The Neon Chaos [inkblot,invite only]

Cilian gazed up at the pigeons that scattered in the open air, their chubby little bodies pushing all of their strength into their small dark wings as he casually walked down the moody grey side walk. It had been a week since his initiation into thrones as the Prince, an honourable position..however one which would probably involve more work than other roles he could have been given.

Sheryll, the woman he was partnered up with during said initiation, had called him earlier that morning, asking him - no, forcing him to come to the beach with her. Unfortunately for her the Frenchman hated beaches and came up with a viable enough excuse, getting his suit mended, to get out of the situation promising his bubbly friend a trip out to somewhere less messy. This was mainly due to what he woke up to on morning after meeting the queen. It was something he'd rather forget, quite an embarrassing position he ended up in..although Sheryll thought nothing of it and had apparently planned more drinking nights.

Letting out a heaving sigh, Cilian stretched his neck back and looked up at the concrete jungle before him, gigantic skyscrapers caressed the clouds above him, their rigid grey forms looked like large tendrils had launched out of the earth's crust in an attempt to reach the heavens dwarfing the honking taxis and loud crowds. The loud drone of traffic created somewhat of a backup melody to this bustling scene. As he floated amongst the stern faced businessmen and chatty teenagers he felt a slight tingle crawl down his spine. His tattoos, which covered a large portion of his body usually reacted to things that were out of the ordinary, it was both a helpful and annoying reminder of the existence of troublesome situations that always seemed to creep up on him.

Lazily turning around he came face to face with a hot-dog stand, the oily sausages emitting their signature pungent meaty smell Oh..fatty american food, very dangerous.. he thought to himself smirking at his sixth sense' apparent mistake. This short period of light-heartedness was broken when out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of red and a loud crash. Commuters scrambled instantly, almost as if attacks on New York city had become a routine thing. "Not again.." he muttered as he saw a red headed woman strut inside the building completely unfazed by the chaos around her.

Before he even had time to think, his legs took him forward quickly bounding inside the building after the strange looking woman. "If my suit gets wrecked one more time by a crazy American woman..." he didn't finish his sentence, his overall respect for the fairer sex overrode his disdain at possibly losing another piece of formal wear.

His suited legs easily caught up to the woman, who was casually walking up the marble flooring, either completely unaware or ignorant of his presence. "Please, please, please don't tell me you didn't destroy that door for no reason..." he spoke aloud ending with an exaggerated sigh hoping to catch the fiery headed woman's attention.

Cilian cocked his head to the side, noticing the woman's little trick with her eyes. Pinching the bridge of his nose Cilian exhaled sharply Another super powered woman..fantastique he thought to himself smirking at his own sarcasm. He was by no means in any mood to fight, let alone battle with a woman inside an enclosed space; last time he did that he got trapped under a pile of rubble and ended up paying a restaurant bill of $538 to make his last female opponent happy.

Scrunching his brow he gazed at the woman, she was obviously on a mission of sorts and he had no knowledge of why she was here, he didn't even know if she was a 'bad guy', Maybe she just doesn't know how to properly open doors he chuckled to himself brushing some lint off the edge of his suit jacket. "I had no such plan whatsoever of fighting you mademoiselle" he stated nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders, "however, a woman such as yourself shouldn't be walking around with the police on their way" he motioned with his head to the sound of sirens in the distance. He casually strode over to the red-headed woman, Balizarde jingled at his side almost as if it knew it may have to be put to use later on.

The Frenchman stood by her near the entryway of sorts and lifted his arm up, offering to escort her inside the well decorated room, "I guess I'll have to see why you're here before I do anything about it" his honeyed accent calming the tense atmosphere, "now shall we?" he motioned, allowing her space to go in first. This was a gamble but Cilian genuinely wanted to avoid getting into a scuffle with the woman, only until he discovers the purpose for her breaking in will he either act out with necessary force or gracefully let her free...

"Oh I don't know" he chuckled shrugging his shoulders as he gazed at the ornate items strewn throughout the room they walked through,"am I not allowed to escort a gifted woman such as yourself ?" he spoke, his smooth accent straining the word 'gifted' as he raised an eyebrow not caring for her reaction to his somewhat blasé attitude to her supernatural gifts. Cilian's new for a fact that this woman was powerful, the tattoos on his arm that were in contact with her own arm swirled violently a tingling sensation running through his skin as he spoke more and more to her. Something was telling the Frenchman that he was walking into very dangerous territory and that his signature improvisation skills will have to put to use later on.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, the woman turning her fiery head here and there trying to look for something, apparently not bothered with the new addition to her arm. The Frenchman's polished shoes breezed over the equally shiny marble underneath him, making a crisp tapping noise against the solid flooring. Everything was going relatively well until a familiar feeling wracked its way across his skin making him shiver. Cilian clenched his jaw and let out a strained sigh as a cool chill spiralled its way down his spine sending goose bumps over his tattooed body, I should've gone to that damn beach with Sheryll he internally groaned as his apparent sixth sense started going haywire.

"You do know my dear that if whatever you're about to do leads to a possible scuffle with my better morality than I might possibly have to put you down" he spoke casually lolling his head back, his voice however was utterly serious as he finally acknowledged the possible chance of danger that the ink on his body was so fervently worrying about. He looked directly at her catching her hard gaze, mirroring her eye trick from earlier, however his entire eyes assuming a completely eerie black form...the Frenchman was preparing himself for the worst..

Clian tried to not smirk at the woman suddenly lashing back at him, her steely gaze would have intimidated many mortal men but the Frenchman had witnessed too many strange occurrences over the past weeks that such a threat was practically meaningless. A shrug of his shoulders and a half grin was all he could answer with and just as he as a witty reply was about to escape his lips a shadowy figure literally leapt out of nowhere, bounding towards the couple with surprising speed, "Oh and I thought this day couldn't get any better.." he muttered sarcastically scratching his nose as the figure dashed towards them.

Cilian swiftly disconnected himself from the redheaded woman as she pointed into the air, aiming at one of the large marble columns. A strange bright light emitting from the her finger, sprouting forward like a white laser. Before the Frenchman even had time to observe the effects of the curious display of magic another strange creature bounded from an entryway adjacent to them lunging towards them with an impressive amount of speed, "Just thought I'd let you know there's more than one.." he grimaced, going back to back with the woman. he quickly unsheathed Balizarde, the cold black metal sliding against it's sheath as he took his position readying himself for whatever this strange creature had in store for him.

The ominous blur sped straight towards him, its arm mutating into a vicious black blade as it leapt into the air aiming it's strike directly at the Frenchman, It's gonna impale us both he thought to himself, exhaling loudly as his mind raced for a possible plan. The creature sped towards him and before he knew it the tattoos on his body rapidly sprouted forward out of his arm turning into a monstrous black tendril, reminiscent of a kraken's tentacle covered in deadly looking spikes. He swiped the strange creature out of the way before it could reach him, a muted thud emanated from the pillar it crashed into, a strange gurgling noise escaping its lips...it wasn't dead, and he wasn't sure if it was injured either..

"How are we supposed to kill these things?" he spoke loud enough for the woman behind him, hopefully she wasn't having too much trouble either..

"yes..maybe we should" Cilian murmured as he retracted the monstrous tendril back into his skin, a strange schwooshing sound was made as it melted back into his skin assuming the appearance of a formless ever moving tattoo. The creatures that the woman had so effortlessly killed had somehow dissolved into the air, a pungent smell emanated from the stained marble flooring of where they perished. The woman had easily destroyed these creatures, she didn't even look significantly bothered that they were attacked in the first place..she must've seen this coming he thought as he slowly followed after the mysterious magic wielder. Wherever she was going he could not justify leaving the woman by herself, with the possibility of more monsters attacking her he simply tagged along, silently observing the fiery headed lady.

She was experienced, that was for sure and her abilities were like nothing he had previously encountered, many of the super powered beings he had crossed paths with had a signature gifting, this woman however had created a dazzling variety of strange magical constructs that were mightily impressive and obviously quite dangerous and for a moment the Frenchman actually questioned whether he could actually win in a fight if it were to come down to it.

Opening the door for the woman to the lower level Cilian stared back at the large room where they had just encountered the strange creatures, his gut telling him that was not going to be the last time they would come across such beings. The couple swiftly made their way down the cold concrete staircase, their quick footsteps echoing throughout the dreary flight of stairs. They finally ended up at a door labelled 'BF1', a sign plastered on it stating that 'Only authorised personnel are allowed passed this point'..however both knew that such a notice was not going to stop them and the woman chuckled pushing open the door with no care for the storage facilities rules.

The lights were off in the room and a foreboding whistle brushed passed them as they made their way through the door. A dank and dusty smell filled his nostrils as they slowly made their way into the shadowy space. All was well until a strange noise, high pitched and gurgling, shattered the atmosphere from across the room, "Looks like we have more fun coming our way" he muttered, his accent accentuating his vowels and his disdain at having to fight again...

Cilian bit the bottom of his lip, surveying the cold wet expanse which was definitely in need of a paint job and sighed, the cold air hissing through his clenched teeth. Although whatever had made the unnatural noise was out of sight the unwilling companions were practically fish in a barrel; the dimly lit enclosure gave him an uneasy feeling which tingled down his spine. "I think I may possibly have a solution to this little debacle of yours" he stated, a small grin working its way across his lips as an amusing plan formed in his head.

Stepping forward Cilian lolled his head back and spread out his hands, palms facing downwards with fingers outstretched. A moment of silence was broken when a two large globules of ink dropped out of each hand, these were soon followed by several more large drips until eight quivering masses of egg shaped globs of ink shuddered on the ground before them. "I would like you meet some dear friends of mine" the Frenchman chuckled as his eyes momentarily became pitch black quickly causing the balls of ink before them to shake and sputter.

No sooner had his eyes resumed their usual caramel colour had the eight egg shaped globs of ink assumed a new form. Standing about waist height, eight chubby little black creatures with exaggerated grins on their neckless heads unfurled from their previous egg form, playful gurgles escaping their comical mouths; one even had the audacity to wave at the red headed woman before them. "Although they're incredibly stupid these little friends of mine will not only help you in your search but also provide us with the extra strength if needed", he casually spoke as if he's had to explain the roles of the little minions several times before.

The creatures immediately scuttled off throughout the damp space before them, rushing into hallways and seeping their way behind doors, looking for the stairs to the next level. Cilian chuckled at his minions little enthusiastic display of wanting to please him and as he escorted the red haired woman past all the checked doorways he turned to face her, a curious look on her face, "Now tell me...what it is that you're exactly looking for?" he asked, his honeyed accent flowing over the damp smelling atmosphere..

"Books eh..." Cilian murmured, thinking aloud; the strange woman was going through all this trouble for 'books'. The Frenchman knew that this new companion of his had given him the most simple answer; if one wanted books they'd go to a library not trawl underneath a storage facility filled to the brim with otherworldly creatures. However he took the woman's answer as the truth as silently continued walking throughout the basement floor, his minions failing to find any doorway to the next level.

All was well until the tattoos on his back violently shuddered down his spine, the minions scattered around the dripping hallway immediately made their way back to their master forming a barrier around the two. The fiery headed woman stared at him obviously not amused at this sudden change of events and before she could say anything he cut her off, "before you say anything...I think we should get rid of whatever it is that's behind us" he hissed between his teeth. In a quick flurry the Frenchman swiftly flung around, unsheathing balizarde as he slashed at whatever it was that was behind them.

The creature was closer than he thought, the cold dark metal only grazing the lumpy hide of whatever it was that that loomed over them. Whatever this monster was it possessed a shell that protected it much like a clam, albeit a deathly and grotesque looking one. Strange bony black limbs oozed out of the creatures hide, grasping for the duo with its clawed fingers. However none of these disgusting features came close to the horrid face that poked out of the foul smelling armour. A black face, eerily similar to ones found on porcelain dolls, cocked its head to the side, its mouth dripping with a strange white froth, a throaty gurgling noise rising from the pits of its hellish throat.

Cilian's attempt at cutting the devilish creature only caused a minor cut on its shell, causing it to recoil, an otherworldly hissing noise escaping its toothless mouth. Before Cilian could swing again, the creature spat out a stream of white froth at the red-headed woman, a sulfuric smell following the liquid jet of saliva..