Null's Game

[Idran1701]

A slight noise whizzes past Oleai, and the blade flies from Isol's hand, landing on the deck next to a second near-identical. Behind Oleai, Kyrie holds herself up by one arm, glaring past her to the jonin. She speaks, but sounds well out of breath, her voice raw. She looks to beback herself again, and uninjured, but it's something of an amazement that she hasn't yet passed out. "Listen to the rabbit. She's under protection of the Lucky Paw clan. Touch her and-"

Her arm wavers, and she nearly falls back to the deck, but she manages to keep herself up, if just barely. Still, she lets the sentence end there, with nothing more than a look to Isol that honestly, given Kyrie's state, is likely as intimidating as Oleai's.

[Shinigori V2]

Isol doesn't seem to react, at least not at first. She looks at Kyrie. Just...Looking. Not even watching. Just looking. Finally she breaks her stare after what seems like an eternity, as the drop ports seal and a wave of welcoming warm air rushes into the room. The Jonin turns away, not even bothering to pick up her kunai, and makes for the single exit the room has, a large metal bulkhead that seems to open on it's own as she approaches, before sealing shut as she passes.

"Uh...Sorry 'bout 'er." Rhyme says with a shrug. "She's a bit moody an' she don't know how ta express 'erself, so...Tends ta come out in 'er daggers."

Rhyme begins towards the exit herself, though she actually has to twist the handle and pull the heavy bulkhead open. "There's some quarters y'all kin use on th' next deck up, if y'all wanna rest up a bit."

With that, Rhyme also makes her way out of the prep room.

[Idran1701]

Once Isol leaves the room, Kyrie lets herself fall back to the deck with an "oof", rolling over onto her back and staring up at the ceiling. Without moving a muscle below the neck, she speaks up to Rhyme's comment, "I think here is good. I'm happy here."

Once Rhyme steps out, she looks up to Oleai with an odd smile, still motionless. "...did I tackle a dragon, or was that a dream?"

[Oleai]

Oleai blinked, and Isol was disarmed. She stood with her arms out for a second dumbfounded before Kyrie's speaking had her turn around to realize what had happened. As Isol left, and the bulkheads closed for wonderous warmth, Oleai took a few steps forward to scoop up both kunai before striding over to the collapsed Kyrie to hunch down again.

"You did! Way to go Kyrie!" She wore a giant smile, and for a moment looked like she might bearhug the Nekana - but didn't go so far. Holding out both Kunai in her mitt-covered hands. "That was all so scary! But I'm glad we made it through alright. I wasn't expecting an air-boat to come! In fact, I wasn't expecting anything at all. I thought we were gonna be lunch! Heheh." She rolled back to land on her rump after Kyrie relieved her of the weapons, removing the mitts from her hands and waggling her fingers as if she hadn't seen them in days.

"Warm cabins, flying through the air.. OH! Maybe they have food!" She planted her hand on her stomach. She still hadn't gotten to eat, and all the activity coupled with her already berserk metabolism left one hungry bunny. Nonetheless, Oleai seemed her old self again. Happy and hopeful. It has been a while.

[Idran1701]

With a slight grunt, Kyrie takes the knives from Oleai before letting her arm fall back to the ground, a slight laugh at Oleai's excitability. Her voice still sounds scratchy, dripping with exhaustion as she looks to her with half-lidded eyes. "We certainly got lucky with this. I'm sure they've got plenty too...mmph...I think I'll just stay here for a while, though. It feels like every muscle in my body is sore...need to rest before I do much of anything more."

Doing her best to lift her head, she looks around for Stray and the rest of the party, a barely noticable bit of relief once she catches sight of Triya and Rasmus. "Stray...are you all right? Didn't get hurt?"

[Shinigori V2]

"Um..I think everything's still attached." Stray says, quietly. "...But why'd you do that? I don't have anything to give you, unless...Unless you want my bandages?"

Stray suddenly seems very unsure about things. Given the bandages across her face, torso, and tail...Well, there's a good chance that, especially right now, nobody WANTS her removing those things.

[Idran1701]

Kyrie gives a slight smirk to Stray, as she lightly shakes her head. "Nothing now. A favor in the future, but nothing now. Just settle yourself down, kit. No one'll be spying on you here, no one'll shout at you or punish you. Nothing to fret on, just...relax."

[Visavis]

As Rasmus watched the scene, he was reminded that he really didn't know any of them very well. It wasn't especially surprising, given that it hadn't even been a full day since they'd met, but somehow in all the excitement of the day it had slipped his mind.

"I'm going to check out the beds," he said to nobody in particular. He turned and strolled toward the stairs. He was only really just beginning to feel the exhaustion from the events, the natural endurance of the Snow Elves taken entirely for granted by him, but it still seemed a good time to sleep. It would be even better when he was back to sleeping in his own bed.. whenever that would be. He realized then that Rhyme hadn't even said where they were going. Or why they had been at the camp when they were. Or really much of anything, aside from their names. Questions for later.

[Kelne]

"I think we could all use a break," Triya said. The events of the evening were definitely catching up with her, though it might still take a while for her to settle down from her present keyed-up state. A comfortable bed and a good night's rest certainly wouldn't go amiss. The group had fought well together when the chips came down, if perhaps a tad recklessly. She was definitely encouraged about how they'd work together in future.

"I think I'll go out on deck for a while," Sana put in. She didn't seem inclined to return to her ring just yet, "I'll catch up with you in the morning, but I think you all did well tonight."

[Oleai]

Oleai watched the scene with a smile. Fear replaced by relief, it seemed like all her good spirit had been squashed underneath the weight of weather and worry; free now, she could do as she pleased.

She shot upright, which made the tambourine she had hidden beneath her coat this whole time give an audible jingle. "I'm going to go shed off this coat! I don't like the winter very much, you know? Nope, not at all. Theeeeeen.. I am going to get us all some food, so don't wander too far, everyone!" She beamed one last grin at Stray and Kyrie before spinning around on her heel to begin jogging towards first an empty cabin to change in, then to the kitchens!

Though she does stop for a time at the nearest porthole to stare outside in amazement.

[Shinigori V2]

Oleai, for the moment, parks herself infront of a porthole, watching the alchemical lights reflect off the snowy waste below, as well as the continuously falling snow. Rasmus and Triya head to scout out bunks, Sana heads above deck, and Kyrie and Stray basically sit in the entryway. The group may pick up slight bit of decoration on the walls, scrollwork with some sort of writing etched out of gunmetal steel. In the distance, carried on the wind but growing ever distant, the awful shrieking cry of an undead dragon persists for a few minutes, before fading entirely. But that's all probably beside the point for now. For now, they're safe and warm, taken far away from Cannon and her minions in what has got to be a one-of-a-kind flying fortress.


End Chapter 2

[Shinigori V2]

Chapter 3: Crossroad (Or: The Frozen Tears of Angels)
Garpaath-Kokoniel Border. 221 PS- Saturday, 11:12 AM

After a long night, it's nice to have a good morning. Even as Isol makes it abundantly clear that the group isn't especially welcome by closing off and sealing the doors of multiple parts of the ship, the galley remains open as a large breakfast is prepared for the crew of the ship and guests alike. Althought Stray seems to have disappeared for the moment and Isol and Rhyme have holed up behind the closed doors of the bridge, there is some company to be found in the galley as the ship's chef works.

Though at first glance, she's not much to look at- Just a short head of blue hair poking up over the work counters. Every now and then as she steps out for supplies, a better view is offered- Clunky blue gauntlets and boots worn with tight grey leggings and a shirt, with a white cloak overtop it all. She works quickly and precisely, not just making generic breakfast fare, but also custom orders. Odder still is in a large bowl, she prepares greens and large fruit slices paired with an almost unsettlingly large chunk of porkbelly, while also working on a small stack of Elven Flatcakes with a couple thick slices of bacon, placed off to the side.

Given the chef's - Calamity's- Speed and efficiency, it might be worth trying out requesting some favorites. Or, just taking what they can get instead of being choosy beggars.

[Idran1701]

Kyrie's halfway through her own breakfast - a steak, medium-rare, and eggs sunny-side up - keeping to herself in a corner of the messhall; when she said to order anything Kyrie wanted, she thought it was a joke, but it turned out better (and faster) than she expected for an airship chef.

She's had a relatively interesting morning since waking up, entertaining herself by poking around the ship and seeing what she could find out about their mysterious rescuers; not nearly as much as she'd have liked, but she at least has a better picture of them now. As for Stray, while her absence concerns her a little, she's sure that she's just keeping to herself for now. She's sure to show up sooner or later.

[Kelne]

Triya turned up for breakfast at a fairly early hour, having missed out on dinner the previous night. She'd opted for some of the flatcakes, with some orange juice on the side. Sana, by contrast, had taken advantage of the chef's willingness to take custom orders and proceeded to order three pancakes with separate sets of toppings, each with a decidedly different ethnic flavour. Rather than taking a seat, she leaned against the wall, engaging Calamity in conversation about recipes in between servings. It seemed Sana had an interest in cooking.

[Oleai]

Oleai had eaten her fill the night before, and was ready for more just the same. A bowl of slice melons, apples and pears. She held a fork in each hand, spearing the next bite as she chewed the first. Though she would have insisted she prepare the bowl herself, considering all the other cooking Calamity had done that morning.

Sitting as near the 'middle' of the party as she could, offering cheerful Good mornings! and How are you?s to the team as they arrived. Finally back in her tribal-esq plainsrunner clothes and out of the heavy furs, she seemed restored to her old self. Dancing a little in her seat as she ate, swaying her head and body back and forth to some unheard beat. The way her ears would move in one direction before her body would was particularly funny to look at.

"Isn't this nice?! We should have come to this airboat way sooner I think. Also, did'ja all hear where we're going? Some dragon city. That sounds kinda cool, I think they probably aren't so bad when they aren't rotting. Oh yeah, where is Stray?"

[Idran1701]

A light smirk crosses Kyrie's face as she looks to Oleai, taking bites of steak between sentences. "It's something we should certainly look into for the rest of this trip. I hadn't yet, though, but I'm not surprised; the dragons own near all the airships, and I wouldn't think this any exception. Somewhat annoying to end up this far off the trail, but if we can get a ship of our own, it'd be more than worth it."

Another bite, as Oleai asks about their new companion. "Stray? Not today I haven't, but I wouldn't worry. She'll turn up when she wants to turn back up, I'm sure."

[AlwaysAPrice]

A wiry, copper-haired young City Elf woman, short even by her people's standards, is guided into the mess by a member of the ship's crew, who himself looks weary, irritable, and eager to be rid of her. She's dressed neck to toe in snug, flexible leather armor, most of it in black except for her cuirass, which is mostly painted red to match the feathers decorating her shoulders and dangling from several other random spots on her outfit. Her skin is pale and lightly freckled, the outline of goggles is windburnt onto her face, and her lips are twisted into a surly pout; she can't be more than 40, probably a few years younger.

They stop by Calamity so the woman's escort can collect the plate of flatcakes and bacon, then he steers his charge over to the nearest table with room for her -- coincidentally, the corner table Kyrie selected. He seems to try to maneuver the City Elf into an open seat until she jerks her arm free from his grasp and spits, "I think I can figure this part out," before plopping herself down unceremoniously. She immediately turns her head to shoot the man an impatient look, waving at the empty spot in front of her at the table, and he drops the plate into place with a look of disgust before walking away to stand against the wall ten feet away from the table, trying to keep out of the way of the new passengers but keeping his eyes on his charge.

The City Elf hunches forward over her food and rolls up the topmost of her stack of flatcakes around a couple strips of bacon, giving a disinterested flick of her eyes to her tablemates as she swirls the wrap in the puddle of berry sauce on her plate. She's just about to take her first bite when her head jerks up, and she looks from the Nekana to the Plainsrunner, casts a look back at the Partian chatting with the chef, then looks again to her tablemates and blurts, "Where the hell did you come from?"

[Visavis]

"Where the hell did you come from?"

"What's going on?"

Rasmus stood in the doorway to the galley wearing a quizzical look, having just come from his bunk. Same breeches on, same lack of shirt and shoes. There was a slight difference, however, in that he now had a scabbard hanging over his shoulder, with the handle of the blade within poking out from the top.

[AlwaysAPrice]

Red takes one look at Rasmus and one at his scabbard, then stabs the air in his general direction with the rolled flatcake still in her hand. "And why does this snowflake get to keep his weapon and I don't?!" she objects towards the guard that brought her to the galley.

She mutters a "Racists." under her breath, then brings her breakfast back to her mouth to chomp off a mouthful. Not expecting the guard to actually answer, she looks back to Kyrie and Oleai and chews -- grudgingly -- while she awaits an answer to her first question.

[Shinigori V2]

"Because it ain't his weapon." Calamity says while chopping up a pepper. "And he ain't annoyin' nobody with it. And he doesn't have a GIANT DEATHBIRD."

[Kelne]

"Dare I ask about the giant deathbird?" Triya asked, polishing off the remains of her own breakfast and regarding the newcomer thoughtfully. There was a story waiting to be told here, she was sure.

[Idran1701]

Kyrie finishes up her breakfast as the city elf comes in, and though the appearance of a new figure (crew? another passenger?) takes her by surprise, she doesn't bother to react in the slightest. At first watching the scene between her and Rasmus with vague amusement, she finally speaks up to the unexpected visitor once she settles back to her own food.

"Nekana originally. But that much was probably obvious. We came aboard last night. You?"

[Oleai]

Oleai went to speak as the newcomer first sat down, only to find her mouth was full. She began to frantically chew as the others began to converse.

Finally downing her bite with a gasp, "Gah! I came from the Plains. Uh.. that's where all my kind come from, I think." She nodded to Kyrie's question. "Why're ya all ... prisoner-ey?" She looked over at the guard who had brought the newcomer in, "Did she break a rule somewhere?"

[AlwaysAPrice]

"Meh mee mumma meh muh memma mehmehhh..." Red mutters childishly after Calamity makes her point, mimicking the chef around her mouthful of food before gulping it down. "She's a RAZORBEAK." She glares pointedly at Calamity even though she's answering Triya. "Deathbirds are scrawny little disease-ridden carrion-eaters, Spitter likes her meat still kicking."

Red looks back to Kyrie and Oleai. "S'long as we're stating the super obvious, New Legayne originally, but I came aboard on the way out of Al Reis. They're all just butthurt about my creative boarding practices."

[Shinigori V2]

"If that thing's a Razorbeak," Calamity mumbles, "I'm a freakin' Dryad. Now shut up and eat or I'll start slippin' gears inta yer shit."

The guard, who's name happens to be Biggs (Not that anyone but Red would know) scowls at the diminutive Elf. "Caught her trying to sneak into one of the launch ports. What sort of maniac tries to stow away on an airship that's not even in port?"

[Oleai]

"But you asked..." She trails off, a bit of the wind out of her sails. She makes a pouty face.

Then seems to remember breakfast, forking two more juicy fruit bits.

[AlwaysAPrice]

Red rolls her eyes at Calamity and quiets, but really only to finish another bite of her breakfast. She clarifies to Oleai, "Well yeah, but I didn't mean like that. Where you're all from is easy to guess, I've travelled a lot the last few years."

She's keeping her voice down now, but still seems eager to talk to anyone besides the crew, Calamity be damned. "I meant 'cos the four of you weren't here yesterday. It felt like we were flying pretty low for a while last night, but we didn't dock, BUT they're being nice to you so you're probably not stowaways? Plus, we're over Garpaath, and nobody goes to Garpaath without an interesting reason, 'cos Garpaath's sucky, wet, and cold. It took the destruction of civilization to get anyone to move there." She waves a rolled up flatcake at Rasmus before making sure Calamity can see her stuff it in her mouth.

[Visavis]

"It's awesome if you're not a wimp," Rasmus casually retorted while meandering past the table and over toward the kitchen. "Oooh, are those flatcakes? Can I have some?"

Folding his arms and resting them on the counter, he seemed to content to just watch Calamity's cooking. With his back to the group, the scabbard was now in plain view of the group, for all the good it did. It was just a scabbard, although the slight sheen of condensation was slightly unusual.

[Oleai]

Oleai smiles brightly, "I have no desire to talk about Garpaath or anything that happened in the last day or so." The darker implication of her words juxtaposed her cheery demeanor. Finishing her bowl, she sticks the fork in her mouth before splaying her fingers out on either side of the bowl - roughly an inch away.

Channeling a small bit of wind to lift the bowl between her hands, a kind of levitation for it. To.. simply walk it over to the kitchen to deposit where dirty dishes go. She pulls the fork out, dropping it into the bowl once her small spell was done.

"What was your name, anyway? I'm Oleai. What'cha doing on this boat?"

[Idran1701]

To Oleai's comment, Kyrie glances off in silence, a slight nod. "What she said. Suffice it to say, we had a mission there that didn't go as we expected, and we were lucky enough this ship was passing by. Assuming it was luck, at least."

Sitting back, her plate empty, she looks Red over, trying to pick out any sign or symbol she might have showing, a slight smirk showing. "I'm a little curious to know too. A razorbeak, hm? Are you a dragoon, then?"

[Shinigori V2]

"The thing is hardly a Razorbeak." Calamity says, sliding Rasmus a plate of flatcakes.

[AlwaysAPrice]

Red's armor has clearly seen a few years of wear and tear, scuffed, stitched, and re-stitched as it is, but nowhere on it does she bear the insignia of any nation, faction, or army. She slouches in her seat as she uses the last crisp piece of her bacon nearly as a spoon to scrape up as much as she can of the berry sauce left smeared around her plate.

Watching Oleai's exercise with the bowl, she tries to acknowledge the coolness of it without letting herself look too impressed. She answers the Nekana first afterwards. "Trained with the Skyrazors for a while, but they couldn't keep up with us." she snorts smugly at Kyrie.

Red then looks back to Oleai with an answer to her second question. "Well, I was trying to hitch a ride to dragon-town to see a man about some guns, but I guess you'll have to ask these jerks what I'm doing now." She lifts a hand to gesture from Calamity to Biggs.

[Shinigori V2]

"You're getting dropped the hell off at Kokoniel anyway." Biggs says gruffly. "Normally we'd take you home, but you're just too much of a pain in the ass to put up with for that long. So, mission accomplished, I guess."

[Visavis]

Rasmus, after giving Calamity a "Thanks!" moved to the table and plopped down next to Oleai. As he started digging into his flatcakes, he started talking. Not without turning his eyes from the food or finishing what was in his mouth first, of course. The food was far too important for that.

"You--mrph--go around pissing people off a lot, huh?"

[Shinigori V2]

Calamity is just about to say something, before a shout comes from above decks. It's Rhyme!

" 'Ey, Rasmus! Get up to th' deck, yer gonna wanna see this! ...Oh, an' anyone else, too."

[Visavis]

The look Rasmus gives the flatcake remaining on his plate would seem more appropriate on the face of a person being told their one true love was leaving them forever. The difference being, of course, that his time away from the flatcakes would (presumably) be temporary, and that they were only flatcakes. The expression is quick to fade, fortunately, and with a slight sigh he rises from the table and makes his way toward Rhyme.

"What's goin' on? Revenants or somethin'?" He looks somewhat hopeful at the idea of Revenants. One hand goes behind his back to brush against the scabbard, confirming that, yes, it had not disappeared.

[Shinigori V2]

Rasmus heads up above decks! It's a somewhat dark, grey day, with a bit of rain and snow falling. Rhyme leans against the railing like she did yesterday, giving him a quick grin. "Thought you'd wanna see." She says, turning and waving her arm over the side.

Below, Rasmus can see a fairly large battle- Frostborne and armored Snow Elves engaged in hard combat against a large group of Revenants. Just beyond them are the foothills leading up to Kokoniel. The ship continues moving, but for now, he's got a good view of the fight, if not a little distant.

[AlwaysAPrice]

Red eats Rasmus' flatcake.

[Idran1701]

Kyrie follows Rasmus up, and on deck starts at the scene below, the utter violence going on on the ground. She turns from the scene with a small scowl and a light twitch of her tail, glancing about the deck and hoping that Stray isn't here to see this herself.

[Kelne]

Triya and Sana took their own places at the railing gazing down at the conflict and, each in their own way, attempting to gauge the ebb and flow of the battle. Following their own encounter with revenants, Triya felt a certain connection to those fighting down below, and couldn't help but worry about the outcome.