Playing with Fire~ [Open][NR]

Darkness had fallen upon the island over two hours previous minus the full moon that hung low in the sky, bringing with it a small chill. The sand was no longer super heated to the touch, and there really was no other sound save for the crackling of the large bonfire that the female had made, and the constant movement of the ocean only twenty yards away, as the beaches were otherwise mostly empty of tourists.

The bonfire had several logs situated around its large form, one of which was occupied with the thin female. She sat herself sideways, legs brought up to her chest and arms wrapped around her knees. Her head was tilted, causing her red hair to fall down over her back and side, and resting on her knees so that she could stare at the bonfire with her fire filled gaze. She was perhaps a little too close to the fire, but the heat was more of a friend than an enemy, and it was soothing. She, nor her outfit - a white long but light sleeved top that hung off of both shoulders, and matching shorts - suffered any sort of ill will by the intense heat.

Lips were moving as she sang softly, "When the days are cold and the cards all fold and the saints we see are all made of gold. When your dreams all fail and the ones we hail are the worst of all and the blood's run stale. I want to hide the truth. I want to shelter you. But with the beast inside, there's nowhere we can hide..."

Slow steps brought the male over the sands of the beach. Calm eyes wandered about, picking up on the sights of this place. The air smelled of flame and humans... and something else. Something he hadn't smelled in a long time; the scent of a female dragon. His head cocked to the side, as he took a deeper breath of the air. There was no mistaking it. It was a bit off, but he knew it.

Turning, he took off, following the scent. All too soon, he found the source: a woman, sitting by a fire? Mayhaps... it was her? The Ryuukishi inched closer, making noise so that his presence was heard before he appeared in the light of the flames.

Lips had begun to part again to sing another line of the song currently stuck spinning in circles in her head when the sound of someone approaching caused her to pause. Eyebrows furrowed as she looked up, tilting her head in the direction of the sound, curious as to who would be wandering the beach at this time of night.

Her fire filled gaze fell on the male and she blinked a moment as she took in his appearance. She had seen many people since she had came to the island, and each seemed to be just as different as the last. Figuring she didn't want to be rude however by not speaking she said softly, "Hello." She tilted her head back towards the fire once more to enjoy the heat it gave off, while keeping the unknown male in her gaze out of the corner of her eye.

The Ryuukishi nodded to the female, before settling himself in the sand roughly five feet away from her. Blue eyes watched her carefully, attempting to analyze her. Her scent was strange, almost intoxicating. It was dragon; he was sure. But there was a subtle flavor to it... something hot like flames. Perhaps she was a mixed breed? Arms folded across his chest as he continued to watch her, had tilting the other way now.

"Madam.. forgive me for being rude.. but are you a dragon?"

What had been a completely relaxed state before when she had been just enjoying the heat of the fire and singing became completely alert, body shifting in the most subtle of ways at the question, as if preparing to be able to move or leave quickly. First the Demon had figured out she was a Phoenix, or partly... now this male, whoever he was, had just outright asked of she was a Dragon. That in itself had her weary.

Her fire filled gaze instantly snapped to the male and she thought of lying, but figured that if he had figured out that much about her already, he'd probably know if she was lying to deceive him. "Partly a Dragon... why?"

Not being able to sleep often caused him to walk the beaches at night until he got tired, then he'd pass out in one of the random chairs along the resort. The great thing about living at a paradise resort that your niece owned meant that you could park and pass out almost anywhere.

Tonight was one of those nights where he'd walk along, crunching a bag of chips, waiting until the night air made him drowsy enough to crash in a beach chair and doze off. Somewhere down the way there was a fire though, and he wasn't expecting anyone else to be out here really, besides a random tourist or part of the clean-crew. Upon closer inspection he noticed that it was that girl Haikyo, the one girl that Demon tried coaxing to follow him somewhere so he could have his way with her. Right now, there was some other dude near her. Her body language told Jr that she was uncomfortable. Was this another weirdo who needed taught a lesson? What was it with weird looking dudes and young girls nowadays? With a sigh Jr figured he'd go look out for her again since he'd done so once before. She didn't seem like a fighter, and he couldn't in his right mind leave her out here at night knowing there was some strange guy near her putting her in an uncomfortable position.

It almost seemed as if Jr just walked out of thin air as he was just suddenly there, right next to her, dressed the same as he was before: Grey windbreaker, unzipped this time, with a dark grey shot sleeved shirt, grey cargo pants, black sneakers. He crouched down with his bored look in the same fashion that he was with that demon, loudly crunching barbecued potato chips.

"You seem to have a thing for attracting strange guys," Jr said, hoping she'd feel more comfortable now that he was here, knowing she'd probably loosen back up now, with someone she'd know that had her back. Large wings fold up behind his back while his halo illuminated the area around him. "It wouldn't be right of me to just leave you out here alone with that mess that happened last time, you alright, Haikyo?"

The male was about to respond when his nose picked up on something a split second before the new male appeared. It was something 'pure', but still with the scent of flames. Those blue eyes flickered to the newcomer for a moment, taking note of the floating ring above his head.

An angel? Maybe. But still, there was the scent of flames.

The woman, she'd answered him with a correct. A small smile formed on his face. He was attempting to appear pleasant; he'd noted the apprehension building off her. But give his practice lately with facial expressions, he probably came off looking mentally damaged. Realizing that this was probably going to head south, he dropped the attempted smile, and spoke in a calm, even vioce. "I am..." Damnit. What was his name? He hadn't used it in over 2,500 years. He'd been called nothing but his race for the longest time.. "Ryuukishi." He'd hoped that the name would spark something in her; he had no clue how far removed she was from the remaining Four. If she was old enough... perhaps she would know of him?

Her gaze flickered sideways to Jr. as he seemed to appear just out of thin air. She took in his familiar appearance as he crouched next to her, munching on chips. Listening to the words he spoke a soft smile formed across her face and she nodded in response to being okay, her body's tension evaportating for the moment. She had no reason to fear Jr., after all, he had saved her from that Demon the last time she had been wandering along the beach by herself: and God only knew what that Demon had intended to do to her - though, she had a very educated guess on the matter.

"I don't do it on purpose, I was simply enjoying the fire I made, it was nice since it's slightly chilly...", she replied, her response for Jr.'s first comment to her. She then turned her gaze back to the other male, listening to his introduction. She blinked and then spoke, "But how did you know what I was... or part anyway?" As her curiosity peeked the fire nearby began to grow skyward, standing almost seven feet tall now, a natural reaction to her emotions that sparked her fire manipulation abilities.

Phoenix Physiology:

Jr didn't know what they'd been talking about, or what this other guy had asked her before he showed up. From her last question, Jr took a guess and thought this guy had maybe asked her about what she really was. Jr knew she was a Phoenix, but maybe she was something else too? Couldn't be a Dragon, could it? That other guy/thing that was on the beach earlier when that smelly Demon showed up, even it had taken a glance at Haikyo with a strange look in his eye. There was definitely something about this girl if she already had this many guys attracted to her, and so far all 3 of them were a touch on the weird side... excluding that dead Demon, who'd made it obvious that he was just a flat out Pedo.

In any case, Jr decided that he wasn't going to let this girl wander about the island without keep an eye on her, or being several steps behind. Jr didn't care about rank or position, but Amaranth had recently begun looking at him as one of her top staff. In a time like this, what was the harm in acting like what he was, one of the higher-ups of Sugure No Shima? He really didn't feel like having to kill someone again, but would do what he had to if it came to that.

Jr had no idea who this Ryuukishi guy was. All he knew was that the guy was a new edition to the island. Years of watching his father and being around The Chaos Squad taught Jr to never trust the new guy, because anything could happen, and you never knew if they were a spy, slowly gaining everyone's trust while preparing to screw over everyone in the end.

He didn't say anything else for now, and continued eating chips; blood red eyes moving between Haikyo, Ryuukishi, or the fire that had begun to rage, most likely because of her. He wasn't leaving, even if this guy, or even her, wanted him to. Maybe he'd fallen victim to whatever freaky spell this girl gave off that was attracting all sorts of guys to her, and maybe that was because he was part Phoenix, like she was. Or maybe he was just imagining things. Amaranth would bitch him out to the fullest if something happened to this girl while being in the position to have done something about it, so that wasn't happening.

I"... could smell it." Not a lie. His knows was fairly sensitive, and accurate, particularly to female dragons. He shifted some, clawed fingers digging into the sands. A sudden bout of nervousness struck him. He'd never actually done this before; the last dragon he'd served had been his first and only. Simic had been the last of the remaining Four to die...

"I would like to ask you a few things.. if you do not mind."

Wait, did he just say he could smell that she was a Dragon? Was that even possible? She didn't know, of course. She had been an experiment created in a lab, she had never known another Dragon, and just recently had met that Re fellow.. but he had seemed, melancholy at best, and not very Dragon like. But, she didn't dwell on the answer for long, as again he was speaking, and it caused her to blink once more. She had no idea why he had so many questions for her, or if she honestly wanted to answer anything else. It had been bad enough that he could smell she was a Dragon, what else was there to know?

She glanced over to Jr., watching him continue to eat his chips from his position next to her. Then she glanced at the fire, noticing it had grown more. She took a deep breath, forcing herself calmer. She didn't want to accidentally cause someone to get burnt because the fire was reacting to her emotions. She then turned her fire filled gaze to Ryuukishi, staring at him for a moment as she thought of how she wanted to answer him.

"What questions?"

She noticed the fire die back down out of the corner of her eye, returning to its more normal state, compared to the almost raging inferno it had been moments earlier.

What could he smell? That she was part of something? Jr hadn't been here to hear that much. Haikyo didn't have any sort of bad odor to her, she smelled just like any girl. Fruity shampoo and perfume and stuff. That fire had almost gotten out of control, but Jr didn't worry about being burned. Maybe the way it was growing and shrinking was because of how she was feeling. He was able to pinpoint that much because of the way the fire shrank when he'd arrived.

This guy... he was starting to seem kind of strange, in Jr's opinion. Haikyo didn't seem to know him, but here he was able to smell things and wanting to ask a bunch of weird questions. Haikyo seemed uncomfortable, and he seemed somewhat nervous, sort of like a nerd would be when asking the hottest girl in the school to go to the prom with him. Jr looked as he did most of the time: tired, or bored, or both.

Handfuls of potato chips were stuffed into his mouth to produce crunching sounds. Who knew what Ryuukishi was about to ask, but Jr kept on listening knowing he was soon to find out...

"I..." He paused for a momeny, considering what he was about to say. It would come out strange.... and almost... terrible.

"I am a Ryuukishi, a Dragon Knight, or Dragoon, as the humans say. We Ryuukishi are bound to dragons; we were created to protect them. Each Ryuukishi is bound to a certain dragon, sworn to protect him or her until death. The Ryuukishi are tasked with making sure the dragon lines continue, as well as being thier caretakers..." The male took a breath; steady. Calm. It was easy. Just breathe...

"In exchange the Ryuukishi, if they perform in a manner that is satisfactory, are able to become dragons themselves, in order to ensure that the lines never die out." Blue eyes fell to the ground, unsure of how to continue. "What I'm asking is.. will you allow me to protect you..?"

She blinked again, completely unsure of how to respond to that. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but at the same time she didn't know him to allow that level of blind trust. The last person, if you could classify a Demon as a person that is, that had wanted to do something that dealt with her had had the least of healthy intentions in mind for her. It made her more weary when it came to other people. And now it seemed she was in another uncomfortable position: only at least this time no one had tried grabbing her or making any demands of her.

Still, she knew she was going to have to respond eventually to him. But how? She turned her gaze to Jr. first, who was still eating those chips, and who had done the very thing for her that Ryuukishi was offering now to do: he had protected her, even though the whole situation hadn't concerned him outside of the whole Angel against Demon thing, he had stepped up and protected her, and had even killed the Demon to do it. Next her gaze went to the fire, which once again was responding to her emotions. The flames were about ten feet high again, and growing hotter and hotter still.

Finally, she looked back to Ryuukishi, bringing her legs up to her chest again and wrapping her arms around them once more. "But, why would you want to protect me? I'm not even completely a Dragon. I'm part Phoenix, too." She loosened her left arm from around her knees for a moment and used it to point up to the cliffs higher up. "There's a Dragon up there, and I think he's all Dragon.. why not protect him?", she asked as she wrapped her arm back around her leg.

A muscly guy offering to protect a young girl. That seemed very noble if he were for real, but this whole thing would look fishy to someone in their right mind. He did manage to find out what she was though; a Phoenix mixed with a Dragon. That was probably why that other guy who came here with that Himitsu lady gave Haikyo the eye too. This muscle man here, he was a Dragon too? And he wanted to protect her so that "the line of Dragons never dies out." Jr didn't know much of anything about Dragons, and he wasn't going to pretend he did. All he ever figured was that they flew down out of mountains, terrorizing villages, breathing fire on everything and kidnapping the princess for some reason. That's how the stories and TV has them stereotyped, anyway.

Jr looked back at Haikyo at the same time she looked at him. He had the means to read her mind and see what she was thinking if he really wanted to, but he wouldn't invade her privacy like that. He sure hated it when someone else did that to him. Maybe she was thinking of earlier, when he'd taken out that smelly Demon. Thinking of that guy again made him rub his nose in a comical fashion. That guy smelled bad.

Haikyo seemed to not know how to respond to Ryuukishi's request and began to seem uncomfortable again. Maybe to her this was sounding like a bad idea too. A random muscleman walking up out of the blue and asking to be her protector, when earlier a Demon tried to drag her off behind the bushes for some ooh la la. This left Jr wondering if she even trusted him, a lazy Angel dude with a bad potato chip habit. She was more calm since he'd shown up, so that had to be a plus, right? For the moment he'd just remain silent, and be here just in case...

"We.. are required to offer our services to the first dragon we come across." The male blinked some; quietly making the connection to the strange acting flames. She was part phoenix? Strange. He'd never heard of the two species interbreeding. "I'm sorry. This must seem like so much to you. We Ryuukishi were created by Dragons to serve as protectors to them and diplomats to mankind. We were meant to be the 'face' that humanity saw when dealing with trades and the like.."

The male took another breath and shifted, holding out his hands to warm them with the fires. "Sadly, that never came to pass, and so our pupose was changed. We ensure that the dragons never die out... for as long as they live, so shall we." That... seemed selfish. Perhaps there was another way? "Please. Allow me to prove myself. I understand this is alot to take in... but I wish to help."

Her form shifted slightly again, her balance on the log she was seated on changing as she did so so that she remained seated instead of falling on her ass, or side, seeing as she was still sitting curled up in as small of a ball as she could manage at the moment. She was still uncomfortable with the whole situation. She didn't know Ryuukishi, at all. And yet... he was almost persistent with being able to help her.

She bit her bottom lip for a moment, thinking. If she said yes then who knew what would happen. If she said no... then the same rules applied. So what to do? "But, I know almost nothing about even being a Dragon... I wasn't born, I was created... an experiment done by some bored Humans, who thought they could control the power they were creating...", she spoke as she stared at her hand, watching the light of the fire dance off of it as if it were rather interesting. Her words as she spoke were soft, as if they were the ramblings of a mad woman, but loud enough to still easily be heard above the fire.

Hmm, a creation, a lab experiment. Jr didn't show any response to that, except a slight eyebrow twitch at the thought of finding these "bored humans" and seeing how loud he could make them scream. Jr didn't look at Haikyo any differently now that he knew what she truly was though. If she didn't know much about Dragons, maybe the same applied to Phoenixes too. Jr himself didn't know a whole lot about Phoenixes, even though he was part Phoenix, except for the fact that he'd never been able to beat his mother in a spar. Maybe if his mother were around, she could teach them a thing or two. He'd eventually have to go back to that city, to that Tower, but it would also be an excuse to maybe get to know her better as well. He knew his mother was alive, he could feel it for some reason, but he just didn't know where she was...

What would happen if she were to say no? Would he lunge at her like the Demon did, all YOU'RE COMING WITH ME? Haikyo was still nervous, and it was getting late; Jr didn't really like fighting at night, so close to crashing time.

"A dragon is a dragon, no how they are concieved.." The male, tilted his head to the left, cracking the bones within his neck. "Simic, my former master, taught me to embrace diversity. Perhaps.. this is what the bloodlines need."

This.. wasn't working. Ryuukishi was making himself to look like a fool.

"Perhaps... you'll allow me a 'trial' period? A chance to prove my intentions?"