"Ahh," Fabius said, biting into an ear of the yellow corn, smiling. "In Gurbenia, I remember first time I eat corn. Was long winter, mother had traded potato harvest for whiskey again, and all starving. But I find town drunk and sell him whiskey for cursed sword from his past... well, after many trademakings, I finally trade for corn and eat it.... oh, speaking of drink, there was ale contest I walk by, over, ahh-" he pointed off, "there. Sounds like it is the fun times to be having, no."
edited 6th Jan '13 9:27:57 PM by nman
Fabius' life story, and the nonchalant manner in which he told it, caused the pixie to pause in mid-air and stare. Just how many oddballs had this ship attracted? Cursed sword? Trading for corn?
"... speaking of drink, there was ale contest I walk by, over, ahh, there. Sounds like it is the fun times to be having, no?"
Yathe made a dismissive gesture. "Even if I could lift a mug, drinking myself stupid is not what I'd call 'fun times'. You guys are more them welcome to it though."
The Festival of Fates was a time when the usually business-minded port city let its metaphorical hair down. In days, or series of days, like these, the city showed its happy face in parades, both official and spur-of-the-moment, in feasts and musical performances every few blocks, the colors on all the clothes and the smiles on every face.
Then of course, there were also the sights to be seen. In one particular case, a Gearborn and an automata girl walking arm-in-arm.
Gav took Corona everywhere. They visited the Grand Fountain at the center of the city, with its statues of cherubs and mer-lions spewing displays of multi-colored water. They saw the great Clock Tower and its gaily-dressed automata that rung the mighty bells. He found them seats to watch the March, a rolling concert of street musicians and performers filling the streets with a riot of sound before filtering out to provide musical entertainment to various districts and avenues. The Walk of Hats, where Gav came out wearing fruit and where Corona had been crowned with a feathery tiara. The Mantle of Heroes, an event where brave youths would risk the wrath of the city guard by 'tastefully decorating' the sculpted memorials of Virina's great and powerful.
All these and more did Gav and Corona. Every now and again, they even joined the city and their comrades. The Gearborn with the blank face-plate was an able hand with his accordion and a rather fair shot with darts.
The two automatons stopped in another park much like the first one. As hardy as they both were, it was still a little daunting to take the city in all at once. He turned his blue eyes at his new friend.
"And to think, the city's only begun." There was a smile in his voice. "How you liking it so far, Corona?"
The hits keep rollin'!At every event Gav took her, Corona watched intently, curious of the purpose and function of each spectacle, along with the craftsmanship, skill, and/or boldness that backed them. At the fountains, she tried her hand at skipping rocks. At the clock, she muttered to herself a gratitude for freedom to roam. She followed the tune to every flute and harp in the great march, and misdirected the angry guards chasing down the children so they could continue their graffiti games.
Corona adjusted the feathery tiara atop her head so it wouldn't lose balance, and waved away birds curious of the fruit adorning Gav's mechanical head. "It has been a very lively and colorful occasion," she replied. "Thank you for touring me to see the events."
Gav gave her a shallow nod, as if to say she didn't need to thank him. "It's a good time to come visit Virina. Very few occasions would anyone recommend this place on a tourist's itinerary." He snapped his fingers, as if suddenly remembering something. "How long do you think the Dawnchaser will stay in port?"
The hits keep rollin'!"Is was looking fun," Fabius said, disappointed at the Pixie's reluctance. "Why you no come with?" he held out his right hand - his left hand still on the corn - and stuck out the index finger, "Will be maaaaaaaaaany fun times. If no, what say you, you with the shiny?" That last bit was directed at Ben.
"GO!"
With that, Dax started drinking the first half dozen mug of ale in front of him, by simply sucking them up with his trunk, though he had at least drank the first one conventionally. It was funny though, he had always been surprised at how little humans and other races could drink of water, but had thought that the professionals would be able to have more.
He waved around as he waited for more mugs. "Hey guys, I'm in the lead!"
"Like that is a surprise, I'm amazed they let Dax participate at all" says the voice Jeina as she arrives some time later at the drinking contest, wearing a new and lovely necklace with a particular azure pearl as the center piece.
"Ah, Yathe, Ben... Mr Mucetti finished his work a little early, so I'm glad to inform you that your orders are already being carried to the ship" says the Yeoman with a kind smile.
Thus most of the crew could enjoy watching Dax utterly wreck the competition at the drinking contest for a while... that is until the Captain appeared on the distance, walking hurriedly towards the group.
"Ah Jeina, dear! Just who I was looking for!" she cries from the distance, her steps never slowing as she moves towards them "Could you do me a favor and ask everyone to go back to the ship like... right away?"
"Ah, no problem, Captain... though, wait... what happened this time?" asks Jeina, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Nothing important, little Jeina... just... do it as soon as possible alright?" says Eirene, never slowing as she finally reaches Jeina, taps her shoulder once and then continues walking. Those paying attention to the Captain after that would notice that she started running a few seconds after that.
"..." Jeina then taps on the magical device on her wrist and then on her earring before speaking "Crew of the Dawnchaser, this is Yeoman Jeina. Retreat back to the Dawnchaser, ASAP. No matter what you're doing, back to the ship, NOW!"
"We better get a move on too" says Jeina to her gathered crewmen before she starts moving towards the ship "DAX! Stop drinking and come already, you won and everyone knows it!"
"Eh? Eh? What happened?!" Nora was confused, wondering what made the captain take off so suddenly. Putting some stuffed drumsticks, beefsticks, fried prawns, and other assorted foods and wedging them between two plates to carry, the swordsgirl took off after the fleeing yeoman, not wanting to be left behind.
"Jeina, Jeina, why is the captain running and why are we running?!"
Corona meanwhile winced as the sound of Jeina's yelling suddenly hitting her ear. She looked over at Gav.
"...unfortunately, it seems the ship is set to leave immediately; our yeoman transmitted a message for our immediate retreat. ...this might make achieving your interview with our captain difficult."
Beat.
"...do you know the way to port from here? I have no clue which direction to head..."
"YOU THINK I'M FUCKING FUNNY KID?! YOU THINK—" Guy stopped, mid-beating. In the chaos of the carnival, the Cat had gotten into a bit of a fistfight with an elf deriding him. As is to be expected. However, now, straddling the swordsman with a paw clenching a lapel and the other halfway to his jugular, now he stopped. He listened as the Captain called out to the crew. Then he smashed the elf's face into the dirt and stood up. "You got lucky, poofter. I gotta go now. Hope we can do this again." As his unfortunate victim ran, Guy turned and headed back to the ship.
Dax stumbled his way towards the ship, drunkenly carrying his prize from the contest - a life-sized stuffed dolphin. His eyes were the color of blood as he slowly made each step, carefully trying to stay standing. It was sheer luck that he had somehow randomly picked the direction of the ship - well, that, and catching a glimpse of the others running.
Taking off the moment he heard he had to get back to the ship, Fabius quickly ran towards the nearest store, and after haggling with the owner - with many streams of profanities, and a few inquiries as to each others parentage - he ran towards the ship with an enormous sack of medical supplies, singing the Gurbenian Anthem as he went along, occasionally throwing out some common exclamations.
"Is good day to be alive!"
If Gav gave any indication that their sudden time limit worried them, he was really good at hiding it. Having nothing that looked remotely like a face must have helped somewhat too.
"Don't worry, Corona," he replied with a sprightly chirp. "I'll get you back to the 'Chaser with no problem." Gav reached and took her hand. "Just follow me."
And he took her, by the hand, down the various brightly-decorated alleys and byways that composed the streets of Virina. This was the time that the joyous activity actually hampered their progress as they had to take shortcuts twice to avoid the hustling bustle. But the blue-steel Gearborn kept them moving, with clever route corrections and the occasional brute force approach.
Along the way, they picked up Gav's cat, Meowsie, in an alley. She apparently looked to have been holding court. The little animal was now safely draped around his metal shoulders like a white and brown shawl. That mewed and had the general issue exasperation of felines since time immemorial.
Though it was apparent they weren't heading anywhere near the docks, Gav obviously had an idea. He led them to a less-congested area of the lower quarters, with fewer signs of gaiety. Yub Yub had joined them sometime back, wearing a hat in the shape of a sunflower and stuffing roasted corn-in-the-cob into his mouth. The little trollkin formed their tale as Gav brought them to an area that looked a little like a hangar.
Which it was. Yub Yub fished out a key from his tool belt and brought them inside. It was a fairly large space, with odds and ends littering the area. There were a pair of hammocks and a basket lined with what seemed to be the dirtiest and fluffiest blanket in creation. Gav made their way towards a bunch of duffelbags, which were obviously their belongings.
They hauled these onto their shoulders while Yub Yub took the basket as well. Gav then led Corona to a wider part of the hangar, upon which sat a contraption composed of a pair of seat, a pair of engines with propellers all strapped onto a frame of some kind. The Gearborn then detached himself from his lower body and using his hands, began screwing himself on to the seat. The troll directed the gynoid to where she ought to hold on while he readied the cat's seat.
"I'm going to miss this place, Yubs." Gav said wistfully when he was finally in position. Yub Yub, having stowed away the duffel bags (and Gav's legs) only nodded and pushed down on a thick lever which opened up the hangar's roof to the sky. With a sudden whirring and revving, the propellers began to whirl and the whole frame began to lift.
He turned to Corona. "I'd hold on, if I were you."
Anything else she would have said was lost on him as the gyrocopter lifted out of the pad and into the sky, heading towards the port and the Dawnchaser.
And adventure.
edited 12th Jan '13 11:04:44 PM by mantlemask
The hits keep rollin'!Yathe found herself acting as a guide for the drunken Dax.
"This is so stupid." She grumbled while floating backwards just before the giant's eyes. More loudly she said to Dax in a coaxing voice, "Come on, you big oaf! Come on! Just follow the pretty light in front of you!"
Constantly looking back to make sure they were on the right track, then looking forward again to ensure Dax was still following, Yathelalina wished her ward wasn't so damn huge. If only she could pull him along! Or get somebody else to pull him along, she thought.
Noticing Dax was beginning to weave again, the pixie zoomed up to his forehead and pounded on the thick skull. "Hey! Focus, dammit! You can pass out when we get on board! Look, there's the ramp!"
Stars above, this was such a pain!
"Lets go you - Wawa-AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Fluttering back down after being blown away by the living water hose Yathe found that she was curiously not boiling furious. Her face just showed tired resignation.
"You know, you're probably too drunk to remember this," She muttered as she stopped in front of Dax' head again, "But one of these days I'm going to get back at you."
Dripping wet, Yathe got up close to the elph's left eye. She pointed in front of them.
"Ramp. Boat. You go up ramp, get on boat. Go."
"I've heard better pick up lines from a cat." Yathe grumbled as they, or he since she could board or disembark with a beat of her wings, finally made it up the ramp. She let herself sink gently until she landed on the rail of the ship. "Speaking of Cats, put that dumb dolphin away before our own furball sees it and goes beserker on your new toy."
"Oh, so this is a dolphin?" Dax asked himself. "I'll keep an eye out. Figured they would look like giant... dragon... crab... tiger... monster. Well, anyway, have you ever had a cat offer you a drink?" asking the pixie, as his trunk pointed upwards at around face-level with her, with a convex bubble of pure water forming at the tip. "Cant's can't do that, can they, malady?"
With the announcement that they needed to rush to the ship, Ben pulled out one of his revolvers as a reflex response. He rushed towards the ship. No time for joking around, this definitely sounded like a crisis!
In his rush of adrenaline, he actually jumped on the ramp. It was actually a good one too, maybe the natural jumping ability of foxes passed down to his human form as well.
Hearing the announcement, Violet still kept her cool. She was done shopping anyways. Still, she didn't want to have to run to the ship, it's times like this she's glad that she is a summoner.
A horse that was completely pitch black to the eye like the rest of her summoned creatures appeared and Violet was quick to get on. She rode to the direction of the ship with her supplies, getting of her mount then unsummoning it.
Seeing Benjamin jump on the ramp, she joked "Well, someone's trying to show-off." She than walked on the slope at her own pace.
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree."Load it all up, hurry!" said John as some of the sailors operated one of the cranes of the Dawnchaser, hauling up a great amount of cargo into one of the ship's holds. After that, the mage took hold of one of the lines and climbed up into the deck of the ship.
"Lift anchors! Cut the lines! Unfurl sails! Collect the plank! Mr Hyoth! Set course for the Horizon!" Cries Eirene as she paces the deck, counting her crew mates to see if nobody is missing.
Then, as if on cue, a mob of guards appear on the far side of the docks, crying curses at the Dawnchaser as it starts to move from the port. Thankfully, they were too far away too actually get to the ship.
Jeina sits down leaning her back against the railing of the ship as she comments "It would be nice if we didn't leave port like this so often..."
Dax was about to say more to the pixie, when a certain yeoman caught his eye. After fighting back his stomach for a moment, and stumbling over towards her, he tried to come on to her with a line he had once seen his uncle use. "You seem pretty blue, sweet stuff. But that's okay, I'm blue too. If you and I go back to your room, we can be blue together."
Taking a look back, the doctor saw the guards yelling at ship. "Oh captain, they no like you!" Setting his bag of supplies down on the deck where they wouldn't fall off, Fabius approached the railing as he aimed both of his middle fingers at the crowd, and started to loudly shout some traditional Gurbenian taunts at them. He eventually topped it off with "You are not-a getting up-a here, you sons of sheep-mothers!" If any part of his mind wondered what Captain Dawn had done to enrage them, it wasn't in control at the moment, as he resumed his stream of profanities.
edited 14th Jan '13 8:17:49 PM by nman
There was a buzzing noise coming from the sky to the port side of the Dawnchaser.
Over the lap of waves and general snap of a ship being put into motion and pursuit of the guards on aboard their own cutters, it wasn't given much attention. But something made a few of the crew look up to see something rush out from low cloud cover.
It was a strange-looking contraption, dominated by a pair of propeller-topped turbines attached to a frame. It seemed to piloted by a metal man who was wired to a frontal cockpit. The contraption in question buzzed around the ship a few times, giving the crew a view of Corona, who was standing on one of the landing rails. Eventually, the thing landed on one of the relatively clear decks aboard the Dawnchaser.
The hits keep rollin'!"Wait one second please." Gav said to the 9-inch pixie and looked over his shoulder. "Yub Yub, could I have my legs, please? And also get our resumes! Let's make a good impression on Captain Dawn."
The trollkin, probably Yub Yub, on the rear gun hopped off its seat and went over to the luggage stored under the gyrocopter, retrieving what appeared to be a lower body, complete with a pilot's trousers and work boots. This he tossed stood by the cockpit while before returning to retrieve a sheaf of papers, also from the storage bay.
The metal man began to unscrew himself from the machine's cockpit. Fully separated, he reached for his legs and carefully began to attach them to his lower body. All this was done with the ease of one who'd had such a process programmed from earliest inception.
edited 17th Jan '13 9:30:02 PM by mantlemask
The hits keep rollin'!

"..."
For a moment, Corona grimaced. The ends of her lips curved upward as if to attempt a smile, but she quickly stopped and glanced to the side. It feels appropriate for the situation... but I am unsure if would be able to pull it off naturally.
Regardless, the robotgirl looped her arm into Gav's, accepting his invitation.
"Then please show me, by all means."