[hr][center][color=808B96][color=00BFFF][h2][b]T a f f y[/b][/h2][/color]Southeastern Mir [b]-[/b] Sculpture Copse, The Fall[/color][/center]
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Taffy lowered the flashlight as the red-and-black stranger apologized and explained her presence - not exactly the kind of behavior that some marauding monster or crazed raider in the dark would normally exhibit, and Taffy was somewhat relieved when Max was the first to respond, even if what he said wasn't terribly polite or helpful.  And, finding out that the pilot of the other crashed plane had survived, and was still after Max...

[i]This is going from weird to dangerous,[/i] thought Taffy as the fur of her tail started to stand on end.  [i]If this blindfolded prophetess is for real, and I'd find it hard to believe somebody like this could exist out here without [/i]some[i] kind of divine providence watching over her, then that means this whole motley crew is in danger.  So it [/i]was[i] a pirate group that was after Max after all!  And it sounds like, from the way Max looked when she mentioned it, that he knows why they're after him...he's hiding something, and I don't really care what it is, except that whatever it is, it's the reason we're attracting trouble.[/i]

And then when the blindfolded young woman began answering Yonath's question...that sent all kinds of chills up Taffy's spine and caused her tail to puff out, particularly when she changed her voice to imitate what seemed like impressions of other people - people that the otter boy recognized, if she guessed rightly from the way he reacted.  She glanced over at Max to see his muzzle turn pale and his quills stand on end, and in a strange way, it made her feel a lot better knowing she wasn't the only one that was getting spooked by this display of preternatural knowledge.

Taffy wasn't particularly religious or superstitious, and in fact came from a family that scoffed at many myths of the Novan people - indeed, that was part of why her uncle lived out here, and why her family had come here on camping trips from time to time - but there felt like something of the truth in all this young woman said, a conviction that led Taffy to believe what she was saying had to be true.  That said, she wasn't sure she understood all of what was being said to Yonath, particularly the parts that sounded like another language entirely in those different voices.  Knowing what you hear is the truth, and understanding it, are two separate things.

"We've got to get moving again as soon as we can," she whispered to Max as the red panda/bat-like Novan started to wind down her performance for the boy.  "If that pirate's really following us, then our best bet is going to be getting to my uncle's place before he catches up.  At least we'd have some cover then, and maybe we'll have enough time to set some kind of trap together."

She didn't quite catch what happened there at the end, but she saw Yonath turn and walk away, in roughly the same direction Xell had taken when he had went to take a sit-down at a bench.  [i]Well, this is great, now I've got to play damage control...and get the group back together so we can get going again.  I don't want to get stuck here with a pirate on our tail.[/i]

Abruptly, Taffy drew back her arm and punched Max in his shoulder.  He swore and rubbed the spot tenderly, his eyes shooting bullets at her while his mouth was drawn into a small, quizzical "O" shape.  "What was [i]that[/i] for?" he demanded.

"I'm holding you responsible for all of this," Taffy replied evenly, gesturing vaguely toward Yonath, the mystical stranger - the whole situation, almost the whole forest, by implication.  "Just making sure you didn't miss it."

Without skipping a beat, she turned away and said, "I'll try to get the others back together so we can leave right away."  As she walked off, a strange sort of half-smile curled itself into existence on one edge of her muzzle.  She tried to explain to herself why, but the words didn't come and she gave up trying.

She approached Xell just in time to hear him demand what the otter boy expected him to do, and she realized that she had been so focused on Max's reactions earlier that she had neglected to keep an eye on Xell.  His pensive, bag-eyed look raised some warning flags in Taffy's mind, and she began to suspect there was more going on with this Draconi than he had let on about.  "Guys," she said, coming up to Xell, Nikki and Yonath with her hands on her hips as she addressed them, "I know we just got an earful from that mystic, but I think she's right about that pirate who's on our tail.  We need to get moving if we want to get to my uncle's place so we can use it for cover."

She gingerly placed a hand on Yonath's shoulder, noting he still clutched the drawing the girl had given him.  "If you need some time to process...whatever it is that lady told you, take all the time you need," she said, much more softly than she'd been saying to any of the others so far.  "We'll be safe once we get to my uncle's cabin, just wait and see."