Three's A Crowd

Name: Grayson
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Silver
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 210#
Personality: N/A
Other: catatonic

Name: Gris
Age: n/a
Gender: Male
Race: Heartless
Eyes: Gold
Hair: Silver
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 210#
Personality: Narcissistic, smug

Name: Xreig
Age: n/a
Gender: Male
Race: Nobody
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Silver
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 210#
Personality: Narcissistic, smug
Other:

(Bwahaha, trio vs trio :P)

Name: Voltaire Zephyr
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Occupation: Hunter/Outlaw
Race: Human
Hair color/style: Platinum blonde, pulled back in a messy ponytail
Eye color: Aqua-green
Skills: Gunmanship, mechanics, traps, fire powers
Personality: Adamant, protective, impish, tends to push himself too hard
Other: Once just a regular Hunter in a high-ranked guild, he is now on the run with Adair Gale and Ava. Their pursuers are the Gales, one of the highest ranked Hero bloodlines and Adair’s own family.

Name: Adair Gale
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Occupation: Hero/Outlaw
Race: Human
Height:
Weight:
Hair color/style: Red, short, a bit messy
Eye color: Sapphire blue
Skills: Swordsmanship, good with animals, fire powers
Personality: Kind, laid-back, cheerful…when he’s feeling normal, that is.
Other: Forced to make a forbidden choice under cruel circumstances, Adair is considered a traitor and hunted by his own heroic family. With him are Voltaire Zephyr, his old friend, and Ava, the phoenix who made his betrayal possible.

Name: Ava
Age: Less than a year since rebirth
Gender: Female
Occupation:
Race: Phoenix (Demon Firebird)
Eye color: Sky blue
Appearance: Golden feathers with red streaks and swirls, black lines trailing from eyes.
Skills: Fire powers (extended to Adair and Voltaire), healing powers, flying
Personality: Happy, caring, naive
Other: Once just a cute, if profitable, pet of Voltaire’s guild, she has now become the keeper of Adair and Voltaire. Together they are on the run from the Gales.

Xreig was skimming along the edges of the battlements in Radiant Garden, using his electricity to keep himself invisible to the security systems. It didn't matter, really. Technology couldn't do him any real harm; it was part of his power. It was just a hassle to put up with the system when he had no intention of doing any harm to the town anyway. He rather liked it there.

"Okaaay, so the Heartless are actually corrupted hearts and the Nobodies are actually corrupted bodies with corrupted souls?" Voltaire asked the petite ninja girl.

"Yep, that's all there is to it!" chirped the girl. "Just kill any Heartless and Nobodies you see, and you'll be fine. You guys seem tough. And I like your bird!"

"Thanks! I like you too!" Ava chirped back.

"Well, thank you for the advice," said Adair, sitting on a bench nearby. "We'll look out for them."

They both sighed as the hyperactive ninja girl ran off, then looked at each other.

"They're bad at naming things here, aren't they?" stated Adair.

Xreig watched warily from afar as Yuffie ran off. That girl was always spoiling his fun whenever he tried to go anywhere. Her and that man, Leon. He grumbled softly to himself. Where does she get off saying that we're 'corrupted'? There's not a thing corrupt about me. I'm absolutely wonderful, and so is Gris. How dare she paint a negative image of us to newcomers? Stupid Yuffie...

"This place is nice, and the people are friendly, but," Adair went on, sighing. "I doubt we can stay here."

"Yeah," Voltaire agreed, looking around at all the quaint stone buildings, and then the great castle in the distance. "By their definition we'd probably count as Nobodies, and Ava a Heartless.

"I'm not a Heartless. I have your hearts."

I know Ava. Don't remind me," Voltaire grumbled. "Anyway, we might as well pick up some supplies while we're here. Then we'll leave."

Xreig followed closely behind the odd group of strangers, sticking to the shadows and the roofs of buildings, where he knew he wouldn't be seen. Anything new or interesting that happened in the city was exciting for him, in one way or another. Newcomers were always a pleasant surprise. He and Gris were reluctant to leave the city, as they would have to leave behind their defenseless human counterpart, so they were usually restricted to seeing the same old faces.

A flock of Wyvern Heartless suddenly materialized around them, eyeing them hungrily.

"Some of the local monsters, huh?" observed Adair, as one of the purple beasts dove at him. He let out a stream of fire-breath that incinerated the Heartless instantly. Voltaire followed suit, frying two more of the creatures the same way. Ava screeched as she crushed the remaining two in her talons.

More Wyverns appeared, as well as a couple of Guardians. Adair blew out a few embers warningly while Voltaire just sneered.

"That all you got? Bring it on!"

Xreig perched on a nearby ledge to watch the battle. These newcomers were strong, and he was somewhat impressed. Of course, they weren't as strong as him, but still.

He watched them closely, prepared to jump into the fray if need be. He was intrigued by their little group and he didn't want to see them killed. Not just yet.

"Come back here, dammit!" shouted Voltaire as he pursued one of the Wyvern. His arms began to smoke and then caught fire, and he shot off like a rocket. He rushed past the fleeing Heartless, one of his flaming arms slamming into the creature and sending it flying. The Hunter circled back around for another blow.

Adair also had his arms on fire, using them to swat away a horde of Shadows that had risen out of the ground's surface. He spat out some flames at a nearby Guardian to keep it at bay for the time being.

Ava swiped up the Guardian in her talons and threw it to the ground, destroying it with a breath of fire afterward. Then she chased after the remaining Wyvern, only to notice a figure watching from one of the higher ledges.

Xreig was particularly intrigued by the fact that they all three seemed to have power over fire. How odd, he thought to himself. It's not often you see a group that shares the same power. What are they, I wonder. Not Heartless or Nobodies. Hmn...

He watched the bird (at least she looked like a bird) destroy another Heartless and go flying after another with a sweep of her giant wings. He was quite fascinated with her, and failed to realize that she'd spotted him.

Ava eliminated the hapless Wyvern with her firebreath, and then checked to make sure that her humans were alright. They seemed to be having little trouble chasing down the remaining Heartless, so she flew closer to the silver-haired stranger.

"Hello!" she called. "Why aren't the Heartless things attacking you?"

Xreig nearly jumped out of his skin. How had the bird spotted him? He took a steadying breath before replying. "They have no interest in me, Madam. I've nothing they want." He moved to a ledge slightly lower than the one he was on to get a better look at this... bird-thing. One should look someone in the eyes when speaking, after all. "I have never seen a creature such as yourself before. Would it be rude of me to ask what exactly you are?"

"I'm a phoenix," Ava replied cheerily, twisting her head slightly so she could see him better. The shadows obscured the details, but she could definately tell that this was a human and not another monster. Bird's eyes were sharp, regardless of species. "Who are you? A local?"

"Ava, who are you talking to?" called Voltaire, as he and Adair finished off the last of the Heartless.

"A funny man on the roof," she answered. "The Heartless things don't bother him."

"You could say that, I suppose..." Xreig replied, careful of his words. These people and this 'phoenix' didn't need to know he was a Nobody, at least not yet. "My name is Xrieg. And you're Ava?"

"Yes, I'm Ava," the simple phoenix replied. "How did you know?"

"Ava!" Voltaire repeated from below, the firebird's own question answered. "What's going on? Who's up there?"

"Just a local," she reassured, flying down so that Voltaire and Adair could get onto her back. They had limited gliding ability, but could not fly, and the walls of the building were too steer for them to climb by themselves. She flew back above with them in tow so they could see the stranger. "See? This is Xrieg."

(OOC: How do you say his name?)

Just a local, hmm? Xreig thought to himself. Perhaps it's best to let them think that. It seems somehow safer than letting the truth slip. Of course, they're certainly no match for me, but Gris would be upset with me if I were to get injured. ...Not that they would be able to harm me, of course... He shook his head to clear it of that circular train of thought.

"That would indeed be my name," he said, bowing gracefully to the group from his precarious perch. He, of course, wasn't worried about falling. He was far too graceful for that. "It's always nice to see new faces around town." It was hard for him to suppress a smirk as he lied through his teeth. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The pleasure is all yours, I'm sure.
-----

On the very outskirts of town, in a small house in one of the still abandoned and unrenovated districts of the Radiant Garden, a man quite similar to Xreig was just waking up. Despite their striking similarities (they were both such good-looking men, after all), they were different in some very obvious ways. For instance, their sleep schedules. Xreig slept at night and wandered the city during the day, Gris napped through most of the day and was active mostly at night. The most obvious difference between them, the way that you could tell for sure which of the two you had in front of you, was their eyes. Xreig had quite lovely blue eyes, whereas Gris' eyes were the bright, striking gold that most Heartless had.

Gris stretched languidly and rubbed his eyes before popping all of his joints and rolling out of bed, landing with catlike grace on all fours. He reached under the bed for his shoes, the left of which he put on first (another difference between the two), then he sat on the cool wood floor and closed his eyes, mentally searching for his Nobody counterpart. It didn't take long to locate him, it never did. He was clear across town in the main public district, and there were people of some sort with him.

Best go and investigate, he thought to himself. I'm sure he's in no danger, of course, but it is best to be safe rather than sorry. I'd hate to have anything bad happen to someone as lovely as myself. He laughed inwardly at his own terrible joke (which wasn't terrible to him, of course.)

Before he headed out the door, he went over to one of the other two beds in the room and made sure that the man laying in it were as comfortable as possible. He tucked the blankets around him and fluffed the pillow, not that either of those things had been moved in the slightest since Xreig had done the very same thing before he left the house that morning. "I'll be back later, Grayson. Watch the house while I'm gone." He grinned wolfishly at the human that he (and Xreig, of course) had once been, and left, sinking quite literally into the shadows and moving quickly to his counterpart's location.


((OOC: Sorry for the wallpost! xD I was inspired, for once.))

(tis kay :P)

"Nice to meet you too," Adair greeted, while Voltaire just glared at the stranger. "I'm Adair, and grumpy here is Vol-"

Another swarm of Wyverns materialized around the group.

"Not again," Adair groaned, sighing before he and Voltaire fried the nearest Heartless with their firebreaths.

Xreig frowned in annoyance. How rude to interrupt someone's conversation. Especially his conversation.

With barely a glance, Xreig held his hand out in front of one of the Wyverns, and the air crackled menacingly with electricity before a web of lightning formed around the creature, utterly destroying it. His eyes narrowed, Xreig turned on his next target. Before he could call on his element again, however, five lines of shadow, like claw marks, flew through the air amongst the group and tore the Wyvern to shreds. Gris smirked self-assuredly and leaned against the base of the wall Xreig was perched on, his hands behind his head.

Everything was so fast that the flame-wielding trio barely had time to comprehend it. They turned first to calm Xreig, then to confident Gris. These two were powerful.

"Friend of yours, I assume?" Adair asked Xreig, turning to him. "Anyway, thank you both. These creatures are everywhere, aren't they?"

In unison, their minds on the exact same wavelength, Gris and Xreig replied, "Unfortunately."

Xreig took a few steps away from the corner of the building, still perched precariously on the edge, and Gris easily scaled the wall to join him. Gris gave the trio a once-over and nodded, approving of his opposite's taste in companions. "This is...?" he began, raising an eyebrow at Xreig.

"Adair, Ava, and I didn't get the other gentleman's name before the Heartless attacked." Both of them turned a curious eye toward the third member of the group.

"Voltaire," the fair-haired Hunter answered, raising his hand in casual greeting. "So are you two...connected or something?" Wouldn't be so different than me and Adair then, through Ava. Is there a third party then?

"What's your name?" asked Ava, looking over Gris. "Are you a native too?"

Gris bowed politely. "Gris, my lady. A pleasure to meet you, and your friends." He and Xreig turned their eyes to Voltaire, rather impressed that he'd figured that out so easily.

"Your observational skills are commendable," Xreig said with a slight smile.

"We are, indeed, connected."

The two exchanged self-satisfied smiles, and they knew exactly what the other was thinking. Of course we're connected. We're far too spectacular for a single being, so of course there must be two of us.

((OOC: By the by, his name is pronounced like 'grease.'))

Well, it's kinda hard not to guess that after you said the same thing at the same time thought Voltaire.

"We know the feeling." Adair replied, before wanting to kick himself for blurting that out. "Sort of. It's kind of hard to explain. It's not like telepathy, it's...heart-sync, I guess. Yeah, I guess that's the best way to put it."[i]

They both raised an eyebrow (opposite eyebrows, of course) and cocked their heads to the side. "Is that so?" they asked in stereo.

Xreig smiled. "I knew you were an interesting bunch when I saw you."

"You were right, of course, Xreig. Very interesting."

"We've never met anyone linked as we are, have we, Gris?"

"Never. How... intriguing."

"Yes, that's the word for it. Intriguing. What an intelligent choice of words."

"Why thank you."

They both grinned. They were always like that, exchanging compliments. They were both horribly narcissistic, and complimenting one another was like complimenting themselves. Not that they didn't do that, as well.