[ We find Our Heroes in the sitting room of the Flying Couches home! It's morningish, and a lovely morning it is/has been! What adventures await them today? Let's find out! ] [ Session Start! ] * Patrick grins. "So, what're we doin' today?" * Tia sits to one side, finishing a plate of leftover puncakes. * Ariake is actually sitting down for once, drinking some coffee and listening to the planning. * Patrick is eating breakfast. Eggs on a muffin. * Seylin sips orange juice. "I don't know. What's on the agenda, if we even have an agenda?" * Alcinoe is seated, trying to read one of her texts and yawning, despite it only being morning. She's dressed, but her hair's up in a towel. It took her hours to get the syrup out, for the record. What's an agenda? A schedule, Tia. Oh, we have a schedule? I'm not sure. That's why I asked. [ For the record, it's Friday of the week before Solstice Break. Class isn't technically out today, but everyone acts like it is anyway, even the professors, so it's alright. ] Oh, okay! * HKenji walks out of the kitchen holding a cup of tea. "The agenda is getting ready for break, so we can find the second piece of the altar. * Will is seated off to the side listening in on the conversation. He's already finished off his breakfast consisting of eggs and sausages. * Tia nods vigorously as she swallows another huge mouthful of pancakes. [ Istvan, surprisingly, is not forging right now. He got called to the administration building for something. What exactly remains a mystery, however. ] * Ariake nods. "Hmm..." Right. The troll kingdom. * Alcinoe gives up and more or less tosses the text aside, letting it make a heavy thud on the table. * Seylin blinks at the thud. * Tia seems almost uncharacteristically cheerful, even for herself. [ Tia seems almost uncharacteristically cheerful, even for herself. Nothing good can come of this. 'Ware of wagging tails. ] * Istvan walks into the lounge, looking... weary, for lack of a better word. His hair's a mess, he has scratches on his face and arms, and his white t-shirt is splattered with blood. "Hey." Istvan? What happened? * Will stares at Isty, "What happened to you? You're not hurt are you?" * HKenji doesn't bat an eye. * Ariake blinks. "...Istvan, are you okay?" Blood usually indicates pain on someone's part. * Patrick smirks. Hmm? *looks down at his shirt* ... oh. Not mine. So, did ya win? Not my blood, I mean. Then whose is it? Obviously. * Istvan flumps down on the couch, rubbing his face with one hand. "Win the fight? Yeah." * Alcinoe blinks at Istvan. "Ya all right?" * Will pulls his chair closer to Isty. * Patrick grins. "Good. So what was it over?" You people need to have some faith in your companion. * Patrick wheels a chair around and sits on it backwards, resting his head on the backrest. If he needed healing, I'm sure he would have asked for it. Reason I got called to the Administration building was that they caught someone tryin' to break into the student records room. To get my file, specifically. What? Why? * Ariake blinks. "Gah!" Interesting. Who would dream of checking into your past? * Patrick stifles a chuckle. "Who's the punk?" Guy in the forging program, named Matthian. Mage, comes from some big artificer family, specializes in making magic weapons and armor. * Alcinoe frowns. Family's famous for adventuring to get the necessary materials, so they sent Matthian here to learn how to survive while doing so. But he's a lazy, arrogant bastard who's mostly content to coast on his family's name and money. Tried to get me to help him cheat on a few forging projects, I told him to fuck off. * Patrick nods. * Ariake nods. "Way to go." * HKenji looks unsurprised. And then? Seems he held a grudge. Wanted to get a look at my records to find out about my past, use it to blackmail me into helpin' him. *pauses* Luckilly, the security in the records room is apprently ridiculous. * Alcinoe snerks. "'Course. It'd have ta be." So he got caught, the security people pumped him for info under threat of expulsion, and he spilled the beans about why he was there. So they called me in to give me a heads up. I was pissed, but it was no harm done... but he was just sitting there, with this... SMIRK on his face. Like "I messed up this time, but I'm gonna find out somehow"... And then you killed him? * Ariake raises an eyebrow. * Istvan rubs his neck. "That's when I started breaking office furniture with him." Thaaaaaaat's not good. * Patrick grins. "Look, if you want to get revenge on the guy, don't do it in front of people." ~_^ I...can't blame you, really. How did they react? You _did_ kill him, didn't you? A few doors, buncha chairs, few lamps, a desk... oh, they were mostly "Hey! Stop hitting him with my desk!" Shocked and stuff. Guess they don't usually have fights in the Administration building. * Alcinoe looks at Kenji oddly. "What'd he want ta kill 'im for?" * Ariake grins. Given the circumstances though... well, I probably wouldn't be in that much trouble if I hadn't broken the Headmistress' door with his head. ...nice! Er...how's his head doing? Dunno. He was alive at the end of things. Flimsy door. * Patrick whistles. "Not bad, not bad." Fortunately, the Headmistress wasn't there for that. I'm disappointed. Or for me beating him with her coatrack. * Alcinoe frowns. * Seylin just kinda stares, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. Isn't that a bit overdone Isty? ... she did show up just in time to see me smothering him with her giant plush Bahamut, unfortunately. * Patrick winces. "Bad move." ... * Will gasps. "Not Bahamut!" * Patrick laughs at Will's reaction. [ Smooth, Istvan. ] * Alcinoe facepalms. * Ariake nods. "Impressive!" You should simply have killed him. * Seylin shuts her mouth, then opens it, then shuts it again. * Istvan shakes his head. "Don't worry, Will. The plush Bahamut wasn't damaged." *pauses* "Drooled on some, but not damaged." So yeah. I'm paying for the repairs, which is gonna set me back about a thousand gold. * Will looks at Istvan warily, "I certainly hope so. Good thing the Headmistress came in time." And I got two days of sewer duty. One for the fight, one for trying to kill someone with a plush Bahamut. * Tia pads into the room through the front door. She'd apparently run outside to chase butterflies while no one was looking. Impressive. * Istvan looks a abashed about that last part. "Sorry, Will. Didn't mean to be blasphemous... was just hitting him with anything I could grab, and grabbed that, and when I realized it wasn't really good for hitting him..." Yeah. Shoulda used the drawer. Huh? What'd you hit who with? Or at least that adamantine yardstick she keeps around. [ Sewer duty, for those who know, involves patrolling the heavily monster-infested sewers under the school. The sewage, besides having a terrible and clinging odor, sometimes has odd side-effects from botched alchemy projects. It is considered the worst punishment on campus. ] ...Yardstick? * Istvan looks over at Tia. "Did something prety stupid. Got in a fight in the Headmistress' office." * Tia 's eyes widen, and she grins. "Wow, who'd you beat up, Isty? Who'd you beat up? Did you win?" * Tia wags her tail as she jumps up and down. Mage. Tried to break into the student records room to find out about my past. * Will nods at Isty. "It's OK. No harm done with the plushy. Just..er..have a bit more control of your rage next time." * Patrick counts. "He won, Matthian was the schmuck's name, and he's got some punishments now." * Seylin just shakes her head slightly and finishes up her orange juice. Ooh, did you punch 'im good? ... oh, and I get to do the sewer duty *with* Matthian. Extra punishment. * Tia throws some emphatic mock-punches through the air to emphasize her point. That's gonna be messy. * Tia blinks. "Aww, how come you got punished too?" * Istvan mutters. "Under specific instructions not to feed him to an oyatugh." * Tia wrinkles her nose. "And sewer duty... Isn't that a bit heavy?" What about some fungus? Ooh! I like otyughs! They're cute! * HKenji shakes his head sadly. * Tia runs around Istvan. "Can you bring one home for me, Isty? Huh? I want one!" ... don't think were allowed to have sewer monsters as pets, Tia. * Tia fixes Istvan with green puppy-dog eyes. * Istvan stands up. "I need a shower. Be back in a bit." *walks to his room* Okay, have fun! Don't forget about my otyugh! * Tia grins. * Tia skips a few laps around the common room. * Ariake grins. * Alcinoe reaches over, grabs her book, and sighs as her toweled hair starts to get undone. She stands and wanders up to her room. * Patrick skoots over to Seylin and whispers to her. * Tia waves to Alci. * Seylin wrinkles her nose and whispers back. That was unfortunate of you, Istvan. I had intended to leave tomorrow. Leave? * Patrick whispers back to Seylin. * Seylin blinks a few times, then whispers back. We _do_ have a holy quest to which we must attend. Oh, the rock quest! Maybe Isty can delay his punishment until we get back? But, we can't leave yet! We haven't even had finals! * Alcinoe comes walking back down the stairs, hair now mostly dry free of the confining towel. She glances around before resuming her old place. * HKenji sighs and sips his now cold tea. "Finals. Another waste of time." Yeah, but you gotta take'em too. * Will looks a bit resigned. "Not looking forward to that at all." No matter what we end up doing, I do still wanna stay on track to graduate. * Tia follows her tail in a slow circle. * Ariake has some more coffee. "I'm pretty confident about mine, but...well, it's never fun." * Istvan returns from shower. Now with non-bloodstained shirt! He flumps back down on the couch. * Ariake grins. "Welcome back." * Tia waves to Istvan. "Hiya!" Welcome back, Istvan. You look a lot better now! No offense. Yo. [ A shadow passes over the house, and the sound of very big wings can be heard outside. After a moment, there is a knock at the door. ] Enter! What was that? * Patrick turns to the door. * Istvan nods. "None taken. Was still kinda inna daze when I got back. I take my privacy really serious-like... s'one of the the few things that can really make me lose i- huh?" * Tia runs to the door immediately and flings open the door. Hi! * Alcinoe looks around, then stands as Tia opens the door. * Ariake looks over to the door. [ Two people stand on the other side; one is quite tall, agelessly handsome man with silvery hair and green eyes. The other is a woman in a lovely white robe with long, black hair. ] * Tia jumps excitedly, her eyes widening. "Papa! Mama!" * Patrick grins. * HKenji tries very, very hard not to be startled. * Patrick whispers to Seylin. * Ariake blinks, and then smiles. * Seylin blinks, then smi... dammit, Ariake. (^_^_v) * Will stands up upon hearing who just arrived. He waves hi shyly. [ "Hello, little Tia," says the man. They each embrace Tia in turn. ] * Seylin whispers back excitedly, then looks over at Tia and her folks. * Istvan remains flumped on the couch, but is looking over at the new arrivals. * Tia hugs her parents, then turns, beaming. "Look, guys! My parents came to visit! I hafta introduce all of you!" * Tia quickly rattles off quick introductions to all her friends, speaking so quickly out of excitement that her words are barely comprehensible. [ They both chuckle. The father says, "Visit? I take it you forgot to pack, then, Tia?" ] * Seylin beams back. * Tia blinks blankly. "Um, pack? Oh! Yeah! My stuff!" She turns and runs pell mell up the stairs, nearly tripping over her own tail in the process. * Seylin waves. "It's so nice to finally meet you! Wait, pack? Are you going to visit them for a while, Tia... oh. Never mind." * Alcinoe blinks a couple times as Tia runs off, then waves. "Uh, howdy." * Patrick chuckles. "What's up?" * Tia runs back down the stairs a few moments later, her haversack on her back and Mr. Teddy tightly in her arms. She grins widely. * Ariake grins. "Pleased to meet you." * Istvan grins slightly. * HKenji bows slightly to Tia's parents. [ "Yes, she'll be visiting us over solstice break," says the father. ] How... unfortunate. * Tia nods emphatically, then looks apologetic. "Sorry, guys." She shuffles her feet. "I meant to tell ya, but I, um, forgot." * Patrick grins at Kenji. "You'll be sad to see her go and you know it." * Seylin gives Kenji a brief glance, then smiles at Tia. "It's okay! I'm sure you'll have lots of fun!" * Will blinks. "You're going home for the summer Tia?" [ The mother smiles and nods. "Oh, no doubt you'll be adventuring, I'm sure. Here, take this," she says, passing a silvery bracelet to Kenji. ] * Tia grins at Seylin and nods expressively. "I will!" * HKenji opens his mouth, hesitates, then closes his mouth and calmly accepts the bracelet, assuming Tia's mum will explain. * Patrick chuckles and nudges Tia. "So, gonna introduce us, or should we do it ourselves?" ^_^ * Tia straightens. "Oh, right! Everyone, this is my papa and my mama." She beams. * Alcinoe chuckles. * Will nods. "Pleased to meet you." * Istvan nods at the parentals. [ "I suppose we can elaborate," says the mother. "I am Velanna, sorceress." "And I," says the father, "am Mephalassagalasophos." ] * Tia continues to beam. * Seylin stands up and properly curtsies. "I'm Seylin. Seylin Altir." She's still grinning madly, though. * Tia pipes up, "Sey's one of my best friends!" Aww. Well, you're definitely one of mine! * Patrick nods and grins back evilly. As usual. "Patrick Klamm. Nice to meet ya." * Ariake bows. "Ariake. Pleased to meet you!" [ "Pleased to meet you, Seylin, Patrick." ] Istvan. Pleasure. * Alcinoe waves. She's a little more confident about it, now that Tia's back. "Ah'm Alcinoe." She pauses for a moment, then, "Kinder." * Istvan waves from the couch. Isty helped me carve these butterflies! See? [ "Pleased to meet you, Ariake, Istvan, Alcinoe." And oh, I'm called Will. * Patrick whispers over to Seylin. [ "Oh, so that's Mr. Axe." They beam. ] Yup! He says hi! [ "Pleased to meet you, Will, Mr. Axe." They both turn to Kenji. "And you must be Kenji," they say in unison. ] (CREEPY) * Seylin whispers back, blushing slightly, then looks back at Tia's parents. * HKenji bows once more. "Ikoma Kenji, of the Hosokawa family of the Lion clan." * Tia prances from one side of the room to the other, babbling incessantly about each of her friends, then stops and pauses for a moment and looks thoughtful. "Oh, yeah! You got my letters, right?" * Patrick grins and whispers back. [ "I see," says the mother. "Of course," says the father. ] * Tia wags her tail. * Seylin stammer-whispers back. * Tia watches her parents expectantly. * Patrick smiles and whispers. * Seylin shakes her head rapidly at Patrick. [ "Well!" says Tia's mom after a bit, "Are you all packed now, honey?" This is adressed, obviously, to Tia. ] * Tia snaps to attention. "Huh? Oh, um, yeah! I think so!" She trots over to join her mother, though she casts an anxious glance toward her father and Kenji. * Patrick nods back to Seylin and chuckles. [ "In that case, we'd better get going," says the father. "It's a long flight back, after all." ] * Tia nods absently. "I guess that means I'm going, then... Hope you guys have a good break!" Tia beams, having obviously decided to forget about the earlier tension. * Seylin gives Tia a hug. "Bye, Tia! Have fun!" Have an interesting break, Tia. Thanks, Kenji! You too! * Patrick smiles to Tia and waves. "See ya Tia!" * Istvan nods. "Have fun, Tia. Remember, don't try to eat anything bigger than your head." * Ariake waves. "We'll miss you!" * Tia grins widely. "I'll remember! I'll miss all of you too!" I'm certain I won't be able to avoid it. * Tia waves Mr. Teddy's hand. "Wuffiekins says bye!" * Will waves. "Bye Tia. Too bad you can't adventure with us this summer." * Tia nods. "Wish I could go too. Hope you have fun, though!" If you find a nice otyugh, will you bring him back for me? [ "Oh, she'll be back for summer. And finals. This is just for Solstice Break," comments the mother helpsully as dad turns into a huge blue-white dragon outside. ] * Ariake grins. "I'll try." ( helpfully, even. ) * Tia grins from ear to ear. "Thanks, Ari! I'll be back soon!" * Alcinoe waves. "Bye Tia! Take care, all right?" * Seylin tries not to gape *too* much at Tia's dad. * Tia nods. "You too, Alci!" * Istvan chuckles. "When she says 'My dad can beat up your dad'..." [ Mother climes onto daddy's back. "If you need Tia for something, you have that bracelet," she adds as an afterthought. ] * Tia grins and waves some more as she walk out the door. * Seylin looks at Istvan. "I don't think anybody's gonna fight *him*." [ And then father takes to the air with a powerful leap and they're gone! ] He would be... quite a challenge. * Patrick whistles. "I can think of a few people who would." * Tia stretches her wings and springs into the air after her father. "Byyyyyyyeeee!" Perhaps I shall challenge him sometime, when we both have leisure. * Seylin gives Kenji an odd look. * Ariake raises an eyebrow. * Alcinoe shakes her head. "Yer crazy." Why? Wantin' ta fight him? What for? * Patrick shrugs. "What made you think he wasn't." ~_^ To test my skill. Why else? * HKenji looks slightly confused. He's talking about a sparring fight, not a fight to the death, people. ... would be kinda interestin', sparring with a dragon. Insane, but interestin'. But, still... oh, never mind. ... though with the looks he was giving ya, Kenji, I'm not sure you really wanna even spar with him. He might "accidentally" stomp on you forty times. * Alcinoe snickers. Perhaps. It would still be a great challenge. Just make sure ya don't hurt'em too much, 'kay? Yes, well, we do need something to do over break. I can't fight Istvan the whole week. Why not? It'd be funny. * Patrick grins. [ There's another knock at the door. ] * Tia is not there to fling the door open. Why fight... oh, I'll get it! * Seylin walks up and opens the door. Hey, c'mon. I haven't threatened to beat you up in a few months. * HKenji suddenly brightens as he remembers something. [ "Greetins!" says the beardaxed dwarf on the other side of the door. ] Hi! Come on in! * Seylin opens the door wider and moves aside to let him in. Welcome! * Will waves hi to the dwarves. "Welcome!" [ "Ah'm 'ere ter talk abou' the site o yer future keep, lads an' lassies." ] * Istvan stands up, and gives a little head bow to the dwarf. [ The dwarf nods back. "Who's in charge, ere?" ] I am. * Seylin looks at Kenji. * Alcinoe looks up at the dwarves, waves, and just gives up on reading. At least, as much as anybody can be said to be in charge of certain people here. * Patrick grins. [ "Arright, then, laddie. Yer oughta know tha some orc-lookin' fellers were explorin' the area jus' inside the entrance to the underworld when we opened it up. We managed tae capture 'em, but we wanted to know what ye wanted us ter do with 'em before we did it. Since it's technically yer show." ] * Patrick chuckles. "Interrogation?" I think this bears investigation. * Ariake nods. "So it does..." * Will tilts his head while thinking. "Orcs? Don't recall seeing any orcs last time we were there..." Prolly workin' for someone or somethin' else. Orcs are forerunners of worse things. Means they're checkin' the place out, at least. * Ariake nods. [ "Ehn, like orcs but not. Bigger eyes an' ears. Even stronger, I think, and they're pretty savvy ter boot." ] * Seylin blinks. "That's new." * HKenji frowns. That is very new. This definitely bears investigation. Very well. Have you a place to spend the night? We can leave in the morning. [ "Pheh. I'm an Beardaxe, laddie. I ken teleport ye all there whenever yer ready." ] Wasn't supposed to do sewer duty until after Solstice break anyway, 'cause of questing, so tomorrow works, yeah. There is that. Oh Awesome! * HKenji suppresses a shudder. * Will looks at Kenji, "What's wrong?" Probly gets portin' sickness or somethin'. Nothing. * Patrick snickers. In that case, we should prolly leave as soon as we can get ourselves together, right? I am always ready to ride. * Patrick picks up his quiver and backpack, and downs one last English Muffin with strange jam on top. "Alright, let's go." [ "Well, thas' fine, lad, but yer won't be ridin' this time. Yer'll be teleportin'!" ] * Ariake collects her bag. "I'm all set, too." Right, let me get my things from upstairs. * Seylin heads off to retrieve her equipment. * Alcinoe nods, heading upstairs, too. We're not anticipating any fighting right? No need for me to get into my armor? ... into the armor, Will. Doh! Come give me a helping hand Isty. Else it's gonna take a while. * Will walks towards his room to pick up his armor. Sure. I'll be up as soon as I get mine on. * Alcinoe stops her trek up the stairs and calls, teasingly, "Ah could help ya with the armor." ... you really need to learn to get that armor on quicker, Will. *heads for his room* * Will perked up noticeably, "That will be great Alci!" * Patrick laughs. He's suited up in his armor already. Gee, that was quick. * Alcinoe laughs and grabs Will by the arm, pulling him to his room. Clerics. They're such good, god-faring people. [ Will critfailed his Innuendo roll, looks like. Ah well. ] ... I guess my services won't be required. * Istvan walks to his room, pauses, and gives the wall next to his door a quick, hard punch before going in. [ And so Our Heroes packed and left for the break! Session End! ]