The moves of a Mad Man

After spending several years within the guild hall, studying from the war that raged on for year. Raphael decided it was time to make moves, some years passed by, and not much had changed. But the smell of new prey, and allies lingered around, Raphael smiled to himself as he made it to Lake Sciliora. "Ah, not much has happened."

It was strange. No matter how much she resented the memories that place this place had, she always found herself standing in front the lake, reminiscing. She couldn’t help think about the great times she had with him, this was the first place they met, this was the first place they shared their first kiss, they had always envisioned a house by the lake, a vision that would never happen, all because of them. They took it all away from her, they took her happiness and they will pay.

Clenching her fist and biting down on her bottom lip she would try to calm herself down, there was no need to for her too worked up, she would get her revenge sooner or later. Pulling down the hood of her cloak she would run her hand through her blonde hair completely oblivious to her surroundings.

Raphael was off in the distance, he saw Alexandria but wasn't certain if it was her. He kept watch her, as she was obviously upset. Raphael folded his arms, as she pulled down her hood showing off her long blonde hair. "Alexandria?" Raphael whispered to himself, Raphael waited by the tree for a moment before confronting the women that stood before him. Raphael unfolded his arms and bounce off from the tree he leaned against. He slowly walked towards her, being sure not to startled her if it wasn't Alexandria.

Raphael got closer, from the corner of his eye he could see her reflection from the lakeside. He stopped walking, when he was near her enough for her to see him at least. "I should have figured that you would be here. How well are you holding up?"

Startled by the voice coming from behind her she would quickly pull out her sword, ready to fight, until she noticed who it was however. Sheathing her sword she would bow her head. “Please forgive me Master; I didn’t realize it was you.” She said in an apologetic tone. It was bad enough she allowed herself to be snuck up on, but she even drew her sword on her master, which was unforgivable. “I’m doing well Master.” She answered quickly and abruptly without raising her head.

Raphael smiled, he shrugged his shoulders when she apologized to him. "No need to, it's alright." Raphael put his hands in his pocket as he walked closer staring at the lake. He didn't care for the beauty of it, but it did however remind him of much. "Well good to hear, I wouldn't want my third in command to have clouded judgement." Raphael head lifted away from the direction of the water and towards the grassy fields that were behind them.

Thankful he wasn’t upset she would raise her head and let out a sigh. The last thing she needed right now was a scolding from the Guild Master. Even though people always viewed him as a malicious person, she couldn’t help but notice the kind side of him, maybe that was towards certain people? Chuckling to herself she would slowly follow behind him, keeping her distance of course. “I live to carry out the will of my Master and my Guild. My mind is as clear as crystal.” She answered calmly.

"Ah, that's good to hear. But surly you're not pushing yourself. Relax if you must, beside the council is no longer on us, and many of the lesser dark guild are making a ruckus causing other light guilds to take them down." Raphael scratched his head, he was thinking about the next steps. During his studies, he heard his fair share of stories. "Hmmm... I suppose we should talk about the next course of action." Raphael spoke in a rather calm laid back tone, but the expression on his face was serious.

Relax was a word that wasn’t in her vocabulary. She was constantly on the move, whether it be Guild duties or gathering information for her own personal gain, she had no time to relax, or that’s what she told herself. Maybe she should take these quiet times to recharge her batteries and at least try to have some fun; after all it had been years since she had something remotely close to having fun. Maybe she did need to take it easy after all.

“Next course of action? What do you have planned Master?” She said curiously as she watched his sudden shift in his facial expression. It seemed pretty serious she thought as she folded her arms and waited for him to continue.

Raphael was silent for a brief period when she asked him. He rubbed his chin before answering her question. "Well phase one is a tad boring but necessary. I lack the needs of info on the newer generation and as such newer magic is formed from older existing magic. The only place that have such knowledge on that would be the council's record. I also have an interest for a certain prisoner." Raphael wanted someone to test this prisoner he heard about, maybe she contained information on the council's guard shifts, maybe even their layout. "I also want to observe more on curses. If I can gain the necessary information on curses, then I can start on the next several phases." Raphael turned to Alexandria.

“And what do you need me to do?” Alexandria said calmly when he finished speaking. She had no problems with reconnaissance, especially if it was at the council building and she herself was interested in what the others could do, although she was confident she would be able to take down any of the Guild fodder and a jail break also sounded awesome. The third she wasn’t too sure of seeing that she had no prior knowledge about curses but she would play her part either way.

Raphael closed his eyes, thinking. "You can do some reconnaissance. I know it's a boring task to ask of you, but the prisoner will be hold off for now, and I'll get to some contacts about curses. I want the council's tower scanned both inside and out." Raphael open the palm of his right hand. "Here take this, it'll mask your signature. That should be enough to sneak in and out. If you come across trouble or anyone on the council, play it safe and leave. We can't have them know of us yet. Fallen Kings is currently taking all their interest so it should be an easy mission."

“No I think I might enjoy the reconnaissance, it’ll test my skills” She admitted obviously excited about the whole ordeal, but she wasn’t too sure that she would be able to leave any of those council dogs alive, but she would have to try and restrain herself or else she’ll get punished, then again that doesn’t sound too bad either. “Will I be accompanied by anyone?” She asked.

Raphael handed her the trinket. "You'll be accompanied with Dumah Barman. He recently woke up, I was hoping to meet him before briefing you, so I could inform you two on the mission. But I have no doubt that you'll inform him." Raphael was interested in what information this mission could bring him, maybe he could get inside the council's library. The thought of learning new magic had excited Raphael. "The council library hold many forms of old lost ancient magic. Most of those magic were taken by the council, we could benefit from these secrets."

Taking the trinket from him she would stuff it into her pockets. “Him huh?” She said once she heard his name. It had been awhile since she had seen or heard anything from him so it would be nice to be accompanied by him, after all he was one of the few people she trusted and he could help keep her in check if she had any thoughts about killing anyone. “Say hypothetically we were caught by a member of the council snooping around, what should we do?” She asked hoping to get the answer she wanted to hear.

"I would say kill em', but depending on who it is that option can be available. If it's someone of real importance, we can't risk having them talk, nor can we risk killing them. So capture them, I would want to test out their unbreakable will, and what they know. When I'm done, I'll let you finish them off. Again this is a hypothetically instance." Raphael figured she'll enjoy the answer. "But don't take it as a green light."

“Right, right hypothetically.” Alexandria said with a crooked smile on her face. Oh how she would just love to run up in there and just started to massacre them all, but she had a job to do and she had to do it properly. “Don’t worry Master, I’ll make sure to stay incognito.” She said reassuring the man.

"Alright, I trust you so I have no worries. If something you can't avoid happens, then contact me. I'll send help if you need it, or even a transport." Raphael hand glowed, a map of the council tower appeared before the two, it was an older version of the tower, so this mission was important to update their knowledge on the tower. "It no longer looks like this, but most of the floors and destinations should be the same."

Alexandria took a good look at the map. Judging from the guard posts it would seem easy enough to infiltrate and leave without any hassle; then again he did say it wasn’t like that anymore. She should probably discuss her plans with Dumah before doing what she planned to, which would probably cause trouble. “Anything else?” She asked before she left.

Raphael closed his eyes and rubbed his chin. He thought to himself, he was certain that he told her everything. As she asked her question, Raphael quickly snapped out his trance of thought. "Ah yes, nothing comes to mind at the moment. I wish you safe travels, but I know you'll complete the mission and come back safely." Raphael answered her question, preparing to walk off.

Turning to him she would take a small bow. “I’ll be back shortly then.” She said before leaving the area.