A Cunning Plan

A Cunning Plan
Date of Scene:	14 July 2013
Location:	Arabian Nights - Agrabah
Synopsis:	Alma and Gerad gather a number of people to speak on a plan seeking a castle buried in the sands of the region. Also talk of a hidden cave of wonders which may be the way to access what they seek comes up. This is but the start of an adventure for good or ill.
Cast of Characters:	Rapunzel, Faris Scherwiz, Myla Mason, Kyra Hyral, Alma Hyral, Gerad Iron Fogair

---

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma Hyral told her sister there was SCIENCE here. In that she could potentially pit her wits against the Inventor Thief and his wandering hands. Also that there might be treasure involved.

Science and treasure were typically the two words which attracted her to shenanigans.

Today, she wasn't in a bar, after she experienced the DISNEY EFFECT of what happens when a young lady enters into a bar. She really had no desire to experience that all over again. Instead, she was sitting at the local inn she'd been staying at with Rapunzel, with a map of the desert spread out in front of her. She appeared to be marking off locations of interest for the search for Gerad's /cave/.

The idea actually intrigued her still developing adventurous spirit, the idea of a sunken castle beneath a fault line in the sands. Even if she still wondered about her host, and the fact that he was /kind of a big deal/ by his own words. What world did he come from?

She performed a few quick internet searches on her cell phone, before plugging his name into a few anagram sites. After she laughed herself silly from the results.. she went back to work.

So there she sat at the table with the map spread out. She had her laptop up on the table. On it were the images of many different worlds in the heavens, zoomed in as she attempted to back calculate trajectories to common worlds. She had a speculative look on her face. In her ears were little buds, linking to her laptop, as she listened to Kyra's latest Mogstep creation.

Gerad Iron Fogair has posed:
Agrabah. Gerad, that international man of mystery, charm, and daring, is currently leaning heavily upon his spear, frowning at the sand between his feet, and adjusting the bandage he's strapped to his left shoulder. The bandage occasionally bleeds through, but has been saturating less and less, which is always a good indicator.

Don't get stabbed by spears, kids.

"Ugh," groans Gerad, pulling a pitcher of chilled ale to his mouth. "This desert is... it's a million times hotter than the deserts I'm used to! A trillion!" He looks to his current audience, and frowns *even harder*.

"Are you guys even listening??

Simultaneously, the seven children watching him, wide-eyed, shake their head 'no'.

-----

Gerad enters the inn with the usual aplomb, pushing its door open like it wasn't no thang. Immediately he's frowning at Hyral and her collection of *hi-tech stuff*; where is she getting the gas to power the generators for any of that? Magicite doesn't make computers go, either. And the magic here isn't quite so sophisticated for...

"Hyral, we gotta find this cave. I'm gettin' cabin fever all cooped up here." Gerad practiced that line three times on his way in. He liked the sound of it. The wanderer collapses onto a seat across from the studious youth, and orders a second beer from a passing barmaid. He orders something else, too, but gets slapped for it.

Myla Mason has posed:
There was Science and treasure? That fell right into the middle of Myla's area of skills? It didn't take too much to get her pulled into this. Even if they were in really no way near to the ocean. Sand, so much sand there better be good treasure here, still she seems in pretty high spirits all things concerned. Myla had long sadly known about bars. Her mother had taught her a few tricks to deal with things, this is also why she always had a concealed boot knife as well, it was one of the last things her mother gave her before she went away to school.

SO here she is and she's near Alma looking over at the laptop while going over information on a pad she had some information as well.
R The Mogstep wasn't too bad, Kyra was at least good at making her songs stand out while she checks over her own data trying to help Alma with it. She seems pretty focused on whatever it it she's looking at.

"So the hull's going to need a lot of work but it is serviceable. In enough time we will have the mobility we have badly needed. As for the data here give us time to go over it. We don't want to be going over the wrong place. Not in land that is baked like this constantly."

The friend of the Hyrals? She looked like she was expecting to go swimming from her clothing, also if one notice her eyes glowed gold faintly as is common on some worlds with those who have some level of skill with black magic. She looks Gerad over for a moment sizing the man up a little bit. She looks to her own order which us amusingly water, then again she planned to go out treasure hunting. It's best to do so sober.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris 'Sarisa' Scherwiz 'Tycoon' has been keeping a very careful eye on at least two people that are not Gilgamesh in this world. One of them has picked the worst place possible for the seafaring pirate captain - if it wasn't for the flames that burned in his heart, he might have not survived the trip.

There is a sudden knock at the door.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Did somebody say...SCIENCE?

Kyra is all on it. Though specifically, Alma mentioned that there was another inventor thereabouts that she could totally throw down and have an inventor battle with! Though given her current situation and off and on materials/space shortage, she wouldn't say she was up to her FULL POWER as far as inventing goes. But she's pretty sure she could come out with a trick or two. She's been in some pretty though inventor battles before back on her own world. In fact, they were pretty common where Kyra is concerned.

Mages had their duels. Fighters had their tournaments. School bullies and miscreants like Akari had their pecking order. Scientists had their inventor battles. The prevalence of gadgeteers and tinkerers throughout the World of Ruin gave Kyra hope that the fine tradition still lived on.

The red-haired mage strolls in to the inn, location of which was helpfully provided by her little sister. She's pretty encumbered with gear, from her laptop bag, to her messenger bag, to Cosma knows what she has hidden underneath her moogle hoodie.

"Alright sis." she announces as she strolls in, plopping down at Alma's table. She doesn't even /notice/ Gerad as she enters. "I'm here. So where's this guy you were talking about." she waits for an answer, only to frown as she hears the tinny sound of some beats she put together not long ago.

Leaning forward, she notices the earbuds in Alma's ears. "Damn, she didn't hear a word I said, did she, Myla?"

Alma Hyral has posed:
Loud music is loud. But she still could make out what Gerad was saying to some extent. She pulls out a single earbud just long enough to hear what he's saying before putting it back in.

She folds her hands within the voluminous sleeves of her white mage robes, giving him a bemused look, "Just be patient. Several people I know will be arriving soon." She taps her fingers lightly upon the map. "Besides, I'm looking at the topographical maps of the region, seeing if I can't at least narrow down the search for your cave."

She flicks a glance towards his shoulder, her eyes sparkling with mischief as she looks over the lens of her glasses. "Did something happen?" She states in a mild tone, a moment later a soft white glow spreads to the injured shoulder, starting the quicker process of regenerating it. It's remarkably soothing. "Were you testing out another of your devices?"

She doesn't even notice when Kyra and Myla sit down at first, the music overwhelming their initial statements. But hey, it's Kyra's own music, after all. Perhaps catching the last statement, she finally looks in her direction, offering her and Myla an enthusiastic smile, "Oh hey Kyra, Myla"

She slips both earbuds out of her ears at this point, as they would hear the rhythm of syncopated beats blaring out of it. At that point she rolls back on a dial on the side of the laptop, grinning at her. "Glad you could both make it. This is Gerad. The Inventor Thief. In his own words, he's kind of a big deal. He wants us all for an expedition. Treasure might be involved." Then she looks Gerad's way, pushing up her glasses with a single finger, "Gerad, this is Kyra, my sister... she's not eighteen by the way. And Myla, a friend."

And then there's a knock on the door to the inn's common room, and she gives it a strange look. Perhaps curious as to whom might knock on an inn door that's open to the public.. she gets up from her seat at the table, walks over to it, and opens it.

Gerad Iron Fogair has posed:
The wound doesn't respond very admirably to Alma's attempt at healing, and, for the first few minutes of the healz, Gerad isn't responding very well either. For one, he's still rubbing at his face. For two, his eyes are rolling over Kyra and Myla. Of course, his attention is diverted when his face is suddenly -- hey, the sting's gone!

"Hey, the sting's gone! Thanks, Hyra-" Gerad looks to Alma, bemused, as she's getting up to answer the door. That's cool, whatever, right? He looks back to Kyra, leering, until the exact moment when Alma explains that her sister isn't eighteen yet. His attention flutters back to his beer.

"Inventor Thief? Don't even get me started! Who says I invent anything?! I, uh. Stole this. All of it!" Gerad slams back his drink, then slams it on the table. He's been practicing his ale-slamming, too. Can you tell? He's *very* good at it.

Gerad looks from Kyra to Myla, less... leery. "So anyway. Right. You two know anything about caves? I'm lookin' for a way under the desert. It'd be real good if you knew about caves."

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
SUCCESS.

Faris beams when she sees who is opening the door. "Alma Hyral!" Faris decides to just say 'screw it' and confuse the poor astrologer for a bit by knowing her name and what she tends to do.

"I was so hoping I could find you here-"

"I've been hearin' lots of stories about a hidden cave, or castle, or some such. Decided to try to plunder its' booty." Faris swigs from rum from her flask.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra leans forward, using one of her hands to push her hood back. Naturally, she bares a stunning resemblence to Alma. "Hey, I hear you're jamming along to one of my older pieces there."

She's introduced to Gerad as Kyra Not Eighteen and she feels just a small twinge of annoyance. Her eyes shift to Gerad just as he starts to leer then bails into beer-drinking. "Pfhah. I've dealt with your types before, don't sweat it. Besides."

She leans back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other, "I'm also taken."

So about those caves: "Well, I know a thing or two about caves. I've done a few missions in caves. I'm not a certified geomancer but we do know one we can tap for advice."

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason is in the same boat as Mr. Scherwiz, she'll make due there's treasure and science to be had. She looks over to Kyra for a moment. There was the possibility of a three way inventor battle going on here and Myla knew it. She however was very much into the inventor battles she might not be as good as Kyra but she was very good with the mechanical side of things generally. %R
"No I don't think she did Kyra."

She sighs a little bit but there's not much she can do

"I'm still surprised you were able to get such quality maps given the ... nature of most of the world of Ruin and beyond seems to be stone knives and bear skins."

"Also hell to you too Alma. Gerad huh? I'm fine with Treasure hunting."

"Oh a treasure hunting inventor I see."

She looks to Gerad and nods "I know a bit, I have practical experience, not to mention I'd done well enough in Dungeon Crawling class so yes I do have a more than most. How monster infested is this looking? Man made? Natural?"

Alma Hyral has posed:
Someone she doesn't know shouts her name. She takes in the appearance of the man, by looking him up, then down. Then she gives him a look of constenation. Who was this person? "Um.. Do.. Do I know you Sir?" There's a pause in the air as she gives her an abstracted look, before deciding to just wave it off. Maybe Gerad was just spreading her name around after the tavern incident for a reputation boost. Like /Hey I totally saved this girl from ruffians rather than the other way around./ "Um well if you're looking for a hidden cave to plunder it for booty, then he's your guy over there.." She gestures towards Gerad, and then moves back over to the table.

Alma Hyral gives Gerad a bemused look as she returned to the table with Faris, "I could give you my reasons for thinking so, but I'd rather not...it's in the details, Gerad, and not many thieves steal custom tinkered inventions for a very good reason. But if you'd rather not give my sister the satisfaction.. then we can always say that you forfeited."

She looks back towards Kyra, nodding as she sat back down at her place, "Yeah. I like some of your older stuff better. Can't place why. Maybe your older stuff is becoming, I dunno, classic, already?"

Then she looks back to Myla, "Eh, it's actually not so bad. You just have to really hunt for them. Moogles make the best cartographers if you can hunt them down~" She really loved tracking down Moogles, as they were just about her favorite thing ever. It put her in a cheerful mood as she continued back to her work on the laptop. "Anyhow, I've mapped out a few locations for which we could start our hunt out in the Western Desert..."

Gerad Iron Fogair has posed:
Gerad simply shoots his eyebrows up into his hairline when Kyra gets all STEP OFF on him - that's fine! He's got this! He deals with uppity **taken** girls all the time! The "inventor thief" brings his attention to Myra, offers a perfunctory nod, then looks up to the approaching man and woman.

He stares at Faris exactly like you stare at a Rubix cube. His nostrils flare. He narrows his eyes.

"Hello, ah... ma'a--n." A broad smile splits his features. "Glad to see we've got another guy coming along for the ride. Now then. You kids found some kinda faultlines in the desert then? Good. Name's Gerad Iron Fogair. Genius -thief-. Stole alla this shit I'm slingin' around, so don't play pretend like I invented it or nothin'." Gerad looks to the two women beside him, then to Alma. He leans forward, managing to not spill ANY beer on the maps, and pores over some locations.

"The problem with the faults is gonna be access. Sand's real shifty. Don't know if I trust any of the caves, you know? Locals keep talkin' about some cave shit, which is weird as *hell*, but I dunno the first thing about it. Where's it at? You figure you'd see a fuckin' cave in the desert."

Gerad has been practicing his swears.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
"I'll explain later." Faris tells Alma. "Just... trust me. Be confused for awhile." Alma will join some rare ranks eventually, in 'knowing things about other things when it has to do with things.'

Gerad nearly says 'ma'am', but stops and finishes it into 'man' very neatly. She narrows his eyes at the other man for a few long moments. "Faris Scherwiz. I typically don't do the desert thing, but my ship is in repair and I have to do somethin'." She drawls.

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason looks to Fairs for a moment curious about them, but will ask the man more later. She want to hear where Alma and Gerad are going at this point. She has to agree with Alma's points but she's not going to press it save for one thing.

"Sides it be interesting to have a three way showdown but we might want to focus on this job first."

She listens to the information that Alma's manage to map out or otherwise get her hands on. She has to agree about Moggles and maps. They just got a talent for making them.

"It's worse than dealing with deep sea salvage to be honest. It could be buried some of the time or otherwise concealed it's hard to tell. Then there's magic perhaps it's been hidden by such."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Kyra's skills are a lot less mechanical and more biological. As far as engineering went, Myla exceeded the eldest of the Hyrals any day. Kyra wasn't completely ignorant in those principals, though, especially having recently applied them to creating a new gun /just/ for the deployment of high-speed hi-potion rounds.

"Some places around here have some pretty respectable auto-maps. Moogles are pretty reliable too, like Alma says." Kyra notes casually to Myla. "That technology seems slow to spread places."

She seems thoughtful, "Inventor thief? Well there is a combination you don't hear all that often. Unless we're talking theft of intellectual property. Still might be a market for those skills, though."

A small frown crosses Kyra's face as Alma admits to liking her older stuff more. "I hope it doesn't mean I'm losing my edge. But I agree with Myla. A three-way showdown would be nice but I'm far more interested in a potential mission. Especially one involving treasure. Now there could be a cave in the desert...but it could be concealed by sand, only to come visible after the dunes have shifted."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma just gives Faris one more look, before nodding, "Well it's very nice to meet you, Faris." She really had no idea whom he was! But everyone had their secrets.

Gerad mentions the faultlines, and she states, "Well the trouble is that Agrabah doesn't have much in the way of modern technology. No seismic studies have been done after the worlds merged. But.. fault lines generally leave features in the landscape that stick out like a sore thumb."

She gestures to one section of the map, is marked with a myriad of warning signs on the legend, out the Eastern Edge. "That may be the place the locals are talking about."

She then sweeps her hand along the Western edge of the desert. "...but this mountain range over here holds promise too. Especially near the Southerwestern edge."

She pushes back up on her glasses. Nodding sagely Myla's way, "Right, we'll focus on the job first. Fun comes later."

And then she smiles towards Kyra, "You? Lose your edge? Nah. It's just like, your style changed just sort of subtly. Like to fit the world we're in now. Can't put my finger on it, I might be imagining things."

She pauses as Kyra speaks, and she nods. "...That's also possible. If that's the case then we're looking for a single feather in a pillow factory.. but there's another way I could possibly locate it. I'd just need to know the original world the Castle or the Fault line came from. Then I'd just need a map of the origin world.. from there I could try to track it back to here if all else fails. The problem is that even knowing where the Castle is..."

She traces a squiggly line on the sand of the map.. "...doesn't mean we'd have access to it until we found that cave. But at least our search would be somewhat narrowed."

Rapunzel has posed:
"Alma! I'm back!"

A sing-song female voice drifts in through the open door of the common room, announcing the arrival of yet another member of the treasure hunting party that is taking shape. A few moments later Rapunzel's slinks into view her arms laden with a burlap sack.

Various raw ingredients protrude from the open top of the container, leafy vegetables and fruit as well as baked loaves of bread jutting upwards in a jumble as if they were haphazardly stuffed into the bag. Only the top of her head is visible over the bounty of food and Pascal sits atop her golden tresses, using his tail to direct her with gentle taps on the side of her face.

Upon seeing the assortment of new faces, however, the lizard's eyebrows rise and he tugs on her bangs which causes Rapunzel to lend her head sideways far enough to peer around her burden with a quizzical look.

"Oh, hey there, guys! I just went out to get some supplies. Give me a little while and I'll whip up some food."

The odd teen vanishes behind her overloaded bag again and begins making her way towards the inns kitchen. As she moves further and further into the room her flowing hair trails behind her... and it shows no signs of ending any time soon.

Gerad Iron Fogair has posed:
"Ship's busted? Sure, fine, should be enough treasure for everyone. Pick up some beer, s'on me." Gerad's expression is only mildly alarmed - how is he going to explain to the eager treasure hunters that the only treasure in the castle is his Chancellor's likely *abysmal* psoriasis gone wild in the humid cavey environs??

He brings his attention back to the map, ignoring, for now, awkward questions about his technological savvy. "Anyway. Don't know a thing about the world it's from, or even what that means. What's so weird about a castle under the sand? Maybe it's ancient or somethin'. I dunno. I just know there's legends about it." Pause. "And shit." Good save, Gerad.

He opens his mouth to say more, listening to Alma explain more, to Faris mention her interests, and then Rapunzel walks in, whereupon his attention vanishes. Firstly, it's on Rapunzel. Then, it's on her hair. He really only sips at his beer while he's observing, but for all it's worth, the rest of the world is -entirely- gone.

Then he's back.

"Ahem. What were we talking about?"

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason seems to focused enough on the mission is curious about what they might be able to fine there. With how the world is? A lot of wild stories have turned out to be true."

She looks to her drink and downs a bit more. The time for rum will be after they made the big score in her mind, at the very least.

"Greetings Faris. Name's Myla Mason."

She turns back to Alma as she listens "Humm Hopefully we can make that feather a coloured one rather than a plain white one."

She notes before thinking about this Castle? Even just narrowing down where they needed to search would be useful,. Then Rapunzel arrives. This gets a pause out of Myla. Maya's got pretty long hair but this new arrival puts her to shame and it's a bit surprising.

"Hello, another friend I see Alma."

Things had improved for Alma a whole lot since the fall of their world. It was at least a silver lining to the whole affair. Ferad meanwhile scopes out Rapunzel for a moment and she just sighs.

"Focus, treasure, castle, cave. Then party Gerad."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"It may have. Completely losing one's world does things to a person. Maybe I miss it more than I realize." Kyra sounds pretty irreverant about that particular subject. On that note, she drags her chair around so she can look at Alma's computer alongside her. "Or get some high-tech echo-sensing equipment and search the whole desert. But this way seems much more practical."

She looks up as a new voice makes an announcement of arrival. Kyra freezes, having never seen Rapunzel before and can't help but be immediately struck at how /nice/ her hair looks. Even with vegetables and fruit woven throughout it in their basket.

"Hello there. Nice to meet you-oh, in case Alma hasn't already said it, I'm Kyra. Kyra Hyral. Alma's my little sister."

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris is also distracted by the newcomer. Faris' eyes track all of Rapunzels' hair, even as he leans out the doorway to see where it's dragging in the dust and stuff. "Er..."

Faris starts to ask 'how complicated is it to wash and brush all of that', but -- he's Faris right now, not Sarisa, even if he's sleekly put together with more hair product than a Princess uses.

"Huh." He drawls, mostly to herself.

Alma Hyral has posed:
"Hey Rapunzel, welcome back. We're just chatting about the coming expedition. And thanks. That'd be appreciated." Her eyes follow Rapunzel's hair as it trails on... and on... and on into the kitchen, after a moment she leans over to mumble to Kyra, "And Mom once asked me if I thought I was growing my hair out too long?" She grins a little, but she was obviously fond of the older girl.

Gerad oogles Rapunzel during the entire discussion of how they were going to find the cave, causing a sweatdrop moment at his comment afterwards, "Tell me Sir, are you related to a gentleman named Ivo Galvan, perchance? Could he be a long lost cousin?"

Things definitely had been looking up for her social network ever since the worlds merged despite... a lot of hiccups along the way. Growing pains in a way. "Um, well yeah, Myla." She sounded a little pleased, "And... that's the idea at least. Make it stand out like a red Chocobo feather."

She hrmms, shifting her laptop towards Kyra, Kyra might note that there are a lot of new files up in there. New worlds. Including worlds with question marks beside them. Others, like Galianda.. and another labelled Destiny Island have a huge translucent cube superimposed over a wide quadrant of space. "Well maybe I can borrow some from Archades if all else fails.. but yeah. I say we start by searching one of those two locations. Maybe we'll get lucky. Then we won't have to call in any favors. I'd prefer not to have to for a treasure hunt."

Rapunzel has posed:
With her vision blocked by the foodstuffs Rapunzel can't see all of the looks she's getting; Pascal can, however. The little chameleon gives a wary glare at the two men, particularly Gerad who has already proven what his motivations are. Faris looks pretty suspicious too so he gets a stern look as well until the two of the vanish into the back room.

Rapunzel's head pops out from the doorway a few moments later, a bright smile on her face as she waves to Kyra and Myla. "Hello! It's nice to meet you. I'm Rapunzel. And this," she points up to the lizard still perched on her head who gives a lazy wave with is claw. "Is Pascal."

Just as quickly the girl vanishes from sight, calling out over her shoulder, "Don't worry, Alma, it won't take long!"

Gerad Iron Fogair has posed:
"Party? What? I don't party. Too busy stealin'." Yeah, that's right. Gerad's a gritty thief! He's a GRITTY THIEF WHO STEALS STUFF. The rogue leans forward while he's being updated, then nods to Myla - his way of saying thanks.

Now he's looking back to the Hyral sisters, to Faris, to Myla and Rapunzel.

"Okay," he starts, with this huge sort of parading-around pause. The thief has a sense of the dramatic! Listen in, children, and hear his tale!

"...Okay."

Gerad pauses to slam down an entire pint of ale.

"...Okay. Listen. Any of you kids heard of a Cave of Wonders? It's all the smarter townies talk about. Some big damn mythical thing. But it's *out in the desert*. Maybe even around that southeastern part or whatever you're talkin' about, Alma."

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason says "There's a few places we can get such, I could cobble together some sort of drone to automate part of the process." She looks back to Rapunzel again. Damn that's a lot of hair, a lot of really nice looking hair.

"Myla Mason, magi tech engineer."

Alma's comment gets her laughing pretty loud and she pauses for a moment. The thought of there being two Ivos? She's heard tales of this guys, she's heard /things/. Likely not all true but still he had to have the nature to spawn those sorts of stories.

"Could check Manhattan too, they might not have magic but their technology is only a little behind our world and matches it in some areas."

Well publicly she has no idea what Xanatos and the other two big companies in Manhattan are able to roll out after all.

"Oh wow he's cute!"

Yes she thinks Pascal is cute, very cute. Ahem! Back to the matter at hand she listens to Fogiar for a moment and shakes her head "I have not heard about it I'm afraid. This is my first time in this region."

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris, who classed into rogue at the age of five, and multiclassed into pirate at-or-around the age of sixteen, gives Gerad a very, very long look. Some thief he is. She then shakes her head. "I'm Faris!" She calls after Rapunzel, before shrugging at the group at large. "I've got to go settle my crew."

She announces. "Alma, here's my private radio, contact me when this thing gets properly started or if you want my opinon." She says casually. He gives the group at large a nod, then heads out of the inn.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma jots down Faris' private frequency, typing it into her Ma Belle, "Alright, Sir, thanks." She then looks up at him, "Hey how many of your crew are you bringing, so we can prepare?" She looks back down at the frequency in her Ma Belle, doing a double take as she realized it was a duplicate frequency. She looks back up at Faris, then back down, then back up, then back down at it. Then she has a sort of mental crash...

Alma.exe has crashed. Blue screen of death.

She's just staring at the place where Faris left...

And then her mind reboots due to the cute. "Oh hey Pascal, and yeah, he's adorable~"

She looks towards Gerad, then she looks to all the crazy symbols on the map which detail the excruciating deaths they are likely to receive going out to the southeastern section of the desert. Then she looks back at it again. Then she slowwwwlllyyyy turns to look at Myla and Kyra. "Mmm, that... could be thing we could pursue, sure. What sort of legendary wonders is this cave rumored to hold?"

Rapunzel has posed:
Though out of sight, Rapunzel's efforts in the kitchen become clear as the sounds of cooking commotion, and soon after, pleasant aromas of baking food beging to drift out into the common room.

She begins to hum softly as she works, a soft but upbeat melody. A half dozen pans and pots are shifted about among the old fashioned wood-flame stoves and stone ovens. Fruit and vegetables are sliced up with finesse born from years of practice, a well-sharpened knife tapping out a staccato rythm against a cutting board.

The girl practically juggles all of the dishes taking shape at once, moving from place to place like some kind of kitchen ninja, all the while, managing not to get tangled up in her hair.

Gerad Iron Fogair has posed:
Gerad watches Faris rather BLATANTLY IGNORE GIVING HIM HER NUMBER and sort of frowns, passively, while Alma takes over as the apparent leader of the group! When did that happen?! This is his operation, gosh damnit! The man keeps eye contact with Alma while she addresses him.

"Dunno. Treasure an' shit. I just figure if it's a cave, it goes, uh... down, right? So maybe it's near this fault with the castle in it. What I'm sayin', babe, is that *maybe there's shit in that cave these people didn't even think of.*

Gerad slams a finger into the table definitively.

"I just don't know anythin' about how to get into it. Or where it is. Or if there's magic or shit keepin' it hidden."

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason watches Faris depart and nods, well more help is good. There should be enough booty, to share right? Or it could get ugly one, only time will tell that answer. She doesn't think too much on it. She's unaware of what Alma has figured out nor the mental crash, she'd be doing somewhat the same had she known what was going on.

Back to Alma and the matter at hands. "I'm game for this, but places like that tend to have nasty defences, curses or who knows what else there. That's how it tends to go in my experience and from what I learned."

She meanwhile watches Rapunzel for a moment and raises her eyebrow a little she's certainly an interesting seeming lady for sure.

"The Castle is our main target, I get it. That's also possible."

Alma Hyral has posed:
If Alma knew what he was thinking she might think it was adorable that he felt threatened by the girl just over half his age. As it stands she really had no intention of taking over. She just had every intention of making it /happen/. As Cosma only knew what would happen if Gerad tried to keep recruiting from bars. It'd never get started.

She looked over the lens of her glasses at Gerad. "Well, it's as good a place as any to start. I'll tell you what. I can't get into the libraries here to take a look at what they have written on the Cave. This place is pretty old-fashioned and doesn't allow women to do much of well... anything." She manages a smile, "So it'll be up to you on that front. The rest of us could ask around. Oral traditions seem to carry a lot of stories on these legendary locations here, so just by listening to the local gossip we might be able to get all that we need."

She looks sidelong at Myla, and nods, "Right, that's why I need someone in those libraries. Information on that sort of thing would probably be rare... but with a little bit of research I think Gerad could find it."

And then she looks back at Gerad, giving him a sheepish look, "By the way.. do you know someone named Akari?"

She listens to the cooking commotion from the kitchen, and smiles. She had a fondness for cooking and chefs, and Rapunzel already sounded like an amazing one... maybe she'd introduce her to Max too.

Rapunzel has posed:
Rapunzel emerges from the kitchen with a tray of sliced fruits and bread. She casually steps over the ever-present tripping hazard that is her hair and makes her way over to the table that everyone is occupying.

"Here you go, guys! This should tide you over until the cooking is done. I sprinkled some spices on these fruits. I have no idea what it's called but it's pretty tasty!"

Pascal demonstrates his approval of the appetizer by shooting his sticky tongue out at one of the apple slices. The tip smacks against the fruit with a wet slap and then reels back into his mouth like a yo-yo, replacing his smug grin with a broad red wedge.

Gerad Iron Fogair has posed:
Gerad is drinking and nodding his assent, yes yes, go figure out what you can at the library, figure out what the locals know about caves, figure out the gossip on the city grounds, get a head full of knowledge so we don't go out in the desert and die...

--oral traditions--

Gerad sort of gentlemanly inhales some alcohol when Alma sort of splurts that one out, but is quick to recover by popping about seven apple slices into his mouth at the same time.

"Ofeh soh ahll talk," swallow. "To the townsfolk." Gerad starts making to stand - sounds like he's going to be DRINKING AND TALKING ALL NIGHT LONG.

He pauses, caught between staring at Rapunzel, nodding along with Myla's statement - curses are a problem, yes - and frowning at Alma.

"Who?"

Alma Hyral has posed:
When Rapunzel comes back with the tray of sliced fruits and breads, "Hey, that really does sound amazing. Thanks." She reaches over to rub Pascal just behind the back of his head, on the neck, before cutting off a piece of bread, then she takes some spiced pomegranate and takes a bite from it idly.

A moment later she looks over to Gerad, "Well more the library, since... well, most of us are women and like I said, they're pretty old-fashioned on who they admit to certain places, especially unescorted.."

And then in response to his other question, she kind of deadpans, "Girl with eight arms, kind of violent? Answers most questions with a fist to the face?"

She then states a moment later, "She radioed me to tell me that she was going to shove your spear somewhere dark and unmentionable."

She pushes back her glasses, stating casually, "She used to bully me back in school." She takes another bite of the pomegranate as she gauges his reaction.

Rapunzel has posed:
Pascal's skin shifts as red as the apple slice in his mouth before he downs it in a single gulp and moves on to appreciating Alma's attentions. Rapunzel giggles a little and heads back into the kitchen to tend to her other culinary creations.

"Just a little bit longer, okay?"

Myla Mason has posed:
Myla Mason pauses for a moment looking at Gerad gets up? Or he's going to party. She does go for the food she seems to like the look of things very much. "Tell me about it, I likely look like a whore to them. When I'm considered pretty modest back home."

She munches some more food and shrugs a bit, given the region she was from, it was hot, humid and pretty miserable at times also well Myla's people and water they tended to live near it or in it more or less.

"Old Fashioned I heard the local punishment for thievery is lose a hand. That's like getting pre industrial, Alma."

Gerad Iron Fogair has posed:
Eight arms? Grumpy and punchy? Gerad looks down at Alma like she's completely insane. His expression is purest disgust. Then he's thinking about the library, and things he needs to do, and... ugh. Long road ahead.

"Purely a case of mistaken identity, I'm sure." Gerad winces at his phrasing. He's used that particular line far, far, far too often.

It's like reflex.

"In any case, if your mysterious friend is the same age as you and wants to put *my* spear into her shadowy crevices, you can tell her I'm not interested. She should probably get a detention, or whatever it is you child-"

He is SO BAD AT THIS.

"Fuckin' kids do out there." Phew. Gerad, mildly tipsy, stumbles out into the Agrabah marketplace. "DINNER WAS GREAT RAPUNZEL, GOOD JOB." Dinner has not even been served yet. So far as Myla's warning goes:

A thumbs-up, and Gerad is lurching out the door. For the library. Cave of Wonders. Got it.

Alma Hyral has posed:
She sighs as she looks back towards Myla, smiling, "I hope they don't think that way but.. yeah, it's possible. I only fit in because what I wear would be considered conservative in /Baron/."

And then she places a few more pieces of fruit in front of Pascal, continuing her ministrations of his neck. "Such an cutey." Yes, she was not in fact afraid of reptiles, amphibians, rodents, insects... etc. Go figure.

She takes some time rubbing Pascal, listening to Gerad, and states finally, "They seemed pretttttyyyyyyy sure. As in, describing you perfectly, called you Gerad... mentioned the powder launcher between your fingers. Spoke of the spear you carry. Doesn't sound like mistaken identity, but if you want, I'll relay that message for you..."

But he's already out the door, "Huh." She looks back down at Pascal, "Well, more for the rest of us." She grins wryly, rolling back up the map that was laid out on the table and closing her laptop. She then walks back towards the kitchen, "Hey, do you need any help back there?" As she steps over the mass over Rapunzel's hair... ...Apparently she wasn't the only one specced for kitchen ninja.

Gerad Iron Fogair has posed:
From outside, faintly, "I DON'T KNOW THEM, REMEMBER I'M FAMOUS, MY PICTURE IS EVERYWHERE, IT ISN'T HARD TO FIGURE OUT WHAT I LOOK LIKE OR CALL MYSELF~"