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[img]https://i.imgur.com/ziR5Pse.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/kNmO8zV.png[/img]
[b][color=DarkOrange]wordcount: [/color][/b] 787 (+2) (ammy and rika +1 rapport)
[b][color=DarkOrange]Location:[/color][/b] Forbidden Kingdom - Esaka’s Pools
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 15 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](314/150)
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP:  [color=Aqua]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](150/110)
[b][color=DarkOrange]Amaterasu: level 9 (1 level up stored) [/color][/b] EXP: [color=DarkOrange]//////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////////////////////// (53/90)
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Amaterasu did her best to eat her serving of wings with dignity, but it was a bit tricky to  eat at a human table when you had no hands. Still, she had picked the most easy to eat food. No knives or forks needed here, just tasty bite sized wings she could pluck from the plate one at a time.

This ease of eating let her take her time and enjoy the meal, while her sensitive ears stayed pricked and perked, listening out for any useful tidbits that might be dropped by the other diners who could actually discuss the plans.

One of the only bits of conversation directed at her came from a somewhat unlikely place given their early animosity. Namely, it came in the form of Rika asking [color=Aqua]"Wanna trade some of this for some of that?"[/color] while offering her a stick with half a dozen garlicky smelling prawns skewered onto it.

The wolf stared at her, then deliberately glanced from the stick the girl was holding to her paws and then back again, trying to communicate the obvious question of “how do you expect me to eat that exactly?” as doing so would be incredibly impractical.

The ship girl did not get this subtle cue unfortunately, and instead tilted her head and slowly asked [color=Aqua]"So is that a no orrrrr?"[/color] which was very unhelpful as it made a simple yes-no answer basically impossible. Still, with the girl looking increasingly sad at the prospect of not getting to indulge in her attempts to try as much of the menu as possible, the wolf mentally sighed and pushed her plate towards the girl.

The girl immediately brightened up with a little [color=Aqua]"yay"[/color] of delight before grabbing one of the wings and giving an [color=Aqua]"mmmm"[/color] followed by a [color=Aqua]"Tasty!"[/color] upon eating it.

When she tried to put the skewer onto the plate however, the divine wolf barked a ‘no’ at her, which confused the ship girl.

[color=Aqua]"Huh? Do you not want it?"[/color] she asked, to which Amaterasu responded by grabbing her plate with her jaws and carefully sliding it back her way.

Rika tried again by asking [color=Aqua]"You sure? They’re really good"[/color] but the wolf rejected her offer again. The shipgirl frowned but, after a bit of twiddling with the skewer, shrugged and said [color=Aqua]"Ok then. Thanks for the gift!"[/color] and gave Amaterasu just a tiny amount of Praise in the process.

A worthy trade, in the divine wolf’s eyes.

Once the two kids were close to finishing their food (or in RIka’s case, was done asking people for some of theirs) they slid back towards the business of the incoming explosive robot delivery.

[color=SpringGreen]"So, right, that map you got. Where's this armoured people carrier or whatever it was called gonna be traveling, N when's it gonna be doing that?"[/color] Jr asked, having guessed by the fact that there was time for lunch that this wasn't a particularly time constrained task. Rika also piped up to add her own question of [color=Aqua]"also any good ambush spots along the way?"[/color]

Anji directed the kids' attention toward a winding road on the map, which led up from the peninsula where the Tangled Shore was purported to be and up through the Forbidden Kingdom. Judging by the route, it not only had a north-south section that probably crossed paths with the route the kids took to Shinjuku via Kuebiko,  but went east through the farming village that the Seekers fought Yokai in yesterday. That village would make for a good starting point. "As for ambush, perhaps you can make use of all the cover in the bamboo forest," Anji suggested.

[color=SpringGreen]"Long as we don’t get into any more fights with pandas or robots or whatever other stuffs itching for a fight in there"[/color] Jr (half jokingly) replied to the suggestion of using the bamboo as cover, to which Rika responded that [color=Aqua]"If we pick a spot early enough we can beat up whatever we need to beat up first and then block or ink the road"[/color]

Unfortunately, it seemed like the question if they’d have time for that didn’t have a clean answer.

"As for the exact time, we can't say exactly," Chevalier commented. "We don't have any agents in G-Corp, after all. But they'll want their reinforcements soon, so once you've enjoyed your lunch, you'd better get going." Evidently the French had a great deal of respect for mealtime.

That was certainly something both the kids and Amaterasu could respect as well. Still, the meal could only last so long, and they had both eaten before anyway. As such, it would soon enough be time to go.

For Amaterasu, this meant padding over to Terry to see which mission he was going to hit. For the kids, it‘d involve hitting the road once more, and hoping those coming along had the wheels to let them keep up with their driving pace.