On That Road Again

On That Road Again
Date of Scene:	13 May 2013
Location:	Giza Plains
Synopsis:	There is a road out on Giza Plains that people travel to and fro on. However on this day, many adventures meet up for the first time and find themselves have a rather nice chat. Including made aware of killer bunnies.
Cast of Characters:	Elysiana Glyphanos, Avira, Myla Mason, Ulharisk, Alma Hyral, Thirza Ingersleben, Argider

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Ulharisk has posed:

Giza Plains is a lush savannah of life. The Dark Black crystals loom in the horizon however in different locations which give the area such an odd feel of magic and nature combined into one. Travelers move across the dusty roar going from one place to the next. Merchants with the Chocobo caravans and even those heading to the port city to head out to see, even some who-- just came from the traveling of the sea.

Once such Traveler though is indeed walking along the road, staring at a map he had purchased. He is turning it this way and that and grumbling under his breath. His cape gentle moved in the gentle, cool breeze, along with his strange blue hair with the red streak down the middle.

From a distance he may remind someone of an elf, yet an elf with no shoes only wraps around his feet and hands with what seemed like possibly clawed nails. At a closer inspection one may even start to notice a bit of scale shade on some parts of the skin to even those elf like ears having multiple cartilage locations that almost give them a fin look.

Either way fate would have him here and fate just picked up a gust of wind to take the map right out of his hands which he snarled at before attempting to suddenly chase after it down the road. Hopefully that map doesn't collide into someone or he himself run right into someone.

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
The Long road, and Elysiana travels along it. The fluttering of paper, a sound she's not expected to hear in the time she's spent in the various cities makes her look up. A fluttering flying peice of paper and a figure chasing it..

She picks up speed walking quickly. "Here I'll help." she says a bit loudly racing along after the paper, the cloak she wears flapping in the breeze..

Alma Hyral has posed:
Giza Plains was a peculiar place for the dowdy adolescent. Having grown up in a sprawling, continent-wide, and decidedly modern city she had little experience with life on the road. Not that she needed modern conveniences per se, given that she was from an ultraconservative family which would have been considered nearly luddites in their culture, it was just that she had no experience with travelling outside of urban areas.

Giza plains was merely yet another stop on the various small pilgrimages she would make on her travels to collect charts of heavenly bodies from the various worlds, and yet she couldn't help but stop to admire the people of various walks of life. The scenery was also pleasant, yet she didn't linger long in one place. It was hazardous for someone her age to be travelling as is alone, and while she could have asked others to come with her.. she just didn't want to be a bother.

She'd catch sight of Ulharisk from afar, and consider him nothing more than another traveller. Just someone she'd favor with a smile, a wave, a shy greeting perhaps, before moving on... Until he loses his map to the misfortune of the wind, and she just.. gapes. Approaching Ulharisk, he likely wouldn't think much of her at a glance. She was a mousey girl, in traditional white mage robes, her hair up in a functional bun, just carrying a satchel at her side and a small pack on her back.

She'd favor him with a meek look, before watching the other figure chasing after the map, then turning back to vaguely Elven looking man with scale like skin and fin-like ears. She'd note those details with some curiosity, before stammering out a greetings. "B-Blessings of the Creatrix on you, S-Sir. Is e-everything alright?"

Thirza Ingersleben has posed:
Alma Hyral may not want to be a bother and ask for help, but it seems that someone has decided to come and help her regardless. Unfortunately, that someone is Thirza Ingersleben, who winds up being so slow on catching up to her (due to a mishap with transportation) that she just now manages to catch up through a wearied and, in honesty, rather slow run. She's panting heavily by the time she catches up with Alma.

"Almaaaa," Thirza calls out, "I'm...sorry I didn't get here sooner. What's going on?" She looks over at the other two. "Um. Is everything OK?" She notices the map blowing around and reaches for it.

It flies past her. Thirza hangs her head, too tired to chase it.

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk was trying to catch it. He could try to use his abilities he knows a bit on magic, but he wasn't the best with it and could create /worse/ things. As he tries to get it, another comes over to his aid. "Thanks. Should know better then to look at such things where wind can roam freely."

Mostly likely before he can really get to it, it would seem Ely has managed to catch up to the map (and most likely get it), because Ulharisk gets quickly distracted by the sudden white mage on the right which he has to spin around to avoid not just crashing into her.

The young man turns to look at Alma as she says her bit and raises an eye brow he goes to speak about the time the other female shows up, apparently a friend of Alma's. He peers at them both for a moment with his violet eyes, before glancing over at Ely to see if she had indeed gotten the map, then back at the other two. "Create-ix?" he asks with a very puzzled look.

Some of these people have some odd names for things...

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos returns with the map, or rather slows down to grab it and then turns at the word 'creatrix' ."Its a female deity, who created everything. My home land has Three," she interjects upon retrieveing the map and coming over. "HEre you are." she said quietly offering the map with a polite bow of her head.

Alma Hyral has posed:
The Hyral girl hadn't wanted to be a bother.. but that made the suprise of Thirza deciding to catch up to her anyhow all the more pleasant. She didn't know the older Shivan girl all that well, having just met her a short while ago, but she already liked her. Thirza had treated her kindly thus far, and seemed to care a great deal for the other employees of the Zaibatsu. And there was the fact that she found Shivans so exotic in general... except for Annia, that girl terrified her.

So after the initial pleasant shock of her arriving wore off, she'd meet her halfway, putting one arm around her in a sort of friendly half-embrace. "No no...I'm just glad to h-have you here, Thirza! You're such an e-excellent guide.."

And then she'd turn back to Ulharisk, her smile becoming more timid. It felt so strange to be in a world where.. noone knew these things, the thought that she was perhaps the last adherent of her faith was always a disquieting one, "The C-Creatrix goddess, C-Cosma. She who s-sacrificed h-herself so that the f-fabric of reality might be w-woven anew. All of us are a p-part of her."

She then puzzled through Elysiana's statement for a moment, was she..? No. There was no trinity in the worship of Cosma. Disappointing, but then again she'd found no other world that worshipped her.

Thirza Ingersleben has posed:
Thirza takes a few moments to catch her breath. She is not usually a sprinter, as is obvious from the fact that she's presently half-bent over and panting. It takes her a moment to recover, but once she does, she perks up and seems as enthusiastic as ever. Thirza straightens her ponytail, then her glasses, before speaking properly.

"Aww, thank you, Alma," she says, though it's hard to tell if she's blushing or still red from the run. She glances toward Ulharisk, then Elysiana. She then looks at Alma, before speaking.

"I'm Thirza. Thirza Ingersleben. It's an, um, pleasure to meet you both? Do you know Alma?"

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos ofersa politely and courtly bow, for she at the moment is wearing pants, though her cloak and robe are simple over it the light imbellishments signal something. "Elysiana, Elysisna Glyphanos." she simply left it at that thought she attempted to blink back tears..

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk listens to Ely and Alma's explanation of this-- goddess. Once more Light and Dark play a part in a society, much as they do his own. He 'huh'ed softly and gave a gentle nod. They were things to note down, something he probably do in his journal when he at last made camp.

Ulharisk also canted his head to Alma's stuttering. It was a strange tick actually, it seem like at first it wasn't so bad, then it suddenly got worse. Did he make her nervous?

He then glances over to Ely once more as she hands him the map. The elf-like man giving her a warm smile and polite bow of his head. "Thank you, ma'am." He then looks over at all three of them, before he gives a faint shrug to his thoughts before he speaks up, mostly once Thirza introduces herself. "I am Ulharisk." He then steps back and gives a polite bow with the introduction. "A Draconian from a world.. I fear.. has been taken by the Whe'ir.. urm.. the Dark One." He rubs the back of his neck.

The Draconian then looks over to Ely and Alma, see if they introduce themselves before he glances back over at Thirza, "..and no, I fear I have not met your friend here, or if I have, I don't recall such." Ulharisk seems to also have a tinge of a British accent in his voice with a bit tenor voice.

Once Elysiana introduces herself, he gives her a nod and a smile, though his brows furrow as he notices the tears in her eyes. "..is everything alright, Glyphanos?" He was sure he heard from someone that when a person gives you two names, you call that person by their last name, and not their first. Unless you are familiar with them... or was it the other way around?

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma Hyral would favor Thirza with a demure sort of smile, still just glad to have her along, "We j-just met. In f-fact.. we a-actually didn't Oh how r-rude of me. I'm Alma H-Hyral. It's very n-nice to meet you, Sir. And you M-Ma'am."

She'd murmur to Thirza, "I'm so g-glad you're here. N-Now I'll have s-someone to talk to. You know just a-about everything there is to k-know about these p-plains I bet."

She'd peer right at Ulharisk when he mentioned Whe'ir, taking her forefinger of her left hand to slide her glasses back up on her nose, then she'd murmur in a tone steeped in fear, as if afraid that by merely mentioning the name, she'd invoke him. "W-We call it C-Chaos, the D-Destroyer. I-It took our w-world too.."

She'd give Elysiana a sort of embarassed look, what was wrong? Why was she crying? "I-Is something w-wrong, Ma'am?"

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos wavesr her head. "No... please don't call m'am. I am no... mother. Miss will do. WE have a word for it ourselves, though I suppose it matters little ,we only refer to it as the Whispering Darkness" she pause a moment. "And please, Elysiana is fine. I am not head of my House, and there fore refering to me as Glyphanos is.. " she shurgs "I am fine... just thought about home... "

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason had been out on her own exploring again she'd often found herself driftintg apart from the other surivors of her world and that left her rather troubled. They were really all they had left right? The recent new of the school's mascot suriving had left her a bit more chipper though and just by change her wandering had her come across this gathering and that gets her to raise an blue eyebrow as she closes.

"Hey there not looking for a fight didnt' think I'd find anyone else out this way!" Given her style of dress and the visable tattoos her hertiage as a Levitani is very blantant.

Thirza Ingersleben has posed:
"It's hard sometimes," Thirza admits, "thinking about that sort of thing." She looks back and forth between Ulharisk and Elysiana. They seem to know each other, at least, which Thirza finds a little funny because it makes things 'fair' in her head, considering she knows Alma.

"Uh, sorry. I get nostalgic sometimes," she mumbles, turning her attention toward Alma. "Oh, I wouldn't say that...it takes me a little while to get accustomed to these places, though I think I've got a pretty good idea, now. This place has a large life-force so it's really easy to read. It's in good balance, too, so things seem normal. It gets harder in places where there's too much of a particular chi."

Ulharisk has posed:

"Chaos? The Destroyer?" Ulharisk says as Alma explains and hrms. "I see." He then glances down at the ground before he looks over to Ely, giving her a bit of a sheepish grin and a mild nervous laugh. "S-sorry for the disrespect then. In my culture sir and ma'am are respectful terms we give to those we do not know personally.. but alright. I will remember that in the future to not call you such and to just call you Elysiana." Which was a pretty name. "..and yes... I.. understand on the loss of home and.. memories of it.."

Ulharisk glances off to the side a bit, before focusing his attention away from his own falling of in and outs of being home sick at times.

Also he doesn't know Elysiana at all! They just met! Really!!

"Chi?" Ulharisk asks Thirza giving her a puzzled look. "..and uh.. yes.. some places have a better sense of mana within it then other locations. It is rather interesting... but as getting accustomed.." He laughs a bit and shakes his head. "I still have /far/, far to much to learn. I just learned what.. urm.. gil was.. and currency."

He then looks over as another woman comes over, he is now starting to feel a tad awkward being surrounded by so many females. He then rolls up his map as he stands there a bit tighter, before placing tucking it down in the back of his belt.

He then looks back over to Alma, "For my people.. Whe'ir was known as the Dark One. The bringer of emotions and his place was that of when the moon was in the sky; the place of darkness. While Mit'ir was known as the Light One. His place was that of when the sun was in the sky; the place of light. They were both children of Xur'shio, the Great One. The creator of all."

Ulharisk then gives a shrug. "..though as I walk around this world, I find similar stories, yet not so similar."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma would glance at Thirza, giving her a look of admiration, "Wow T-Thirza, you can actually f-feel the lifeforce of the land? That's pretty a-amazing. It's like being a-able to read c-creation.

Then she'd look at Ulharisk, fascinated, "Duality of l-light and dark is a c-common theme. B-But there is n-no over deity above C-Cosma. It is s-said her l-light arose from the h-heart of all t-things. And from her s-sacrifice to safeguard c-creation the first gods a-arose. They b-became the f-foundation of our w-world."

Thirza Ingersleben has posed:
Thirza shuffles her feet. "Is it really that impressive? I mean, I'm not as good at it as /some/ people," she continues, adjusting her glasses slightly. "Um, yes," she answers Ulharisk, seeming happy that she can talk about something that isn't herself. "Chi, like, um, life force. Sometimes they use the term chakra instead, sometimes mana. I've heard a few worlds use the term 'orgone' too."

"I've noticed that too! ...the similarities thing, that is."

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason contiunes to close and she keeps her weapons holsters but really anyone out in the wildeness should go armed I mean even just leafers could kill a adult if they were not armed. Seriously killer flesh eating rabbits this world was messed up far as Myla saw it in some regards.

"Chaos, or the Heartless which might as well be his spawn." She notes for a moment. "We were lucky a small number surived.." She notes pauing to listen about Chi for a moment and humms about Ulharisk. "Interesting way to look at things." She pauses at Alma looking her over for a moment "Hey ... are you all right and yes. The first gods fell but became the world upon which we lived..."

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk nodding his head to Alma. "So I am really starting to find it very fascinating of the connections. Though yet some.. differences." He admits, rubbing his chin in thought. His violet eyes skim over Thirza and gives a nod of his head as he lowers his hand. "Right. In my culture we called in Mana weaving. We could control some elements of our world, like fire, air, water.. some could even heal wounds that sound be fatal. Though.. I was... never very good at it."

Ulharisk scratches the back of his head as he glances off to the side. "..mostly because I was never suppose to be in the position I ended up in.. so I never, um, took my studies very seriously when I was a hatchling or even into my adulthood."

The Draconian then glances over to Myla and blinks his eyes a few times. "I see.. and Um.." He gives her a nod. "The name is Ulharisk-- I am guessing you are one of their friends?" he motions to Alma and Thirza.

Avira has posed:
Down the road, a new, larger figure makes its way towards the group. As this person nears, it quickly becomes clear that the large size is due to this person's mount, as the persoon upon it seems to be comparatively small.

The mount? A giant beetle, known as a steelclad beetle. It is the size of a small car and seems to move at speeds about two-thirds as fast as a chocobo. The rider appears to have made a custom saddle for the creature, which seems more like leather and padded blankets draped atop it. Since the beetle has mandibles, its reins are also modified to wrap around them.

As the beetle and rider approach the gathering in the road, the creature is slowed with a tug and a quiet word. Ulharisk would no doubt recognize the familiar face.

"Hey." Avira greets, "I'm looking for some flesh-eating rabbits called leafers. Have any of you seen any recently?"

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason says "Name's Myla, Myla Mason." She pauses at Avira she's head soemthing of her for a moment and peers for a moment "...Leafers? I had one for breakfast this morning but haven't seen anything since I'm afraid. It wasn't fish but seriously this world's echology is alien. " the beetle doesn't bug her at all there were some giant bugs on the island chains where she grew up and she looks over Avira some more. "Hum takes all kinds of worlds doesn't it?"

Argider has posed:
Argider was much more at home in the sky. Alas, normal humes such as him were not born with wings and thus he was stuck on land until he reached his beloved airship. But this does not mean that the good captain would -walk- needlessly. Heavens above no! Yellow feathers fly through the air as the chocobo riding airship captain comes rampaging down the road.

"Kweh!" shouts Argider's chocobo as the bird-like creature decides that now was the perfect time to stop. The giant steelclad beetle on the road may or may not have anything to do with it. Argider's eyes open wide for a brief moment before he less than elegantly thrown from his mount and lands most awesomely on his feet....for about a heartbeat before he tumbles over end until he lands on his rump in front of the small gathering of individuals on the road.

"Howdy," greets Argider.

Thirza Ingersleben has posed:
Thirza jumps about four feet because suddenly Myla is there, and she wasn't around before. "Oh, um. Hi." she says, politely, holding her chest as she waits for her heartrate to go down.

"Oh, yes! We've got plenty of stuff like that in our world, too, though I do things a little bit differently than the people from our world who usually um, 'weave mana', are you call it. Alma is one of them, isn't that right, Alma?"

And then there is a giant beetle. It surprises Thirza significantly less than Myla did. "Oh, I haven't seen any of them recently, but I could probably find some." She stares at the steelclad beetle for several moments. "Your mount is adorable!!" Thirza says suddenly, "does it have a name? Can I touch it?"

And then another person arrives via chocobo. Thirza blinks. "Are you okay?"

Alma Hyral has posed:
As Avira arrived, she'd venture to speak up meekly, sort of ranging behind Thirza given the look of her beetle mount, it fascinated her, but it was still a relative unknown, "W-Well ma'am, I saw some creatures that l-looked like they were from the L-Leporidae family. B-But they looked more fluffy than you k-know... predacious."

The girl would actually manage a shy smile at Myla, "O-Oh Hi M-Myla. I r-remember you, y-you were in my s-sister's class... and I-I'm fine, I'm just w-working for S-Souji nowadays."

She remembered her face at least, and her voice from the radio, but the two had never actually spoken. This was a rather common theme. Not a lot of people actually spoke to her, or remembered her from school beyond being a shy, bullied, social pariah.

She'd nod at Ulharisk, "I-It does seem to be p-pretty common." She does shy away from the subject of /why/ this is a common theme, as she believed it was because Cosma was the entire /universe/ and that every deity of creation and light from other worlds were just corruptions of her tale. She had a feeling that this wouldn't go over well with most adherents of other faiths, so she generally kept that to herself.

And then Thirza would speak up about her abilities and she'd just sort of shrink into herself. "W-Well I g-guess that's a way of putting it. B-But yes, I can c-call upon white magic."

And then the man on the Chocobo would arrive.. this was getting to be too much for Alma. There were just too many people here. Too many /new/ people. Too much emotional overload. She closed her eyes, taking some deep calming breaths, trying to steady herself. She wouldn't freak out and embarass herself in front of Thirza and Myla, she just couldn't. She greeted him with her eyes still closed, trying to keep her voice steady, but failing miserably, "H-H-Hello... S-S-Sir."

Ulharisk has posed:

The Draconian stares off in the distance. He cants his head slightly until he realizes what is going on. It takes him a moment to register the person who is riding on the large beetle, as he is unsure of what to do with something that /big/.

Outside he silently wonders if one of those could be made into a type of meal...

Once he realizes who the rider is, he gives her a friendly wave. "Greetings Avira! I am glad to see you are doing well after that mess in, um, Traverse Town, right?" He raises an eye brow. "..and I never heard of Leafers.. so.. I am afraid not?" He has a very confused look on his face.

Ulharisk gives a nod to Myla. "Pleasure to meet you.. Myla or should I call you Mason?" He wasn't sure anymore now.

Then suddenly a Chocobo from the sky, which looked really tasty and then.. a guy rolling over and acting like nothing went wrong with that landing. The Draconian stares down at the man and blinks his eyes a few times. Humans-- should not be allowed to fly. "That.. didn't look all to graceful. Reminds me of failed attempts of hatchlings who were trying to fly for their first time." He says with a playful smile.

Ulharisk then walks up to Argider, offering the other gentleman his hand; don't mind the claws! Really! "Here, let me give you a hand." It was the right thing to do after all.

The Draconian then looks over at Thirza, "..mana weaving, not weave mana." He says with a soft laugh. "There is a difference." He then gives her a playful wink. He really didn't mind other cultures getting terms mixed up, after all, he was of the same fault with many places here.

Like trying to figure out what the heck is this Blitzball!?!

Avira has posed:
When stopped-or at least 'not moving as fast', the beetle seems to chitter occasionally and dig at the ground. Whenever it seems to get a little too interested in the dirt, Avira tugs it away. It mills on the road for a few seconds until Avira notices a man ejected from a chocobo not too far away. Figuring it might be partially her fault, she urges the beetle off the path. "Hey, are you okay?" she calls over at him, echoing Thirza. She then turns to Thirza.

"None? Dang, they're supposed to be native here. Oh-thank you." Avira grins at Thirza and leans forward to...well, pat the beetle on the carpace. From her seat, Avira's too far away from the steelclad's actual head, "His name is Herbie. Go ahead, he's tame." Mostly.

As she mills there, hearing Myla confirm that she'd seen one this morning, but none since, she seems about to move on save for two things. Firstly, Alma namedrops Souji and Avira's eyes narrow a little.

Second, Ulharisk is here! "Well enough! Hello Ulharisk, how are you holding up? Found a few travelling partners?" she asks, realizing she doesn't exactly recognize anyone else here, "Leafers look like normal rabbits...but they're not. If you find one, you'll know, they're pretty aggressive."

Argider has posed:
The still seated Argider smiles up towards Thirza before replying with, "Only my pride miss. And I'm in luck as my pride has suffered far worse than this before." He chuckles before accepting Ulharisk's clawed hand to help him get back up on his feet. Ulharisk will soon find out that Argider edges him out only by a few inches in the height department (at least in the Draconian's current form). "Well thank you stranger. Good to see that not all folk have forgotten their manners."

The tall now chocobo-less man dusts his finely made clothes with a somewhat lazy gusto. He now turns to address the white mage who seemed just a little nervous. "Hello there young miss. Sorry if I startled you, but I seemed to have forgotten that chocobos can't fly for long." Ulharisk gets a small nod now in acknowledgement of his earlier joke.

Finally, Avira and Herbie get an appraising look. "Just fine miss, just fine." Argider says to Avira as he saunters over towards her mount and whistles lowly. "Tamed'em yourself? That's quite a feat. Can't say I ever say someone ride anything like Herbie here." Argider now turns towards the group at large and flashes a sheepish grin towards them. "Almost forgot, ladies and gentleman..and Herbie. Name's Argider. A pleasure to meet you all." Introductions were better late than never in Argider's book.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma of course misses the Chocobo dump with her eyes closed. The sudden sound did alert her to it, as she shied away, finally venturing to look. Finally noticing that he got thrown, she'd look horrified at the comment on manners as if it were her fault somehow, or that she could have reacted faster to offer aid, "A-Are you sure? I c-could h-heal y-you..Sir. And n-no, you d-didn't." Well, half right at least, his arrival startled her, not his sudden launch off the Chocobo. "I'm A-Alma by the way, S-Sir."

And then a glance towards Avira, she'd offer meekly, "W-Well I saw one, but they i-it was far off the r-road. I d-didn't get close. I-It didn't look m-mean though, it l-looked like just a l-little bunny."

Thirza Ingersleben has posed:
"I'm Thirza. Ingersleben. Thirza Ingersleben," Thirza says, reaching out to pet Herbie's carapace. "I want to find some too," she comments about the leafers. "What do you hunt them for?" She seems legitimately curious, but at least she hasn't dug out her journal from her bag yet to start recording information about them.

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk shrugs softly to Avira's question. "..I guess I am holding up alright. Got a little home sick and.. just been maundering around." He then glances at the others and shakes his head. "..and I guess? I just met them honestly." He gives a sheepish smile.

He then looks over at Argider who is just a bit taller then him. He gives a nod to the man as he introduces himself, taking a few steps back to not crowd the guy or himself be crowded. "Ulharisk," He says then with a slight bow to him. "A pleasure to meet you, sir."

Ulharisk glances then over at the beetle as Avira states his name. "Herbie huh? Fitting name I suppose." No he hasn't seen the movie, he doesn't get the joke behind the name. Sadly. Heck, he still doesn't even know what a movie is!

The Draconian then carefully walks up the beetle. They say animals are very sensitive to natural predators. He wonders if beetles are the same way? "How did you tame something like him? He is amazing." It seems Argider and Ulharisk share that the same perhaps? Wanting to know trade secrets!

He continues to listen about the bunny and hrms softly. "..well.. Um.." He then scratches the back of his neck, looking off to the distance in pondering. "Is-- there a reason finding this creature is really important, Avira? I mean.. has it been harming the people on the road lately or something?" There was ways he could track one down. If.. he had too. "..like.. do you have any images of one so, say, someone like me can no the difference between a regular rabbit and one of these?"

"... also do they taste good?" Ulharisk adds in quickly with a sheepish grin. Probably not the smartest question to ask, but hey... between the beetle and now the fast food, he was getting kinda hungry here! Dang people and their transportations being meals.

Avira has posed:
Avira's good cheer diminishes a little when Ulharisk admits homesickness. Heartbreaking.

"Mostly because I took a mark asking for pelts." Avira answers for both Thirza's and Ulharisk's benefit, "My guess is they're needed for a coat." Avira says casually, shifting her position on the beetle so she is seated upon him sideways. One leg is crossed over the other, giving full view of various small scars and the ever-present bruises on her shins. "I wasn't given too many details so I'm starting to wonder if my client is going to take credit for the kills." Thoughtfully, she rubs her chin, "Maybe to impress someone. But as she has noted-" Avira nods her head towards Alma, "They look pretty much like regular rabbits."

She pauses, "Oh, I am Avira, as Ulharisk here's already pointed out. Nice to meet all of you."

Avira seems to puff up a little at Argider's compliment. "Well it wasn't easy, I've been working on Herbie for weeks."

Unfortunately for Alma, Avira's focus zeroes in on her like a heat-seeking missile. "I heard you mention the name Souji earlier. It wouldn't happen to be a Souji Murasame, would it?"

Argider has posed:
Argider looks to Thirza, Alma, Ulharisk, and Avira as they introduce themselves and nods to each of them in turn. When he has heard all their names, the lanky man tips his imaginary hat towards them. "Again, a pleasure to meet you all." The blue-eyed man then snaps his fingers and drops his hands down to his gunbelt. One hand pats the left weapon while his other pats the other one. "Nearly forgot to introduce these two." First the left one with a scarlet red handle is touched. "Bernadette." And now it is the purple handled pistol's turn. "Grimaldo." Argider takes his hands off his weapons and tucks his thumbs into his gunbelt. "They would normally come out and introduce themselves, but they are a little gun-shy at the moment," says Argider with a straight face.

Alma's offer to heal Argider causes the man to wave his arms and chuckle. "Don't you worry yourself, young miss. I'll live to ride another day. And I'm glad to hear I didn't startle you. I know my charm has faded with age, but I would like to think that my looks don't yet outright scare folk such as yourself." Argider goes on to joke with another laugh.

Ulharisk's questions coincides with a rumble originating from Argider's stomach. He wanted to know the answer to this just as much as Ulharisk also wanted to know about the taming thing. But when Avira keeps this trade secret to herself, Argider shakes his head sadly before turning to Ulharisk. "Reckon we might just have to find out for ourselves." Avira gets another look. "Miss Avira. What advice would you give to the would-be...ah...Leafer hunter?" He asks simply after sending a sly nod Ulharisk's way.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason looks Ardider over for a moment pauins at the chocobo riders arrival and she seems to give him a look overand smiles a bit "It seems this is becoming quite teh confevention." She looks over ot thriza she swears she knows her somehow but can't place her somewhere she shrugs a bit at Alma and says "It's all right and yes I am. Oh you found a job with him? Not bad I heard he pays well." Myla is stubborn about hanging on to her IP rights so she's never really worked for someone before.

"Me I could have become a Tide Caller later but now heh no one left to train me."

Alma Hyral has posed:
When Argider introduces her weapons, she kind of cringes a little, almost afraid that he's going to draw them on her, that'd be a little uncomfortable. She relaxes when he decides to leave them in. But doesn't seem sure to respond to his next comment, "N-No, you don't l-look frightening. I just h-have... i-issues."

She decides not to elaborate, quickly turning to Myla to change the subject, "He p-pays well, sure, b-but that's n-not why I'm w-working for him."

She'd give Ulharisk a sympathetic look, "I can r-relate. I get h-homesick too, all the t-time."

The girl would nod at Avira, before looking over her shoulder, and vaguely pointing with a hand. "A-About two k-kilometers that way. O-On the w-west side of the r-road. M-Maybe I could c-come show y-you..."

"N-Nice to meet you A-Avira.." And then the bluntness of Avira's statement takes her off guard, and for a moment she's entirely uncertain how to answer, biting down on her lip. Not a comfortable situation for her, especially in a crowd of so many new faces, to suddenly be the focus of someone's possible ire. However, she eventually lifted her visage to meet her Avira's gaze, pushing up her glasses once again on her nose, her voice suddenly calmer, steadier, "Souji Murasame is my employer, ma'am."

Thirza Ingersleben has posed:
"I work for him too," Thirza interjects, stepping up next to Alma and giving her a reassuring smile. Or Thirza's best attempt at one, because as nice as she is--confidence and ability is not always something she comes across as having. She seems to be doing much better here, however. It's almost as if she developed competence suddenly compared to how she was on the ship.

"Those are very nice," Thirza says, adjusting her glasses to get a better look. Her attention shifts back to Avira and Herbie once it becomes clear she (or Alma) isn't going to be shot.

"Well it seems like you've done a good job of it," she pats Herbie again. "Is it anything like riding a chocobo?" She look at Argider for confirmation, since he rode in on one.

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk hrms softly as he listens to Avira explain it. "How hard could it be to catch some bunnies?" He glances over at Argider as he asks his question about wanna-be-hunters and smirks, though he gives a nod in return. It would seem the two gentlemen here had the same idea.

Catch some bunnies for the woman--- and maybe eat some too!

Ulharisk looks then where Alma points too. He cants his head. "...That isn't that far." So says the one who has a hidden secret. Though when he decided to show it off, no to many got frightened, so maybe what Percival warned him on how some people would see such things wasn't the case here?

He has yet to fully test this theory beyond those Glabados individuals.

Ulharisk then looks back at the group and pretty much ignores the conversation about Souji. They guy tried to 'hire' him, but he has not chased up really on that calling card at all. He still has it though! He does glance over to Argider as he introduces his gun and the Draconian cants his head. "..never seen weapons like those before." He admits with a puzzling look on his face. "..and gun-shy?" Right over his head.

Then it seems like suddenly Avira is giving Alma a look? Ulharisk glances between the two women and he raises an eye brow. "Look-- why don't I go ahead and check that way.. and.. uh.. maybe heard them this way?" He says with a smile. "How hard can it be to heard some rabbits.. um.." He then walks over to the grass checking it, he plucks some up and checks its constancy. Examining it extremely closely. "...but.." He then stands up. "..I will need someone who can mana weave water.. lots of it." He glances up at the sky. "..or things can quickly get out of control."

Avira has posed:
When Argider introduces his guns with a bonus pun, Avira, on the other hand, cannot keep a straight face. "Gun-shy, you say." she giggles, lifting a curled hand to partially hide her smile. Her brown eyes give her amusement away in spite of this. "A pleasure, Argider."

Another contemplative look follows. While she will not reveal the secrets of the beastmaster (indeed, this was something a person must discover on their own), she will happily impart some advice to the would-be Leafer Hunters. "Thick gloves and goggles. The former are for when the beasties inevitably lunge at your face. They're quite talented jumpers."

But the topic of Leafers is briefly abandoned for now. Avira seems -quite- interested in Alma and Thirza's employer. "Really. How -is- he as a boss, just out of curiosity? Rather...intense, I could imagine."

Thirza will notice that Herbie is built like a tank. Whatever his carpace is made out of is super strong (and would make nice armor, if one could get it off the beetle). "He's a little slower than a chocobo and takes time to really build speed. I think the ride is smoother though."

Argider has posed:
Myla gets a smile and nod from Argider when she chimes in. Looks like his powers of observation for failing him. Maybe that was a side effect of getting older...or being exposed to countless explosions and bright flashes. Or maybe a little of column a and a little of column b.

"Well thank you for the compliment, miss. They really are quite the pair. Perhaps you could even say they were made for each other," replies Argider to Thirza as he keeps the terrible jokes flowing. It was all in good pun afterall.

Alma's explanation of her behavior causes Argider to place a hand on the back of his neck. A moment later he flashes a sympathetic smile towards the still nervous sounding girl. "No harm done in the end," says Argider in what he hopes is his reassuring voice.

Mmmhmm. Argider is merely a helpful stranger who wants to help Avira find the rabbits with the hopes that he might get fed in the meantime. Such a man as Argider could have no secondary motive in trying to impress Avira, no siree. Knowing looks can be tricky that way. Ulharisk's comment about hunting and his weapons does cause Argider to focus back on him. "With a little help from my friends here, shouldn't be hard at all. And like I said before, Mister Ulharisk, Birdie and Grim are quite the couple. Don't think there is any more out there that are quite like them." He says proudly of his weapons before looking back to Avira. It seems that at least someone around her enjoys the odd pun here and there.

"Pleasure's all mine, Miss Avira." Argider states with a broad grin before nodding his head seriously at the advice. His own fingerless gloves are considered in turn. "Guess, I'll have to get the crew to drop me off some equipment." He says quietly to himself. His crew would just love to know that their intrepid captain was late for the rendevouz because he wanted to go hunt some rabbit like creatures on a whim. On the other hand, this sort of behavior was come to be expected from Captain Argider.

Alma Hyral has posed:
She'd just nod sort of vaguely against Argider. He seemed sweet, but Avira had her attention at the moment.

Her question was extraordinarily uncomfortable, the way she was looking at her, the way she was phrasing the inquiries. It felt like a slight against Souji, and that just wouldn't stand for her, she felt compelled to answer it, her voice continuing to be rather calm, "Intense? You think he's intense, ma'am?" She'd just stare at her, through the lens of her glasses her words taking on a biting edge, "Don't you think you would be a little intense if the love of your life was murdered by a vampire?" And then all that confidence melted away into crushing despair and grief, as she turned away from Avira, and Thirza. She couldn't let Thirza and Myla see her cry. She brought up a hand up to her eyes, her voice barely a whisper as she sniffled, "M-My s-sister, Tira."

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk listens a bit, he also starts to rub his chin in thought. He doesn't understand Argider means by his weapons being a help. Maybe its a better option then what he was thinking. He does glance over to Avira. "..I doubt they can jump high enough to get me." He says calmly, before he starts to walk away from the group.

He does look over his shoulder at Argider. "..You came in flying right? So I am guessing your no stranger to the skies." He smirks softly. "..How good are you at aiming from the air to scatter animals in one direction?"

So while the women discuss 'work', it seems the men have their own ideas. Just hopefully Avira took them honest about hunting these creatures down, because Ulharisk was indeed being honest at finding them.. and maybe herding them-- if not killing them there.

He keeps walking away from the group a bit more as if trying to get some distance. He then closes his eyes and places his hands together in a clasped position. The wind then started to kick up and seem to swirl around Ulharisk, also the area around him started to raise a bit in temperature as he seem to focus on something.

Thirza Ingersleben has posed:
Thirza seems to be content messing with Herbie and listening in to the exchanges between everyone about guns, hunting, and what have you. Thirza is something of a hunter herself, but she seems a bit distracted--perhaps too distracted to contribute meaningfully. That is, until the comment about Souji being intense comes up. In truth, Thirza would agree, but then there's that moment where Alma steps up on his defense.

Thirza looks genuinely shocked, her glasses sliding down on her nose. She pushes them up shakily and steps back toward Avira and Alma, sliding herself in between them. "Well," Thirza says, "I don't think that she meant anything /bad/ by it, Alma, Mr. Murasame is very serious we can agree and--are you okay, Alma?" Thirza watches at Ulharisk gets ready to hunt. Good, she thinks, that'll get people's attention for a moment.

Thirza uses the reprieve (she hopes) to move in close enough to Alma. "It's OK, Alma. Do you want a hug?" Thirza frowns.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason says "Oh so he's really getting the company rolling again isn't he?"

Avira gets a nod for a moment while she seemns a bit lost in thought for a moment and she nods to Alma "I miss the water...it's never quite right here. It gets me enraged to know people have willingly drowned their own worlds in darkness for petty power."

She smiles at Avira and pauses "Wait I heard of you before, you have quite the reputation in Tranverse town."

Avira has posed:
Avira's all about zeroing in on certain words tonight. Another one hits her interest right now-hearing 'crew' out of Argider. In fact, his whole look, those guns of his, and even just the air about him reminded Avira of something. But for the moment, this thought is set aside, because she now has an extremely awkward confrontation staring her in the face.

"Yes, intense is one word I would use to describe that-" Alma interrupts her, blurting out that Souji's lover was tragically killed by a vampire. Avira actually looks taken aback by this outburst and falls awkwardly silent for a long time-especially so as Alma starts to sniffle.

Still, was this any excuse for him to literally stab her in the back...?

"...yes. Serious. He's very...serious." Avira says, shifting around on the restless Herbie so she is pointed towards his head in a proper riding position. She watches the guys conspire and rush off to hunt down Leafers. "Let's just leave it at that." She adds hastily.

Myla speaks up of her reputation and Avira laughs nervously, "Uhh, is it the good one or the bad one?"

Argider has posed:
Argider can't help but notice the escalation that asking questions and making statements about Souji Murasame caused. He had no idea who this person was himself, but he seemed to have inspired some considerable loyalty in those who worked for him by the looks of things. He purses his lips together as he listens to Alma defend him. If only some of his crew displayed that kind of loyalty. Things just may have played out differently a few years ago.

Thirza gets a quick, appreciative nod from Argider. That was some quick thinking right there and she took some real initiative in trying to defuse this situation before things got a little heated.

Ulharisk's hunting preparations draw Argider over towards the other man. He still kept a careful eye on the Souji situation, but he knew that it really wasn't his place to comment on a situation he didn't understand. "I think myself to be a pretty good shot, airborne or not," replies Argider with an easy smile. What was it that Ulharisk was even doing out there? Argider himself knew that magic folk existed, but he waited to see what Ulharisk could be doing that would help them hunt these rabbits.

Avira now gets a glance from over Argider's shoulder. "Miss Avira, a reputation is a good thing no matter what folks say exactly. It just lets you know that people are taking notice of you, besides for the obvious reasons." The sky-captain offers a wink before turning to join Ulharisk in whatever preparation he was planning for the upcoming hunt.

Alma Hyral has posed:
She takes a moment to compose herself, wiping a hand across her eyes, well that was thoroughly embarassing. "N-No Thirza. I-I'm alright. T-Thank you t-though."

She'd still remain turned away for a time, before eventually giving Avira a sort of plaintive look, like she blamed herself for the outburst, "S-Sorry ma'am. It's just.. I g-get a little d-defensive. P-People are very hard on S-Souji lately."

She'd try to recover from this embarassing outburst by looking to Myla, nodding, and offering awkwardly, "W-Well, Seloria is undergoing a lot of m-marine research, maybe you'd be i-interested in h-helping a fellow L-Levitani."

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk continues to focus. His body starts the glow brightly, as suddenly a beam of light flashes out with a wind of explosive force. Suddenly wings stretch out from the light and as the blinding light starts to fade and a blue drake with dark, crimson red stripes that were almost black against the blue.

He wasn't a very big dragon though. Maybe just slightly larger then a horse in height. His violet draconic eyes look over at Argider, before almost turning his head one eighty over his shoulder to look at the group, before looking back at the Sky Pirate.

His tail flickers, before his wings stretch out slightly. One then the other as he flexed the membranes of his wing. Ulharisk inhaled deeply, as her ear fins twitched slightly. He then lowers himself down slightly before he speaks "Come on," He said with a rumbling echo voice to his normal British tenor one. "Just don't hold into tightly, hm Argider?"

Thirza Ingersleben has posed:
Thirza seems happy that Alma is calming down, if still a little concerned. She looks over at Avira and smiles, apparently content that Avira made an effort to move the conversation away from Souji for a moment. Thirza may be quietly wondering if Mr. Murasame did something that hurt Avira. She doesn't want to ask right /now/, though. Or maybe ever. It makes Thirza anxious.

She turns her attention toward--what. Did he just turn into a dragon? Thirza's eyes go wide. "W-what?" She just stares for a while. Eventually, she tugs at Alma's sleeve. "Did--did he turn into a dragon?" She looks at Avira for confirmation.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason also seems to have had her attention gotton by Argider as well. She tilts her head a little bit and she lokks back an forh for a moment staing for a moment. "Wait what?" She'd never even heard something about that at school or anything else on that. This if true explains some of Souji's bheaviour. he does certainly get her intrest she's looking him over sizing him up for the moment. "Humm another gunner. you need to keep moving around i'm pretty good with my own pistols designed them myself. My mother used to laugh off the fame she had from when she was a Privateer. Still I can get it I got sme flak for being the 'pirate queen's' daughter in school. Didn't last long though funny when your pet can bend steel in it's jaws."

And then the man was a glowing Ulhrisk was transfoming and that's when Myla's jaw hits the ground. There's stunned silence for a moment before she stammers "d... dr....DRAGON!?!"

Argider has posed:
Argider had not quite expected -that- to happen. Ulharisk had turned into a dragon rather nonchalantly and then turned to speak to him as if nothing was wrong or abnormal. The gunslinger had to first force his mouth shut and then force himself to display a grin on his face. Guess it was time to roll with the punches. "Mister Ulharisk, that's some trick you got there. Mind me to never play cards with you if that is the kind of magic you can keep up your sleeve." Transformation magic. This was a new thing even in Argider's book.

Myla gets Argider's attention now as she spoke a multitude of his buzzwords in rapid succession. Guns, pirates, privateers, pirate queen's daughter. He blinks and then scratches at his scruff in contemplation. "You designed your own guns? Now that's a talent a man's got to admire." A grin. "That and you got the right kind of heritage in you for certain lines of work, my lines of work."

A red light emits from Argider's ear. A few seconds later, a voice shouts from Argider's ear as his linkpearl was turned up way too loud. "Captain. Captain! Archades ship spot-" The tall brown haired man reaches up and clicks something off in his ear before shrugging his shoulders in feigned embarassment. A moment later, an airship descends out of cloud cover far above everyone's heads. Myla gets a pointed look. "If you ever looking for work miss, I just may be in need of someone with your talents."

Alma, Thirza, and Avira now all get a round of nods from the sky-captain. "Farewell ladies, safe travels." Finally, Argider turns towards Ulharisk now and coughs into a closed fist before begining his spiel. "Hey there Ulharisk, mind giving me a..." The man now looks way UP to where his airship is. "...lift up to my ship. Can't say I have any Leafers up there, but I figure we could think of some sort of compensation for your timely assistance of a captain in need. This little hunting trip just may have to be postponed for now." Argider's got something else to hunt now which made getting to the ship a priority. He has to admit that this would be a rather spectacular entrance if Ulharisk obliges him. That is assuming that Argider survives the flight up. Guess it was about that time to rolls those dice again.

Ulharisk has posed:

Ulharisk blinks as everyone seems surprised to see him turn into a Dragon. He tilts his head to the side as one ear fin expands up and the other slightly collapses a bit. He didn't understand it, he may have to ask later as it seems Argider needs a lift.

So much for the hunting. "Its not a problem. I can just air scout once I get you up there and see where most of those creatures are gathered." He admits before he looks upward once Argider points upward. He stretches out his wings, crouches back on his hign quarters. His tail twitches a few times, before he leaps into the air. His wings flap at the ground hard before he seems to take off easily into the air with simple ease, making sure to not be to rough to somehow cause the Sky Pirate to loose his grip.

Up, up and away!

He may be back down in a bit.

Avira has posed:
Avira's remained silent for a long time now. She had considered telling Alma of the little incident she endured. But what good would it do her? This young girl is obviously very distraught about her sister.

Her thoughts drift elsewhere, watching the boys until: "Yes, yes he did." Avira confirms with a cheer that sounds as if the awkward Souji incident did not just happen. "Isn't it fascinat-"

She looks up, way up, as that lucky, lucky Sky Pirate gets a ride into his AIRSHIP. "I knew it! I will have to speak with Mr. Argider again in the future."

Thirza Ingersleben has posed:
Thirza continues to stare for a moment. "That's what...wow." She doesn't seem to know quite what to think, past that she should meet this fellow again sometime because that is /so cool/.

And then Argider leaves by airship. Thirza blinks. "...today is a weird day," she admits. "...I think I'm going to set up camp soon and lay down for a bit."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma would whirl her head around suddenly as Thirza said something about a dragon. And then her eyes would go wide with terror, letting out a sort of muffled gasp. She'd actually move to hide behind Thirza.

But then she takes a second look.. it wasn't a particularly large dragon. And didn't she say that he /turned/ into one. Was that Ulharisk?

She'd look slightly calmer, but still timid as Argider says his farewells on dragonback. "G-Goodbye, Sir. It was v-very nice to meet you."

And then she'd follow after Thirza. "W-Wait for me!"