could not save the child, that did not mean that she was attempting to "trick" anyone. She knew her own thoughts and her own way of things. There still had yet to be a time when she did exactly as Gil had told her, yet still did not get scolded by him. Why? Because she gained the trust of the people and kept it. With such a thing, Gil could not argue.

The woman made her way up to her room before closing her bedroom door. She noticed the new dress that had been laid out for her on the bed and smiled a bit. Something about the young her had reminded her of herself. Stuck in a world where one couldn't change what they had to do to survive. That's how the entire town was. Mizu knew that she had no where to truly turn other than to herself, so what was to stop her for trying to slightly help the young girl. She gave the girl so much extra gold for a reason.

Slowly Mizu sat on the edge of her bed and closed her eyes, thinking over what the Imp had said. ~' Try to trick yourself into believing you're innocent on your own time and in your own place. Huh... Is that all it seems like anymore...?" The female laid back on her bed and watched the ceiling.