Step 1: Minions! [Faax]

It was in the middle of the day just off shore from the Jump City beaches, among a cluster of rocks on a small secluded island. Adri lounged in a hammock she had Weaved up as she looked through what many would assume to be a weathered old spell book. And they'd be right! She was definitely enjoying having a nice place to live, plenty of money for a rainy day or backup plan, and having someone she could trust to share it with her. But recently she found herself wanting... more. She had been setting her sights on bigger prizes, and decided that they should take over the city! They'd have tons of money to do whatever they wanted with, and power to keep them safe.

But first they would need to take steps to ensure they could pull something that ambitious off. The first thing she thought they needed was manpower. With her and Fox, they could easily amass enough funds to very slowly buy out the city with Sinbad's help. But she didn't want to wait THAT long, and there were still the current crime elements to worry about with just the 3 of them. So they would need underlings to do their bidding. But being the cheapskate she was, Adri did not enjoy the idea of having to actually pay people to actually work for them. There were also other factors with having actual people work for you, like freewill or cowardice. SO Adri had the idea that she and Fox should look into magically creating minions. She didn't think this would be too hard since Fox had all nine of his tails.

Adri didn't know where Sinbad managed to find it. But he came through- and with a cheat sheet for some of the harder to pronounce stuff. So why were they off shore from the main beach? Adri didn't want to clean up any messes caused from their tampering with arcane forces. AND she just thought it'd be a nice change of scenery. This was one of their several outings, and so far they had less then satisfactory results. Most of their attempts resulted in literally nothing happening. But eventually they started to see SOME results. Not good results, but still results they could learn from. One of which was summoning a fire elemental by accident! So Adri managed to find something interesting that involved "paper dolls." "Alright- we have plenty of paper dolls made. We'll eventually get this right," Adri commented offhandedly, offering the book for Fox to see and compare with the cheat sheet.

Fox didn't really know why they needed magical protectors, what with how careful Adri and himself were most of the time. Still, after hearing her own reasoning he couldn't deny that having some extra protection for themselves certainly couldn't hurt. Well, unless they accidentally messed up a spell again like with the fire elemental. Hopefully that wouldn't happen again and this time they'd get something closer to what they were aiming at.

Fox silently thanked his friend Nina for the reading lessons she'd been giving him when it came to English, knowing that even these little steps would likely be impossible without the basics he'd learned in reading. Fox studied the book Adri handed him, then the cheat sheet, then the book again.

"I think I know what I did wrong last time. Let's see if this works..." Fox said as he set one paper doll down and then channeled magical energy at it. Thankfully he didn't need to chant or actually speak to cast his magic, allowing him to simply prepare himself mentally and focus on his magic without worrying about mispronouncing something.

After a few moments of channeling nothing seemed to happen, then ever so slowly the little paper doll started to twitch. Slowly a shadow moved across the white paper, turning it an inky black like the shadow was clinging to the surface. Instead of panicking, Fox felt like this was natural with how his own magic worked and simply went with it. After a solid minute of focusing the doll managed to stand up, even if it looked more like a shadow than a piece of paper now.

Fox was breathing hard, not used to using his magic in such a fashion. He was grinning though and looked over at Adri to see what her reaction was.

Adri stretched out several of her strings, preparing for the worst. Not that she believed she would be able to cut down anything that popped up, if it did pop up. But one of her ideas behind using paper dolls was it gave them an easy target to aim for if something did go wrong. Or if another fire elemental happened, surely the paper would get incinerated FOR them and they wouldn't have to do anything. She was definitely being overly paranoid. But when it came to magic, which she didn't believe even existed until she met Fox, she wasn't going to take too many chances. Can't enjoy being rich and powerful if you were blown up by magic after all.

She watched Fox quietly, not wanting to ruin his concentration. She didn't lose any faith when nothing happened at first. But she was silently pleased when Fox managed to get the doll to stand up with his shadow magic. It didn't attack them out right, which was definitely a good sign. "Okay let's see- wave," Adri told it. The doll didn't react. But it appeared to be waiting for something. Seemed like it would only obey Fox, which wasn't... ideal but it was the best progress they've made so far. "Wonder why it's so small though," she mused, resisting the urge to poke at it with her strings. It was docile right now but this could all be a trick until it was provoked.

Was it the sunlight? The rocks around them provided some shade and were casting shadows all over for Fox to use, so that couldn't be it. She leaned over Fox from her perch and double checked the book and sheet. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary- excluding the entire magic factor. She made a mental note of the effort Fox put into just getting one small doll to stand up. Maybe... there was a way to give it a larger surface area? Adri would then take her threads and start weaving, the air making swishes and soft twangs as her fingers worked. It only seemed fair for her to put in as much effort into what she was doing, pausing once or twice to check something in the book as she continued to work on what would quickly look very "ninja" looking. Adri tried to put as much of herself and Fox into these clothes, eventually finishing a very snazzy and detailed set of "modern" ninja clothes.

"Okay... when you're ready- let's try one more inside this," Adri said breathing alittle heavier too as she set the clothes down, and placed one of the paper dolls against the inside of the ninja hood.

Fox was a bit relieved to see Adri doing something, as it meant he could take a bit of a rest. Still, it did seem like he'd put in an awful lot of work to make the little paper doll simply stand up. As Adri worked he tilted his head and looked at the inky black doll.

"Wave?" He said, more of a question than an order. Even with that uncertainty however the little doll raised one arm and waved it vigorously at him... and kept waving it.

"Uh, okay. Stop waving." Fox added after a few moments. Thankfully the doll obeyed him and went back to simply standing there. It stood there right up until a small gust of wind blew it into the water. The paper was soaked instantly and started to break apart, along with the spell animating it. The inky blackness that was coating it vanished in an instant as the paper simply sank and disintegrated in the sea water. Fox covered his mouth in shock, feeling a bit guilty about the piece of paper's fate... until he realized it was simply just a piece of paper, and they had plenty more of the little dolls cut out already. Thankfully those were secured under a rock so that they wouldn't be blown away by an errant gust of wind.

As Adri finished the clothing and set a new paper doll inside the hood of it Fox calmed himself with a few deep breaths. Simply enchanting the paper had been somewhat difficult, but once he'd done so it didn't seem to take anything at all to maintain the spell. If it had taken anything to maintain it hadn't been noticeable to him in any case. Once Adri asked him to try again on the new doll he nodded and went to work.

It came easier this time and soon the paper faded into the back of the hood and the inky blackness that had covered the first doll instead filled the inside of the clothing once it had covered the doll. Before long the clothing had sort of inflated with shadows, but now it was standing up. Fox felt his magic bonding with the clothing just as it had with the paper before.

"Whoa, it looks like a ninja." Fox said, impressed once again with how well made Adri's clothing was even as she'd weaved it on the spot.

"Uh, you should obey Adri and myself from now on." Fox said, having noticed that the first doll hadn't reacted to her at all. That said he looked over toward Adri, wanting to see if she could issue orders to their new construct.

There was another reason behind why Fox's magic bonded so well with the clothing as the paper doll didn't actually sink into the hood. Rather, it just darkened and remained attached as the shadows began to fill the clothing. She had been right in her assumption. And now they had a minion! When Fox told it to obey them both, she looked up at the creature's... face? Even with nothing covering it's face, it was virtually featureless. There weren't any eyes even! "Stand on one foot," Adri said simply, watching as it looked down at it's feet as if just acknowledging the fact it had feet. And then it bent one leg back until it was standing on one foot. Great! It was easier to fix that problem then she was expecting.

"This is great~" Adri purred contently, petting Fox as she told it to stop. They should see what all this thing could do. "Pick up that rock," Adri said pointing to a rather large rock that would give any normal person trouble. Once again, the shadow ninja looked at it inquisitively before shambling over to it, bending over and attempting to lift it. Not surprisingly, it struggled. At first. But when it seemed like it would be able to, it did something very weird and extended shadow-like tentacles to wrap around the rock. And with the added leverage it managed to atleast pry it out of the ground.

Fox seemed happier with the attention he was getting from Adri than with the success of their experiment, leaning against her hand when she went to pet him. Even though it looked like he was lazing about now he was still watching the new shadow construct move about. Sure enough it was listening to Adri's wishes and complying as best as it could. What was surprising was when it managed to manifest some shadowy tendrils to pry the large rock off the ground. While it wasn't about to be able to lift said rock up much, it did manage to get it off the ground.

"That's kinda cool." Fox commented.

"Do you think it would be stronger if the clothing was larger? Like made for someone bulkier?" Fox asked Adri, turning his head slightly to look up at her.

"Set it down," Adri said after it had managed to pick the rock up out of the ground. It didn't appear to be tired so much as it simply had trouble lifting the rock up. Like before, it complied and set the rock back down; tentacles retracting as it stood idle. Adri glanced at Fox as he asked her if it would be stronger if she made clothes for a bulkier person. It was just filled with shadow right? Adri wasn't a genius in terms of scientific knowledge. But even she figured that there probably wasn't any substance to matter. Yet if that were the case, the creature wouldn't have been able to lift the rock at all. Which would have made it very useless for carrying bags of loot.

"Let's see..." Adri said sitting up more in her hammock, draping her legs over Fox's shoulders as she went back to weaving up some more clothing. She made sure to put as much effort and detail into it as the last one, even going so far as making it as identical to the last one as she could. The only difference of course was the size, which if her measurements had been right would fit a seven foot tall burly man. Like the last one, she set it down with her strings and placed another doll inside. This time it was around the belly region of the torso.

Fox went to work as soon as Adri finished, finding it easier with each repetition to cast the spell. It only took half as long as the time before even though this clothing was larger. Sure enough the clothing filled out all the way so that all the space inside was filled with murky shadow made solid. With the added size and the way the clothing had been crafted, it made the new construct look much bulkier than the other... like it almost had muscles underneath the clothing.

"You should obey both Adri here and myself." Fox said, once again giving Adri the ability to order the construct around. It seemed that he'd probably have to do that with each one they made, but he didn't mind it.

"Big guy, lift that rock." Fox said, deciding he was going to order this one around a bit before Adri did. To his surprise the newer construct was able to lift the same rock, holding it up with what seemed a greater ease than the first had.

"Toss that rock as far as you can into the ocean." Fox said, smiling a bit as he gave the order. On some level it felt really good to order something around that looked so much like a ninja. What was even nicer was seeing the construct toss the rock toward the water where it made a rather big splash. Sure it didn't go very far, but it was more than Fox himself could have done, heck he knew he probably wouldn't have been able to lift the rock at all if he'd tried. Seeing that, he was starting to understand why Adri was so adamant about getting this spell to work.

Adri watched as the next one took shape, noting that it didn't seem to matter very much what size the clothing was. She could think of some uses for smaller versus bigger ones. This was a great start! "They don't seem to be affected by light. Which is good," Adri commented about how the bigger one had to walk out more toward the shore of their little island before throwing the rock as far as it could. Could have also just been the clothes covering it. Adri was also thinking of possible issues with giving them orders. "You, go stand by him," she said looking at the bigger one. She didn't say specifically who between Fox or the first one. But the bigger one turned it's head for a moment and shuffled toward the first one, stopping when it was next to it. Okay, so they weren't totally mindless. Puppets were less useful then obedient servants in her mind. The fact it actually walked instead... doing anything fancy also gave her an idea of what they were capable of.

"Shoot fire," Adri said whimsically. Both of them looked at her but otherwise didn't react. "Didn't think they would be able to," Adri shrugged, laying back into her hammock. Now she just needed to figure out the best way to utilize them. And where to keep them until they were needed.

"Probably best that they can't make fire. I don't think it would work well with the paper dolls they're centered around. In fact I don't think we should let them get wet either." Fox said, recalling the grim fate of the first paper doll that hadn't been given a clothing shell to shield it from a small sea breeze.

"Also, I'm feeling a little tired. I don't think I can make anymore of these guys today." Fox admitted reluctantly. He didn't want to disappoint Adri, but he also didn't feel like he had enough energy to really create another shadow construct. Better to just be honest with Adri than have her expect something from him that he couldn't deliver.

"Still, I'm kinda surprised that the little one could make those tentacles. I bet these guys will be even stronger once the sun sets. After all my shadow magic is a lot easier to use after dark." Fox added, giving them something to look forward to if they kept experimenting.

"We probably shouldn't expect much more. This is still new to us," Adri pointed out with a soft yawn. She had burned up some energy herself with those clothes. And on that note- "Serve us some food," she said to their new minions. May as well use this to their advantage. She made sure to pack them a meal, foreseeing that they'd be out here for awhile. The shadow ninjas went about doing just that. It was still a relief that they were intuitive enough to understand basic commands. While one was stronger, neither of them seemed to be any less "intelligent" then the other. One offered a sandwich for Adri and a secret vice of hers. Soda! Well caffeine specifically.

Fox was also glad that their new creations seemed to understand basic commands, especially when one of the creations got out the meal for Adri and himself. It was a little odd to have the shadow constructs waiting on them like servants, but also kind of cool too. Fox certainly wasn't complaining when one presented a sandwich and bag of chips to him, even going so far as to open the bag for him.

"Thanks." Fox said, simply used to thanking anyone who brought him food. Fox took his food and climbed up into the hammock with Adri.

"This really turned out a lot better than our last attempt." Fox commented with a grin.

"Indeed- I would have been furious if we had summoned a Fire Elemental at home," Adri commented as she nommed her sandwich, taking a sip of her soda with a soft murmur. She didn't care if it made her act alittle drunk, it was still delicious. And Dr. Pepper was one of her favorites anyway. Maybe once they got better at summoning these things, they could be used for more then just manual labor and cannon fodder. Would they be able to use some of Fox's magic too? If they could disguise themselves, there could be all kinds of things they could use them for!

"I told you I was sorry about that. I didn't know that my foxfire could be a catalyst for the fire elemental to take form." Fox said, apologizing again for the mishap that they'd had last time. Thankfully Adri had been smart enough to practice things in an open area where there was little chance of doing any damage. It really would have sucked if they'd accidentally burned up their home.

Fox paused to take a sip from the orange soda that one of the new shadow minions brought him, loving the way the fizz tickled his nose. For some reason Adri always acted a bit weird after having soda, but then again so did he... though he tended to get more manic and hyper instead of acting tipsy like Adri. After only a few sips he started to giggle.

Adri booped Fox after he apologized again, enjoying her soda and finishing off her sandwich as she murmured something to herself. She wasn't quite the light weight like Fox, yet she was also drinking her soda alittle faster then he was. "You apologize too much. For things you don' need to apologize fer," Adri said only slightly slurring a word or two with a giggle. Yup, it was already kicking in. Adri always got less prickly after having some coffee or soda. "But tha's one ting I always liked about yuu," Adri added getting more snuggly with Fox.