[hr][center][h2][b]N i k k i[/b][/h2][color=808B96]Sculpture Copse[/color][/center]
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The blindfold the new lady was wearing was pretty weird.  What she had to say was even weirder.  Xell had scooted off first thing, and maybe he had the right of it.  She was more than a little strange, and what with them being in the Fall that could be bad news.  Nikki's ears flattened back at the sound of her name -- her full name -- and she hissed under her breath.  "Only my aunts call me that," she grumbled, her tone indicating that she was far from fond of said aunts.  "It's [i]Nikki[/i].  If you're gonna go around pulling peoples' names outta nowhere, at least get it right."  Her relationship with that entire side of her family, with the notable exception of her mother, was strained at best.  It was ironic, but she'd started getting on better with her mom shortly after going to stay with her father full-time, instead of just over the summers.  He'd said it best: "Loving someone and living with someone are two very different things."

The thought of a pirate on her -- no, [i]their[/i] trail quickly distracted her from any further consideration of familial matters.  Pirates.  "Pirates could be interesting," she said aloud, not able to keep the excitement out of her voice.  Pirates sounded like an adventure, and that was precisely what she was looking for.

And then the lady started speaking in tongues and with voices not her own and while it was pretty cool the reaction from the kid -- the one she addressed with half a dozen different names -- was not a good one.  Nikki didn't know what his deal was, but she'd run with all kinds.  She recognized at least a part of his expression -- she'd seen it before.  Seeing it here was sobering in a way little else could be, and after a frown at the newest arrival she trailed after him as he limped off.  He paused by Xell, said something to the guy that didn't make much sense, and kept going.  She met the draconi's eyes and shrugged.  "Don't let 'em leave without us, yeah?" she said quietly.  Even she wasn't quite bold enough to want to be all but alone in this particular forest after dark, not without any prepwork.

---

She let him have his space for a minute or two, though she couldn't quite manage not to be curious.  Then she joined him, plopping herself down a little more than an arm's length away, presenting him with her profile instead of a direct gaze.  She was trying very hard to keep most of her curiosity in check.  It took doing.  Impulse control was not something she did well, nor something she did often.  "Hey."  It was a casual greeting, informal.  "You look like life just got you with a sucker punch," she added.  Whoops.  So much for not saying anything about it unless he did.  She grimaced and grabbed a simpler topic.  "Any idea why those pirates were after your pilot in the first place?  They had to want him pretty bad, to risk the no-fly zone in the first place."