Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I've got some house maintenance to do today, so I'll be a bit busy.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius was at first surprised to halt by the city tree. It was a magnificent sight, but he kept forgetting that just about everything in cities was new to Kaleeth. He turned and looked at the tree once more with Kaleeth, but didn't have much to comment on. Hist trees were not really as culturally significant to him. Kaleeth's question was curious, though. "No, I can't say I have." He looked sideways at her, "Actually, before Rhazii was birthed I hadn't really seen anything being born." Janius shifted to see the hatching pools and simply looked at them for a few seconds. He realised the naivety of expecting one of the many eggs to hatch before his eyes, not that it was easy to see any of them from here. "Do any of those look like they're about to hatch?" Janius asked as sincerely as he could.

"Very good, very good." Ariel nodded frantically, but still showed a glad smile, "Alright...well..." she looked around the ground and landed her palms against her hips as if she had still forgotten one last thing. After a breath, she at least thought to wave and say farewell, "I will see you all later then. Good luck!" With that, Ariel turned and began to briskly make her way back to her shop. She wished she could have stayed with the pack to help them find places to sell goods, but if she didn't finish brewing that sunburn cream for Ms Farla by the end of the day, there would be words she would rather not hear.

Before the pack started to move, Fendros turned to Ahnasha. "If you're the one who is going to be doing the talking, do you want me to hold onto Rhazii for a while?" For the moment, Rhazii was enamoured by the sights, sounds, and smells around him, but Fendros predicted that walking around all day talking to people and seeing so many new things would tire him out quickly. When that happened, they would need to pause to calm him and put him to sleep. It may not be an advantageous event while trying to haggle a selling price.

ParaCom: Adversary Inside

Yep. Tasty, tasty drama.

ParaCom: Adversary Inside

After suiting and gearing up, Luc jogged up into the dropship, ready to kick some more arse. Now that he had some time to get better acquainted with the ParaCom armoury, he looked a few details different than before. Just like last time, he kept a rocket launcher over his shoulder for tough spots, but his primary was a ParaCom issue railgun. Testing the thing out on the range backed up Packston's review and Luc was well and truly sold. On Luc's harness was an HE grenade, just like last time.

Luc sat opposite where Angus was sitting as he inspected his own equipment. It was the same setup as Anya's when she headed out on the last mission. Angus wasn't looking too enthused. Luc double checked his holo-targeting module before he noticed Angus' face. "Hey Angus, getting nerves? You'll be fine, the people on this team are tight."

"I'm surprised your still chirpy as ever right now, Luc," Angus said, leaning forward in his seat and looking up at Luc.

Luc raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? These things bleed and die. Well, some of them bleed, but they all die. It's nothing-"

"Luc? Luc! Shut up," Angus snapped his fingers loudly between them, then pointed his gloved hands around to the other seats, "Look, what's wrong with this picture? Don't tell me you haven't heard."

Luc was incredulous at this point. He looked around until his eyes found the Asian FNG with the sniper rifle. "What? We have a new guy? So what?"

"Try again."

It hit Luc like a cinder-block from the sky. He brought his hand to the side of his head and opened his mouth in realisation. "Ooooh, Anya's not here yet. Man, I was wondering why it was so quiet. Wait, she's always early, I never get to the party before her, what's up with her?"

"Fuck me, she didn't tell you, didn't she?" Angus said while shifting in frustration in his seat, "She went under the knife this morning, Luc. She volunteered for the WREC program. They're removing her limbs as we speak."

Luc stared back at Angus in utter disbelief. He didn't know whether he should be angry, confused, worried, surprised, or anything, really. All he could manage was three words in a slow and low voice. "What...the...fuck...?" He looked away and onto the floor of the dropshop, holding a hand over his mouth, "What the fucking fuck!? Why the hell did she do that?!"

"I said everythin' I could to try and convince her otherwise, but she's got the idea in her mind. She won't turn back 'till she's either in one of them suits or straight brown bread." Angus looked down, "You know how stubborn she gets."

Luc held one hand forward, pointing to Angus aggressively. "No, no, this cannot happen. She can't just-"

"It's happening, Luc. She's beyond the point o' no return." Angus was not at all fazed by Luc's protests. He spoke with authority enough to talk him down, "She'll be in recovery for the next few days."

"Fuck, this cannot be happening. Fuck, fuck, fuck..." Luc gave up and buried his head in his hands. Up until now, Anya had been annoying, but she was always clear-minded, sensible, not to mention strong enough to take care of herself without Luc interfering, but now she had made a decision that Luc could hardly justify under any circumstances. Why was she acting so rash all of a sudden? Luc realised that, for the first time, he was actually worried for his sister. The one time that something like this could happen, and he couldn't stop it. Why the hell didn't you tell me, Sis?

Angus, knowing a futile situation when he saw one, left Luc to calm down during the flight and decided to engage with the new guy. He looked over to him without any particular expression and addressed him. Whoever dyed their hair that silver colour had to have an attitude. "Oi, you're Mashiro, right? The rookie? This your first mission on the team? You killed paranormals before?"

ParaCom: Adversary Inside

Hey Ubermensch, is it alright if I have Anya go under for cybernetic implant surgery now? She'll be out for this next mission, but I've still got my third character who hasn't seen any action yet.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius didn't pause in standing up when he was asked about finding a ship. "Well, it has been a while, and the docks weren't exactly savoury places in Bravil or the Imperial City. However, I know a few things. I used to ride some ships across the bay between the cities." Janius began to shoulder the his luggage as he spoke, causing pauses in his speech as he readjusted his balance. "For one, there are less passenger only vessels that go east from the Niben river mouth. Partly pirates, but also less people travelling to and from the Marsh or Morrowind. We might have better luck just paying a trading vessel. The conditions might be less desirable, but it will probably be cheaper. I'll have a look around and meet you all in the square."

With a wave to Rukeewei's brother by the counter, the pack exited the inn and Janius broke off from the group to head to the docks. He wasn't sure whether Kaleeth was coming along. She was carrying items to sell as well, and the docks were probably smelly and full of leering types. It didn't run across Janius' mind that the ships might make for a magnificent sight.

Ariel led the pack to the town square that stood in the path of the main street leading through the city. It wasn't nearly as crowded as the festival time, but there were still plenty of people milling around shopping for food in the stalls that were set up. Ariel and the pack were more concerned with other vendors. "Right, now, most stores which would buy hides, meat, and bones are around this square and along the street." Ariel began to point out different signs around the square as she caught her breath from walking uphill. There was a butcher and a delicatessen which Ariel recommended for the meats. She frequented both shops for her own needs often and spoke of the kindness of the shopkeepers. For the hides, she pointed out a leather worker and a general store, both were manned by shopkeepers that wore smiles, but were wily and often stubborn in their pricing. The furs and rarer hides, Ariel told them, should be taken to clothing stores, including Neercana-rei's store. She explained that such stores were out of the way, but would definitely value the pelts more highly. Ariel wasn't sure what to do about the bones, but her best guess was to go to the general store for them as well.

Once the pack was briefed, Ariel stepped back to take her leave. "Now then, Sabine, you can stop by whenever you like and I'll get you settled in. As for the rest of you, good luck with your sales. I'll get back to work." Ariel partly turned away, but lifted one finger and halted, "Oh! Right! About the ingredients, come by the shop some time during the day and I'll see what you have." She waved a hand to their baggage, "But get rid of that heavy stuff first. Finally, do you have any plans for dinner? I understand you'll probably be partaking in your own stock outside the walls to save money, but I'd love to join you all. I'll even bring out some rice fried with vegetables for you all. It might make for a nice side dish?" It wasn't until now that Ariel that she was slowly increasing the speed of her speech, like she normally did when anxious, "...That is, if it isn't imposing, I don't want to be rude."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahh, such is life. G'night!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ariel nodded in agreement, "Certainly, there is room upstairs for a bedroll. What do you say, Sabine?"

A happy grin spread across Sabine's face. "I would love to, Sister," she replied. Normally she would be unsure about being away from the pack for even a night, as there were seldom times where she was alone for long. Though, Ariel was family as well. Spending a night or two with her would be wonderful, even if it would realistically take a week of solid talking to exhaust all avenues of conversation between them.

Fendros observed Rhazii as he took in the sights and sounds of the tavern. At first Fendros was worried that all the noise might upset him, but he seemed rather content instead. Janius leaned over to Fendros, also noticing Rhazii. "Not that it isn't utterly adorable, but is it healthy for Rhazii to be eating his tail like that?" he murmured.

"It's okay, he's done that before. From what I remember of the books before we lost them, its not uncommon. It's like sucking one's thumb, I believe Ahna had read." Fendros responded at a volume that wouldn't interrupt the main conversation.

Ariel placed her knuckles of one hand under her chin and hummed in thought. "I'm just trying to think if I've heard of the eel you mention. There are a number of different eels in the marshes, and a number of different repellents." She pulled a sturgeon face and shrugged, "Well, perhaps we might find out what else it could be with some extra analysis." She took a breath, dropped her hands to the table, and the topic disappeared, "Anyway, seeing as you have your luggage with you, how about we walk to the town square and see if we can find some good places on the main street for you to sell some of your things. I'll point out some of the better merchants for you and then head back to the shop to get on with my work."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Mkay. I suppose if the need arises to call him by name, one of us can give him one on the spot. Just might be more convenient.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

What was the name of Rukeewei's brother again? Did we give him a name?