Lotsa Parties ( Current location: Termina field) Thread 5

Leighi nodded, "Much appreciated. Although I am primarily here as a replacement, should the Oracle fail, I intend to keep the members of the group alive to the best of my abilities."

Rules suddenly remembered something. "Hey Aero, did Reina talk with Calcifer in private while I was gone?"

"Oh! Uh... He did say something about her making a truce. But I think it was interrupted when the whole... poison-berry fiasco happened." She grinned. "They should be fine with each other now, though, I think. But... knowing Calcifer, he probably still feels a little sour. He'll just try really hard not to show it. It takes time for him to really let someone redeem themselves. Why?"

"Well..." Ruul didn't want to make Reina possibly look bad, but he thought it would be safe to tell just Aero, "I was the one who convinced her to forgive him. Now what's this about poisoned berries?"

"...I sure hope Calcifer doesn't find out she didn't want to in the first place." She thought about the consequences of that for a moment before looking back at Ruul.
"Uh, well, Cal must've eaten something poisonous-- we guess berries or the like when we were waiting for you. He pretty much had a hallucinogenic nightmare fit. He's fine. I wouldn't mention it around him."

Ruul snickered, "I won't then. But Reina didn't do it against her will." Ruul puffed his chest in mock pride, "I just convinced her it was the right thing to do!"

Aero giggled. "What a hero!" She whipped out her bow and an arrow, putting it into place deftly and aiming around. "But this is one damsel in distress you definitely won't be saving."

"We'll see about that," he said grinning, as they arrived the the meeting spot.

"Sure I'll try some." Fist said happily

"Well whatever your job is, you're stuck with us for the long haul. We should head back now." Chaos said as he turned back towards where the group was resting. He took a seat near Fist and took his sword off his back, placing it next to him. "We have transport. We'll be rising early to get settled on board so don't stay up too late." He looked over at Jillian "Which boat are we taking?"

Although it wasn't late, the aimless drifting of the clouds and the darkening sky above him made Kairo tired. Within a few minutes, he had fallen asleep on the pier.

Calcifer walked up to the meeting place as the sun started setting over the horizon. He spotted Kairo lying on the pier far off, knowing by default it was him considering he was the only one with dark hair in the party that wasn't standing around. As he walked, he passed by Aero and gave her a firm pat on the back. Without looking back at her or Ruul, he spoke, "I'm going to keep the lone wolf over there company. Save you all the money of another bed tonight."
"Oh! Are you sure, Calcifer?"
"Yeah. Night under the stars'll do me good."
"...If you insist."
He didn't know if his steps vibrating on the old wooden planks would wake Kairo up or not. A part of him hoped it didn't. He didn't feel the best being out there surrounded by water, but he figured it would be good preparation for actually being on a ship. He reached the end of the worn, wooden precipice, sitting down with his legs hanging off of it with yet another agonizing crack in his left knee. He 'tsk'd, rolling up his pants to reveal a thick white scar, rubbing at the limb idly. "Fuck all," he muttered quietly, the warm orb of the sun sinking ever lower into the cool maw of the water. "Must be the weather here or something," he thought.

"I got us passage on the 'Wind Demon'." Jillian said, "Her Captain's a Zora. He says he wont ask questions, and it's a good fast ship. We'll get to Termina quickly enough, there were some details in the negotiations I wasn't fond of but it'll be alright." She almost felt like she was going to throw up again.

Low vibrations rattled Kairo's body to the edge of sleep. A crack and someone's voice pushed him further towards consciousness. He fought it deftly by rolling over.

The first thing he realised was he was having one of those falling dreams. The next thing he knew he was almost swallowing water. He had rolled off the pier into the ocean below.

Coughing and spluttering, he managed to tread water and catch his breath before looking up at the perpetrator who had woke him.

"Cal?" he said, breathing heavily. "What the hell?"

"Kairo!" Calcifer held tightly to one of the wooden planks jutting up off the side of the pier, leaning over and reaching out a hand to his comrade. He grabbed him and practically yanked him back up onto the pier, his knuckles white from holding onto the plank so hard-- unnecessarily.
He shook Kairo's soaking form once he'd gotten back on the pier. With the shock, the last fading remnants of his old accent shot back into his voice (that he'd tried extremely hard to, and was successful at, eradicate after leaving his country), "You idiot! What are you trying to do, get yourself drowned!? What if I'd fallen in trying to get you? Why would you sleep here if you move in your sleep in the first place? Do you have a fucking death wish, Kairo?"

"I didn't mean to fall asleep!" Kairo said, pulling his hair out of its tie and running his hand through it. "Why the hell did you sneak up on me like that anyway? Were you trying to kill me? Gods! What if I wasn't asleep and I'd attacked you?"

"I hope doesn't mind making a stop at Tokay Island," Ruul said. "Our first target will be there."

"I didn't sneak up on you! I-I just came to sit! I thought you were planning on sleeping out here." Calcifer's voice sank back down to a normal tone, the shock of the moment receding. "...You scared the shit out of me." He turned back indignantly to the sea, going back to nursing his leg. "Jerkoff."

Zoliel looked around as some of the others went their separate ways and it started getting quieter, she guessed that meant the sun was going down. She saw a couple of the others out off the ground, she assumed they were on a boat, maybe a dock, there couldn't be a lot of things out on the water, she thought.
At first Zoliel wandered towards the outside of town, she didn't much like the idea of sleeping inside usually, she didn't trust the group quite yet. Strange to her, the person she thought she trusted most so far was the one who was probably the most visibly threatening to her. She heard a crash of water, a wave she thought, dismissing it, but then she heard shouting. She walked towards it as far as she could see the ground, trying to hear the end of it. She wasn't focused, and ended up missing most of when the yelling started, but she could hear fairly clearly after that, who she thought was the same person she ran into outside Vasu's. She stared towards them for a moment until they quieted down, "Is everything all right?" she shouted.

Jillian shrugged, "I didn't mention it, you might have to pay him more for the detour." Jillian cringed, a stop meant more time below deck for her, she sure hoped it was important.

"Ass," Kairo said pushing Calcifer's shoulder softly.

Turning when he heard Zoliel talk he said, " yeah, Zo, everything's fine, I kinda fell in the water, that's all."

"It's on the way, so it shouldn't be a problem," Ruul answered. "So what were the conditions?"

"Fuck you," Calcifer almost whispered, cheeks turning a little pink, the last glimmers of the sun's rays flickering in his crimson eyes, as if in a dare to get the last insult.

Kairo smiled, more to himself than at Calcifer. "I'll fuck you," he said in an equally quiet voice.

Jillian blushed and placed her face back in her hands, at least she was drunk so it was probably hardly noticeable. "Don't worry about it, they'll get us to Termina."

A chill ran up Calcifer's spine. He went quiet after that.