Walkabout

After the duel, Jazz duly snuck away from the crowd of people and well-wishers, hoping to get back to her alone-time. She had decided to walk north of it, heading at a ginger pace along the plains. She takes a moment to bend down and collecting a flower, plucking it from where it sits in the soil and taking a moment to examine it carefully, but then she's on the move again, a wary eye cast out here and there for any sign of trouble. One never knows, after all. Her tentacles twitch, occasionally lifting this way and that and she draws her coat closter as a chill wind brushes past her, but the small undine's short steps aren't takling her very far, very fast at all and her present destination appears to be one of the many aesthetically placed locales that exist along the paths and roads. In this case, it's a small shrine to one of the Lander Gods. She moves towards it to study it, pulling out ink and map to dot it on to her map, making a note of it. She blows on the ink to dry it, gently, making a disgusted sound at the time and patience it takes to quill this onto her parchment.

A moment later, she sees something unusual and out of place. A colorfully painted rock, tossed aside and glittery in the sun. Exactly the kind of thing that would catch the impulsively inquisitive Undine's attention. She moves towards it, failing to notice the uncertain ground she is stepping upon.

"Oh," she says, as the earth and dried grass falls away, leaving her to fall straight into a pit trap.

"OH COME ON," she shouts. "SERIOUSLY?"

The handful of goblin bandits, who had been laying in ambush wait for the first lander to rob and probably kill on what is likely their scripted encounter for this locale, surge from their hiding spots -- which is seemingly nowhere -- to move up to the pit and begin their loud and racuous jeering.

One, lone adventurer is at something of a disadvantage here.

"OH FUCK ME," says Jazz, with obvious anger and frustration in her voice. "You've /got/ to be shitting me. A pit trap?! SERIOUSLY?!"

    Uta, still in awe at the majestic clash of weapons and utterly amazing display of athletics and the astounding fireworks of magic that went on, was proceeding along the same road as Jazz, just lagging behind. Her legs are slightly longer than Jazz's, but she's more easily distracted, so that would account for her being behind enough.

    The sudden commotion causes her to snap out of her reveries, luckily still from a decent distance. She instantly realizes that monsters are afoot, and she promptly ducks behind a conveniently placed boulder which happens to be lying right off the road. Hiding behind it, tense, heart beating at breakneck speed, and emitting little quiet squeals of terror, it is then that she recognize's Jazz's voice. "...Jazz. Is that... Jazz?"

    No. No, it can't be Jazz. It /must/ not be Jazz. If that was Jazz, it means that it would be Uta's responsibility to go help her, and never having been in a battle before... no, that's too terrifying to even contemplate. Getting into battle means risking getting killed, and she's under strict orders not to get killed. Orders she wholeheartedly agrees with.

    She takes the moment to reach Jazz through the chimlink network, just to make sure. "Jazz, hey, Uta here. Just checking a thing. Are you currently being under attack by a bunch of ugly monster bandits next to a shrine, not far North from the hill where we've watched the duel? Because if not, well, I think we've found you a worthy opponent for the Most Adorable Voice of Yamato."

It had only been a matter of hours since a ship had arrived from Ezzo, carrying yet another load of Landers and Adventurers to their 'salvation'. Kita had been among those onboard. Many had prioritized getting Adventurers on the boats, but having spent three weeks in a land with little food and water, literally falling appart around their feet, had left a shadow over her eyes. There are things that stick with a person, giving them sharp edges where one might not expect.

The witch had been making her way towards Alne, a slow journey for someone going solo. There is a split second where the shouts hit her ears and she hesitates, the temptation to ignore it pulling at her. "Fuck it." The blue-haired sorceress breaks into a run in the direction of the voice and sounds of jeering goblins.

She skids to a stop, breathing hard, obviously not used to athletic persuits. The girl pushes her glasses up on her nose, glaring in the direction of the monsters around the pit trap. Kita doesn't exactly look intimidating, a tattered coat clings over a black dress and dark leggings. The imp's wings twitch as she raises her hands, fingertips delicately tracing out a circle in the air. A moment iater, it ignites in glowing runes, etched by the passage of her hand. "Forces of the underworld, I summon thee." She chants.

The circular runes form together into a mass of dark energy. It wraps around her hand, fingers clutching at it. Then, the Imp reels back and launches it towards a goblin closest to the pit. "Not today, assholes."

    Xander was coming to the goblin camp for observation reasons, but what he finds is, well, a battle! He raises his brow gently and walks over to the edge of the locate to see an imp casting dark magic and Uta, well, being Uta really!

All their focus seeming to be on the group of imps below and someone trapped in a pit. The Salamander's eyes narrow slightly, before he just leaps off and slides down the grassy hill, sword and shield coming into hand.

    If he can do this right...

    His sword glows gently as he tries to focus on the point and as the runes ignite on the blade, he lifts it up as he comes to a skidding halt on the flat of the ground.

Where Jazz is, the earth would rumble, before it would suddenly rise up, lifting her up and above the trap. Xander however, keeps his focus on what he is doing. "Get her to safety!" He barks out loudly, hoping those around can hear him.

Emiko on the other hand had missed the duel, roaming the area around the town to try to teach her little fox pet Kogitsune how to behave and all. Which wasn't all that easy as it had pretty much a mind of its own and loved to simply ignore the orders and instead play with whatever came in front of it. Then... the screams.

Starting to run, Emiko made purchase into the direction of the sounds, readying the weapon at her side. This time, Kogi folowed without further notice, either because he wanted to see himself, or because he listened to the order to follow. Didn't matter, someone might need help.

Then... Goblins. She groaned as she reached to pick up her pet fox and try to get him to her shoulder while the chain on her weapon rippled free. "JET SPRAY!" she yelled, swinging it like a wand.

It would seem that the activity of the 'grotesque' humanoid monsters was on a raise of late. Hunting and raiding parties venturing farther from their known 'nest' locations and making a nuicance of themselves. Still not the smartest of creatures per say, but the were dangerously clever, and often had numbers to make up for not being any more indivually strong than the Adventurers are. Goblins were nasty little things, but at times had their uses... but this was not one of those times.

The rowdy cheering and jeering at their catch is interrupted by something else louder, ominous yet rythmic in its low and sunderous tones. Like someone harmonizing a dirge without any actual words.

And then there's a *CRACK* as a whip of darkness splits the air, lashing one goblin across the face. It cracks a second time as he's dazed, grabbing around his neck and yanking him away from the pack. He lands at the feet (more accurately hooves) of a rather tall figure, the dark cloud and general mysterious are around her the likely reason she went unnoticed until she struck.

"Tsk tsk." The ominous harmonics dull when she speaks instead. "You little bastards forcing me to be up and about so early." She pulls on the whip as she puts her hoof down on top the goblin, strangling the little felon until he poofs.

There's more to this new life than just fighting monsters! There's also side-quests... and escort quests... and fetch quests...

This life is mainly quests.

At least there's EXP after it.

She was singing to herself along the road back to town when she hears the cussing. Uhm. Sounds like someone's in a spot of trouble. Well she wasn't carrying anything with her, so it' sjust a quick side step into the wood. Or a jump for her. She leaps from branch to branch, something she found actually pretty damn fun now that her physicaly abilities allow her to do it.

She finds the others already in the middle of taking care of a handful of goblins. And a hole. That must be where the cussing comes from. Quickly accessing the situation, she moves in.

From Jazz's viewpoint, there would be a rope suddenly dangling down from the center of the pit. Reika attached it to the branch she was on. And right under that same branch, a goblin finds a blade through its neck, before it could figure out where the attack comes from.

So, there was Jazz. At the bottom of a pit. She was already contemplating her next move as the goblins hurled stones at her. A shield for her own protection, first, allowing the debris to harmlessly bounce off her. She can't keep that up forever, of course, but it gave her a moment to think of her next move. That's when her chimlink pings her and she 'hears' Uta's voice. Oh, come on.

"What? Yes, I'm in a fucking pit. Are... were you following me? N... nevermind, augh, I'm -- " and then there's the sounds above the pit as the goblins are in the midst of being assaulted. A rope hits her in the face, thrown from above, and she grabs hold of it, and then she's just about to say something else when the earth beneath her forms a column that bursts her out of the pit. She falls off it, going end over end and tumbling to a halt, hat still somehow on her head, and looking miserable.

Unfortunately for her, miserable is still adorable. Perhaps more so, if you like that kind of thing.

Lighting crackles around her eyes and fingertips as she slowly rises to her feet, prepared to blast some goblins to polygons.

Only, as she looks around, it would appear they're all... you know...

... dead.

She drops, silently, with a sigh. "...well, okay then," she mumbles, clearly feeling a bit flustered, if not outright humiliated, by this moment.

The goblins, though, they're just really, really dead.

A puff of what looks like smoke but could just be some dust because they're outside emits from the entity as she snorts. She gives a shake of her head to let the hood of her cloak slip off, and the mane of midnight hues to spill free around the equestrian features beneath. "Little assholes."

There's no goblin left since he derezzed but she stomps that stuff and grinds her hoof a bit anyways, just because. "Just fortunate I don't have access to the terrible fiends I previously did."

Then she looks up to the others that had congregated on the spot to dispel the little bandit party. "Hn." The whip is given a light flick to the air so she can grab more of the length and twirl it back into a looped coil to hang on her belt. "If I had known there were so many Adventurers on the prowl this morn, I would of slept in." She smiles calmly.

Though that smile is not exactly the most calming expression. Instead of blunt teeth one would expect of an equine it bares rather sharp ones, with a set of long narrow fangs that would look a lot more at home in a viper's mouth instead.

    Uta is still quivering behind her boulder, when Jazz's fragmented response comes.

    She closes her eyes. Oh no. Oh no. This is it. This is really it.

    The time for battle has come.

    Uta, the newbie, the blunder, the one who couldn't even start making potions, which is supposed to be her job, without a worrying number of them exploding in her face.

    Being a klutz would be fine in a civilized society, but here it can mean /death/.

    "No, no! Remember your training!", Uta suddenly admonishes herself, sternly. She breathes in deeply.

    Ripple to flashback.

    * * *

    Establishing shot, a used cart lot in the vicinity of a swamp.

    A short, squat Spriggan adventurer with very long ears, a squished, balding egg-shaped head (but a bit of straight, white hair sticking out sideways, along with a not-quite-goatee composed of white mustache and some chin beard), kind but intense eyes, and vaguely Okinawan features rests on a stick.

    "Master Miyoda, I have waxed and dewaxed all the carts, can I go home now?"

    "No, young one, boulders you must lift now."

    "...not with my mind, right?"

    "That already I told you. No, with your legs. The crane you will operate."

    "Oh, right!", exclaims Uta, "I forgot about that. So, it's some sort of... bike?"

    "...not quite, no. Mmm."

    Cut to Uta hanging onto a horizontal bar affixed to a ceiling, dangling down for it. Her feet are as far apart as she manages to get them, lodged into a couple of 'handles' in a large, horizontally placed wooden wheel , which is part of some sort of complex mechanical crane, kind of like the mechanism of a mill. Ropes go around the gears, and eventually dangle from a pulley. With a superhuman effort, Uta pushes the wheel to turn, as if her legs were trying to unscrew giant cap from a bottle, and the boulder lifts by fractions of an inch.

    "Leg day never skip you must!", admonishes master Miyoda.

    "Stop talking like that, we're both Japanese!"

    * * *

    Uta, her breathing now steadied, opens her eyes again. "Let's do this."

    She jumps out of her boulder, and rushes into the thick of battle. "I'M COMING TO SAVE YOU, JAZZ!", she screams, as she rushes, "Even if this is gonna kill me! Which it almost certainly it's going to do! BUT I DO NOT FEAR THIS, because-"

    Realization hits in a one-two double take.

    First of all, there are no goblins left. The battle is over already.

    Second, well, look who's there.

    "...Xander! What a surprise to see you here!", she exclaims, in an obviously affected thin layer of cheerfulness badly hiding an undercurrent of dread. "I was totally not trying to get myself killed, just like you've told me not to."

It is almost a relief for Kita that there are others also answering to the call for aid. It means that she doesn't have to play the role of big-damn-hero. It really doesn't suit her. She stands back from the fray, allowing the others to deal with the bigger problem, watching with some hint of wry amusement.

"And on today's episode of 'will it blend' in Elder Tale online: Goblins." The darkly dressed imp folds her arms across her chest. Her blue eyes flick to the horse-like Were Fang. "Well, at least we didn't have to waste too much MP."

Then, her gaze finds Jazuhanzu, and the Imp sort of stares for a long time. Perhaps she has never seen anything quite that adorable before. Whatever the case, she eventually blinks, "You alright?" It sounds more like something said out of expectation rather than real concern, but it is hard to tell. "How the hell did you get into this mess in the first place? Goblins aren't exactly stealthy." She raises a hand to her nose, "I'm surprised you couldn't smell them."

She seems to eye the others, all unfamiliar faces, but for now, Kita isn't exactly offering introductions. The black mage just looks tired and wary.

Reika gives a whip with her blade, removing the last bits of goblin digital remains left on it. She finally takes a look at everyone present, and smiles "Oh hey everyone. Guess we all hpapened to be close by then?" She bows her head politely in greeting. She looks over to Jazz that they saved "How did you even fall into such a hole anyway? You should look where you walk."

She's seen Xander before as well, but she doesn't know most of the others. And Uta, she met only before the apocalypse, so she wasn't really paying attention at the time. Just another face in the crowd of fans for her.

    Jazuhanzu has been saved and with that, he lowers his sword and the earth pillar breaks apart back down into the pit. It wasn't as clean in Xander's mind as the time he used the pillars to make a steps, but it still worked really.

"You alright?" He asks Jazz directly, which seems to fall right in or around the same time Kita asks. This has Xander back off a little, as the Salamander figures based on a quick glance, that Kita might be better served to check her out.

    Though he does run a quick inspect on her and on Jazz. His attention turns to Uta anyways who at last comes out from behind a rock. He tilts his head to the side, giving her a raised brow. "... You know, hesitation is another form of getting yourself killed, right?"

Xander walks up to her and leans his six-foot frame down just a bit to look her eye to eye. "Don't ever hesitate. Create a plan, execute the plan, but don't hesitate. That can be the difference between life and death." Then goes to stand back up fully.

    Xander would give a nod to Reika and address the others one by one, but over all he simply says, "Good work everyone!" Then goes to sheath his sword, but his hand doesn't move far from the hilt of his blade.

Emiko scoffs as she gathers her chain to tie it back up to the shaft of her weapon, tucking it back to her side. "Well well, seems like we got the better of them. It's annoying... as if goblins do come here in such a bulk while landers do seem not to do so readily..."

That's when the fox on the vulpine Cait Sith protests with a yeeping sound, just before it darts down the arm and down to the ground, the nose twitching and jumping over to Jazuhanzu, looking up with large kit eyes. "meeep?"

Emiko's face goes pale a moment and she dars after the orange-red fuzzball. "KOGITSUNE! You can't just pounce strangers!" she tries to hold the small one back, giving Uta and Xander a quick nod as she snatches him off the ground to tuck him onto her arm. "therethere... Sorry about that... eh... I'm Emiko, this is Kogitsune, and you are..."

Swarmed by well wishers and concerns for her well being just seems to leave Jazz rather tongue-tied. She stares at each person in turn in a wide-eyed expression that only has the barest hint of being like a cornered animal, but... still a little bit there. She's definitely feeling a bit crowded at tis point.

And then there's a fuzzball bounding towards her and she steps back and falls on her bottom again. Then there's a sigh.

"...today is just not going my way," she utters. "Yeah, I'm okay." Yes, her voice is dang cute. Like her voice actress was striving to be The Cute One and got the job on the strength of her formance. Seriously, they must've been applauding.

"... I doubt they even spawned in until someone walked over the trap and there was this little painted stone. I was curious." she adds. "Do things still spawn in like that? Were they just... waiting in the barn the whole time?" She muses aloud, absently. She picks herself back up and then brushes herself off. She feels like she's forgetting someting in all the havoc, but right now, there's too much going on to take notice of it. "Th-... thanks," she manages to offer all around, seeming a bit uncertain of what to do next admist all this.

A narrowed gaze is cast in Xander's direction when the two of them seemingly echo one another. The witch reaches her hand up, fingertips left bare but her palm covered in black material, then lightly tugs the edge of her pointed hat in a nod. The Imp certainly looks the part she is trying to portray, with dark clothing and a distinctly witchy feel about her attire.

Her attention is mostly on the Undine, though. "It's probably a trap meant to catch low level Adventurers." Of course, they are all low-level Adventurers now, but some have more experience than others. "Seemed pretty normal to me." She pauses for a beat. "Then again, everything seems pretty normal compared to Ezzo. I'll take goblin traps over bugged out monsters any day."

The antics of Emiko's fox almost... almost break her demeanor. Kita has a soft spot for animals, but she manages to keep her expresson mostly impassive. "Cute. An adorable Undine and a charming fox. I'm going to get cavities from the sweetness of it all."

She might have just ignored the Salamander male, except then he starts giving orders and acting like he was somehow in charge of this random group of passers-by. "Who died and made you drill sergeant?" She gives him a look. It isn't quite a glare, as it doesn't seem to have that sort of emotion there. "Cool your jets, GI Joe."

Reika's eyes go wide at the cute little kitsune, giggling softly. It looks so fluffy~

Reika herself is a rising idol in the real world, with her face in many advertisements, magazines, and even a song that was running on the stations before this happened. Here though, she's just a Spriggan dressed in a short yukata with a fishnet chainmail underneath, making her look like a sort of assassin.

Another thing that made her stand out was being the first player death in this world, she was a bit of a curiosity after she respawned at the church. Other than that, her presence still stands out as a spokeperson for the Hamelin guild, as their recruiter during the recent drive.

She looks to everyone that greet and presents herself, although some here would already know her because of her worl "And I'm Reika." She looks to Jazz, and hms "It's a game, although it seems to stretch out of the limits of what a game should do, so who knows. Maybe like Landers they are also learning new patterns."

    Uta gulps at Xander, but doesn't say much. Someone's been caught messing up, and that someone is staying silent and taking the lesson quietly.

    "...I know that now. No hesitation. Act quickly." Said slowly, just loud enough to be clearly understood, as she breaks eye contact to look at the ground. Eyes still down, she glances up as if for saying something, but eventually looks down again. She must have figured that Xander can defend himself much better than Uta could always do.

    While everything else goes on, she takes some time to wander about, getting closer to Jazz. Now standing behind her, as her voice goes Extreme Cuteness, one hand silently reaches out to pat Jazz on the head, but luckily for her, she manages to snap out of it, bite her lower lip, and stop just a moment before the pat actually takes place. Instead, she forces herself to wander around some more, and inspect the scene.

    She kneels over to look into the pit. "...broken inkwell. Quill," she comments, quietly, absent-mindedly, almost if talking to herself, but loud enough for other people to hear. She looks up to Jazz. "You were drawing a map, right? You said so this morning at the duel. I'd say, this spot /definitely/ needs to be marked. We don't want people to get here without knowing what they're getting into. Give me a second..."

    She flicks through her menu, taps a few options, and a cheap, yet shiny-brand-new set consisting of inkwell, quill, and parchment materializes in her hands. Inkwell dangling from a string around her wrist, quill in one hand, scroll in the other hand. "Here, my friend." she says, taking a few, solemn steps towards Jazz. "I saved up some of my meager income to buy these. I was saving them for a special occasion, but... I think this is more important. It is vital that we do not waste what little, precious resources we have on friviolous- OH MY GOODNESS, IS THAT REIKA!?" She gasps and rushes over. "REIKA! REIKA! FINALLY!", she exclaims, waving her writing-implement-holding hands at her, as if she wanted to show off what she was holding. "WILL YOU SIGN AN AUTOGRAPH FOR ME?!"

Kauchemar raises a brow at the small fox for a moment. But between the creature and it's master that name does make sense.

She shrugs and then sweeps her arm down into a grandiose bow. "Kauchemar Tenebrae, the Muse of Midni- " She stops as the excitement at the well known idol interrupts her. She really shouldn't be surprised.

    Xander watches Uta as she then goes off to the others, though when Kita makes her remark, he glances over to. His face lack any expression toward her words, but he does eventually give her a smile; though it wasn't an overly friendly one. "Kita. Is it?" He then shifts his weight slightly. "Mind your own, huh?"

Then he turns away from her, before looking over to Reika, there is a smile there. Now a warm one, "Reika, good to see you again." He watches as Uta tries to get her autograph. "I see Uta hasn't given up on that yet." He laughs softly, before he attention turns over to Jazuhanzu once more.

His brows furrow gently, before he calls over to her but keeps his distance still so she isn't crowded, though he does give a gentle wave to Emiko, "Jaz-u-hanzu, right?" It was easy to tell her name was giving him just a tad bit of trouble. "You built that compass yeah? Found the real pole direction?"

Emiko seems to make a quick mental note at the names mentioned, leaving Jazuhanzu as the last. For a few moments she draws katakana in the air to try to get it spelled out. "Like... Jazu Hanzu? Is that a hint to the Hanzos?" Emiko asks finally, then eyes Xander. "Compass? That could really help. I mean, for navigation... but wasn't there the worldmap everybody had?"

She fluffs the little fox again, then sets him down at the feet, where he sniffles the ground before darting over to the horsy one, yipping up to her, as if asking for something, then looking expectantly.

Kauchemar squats down to get closer to the level of the yapping kit. Lightly pats him on the head with one hand.

o/~ What does the fox say o/~

Reika blinks as Uta goes from all business to fangirl in 0.3 seconds. She hehes "I can give you one, but you just said that this is precious, and my autograph really isn't worth much in this... situation, you could say." She's still popular, but what's the use of it here? She pats Uta on the head thought, giggling "I think she needs it more than an autograph. And I can always give you one later too."

She waves a hand, pulling up her menu, and soon after Uta gets a 'ping', showing her there's a friend request. "For all of the problems this world has... thsi is still pretty convenient, don't you think?"

She nods to Xander with a smile "Nice to see you again as well." It looks like the idol has learned to smile again at least in this world, and is staying upbeat. She's learned to not be such a burden on the rest of the party too, from the looks of it.

As others start to offer up names, Kita seems to hesitate before finally offering out her own, "Kita." It doesn't come with the usual pleasantries one might expect for someone who is Japanese. Short and to the point, the witch gives a nod, though she seems to be keeping a slight bit of distance from them, just as she had kept at range from the Goblins. It gives her a few seconds head-start if these people turn out to be less than the wholesome group they seem to be.

This time, she does shoot a glare at Xander. "Don't act like you're the party leader, and I will." She's prickly at the moment, that much is certain. The girl rolls her eyes, the urge to just turn away from them all and continue on her journey is a strong one. Her hands clench into fists.

"Listen. I just got back from Ezzo." Her eyes flick to Reika, perhaps because the girl looks vaguely familiar from her time there. "If you have any idea what it was like there, then you'll get why I'm not exactly a happy camper right now. I'm just trying to get to Alne." She bites at her lower lip, trying to contain emotions, "I have someone I need to find, and yet here I am, playing hero."

She sighs then, seemingly trying to let some of her frustration go. "Have any of you seen a red-headed Salamander Crusader. About this tall..." She holds a hand up higher than herself. "Probably has no idea what she's doing because I dragged her into this mess and got her stuck here..." That might explain some of the attitude, since Kita clearly blames herself for getting someone else trapped.

The discomfort is real!

Jazz is *definitely* uncomfortable, her hands at her sides, fingers wiggling back and forth as she tries to get a grasp of all the people and conversation that are *suddenly here* and all around her. And all she really wanted was a nice, pceaful walk away from town. "You're probably right," she muses to the Imp, agreeable enough towards that. The interaction between Xander and Uta, and Kita's quip towards the former, earns a snort from the Undine. Perhaps she found the GI Joe reference funny, but then, she retains a vaguely American accent so perhaps she merely 'undersetood that reference'. Then she's got the inkwell and quill, a little worse for wear, being handed to her by Uta and she actually looks... a little appreciative.

"... thanks," she mumbles, looking down at the remains in her hands and then the fresh ones given over to her by Uta who is suddenly distracted by Reika, leaving her staring after her for a long moment with a slightly dumbfoudned expression. SLowly, she pockets the fresh quill and inkwell into her oversized coatq's pockets and finds herself being addressed by Xander.

"... uh... that's... that's me," she offers, blinking her big, almost luminous eyes at him. She looks caught off guard at having someone have actually /heard/ of her and, as a result, looks even more profoundly uncomfortable than she did a moment ago. The tentacles hanging from her head are writhing in obvious anxiety.

    Uta's eyes grow two sizes. "...This is the happiest day of my life. I have a friend request from Reika, I get an autograph later, I get to play my part in saving adventurers. And a pat! On the head! I'm never gonna wash my hair again."

    After a moment of reflection, she adds, "Ok, no, actually, I'm gonna wash it, or it's gonna stink." Her expression twists into annoyance. "Why did the programmers put all that effort into making hair /stink/, but couldn't make a freakin' /sandwich/ taste like one?!" She sighs, calming herself, and continues, "It is pretty convenient. Yes. I'm gonna miss this when we get out."

    She turns to Jazz. "...wow, Jazz, /everyone/ seems to know you around here. I... I should preventively ask you for an autograph." It's not clear if she's teasing or not.


Noticing Emiko, she raises a finger as if she was about to ask something, but decides against. Probably not the right moment. Too much going on.

    She listens to Kita with her full attention, but just shakes her head at the end. "Didn't meet many salamanders, I'm afraid."

    And finally, a blink at Kauchemar.

    "...why do you want to know? Is this a 'mare curiosity'?"

    Xander looks over to Kita, he isn't showing her much more emotion, but his brows do furrow. He studies her for a moment, before looking at the area, then back to her. "I'll give you a hand to get to Alne. I need to see if anything else is needed for my Alliance's HQ and get some items in order." He gently, very gently smirks. "Luckly, that is all in Alne."

His attention turns over to Emiko and he gives a nod, "Yes, and from my understanding," He motions to Jazz, "She made a compass without using the menu, which ended up pointing west instead of north." Watching as Kauchemar is busy with cute fox, who seems to be challenging Jazz on levels of cuteness.

    Now Jazz gets Xander's fully attention once more. "The question is, how." He then rubs his chin gently. "And can she do it again." His hands fall by his side. "Because if you can do it again, ma'am. I would be interested in seeing you do it."

Reika was in Ezzo, so that might be why she looks familiar to Kita. Not to mention she got killed by the Guardian there, it was quite the event for many, since it was first death and noone knew what would happen. Just the omnious tomestone she left behind.

She looks to Kita "Well Alne is a little ways from here, so you're also almost there." She smiles, and slides fingers through her long hair, pushing it behind her shoulder again. It tends to go pretty crazy on its own.

She smiles to Uta "Yes, deep breathes, nothing to get too excited about. You'll get more pats if that's what you like." Uta is so eager for the idol's attention.

Kauchemar looks up from the fox kit at Uta's pun laiden inquiry. "What? Foxes are capable of a lot of different vocalizations." Maybe she was asking how many of those variations are present? Who knows. Weird horse woman is weird.

Nostrils briefly flare with a short snort. "I've heard about the chaos over there. Makes me rather glad I stuck with the Outcasts," she remarks, almost off-handedly.

Then grins at Reika, those snake-like fangs showing again. "Ah, the woes of being famous, ney?" NOT NEIGH... though it does sound exactly the same.

Grudgingly, Kita gives the Salamander a nod. "I'd... appreciate that." His attitude might rub her the wrong way, but she isn't about to turn down help when it is offered. "Alliances? That must be that new menu option." She hasn't been around for much of the organization of the various groups. "Well, I'll take whatever help I can get."

It's no surprise that others might have no idea who she is talking about. Kita just nods, the worry remaining written on her features. "Well, those of us from Ezzo are Outcasts now, too. I don't have any intentions on going back there if I can help it."

Her arms fold back across her chest, the gesture almost defensive. Yet, her eyes linger on Reika. It's hard to tell if it's because she is from Ezzo, or because Kita recognizes her the same place as those like Uta. At least she isn't showing any obvious fan-girl tendencies. "How did you get out? Didn't you... die?" She asks.

The intensive focus Xander has on Jazz has her taking a step back. She's very uncomfortable with it, actually, but she takes a moment to take a deep breath and tilts her pointed hat forward.

"Yeah," she tells him. "I can do it again. It was a bit prickly to get the mangetism right, but it's just a metal needle, some water, a cork, and a bowl. Get me those and I can make another one for you, I suspect." She folds her arms across her chest, now, lips pursed.

It just makes her look like she's adorably pouting.

Uta gives it a little thought, then adds, "A compass that always points west is still useful. I mean, as long as you know which way it points..." blink. Lip bite. Must not pinch Jaz's cheeks. Must not pinch Jaz's cheeks...

    The dark scaled Salamander gives Jazz a soft, gentle smile compared to that intense look of his. "Awesome. I'll see what I can gather up then, once some tasks are done for this weekend."

Xander looks over to Kita, "Mm. Alliances are-- it might be easier to explain on the way there." He says to her, "If that is alright with you?"

    He then looks over to Reika, then others, before shifting his weight slightly. "Anyways, I probably should go make sure the area is clear. Just incase there are more goblins around or something." He raises up his hand, "It was good to meet and see you all again." Before he lowers his hand.

The Salamander then looks to Kita, "I'll be waiting over there," He points to the south-east. "When you are ready, come and meet me. We will go to Alne." Then he goes to make his way to do a little patrol.

All the talk about compasses, magnetics and poles is enough to get quiet interest from Kita, but she hasn't been here long enough to understand the importance of such a thing.

She looks to Xander, "Sure." Her responses still seem clipped, uncertain, but her gaze follows him as he heads out. A glance is given back to Reika, though, lingering for another of those long moments. "We'll have to talk later. I want to know what happened."

Kita leaves it at that, then falls in to step behind Xander. The Imp still seems troubled, but perhaps this is a lead to resolving one of her problems.