Return to battle. (Open)

Of course while he was in fact only twelve, Karol wasn't helpless when he suddenly found himself in a new place with seemingly no reason behind it. That wasn't to say that the map that he had bought to help him out actually do any good because it didn't. Still the brown haired boy wasn't about to up and admit that he was lost even as his free hand rested on the back of his just barely touching the collar of his long sleeved red shirt with a ridiculous amount of buttons on it. Karol wasn't even one hundred percent sure of what all those buttons were supposed to do and why so many were on clothes for children. Though it wasn't really like it mattered or anything seeing as he had just happened to throw that one without thinking about it when he woke up in the morning. Focus, Karol.

Clutching the thin piece of paper lightly in one of his gloved hands, Karol glanced around periodically but all he saw were medium sized buildings made of a brown material which reflected red in the light of the morning sun with no distinguishable landmarks whatsoever. Of course as he came a across a small cafe with no strong distinguishing features, Karol was about to give up the map, seeing as it had done him no good, when two women who couldn't of been older than thirty pushed their way out of the door in what appeared to be an argument. While it was really none of his business to intervene in whatever was between them, the twelve year old was rather curious as leaned forwards, shifting the weight of his bag so he wouldn't fall over, to try to hear what they were saying.

That was all for nothing however when the youngest of the two women came rushing past him with tears in her eyes causing him to fall over anyways. Rubbing his head where there was sure to be knot from his collision with the ground as he slowly sat up, Karol failed to notice that the woman still there was walking over to him for whatever reason. Of course Karol's brown eyes were still focused on the cobblestone walkway as he checked his head for any knots though he couldn't find any at least. Maybe if he had been paying attention to his surroundings instead of himself he could've avoided being dragged into something he'd rather not do. Of course Karol didn't have that kind of foresight so he only noticed the woman when it was too late for him to do anything about it.

"Young man, how about you help me with running my cafe for a while. My sister ran off and we're about to open up so please? I'll pay you good," Karol heard the woman inquire as he looked up to find her practically hovering over him.

"But I already have money." His refusal wasn't even a lie either. As it turned out all of the gald that the party had acquired had a high transfer rate here. Of course the majority of what he had was Guild funds for Brave Vesperia but what was left over could do him for at least a few years. The woman with rather stern brown eyes didn't seem to buy what he was saying. Afraid of what was going to happen next, for it was either going to be unnecessary or embarrassing, Karol tried to get up and run away but she had already grabbed onto his wrist stopping him in his tracks.

"Well I don't buy it. Come on!" The woman stated before dragging him into the little establishment.

"Wait, no!. S-Somebody help me!" Of course no one actually heard his pleas for help as she dragged him into the back and forced him to wear an apron. Her comments of how "cute" he looked didn't help him any either. Fast forward a few hours and soon he had gotten over his embarrassment at being forced to be a waiter. That wasn't to say that he particularly liked acting as a waiter just because someone's sister left. It reminded him of how the others could get him to do something embarrassing for the sake of the guild which while it wasn't often when that happened, it had happened a few times. The result of such times wasn't really fond memories for him.

Still the woman's sister had returned around an hour ago and apologized to her so Karol was almost finished here. All he needed to do was to take some coffee over to a man sitting at a table and then he would hopefully be free from waitering. "Your coffee?" Karol inquired as he walked over to the table that Raiden was sitting at as he fiddled with the ridiculous apron they gave him. Of course the entire situation he found himself in was ridiculous all things considered but the apron was plain too big for him.

tags, Raiden
words, 840
notes, Alternate outfit go! And poor Karol.

"How about you sit down kid. Take that stupid apron off and hand it to me." While Karol wasn't going complain that someone finally paid mind to who was actually serving their food, the twelve year was startled at the sudden voice. Karol was happy to rid himself of that silly apron and just relax in a chair but before he could comply the man picked him up and placed him in the opposite chair. Just how old did this guy think he was? Sure Karol was glad to be through with this place for he needed to find his friends but he had a thing about being manhandled like that. It was actually surprising the the stranger could even pick him up with his bag still on. Seeing as his bag held both miscellaneous objects and every weapon he's picked up along the way it was a wonder that Karol could even lift it let alone someone else picking up him and the bag at the same time. It didn't help him any when the guy decided to take the ridiculous apron off for him. In his state of shock Karol's amber eyes glazed over the folds in the man's skin failing to realize what the guy really was.

"I'll be right back. You just relax." To be honest it didn't really feel like Karol had all that much of a choice in the matter. Now Karol didn't think the white haired man was a bad man, for he obviously saw what was wrong with this situation, Karol did think he was rather intimidating. The not so subtle growl underlying the man's voice did not help any other impressions in the slightest. Karol couldn't help but to fight the urge to flee in the slightest but for some reason he stayed rooted to his spot in his chair. Karol wasn't really all that sure why himself but he knew there was no point in running anyways. Why was there when he was trying not to be such a cowardly person? Distracted by his own conflicting thoughts and emotions, Karol barely paid attention to the stranger's interaction with the women who had roped him into this mess.

"If you wanna come with me I won't stop you, I doubt those women'll be hiring you again." Almost as if by clockwork Karol could feel an icy chill as one of the women was glaring at the man while the other was laughing her head off. Karol suddenly had the feeling that he didn't want to stay behind either way. Considering the giant clash between his cowardice and his bravado, Karol wasn't one to ignore such a feeling. He wasn't going to make it look like he was scared either though the stranger could probably hear his knees shaking. Instead he was just going to adjust the strap to his comically oversized bag before propelling himself out of the chair.

"My name's Karol by the way." Karol, following a few steps behind the man with shades, mentioned in a, possibly thinly veiled, attempt to change the subject.

tags, Raiden, Open
words, 523
notes, And finally.

"Raiden. Since I'm here I don't need an alias. I know you're afraid kid, I don't blame you either." If Karol wasn't wrong then Raiden's voice sounded softer. By now the twelve year old felt a little more at ease as they exited the little cafe. Was it that obvious that he might of been scared though? Sure he might of been slightly afraid at the moment but he wasn't trying to let it show. Of course he wasn't going to lie to himself and say that he wasn't just a little scared. He knew his faults, it was just hard to work past them. Still he couldn't help but start to feel a little more relaxed as they were finally outside.

"Guess you're gonna go home now. Back to your parents right? May as well before those women from the shop start chasing you down the street." The frown on Karol's face was a clear indicator that he really didn't know how to answer that in the slightest. The source of his hesitation to respond wasn't anything extreme like being an orphan. He had parents obviously. The thing was that they were still back in Dahngrest while he was in this strange new place. In all of his time traveling with Yuri and the others, Karol had never gave his parents any thought. He wondered briefly if they were even worried about him but quickly quashed the though.

"My parents never arrived here. I've been staying at an inn," Karol, adjusting the strap to his bag, commented seemingly nonplussed. "Anyways I need to head to an equipment shop for my guild."

"Woah!" Karol yelled in shock when Raisen suddenly took his case and used it to reposition Karol beside him.

"Walk beside me, it's harder to judge where an enemy is and how to get rid of it if you're behind me and in the way." At that Karol had to wonder if Raiden had a lot of monsters where he came from too. The way the guy talked sort of sounded like someone who had fought a ton of monsters in his past almost like the Don in a way. Though perhaps it wasn't a good idea to compare a guy he had just met to a guy that was dead. Still Karol didn't really know what he was to say about that if anything at all.

"Sorry about that. New place just gotta be on guard. In case anything happens but don't worry about a thing Karol." Karol just gave a shrug in response for he wasn't planning on questioning Raiden's actions in the first place.

tags, Raiden, Open
words, Short
notes, Bleh

"Ah I see. Maybe you'll find 'em there, if you don't though then you will at some point I'd assume. At least if they're good fighters." That was the idea that Karol had in mind anyways. Of course there was always the chance that none of them had ended up here and Karol recognized that fact. Still the twelve year old would have preferred things if the others arrived and hopefully sooner than later. While the room he was staying in at the inn was nice and all Karol was getting rather lonely by himself. Not only that but he was running out of room to place the items which he had bought for Brave Vesperia. Of course that was mainly because Karol was unsure as to the state of everyone's armor and the like. The only thing that really puzzled him was the good fighters comment. How was fighting and ending up in this place related to one another? It was probably best to wait to find out come to think of it.

"Okay I know where it is now, got it all mentally mapped out." To be honest Karol hadn't really expected Raiden to even hand him back the map because it was just one of his spares. He didn't complain one bit though as he took the folded parchment back into his gloved hand. While he had honestly expected Raiden to keep the map, the fact that he now knew where things were better was enough to placate the boy. Even if his own cowardice was a hindrance at times the boy did like helping out in any way he could. Fumbling to retie the string around his spare string around so his bag wouldn't get anymore clutter, Karol practically shoved the map back into his comically oversized bag. He had to bite back a sudden cry of pain when shattering glass resounded throughout the area. If he wasn't mistaken then he had just shattered a poison bottle and there was now a shard of glass in his thumb.

"Crap," The boy, biting his lower lip, muttered as he pulled his hand out of the bag. Sure enough sticking straight out of his thumb was a thin sliver of glass. The glass seemed to shimmer a slight pinkish color in the light as definitive proof that it had indeed pierced his finger. The twelve year old wasn't really sure what he was more upset about though. Sure he had just accidentally stabbed his thumb with glass but he had also lost one of his poison bottles which were extremely useful for him to say the least. The boy was sure there was countless times that he had been struck with poison over the course of their adventures so a Poison Bottle was really useful. Not only was there that but unless he got to clean out his bag quickly the green liquid would soon seep through his bag and make a leak.

The boy was barely paying attention to what Isis said to Raiden, though he did catch the majority of it, as he focused on removing the glass from his finger. While if tended to quickly it was a relatively minor injury, Karol knew that glass and splinters and glass could cause infections if left untreated. It took him awhile to do it but finally the boy retrieved said piece of glass and tossed it into the nearest recycling bin. Unfortunately the boy really didn't really have any bandages on his person and even if he did they would have been soaked by the poison bottle a trickle of blood soaked through his glove. It seemed as if the boy needed to buy himself a new glove for he had ruined it unfortunately. For now Karol resorted to remove the red glove which fortunately didn't seem too badly ruined and placed it in his pants pocket for the moment.

"Wait you're going to become a goddess?" Karol, suddenly remembering the fact that he had a towel lying at the bottom of his bag, questioned curiously. It really wasn't everyday that someone actually met a god or a god to be. That was completely ignoring the fact that Karol had no idea that people could actually ascend like that in the first place. Really the entire concept of Gods and Goddesses as actually being real and not myths and legends was something that confused the boy. "And more importantly Gods are real?"

tags, Raiden, Isis
words, 755
notes, I feel good about this.