It had taken some time and resources but he’d finally tracked Echo down.  He hadn’t seen her since their vampire hunting excursion, and for some reason he was nervous to approach her.  Probably because usually whenever he approached a Rose or someone in their family there was always a deep pressing reason.  Everything Lily had told him had been buzzing through his head since he’d sought her out, and it came down to getting one of her hairs and weaving it into his map to finally pinpoint her location.  Well that realization makes me feel like an unsavory individual.  It was a good thing he really wasn’t the dangerous type or it’d be all too easy, though, his body did house someone very dangerous.  He’d done more weavings and purifications than he’d ever done before to keep Minasé at bay in preparation to finding her.  The whole point of this was for good, and he wouldn’t let the daemon ruin what the Roses had trusted him with.
 
Taking a deep breath, he started walking until he heard the faint whinny of horses.  Echo had said she’d raised and trained her own nightmare and he wondered if there would be any here today or if they’d be a more normal steed.  The lapis lazuli that Lily had given him was safely tucked into his clothing, held fast by a chain around his neck.  At times it would brush against the empty vial he still wore…When he came to the stable he found it in himself to smile as if this was completely normal and not something planned, “You here and no vampires to behead.  I’m shocked if not a bit disappointed…”

Echo-Rose was in much more causal wear than the last time that he seen her. It was a dark dress, sleeveless, and down to her knees. It looked perfect for what she was doing. Her long white hair was up in a ribbon as she tried to get the pony to follow her lead. Nightmares were fairly intelligent creatures, and it didn’t help that some were vain.

Her brown eyes had a smile in them, for what it was worth, when Naota spoke up. “There is a life outside of hunting vampires Naota. Even you should know that.” The little filly kicked at her and she jumped back. “Hey! Little shit,” she said under breath as she chased it around the ring now. It neighed and bucked happily at her. It was only up her knees if that.


She stopped at the fence where Naota was and laughed. “She is a handful. So how can I help you today?” The filly came up behind her and grabbed onto Naota’s clothing through the fence. “Hey!” She tried to get him off the clothes.

It was strange to see her in such normal attire.  Well, normal in comparison to what he’d met her in, but then training nightmares didn’t require battle ready clothing.  Hmm…maybe fire resistant though, he thought to himself.  For a moment he just quietly watched her, his eyes softening as she moved with graceful command.  As for the nightmare?  She was so small; he’d never seen a philly for one of them before and he had an uncharacteristic urge to move closer and touch her sleek coat.  And then she kicked, and the urge was gone as his eyes widened.  Yes, best to leave this to the experts.

He answered her with a chuckle, nodding in agreement and having to pull his lips in to keep from laughing further as she chased the bucking culprit around the ring.  By the time she made it to him at the fence he had it under enough to control to only be smiling, though his eyes were glowing brightly.  Luckily it was hard to tell in the bright sunlight.  One good thing that came from this was knowing that he wouldn’t have to feign a light nature.  Either way he had an idea of how to get her to come with him today and couldn’t help but wonder if Lily had planned her request around the festival…

“Oddly enough not work.  I was actually going to head towards Abed for the festival.  It’s about time I took a short break and it is a special occasion.  And then I thought,” his head gently tilted to the side in faux thought, his eyes lifting to the sky, “Who else do I know that could use a break?”  His eyes moved back down to hers with a light side smile, “Your face flashed to the top of the list immediately.”

The smile was gone with a look of surprise when he felt the edge of his vest being tugged at and looked down in time to see the little philly trying, unsuccessfully, to pull the cloth through the fencing.  He chuckled lightly, moving his fingers down to the clothing and gently tugging it free from the philly’s teeth, with help from Echo of course, and took a measured step back to make sure it couldn’t happen again.  His eyebrows rose, the smile returning; smaller than before, but just as honest, “What do you think?”

The filly was more interested in raising hell, a characteristic all Nightmares shared at a young age. Echo-Rose sighed a bit and gave Naota a smile, it was the least she could do. “The Festival that Lily and the others are going nuts over?” She tilted her head a bit. “Apparently they are ambushing Kirika there.” She mused softly.

“A break might be best. I’ve been running the fillies nonstop and they don’t much like to listen.” She chuckled a bit as the one by her legs started to misbehave. “They are really cute though.”

Once they got to trying to separate the filly from Naota she laughed with him. The filly gently stuck its head through the fence and neighed at him. It was vastly upset by his lack of being near by. “Easy girl, you’ll scare him off.” She pet the filly and nodded. “I could stand a day off. Should I change or is casual wear fine? I don’t plan on really ripping any vampires in half today.”

(( OOC:  I have permission to GMode Echo to Abed, and to GMode Lily. ))

So Lily was planning on going.  It couldn’t just be a coincidence then that she’d come to him so close to the festival…He was just fine with that though, truth be told it was easier being around Echo than he would have thought and he smiled more as the filly tried to reach him.  I’m sorry, I need this vest…  His smile widened, “Oh she doesn’t have to worry too much about scaring me off….her mother though, she probably could.”  The smile shifted to a smirk.  She agreed to go and he straightened a little, eyebrows raising in light surprise that it had been so simple,
 
“Casual is fine, I know I’m not going to change.”  He looked down at himself and spread his arms, while what he was wearing wasn’t dirty it wasn’t formal…there were probably parts of it that had blood stains if you looked close enough; one of many reasons he wore more natural and darker colors.  As soon as she was finished readying herself he approached her, and while he was still more at ease than he would have thought, he was still very aware of the short amount of time they had known each other. 
 
It took only a second to envision Abed, and as soon as he had a clear enough image he gently took her arm and brought them both there.  The heat was what he noticed first, and then the smells, the music…laughter.  His fingers let go of her arm and he turned his head slowly, taking in the vast array of colors.  In the distance he could hear shouts of excitement from the rain of colors, and could even see splashes being tossed against swaying bodies.  Couples, children, men, women, the old and the new: all of them were in a buzz of excitement for the festival and he smiled when a color dusted one would quickly skirt by.
 
What would she want to do first?  Before he could even turn to ask her, he felt strong fingers grip his shoulders and jerk him back: taking him so off guard that he didn’t even have a chance to react.  His hand went to the hilt of Torinasu just as Lily tsked.  Oh it was just Lily…wait, “Lily-?!”  But it was clear she was in no mood for conversing and had a team of people quickly pulling at his clothing.  Despite his protests they were able to get every garment off, but thank the gods they’d at least left him with something around his waist.
 
Every time he tried to ask what was happening, a new garment was thrust up to his chest, his back, his hips: measuring just as quickly as they were deciding on colors until all he could do was go with their direction.  His arms were lifted, his legs spread, his head turned this way and that so many times his neck would need to be cracked.  His eyes stayed on Torinasu as much as they could, not used to it being out of his reach, but it was safe with the rest of his clothing not even two meters away.  The tent wasn’t large and he was surprised so many people were able to fit inside, and his heart only spiked when Lily lifted the flap and walked out.  Hey!  How could she just leave him here when she’d been the one to bring him in?!
 
Gentle but firm fingers gripped his cheek and turned his head forward just in time for a brush to rake through his hair and he cried out from the pull of tangles, but soon the locks were silky smooth.  It felt…strange.  Sure he was used to being clean, but not…groomed.  All the while Minasé was laughing so hard he wondered if he could pass out without actually using lungs.  A warm wet rag touched his cheek, scrubbing lightly but affectively, cleaning him with some type of rose and mint water.  His nose wrinkled, he definitely didn’t perfume his skin. 
 
Somehow they efficiently cleaned and dressed him at the same time, and while it felt like it had gone on for hours he knew that in truth it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes.  Torinasu was secured onto his hip again by deft fingers and he felt a weight lift off of his chest as he managed a shaky, “Th-Thank you.”  And then all of them moved in front of him, a couple of men and about five women…the latter of which causing his cheeks to warm at the realization that so many of them had touched his bare skin. 
 
Their eyes were softened, some of them looking him up and down for approval, and all of them finally nodding to one another.  Did this mean it was finished…?  They smiled at him, each one dipping their head in a gentle nod in unison and he returned the gesture and found that he too was smiling.  What was he in…?  As he looked down at himself all he was able to catch were the colors they’d used before forceful hands pulled him forward and shoved him out of the tent as if everything that had just happened was some big taboo secret.  He cried out in surprise, losing his balance and nearly tripping over his feet before slamming into someone.
 
“I-I’m sorry!  It was an accident, are you all right?!”  His hands found their arms, stabilizing them as he found his own balance.

Echo laughed a bit and shook her head. “Her mother is more docile but I’ve had the pleasure of training her for much longer. Young Nightmares are such free spirited souls, they are terrible to train.” She pushed the filly away from her pant leg. 

“I probably smell like horse, if that’s okay with you I don’t have to change.” She knew that he wouldn’t mind the smell so much. She put the filly back in with her mother and took a sigh as she looked at them. “Teach her better manners please.” She begged the mare.

She took hold of him as soon as they were ready to depart. It was a quick trip. She had been to Abed before on business but she had never had time to actually relax. Her wild amber eyes took in the sight as she looked around them. She hadn’t even noticed the beautiful architecture around her before. 

It was about the time she heard her Lady’s name being yelled as she too was snatched off the street, and in an even more wild manner. Her Lady knew what to expect of her. “LILY YOU LET ME GO,” Echo was kicking and screaming as she was forced into a tent. “DON’T YOU DARE. KEEP THAT FRILLY SHIT AWAY FROM ME. WHAT IS THAT?” There was even more shouting from her as she was dressed to impress for the streets of Abed. She was being scrubbed. “DON’T TOUCH MY HAIR.” She was so vocal that Lily was laughing her butt off in the tent with Naota. 

“And she wonders why the Nightmares have a hard time taking her seriously,” Lily hummed softly as she decorated Naota.

“My lady keep moving your face or we’ll be forced to start all over again,” the women attending her yelled right back at her loud enough that Lily and the others could hear.

“Fuck you,” Echo said it softly, and enough with attitude, that she was placed under paralysis for the rest of the dressing. Looks like Lily had thought of everything.

She looked at herself in a mirror, the anger still there, but she found herself staring at a person she had never known before. Always business before pleasure, and there was none of that, she had never seen herself in a saree before. Let alone had her make up and hair done.

Her saree was a vivid wine color with magenta accents. The magenta was lined with silver through the saree. Wrapping around her waist and up over her shoulder was a sheer magenta fabric with silver accents. 

Her long white hair had been not only been washed and brushed but curled to perfection over her shoulders. Her elvish ears were even adorned with brilliant silver earrings that tread up and down her large ears. Silver bangles were at the top of her arms and she could see under the magenta covering that she had a wine colored crop top on. She felt nude to be honest but she could tell she wasn’t going to get anywhere.

Dark wine were the color of her lips now and her eyes were highlighted in probably the most expensive make up she had ever seen, this had to be Lily’s personal team of help or something else was going on entirely. They slipped what appeared to be silky magenta slippers onto her feet before releasing the spell. She growled at them but they didn’t care as they pushed her out.

She hit face first into someone. She gripped onto them as she squeaked, only to realize it was Naota. He was dressed in the same colors as she was. “Is this some kind of joke to her?” It had to be. Her amber eyes were even more intoxicating thanks to the make up around them. They appeared deep and thoughtful even with her rage.

“You should have seen what they did to me!” She took a sniff of him. “What did they do to you rub mint all over you?” She chuckled softly, she was sure she smelled much of the same.

The young woman he’d slammed into sounded like Echo, but…could this really be Echo?  His lips parted, stunned for moment.  True that he’d only seen her a couple of times but it was usually covered in sweat with dirty, and in attire befitting combat, never like this.  And while the shadow on her eyes was done perfectly and accentuated her features more, it was hard to believe that anyone had managed to do so with her in the first place.  She didn’t seem like the type, but then he didn’t know her very well either, maybe she was…? 
 
He took in what she was wearing, how extremely different it was from her usual attire, even her hair, and then quickly looked down at himself.   Now he was distracted.  This color, he’d never worn something like it and wasn’t sure how to feel about it.  Colorful things weren’t really in his spectrum of comfort for clothing, even something as dark as this.  Well, if it had to be anything, at least it was a rich plum and not pastel or flashy.  The soft material and swirled designs were extremely foreign to anything he’d don, but he did like how it fit him so well.  How had they done such tailoring so quickly?  Lily apparently had connections.
 
His eyes halved and he sighed when she brought up the fragrance they’d rubbed on him, and immediately brought his eyes back up to her: a much more pleasant sight than trying to figure out why anyone would have thought to dress him in color, “I’m not exactly thrilled about this soft smell either.”  He chuckled, eyes moving down her and back up again, and pulled his lips in to be sure not to smile too widely, “I’ve never imagined you so dainty.  Are those silk slippers….?”
 
Despite his tries he smiled more, as feisty as she was it made her all the cuter to see such fire in so lovely of an outfit.  Adorable really.  He folded one arm around his waist and bowed, holding his arm out and palm up in offering, “Well excuse me m’lady, but would you like to dance-?”  Before he could finish he heard a scream and instantly straightened: all signs of playfulness gone as he looked out into the distance, “Hold that thought…”  Already he was reaching for Torinasu.

Echo-Rose groaned as he commented on how dainty she was. “Yes, they had me paralyzed so I wouldn’t fight them.” She deserved it for not cooperating and she figured Lily had a huge hand in it. A blush managed to be seen through the make up and she was obviously excited except when she seen him reaching for Torinasu. That, in the short amount of time that she knew him, was never a good sign.

She flung herself around and looked off into the crowd. Screams could now reach her ears as she stared off into the distance. Her eyes were attuned to seeing that far thanks to her elvish eyes. Like magic her scythe appeared in her hands, she stared at the body. “Death and a lot of it. Our job is never done.” 

Naota and herself ran as fast as they could through the crowded streets to get to the guards. “What’s going on?” Echo-Rose forced herself into the situation as she kneeled next to the victim. Moving her hair behind her ear she examined it. “It’s not a vampire.”

“No, we’re not sure what’s going on. We just found a thing of curry and this,” the guard handed her a note with an odd looking sigil. It was one she was familiar with when working the area. “This is…” She gritted her teeth. “I’ve seen this before but I have no idea who it belongs to. I got hired on a job a few months back to investigate murders where this was left around. We thought vampires did it.”

She looked around the victim’s pretty lips and dabbed her finger in what appeared to be food. “She was eating the curry. Your curry this year… who makes it?”

“A bunch of different patrons, you can find it in the food district.”

Echo stood up and looked at Naota. “It’s been laced, at least this one has been. I can smell the poisonous herbs in it.”

He didn’t like this…Thankfully neither of them had eaten the curry, but how many had?  Maybe it would be best for them to split up, or at least find the vendors and have them stop with the serving.  With so many people here it’d be all too easy to spread the toxin.  Stepping towards the man, he spoke quickly, “Go to the stands and tell people to stop selling the dish.”  Would it be smarter to tell everyone what was happening…?  Probably not, that had too much of a risk of mass hysteria.  His fingers lifted up, both hands pushing through his hair as he studied the symbol.  Unfortunately, he didn’t recognize it, but at least Echo did. 
 
Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone quickly move, the action too sudden and jarring to be a normal passerby, and he turned his head just in time to see a person in black skirt down an alley.  Without another word he dashed off, hoping to catch them before they could get too far, but just as he turned down the next curve of alleys…they were gone.  He skidded to a stop, lips parting in shock.  Where had they gone?  How had they done that so quickly?  Teleportation maybe…?  That’s the only thing he could think of.
 
He spoke to Echo but kept his eyes forward, angry that he hadn’t caught up to the black cloaked figure,“There was somewhere here, I’d swear to it.”  Sighing, he continued forward but at a much slower pace, “Why would anyone want to cause such terrorism during the festival?  The sickness of some people disturbs me…”  Children had been eating that curry…His jaw locked tighter.  His steps were aimless now, the walking helped him think and as they turned another alley corner he once again stopped.  Just ahead of them was a man, possibly in his thirties and of good health…walking with dead eyes.  What in the world…?
 
Even though he knew Echo was more than capable, he gripped the hilt of his blade and slowly stepped in front of her, watching as the other man continued his trek,“That seem suspicious to you…?”  His voice was kept low for her, but he raised it to call out to him, “Hello!  Are you lost!”  But there was no response; the man just kept his eyes forward and didn’t so much as falter from his steady pace, yet somehow he still seemed to know exactly where he was going…

The guards nodded to Naota but Echo went one step further. “WAIT! There is something you need to look for if you want to help.” The guards looked to the insightful woman as she pulled a heap of poison plants from herself. They were uneasy because of her actions but it was what she said that helped, “You are looking for the aroma of these plants. These SPECIFIC ones.” She handed them over and began to chase after Naota.

Her eyes hadn’t been fooled by some minor little thing. She had seen it as to where Naota had not. She pushed herself up against the wall. “I know you aren’t just seeing things.” She was looking for a switch or panel. “Dammit. Looks like magic incantation. I can’t get into it.” She pushed her fingers around the edges of where she assumed there was a doorway. “It’s there but we can’t get in. It’s sealed.” She took a moment and seen something or someone coming.

Grabbing Naota she hid around the corner. “Shh.” She stopped Naota from saying too much. It was a disastrous plan but she wanted in. “Watch.” She whispered softly. The hidden entrance began to glow and the bricks all fell down like magic had been cast aside. “NOW!”

She grabbed Naota and threw him inside of the door. She dove through as the spell began to reassemble the wall. She landed on him almost a little too perfect. Her face was literally right there next to his. She could feel his breath on her lips. A blush came to her face as she got up and brushed herself off. 

“Well, I imagine we can’t get out without the incantation so we might as well follow this path to see where it goes.” She tried to brush off what had just happened. The person they had followed was gone now but at least they were in. "Maybe our killer is in here. Hopefully we find that person before its too late."