Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

[Drannin]

Harker just sighed. "The sacrifices I must make for diplomacy..." he said, trying to sound officious.

[Drusia]

Carefully, Argus lead Fayna away from the others, whispering to her gently. Harker looked at the rest of the group. "They're, uh, gonna need some time," he commented.

I blink. Um... wow.

"That was Lillith's sister?" I ask anyone who feels like answering.

-- Desiree

[Graybeard]

"That was Lillith's sister?"

"Half sister, actually," Sister Rose confirmed, with a faint smile. "They're ... rather different, aren't they?"

The "tree-that-walks" was getting close now, and she could see that that was, in fact, a pretty good description of the thing. It was perhaps twenty feet tall, with spreading branches of similar width. The lowest branches, perhaps six feet off the ground, had bare spots with knobby structures protruding above them; seats, she guessed, and the wooden knobs would serve as the back of the seat. She was glad to see that one bit of man-made equipment had been added to these, functionally equivalent to seat belts that would allow a passenger to be strapped in and secured. Good; her mild acrophobia was already complaining about the prospects of sitting that far off the ground without any protection against a fall if the ride got rough, which seemed likely. One of the seats was already occupied, by a man who held an incongruous set of reins leading to the main trunk of the tree; the driver, apparently. He gestured to the waiting group below as the conveyance came to a halt in front of the temple-tree.

[OOC: Browncoat, if you want to introduce your new guy as the driver, it would work well here. Of course, there'll also be opportunities later, if you'd prefer to wait, in which case this guy will be treated as an NPC. Either way, the tree isn't going anywhere until Argus and Fayna have their conversation.]

[Drannin]

It took time, but Argus finally explained what happened.

"...You were strong, Daddy."

"Thanks. I'm still proud of that one."

"I'm glad you're safe."

"Thanks."

"...That woman you're with. You're in love."

"...Yes. You can tell?"

A giggle. "I AM a woman," she reminded.

"...Are you okay with it?"

"...I don't know. It'll take some time to get used to. But, I think I understand." A pause. "You're still helping me terrorize your old opponents. though."

"Naturally. There are appearances to uphold."

Father and daughter smirked at one another.

[Drusia]

"Half sister, actually," Sister Rose confirmed, with a faint smile. "They're ... rather different, aren't they?"

"Yes, very," I agree. I only have half-siblings, so I don't really consider half-sister and sister to be different things, but apparently the distinction is important to Rose for some reason. Never mind, not important.

And then there's that tree. I'm not at all sure what to make of that. I guess I'll wait and see what happens.

-- Desiree

[Browncoat]

The driver of the 'vehicle' waited until the vehicle was settled, then threw down a vine that reached almost to the ground. He gripped the vine loosely and jumped.
"Wheeehah!"
Up close, the driver's diminutive size was revealed. In fact, he looked more like a child than a man...aside from the pipe sticking out of the side of his grinning mouth.
"Hiya folks. Hey Mushy"
"Mordan, for the hundredth time-"
"Hun'ered an' first actually"
"What?"
"I've been counting the times you try to correct me. This time makes 101" The diminutive figure was clearly enjoying the reactions he was getting from Minister Musoke.
"Then why can't you show even the slightest bit of respect?"
"Uh, hello? Have you seen the way that guy dresses? I mean, I might be short, but at least I don't make myself look like a mushroom."
With the minister sputtering, the driver walked over and appraised the group.
"Name's Mordan. Nice ta meetcha. You lot are the ones headin' outta town right? Cuz I'm pretty sure I've overstayed my welcome."

[OOC: Not the intro I originally had in mind, but I think this fit the character better]

[Alberich]

Audie climbed onto the tree, looking stunned at the driver, who seemed to be (though in fact he was not) Audie's own age or even a little younger. More than that, except for the eyes (green for brown) and robe (green-stained travelling robe for Veracian novice robe) -- they were practically twins!

"Um - hi!" he said. "'s quite a tree you have here - be they common in these parts?"

[Browncoat]

"Uh...ya know, that's a good question. I only know about Joe here an' his mate Amy"

[Alberich]

Audie perched as close to the driver, hoping to watch how he steered the thing. "Be they hard to drive?"

[OOC: For time's sake you can assume Mordan's being peppered with all kinds of little questions like this, like whether they buck and how you get to be a driver.]

[Graybeard]

My ears are itching, Sister Rose thought. This was hardly a surprise. When Argus had gone off with his daughter, she'd had no illusions as to whether she herself was going to be a subject of the ensuing conversation. Just like Argus would be if I went back to Mom's.

That thought took her mind off her surroundings, but not in a direction that she particularly wanted it to go. I wonder what's become of Margot. To think we were so close to bringing her back home ... helping her get her life back together ... straightening her out. And now it starts all over again... "Huh?"

Therese and Desiree had come to join the rest of the group, and Therese had put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?" the redhead asked. "You looked ... well ... I guess I'd just say sad. That's not like you." She'd already put her own moment of weakness with Desiree behind her, or at least enough of it to get her usual composure back.

"Just thinking about missing persons," Rose answered, unaware for the moment that Kenny was not one of the "missing persons" who were occupying her mind. "Let's get loaded up so we can do our job."

She turned to the short man who'd joined them. "Where should we stow all our luggage?"