Northern Winds [NC-17] (IC)

[SpottedKitty]

Kerya made a very quiet noise that might have been a tiny little "hmf" at Sebastian's words, before she flicked her tail and turned back to Richard. "So... last night... Sebastian assisted me with a small difficulty when we met at the club, and the rest of the events of last night I think you know," she said. "What of you, Richard, how did Sebastian's little venture sweep you up and give you a part to play in it?"

One of her ears flicked towards the bat as he announced where they were going first. She hoped that wherever he was leading them wasn't too far away. She really ought to have eaten something last night, but the stress of the escape from Haszal, plus the shocks she'd recieved later on the train, had taken away her appetite. Now it was back, and she was definitely hungry.

[Cogidubnus]

Cog nodded to the bat's comment absently, an ear twitching. He increased his pace a little bit, and let his arm rest across his sword hilt. Ah, brunch. Nothing quite says 'making good time' like a nice pause for brunch.
Cog's stomach growled. His eyes looked to the side for a moment, behind his glasses.

Perhaps a bit of brunch would be nice, then.

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Keaton's elation only increased after Cogidubnus's encouragement. Grinning wildly, she squished the bag tightly to her chest in an embrace which would shatter a living creature's skeleton. "Yeah, well, he'd better," she said in a manner far too cheerful and saccharine-suffocated to sound threatening. "Because it cost me a freakin' fortune."

Actually, it cost her thirty dollars, but that was more than she ordinarily made in a month.

Speak of the devil (no pun intended), she heard Stygian's voice call over the sound of the bustling crowd a moment later. An almost unhealthy amount of exuberance burst from Keaton's features as she instantly responded to this, barreling through the most immediate gap in the crowd of people so she was standing right in front of the bat. "Hey Styg!" she exclaimed, "Hey remember what I said before about the snowglobes? Well they didn't have that, so I got you something EVEN BETTER."

Well, what she said to Cog was the next best thing, but she needed to spice up the introduction of her AMAZING GIFT.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

The bat stopped and turned against the jackal at her sudden exclamation. His eyebrows shot up a little over the round bows of his dark glasses, and he leaned his head to the side a bit and ran a hand back through the right side of his hair, a little sign of his confusion. Both Keaton and Cogidubnus had seen it before. Whether if he knew about it or not, one couldn't be sure. But he seemed to do it when he couldn't really think of a response immediately, much the same as when he thumbed his earring.
   'Well, that's great. I just hope that it's not going to be something like the tie clip you gave me before...' Stygian said, the last part of the sentence more of a murmur. When he first met the jackal she had been far less cheerful around him, probably seeing him more as a threat or a rival. The tie clip in question was one of several tricks she'd pulled on him, just like he had on her. She'd replaced his actual one with a cursed duplicate, and his necktie had promptly grown teeth and tried to strangle him. More bothersome than harmful to someone like him, sure, but then again he didn't think she had known that back then...

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

Keaton continued grinning in that positively exuberant manner, thrusting her hand into the bag and rummaging around amidst the colorful nest of paper cushioning its interior. Despite the fact she remembered the tie-clip incident as clearly as Stygian apparently did, the memory of that particular episode didn't jostle her resolve in the slightest. "It's even better than that!" Keaton answered without really thinking, and her hand closed around something sleek and slippery tucked in the bag.

In a quick, fluid movement, she whipped out her hand, and proudly displayed the object pinched between her digits in front of Stygian with a proud and grandiloquently-exclaimed "ta-DA".

It was a cigarette lighter. It was not translucent or a particular color like the mundane specimens seen being used by most people, but it was made out of an untarnished, polished silver, highly reflective and luminescent in the sunlight. Sinuously engraved into its side was a highly ornate "S," accented in black.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Boog]

Richard kept pace with Kerya, smirking slightly bitterly at her question.
"Swept me up..." The zombie gave a wheezing laugh, "Sounds pretty damn apt, actually. Bowled off my feet and dragged kicking and screaming by forces I can't fight, but still tried to for appearances sake. I'm just sitting in this filthy old dive of a bar, minding my own business, when I end up talking to someone I actually take a liking to against my will. Then some jackasses chasing after the other jackass smash in and burn down the bar," he jerked a thumb at Stygian a decent distance away, "We end up following along with tall pale and brooding over there for awhile, losing track of the person I'd taken a liking to along the way, and I try to excuse myself from the group when I see these maniacs kill a few cops and leave their car in a damn tree." The undead's voice grew more vehement, his rasp harsher, "I get home to find a trio of thugs at my damn HOUSE, with my roommate taken hostage. Still don't know how they pulled that off, I've seen that woman bite through the base of a cubi's headwings, both of 'em at once. Anyway, they drag me along while they try to chase down the rest of the gang and I end up at the Red Sands, handcuffed to the baby of these three Stooges. I manage to give him the slip..." He shrugged, "And here I am."
In a group of strangers, the only thing I have in common with them being that the same people want us dead, not knowing if I'll ever be able to get home or if Marya's alright OH GODS IS MARYA ALRIGHT-!?
"It's been a rough couple days."

[Stygian]

The bat almost flinched when Keaton snapped out her hand. Knowing her, whatever she held might jump up to bite his nose. That wasn't what really bothered him though, but her overly gleeful demeanor was. She had to have something planned if she looked like that. His suspicions proved unfounded though, when the object in her hand turned out to be a silvery lighter, and a classy example of one to add. He looked at it closely, then reached out his hand to pick it from her with a thumb and index finger.
   'Nice', he said appreciatively, then looked up at the jackal with some caution in his eyes. 'It's not going to explode?' Carefully, he flipped the lid back, and lit it. A strong, blue-bottomed flame instantly flared up from the perforated head. The bat studied it for a second, then whipped his hand and snapped the lid back on. 'Thanks, Keats. Now, lunch?'
   Twisting around on his heel, the bat set off at a more brisk pace toward the exit. His hand fumbled at his pocket for a moment, before he realized that what he was looking for wasn't there, at which point he just sighed and slipped the lighter down into it instead.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog took note of the ornately filigreed lighter that Keaton had handed over to the bat, and raised an eyebrow in surprise at the bat's somewhat reluctant acceptance of the trinket. It seemed oddly suited to the bat - a curving, sloping S figure accented in some sort of black enamel. He wondered what the S was actually supposed to represent - he hadn't actually caught the name of the store, anyway...
Perhaps they have lots of letters. he thought, moving just a little behind the rest of the group. Now that he was aware of his hunger, he began to wonder where they were all headed to.

[Stygian]

Already the street that the group stepped out on proved a rich variety, like a sun-lit collage of the diversity of Furrae, packed into a common street. No longer did they stand out. Not even Stygian in his odd suit and glasses managed to do less than fit into the place. Colorful merchant's or craftsman's shingles and the occasional flag hung over the heads of the passersby walking down the street, their bottoms brushing some of their heads. Not a few of the passersby were colorful themselves, and a couple of them sported horns or tentacles on their heads as well.
   Considering that it was near the station, it wasn't hard to find a place to eat. Two restaurants were readily within sight, and on the corner a siamese cat was standing out selling some sort of grilled meat and vegetables on spits, along with wok. The fumes from the hot plates of his stand wafted up the street and sent a heavy, spicy aroma their way. Stygian glanced that one's way, the smell causing the flared tip of his nose to twitch.

[SpottedKitty]

Kerya's ears and whiskers perked up at Richard's reply. "Like that, was it?" she said quietly. "I know how that goes, I have found myself suddenly and unexpectedly in the middle of such events more than once. I admit that what Sebastian told us last night is worrying. But I am sure the..." she paused and counted quickly under her breath, "... eleven of us, are capable of dealing with whatever problems we face. Although," she grinned wryly, "I am sure it will not be easy!"

As she walked out onto the street (with a slight squeak of alarm as she almost caught her tail in the door), Kerya looked around in fascination. Just like Haszal, the place was crowded with a huge variety of different kinds of people, again, many of them unfamiliar to her. Unlike Haszal, Jann's Cliff had more of what Sebastian had called "Creatures" — the more exotic types. She saw some mixed bird types, like Dierdre, at least one giant serpent, and several different kinds with wings. People-watching could wait, though, as something much more important came to her attention: mouth-watering scents, drifting towards her on the morning breeze. Kerya's stomach made a distinct gurgling sound.

"My apologies, Richard," she said with a slight blush in her ears, "I have just realised how hungry I am, and how many marks it has been since I last ate anything." She raised her muzzle and sniffed delicately. "Oh, that meat smells delicious! And... it must go by a different name here, but I could swear I can smell the sauce that goes with crottled greeps!"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

The street was crowded, and the percentage of creatures in the crowd was remarkably high. But then trade towns weren't usually picky about anything but profit. Mel didn't spot any other dragons in the crowd, but her kind tended to be secretive. This first sight of the town for the incoming tourists was clean and brightly decorated. And scented. The party seemed to be making a beeline for a street vendor grilling spicy meat.

[Stygian]

While the others strolled around, or looked for places to eat, Stygian was held up for a moment, looking at the sky through his new sunglasses. A rising airship the length of a football field was drifting across his field of vision, casting its enormous shadow on the buildings just down the street. To leave with an airship... Anything without interruption was good. Good for them. And he had neither reason nor the will to delay. Nor to let them stop and distract themselves.
   'Damnit, I need a smoke... Can we please stop being so sluggish?' he said, to no one in particular, then punched Cog lightly in the shoulder and began walking down the street toward the food vendor. 'Let's aim for an airship.' Yes, let's... Then he'd speak to Aisha and Keaton. 'We should consider getting some new... dress as well.' By that he meant disguising themselves, but he wasn't going to say that out in the open. He was always attentive, now that they were in a new place especially.

[Cogidubnus]

Cog gave the bat a glance after he swatted the wolf in the shoulder, then looking up at the sky at the airship remark. High, but not quite high enough above them for comfort, was a massive three-hundred foot zeppelin wheeling in the sky above them. Cog rose one eyebrow, and followed the bat towards the street vendor.
The bat's nuance about getting new clothes didn't escape the wolf's notice either. Cog put on a somewhat sour expression behind his glasses - there wasn't anything to be done about it, of course. A disguise was almost a necessity at this point.

The smells of grilling meat and spices wafted up to the lychanthrope's nose.

[Aisha deCabre]

After leaving the station, the course of the town came into easy sight.  For Aisha, it beheld a vibrant variety of life...although, beneath her hooded cloak, she regarded a few of the passerby who had horns with a bit of suspicion.  Sure, she could keep her attitude about demons in check for the remainder of the trip (if only for the group's sake), but that didn't mean it wouldn't warrant a slight, silent growl or two.

At least that feeling wasn't to be long-lived, so long as nothing else happened.  The panthress soon turned her sights to the street around them.  She was thankful that they wouldn't gather much attention in the crowd...she wondered for a moment, even, if it would do any harm to stay for a small while.  But of course, suddenly hearing the bat's reminder that they shouldn't be dawdling, Aisha was ready to comply.  But first, food...the others seemed to be following their noses to the gratifying taste of the meat-kabob vendor between the restaurants.  She felt tempted to take something from inside of the buildings rather than the street-side stand...but if they were so tight on time...and Aisha did want to save her coins.  So, the cheaper way was the way to go.

Dios mio...so much for a proper breakfast.  But at least it might be filling, the huntress thought with a sigh and a shrug, heading over to buy whatever smelled so good...she guessed cuts of beef and veal, but thinking was left to the connoisseurs.  "I'll grab something for you too, Gareeku, if you'd like," she smiled to her comrade on passing, a bit of money clinking around in her palm while she observed the others wander about.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

When Mel noticed that everyone was making for the sidewalk vendor she ducked into a small narrow shop wedged between the larger ones. Before the others got to the front of the queue she returned bearing a wax paper bag that smelled of fresh bakery goods and other things. Hearing Ignatz's remark on getting outfitted she thought of the city guide she had just memorized, "The shopping district is nearby to conveniently get the tourist money."

[Stygian]

The bat looked sideways at Mel for a second before returning his gaze forward. 'Then let's conveniently pass by the magic and craftsman's district right after. I somehow doubt that merely a change of clothing will help...'
   Stygian did not wait in line with the others. Obviously he wasn't hungry. Instead, he watched the crowd around them, and also, even more intently, Kerya, to make sure that she did not do anything foolish, as she seemed somewhat prone to...

[Sunblink]

...Keaton:

"What?" Keaton looked slightly offended at Stygian's question, closely watching him examine his gift. "It's not going to explode, doofus."

Not unless the souvenir shop was actually some sort of terrorist organization specializing in distributing explosives cleverly disguised as confectionery trinkets. If that was the case, then Keaton was certainly going to feel like a moron. Fortunately, the lighter in Stygian's hand was not an explosive. True to its function, it produced a brilliant, wispy flame from its crown once the cap was flipped back. Feeling secure in the fact she had actually selected a gift which wasn't going to spontaneously combust in someone's face, the smile returned to Keaton's face, positively glowing after Stygian thanked her. This time, she didn't seem manic or particularly insidious in her exaggeration - granted, the structure of her muzzle always inevitably bestowed her with some sort of wickedness to her smiles, even when it wasn't intentional. That, and Keaton was used to smiling for the wrong reasons.

Not needing to eat, and supplementing her stamina with the plethora of emotions she was ravenously feasting upon from the crowd of surrounding her group, Keaton wasn't as insistent as the others in obtaining breakfast. Instead, she folded her arms behind her head and happily flexed her shoulders in a rolling motion, humming and lashing her tail behind her. Really, she could do this all day. All she needed was a bit of entertainment at one point - she cursed the fact she didn't buy one of those interesting-looking music-storing devices from the souvenir store, but she couldn't afford it, plus she needed to upload the songs from a computer after she bought the thing.

---

...Deirdre:

Deirdre walked behind the others, feeling somewhat more brisk after her coffee break. Still, like most everyone else in the group, she was rather hungry, as the gurgling gastric noises her stomach kept emitting attested. From what she could recall, she hadn't had dinner last night, since the festivities in the Red Sands were interrupted so spectacularly, and she didn't eat anything when she was on the train. Deirdre sighed, not bothering to hide her slightly irate expression as her stomach protested again at the thought of sustenance.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

"I'm afraid I seldom wear anything but black." the wolf said, standing beside the snow leopard and chewing on a kabob. Not incredibly fond of sticking sharp things down his throat, he chewed the meat off from the sides. "Although I don't really need to change to disappear."

He swallowed, licking his teeth just briefly. "Not bad. I think it might actually be chicken."

[SpottedKitty]

Kerya was right behind Cogidubnus in the queue at the grilled meat stand. Her nose twitched appreciatively as she came closer to the front, until finally it was her turn. "One of those, and... oh, one of those, it smells delicious!" she said to the cat behind the stall. "Ah... just meat, though, none of that green stuff." She fished around in the concealed pocket in her robe for her money pouch as the cat assembled two fresh skewers for her.

This is the last of my local money, she thought. Ah well, Sebastian said this is a trade town, they should be just as happy to exchange my coins from home as the bankers in Haszal were — gold spends just as well, no matter the shape. The little stoat nibbled cautiously at one of the chunks of meat, and licked at the thick gooey sauce as she walked back to rejoin the others. She'd learned to be careful in Haszal when it came to food — quite apart from people who kept trying to feed her (ugh) vegetables, some things that appeared to be perfectly edible still gave her a spectacularly upset stomach.

All appeared to be well this time, though, and she began working through the skewers, neatly and almost daintily, but with impressive speed. She seemed to be barely chewing, just sinking her fangs into the next chunk, tearing it off the skewer, and swallowing. As she finished and licked the last of the spicy sauce from the skewer and her fingers, she looked up at the bat. "Did you have magical... alterations in mind, Sebastian, or something more mundane?" she asked quietly.

[Stygian]

Casting a sidelong glance at Kerya, Stygian returned Cogidubnus' comment very simply. 'You wish', was all he said, before moving along and forcing the others to follow or lose their sole guide. Looking quickly over the shops and the people around, the bat strolled forth, flat shoes eerily silent against the pavement regardless.
   'Yes, but I'd rather we address questions like that later', he responded to Kerya's question. Turning a bit to the side, he looked at her somewhat boorishly. 'If I can hear you clearly from six meters away, chances are someone else passing by can too.'

[Mel Dragonkitty]

After making her purchase Mel quickly removed the meat onto a generous hunk of the warm bread she had just purchased. Eating sticky food with her fingers was a little too messy for her liking and the bread made a tidy handle. She offered the remaining bread to those nearby. Finding the sun a little bright and hot for her liking she produced a parasol from somewhere and followed along, parasol in one hand, impromptu sandwich in the other.

[Cogidubnus]

Cog swallowed. "You might not be able, but I'm sure someone could see a wolf wearing black and a four-foot mage from a lot farther than six meters." he said, and dropped the licked-clean wooden stick on the ground. "If anyone were to, say, ask a certain meat vendor, it'd be easy to know we were here."

He ajusted his hat, still following just behind the snow leopard. "Well worth it, I'd say. That was delicious."

[Stygian]

Although eager to berate the others more, Stygian took Cog's point with a bit of bitterness, and kept on walking. They passed under a bridge suspended between two towering buildings, from which hung a number of banisters and a large advertisement for crafted items from a nearby machine shop printed on something alike a banner. The further they went into the town, the more of it seemed to be based on the foundations of old structures, and not just the cliff or the platforms that had been blasted and carved out from it. Jann's Cliff, in the sound between two continents and as a vital trading point, trading with and protecting valuable commodities, had been a coastal fortress, before it had even been a city. And as the town had grown forth upon the old fortress, so the bastions had expanded. Soon, the tower-like buildings and the bridges and jutting structures had become a part of the city's architecture, and not just the fortress itself. The two were inseparable now, the great majority of buildings interconnected somehow. Needless to say, the architects in Jann's Cliff had notoriously hard work, but were greatly admired. The same went for the plumbers.
   The group hadn't ventured far before they happened upon an almost courtyard-like square with a fountain in the middle, and bright colors, stands and all manner of wares on display all around. About the same time they felt the close look of merchants and their guards alike, and became the target of several street vendors who were walking about and instantly recognized foreigners. A man in a large overcoat and a hood walked up to Mel, looking at her greedily and waving a finger beckoningly, then folded open one side of his coat and displayed a number of potions and magical and non-magical trinkets. A little winged monkey clambered up the array of extra pockets sown into the lining and took something in its hand, then grinned lopsidedly and displayed a little decorative, crawling beetle with an ornate, golden shell that Mel, in her expertise, recognized as a recording instrument that could be worn in one's hair like a pin and which could, upon demand, recitate all conversations that took place near the wearer within a couple of days time, within audible range and a bit below as well. Cog drew the attention to a peddler selling various cigars, a basset fellow with a walrus moustache that took up half his face. And Kerya, most remarkably, attracted a short, thin-haired and cane-brandishing old scrooge who after some intense study sidled up next to Aisha and asked 'where they had gotten that thing and what it did'. They had obviously entered one of the merchant districts.

[Cogidubnus]

 Nodding politely at the seller of obviously very fine cigars, Cogidubnus made a brief bow before somehow moving past the man in a way he didn't quite expect. One moment he was telling the wolf about the quality of his tobacco, and the next the wolf was behind him and walking quickly.
The wolf used the crowd to his disadvantage, and hoped the man wasn't as persistent as he suspected he might be.

He paused a moment, looking for somewhere that sold clothes, and rested his arm across the hilt of his blade.

[SpottedKitty]

Kerya was preoccupied watching the crowd filling the square, and it took her a moment to realise what the little old man meant when he turned to speak to Aisha. She was annoyed briefly — this had happened in Haszal as well — then, while he wasn't looking at her, she winked and flicked an ear at Aisha, and caught the old man's attention by clearing her throat just loudly enough to be heard over the noise of the market.

"The mage can do many things," she said pleasantly, although with an edge to her voice on the second word that could have been used to sharpen arrows. "The mage can cause someone to become... unfortunate." A faint but distinct sparkle of light appeared at the top of her staff. "The mage can cause the unfortunate to become uncertain as to their body shape." Her eyes glowed, and tiny flames licked from them like animated eyebrows. The illusions — that was all they were — held for a moment, then faded, leaving the little stoat wearing her sweetest smile on her muzzle, looking perfectly nondescript and mostly harmless. "But at the moment, I am looking for directions to a merchant selling adventurers' equipment and supplies."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel looked at the street vendor for a moment. Amusing, but they didn't have the time to be distracted by merchants with toys. Shaking her head no and adding a discouraging look accompanied by a brief flare of magic she turned to see Kerya putting on a light show of her own to deal with a rather rude man. She chuckled a bit at the feisty response and how the stoat was trying to profit from the encounter.

[Boog]

Richard coughed awkwardly and tried not to pay too much attention to Kerya's talk of food, reminded of how his sense of smell had been assailed by the adrenline in the others' systems while they had been trapped in a vehicle with a mad griffon at the wheel escaping the city. He was lucky he wasn't alive, or his stomach would have rumbled.
Then they found their way to the merchant's square, constant susserus of people trying to make a decent living covering up the details of people haggling good-naturedly or otherwise. The zombie found himself completely without the ability to tear his gaze away from a fellow selling instruments. The fountain was, in a word, beautiful; it was the sort of things painters had their models pose on the edge of before summarily becoming famous. Like the rest of the town it was quite simply the picture of a lively and prosperous coastal town.
Richard unzipped his jacket and rested his hands on his tomahawks. The place was probably crawling with pickpockets; here was hoping the crude weapons scared them off.

[Aisha deCabre]

The line at the food vendor had seemed to go atrociously slow to Aisha...but according to the satisfied looks on the faces of her comrades, the meat seemed to be worth it.  The smell was indeed worth it, making her constantly-argumentative stomach beg for the food that her mind had promised.  When finally she had made it to the stand, the coins paid for a few of the kebabs; some for herself, and some to offer Gareeku as she had said she would before.

It looked soon after that, following the ever-impatient haste to move, that the group started back onward and deeper into the city.  The look of the place, the view...it was incredible.  Aisha hadn't crossed the area very many times, let alone set foot into the full portion.  But just knowing that the adventurer was going to be adding yet another area to her memories was one of the few things that made traveling--even frantic traveling--very worthwhile.

Of course, one wouldn't look at it to cross into the merchant district, where they were almost immediately almost tackled by a throng of salesmen.  Aisha just had to roll her eyes and tuck her tail into her cape, where her ring wouldn't easily be seen.  She especially didn't want it to be glowing in the presence of the greedy ones.  At least some of the ones who had the look of stern warriors, like she and Gareeku, were left alone...at least until one individual who looked to be made of nothing but high-quality things looked Kerya over like a pet.

At his question, she had started a rather heated retort, but the diminutive mustelid already seemed to have it covered.  In fact it made her snicker a bit, before she replied to the man herself.  "Yeah.  Rather you not speak of anyone here like they're toys, hombre."

[Stygian]

Richard's worries seemed unfounded though. However diverse and unprejudiced these new surroundings, he still earned a few angry or disgusted stares, not openly but from the corner of his eye every so often. It seemed that few were willing to go too near him as well, why he was the only one left alone by the vendors around. Well, not the only one. Stygian too was ignored by even the more pushy of them, in spite of how his clothes should have revealed a good deal of wealth. Perhaps it was his determinate way of moving right through the square and on that put them off, purposeful and therefore hard to distract, or maybe it was some sense that he was too rich or important to be asked to bother with them. But it seemed more like they didn't notice him.
   The group apparently didn't stand out enough that their arrival would last them more attention than any other new arrivals, and while they were assaulted by a steady stream of new proposals, they were disregarded as quickly as anyone else who wasn't looking to shop. Which really meant that they barely attracted more attention than the regulars and citizens.
   In response to Kerya's indignation and Aisha's comment, the old man just shook his head, but didn't seem discouraged at all. 'Nonsense', he said, and looked at them both harshly, amber eyes almost glowing. 'I know. She's a curiosity. Not something like what you find around normally.' He tapped her calf lightly with the end of his cane and looked down at her with a gaze so appraising she thought he had her counted down to weight, height, hair length, condition and price in his head already.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel paused to see if Kerya needed any help with the persistent man rather than following on behind Ignatz and Cog. For the moment she just twirled her parasol and waited to see what Kerya's response would be.