"Oh, shut up Mick!" Cristina shouted as she let the door swing shut behind her and she walked out into the night. Cris had just gotten off her night shift at the Wilwarin and one of the other employees there, Mick, was on her about showing up late the other day.
"I have my reasons and they certainly don't concern you." she whispered into the air.
Port City Lómëdor; salt tinged air swirled throughout the sky and the brunt of it wore off when you were leaving the city. You could still always smell it though. Even after a traveler had left the town for months, there was that sea scent in their hair and clothes, if but only faintly.
Cristina loved the scent, and the town, even under the night sky when there were questionable people about. She could take care of herself.

She wore a red silk dress and leather boots as she left the Inn for the night, a long, silver bladed dagger sheathed at the small of her back, hidden from view. Nobody knew she even owned it; save for those she used it on of course. Her dark black hair was cut below the shoulders and the moonlight gleamed off it as she took her evening walk about the square. Here and there, there were a few merchants taking down their wares and carts. She would give each a friendly smile and wave as she passed, most of them returning the gesture. She felt safe in the town, even in the Drital Qu'ellar pub, haven of scum. She probably wouldn't feel too safe there however if her friend was not a warden of Lómëdor.
Cristina moved with a walking grace until she heard a distant cry for help. She sped up and broke left, in the direction of the voice. She was not very heavily winded by the time she came upon the alley. Sidling along the wall, she dared to take a look. The scene was most commonplace. A smaller man cowering on the ground throwing his money to the floor, while a slightly larger man who smelled of ale stood over him with a knife, urging him on.

'Nothing is ever quiet around here'

Cristina thought to herself as she moved on feet as quiet as she could to the killzone behind the man with the knife. The thief closed the smaller one into the alley to make it seem as if there was no escape. In doing so, he sealed his fate, for Cristina came up cautiously behind him and slipped her dagger to his neck.
"Well, well..." she said softly. "What have we here?" The thief cursed and called her some things she didn't like.
She didn't use her knife. She took her other hand and wrapped it around the man, reaching his right shoulder. With the hand holding the dagger, she wrapped the fingers not holding the red leather around his chin. With a swift jerk and a loud pop, the thief fell dead.
"Let me help you." she said to the young man on the ground as she started to help gather his money. His wide eyes met her calm ones as she held out what she had collected.
"You never saw me, and you do not know my face." the tone of her voice was serious and chilling. That statement was a warning.
He nodded, thanked her, and scurried off into the night. Cris looked down at the one she had killed. He hardly looked to be twenty.
"Pity." she said, spiraling the gold coin that she kept for her services.

As Kaze walked from his now favorite tavern, the first one he came to in the port, he heard the scream, more like shriek, for help. As he sped forward, modifying his legs for more speed and his ears to near-elven standards, he wondered who was stupid enough to go down the wrong alleyway at this time. Everything around him became a near blur as he developed tunnel vision to his destination, only dodging obstacles on impulse. This was easy for him as he was able to let his impulses take over at anytime when he was busy with other things.

He skidded to a stop a building away from the alley and slowly snuck along the wall to the scene. As he was about to look into the alley, he saw a pudgy man sprint out, clutching the gold to his chest, his eyes wild. Kaze sighed at that point and immediately relaxed, then as he was about to walk away, his curiousity kicked in and guided him into the alley.

There he saw a body of a man with a woman standing over him, she was smiling at her self, spiralling a coin in her hand. Kaze quickly pieced things together and grinned, in fact, he was even laughing. This moment was too precious, that man was going to be ridiculed in his afterlife.

"Wow...that was smooth," Kaze stated with a grin as he sauntered up to her from the mouth of the alley. His manner was very easy and rather relaxed as he crouched down to examine the body, carefully keeping her in sight. "No unnecessary marks anywhere..."

Whistling as he further examined the body, he grabbed the man's purse and threw it to her.

"To the victor, the spoils," he winked as he stood up and looked at her straight, his eyes serious. "Could you teach me how to be an assassin? That's the only way you could be that good."

There was small scuffling noises from the entry of the alley announced his presence further. "Wow, that was smooth; no unnecessary marks anywhere." a male voice called to her.
She closed her eyes as he spoke. She heard him coming before he even entered the alley. His running footfall was heavy, and definately the result of unconciously practicing that particular stepping method for, probably his entire life.
She pretended not to hear him coming and slipped the coin into the hidden pocket of her dress. The red leather hilt of her dagger spun quick as she whirled it to her fingers, clutching it quick, Cristina twirled the weapon, letting the moonlight metronome off the blade with each quick spiral.
Not halting her speed with her fingers, the man whistled as he examined the corpse, apparantly admiring the work.
He clutched at the mans belt and unfastened the money purse, tossing it towards Cris. She snatched it by the ends of left index and middle fingers.
"To the victor, the spoils," said the stranger. He winked at Cris and when the eye opened, all the seriousness of the world could be seen. "Could you teach how to be an assassin? That's the only way you could be that good."
Miss Blayde's eyes were definately not the warmest picture in the world. Hard as diamonds they were before she spoke.
"I did that because I had to. The bastard was a thief, holding somebody at knifepoint for naught but selfish desire." the tone of her voice was a warning sign. She was not wearing her black outfit, and so she did not look the part of a fighter, or an assassin, but it was the body, mind and heart that mattered, not the clothes.
"The man would have been faced with two choices, neither of which would have been pleasent, and seemed inevitable to him. Forced into the situation he was in, one can only imagine the thoughts that ran through his mind. I intervened, opening the door to a new choice. Keep his life and his money."
Her eyes narrowed as she took in the sight of the stranger. He was pretty nondescript.
"I don't even know who you are and you want me to teach you something like that? And why would I teach you the arts of the dance with death? How am I to know that if I tought you anything, you wouldn't use that knowledge to either kill me and take the money you just threw at me, or somebody else. What knowledge do I have contrary to the fact that you might be just like him?" she pointed at the corpse on the cobblestones with her knife. "Now, if you want to learn to cook, that's something totally different. I would have no qualms about helping you there." Cristina said the last line with a small smile.

Kaze sighed as he heard the questions, any impact that they supposed have had he shrugged off. Not because he did not care, but because he had evidence to the contrary, and it was beating in his chest. He paced around, trying to get a feel of the atmosphere, the last thing he wanted to do was inadvertently insult this woman.

"Now that I think about it, why would you trust me..." he began, looking up at the stars with rueful smile. His short blonde hair suddenly changed to black and grew to neck length, his blue eyes turned green and he looked at her again. "After all, I do have thousand ways to hide my face."

He took out his katana and drew it in front of her, the cold, uncaring steel a polar opposite of his face. The sword was a very simple design, no cross guard, with a black hilt and a steel blade usually concealed in a black sheathe.

"Not as fancy as your blade, but, I always draw this when I know and intend to spill blood hence the sword's name, Ketsueki...Blood," he suddenly held it out to her, hilt first and then continued, his voice suddenly echoing with pure intensity. "You want to know if I'm different from this drunken fool, well here it is. I never kill unless it is a last resort and even then I make as quick as possible to make sure no one suffers. I don't drink nor do I take any form of any drug. The only thing I'm guilty for is learning as much as I possibly can in my life and my wanderlust. If you call me friend and I do the same to you, though I may forget where you live...I will never forget where you reside." He then smiled, instantly dispelling the intensity in the air, "If you think I'm lying, take the sword now and kill me...and call Ketsueki your own. If not, I will cut my palm in a pledge to you, never to abuse your knowledge. So what say you?"

It was clear that Kaze was calm and resolute in his declaration. All he had to do now was to wait for her answer, he then realized something stupid.

"By the way, I didn't ask for your name earlier...may have the honor of knowing it?"

her calm eyes bored into his, as he drew his breath
"Now that I think about it, why would you trust me..." announced, he looked up to the dark night sky and did something hard to come by. His short blonde hair began to gro longer and darker until it was neck long and black. His eyes, blue before, shifted to a greenish cast

"After all, I do have thousand ways to hide my face."

She nodded and smiled.
"Shapeshifter." she mumbled

He drew a katana. Cristina's eyes went a bit wider. She adored those swords.
"Not as fancy as your blade, but, I always draw this when I know and intend to spill blood hence the sword's name, Ketsueki: Blood-" he extended the hilt towards her. "-You want to know if I'm different from this drunken fool? Well here it is. I never kill unless it is a last resort and even then I make as quick as possible to make sure no one suffers. I don't drink nor do I take any form of any drug. The only thing I'm guilty for is learning as much as I possibly can in my life and my wanderlust. If you call me friend and I do the same to you, though I may forget where you live, I will never forget where you reside." Cris has heard that phrase before. A smile played on his face, calming the gathering storm that was his demeanor. "If you think I'm lying, take the sword now and kill me and call Ketsueki your own. If not, I will cut my palm in a pledge to you, never to abuse your knowledge. So what say you?" His question hung in the air.
A brief pause.
"By the way, I didn't ask for your name earlier...may have the honor of knowing it?" he added in afterthought.

She reached out and took the weapon, felt it's weight. She held it up in both hands, verticle and perpendicular to her face. Cristina's eyes closed and she let her left hand go, bringing the weapon down at full speed. She tested the weapon's balance and it's competance with graceful and quick strokes simulating blocks and parry's. Finding it satisfactory, she extended the hilt back to the Shapeshifter.
"The name's Cristina, Cristina Blayde. Friends call me Cris; you do not call me that yet. Enemies of justice and myself call me Death." her face betrayed no emotion.
"I will give you some minor tips and advice, but you will not learn all there is to know for a good amount of time." her voice was even and calm as she conceded to teach the man.
"Don't be cutting yourself. You're going to need all the skin you have in place for your training." Now it was Cristina's time to pause and add an afterthought.
"Now, you've told me your sword's name. Now tell me yours, Shapeshifter."

Kaze smiled at Cristina as he wrapped his right hand once more around Ketsueki and resheathed the blade. He was puzzled at the fact that he did not need to show any external form of his pledge and was about to ask why, but that was when he decided to get to know her first. There was something puzzling about the whole thing though, he felt no compulsion to leave anytime soon, that meant he was to stay and learn.

"Thank you Cristina," he said after that moment of thankful silence. "I apologize for my poor manners, I'm Kaze Silverwind." Kaze then grinned, "You mentioned cooking..."

He left it hanging for a reason.

(OOC: Sorry for the short post.)

Owen was sprinting through the streets swiftly. His hair under his hood was tied in a pony tail as his hood of his small cloak his face. His target was sprinting away as he gave chase. There was a small fruit stand blocking the way of Owen and with great strength he leaped over it and landed with a tumble to continue his sprinting. “Someone help me please!” The man screamed as Owen was catching up. His hand resting on the hilt of his long sword. The man ran towards Christina and Kaze as Owen sprinted up a ramp and then gave a mighty leap. He then landed on top of the man quickly as he then grabbed the mans hair and slammed it against the ground knocking him out. Owen then stood up straight as he lifted up the limp body.

Owen then glanced at Christina and Kaze… “You saw nothing…” He said calmly as he looked at Kaze… “This man is a wanted criminal I have been tracking him for a few days… I was hired by a family of one of his victims…” He said calmly his voice was exotic and very calm. “I will be on my way…” He said softly as he begun to walk away carrying the man over his shoulder.

"Thank you Cristina," there was a moment of silence, apparent determined consideration by the stranger, thought Cris. "I apologize for my poor manners, I'm Kaze Silverwind." a strange, random smile appeared upon his face, "You mentioned cooking..." Kaze paused, apparently wanting to know more.
She closed her eyes as he spoke, nodding to confirm his words.
"Finest chef in all of Lómëdor; I am as quick with a cooking knife as I am with my dagger." she said with no trace of false modesty. "I cook for the people at the Wilwarin on occasion. Just got off work as a matter of fact."
"I'm half tempted to make my fellow employee, Mick into some sort of pet food..." Cristina said in a dark tone.
"I was out earlier this week finishing a different job, and I came into work late. He bugged me about it for the rest of the week, hell, he still does. It's a bit annoying, really."
right as she finished speaking, there were more rushed footsteps.
Her eyes narrowed as her hand strayed to the small of her back, towards her dagger. Just as her fingers found the hilt, there was a cry for help and a scream.
Dark silhouettes were moving towards the alley. Cristina kept her dagger behind her back as they came into full view, one tumbling to the ground. The one behind drove the conciousness out of him.
Cris locked eyes with the man who had given the chase.
“You saw nothing…” he looked at Kaze first. Cristina nodded with a sigh.
“This man is a wanted criminal, I have been tracking him for a few days; I was hired by the family of one of his victims-” He said with a clear, strange voice layered with threads of calm, of but a little bit winded. “-I will be on my way.” he said, turning.

"No worries, I am a vigilante law enforcer myself. Just collected what was due me only very recently as well. Your secret is safe with me, and my apprentice here." she said, though her voice was not as friendly as it ought to be. She didn't think much of the man's style. Cris didn't like the way the mark had seen him, made him chase him. He didn't even check the vital signs of the one he knocked out, or make sure they would keep quiet about it. It looked to Cristina like she ought to be teaching this one as well. But she said nothing. After all, it was his business how he went about a kill, and she wouldn't step on ground she was uninvited to step on. Putting her left hand on her chin and her right on the top of her head, Cris popped her neck. Locking her fingers together, she cracked her knuckles as well.
"What a strange intrusion that was." she muttered to herself and Kaze.

(OOC to Owen: Wicked looking avatar and sig pic, dude.)

Kaze shrugged easily as he looked at the vanishing man, "I know what you mean, he didn't even bother to check if the man was alive...but hey, I guess it's a question of style."

As he wondered about Cristina's second job, Kaze realized just what he got himself into, he just asked to be apprenticed by an assassin. The strangest thing about the whole matter was that he did not regret it one bit. Looking down on the body and then up in the sky, he noticed that it was still before midnight.

"...plenty of time to dispose of the body," Kaze looked at his mentor as he thought out loud. "Where do we get rid of the body? The nightwatch might be coming anytime soon."

Kaze agreed with her on the strange and random visit. Of course he did, it was definately strange as well that the victim was running straight into an alleyway. Maybe he thought they would try to stop his pursuer.

"...plenty of time to dispose of the body," Kaze looked over to Cris as if to get her input on his thought. "Where do we get rid of the body? The nightwatch might be coming anytime soon."

Her smile was rather broad at this one.
"Well I rather hope they do, then we can just give the corpse over. One of my friends is a warden here. Specializes in the rough stuff, mainly over in the Drital area, where all the scum lives. He's a very big man, goes by the name of Chase and he carries a miniature arsenal of weaponry on him at all times."
She wasn't bluffing either. Chase was a very big man indeed, clean shaven, and his face was usually pretty bleak. He would've made a wonderful assassin himself, but chose the more direct path of the wardens.
"-so you see," she continued "It's no real big thing getting caught with a body, being friends with the guard and whatnot.
That was not technically true, because if anybody else but Chase got there first, they might have to do some very fast talking. Cristina considered not telling kaze this, but in the end decided it was for the best.
"If anybody does ask, just let me do the talking, okay? You might not recognize the right one, and if we do get caught by the wrong warden, feigned ignorance is our best friend. You are escorting a young lady friend of yours back to her home after work. It's dangerous for a woman out on the streets of Lómëdor, after all." she explained to Kaze.

Kaze frowned as he heard the plan, he had to admit, his mentor had her bases covered...but still, there was something about being found with a dead body that drove shivers up his spin. His hair quickly shifted to white and became really short, buzzcut length. As he mulled it over in his mind, things started clicking together like jigsaw puzzle and a slow grin grew on his face, he was having one of his "slow" moments.

"I get it," he said grinning, transforming more of his body as he did so. By the end of it, he looked like a more rugged version of himself with more muscles and very thick stuble. Closing his cloak he leaned against the wall opposite to Cristina.

"How's this?" Even his voice sounded like the rough accent of a mountain wilderness-toughened ranger. "A little too dramatic? I'm thinking that my ordinary form is a little too child-like for them to take that story seriously."

From the shadows, a deep male voice rose up.
"Actually, that's not half bad." The owner of the voice stepped out from his place of concealment and into the moonlit air. As the silvery peal of light fell across his massive frame, light brown hair became discernable, as well as eyes of a dark nature, but due to the night, the true color was merely fathomable. His face was clean-shaven and his disposition sort of grim, but that was only due to the expression he wore, which was one of vague disinterest in anything, broken only at his lips, which were turned up in a small grin.
"It definately looks tougher than the first two."
As the man stepped closer, it became apparent that he was heavily armed. A shortsword hilt stuck out past at his right shoulder, the head of a six-bladed battle mace hung down by his left leg, strapped at the hip, and a large crossbow was visable at his left shoulder, strapped for quick access, with a full complement of barb tipped bolts next to it, one of them pre-loaded in the weapon.
"Out having a bit of late night fun then, were we Cris?" he said, turning his head to the woman in red.
The flash of silver at his belt buckle made it known that he was in fact a Warden, and his dark clothes and weapons should have made it all the more obvious.

Just how long he had been there watching was unapparent, but it was apparently long enough for him to remark upon both of the shapeshiftings.
His name was in fact Chase, the warden of whom Cristina was referring, but he didn't really feel the need to say that. he felt sure that if the shapeshifter attacked, he could hold him off until the mistake was clarified, but, more than likely he would be more intelligent and piece together just who the big man was; and if he didn't, Cristina would probably say something about it before very long. Chase looked at the corpse on the ground.
"He didn't have much of a chance did he? Then again, you probably never gave him even what little a chance he would've had, did you Cris?"

"Actually, that's not half bad."

The sudden input shocked Kaze and as the warden stepped out of the shadows, he instinctively shifted into a dire wolf form and leapt in front of Cristina in an effort to protect her. Still under the surge of primal instinct, he bared his teeth and growled, waiting to see what the intruder would do next. Thus he missed the rest of Chase's input on the earlier form.

As the man stepped closer, it became apparent that he was heavily armed. Kaze backed closer to Cristina, still growling and just as he was about to leap in an attack, his ears finally caughta short sentence.

"Out having a bit of late night fun then, were we Cris?"

The name jogged his memory and then it came, the words that she said to him a few minutes earlier...

He then saw a flash of silver on his belt buckle, that led him to the only conclusion.

"You are Chase...aren't you?" He growled the question, if they to listen more closely, they would realize that the words were laced with pain.

In fact, due to his hybrid blood, whilst he could still do a full body shift or transform himself into anything he wished. Anything remotely non-humanoid would cause him great pain. This was further shown as he shifted out of the dire wolf form, slowly and painfully.

When he was finished, he stood up and stumbled a bit, but managed to keep his balance. He looked up at Chase, his face dripping with sweat, he smiled.

"The... the name's Kaze, if you missed it," he introduced himself as he panted heavily. "Please don't do that again...for both of our sakes. I was about to rip your throat out."

As soon as the warden spoke, the shapeshifter took form again. A large wolf barred the path between Chase and his old friend. As the Warden's fingers drummed a metronome on his mace handle, the wolfsnarled and bared his teeth. Chase knew Cris needed no protection, but the shapeshifer had just met her, and hadn't gotten to see her unarmed fighting. But apparently, what Cris had told him clunked into place in the shapeshifter's mind. Chase had quickly slipped his mace out of it's hook and held it limply at his side.
"You are Chase, aren't you?" came the mixture of wolf and human voice in a low growl.
The big man nodded.
"That's what they call me, alright." he said in an aloof sort of tone. The wolf's body slowly began to reform itself, there was definate pain in the expressions of the shapeshifter as he turned back into the young man he was before. As his feet became the human ones, he stumbled forward and looked up to the warden.
"The- the name's Kaze, if you missed it," his breathing was labored and heavy, and his face was running with sweat. "Please don't do that again, for both of our sakes. I was about to rip your throat out."
Chase's eyes were as unreadable as was usually the case as he stared down the shapeshifter. They closed as he nodded.
"Yes, I know you were." came the deep voice once more. He added a gesturing of his mace as he said it, to give Kaze the truth of the situation. His eyes snapped back open.
"At which point I would've had to have taken an alternative measure." He clipped the mace back to where it belonged, something he had done so much that he knew just where and how to do it, and kept his eyes locked towards Kaze.
"All that aside, I already know who you are, Mr. Silverwind, and it's good to see you keeping to the defense of a friend."
But whether or not, Chase meant his own friend, or the friend of Kaze's himself was not able to be discerned. Chase glanced over at Cristina, who was doing what she liked to do. Watch these sort of things unfold, and step in when she felt the desire or need.
"How are you faring?" he asked, as he stepped towards Kaze, right hand extended.