Skies of Arcadia, a new age

[GamerKale]

At some point Ifreeti had returned Juda to his folks and retrieved her hat. She held up her pistols in response to the question. "No, I don't think so. These should do fine, unless you think I'll be needing something else, although I'm not sure what I'd be handy with." Ifreeti took the maid's hands in her own and danced around once before running her hands across all of the furniture. "Oh, I would like something to eat, if at all possible. Pretzels, raisins, oranges, or better yet chocolates y'know just something I can pick apart." Eventually Ifreeti did end up picking a seat, although she kept bouncing up and down whilst rapidly clicking a lighter. "Do you think she'll be getting here soon or do I have time to take a nap?"

[nekoryuuha]

Meriele couldn't help but chuckle at the restless Ifreeti. It was mildly envious to see her have so much energy. It has been a while since I've eaten. I wonder if I have anything left in there...? the Felineko thought to herself as she also took a seat, recalling the large tome that she'd been reading earlier. It was a tome for learning Silver magic. Specifically, Life-style Silver to defend against Death-style Silver users. "Well, a nap wouldn't hurt at all, right? I can always wake you up after," Meriele finished before pausing. "I'm sorry, I don't think I was around when you introduced yourself. What was your name?"

[GamerKale]

Ifreeti tossed her hat on the table. "That is the question, isn't it?" She stood and walked around the room making big hand gestures, "What is my name and who am I? Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy? An old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left-handed? A gambler?Afighter?Acoward?Atraitor,aliar,anervouswreck? I literally have no idea who I am." She flopped down across a couch and set her head down in Meriele's lap, "But you can call me Ifreeti." She pulled the band out of her hair, letting it hang loose while she settled in to get some sleep, finally stilling.

[Zorolo]

Zorlo looked up from his book just long enough to watch the woman pass out and sigh. Somehow... I'm sure this is going to be a very long journey. I'm not sure why I know that, but I just get that feeling, he idly thought to himself as he leaned back to stare at the ceiling before returning to reading his new book. He didn't really have much he wanted to say. After all, they were waiting for Florin to tell them what was going on. The sooner the better, he guessed. When did things get so complicated? Oh yes, when the woman with beautiful bust sat next to me and asked me to buy her a drink. He sighed again. How complicated.

[Kaori]

Flo looked over the files again and sighed, "This seems too much, but the organization collects its debts, even from the dead" she told herself, Flo left her room and went to meet the rest, the maid was catering to their needs when she arrived, "Bonjour Madame" greeted the maid, Flo smiled back at her and signaled her to leave,
"alright, I believe I can trust you all since you arent Valuans and the red head might make a good token, here's the mission: We break into the Sierra Madre." said Flo, Kamille's eyes widened so did Marco's, "can I ask you something?" asked Kamille, "Okay" replied Flo, "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMNED MIND?! You're asking me to help you break in the City of the dead!" said Kamille enraged, "when you told me that it would be worth more gold than I could ever Imagine you forgot to mention where my life is on the line!" she added, Flo simply looked aghast then replied, "ah, but you've got them" Flo pointed to the rest, "I'll only take you there, but I am not going into the city with you" said Marco.

[Zorolo]

Zorlo, who inexplicably had a cup of tea, took a quiet sip as he raised his eyes to meet Florin's. "Miss Florin, I've no issue considering helping you in this endeavor, but I do need to know something before I completely agree. Will you be coming with us?" he asked her, taking another sip of his tea as he maintained eye contact. "I don't mind helping you with this insane idea if you're gonna risk dying with us; however, if you're gonna have us risk our lives by doing something incredibly stupid where your organization has nothing on the line except us expendable people, then that I won't agree to. I told you earlier, ma'am, that I'm not a pawn of the nobles. If your organization wants me to put skin in the game, they'd better be willing to put some of their own," the man said as he set his cup of tea down on the saucer it had arrived with and smiled at Florin. "If that's fine, then I will agree to help."

[Kaori]

"I'm afraid I have to, after all who would claim the debt but us?" answered Flo as the maid gave her some tea, "you mister Zorlo have some necessary skills suited for this mission" added Florin, "hate to break it to you, but you do realize that you're basically waltzing to your own grave" Kamille told Zorlo as she stood up, "the city is cursed" added Kamille, "oh dont believe her, she'll do it sooner or later" said Flo, "I'm telling you, that city is cursed by a blood red fog that kills people" said Kamille to Flo, "oh really? Have you ever seen it?" asked Flo, "well.... No" Kamille replied Sheepishly, "good, then what do you all think of joining? If you want to join then take these down payment" said Flo as she put three solid gold bars on the table, "or if not you may simply walk out the door" she added as she sat back on the couch.

Meanwhile in the Monoceros....
"sir we just received new orders" reported an officer to Ramirez, "go ahead" replied Ramirez, "we are to go to Ixa'Taka on orders of the lord admiral to quell a slave revolt" said the officer, Ramirez was dumbfounded, "I guess his opinion of me has lowered" he thought to himself as he nodded to the soldier, the Monoceros then set a course for the green continent.

[GamerKale]

Ifreeti's eyes opened as she sat up, she placed a hand on the nearest gold brick and slid it back towards Flo. Apparently she had woken up at some point during the conversation, "Look, I don't care much for gold. What I want, is to know who I am. I help you with this and your organization does whatever it can to help me figure that out." She sat a bowl of food down in her lap and started tossing grapes up and catching them with her mouth.

"I'm sure we'll have time for a full review on the way there, but short version what and where is this place with blood red fog that we're going to? Some kind of necropolis and/or the resting place of a gigas/control crystal? Drat!" She exclaimed when one of the grapes landed on her head instead of in her mouth.

[Zorolo]

Zorlo laughed as he slid his gold bar towards Meriele. "Right, a person like me who has no talent in anything having useful skills. Quite an optimist you are, Miss FLorin. Still, as long as you're going, I'm fine with helping. Like I said, I don't aid anyone who doesn't feel the need to put themselves in danger if the situation calls for it. And as for this stuff about curses and blood red fog, I can't say I know much about old magic like that, nor do I particularly care. But I can't die. Not 'til I bring a girl home to meet my folks, at least," Zorlo said with a smile as he took another sip of his tea.

"This tea is simply fabulous, by the way," he told the maid with a quick bow of his head as he looked between the sky pirate and the debt collector. "Well, Miss Florin, I do believe I'll help you in this endeavor. After all, a good knight can't leave a pretty lady like you in danger," he said with a sly smirk as he looked at the purple-haired woman. It was the closest thing he had to something most people would call a "suave line" he could manage.

[nekoryuuha]

Meriele smiled as she took all three gold bars and vanished them into her 'Requip space' as no one else seemed to want them anyway. "I'll take these then if no one else wants them. As for your answer, miss Florin, I have no qualms about helping you out. I've been curious of the so called 'City of Death' for a while and was thinking of trying to convince Zorlo to go soon. This'll save me trouble," the Felineko replied before continuing to read her tome. "Besides, I doubt the city itself is killing people. Likely some Cult or Gang is set up in there, killing off travels and the curious."

[Kaori]

"well then, if you're all ready just meet me on Marco's ship on the dock, I'll explain the rest later" said Flo as she stood up and left the group with marco following, "so you guys sure about this? If so shall we?" said Kamille as she stood up.

"the city is cursed Miss, why do these poor souls have to go in there and claim your organizations debt for you?" Marco asked Flo, "I said I would be going with them" she replied, "on the field?" asked Marco, "well when you put it like that it makes me sound like I know they're going to die, but mind you I'm just not going into the fog" replied Flo.

[Zorolo]

"I think she knows we're going to die," Zorlo said as he finished up his tea and stood up. "Well, I just need to make sure she doesn't sneak away while we're not paying attention, otherwise I may regret agreeing to her terms. Still, since Meriele wanted to go anyway, I don't really have a choice. It's have you, Miss Efreeti and Miss Florin with us, or go by ourselves. I distinctly prefer doing this where there are people that can be... well... don't worry about it," Zorlo said as he crossed his arms and started off.

I must be careful. If Miss FLorin is more clever than I think, I'll have to be careful. If she attempts to send us first into something, well, I'll just grab her arm and drag her along. Uncool though that is, if death is likely, I'd rather make sure EVERYONE was losing someone and I'm not the ONLY one dying, the man thought with a smile on his face as he neared the ship and stared at Florin.

"Well, I'm coming with you. After all, I'll have to go there eventually, so this just speeds that up and gives me more associates. Just to make sure, though, you aren't going to try anything pretentious like shoving us out of the airship to the place where we're likely to die, are you?" Zorlo asked as he smiled at her. "I don't wish to cast any kind of unkind light on a pretty lady like yourself, but I'm no one's pawn, that's all," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Now then, the others should probably... maybe, be along shortly. "

[GamerKale]

Ifreeti tossed the bowl onto the table and glared at the door Flo left through, "Why do I get the sense that later is going to be when we're neck deep in things trying to kill us? Y'know once it's no longer useful nor pertinent information." She kicked the table angrily, it slid across the room several feet before she got up. "I'm going to go grab something I can hit people with. I shouldn't be long so just wait for me at the ship." Ifreeti slammed the door loudly behind her. When Ifreeti reappeared on the ship a little while later she didn't appear to have a new weapon on her. Once they were underway Ifreeti pulled out a curved blade, it had felt familiar in the store. Apparently my muscles remember more about me than I do. Wish they'd share.

She started a long kata with the scimitar. Occasionally the world around her would flash to a desert landscape, in her vision there were people there, only a handful, but she knew they were present and was exhilarated because she could remember the looks of silent awe especially on her little brother. She stopped abruptly blinking, trying to get the image to come back so that she could focus on the people, but it was gone. "I have a younger brother." She hammered her head with her hands, "Come on remember more. What did he look like? Who else was there? Why can't I remember? GRAWWWWWW!" She threw the blade into a nearby wall and let out an intense blast of flames all around her as she screamed in frustration. When she calmed down she slumped against a wall, tapping her toes and glared at a spot.

[Kaori]

Flo waited for them in the docks as Marco prepped the ship, "there they are" said Marco as they approached, they were soon underway to their destination, as they were gathered in the bridge Flo then explained, "my goal is to acquire a debt to my organization from a certain individual who shall remain anonymous, as for the whole curses thing I personally dont believe them, however there is a red fog surrounding the Sierra Madre, the fog seems to comprise mostly of rust from under the place, now as to what the Sierra Madre is: It's a former Valuan colony in Ixa'Taka, it was abandoned when the fog turned up and people started disappearing, unfortunately that was all we could dig up" finished Flo as she took a seat, "I'll be joining you since I was briefed on how to deal with certain security measures" she added. Florin has joined the party

[Zorolo]

Zorlo sat quietly and smiled as he listened to her. "Man, these Valuans sure do wind up in peculiar positions. I guess that's how things go, though," the green-haired man said as he smiled and crossed his arms. "Still, it's good to know you're coming with us. Makes me feel less like I'm expendable to your organization," Zorlo said with a chuckle as he kept an eye on the woman for a moment. The man sighed and looked at Meriele before flashing a smile at her. "Well, I guess we're off to where you wanted us to go. I'm happy it isn't just you and me, though. Should be easier this way," he told the FElineko with a smile as he laid back.

[GamerKale]

Ifreeti leaned against the wall, tapping it with her fingers as Flo talked. Looking at the floor she stated, "People don't just disappear, they can be killed or they can be taken, perhaps experimented on and discarded." Ifreeti balled her hands into fists for a second and then released them. Why did that make me so mad? She glared at Flo and started tapping her foot, "But somebody knows what happened to them. So, what are we going to be dealing with once we're there? Since you've been "briefed on how to deal with certain security measures" you clearly have at least some idea. Will we be fighting humanoids, other types of organics, machines, some type of twisted mutation of the two, or non-organic entities of magical origin? You should know exactly what we're extracting or who we're looking for." She added in her head, Unless her group has her and us chasing a myth. "Much as I'd like, I don't expect you to tell us exactly what it is we're hunting for, but is it something or someone? Either way a description would be nice and if it's a person are they going to be willing and able to come with us without assistance or will one of us be carrying them?"

[Kaori]

"Security measure's are traps and locked doors, as to answer your question about any other living being there besides us I highly doubt it, although I will say this, we are not the first to go there, there have been others but they never came out, the samples of we took from the fog indicates a heavy amount of rust, but dont worry, it wont destroy your equipment, also, concentrated pockets of the cloud can be lethal, and do not even think of not breathing, the fog is absorbed by the skin, but like I said only concentrated pockets of it will kill, as for the person he and the organization go way back, I'm not supposed to name him but the item he promised to us as collateral for funding the colony is a statue, he couldnt give it to us due to the city being deserted and he never showed up on sailor's Isle with the statue" said Florin as she sat down to read a book entitled, "The Tragic Death of Bernard Wiseman", Kamille was loading ammo into VAR and strapping on a vest with grenade containers on it, "Crackers, check, HEx, check, Elemental, check" she said to herself, Marco was smoking while steering the wheel, eyes wary, "we'll be arriving shortly, if you need weapons talk to Kamille, if you need more info talk to Flo, if you're ready then talk to me so I could anchor us down" said Marco.

[GamerKale]

Ifreeti grabbed Marco's box of smokes and pulled one out to roll across her knuckles. A statue? That's less interesting than I had expected. I hope it's not too big, I don't want to get stuck carrying something heavy. She added onto Kamille's list, "Cold starved sleep deprived gunslinger, check. Ooh, those look like fun." Ifreeti said as she picked up a grenade container, her fingers played across the pin for several long seconds before she slipped it into a pocket, she also grabbed extra ammo, and at least a dozen packets of food. "I'm going to go find the warmest place on this ship and take a nap. Let me know when we get there." She gripped the doorframe with her fingers and swung out of the room. She seemed to make a point to touch everything on her way to the engine room. Ultimately she found her way on top of the main engine and let it's soothing vibrations lull her to sleep.

[nekoryuuha]

((Sorry, but distracted and such.))

Other then some of the startlement from Ifreeti's fiery outburst earlier, The Felineko merely sat quietly nearby as she listened to the others and double checking her own stash of weapons, a chore in and of itself with the numbers of things she processed within her Requip Space. So then, We're going after a statue in the middle of a blood fog. One that only kills in high concentrations, rather then prolonged exposure...? Now Meriele was sure that strange magics were at hand. What she really wanted was more information on the fog itself, but she really doubted she'd get anything more useful out of Florin on this topic. Not to mention that she had little trust for most here, save Zorlo, as of yet. "....guess I'll just have to wait and see..." she murmured mostly to herself.

[Zorolo]

Zorlo nodded as Meriele's statement. "Yes, we shall see," he said, sitting mostly quietly next to her. So far, things not only sounded needlessly dangerous, but also generally annoying. Still, he had no reason to doubt that things weren't as Florin said they were. And were they, the group would simply adapt... somehow.

The green-haired man removed the book he had bought from his jacket and sat quietly as he began to read it. He had a lot of healing magic to learn quickly if this adventure wished to easily succeed.