The search for Brother Dalton, part 2

[Browncoat]

Mordan had failed to notice the dissipation of Therese's bonds. And he wasn't really paying attention to what the troll said...to be fair, the chances of him paying attention to anyone were hit-or-miss. So the diminutive man moved to Therese's side and held up his hand. The sharpened stone flew to his palm.

[OOC: 2 things. 1) I've been busy lately and my job has me working weekends. 2) Gray, you really shouldn't have had a lead in like you did. When I'm working with these characters I get some bleed into my irl personality.]

[Graybeard]

"I worry that letting him go on alone is just going to make things worse, just as you were saying."

"So do I," Sister Rose agreed, grimacing. "And I think we have to try to stop him -- and that probably means going along for the ride. But Argus, Drusia sounded like she meant business, and I do not want to get into a conflict with the elves." She shuddered at the thought. "So I don't know what to do. And there's another thing. Don't tell anyone else yet, but I ... I think I'm ..."

But the rest of the sentence just wouldn't come out.

--------------

The troll squinted at Mordan as the improvised knife flew into his hand, and Therese thought she saw more than a hint of suspicion flash across his not-quite-human features. However, before this could harden into action, there was a sudden loud beep from the pack now resting at the troll's feet, which had been worn by one of the recently deceased men. The noise was followed by a crackling sound, and then, an angry human voice, as the troll knelt to undo the pack.

"Ferenc! Report, dammit! Where the hell are you, and why haven't you brought the Beast from the East in yet?"

Oh, damn, thought Therese. The two men had had a crystal ball, or some comparable communication gadget, and now the people they worked for knew something was amiss. "Wait! Don't touch that!" she told the troll, but it was too late, he was already opening the pack and extracting the ball, the suspicion that had been playing on his face now hardened into half hostility, and half -- something else.

[Drusia]

"Dint 'spect her to go like that either." She gave a rueful sigh. "I hope I see her again."
"So, umm, where you from? What brought you 'long to face the bad men? Oh! And have Rosie's group got any people with the good magics? You got the good magics? One of those magic sword thingies like you mum maybe? 'Mazing stuff, the elves make..."

"I'm sure we'll see her again," I reassure Tamina. "I mean, she'll have to pick me up and take me home eventually. I wouldn't know how to get there from this far away." There've been so many airships, I've lost track of exactly where we are anymore. Or where the nearest gate network is.

"As far as magic goes... that's mostly Argus's thing," I tell her. "I'm a priestess, so I have some priestly magic like Rose, but that's it." Although Rose's priestly magic and mine differ a good bit.

"And why I'm here..." I pause, and then shrug. "I'm not really sure anymore."

-- Desiree

Edit: There's no baby-sitting on weekends, so I tend to be out of the loop those days. Also - I have a cold and have been pretty tired lately. I'm feeling a little better today... well, apart from the heat. **goes to turn up the AC**

[Alberich]

"I'm sure we'll see her again, I mean, she'll have to pick me up and take me home eventually. I wouldn't know how to get there from this far away...And why I'm here...I'm not really sure anymore."

Anfisa asked the obvious question. "Then why don't we go somewhere else while we wait for her? Someplace nice?"

She hadn't liked the look of that angry old priest (not that she liked the looks of any Veracian priests) and staying with an expedition led by him did not appeal to her one bit. He'd seemed pretty hostile to Drusia, too, which could only complicate things later. The less time they spent around those strange men-who-were-not-men, the better she would like it, and there were much prettier sights to see out in the world.

[Jack Rothwell]

"Somewhere with lunch!" Tamina agreed. "Oh! Know just the place! Geno's! S'got good steaks." She beamed.

OOC Just a suggestion. /OOC

[Alberich]

"I was thinking of Tsuiraku," said Anfisa, "but that wouldn't be bad first."

After all, Rose and the anger-crazed priest and the rest of their friends were "lifting off" in a couple of hours, and if they would just get away from here and stop causing all this tension, she and Desiree could travel at their leisure to wherever they wanted to go, and what matter where that was? But Dina Gibazov's Tsuirakuan pillow-book had always intrigued Anfisa, and made her wonder what that country was like where they catalogued their couplings, and if she had to pick a country to travel to before they could reach Desiree's home...that would be her choice.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: I'm assuming that everyone who's available does continue on to Geno's, although I'm not sure who-all that is. Everyone but Rose and Argus could potentially be there. Feel free to put yourselves in or out of this picture. To buy a little time for people to do so:]

As the group appeared at the door of the dubious-looking steakhouse -- well, it wasn't that dubious-looking, at least compared to the alternatives -- they could see a single man inside, sitting forlornly over a beer. His whole body language communicated discontent ... until he looked up and saw who was entering. Suddenly his face lit up with pleasure, and he awkwardly unfolded a long, lean body to rush to the door and envelop Tamina in a great hug.

"Tamina!" Keyes said. "It id to good to tee you again..."

The hug was long and energetic, to the point that his ever-present headband did something it really shouldn't have done: it slipped to reveal a pair of almost-human, but definitely pointed, ears.

Keyes flushed violently and released the hug to reset the headband. "Uh, you didn't tee dat, okay?" he taid said to Tamina and anyone else in hearing range.

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OOC: Things with Rose and Therese will resume as soon as the indicated people volley it back to them.

[Alberich]

[OOC: As far as I can tell - been a long time since you did a who's-where update post - Mordan and Therese aren't here, you tell me Rose and Argus aren't there, Audie's back at the temple and hasn't been called out of it, Tim's been catching up on his sleep but he's about to be rudely awakened...I think Tamina, Anfisa, and Desiree are the only ones available to be there.]

Anfisa was a little perturbed at first. She'd been hoping they'd go off alone, but then, their only companion was this cute girl-cat-kobold-whatever she'd met in Goriel, and she was so bouncy and fun that you couldn't be perturbed by her. As long as Rose and Argus and the others would justget on their stupid Veracian airship and fly away to whatever stupid scary death-cult whatever they wanted to look for, while she and Desiree had a leisurely meal and maybe a few drinks and then a little privacy to see what happened, before they made their way off to someplace nice.

She smiled at the stranger's hugging the whatever-it-was. Life should be moments like that. She wondered if it had any money, or if this warm feeling might run to a free meal for the catgirl and her companions.

It was a fact, she was not well provided with funds. It occurred to her that she might have to practice...well, it was her profession, after all, sort of, not really, not like those Zukalin houses, but the way the Duravsky wives treated the geteroi it might as well be, in order to move along from place to place, but that wasn't bad. Boys didn't count, at least not if it was for money, and while she'd sworn off men back in Goriel, it wasn't as if they were all Uncle Iokim, and anyway, given how he changed himself into some kind of animal, he didn't really count as a man at all that night, and they were going to need funds for pretty dresses and precious moments. Anyway, that would be workable. The important thing was to stay together and get away.

* * *

"Work" had finally caught up with Audie, and he'd been given a simple task: to wake up Brother Tim and make him hustle. The novice shook the young priest awake in his borrowed cell. "Please ye, Brother, Father Amalric's orders, got to be movin' in an hour or two, so I'm to tell ye to wait not another moment." In fact, he was softening the older priest's language considerably.

Having recovered his normal patience by a miracle, Tim didn't snap or grumble, but rolled out of bed right away. "Thanks...Novice..." -- and he was fumbling for his shaving gear as he asked the lad's name.

Inside half an hour, Tim was ready to move, and besides that he'd gotten a good account from Audie of the Southern Continent adventure. Desiree's adventure with the snake sounded unnerving, but he was pleased there was no sign of Rose carrying out her original plan, to use Desiree's wanton wiles to seek information. Maybe she was starting to remember she was a Nun of Luminosita after all. However heterodox. He was feeling positively warm towards her, the way she'd so decently sent word for the temple to support him, instead of halting his foolish-but-divinely-favored mission.

Whatever the case, he was going to carry out Father Amalric's orders, and that meant joining Rose for the mission. He left his cell accompanied by Audie. He went looking for Rose.

[OOC: Feel free to put him wherever whenever.]

[Jack Rothwell]

"Tamina! It id to good to tee you again..."

"Key-eth! Hi!" The kobold greeted Keyes happily, and met the man halfway as he approached for the hug, returning it with her usual enthusiasm until...

"Uh, you didn't tee dat, okay?"

"Tee dat?" Tamina asked, pointing at her own oversized, furry ears for confirmation. The subject of errants, and half-elves, and the social perception of them were things she had only peripheral knowledge of. True, the 'bad men' she'd hunted down in that very port had been of the same ilk, but her actions in that case had been motivated by what they'd done, not by what they were.

"Are they cold or something? Or you embarrassed by your drits*? Look fine to me. Oh! Yeah!" Tamina exclaimed, remembering her companions. "Dezzy, Anfi, this is Key-eth. He's got the lizard magics. He helped me fight the bad men on the Southern Continent a while 'go."

*-ears

[Graybeard]

"'Drit'?" Keyes repeated. "What a 'drit'?" Then he figured it out. "No, Tammy, it dut better ip I don't tow dem in town." She didn't need to know why.

He turned to acknowledge the other two women, first smiling politely at Anfisa ... and then his gaze fell on Desiree. His eyes got wide, his mouth fell open, and the flushing of his face suggested a racing pulse (and more).

"Oh my god," he said softly. "You're beautipul ... and one ob ut."

----------

The troll (Sonny from Cartish, although Therese and Mordan would have no way to know that) glared suspiciously at the crystal ball that had emitted the harsh voice. Therese could see that an image had started to form in it, and her own magic skills left little doubt as to what it was all about. "I -- think you'd better put that down," she said softly. Would this member of an alien race understand? Trolls and humans didn't speak the same languages, indeed weren't mentally wired for each other's speech at all, as she understood it. However, this troll had already produced a few improbable words of Veracian. Maybe he'd get the message.

He turned his massive head toward Therese, back to the ball, back to Therese. "Magic?" he rumbled, then switched to his own language. Therese couldn't be certain, but she was pretty sure that he was saying the troll equivalent of "Don't like magic." He examined the ball again ... just as it spoke one more time. "Ferenc! Report, dammit!"

And then one more. "Who the hell are you?"

And then a third, by which time Therese was already diving for cover, dragging Mordan along. "SAMOS! DETONATE THE BALL!"

------------

OOC:

[OOC: As far as I can tell - been a long time since you did a who's-where update post - Mordan and Therese aren't here, you tell me Rose and Argus aren't there, Audie's back at the temple and hasn't been called out of it, Tim's been catching up on his sleep but he's about to be rudely awakened...I think Tamina, Anfisa, and Desiree are the only ones available to be there.]

This is a good idea, and yes, it's been a long time. However, so many characters have been introduced in the Ralkin threads, which I didn't follow closely, that I'm almost certain to miss a few. If I do an incomplete who's-where post, can one of you folks with more knowledge of that group of threads flesh it out? Thanks. Anyway, my idea was that both Tim and Audie could be considered to have been rousted from the temple and joined up with Tamina, Desiree and Anfisa at Geno's if desired. Rose and Argus, of course, are off having a talk.