There and Back Again

"I uh...I-I have a lance and I'm not afraid to use it! And, you look like you would, have a hard time getting down from there, while I can fly and that guy can climb, however he does it, so it, wouldn't be hard!" The troll patted said lance, presumably as emphasis, though from his expression seemed leery about actually using it as he'd threatened. "But if you, uh...you give the thing back, and don't bother us, or the person you took it from, again, then...you can go? Yeah..." He looked around at the others in the immediate vicinity as if looking for their feedback to affirm that this was a good idea.

While the thief was busy with Tavros and his little bull fairy, Peter scaled the alley, making sure to stay out of reach of his fearsome pitons.

"I don't think he should get off that easy," Peter said. Sticking to the side wall, he pointed his web-shooter at the thief, nabbing the too-small pack that obviously wasn't his own and whipping it into safer hands. "Guy knows how to climb a wall - which, by the way, you should probably leave to the professionals - so there's no telling what sorta stuff he's stolen before." Peter rubbed his chin in mock thought, looking down at the other thief-catchers. "What do you all think? We wrap him up and leave him danglin' until the guard finds him?"

Green Sailor Inn

Akane met Conan’s raucous laughter with a mild giggle of her own, that twisted and creaked like a string instrument pulled too taut. “It wasn’t my intention to offend,” Akane replied as her pastoral vigor receded, albeit in a tone that suggested that her broad smile might be getting in the way of baring her teeth, “though I think you’ll find that our Alexis Carab is capable of miracles both big, and…” Her eyes shone like a cat teasing its prey, “…very, very small.”

Further shots across the bow were had to wait, however, as the sudden entrance of a hoard of scalloping rapscallions began tainting the room with their faces, noises, and smells. Akane excised her menace into a gentle sigh, then gathered Rikka up under one arm before joining Christie down on the ground. “It’s that bad, huh miss?” She said, setting Rikka down and prompting it to scurry under the cover of the next table. Digging into one of the pockets of her robe, she then produced a key for one of the Green Sailor Inn’s rooms, which she waved back and forth between them like a protective charm. “Luckily, I’ve got a room on the second floor, and I’m sure me and Rikka can keep them all distracted long enough for you to get away. Just leave it all to us, okay?” Reaching forward to tuck it into Christie’s hands, Akane would then raise a playful finger to her own lips. “Just keep it quiet, and I know you’ll make it through. See you up there in a bit!”

Her expression softened in its overt enthusiasm as she scanned the next table over for a bead on Rikka, before the young summoner made smack her cheeks—at first, looking as though she were merely psyching herself up, before flicking back her sleeve to reveal an extendable, ornamental knife, whose blade she used as a mirror to check the redness of her own reflection next to that of the properly-drunken man’s. Once she was satisfied, she would then lurch to her feet, reaching out to use the table for mock-stability before then wending her way over to where the large man was facing off against the sea of seamen. Attempting to collapse against one of the broad man’s arms, she would flash a wide grin at the gathering crowd, before reaching up to trace an idle circle on Conan’s massive torso. “Coco, baby, wha’re you doin’? We’re all juss here to have a good time… *hic*” Making to stumble forward in a diplomatic fashion, her arms would sway whimsically along with her stuttering movements—while within her sleeves, a more purposeful symphony of finger jabs and flexes would send Rikka weaving through a forest of table legs adjacent to her path, until suddenly darting out in front of her like a woodland creature through the brush.

Catching her ankle purposefully on one of the rock creation’s spines before it disappeared underneath the next table over, Akane would let out a giggly yelp before pitching forward, attempting to catch herself on—or be caught by—whichever sailor was closest. Once in place, she would attempt to throw a neighborly arm around the pirate’s shoulder, hook her arm around his neck, and rest her hand on his shoulder—along with the blade held in that hand, concealed by the fabric of her sleeve save for a subtle outline in the cloth and a much-less-subtle pinprick against the sailor’s neck. “Why don’t you juss buy ev’ryone a drink, and help ‘em all cool off?” She would say, her tone still innocuous even as her eyes shone with an altogether different kind of suggestive tinge than the pirate had probably been hoping for.

Edited by Uncandescent on Mar 2nd 2019 at 4:41:58 AM

There was a subtle flicker over the little man's face as Seras referred to the immortal king as 'Koschei'. Still, he took note of the threat of skinning and cleared his throat, still not taking his hand off his burnt eye.

"Right. Well, Kostiei- or whatever you call him -is the sorcerer king of the underground lands of this country. He used to have homes in Hyperborea, but people kept killing him there, so naturally he decided to quit those lands for good. Each time some fool gets lucky and kills him, he reincarnates into another body, memories and all, and once he's built up his power once more, he takes out his soul and hides it further and farther afield. At present, he resides in a great cavern network below the surface, in a castle with a beacon that shines brighter than the sun! He and his twelve daughters, whom almost match him for power, reign over all the fair folk and magic wielders that make their homes underground. When needs must, he commands agents and armies of every criminal fairy, demon and bogeyman this land has to offer, from the mildest psotnik to the foulest Nachtkrapp. Vampires...not so much as you'd think. The odd strzyga, maybe, but I suppose most bloodsucker clans don't care to live in a land that shines brighter than day."

Immediately after waving the stagecoach before them on its way, the lekhitian guards were immediately met with the perplexing sight of a small furry creature striding right up on a goony lizard thing and attempting to annex their city.

"...riiiiiiight," said the guard to the left. "Business or pleasure trip, 'your highness'?"

The right hand guard perked up. "Certainly, young man. Just the other side of the wall." He moved to take the horse aside. "Are you carrying any fruit or vegetables?"

The thief stopped flailing for a moment or two to stare as the masked man walked straight up the next wall, and then shot some kind of cord that yanked the purloined bag away.

"...where do I learn how to do that?" he murmured in awe.

The rest of the pirate crew were put much more at ease by the antics of the apparently drunk girl, and a few "ooo"s and "wahey!"s went up as she singled out one of them in particular, clearly thinking that one of their lads was going to get lucky tonight. But the pirate in question was left feeling very nervous, and not for the right reason. As he felt the point against his neck, and saw the subtle look in the priestess' eye, he stayed rooted to the spot, struggling to find his voice and sweating bullet after bullet.

"Come on, D.D., don't chicken out on us now!"

"Lady said she wants a good time!"

"I'll show her a good time if you don't!"

A laugh went up from the crowd as Christie took the hint and started to steadily creep out and away from under the table, moving to the stairway on all fours like a cat skulking around the edge of a dog kennel.

Gdonya Gate

Kanae made her way toward the guards with the others. Kled's methods weren't particularly diplomatic, but it didn't seem like the guards were all that perturbed.

"Hey," she said to the guards. "I got a little human here who needs some sleep. You got an inn around here I can take her to?"

"Thank you," Shoto said as he handed the horse off to the guard, bowing stiffly as he did so. It caused the coins in his bag to clink against each other again.

When asked if he had any fruit to declare, he shook his head. "No, I actually need to buy food." The inn the giantess asked about sounded like a good place to eat, and hopefully take a bath.

Kled seemed to not be annoyed by the left guard mocking him, only smiling. "I'm here for military business, human! But to make things clear..."

His face immediately changed to that of downright mad. "YOU MOCKING ME?!"

How dare those sunuvabitches not realize who are they dealing with right now?! And worst of all, why aren't they saluting him?! They should be saluting him! Kled made Skaarl approach the guard in the left, the Yordle looking at the guard dead in the eye close to his face, his eyebrows twitching in anger.

"You will salute when you address me! I am the highest rank person in this area, and you WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITY! Now salute me human, and I will forgive what you just said..else I'm going to feed you to Skaarl!"

"Gree...flarg?" The lizard looked quite scared, as if it didn't wanted to be in this situation at all, and it didn't really wanted to eat human flesh, fish was more it's style.

...

Kled slapped Skaarl's face without hesitation, Skaarl putting the face a sad puppy would do when scolded. "Shut up Skaarl, it's when I don't drink mushroom juice that I have a problem!"

"If you ain't no thief, then don't go barging into people and making 'em think you are one!"

Toad flinched, realing back as Tetra snapped at him once again. Before he could respond, the woman sprinted off after the others. Rubbing his eyes as tears of frustration formed, he began to give chase after the others, unaware of how far behind he and Tretra were or that the true thief had fled down an alley.

"W-Wait for me!"

Edited by Chariot on Mar 4th 2019 at 9:17:29 AM

"I dunno who you are," annoiunced Jake as he strode into the alleyway, his form stretching to fill the only way out, "but what I do know is you're way outta your depth here. Right, bro?" Finn steadied his stance and nodded.

"Look, man, I don't know who you are but you can't just go around stealing stuff! Unless this is some kind of city of thieves thing. In which case... I mean... I guess you can steal stuff, but..."

"Ah, let's just get 'im!"

Into The Alleyway

While Tetra wasn't sure where precisely the thief had gone, narrowing in on his location proved to be little trouble. She ran past an alleyway, then skidded to a halt and retraced her steps, looking with a raised eyebrow at the wide sheet of orange skin that spread across the alleyway's entrance. What were the chances that it had nothing to do with their little thief?

She strolled up to the wall of skin, her diminutive frame managing to crawl under the bow of Jake's legs as the duo finished their very scary threat towards the ne'er-do-well. "The lot of you couldn't scare a five-year-old if you tried..." she grumbled, wiping dust off her breeches and then immediately attempting to take charge of the situation.

"Right, you, skyswinger!" She pointed a finger at where the masked man clung to the wall. "Get the goods back to the little shroom." Her finger became a thumb that jabbed back to the wall of Jake, on the other side of which would be the teary-eyed captain following in her wake. "You three..." She pointed in turn to the troll boy, the orange shapeshifter, and the human (she also made note of the presence of two automatons, but figured she'd tread cautiously around them until she had more information). "See if you can't find a way to free this lout from his... webbing."

She gestured to where the thief's foot was tangled up in the silken thread... and then her eyes lowered to meet his, a veneer of annoyance settling over her features. "And you!" She sauntered over, unholstering her cutlass as she went. "Have put me in a rotten mood, so I'm only gonna say this once." She made sure he got a good look at the sword's curved edge before she rammed it into the wall between his legs. "If I ever see you tryna take someone's precious belongings again, then I'll be making sure to take something precious from you in turn."

For effect she dragged the sword down, steel creating sparks against stone as it came to rest mere inches above the thief's sensitive area. "Y'hear me?"

"Certainlyyyy-" went the right hand guard, as he started answering the inn question right before he looked up and saw who asked it. Rooted to the spot, he reached a trembling arm over to tap his partner on the shoulder.

Said partner was having none of Kled's guff, and began to unsheathe his sword. "Sir, up until now I've been reasonably polite, but I'm going to need you to calm down immediately. Otherwise, you can either be barred from the city gates, or very well brought in under charges of terroristic threats, animal abuse- yes, what is it, Wiśniewski?" The left hand guard glanced to his parter, then up to where he was staring, and then with a yelp of "Giant!" he whipped out his sword and pointed it upwards. "Stay calm, guardsman. Don't make any sudden movements."

Even through his dark clothes, you could see every muscle on the thief's body stiffen as Tetra scraped her sword a little too close for comfort, and he finally got the hint of how utterly outmatched he was. "Yes, ma'am," he squeaked, pitifully.

Edited by LizardOfAus on Mar 8th 2019 at 11:11:30 AM

In any other circumstance, Shoto might have been more understanding. Well, he probably would've been confused, because other people usually confused him, but he wouldn't have lost his temper like he did.

As it was, even he couldn't stand getting sidetracked again. "Stop staring at her and tell us where the inn is," he snapped, "or, get out of our way." Unbeknownst to him, as he said this, the left side of his face seemed to stretch slightly. His curse didn't fully activate, but his ear started to grow a bit longer, along with the side of his mouth pulling back into a slight, sharp, toothy grin.

Edited by Skooter910 on Mar 9th 2019 at 10:16:13 AM

The damn bastard still refused to salute him, worst of all, he threatened him that he wasn't going to let him pass to his own property! Ugh. Typical atlantean. Not only that, they accused him of abusing his Skaarl! No humans tells him how to treat his Skaarl!

It seemed they were scared though of the giant, and the boy who looked like crap told him to let them pass already.

"You heard the boy, human!" He exclaimed to the gate guard, a smirk plastered on his face. "Let us pass through already, or our large friend over here will step on ya like a cockroach!"

Hope that threat will get them to let him pass to his property.

Ugh, how he hates city folk.

Gdonya Gates

Kanae pouts at the guards pointing their swords at her.

"That's a rude way to greet a beautiful lady," she remarked. "What, is being a giant a crime now? I'll have you know we're a proud and noble race! ...That said, I will whoop your tiny asses if you don't let us through."

Gdonya Gate, Caitlin

Caitlin decides to speak on her friend's behalf, though she still keeps her hood up to avoid showing too much of her face. "Don't mind him. He's crazy," she says, gesturing at Kled. "Please just let me and my friends through. We've been traveling for a while and we're all pretty tired and hungry now. I'm the only one of us who's even come close to being fed recently."

Thump, thump.

Two leather boots positioned themselves in front of Christie, and before she could look up to see who they belonged to, their owner's face popped up (down?) from over the table (along with the rest of his body) so he could give her a shiny white grin and a smarmy red gaze, all located under the two clinking black horns located atop his head (though it wasn't the horns' fault that they clinked, considering the number of jewels and trinkets tied up to them).

"Well, how did you get yourself down there?" Mollymauk chirped, rubbing his chin (even though his head was upside down) and chuckling to himself. "Don't worry, miss. I'm not in the business of ruining things for people who clearly don't deserve it. You may continue doing whatever it is you were doing."

With a chuckle, he sat down on a nearby chair and pulled up another chair to rest his feet on and grabbed the drunkard's half-full flagon. "Cheaters and tricksters, now that is a different subject." He whispered to himself, raising the cup into the air. "Gentlemen!" Mollymauk yelled, seeking the attention of the pirates. "A moment of your attention, please."

He stood up, cup still in the air, his other hand on his hips. "Now, I know that a life in the sea requires a well-built body, but certainly there had to have been some food for your minds whilst you were on your ships, hm?" He approached the pirates and pointed at Akane with his mug. "Otherwise, how would we explain you all falling for what is such an obvious ploy?... she's pretending to be drunk!" He drank some of the ale and smiled at Akane. "I've known some real drunk women, and you, my friend, bring dishonor to their name."

"Because if you want to pretend to be drunk, you have to actually be drunk and do something that drunk people would do." Mollymauk flipped his mug, letting the rest of the ale fall onto the ground. "Like this!" And with a grin, he threw the empty mug at the nearest pirate's head.

Edited by Stratofarius on Mar 8th 2019 at 8:25:02 AM

Green Sailor Inn

Damar turned around just in time to see the mug whack the pirate on the back of the head. His eyes widened, and he instinctively reached for his pistol, knowing full damn well where this was heading.

"Shit, what was that moron thinking?" he said under his breath. The Cardassian had been in enough bar fights over the years to learn that in situations like this, one was either a participant or collateral damage. Grabbing his pistol, he pointed it outwards at no one in particular, merely using it as an attempted deterrent against either the people at the table, or the increasingly angry pirate band.

Peter looked down from his wall-side perch as Tetra entered the alley, effectively taking control of the entire situation. His eyebrows rose behind his mask. How was this little (physically speaking, he was pretty sure) chick so demanding? Well, she did have a sword, so maybe there was more to her than her attitude and unripe-banana hair.

"I was going to do that anyways," he said. "I'm not doing it because you're telling me too." Clipping the bag to his belt, Peter leaned on the wall he and crawled his way further up, over the edge and onto the roof. He shouted down a brief, "Thanks for the help!" to the other thief-catchers before he vanished from sight...

...and dropped to the crowded streets beside Captain Toad.

"Sorry for all the hassle back there." Peter knelt down and handed the toad's pack back to him. "We got that thief good, and it doesn't look like he took anything from the bag itself, so you should be all squared away there."

"Oh, uh..." the troll looked awkwardly at the strange spider person, and then the returning pir8—er, pirate lass, both opting to be a little more firm about the situation. "That uh, yeah, that makes sense. That works." Seeming intimidated, he fell quiet for some moments and let the others take the lead, presumably sensing he didn't have to do much else, up until the webslinger took off to return the items that had been the subject of this venture in the first place. "B-bye then," he said as he waved.

"So..." Looking uncomfortably at Tetra, he floated up to where the thief was hanging around and slowly drew his lance, pointing it in a way that suggested he was about to use it to do as she said and release the fellow. "W-what do we do after we get him down?"

Gdonya Alleyway

Tetra tutted to herself as the masked man flipped out of sight, strictly 'of his own accord'. "World would be a better place if some people were more fine with taking orders..." she muttered to herself, before focusing back in on the matter of the thief and the troll boy's question.

For the thief's benefit, she removed her cutlass from his nether region, though still held it a little too close to him for comfort. "If he's smart, he'll go and squirrel himself away into the gaol till me and my men push off for the evening. Try some honest work, lad, they're always looking for an extra pair of hands down at the dock."

"As for us..?" She twirled the cutlass in her hand before sliding it back into its scabbard, her irritance slipping off with a literal shrug of the shoulders. "Do what you want. The shroom got his goods back, and that's all I was here for. I have a jug of ale and a meeting with a lovely lass waiting for me." She started to totter back down the alleyway, away from the criminal and the group. "You're free to follow behind, but I'm not paying!"

Green Sailor Inn

The rough catcalls and prods of the man’s fellow pirates were joined by the gentle, slurred tinkle of Akane’s own counterfeit-mindless laughter, her head sinking further and further until it eventually landed on the shoulder that wasn’t occupied by a repurposed instrument of the arts. “D.D., huh? Thass a funny name. Whass it stand for? Hmm…” Akane made a show of pressing her finger up to her chin, while comically tapping her other hand against his shoulder—bringing the heft and weight of the blade’s handle to jostle the pirate gently with every motion. “Oh, I know! Dashing Dan. No, wait, Darin’ Darin! Ooo, I got it! It’s…” Leaning in close to the man’s ear as if to whisper a tender secret, any hopes he might have had for the rich scent of alcohol wafting past his nose would be replaced with an icy spike of menace drilling into his ear. “…don’t do anything stupid.” She said, before pulling back with a wide, pleased-with-herself smile. “Is that right~?” Once she got some kind of sign of approval, the weight of her knife would slide off, only to rap gently two more times on his back toward the direction of the bar, presumably to make good on the promise she’d put between his lips of free drinks for his brethren.

But those plans, her forward momentum, and what seemed to be time itself came to an abrupt, screeching halt as a newcomer was made known, announcing himself with all of the flair and irritation of an unwanted disease-carrying insect. Akane’s expression quirked with momentary displeasure, until wide-eyed realization set in as this monstrous interloper made clear exactly who he was attempting to call out. Before she could open her mouth to defend herself, she was transfixed by a mug sailing through the air, like a ship on unsteady waves, directly for one of the gathered brute’s skulls.

Every blink of her eyelids seemed to move the scene forward one surreal freeze-frame at a time. Every pounding rush of blood in her ears, every twitch of her fingers, made the spectacle press ever closer. Every inch of it surrounded her, wrapping around her features like a suffocating mask, until—◊

Until it was over, exploding into a bright, raucous guffaw on her part, squawking like a tropical bird. Her hand slid off the back of her impromptu captive in order to brace her sides while she gently doubled over, the brim of her hat hiding eyes bright and wide with rage unbefitting the rest of her expression. “Is that all it takes?” She said as she rose, once again the unconcerned drunkard, making to wipe away a phantom tear as she straightened up. “Then lez do et! Here—~” Continuing on to the bar, she would slide jerkily into the radius of Corat’s swiveling gun arm, leaning against the counter as she met him with an unsteady grin. “Hey there, handsome. Juss gonna borra’ this.” Snatching up his mug of red tea, Akane would give it a hearty, purposefully-dramatic whiff, before tipping it back into an even-hardier pull. Coming up for air with a pleased gasp, she would then reach up to cover her mouth with her free hand and titter mischievously, before tilting the drink onto its side in deliberate mockery and mimicry of the way the demonspawn had done just moments ago. Shaking it to make sure the last drop had spilled to collect around her feet, she would rear back exaggeratedly, visibly considering possible targets—moving from another one of the pirates, to the bar patron with all of the piercings, to even some of her competitors—before finally landing, possibly inevitably, on Mollymauk himself. Her body would then tense as if to throw, before turning abruptly to the side, heaving the mug in a lazy arc toward the nearby dartboard, the bulk of its body landing against the bullseye almost by default.

“Hooray!” Akane cheered nevertheless, stretching one of her drooping sleeves up triumphantly towards the ceiling. “I think that means that I win,” she said, before she turned once again to Mollymauk—her pupils practically narrowing to slits in the process. “how about you?”

During all of this, Rikka had been on the move. Almost from the first moment that Akane had doubled over in laughter, the miniature Kaiju was surreptitiously guided around and through the bar’s tables, chairs, and stools, taking a roundabout path to avoid detection. Now, the spiny creation would emerge behind Mollymauk, rearing back on its hind legs and waiting patiently for its opportunity. As soon as the demonspawn’s tail drew near, Rikka would attempt to bite down on the section just past the tail's spade, latching on. And while the teeth weren’t big or strong enough to cause deep or lasting damage, they were certainly sharp enough to hurt like the hell his ancestors had crawled out of.

Edited by Uncandescent on Mar 11th 2019 at 5:14:10 AM

Road To Gdonya, Sounds Like a Doozy

Seras's frown grew as the little creature of darkness went on. What a story: an underworld king and his twelve daughters, commanding legions of vile intent, right below the country. The beacon shining brighter than the sun sounded downright unpleasant, but it wasn't something she couldn't handle. "Most vampires are too prideful to submit." She hummed. This wasn't a hunt for a loner, not even one trained to deal with such monstrosities.

Perhaps there would be no need to hunt Koschei - or Kostiei - himself, nor hunt his daughters. "And how does he feel about rearing out his head to take over the land?" She asked, idly twirling the knife in her hand. "Will Lekhitia have to concern herself with that?" At the very least, she could make sure to undercut his influence on the surface. If there were beings of darkness ready to serve his whims, she had to make sure they understood where that put them.

Usually that was on the business side of Harkonnen's bolts.

Captain Toad was too slow, so much so that he didn't get to see Tetra make her way into the alleyway. Stopping to catch his breath, he took in the sights and sounds around him. He was just gearing up to leave when Peter made his entrance, handing him has bag. Slipping it onto his shoulders, he bowed profusely before the would be hero.

"Thank you! Is there any way I can pay you back?"

The Gates of Gdonya

Nervously skipping along the road alone, a young bunny girl shrank into the background as she witnessed some of the commotion around the gate. With her long rabbit ears sticking out of her head covered in a protective cover held in place by a headband that wrapped around to large white puffs like earmuffs, she could be mistaken for a human by people that didn't notice her ears moved with her emotions. The yellow coat with fluffy parts and white scarf almost suggested she was prepared for cold weather but with form fitting clothes underneath and nothing to warm her legs, it had to be some kind of fashion choice.

Usalia was her name, and she had to get into the city soon and find the ingredients for, or a place that sold curry. With this sense of urgency, she fidgeted in the sidelines, uncertain of how long this process will take. Unable to hold back to wait her turn, she tried to politely call out. "Umm, how much longer will this take plip?" she asked.

"Uhh, ok." And quickly the troll cut enough of the web loose to let the thief crawl away in probable shame, before floating back down to trail the pirate lass the hell out of this alleyway, Tink hovering close behind with a pleased look. "I am a little hungry now...so you have a matesprit? How is she, uh...what's your name?"