RPGWW

Richard looked back towards the nekojin. Almost immediately, he started to get nervous. A huge cat in a city like this... this would, in many situations, have been enough to scare Richard out of his skin.

However, said nekojin was directing his attention to Aya and not to him. With the others there making him feel safe... besides Dhargun, whom Richard tried his best not to talk to anymore... all Richard did was give the nekojin a glance that would suggest the question 'who the hell?'

Petey was keeping up a good pace, getting her about even with Cummiacc by this point, and she pulled in the reigns a bit, calling out, "Hey! Where's the fire?" to the hard riding samuri.

Cuimacc's hard and furious eyes centered on Ayri, looking somewhat nonspecifically at her, as if he's mulling over some though. After a few moments, eh diverts his eyes, and pulls the reigns on his Chocobo harshly, bringing it to a relative stop.

Cuimacc grunted harshly at Ayri in acknowledgement, as he looks at the road directly infront of his chocobo, riding slowly.

Ayri pulled up next to Cuimacc, noting his harsh demeanor, and decided that for now, keeping quiet was probably the best course of action. So she rode on next to him in silence, occasionally throwing a nervous glance over at him, just to make sure that he wasn't about to explode into a towering pillar of flame or something. She had not yet noticed the nekojin who had joined with the others farther back down the road...

Cuimacc resumed looking ahead at the road infront of him. He then firmly asked Ayri, "What?" without looking.

"Want to tell me why you just stormed out of town like a kid who had just lost an argument to someone younger than him?"

Xia simply starred at the Neko-jin, giving him or her a once over, she could never be too sure with these creatures. Hopefully this character would not be the type to spread word of the Queren being here, sighing to herself once more, she could only hope and continue to urge her chocobo on.

"Wark?"

"No, don't worry.. I'm fine."

... I'm having a conversation with a stupid bird?

Cuimacc looked up slightly, peering at Ayri with a hard, emotionless stare. "Just some bad memories." he said quietly.

Hey I remember this guy...he was in the bar that one time Charles decided to steal my act...

"We're on business..." Aya answered carefully, "Why exactly do you ask?"

Sure, he could be the guy Giest mentioned, but what if he's not...last time I met him he seemed a bit cold or something...well I'm not giving any important information away that easily.

Ayri shrugged. "Just don't let your memories slow you down. Looking to the past without the intent of moving forward is always a dangerous thing to do..."

Her voice trailed off, what she had just said having sparked the basis of a new song in the back of her mind. Her eyes took on a fairly distant look, and it became quite clear that her mind hand wandered elsewhere, into a land of melodies and harmonies, rhymes and rythems, all conspiring to tell a story of heroics and justice, with a tinge of nostalgia overlaying the whole thing. Cuimacc was almost entirely forgotten, but having that happen periodically is one of the hazards of talking to a bard, especially a young one.

"Hrm," rasped Cuimacc almost completely under his breath. "Moving forward..."

He pulled on his Chocobo's reigns, and looked back, attempting to pick out Lady Aya. "Sometime..." he then said to the bard, without looking. "If you want a story, I can tell you one."

Without another word, he turned around, and started trotting slowly back towards the Dragon Woman.

"Eh?" Ayri's mind snapped back to present. "Oh, yes, perhaps I'll take you up on that..." Her voice trailed off as she followed Cuimacc's gaze back to the others. Seeing the nekojin, she turned to follow the samuri, her song falling out of her mind for a moment. She couldn't help but wonder who this was...

"On business, hm..." said the nekojin, carefully. "It seems odd that you would have business this far north without proper guards with you...but I'm certain that is none of my affairs. However, since we're heading in the same direction anyways, I may just accompany you until we have to split ways..."

Richard noted what the nekojin was saying.

Probably just friends.... something's nagging me though.

Against his better judgement, Richard pulled the reins of his chocobo, now maneuvering to the side of the nekojin that Aya WASN'T on. He kept his eyes on the nekojin, however.

Cuimacc rides directly infront of the nekojin. He stares directly at him, stating only, 'Hi' firmly.

"Hello.," the responded, paying the other samurai very little heed.

"Friend of yours?" Cuimacc asked the queen, noting her somewhat placid mood.

"Oh, sure, come on in. More the merrier," Dhargun grumbled. "While you're at it, kick up your feet and have a drink. I know! Let's go strike down the dark lord! I mean, we're starting to sound like one of those stories..."

"Actually, Dhargun, we're starting to sound more like a 'rescue the princess' story. If this was a 'strike down the dark lord' story, we would have been informed of the impending disaster not by a returning soldier, but by a ruler, probably a king, or in some cases a lesser nobel. And we wouldn't have met in a large city, we would be gathered together from across a countryside."

Ayri grinned. "Trust me, I know my stories. And I also know that people and situations are not always what they seem." She let than ambiguous statement hang in the air for a moment, and then said, "Welcome, and well met. Will you be travelling with us? The roads are often dangerous, and the locals are suspicious of strangers. We might be safer in a group."

Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=joshuadurron>JoshuaDurron</A] at: 4/7/03 3:36:34 pm

"Whatever. I don't read that much." Dhargun grunted. "Well, whatever. Welcome."

"While it is always good to have a strong background in literature, it seems to me that someone is reading a bit much into things..." responded the nekojin, eyeing Ayri casually. "And, yes, unless I hear some real objections," he said, glancing at Dhargun for a moment. "I believe I will be traveling with you."

"As long as you bring the dip for this slumber party, I have no objections." Dhargun crossed his arms.

Ayri blinked. "What's a slumber party? And why would we have dip there?"

"...nevermind. Anyways, we don't know who we are. I'm Dhargun Torias, how 'bout you?" Dhargun extended a hand.

"...Atoujirou." said the nekojin, shaking Dhargun's hand. "Atoujirou Asatarou."

He and his mount trudged along, apparently awaiting any further questions from the group.

Xia, rode up next to the two, the kind one (Ayri) and the other man who had offered to satisfy her desires (Dhargun). Curiousity filling her, she positioned her chocobo right next to Dhargun's.
"What were you two talking about just now?"

Richard watched first the nekojin and then Dhargun carefully. He found the nekojin's name rather long and realized it would be a bit hard to remember.

Still, he waited to see what else was asked of the nekojin. He was making sure no one else had questions before he put his name forward.

Cuimacc silently nodded to the Nekojin, and then to Lady Aya before manuvering his chocobo infront of hers, trotting it out a small distance infront of the group.

"Eh, nothing really. Just idle banter." Dhargun shrugged towards Xia. "I don't even think you'd find it interesting if I told you."

Xia gave a small frown, "So you talk about nothing in aprticular when you're bored in an attempt to amuse yourself?" She tilted her head slightly.

"Yes. Yes, I do." Dhargun nodded curtly. "You ever hear of small talk?"

Ayri ignored the sniping between Xia and Dhargun, instead choosing to address the nekojin again. "Atoujirou. That's a mouthful, do you have any nicknames?"

"Nicknames?" Atoujirou said. "There have been many used over the years....just pick whatever you think to be appropriate."

Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=flamingdeth>FlamingDeth</A]&nbsp; at: 4/10/03 12:45:38 pm

"No... actually I haven't? IS that what it's callled?" Xia tilted her head with curiousity, she was learning so many new things on this trip.

Ayri shrugged. "OK. I had a friend while growing up named Touji. I'll just call you that."

Richard muttered a little bit when he heard what the nekojin was saying. He had his mind set. He was going with the first part of the name.

"Is 'Atou' sufficient, sir?" Richard asked the nekojin. "I haven't dealt with a lot of complex names, so I'm kind of clueless as to what's respectful."

Richard thought for a moment before adding, "Either way, I prefer to be called Richard."

"Touji, Atou, either works." responded Atoujirou. "As long as it's recognizable, I'm certain that it will be fine."

The enourmous nekojin looked to Aya, curious as to why she was so quiet...

As if on cue, Ayri prompted, "Something wrong, your highnes?"

"Why would she have anything to say? Is it always required to be talking. Perhaps she just doesn't have anything to say, or she's thinking." Xia looked at Ayri.

What was with people today and talking needlessly? Could they not survive without these constant interactions?

Edited by: Dark Xia at: 4/17/03 4:02:11 pm

Ayri looked back at Xia, the idea that perhaps she was not entirely normal beginning to take firm hold in her mind. "Perhaps not necessary all the time, but in this case we'd like to know a little bit more about what she knows about our friend Touji."