The Sky's The Limit

[Arle Nadja]

...Arle considered Warren's words for a while. She honestly loved the cold. The winter season was her favorite time of year and about the only time she changed up her outfit. However, there were limits to even the mightiest chionophile's tolerance to the cold. "Yeah, I guess I could see how that would get a little... cold..." Arle replied somewhat light-heartedly. ...Are you proud of that, Arle? Are you proud of what you just did? You keep that up and you're going to summon ghosts. Yeah, those ghosts. You'll think you're just making a little joke and the next thing you know you'll hear a cheeky 'Yu Reing?' from behind you and it's all over from there. Dang kids. Puns aside, Arle was somewhat surprised by Warren's offer of food. Somehow she'd never expect Omnillium to be able to do... well, anything! That was probably her fault, now that she thought about it. She was pretty sure she remembered Omni saying something along those lines, but somehow she'd imagined that he was exagerating a bit.

Arle and Warren find themselves in a quaint, tiny little park lovingly set aside to commemorate the life of an archmage named Antonidas. There was a statue of what Arle assumed to be the old man in question hoveirng a couple of feet off the ground not far into the park, eliciting Arle's bewilderment. ...I mean seriously! No one was even here to cast the spell! Was there just an enchantment you could cast that would make things float, no matter how heavy they were? "...How do they do that?" the mage quietly mused aloud, barely audible. She turned to Warren and acknowledged him with a thoughtful look on her face. "...Sure~! I'm always up for an adventure." Arle replied, decidedly into this idea. She had no use for a sword, but perhaps she'd learn something new along the way. She would then go on to examine the food. She felt weird, with the table just kinda there out in the open. She began to inspect the food that had been created, wanting an idea of what exactly she was about to eat before she stuffed it in her mouth. Who knew just how tastes would translate across worlds?

[Jack Darby]

It was not just the cold that made the Frozen Fields intolerable. It was the lack of secondaries or Primes there. In short, it was the loneliness of the Frozen Fields that caused Warren to want to relocate from his original base there, to where his old one had been. The Tangled Green may be a bit more humid and have a ninja problem but that was preferable to the intense cold of the Fields. Add in the fact that the Tangled Green had a distinct lack of blizzards there? Warren was very interested in acquiring somewhere like that for himself. Well a place there anyway, as he knew he lacked the power to do any sort of conquest. When Arle surprisingly agreed to put off her magic lessons to help him seek out the Sword of Conquest he allowed himself something he rarely did. A smile graced his lips because now he felt at ease. With her help he could  possibly deal with any interfering magic users without having to resort to stabbing them in the stomach. It had gotten old having to do that when he went into that forest, which was where Warren suspected the sword was although he had no proof. The park they were in right now was beautiful. Once he realized she had a question about how things were floating he said. 

"I'd chalk it up to magic, probably. They must have found some way to locally 'warp' gravity to their needs. Something that I'm going to have to try to figure out for Fort Zimmer once I move it to warmer climates." 

The food was Chinese. Riceballs, Vegetable Lo Mein, Buttered Shrimp, Sweet and Sour Chicken and California Rolls. There were also egg rolls, and many other dishes as well. All of them were made so they'd taste as good as they possibly could, without being addictive. 

"So where do you think the Sword of Conquest is? I haven't got a clue as to where the blade is located, to be completely honest with you Arle."  asked Warren, after they had finished the meal. It had been good he had to admit, and delicious. Every bit of the food was wonderful. Whatever food she hadn't enjoyed, he had devoured with gusto. 

"Also, did you enjoy my 'cooking' with Omnilium, or did I do a bad job?" asked Warren.  

Warren was unsure of whether or not he had the power to relocate his base to the Tangled Green. On the one hand, if he did and allowed Arle to stay with him? She'd be safe, and as she was one of his friends he wouldn't have to worry about her all that much. On the other, he barely knew her yet considered her a friend.

[Arle Nadja]

Arle finished surveying the food. Some of it even looked familiar to her! Yet, looks could be deceiving. A lot could change when you suddenly jumped through centuries of culinary changes. Nothing could taste good to everyone, after all. Now all that was left was the taste test. Arle had been to a more modern world once before and had a vague idea of what to expect. Namely, she was expecting the food to be far too sweet for her palette. Sugar simply hadn't been available back in her world, which had an incredible effect on her developing tastebuds and in preserving her smile. ...Arle goes straight for the vegetables and rice. They looked the most familiar to her, and how could you get it wrong? There wasn't a whole lot to change in such simple dishes! Warren's choice in food is ... perfect! He managed to dodge the taste trap entirely. Or well--Almost.

"This is really good~!" Arle would compliment, quite pleased with herself for trying it. As she grew more adventurous, however, she was inevitably attracted to those california rolls. They looked familiar, but when she popped one in her mouth she tensed slightly. They tasted off. There was a bit of sugar in these and her tastebuds, deprived of such a thing for her entire life, could easily pick it up. Having something taste sweet when you weren't expecting it to was understandably offputting, but the sugar content was thankfully low enough that it didn't make her sick. She'd decidedly let Warren finish those. She did want meat in her meal, however, so she looked at her remaining choices. The somewhat gooey sauce on the sweet and spicey chicken clued her off on it being one of the riskier choices, and thank goodness for that. They didn't put the word sweet in the name for nothing. Arle goes for the buttered shrimp and finds herself satisfied. All in all, it was better than she expected. Even a good cook could mess up when they were cooking for an entirely different world.

"That was really impressive for your first time. Which is nice because I'm not good at cooking~" Arle went on to compliment somewhat bashfully. She still recalled the time she'd tried making a 'spice' cake with curry spices. ...Well--At least Carbuncle had liked it. Hearing Warren's question for her, however, Arle found herself stumped. What would she know about a Sword of Conquest. It wasn't like she owned anything that could help track down--Wait hold on a moment. "I've never heard of the sword before now, but now that you mention it I used to own an elven flute that might be able to help us locate it. When I played it, it would echo if there was a powerful magic artifact nearby." Arle would offer, holding out a hand as if to physically offer her suggestion. " . . . The only problem with that is that I lost my flute when I arrived here. I lost a lot of my items, really. I guess maybe I could get a new one if I tracked down Panotty, or maybe my old stuff is laying around somewhere waiting to be found." the mage went on to offer, holding her arms up in a shrug.

[Jack Darby]

"This is really good~!"

She was enjoying the meal that he had prepared. This was good because Warren had never cooked for anyone before now. Given how low his expectations of what he could do were, her appreciation boosted his confidence some. She certainly was cheery, and her smile brought a smile but for a different reason to his face. Warren had to admit that her company was enjoyable, in comparison to most of the beings he had encountered in the Omniverse. The Stormtroopers, for example, were likely to have roughed him up instead of enjoying the marvelous spread that he had prepared. As she was enjoying it, Warren let her continue to enjoy the meal. 

"You do realize that Omnilium can create anything you want right? All you have to do is want that flute bad enough, and use some Omnilium. It will pop into existence, and we will be able to track down the Sword of Conquest for me. Who knows, you might learn some spells or something on the way if you're fortunate." 

Once they were both definitely done finished eating Warren held out his hand and the food that remained dissolved into Omnilium which was absorbed back into his body, as did the plates, silverware and other implements needed to eat.  Warren thought about what he had to do while he was here in Camelot. The Sword of Conquest was just one of the many weapons that he intended on adding to his arsenal. After all, if he was to be the eventual overlord of the Tangled Green he'd need more than just a sword or his fancy powers. He'd need to get stronger than he was, a lot stronger in fact. Warren knew this. His current level of ability left a lot to be desired by him in fact. 

He'd smile at her.  "Omnilium is in fact how I recreated my NFL-R. Or how I built those guns. Or how I changed my appearance earlier. Really there is a lot that Omnilium can enable you to do, Arle. You just have to learn how to do it. When we are traveling to find the Sword of Conquest, do you mind too terribly showing me your fire spell?" asked Warren. Finalizing the ability of his Fire Blast and Lightning Blast required something he could go off of because he didn't want to trust his imagination for such. Warren was blushing a bit, as he thought about how much she had enjoyed his food.

[Arle Nadja]

...Say, if the remains of the food they'd just eaten had just returned to being Omnilium, did that mean that there was technically Omnilium in her tummy right now? That was a weird concept to Arle, but it certainly didn't feel wrong. It felt pretty right on the contrary, being well fed, so she didn't think too hard on it. It helped that there was something decidedly even more exceptional for her to consider. Arle considered Warren's words. Anything she wanted, huh..? Like, literally? That sounded pretty handy! Could it bring her friends here so that she'd have some familiar faces to keep her company? That was kind of a tempting offer. A dangerously tempting offer. ...Should she bring her friends here, though? They all had lives and aspirations to attend to, after all. Bringing them here would probably disrupt all of their lives... Maybe she was being a bit selfish. Then again, she imagined Carbuncle might enjoy a good adventure. He'd always enjoyed her company and the only reason he'd ever wanted to part with her was because he got bored. The more she thought about the idea, the more conflicted it made her. Perhaps that was a thought for a different day. She'd be here a while if she tried to work out these feelings now. For now, she had a much less morally ambiguous task to perform.

"Oh, um--Sure! I guess I'll have to show you it sooner or later if we're going adventuring together, right~?" Arle would reply once she got a chance to speak, smiling somewhat enthusiastically at Warren in response to his request. It seemed like she enjoyed the idea of heading out on an adventure, which was perhaps strange given she was already somewhat lost in a new world. In all honesty, Arle was a bit bewildered at his insistence upon seeing that spell after the incident earlier. She supposed magic was pretty impressive given the right audienc, though. Maybe he was as curious about her as she was about this new world! " . . . So all I have to do is learn how to use Omnilium and I can use it to get my flute back?" Arle would muse aloud. Perhaps she could learn how to do that while she was here in Dalaran. "Hey~ Thanks for taking me here to Dalaran. I'm looking forward to trying to find that sword with you. Will you come get me when it's time to go find it, or..?" Arle went on to state, beaming slightly. It had meant a lot to her to have company on the journey, even if things had gotten a little bumpy on the way. She couldn't be sure how things would have gone if she'd went on her own, but she imagined it would have been a less pleasant experience overall.

[Jack Darby]

"If you're okay with it, we could go hunt for the sword now, and you could put off your magical training. It's what I recommend. You might learn more from traveling and adventuring than you would otherwise."   Looking at her, Warren could see she was excited about the idea oof potentially going on an adventure which was a good thing for him. "After all you could benefit from exploring the Omniverse more before you commit to learning magic from the people here, Arle. And I'd imagine I'd like to see what you can do now so I could learn more about it."  Of course, his desire to study magic was not entirely unselfish, as he planned on at some point developing technology that could allow him to mimic the abilities of a mage. Warren paused as he thought about how to word what he was going to say next.  

"Yes, Omnilium can recreate your flute. It can create anything you can imagine, and yes it can bring your friends here. Don't be surprised if they are not as powerful as you remember, however." said Warren cryptically as he looked her over. Would she take his offer and travel with him? Would she stay and learn the arts of magic from the people here? Which of the two paths was she going to choose for herself? The question buzzed about in his mind like an angry swarm of bees and finally, he held out a hand to her. "So, will you agree to travel with me?" 

Having her travel with him was a wise idea. She was a good influence and could prevent him from murdering the people he hated. The Gryphon Riders had found themselves on that list. Like the Imperial Stormtroopers who had humiliated him, and beaten him all of the Gryphon Riders were going to die when he had the opportunity to make that happen. Not that he'd tell her that because it was likely to turn her on him. She was powerful or so he hoped anyway, and if it turned out she was? He wanted to be in her good graces. This meant he had to play his cards close to the chest, as she was a heroine.

[Arle Nadja]

Woah woah woah! What the heck had just happened? Wind that back, will you? Arle had just been startled multiple times in a relatively short period of time. Her first shocker was when Warren suggested that she skip out on her magic training to travel with him instead. It was a bit odd, taking her to Dalaran and feeding her, only to drag her away before they actually did what they'd come here for. As much as Arle wanted to go on an adventure, she felt weak and vulnerable. She didn't even have most of her basic spells! How was she supposed to protect herself with fire alone? What if she got hurt pretty bad and needed to spare some of her magical energy to keep herself moving? What if she met an enemy that dealt with fireballs really well? She wasn't some sort of titan that could take abuse all day without going down! I mean yeah, the magic voice in her head had told her not to fear death before she arrived. The thing about that though was that everything about that last sentence sounded insane! Not only did she have some rather uncomfortable questions about what exactly being 'reborn' entailed, but dying still sounded extremely unpleasant even if she didn't stay dead and the mage decidedly wasn't looking forward to testing her luck! To put it in simple terms, that advise was sketchier than one of Satan's terrible disguises!

The second thing that startled Arle was that Warren knew she was thinking about her friends. That was a pretty uncanny coincidence! Could he read her mind, perhaps..? Eh. Perhaps he'd simply made a lucky guess. Everyone probably missed their friends after coming here, after all! The third thing that startled Arle, however, was what Warren actually had to say about her friends. Her friends would be ... weaker? What was that supposed to mean? It only took Arle a moment to come to her own assumptions. Her friends would be weaker for the same reasons she was weaker! Of course. It was obvious once she stopped to think about it for a moment. All of those twists succeeded in flustering the mage though. She eyed the outstretched hand, but did not take it.

"Hehe... Well, if I went now I wouldn't be able to defend myself. I want to try and learn at least a few spells before I start racing into danger. I don't think it'll take too long, though. I was the only one in my class to pass my Kindergarten Final Exam~!" Arle would reply in mild embarassment, running a hand through her luxuriously big hair. ...What sort of kindergarten did you go to again, Arle? It was perhaps odd to hear someone of Arle's age bragging about such a thing, but the notion that every other student had failed perhaps hinted at some unusual testing practices.

[Jack Darby]

So she was worried about being able to defend herself. Warren supposed he could sympathize with that, as when he had arrived here for the second time originally he hadn't had a single weapon or his NFL-R handy. In other words, short of kicking and punching his opponents when he had come here initially, he hadn't been able to do squat. It had been humiliating but had motivated him to get stronger fast. His skills had improved as a result of rigorous training on his part because he knew he needed to become stronger. What he had been in the past was nothing short of pitiful on his part. His skills in fighting had grown since he had arrived in the Omniverse. While he was nowhere near his peak, he was at least closer to the levels that he wanted to be. Sighing as she didn't take his hand he'd look at her for a moment. 

"If you are determined to train here, I will not stop you Arle. I'll journey for the Sword of Conquest and you can try to find me when you are caught up with your magical training. How does that sound?" 

It was a genuine offer because Warren wanted her around.  She was nice to him and had never done anything that could cause him harm. She was a good person unlike he was. With what he had planned for the Imperial Stormtroopers, and the Griffin Riders he knew he wasn't a good man. Of course part of it was that he was tired of being humiliated and harassed by people with authority complexes. He had to admit that he hadn't seen what she was capable of yet. Whatever it was was sure to be powerful, for she was a Prime like him. 

"I've got a long way to go before I'll be at the peak of my strength, Arle. Perhaps when I am, we could spar sometime if your training in the arts of magic here helps you out?" asked Warren.  "Right now I am pitifully weak, and thus will have to leave to get stronger than I am now. When we next meet Arle, I'll be stronger than I was in the past." He said.

[Arle Nadja]

Arle hesitated for a moment as a particularly bloody memory raced through her mind in response to Warren's suggestion of a spar. Although she'd never accidentally killed someone during 'practice', that was only because she usually didn't practice deadly magic against live targets. The same could not be said about accidentally killing someone while attempting to defend herself, which was more in line with what a spar entailed. There was no equivalent to a wooden sword for magic and Arle didn't think she could forgive herself for killing a friend with her own irresponsibility, reborn or not. She was already traveling that road and knew all too well how it felt. Sure, she'd been fighting for her life at the time--but she'd also not intended to take anyone's head off either. These sorts of things just tended to happen once in a while when you threw balls of fire at people's faces. It certainly wasn't the only memory Arle had of her magic quite frankly destroying someone, but the context behind those other memories was that Arle wouldn't hesitate to do again. They were generally things like the undead that pretty much demanded such brutal force before they'd stay down. With actual living people this wasn't often the case. She could usually deal with them without actually killing them, which suited Arle just fine. It wasn't really her intention to be the judge of who lived or died anyway!

"That sounds like it can only end in someone getting seriously hurt." Arle would hesitantly reply in a somewhat nervous manner, decidedly not in on the idea of a spar. Besides, she didn't know of a way to defend herself from those fancy noise makers. Had she ever known a spell that would help with noise based attacks? She didn't think so. She recalled fighting a very noisy harpy as a little girl. The experience had been frankly agonizing, but she'd wound up having to give up trying to stop the pain in favor of just beating the harpy up until it stopped screeching. She assumed that dealing with these guns would be a similar experience. It almost seemed unfair, which made her wonder what exactly she was missing. "Maybe next time we meet up I can make you something to eat~! And maybe I'll be ready to tag along on an adventure by then. I'm still not sure where this new world's going to take me." Arle went on to offer, pointedly cheering up a bit as she got off the topic of fighting Warren. She didn't normally offer to cook for people; she wasn't that kind of girl, but seeing as Omnilium was so handy she figured she might be able to whip something up. ...As soon as she properly figured out how to use the stuff. Would it be hard? Would it come naturally? She wouldn't know until she tried, needless to say.

[Jack Darby]

She'd cook for him next time? The idea was very enticing, and gave him something to look forward to. After all, it wasn't every day that a beautiful lady he had to admit offered to cook for him. Previously all he could hope for in the Omniverse was that he'd survive whatever was thrown his way. After all, Omni had said that no matter what happened Primes would be reborn at the Fountain. In some ways it was a good thing but in others it was a bad idea because the Primes could likely be vengeful. For example, what he planned for the Storm troopers who had beaten him up badly was less than compassionate. "I'll be looking forward to you cooking for me." said Warren. Her cooking with Omnilium was something he was curious about because no one had ever offered to do that for him. Thinking about the situation he realized from her tone that she was uncomfortable with sparring with him. 

So he wouldn't force her to spar with him. After all, he was not someone who was going to force others to do his will. At least not until he had more power in his corner that he could utilize.  "Alright. You should adventure and find your own path. You'll probably need a way to stay in touch with me, but I'm not sure how creating one for yourself will work actually. In any case, I'll see you when I am stronger Arle. That's a promise. When I'm closer to the levels that I need to be at, I will meet up with you." 

With that, Warren started to walk towards the edge of the floating city. There, he'd jump off and summon a hoverbike which he'd use to get himself to the ground. Once he had gotten to the ground, Warren made his way back to the Nexus. Before he made his way back he conjured a messenger pigeon out of Omnilium that had a map he quickly made of Camelot that he had found in Coruscant. The map was up to date and was a gift from him to her. 

It had a note. 

Use this to stay on track. 

 - Warren Zimmer. 

Once he had sent the messenger pigeon Warren had made his way through the gate to the Nexus.

[Arle Nadja]

Arle watched Warren as he left. ...He was a strange man, sometimes in familiar ways. He reminded her of one individual in particular, the Dark Wizard Schezo Wegey. Perhaps that was a bit of a harsh judgment, though. As much as she'd enjoy seeing Schezo's face right about now, they weren't exactly friends. In fact, none of the things she was recognizing were the good things about Warren either. Perhaps that in itself was a good thing, though. As much as she wanted to be friends with Schezo, there were a myriad of problems with that dream which made it unrealistic at best. Not the least of which was his tendency to hunt her down in pursuit of her power--...or her skirt. She was never quite sure which. He had this broken way of speaking, almost as if he came from a distant place and didn't quite grasp her language. She'd almost be inclined to believe him when he said he was only after her power if it weren't for the way he'd once attempted to save her life. ...Of course he'd also tried to bleed her dry like some sort of magic eating vampire, a fate that Arle narrowly avoided--and good thing too. She was pretty sure all of those skeletons in the other cells in the prison she'd been kept at during the ordeal were the remains of those who hadn't managed an escape.

After the mage had taken a moment to consider her feelings, though, she began to wander the grand city in search of somewhere she could receive help. It didn't take her long before a pigeon managed to distract her, however. Bewildered, she accepted its gift and beamed brightly as she came to realize she was now in possession of a map. She wasn't sure why Warren hadn't given it to her earlier, but didn't pass judgement over the late aid. She was used to not having a map, so this was certainly an improvement. With a newfound spring in her step, she set off once again, this time with a bit more direction.