A Grande Adventure

"Mmmmmm... I think I'll just stay quiet," murmured Persephone as the berries and the masseuse wielding them got to work. In a few moments her whole body felt soft like gelatin and she fell into a light sleep.

Corveta looked at Saen a moment before begining to tell Saen of of how she and five friends along with their Nodhog Van, puningly named by the perky neko boy of the group, setting off to find the Legendary City of Genies. It was a silly myth but we thought we could really do it. After all one of members had a map that supposedly would lead us there." She looked sad as she started to tell the next part. "We never made it past the Giant Tree. Suddenly we were attacked by a creature so fast and powerful it- She whipped out half our party in a ten minutes flat. I never made out her form because of her height, which I'd say was close to 200 feet and posibly a naga but was more blur of motion than woman or predator. We barely had time to retaliate. Tair held her back with his wild magic and I...I ran. I ran so fast and so hard I had no idea where I was going. I ended up meeting up with some members of the Isolon Fist. Kasidy and Riz were their names. They were nice. They took be back to Negav against the recommendations of their Captain." She finished watching him to judge his reaction to her story.

Ibashi gladly accepted the items from Gildor after calling up a lacky who's job seemed to be carrying a large pink chest with a very big lock on it. She placed the items in the chest then said to Gildor: "The transaction is complete. Give my crew a few hours to get loaded up and make some last minute preparations. Mei-Li will stay here till your ready and then bring you to Dock B where my ship will be waiting. Once your aboard you'll be assigned rooms along with the other passengers I booked. Oh and do try to not leave town in a ruckuss, eh? I'd like just once to leave this port without the Star View Marines on my tail trying to nab me passengers." She said pulling her cloak on her shoulders and gliding out of the room but stopped to look at Taihaku. "Do you admire my body, young neko? You're staring at it like you do. There is no shame in it. You too have a fine and very lethe body, dear." She said departing leaving the neko with that thought.

Richard accepted the elf paying the fee. "It is fine thing for you to do. Your actions show you to be a most generous man, master elf. I never asked. Do you mind me calling you that? Or would you prefer Gildor Elf? Or Just Gildor? I sometimes forget that some people prefer not to be addressed by title.

Mei-Li watched her captain leave then glared at the party all at once, which was quite a feat considering how many there were. "Bah! Curse ye all! I'd rather lead you to the depth's of Davinara's Locker." Said the harpy who lit on a bar stool then continued to stare at everyone...she then leaned too much and fell off into a trash can. "@&^#*@# @!&^@@&#^ (@&*#&&@#&^@#!! Can't I be dramatic just @^# once!!"

Kelsa continued to do her job but while she was unconscious she snuck a look at her booty and smiled. 'It's a shame she doesn't want to have sex. She is very pretty. If only Ibashi wasn't taking her out to the Shard.' She sighed. 'The pretty ones always get eaten.' She thought saddy. 'Perhaps I could steal into her dreams...' Kelsa didn't have size changing powers or illusionary magic, but she could sneak into people dreams using The Dream Zone as portal. Though the sleeper's mind needed to be there first...

"She's lying. She's lying she's lying she's lying."

That was all Taihaku could tell herself to keep herself under control (or so she hoped). The elf had paid her a nice compliment to be sure, but she hated it. She knew she was lying. The neko had made absolutely sure that her figure would not show through her thick coat. It was impossible for that elf to know and judge whether or not her body looked good. It wasn't even a thing that mattered to her. Her admiration turned to disgust as she thought about Ibashi's lie. Her scowl grew and her brow furrowed as she simply stood in place, slowly becoming more and more furious.

She lied.

That was it. That was all it took. Taihaku instantly put Dargo down, being of the utmost careful mind not to take her anger out on his innocent soul, and followed Ibashi. She would make her see the error of her ways, or at least teach her to never lie to her.

Saen's lip quivered and his eyes full of sympathy. Suddenly he hugged her. "I'm so sorry you went through that Corveta. It couldn't have been easy for you...Thank you for sharing your tale with me." He still held onto her. "If you asked it of me, I would glad seek justice for your lost comrades and make the thing that stole them from you pay." The young man could think of nothing else he could do to make her feel better.

Ibashi continued down the docks a for while before stopping and turning on her heel looking out into the darkness. "So you followed me eh? Not bad. Usually people can't sneak up on me with ears like these." Said Ibashi to the neko whever she was. "What sort of neko are you anyway?" While she was speaking she adjusted her cloak so her right hand would be free to use her weapon if the need arose.

Coverta was so overcome by Saen's kind words and demeanor that she fell into his arms and just sat there embracing him. It had been so long since she had just done that. "Th-thank you." She said weeping and embracing him though when he mentioned slaying the creature she suddenly tensed up and grabbed his shoulders hard and looked into his eyes. Her own glowing slightly. "No. You will not. Promise me! She...took my life from me. Everything I had. I don't want it to happen again. I can't lose you before I've even gotten to know you properly..." She said the power in her eyes fading.

"Then I'll leave it alone alone then." Saen replied ashamed a little for suggesting it. The young hero to be, couldn't help but reach touch her cheek. He looked into her eyes with determination. "I will not leave you, I promise."

(Jedi, have you completely forgotten about Dargo? XD)

Taihaku reached up with her hands and pulled her hood down behind her, exposing her golden blond, straight-cut hair as she stepped into the light.

"I am a member of the snow leopard neko tribe," she answered stiffly, her words sounding more like an announcement. "But that is not important now. I wish to know, why did you lie to me?"

(Yes. I have but you reminded me now so I shall return him to where he needs to be.)

Corveta smiled with relief then touched Saen's hand. "Thank you. Not many "heroes" would agree to such a request, but since you did. How about I let you buy me a drink and we get to know one another a little better?" She said smiling widely and displaying her illuminating smile

Dargo fallowed Taihaku keeping by her side. He didn't know why but he felt intense love for her. He thought of her second only to his master in authority. He wondered why. It's not like she had known him long though somehow it was like they were linked. That was the only word for it. Currently he watched Taihaku talking to the elf woman. The one with the odd eyes. He didn't like her. Something about her made him feel uneasy.

Captain Toreko walted a little closser. "Snow Leopard...I had heard stories of your people, but I hadn't thought to give them credit. So you really do exist. Interesting. I suppose I'll have to start believing in those runty nekos ,or whatever they're called, next. Though for the moment I'll tell you I didn't lie. I think you have nice figure...For battle." She said with a wink. "You have the decency to keep covered up and protected where as most of you kind walks about half naked or without any protective clothing at all." Ibashi shook her head. "Why? Did you think I was flirting again? Or that I could see under cloaks? Ha ha ha. Wouldn't that be magical. Though unless you're here to spar I have a ship to make ready." Said the elf looking at the neko seriously. 'Nekos are always mad. I mean nutter mad not just regular old mad like everyone else.' Though Ibashi wondering if she should warn her passengers that her crew had one of those nekos who seemed to prefer no protective garments or let them find out on their own. It was always a bad idea to tell people you were ferring that the ferry was full of nuts and had an actual fairy on board.

(Toreko? Why's her name suddenly different? D: Did I misread your other posts before this one?)

For....battle?

"Oh...."

It was the only thing Taihaku could think to say in that moment. Her posture quickly loss its threatening (if somewhat diminutive) appearance as she stood up straight, cupping her fuzzy hands in front of her.

"Actually..." she finally managed to mutter, "I had thought, since there was a very unlikely chance that you were able to see past my heavy wear of the winter, that you had been lying to me about the quality of my...physical form." She couldn't bring herself to look the elf in the eye after having accused her so hastily. She had thought herself better than that!

"I'd love nothing more." Saen replied as he went to go buy the drinks at the bar. He had a happy face till he turned away from Corveta knowing he had no money at all. Not even bothering to see who was manning the bar he said in a hushed whisper. "uh...It wouldn't be too much to ask for a few free drinks would it? The girl of my dreams is over there and I have no coin to pay you with at the moment. Maybe we can work out a deal?"

(Her last name is Toreko. It's stated in the 19th page of this thread.)

Ibashi noticed the neko deflate a little. She was slightly disapointed but she couldn't afford to have a passenger challenge and then kill her or vise versa. It'd mess up the deal. Making her feel bad might also have the same effect I'd better try to make sure she doesn't get to upset. "Look there's nothing to apologize for." Said the elf flashing a dazzling smile of white slightly sharp teeth. "Look you can come and hang out while we load. I'd like to hear more about snow leopard nekos anyway. Not everday you get to meet a myth!" She said not realizing how ironic it was for an elf to say that. Ibashi held out her hand to the neko offering to guide the woman herself.

Kelsa stopped massaging Persephone. 'Darnit. I was just starting to have fun!' She thinks as she uses magic to turn into smoke and eek out of the room and behind the counter appearing before Saen. "Look buddy. I don't give out free drinks...Except when we have drinking games though we don't have any tonight so I guess you're out of luck. Sorry!" She said not really sounding it. She then poofed and was gone re-materializing back in the room with Persephone.

Richard saw Saen's plight and got up, making "shh" motions to Gildor, and then tossing a few coins in his pocket before turning and acting as if he hadn't done anything. "Generosity towards the poor is a law on my world. The rich help the poor and the poor in turn help us by supplying our armies and work force and a select few invest their earnings and become the rich and the cylce is repeated." Said Richard smiling genuinely letting the "fierce mask of pride" melt away before letting out a laugh. "My father however has the idea that the poor should serve us without any reason other than we are Nobles and thus their superiors." Said Richard to the elf.

Saen was hurt at not being able to convince the barkeep. He took a deep breath no paying attention to Richard or rather not getting he was supposed to be considered the poor person. Hell he was the closest thing to royalty his world had. "Come back....I have something to offer you." He took off his signet ring. His family ring made of silver like metal native to his home world, and a green gem set in. "I'll play a game with you for the drinks." He also got his dice out.

Taihaku didn't see that there could be any harm in hanging around Ibashi Toreko for a while. She might even be able to learn a thing or two from her. She stepped towards Ibashi, her face's neutral expression betraying her high hopes for this occurrence.

"I had not realized the world outside of Imoreith Tundra had even heard word of the existence of my tribe," she commented, her monotonous voice showing a hint of surprise. It was an interesting fact to her - she hadn't met anyone before who already had an idea of what a snow leopard neko was.

Persephone snapped awake, her body charged with adrenaline. She felt both tense and weak at the same time - so much for the relaxing massage. Her dream was already hazy, but she could remember rivers of blood and mangled body parts everywhere... it had been about her childhood.
As the stress eased itself off of her, she suddenly felt cold. Apologizing to the bartender, who had just reentered the room, she re-donned the top part of her traveling outfit and left the room.
Unsurprisingly for anyone in such a situation, the succubus expressed concern, but Persephone refused any further ministrations. "Perhaps just another drink, please," she requested in a half-whisper. The dream had left her in a slightly sour mood and she started wanting to just get everything done with and go home, silly as the idea was that it would be that easy. She saw Saen and Corveta as she entered the main room of the bar, and there was little doubt they'd be able to read the emotions on her face.

Kelsa saw Persephone walk out she wasn't too pleased but it was obvious the girl had a bad dream. That tended to happen allot in this town for some reason. She perked up, and telaported when she saw Saen offering to bet a very large and pretty expensive looking ring and also had her eyes on his dice. "Alight then, but I don't have any games that involve dice." She said smiling.

Dargo trotted along behind Taihaku sensing there was no danger now he could finaly relax- Wait. He caught a scent. A disturbing scent. He sniffed again. It was gone. "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr" He said in uspet tone looking around but seeing nothing.

Ibashi took note of him. " Well it hasn't exactly but the places I tend to frequent always have rumors of legendary races. By the the forest! I'd not noticed that creature before. What is he?" Said the elf woman looked slightly startled but not taking hostile action. "Is he your...pet?" She asked stepping forward but not quite within range inspecting the creature.

Corveta noticed something was off with Persephone. She didn't know the girl too well but she could tell by her body language something was very wrong. She got up from her table, it looked like Saen was too busy trying to win enough coins to buy drinks to really mind her absence much anyway, and sit down next to her and said. "Hey you okay? You look like you just saw a waking nightmare." She gave a glance at the succubus bar tender who was a little too interested in Saen's ring for her like. "She didn't try to make you do anything against you will did she? I know that succubi, even the smaller ones don't always listen to you when you say 'no'."

"I have the game we can play." Saen said taking a deep breath. "Its a luck game, we both say what number we think will come up. The possible numbers range from 2 to 12 the one being closest wins. Best two out of three wins. I win I get those free drinks, you win you get my family's signet ring do we have a deal?" He was dead serious and ready to risk it all to please the woman he planned on courting. He cursed himself for not having kept the left over earnings from he gambled last.

(Ya want me to actually roll dice, or you, or just have plot? XD)

The idea of her being a member of a legendary race excited Taihaku (on the inside). But her daydreaming (nightdreaming? Stupid Surrogia) was cut short when Dargo's growl and Ibashi's query reached her fuzzy spotted ears. The neko turned around, crouched down, and held her arms out, allowing Dargo to hop into her caring cradle if he wished. She wanted to keep him close in case danger was near.

"He belongs to Sir Richard, the man whom leads our group," Taihaku answered. "However, I believe he has grown rather fond of me, and admittedly, I of him."

(I think real rolling will suffice. I'm curious to see if he can win.)

Kesla grinned and leaned in letting her cleavage show a little as if to distract Saen. "Sounds very fair. May the best dark multiform win. I say 8" Said the succubus taking one of the dice and then blowing a kiss on it before shaking it very thoroughly and then tossing it. The dice came up a 4. The demoness frowned. "Mmm I have shaky feeling I'll not be wearing that ring." Kelsa said in somewhat biter tone.

Dargo leaped up into Taihaku's arms totally forgetting about the danger and leaped into Taihaku's arms. 'She said she liked me! Oh yay oh boy! I'm really happy! She really does like me. I wish I didn't feel guilty about it though. It's like I'm betraying Richard. He can't help that he's too busy to pet me...Though he could try.' Thought the dragon lonely at the thought that Richard likely would get a promotion to his rank sooner or later and then he'd have even LESS time for Dargo.

Ibashi looked at the creature closer he wasn't quite as a fearsome when he was wanting to be cuddled. In fact it was so cute she had to break her "tough" act and smile at it. "You two seem quite close. Though we need to get that ship loaded so if you can carry him and follow me please?" With that she lead Taihaku to the ship and so as not to spoil it for everyone I'll ask:

(After this round ya'll just want to have the ship loaded and get to the next bit? Keep in mind it's pretty dangerous and there won't be any rest points unti- if they reach safe harbor. I ask because I noticed the action has lulled a bit in this "safe area".)

The young hero ignored the breasts completely he was on a mission. "7." Saen declared he rolled his dice and it landed up 5. "Well looks like you win the first round, but I still have two more chances. I choose 9 next."

(oh by the way both dice are supposed to be rolled at once ^^ so you gonna roll both this time?)

(Sounds good to me, Jedi, despite your horrible writing. XD Redundancy is redundant.)

Taihaku let a small smile show on her face as she looked down at Dargo, using the backside of one of her claws hidden inside her fingertips to scratch the dragon behind the ear. Her smile faded as she raised her head, and she followed behind Ibashi, intent on making herself useful.

(FYI, Taihaku will rather test her physical strength (which is nothing to sneeze at) with this work rather than waste her ice magic, especially since doing so would avoid the problem of magic-sensing predators locating them because of it, so besides the fact that she keeps the air around her very cold at almost all times, Ibashi will probably not have any clue to her magical ability. I hope that's okay.)

(o.o;;; I have really failed to keep up with this RP. I'm going to have to fix that. Let's just say Gildor has been watching everyone and drinking water during this time. )

Gildor stood up with a sigh, the smiled approvingly at Richard. "I think I would like your world, though I might dislike your father. No offense to you or him...I believe I will head out to our ship and take a look at it. While I am not an expert, I have sailed before." The elf headed outside of the tavern, looked up into the air, took a deep breath, and frowned. He would be happy when it was time to leave this place. He enjoyed cities, but this place, with all of it's metal and lack of plants, got to him. He was far more at home in the wilderness then in "civilization". He began to head in a direction that he hoped would lead him to the docks.

After a couple minutes, Persephone's stormy thoughts had calmed down and she remembered where she was - an unfamiliar town full of all kinds of exciting things to see. The rain seemed to have cleared up a bit, so she left payment for her drinks on the bar and wandered outside.
She had a feeling the party would be boarding the ship sometime soon, so she avoided getting too far from the rest of them. Meandering around the block, she found that, while most of the various vehicles had been covered up, a few were still being worked on and had been uncovered when the rain stopped.
Under one of them was an obviously irritated mechanic fussing over some broken engine piece. Well, Persephone was bored and had nothing better to do... so she offered to help. The stranger was understandably suspicious at first, but after a little coaxing and establishment of trust, he let her take a look.
The engine was of a type that was primitive compared to what she was used to seeing in recent years, but its basic architecture was something she had seen before. Fortunately for her it didn't have any magically-powered subsystems, so it wasn't hard to figure out what did what.
"Oh!" - she had a revelation. "See this piece?" She pointed out one of the components to the man. "You had this thing repaired recently, didn't you?"
Indeed he had - the aircraft had been assailed by a harpy a few weeks back and barely managed to get its owner back to town alive. And the repairman - well, evidently he hadn't been as much of an expert as he had professed. Persephone explained to the man the problem she saw. The component in question was, to put it in simple terms, hooked up in such a way that it would work... but not be entirely stable. It had only been a matter of time before it ended up gunking itself and the surrounding parts beyond operability, and the rain had been the proverbial straw that broke its back.
So Persephone and the mechanic spent the next several minutes rearranging various connections and cleaning where it was necessary. She came up with a few ideas of her own about how to keep the thing running efficiently, to the point where a couple components were no longer necessary and were removed. And then... when they turned the machine back on, it gagged for a few tense seconds and then spat a plume of smoke and hot air clear across the street with a roar. It was a stroke of luck that nobody had been directly in its path. Long story short, though, after a little while of work Persephone and her new acquaintance had fixed it.
Unsurprisingly to her, he expressed his profuse thanks and insisted that she come visit him next time she was in town and, if possible, help a few of his friends with some mechanical problems of their own. But for now, it was getting pretty late and Persephone had a feeling she ought to head back to the bar and rendezvous with everyone.

(Unfortunetly I hate to report that my PC has died thus I cannot continue the RP for now. I'm working on getting a replacement PC but it alsop fried the electrics in my wall so I have to replace them AND upgrade the surge protectors. Till then the RP is on Hiatius. Sorry. I do hope you all will be patient and come back when I get my new PC. I'll PM all members here who don't wish to quit. Thank you.

(Good news! Got the PC back, in case you didn't see, and this RP will soon be off Hiatus. Post if you still in. Well wisper anyway. <.< Note I'll send you all a PM when I'm 100% ready to continue. )