[M]Silent Shooter [Brighty x Bluey]

[Argon Jaden]

The creak had sounded and while she had her back turned, the young heiress calmly stood up, head held regally as she glared at the unfortunate thief who was dumb enough to stay behind. Her things were missing, and most importantly, she did not take kindly to perverts, or bandits for the matter. As the brunette neared, she saw the man stare right at her, struggling to break free. "I-I'll never speak!" He snarled, although looking just as frightened as a wee mouse in a lion's den.

For the record, the man did struggle, but obviously, was in too much pain to make himself invisible, or whatever the hell he was trying to so. Unfortunately, Constantine wasn't in a good mood. She gently tapped Shibata on the arm, silently telling him to ease up. Then, she unceremoniously kicked the bastard, forcing him on his stomach as she stepped on the back of his head. Outside the man's line of vision, she motioned for her teammate to cover his ears, so that at least, he wouldn't be too taken in by the spell.

Two magic circles glowed above and below her, the pulsing magenta swirling softly as a glass instrument hovered just inches beneath her fingers. The glass was intricately designed, and for those who were unfamiliar of an armonica, it was indeed a sight that wouldv'e spoken of elegance had Constantine's eyes not burned with murderous intent. The bandit struggled, but the brunette just smirked in return. Her fingers gently touched the cool surface before music filled the air.

She didn't know how bad Shibata was handling her Pesante, since she did warn him to cover his ears, but the effect on the man was immediate. As the first note lingered in the air, he began screaming, trying to get away from Constantine, only succeeding in smashing his face against the floor multiple times. She kept playiong as he began to spout apologies and gibberish, screaming profanities all the while. The girl swore the man was already peeing himself, before he stilled, head rolling limply to the side as he twitched, sobbing in defeat. That gave enough time for Constantine to see his eyes. The scleras had turned a shade of yellow-gold, the pupils purple. She snickered again, hitting a note wrong on purpose, just to see the man twitch grotesquely.

Maddening torture probably. She wondered what he was seeing. Finally feeling pity for her victim, the song shifted, and a sweet melody began to play. All at once, the terror left the man's face, followed by confusion, then a content smile. Stopping the song abruptly, the girl stepped aside, watching the dazed man blink the haze out of his eyes, before looking up at Constantine with complete and utter fear. She smirked and nudged Shibata once more, as if saying Your call. I'm done here.

[Last Falconry]

The Mage rose from his position atop the man, onto his feet, after promptly putting another bullet into his other leg to make sure he couldn't get up, hands clasping on his ears. Then the music started. Huh, torture. Shibata thought. It couldn't be anything else, from the way the man was screaming, loud enough to register to the Bullet Mage even with covered ears and the music permeating the room, and thrashing on the floor and generally writhing in pain. If Shibata were a kinder man, then he would of almost felt sorry for the bastard. But considering that the man was going to stab them in the backs, and that the Fairy Tail mage was a self-admitted asshole, there was nothing aside from faint curiosity towards his partner. Cause torture wasn't what he was expecting from her. She was a princess, no one expected princesses to be fucking hardcore.

Then, suddenly, the music shifted and the man's screaming stopped. The shift brought Shibata out of his musings, bringing his attention back onto the man, who was smiling contently, then the music stopped entirely and the man looked like he had just seen Satan or some shit. Which probably wasn't entirely false, considering what hime-chan just did to the man. The Bullet Mage felt a nudge on his shoulder, and he dropped his hands to his side, and looked towards the girl.

"Ah.....remind me to never get on your bad-side." He said, before he turned to look at the man who was still looking like he had seen the devil. "So...wanna tell us now? Or is Hime-chan gonna have to play you a song again?"

[Argon Jaden]

Her lip quirked upward in a smirk, as if saying 'you already are' before turning back to their prisoner. The man was heaving, tears pooling in his eyes as he fixed his gaze on the two mages. Constantine tilted her head up, as if prompting him to speak. The man flinched and scooted back, flinching again when the young heiress smirked.


"I-I'll talk! I'll talk! Please!!" He muttered, glancing warily between the two of them. "The-they live in the old sha-shack. Our boss is this blonde kid. He-he lives in this village bu-but we don't know who. I mean, he can change his appearance by-by touching someone and taking att-attributes. an-and--" He noticed Constantine's bored gaze and began stammering out apologies. The brunette however, raised a brow, telling him to continue if he didn't want her to start playing again.

"His name is Milli Marlo! Millie Marlo! Promised us that he's doing this because the village is gonna die! The village is gonna be run over by monsters soon! The Old man's gone crazy! They're using everything and tainting it with dark magic! Millie said so! He said so!!" That was the only thing they could get out of the man before he started spouting gibberish, eyes wild and body thrown back. Constantine snorted softly. If there was dark magic around, why wouldn't she notice it? Things made sense, but didn't add up. The place seemed normal, unless?

Her flute hovered in midair and the man squealed like a pig at the sight. A sweet melody played in the air, a melody of bubbly sunlight and saccharine kisses enough to give one cavities. She had no idea what the ones listening was seeing, illusion working their musical magic in the man's ears. She only stopped when the bleeding bandit had dropped to the floor, sound asleep with a smile on his face. She clicked her tongue.

[Last Falconry]

That smirk was worrying. Very worrying, especially considering the girl seemed to be okay with willing to mind-fuck anyone who crossed her. Probably would be smart to invest in earplugs sometime in the future, if this mission was going to continue on for a lengthy period of time or they would team up again in the future (which was something he was kind of hoping for, the potential danger of crossing her was pretty exciting, evidenced by the widened smile spread across his features). Or maybe see if there was a magic that could make him deaf, would prevent her from say, removing it in the middle of the night like she could with earplugs, but it'd also present a huge risk....and the man was speaking again, probably should pay attention to that.

The gist of what he got from the man, which was kind of hard to get because he was blubbering, was: the bandits lived in a rundown shack, their leader was some blonde twat named Millie who could take on other people's appearances, and apparently everyone was gonna die cause everyone was tainting everything with dark magic and the village was gonna be overrun by monsters. The last bit reeked of bullshit to the Bullet Mage, considering he was able to feel magic and there wasn't a shred of dark magic that he could feel or see about the place; but the first bit was far more promising, it made sense, and there had to be rundown buildings in this shithole for someone to take up residence in and since they knew where the thieves were hiding, then it was just a matter of strolling over there tomorrow and fighting them.

His smile stretched to a grin, and a moment later he was broken out of his thoughts by a flare of magic next to him. He turned, saw the flute, and hands immediately flew upwards to cover his ears. Not a moment too soon, as the girl's hands began to move on the flute and he could register faint notes being played even through his hands obstructing the sound. Sounded pretty nice, he supposed. The sentiment seemed to be shared by the thief too, if the wide grin on his features was anything to go by. The music continued for a few moments, until the man on the ground fell asleep, then the faint notes disappeared. His hands dropped, and he stepped to the nearest bed. He removed the sheet, tore it into strips, deftly tied the man's limbs with them and bandaged the wound on his leg, before picking him up with magic augmented strength and putting him into the closet, which he barricaded with propping a nearby turned over chair underneath the handle.

With that done, he turned back to face her, hands going into his pockets. "Couldn't let him try to run off in the middle of the night to tip them off that we know where they are." The Bullet Mage said, shrugging, before walking and sitting on the bed he had removed the sheet from earlier. "We can get him out in the morning, confirm their location, then we can go and deal with them. Sound good?" He asked, a brow raising.

[Argon Jaden]

She wanted to complain and say that No, it was not good and throw a list of why it wasn't good (like the fact that some of her clothes were missing and that her tablet was missing among a few other things) but thought better of it. Her partner might be useless in the dark if he couldn't see ten feet in front of him. Constantine scrunched her nose, obviously debating on it before she released a sigh.

Shrugging indifferently, she picked and prodded through her things, scowling slightly when she realized how much of her clothes they took. And those were her comfiest nightclothes. The brunette let out a defeated sigh, picking up an oversized shirt that was way too big for someone her size before heading off to the bathroom, giving Shibata a warning look over her shoulder, in case he wanted to try anything funny. Instead, she gestured at the door, wanting him to go downstairs to see if they could get some extra pillows, since the pillows in the room were slit open.

Slipping inside the small bath, the young heiress sighed again. Communication was hard when the other didn't know sign language or when she didn't have anything to write on. Constantine never was very good at communicating with others, so it was no surprise that her lack of communication skills were amplified by her disability. Sighing softly, she felt something squeak behind her, just as she was starting to unbutton her clothes. The fabric slipped off her shoulders and pooled at her feet, giving her enough time to land a spinning kick on the peeping tom hiding in the bathroom. At once, another man appeared, clutching his cheek. His nose was bleeding.

A flash of light and the haunting melody echoed in the small bathroom, growing darker and darker, angrier and angrier. The man before her was squirming, wailing and begging for her to stop while blindly trying to grab the brunette, only to fail multiple times. In fact, Constantine only stopped playing when the intruder was perfectly still, except for the twitching. sighing softly, she slipped on a bathrobe and kicked him out of the room, waiting for Shibata's return so he could lock this guy up as well.

[Last Falconry]

"Need to find some way to close this off...." Shibata muttered, regarding the single window in the room, the only real point of access in the room for a would-be assassin, door would be figured as too obvious and too disadvantageous a position to start from, and the window wasn't that hard to get in through; it was only close to thirty feet off the ground and wasn't at all hard to get through. Something that Shibata would have to rectify, cause there was a chance that someone else might come through during the night, a back up assassin in case the first one failed like he did. A barrier was out of the question, the Bullet Mage only knew Bullet Magic and Constantine's seemed to only effect the mind instead of being able to physically form shit like that. Nailing things across to barricade it off was out of the question too, he had none of the things required for that and anyone, including a regular person, could get through that without too much difficulty. He could keep watch of it the entire night, shoot anything that tried to come through it; he was used to going without sleep for decent stints and he had a few energy pick-me-up beans from the hag that would deal with any kind of tiredness.

He turned away from the window, he could decide on the course when they finally settled down for the night, and caught Constantine's warning glare. Judging from the clothes in her hand and the fact she was on a path to the bathroom, she was probably going to change and was trying to discourage him from peeping. His hands flew up in the gesture of surrender, and he nodded his assurance that he wouldn't. It was unneeded kind of, he wasn't a pervert, he wouldn't peep on a girl when she was bathing. Well, most of the time he wouldn't. If the girl was hot and he was sure he had a reasonable shot at succeeding, he might of tried. But more often than not he was the perfect gentleman in this kind of thing thank you very much. Well, kind of, sort of.

He shook his head, scattering the thoughts. Now wasn't really the time to reflect on his conduct around bathing women. His hands found their way into his pockets, and he strolled out the open door at a casual pace. Might as well take her suggestion to see if there were any spare bed shit considering most of the stuff in the room was ripped to shreds. He made it about halfway down the hall before he heard the faint notes of music and the expected screams. He halted mid-strike, a brow raising.

Huh, so there was another one. The Bullet Mage thought somewhat surprised, before he turned on a heel and walked back to the room. On the floor, twitching, and bleeding from his nose, was presumably the source of the earlier screaming. Where exactly could he of been hiding though? He couldn't of been hiding in the main room, otherwise he would of made a move while they were dealing with the first assassin and they were distracted. He couldn't of been in the closet either, he would of been revealed when Shibata threw the first assassin in there, it was a really small closet. Which left....

"Shit, surprised she didn't kill you." The brunette muttered, walking forward, hands coming out of his pockets. He gathered magic to his hand, forming a small ball of amethyst light in his palm. "Sorry about this." Well, kind of. As sorry as he could be to a man who was going to kill him. He flicked his wrist, casting the ball towards the man, at his right kneecap. It struck and the knee broke with a dull crunch; couldn't really have the man walking after all. Thankfully the assassin was so unconscious that his only reaction to the injury was to shiver and grunt somewhat, Shibata heard way too much screaming today.

The Fairy Tail member strode across the room, tore a strip from the remaining sheet on the bed and used it to bind the man's hands, before he hauled him up with magic enhanced strength and threw him in the closet with his buddy (hopefully neither of them woke up during the middle of the night). He replaced the chair wedged underneath the door, and took on a seat on the foot of a bed, gaze towards the bathroom where he could sense his partner's magic energy from.

"Tomorrow should be fun!" Shibata said cheerfully, a smile forming on his features as he turned away, to face the window so he could start his watch on the window.

[Argon Jaden]

Thankfully, her bath continued peacefully, heterochromatic eyes slipping close as she turned off the lights. Water cascaded down her shoulders as the girl tilted her head up, letting the moonlight peeking from the small window to the right provide enough light. Constantine sighed softly and tilted her head up, a small smile gracing her lips.

Una mattina mi son svegliato~
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao~
Una mattina mi son svegliato~
Eo ho trovato l'invasor~

The words were sung in a slow tune, coming from inside the bathroom, but it was hard to figure out whether or not they were sung, or were the works of a musical instrument. The song carried a somber tone to it and the world became silent in reverence.

O partigiano porta mi via~
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao~
O partigiano porta mi via~
Che mi sento di morir~

The crickets outside stilled to a hush silence. Even the wind stopped blowing softly, the air itself stilling at the soft words that lingered in the air. For a moment, it seemed like the voice was really of that of an instrument, notes hit perfectly and seamlessly.

E se io muoio da partigiano~
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao~
E se io muoio da partigiano~
Tu mi devi seppellir~

Outside, a few patrons had gathered, stilling under the small, dark window as they listened to the song, feeling the unusually perky chirp that surprisingly melded with the soft, somber tone. It was sung slowly, one child even began to sniffle softly as he and his mother stilled.

Mi seppellire lassù in montagna~
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao~
Mi seppellire lassù in montagna~
Sotto l'ombra di un bel fiore~

The song was tangible in the air, and drunk patrons found themselves pausing their drinks, stilling and listening to the still soft voice that hummed. It was a voice now, no doubt, but then again, it wasn't. The tune was picking up a little faster, less somber, more determined and patrons found themselves looking tiredly at their mugs of ale and beer.

E le genti che passeranno~
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao~
E le genti che passeranno~
Mi diranno: "Che bel fior"~

Whatever instrument that was playing must be magic, given the way the music enthralled anyone who listens, causing them to pause, be overtaken by the determined, sweetness in the song, despite the stubborness and the slow beat that probably wasn't in its original score.

È questo il fiore del partigiano~
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao~
È questo il fiore del partigiano~
Morto per la libertà~

As the song was coming to the end, people began to blink dazedly at the source of the sound, unmoving as they listened, holding in breaths they didn't know they were holding. The entire town was in hushed silence as the song repeated it's last lines, the singer or the instrument, it was unknown, continued the soft hymn.

È questo il fiore del partigiano~
Morto per la libertà~

The door to the bathroom opened soundlessly, as if the hinges were still in awe of the melody slowly growing quieter and quieter. The dazed townspeople began to shake the haze out of their eyes, mumbling softly to themselves, and at the sense of resignation, of calm that washed over the entire place. It was definitely magic at work.

È questo il fiore del partigiano~
Morto per la libertà~

as the last note faded into the air, Constantine appeared from the dark bathroom, looking rather pleased with herself, in her nightclothes. She let out a voiceless sigh, wrapping the towel out of her hair as she took in the beautiful feeling of after a bath. One look outside, she noticed people glancing up at their broken window. She pursed her lips, but didn't pursue the issue, instead, making an orcania appear out of thin air. Sweet music took hold once more, just a few notes, before she grew quiet, yawning softly. That should keep tonight calm and peaceful. Hopefully.... not. She smiled and looked around... Did Shibata change the sheets? Hopefully he did.

[Last Falconry]

"Huh, didn't know that she could sing." The Bullet Mage muttered, arms folding across his chest. Sure he knew that she could produce music with her magic and all that, but he figured that singing was beyond her, considering the bit about where she seemingly lacked a voice. Maybe it was some kinda condition with her magic? She could sing songs that had some kind of magic to them, because there was definitely something magical to the song by the way people were slowly walking towards their window, and in return she lost the ability to talk? Or maybe she was just odd like that. Eh, he could ask her about it later, whenever she got her screen thing back again (hopefully it went better than last time). Right now he had more important matters to concern himself with.

Namely find new sheets to replace the torn up ones on the bed for her - cause he had only known her for a few hours and he already was fond of her - now that she reminded him of her presence. The Bullet Mage rose from the bed, and stepped out of the room. He didn't bother heading down towards the ground floor to talk to the old man, there was a chance that something else could happen even if it was slight and he wanted to be reasonably close to intercept, instead he just shoved open the door to the room across the hall and took the sheet and blanket and pillow off the unused bed before promptly making his way back towards their room and replacing the sheet and blanket and pillow on one of the ones in the room. With that finished he resumed his seat on the edge closest to the window, and set his gaze back outside, and the few people that had gathered outside their window from beforehand had turned into a crowd, no doubt attracted by the song still emanating from the bathroom.

The brunette rose to his feet, and began to take a step towards the window, magic gathering to his hand, the beginnings of a shot forming. He wasn't going to hurt anyone, just fire a warning shot in the air to disperse them; a crowd gathered outside was a security risk for them after all. Before he could complete the step however, the song stopped and a door behind of him opened. He released his hold on the magic, dispersing the shot and turned to face Constantine, hands falling into his pockets. His mouth began to move, to deliver a teasing admonishment about the dangers of attracting strangers outside their broken window when someone, but was cut off when she formed an instrument that he couldn't quite name in her hands and began to play another song.

It was shorter than the last bit of music that she played/sang/whatever-the-fuck-she-did, but it was nicer to him. But the music came sort of an afterthought compared to the sight that followed. A soft yawn, followed by a small smile, cute enough to color his cheeks a slight pink. "Ah, I replaced the shit on the bed." The Bullet Mage muttered, coughing into a fist to dispel the color gathered on his features, turning his attention back towards the window; the crowd outside was beginning to disperse thankfully. He dropped back down onto the corner of the bed, prepared to settle in for a night of extreme boredom derived from staring at nothing but fucking road with some small chance of action happening.

[Argon Jaden]

Taking note that her partner had thankfully followed her orders, Constantine nodded, the small smile still on her face. She couldn't say thanks, but that was probably enough. 'Ah... I feel like not saying thanks would make me feel like I'm treating some sort of slave.' She said, huffing softly at the thought. Her parents had raised her better than that. With that thought in mind, she turned to face him, and gave a small, downward tilt of her head, in a tiny bow before briskly turning back to the bed.

She's seen better places, honestly, and the broken window did not make the place any more attractive. The bathroom was free and she had the bed. The young heiress yawned softly, heterochromatic eyes reflecting how sleepy she was after that bath. Ah, she wanted to sleep, but... setting herself down on the bed she gave Shibata a curious look. Before snorting softly and dropping to her side, eyes closed as her breathing became shallow.

She was asleep in a matter of seconds, though it obviously wasn't the deep kind of sleep. It was just the kind of sleep one has with their body clock blaring loudly for them to to be on guard. The brunette sighed softly in her sleep and curled to her other side, rolling to the edge precariously before she stilled, brown hair splayed on the pillow. Even her breaths were quiet.

[Last Falconry]

Shibata rose a brow as the girl bowed to him, before waving a hand in front of him in dismissal. "No need to thank me Hime-chan, it's nothing, really. Now go to bed, I'll keep watch." The Bullet Mage turned on a heel, and walked towards the broken window. Sending a small trickle of magic down to his leg, he lashed out with his foot, striking the windowsill. Wood splintered, and trembled violently, the remaining glass shards fall out place, shattering. A sweep of his hand, a small burst of magic, cleared the broken pieces from the remains of the window, sending them down to them down to the ground. Satisfied, he stepped into the window sill, and sat down, legs dangling over the edge.

Now that he had his permanent perch for the night, all he needed to do was wait till morning. Hopefully nothing would crop up during the night, and hopefully he could feel his ass by the time the sun came up.

[...]

Turns out the answer to that question was no, he could not feel his ass by the time the sun rose. Blinking, he turned away as the first rays of sunlight broke across the town. Mavis, was the sun always that fucking bright? He brought a hand to his mouth, stifling a jaw cracking yawn. Staying up through the night with no sleep had left him more tired than he had expected. Maybe it was to do with the sheer mind-numbing boredom that came with staring at the same fucking road for a few hours straight, with basically nothing happening; not even the men tied up in the closet stirred throughout the night. Thank whatever deity there was that he had potions for this shit, or he might of been a liability during when they dealt with the bandits.

He extended a hand, released his magic. There was a ripple in the air and from seemingly nowhere two small vials fell into the appendage. He reached out with his other, ripped the corks off them and downed the contents. He grimaced. Regardless of how useful they might be, he could feel his tiredness evaporate already and feeling suddenly surge back into his ass, they still tasted like ass. Shibata cast the vials to the side, reached out and gripped the windowsill and pulled himself to his feet. He hopped backwards, landing lightly on the wooden floor.

With his watch done, and him dealing with the side-effects of it, they needed to move to deal with the bandits. He turned on a heel, bringing his gaze towards Hime-Chan. First thing to do was wake her up and let her get ready. The Fairy Tail member strode across the room, coming to a stop just beside of her bed. He reached out, gripped her shoulder and shook her.

"Yo, Hime-chan, wake up."