Meeting the Landers: Heroes

Some of the Heroes of Yamato are getting together in Alne, drawn there by fate, and to check out the Adventurer situation.

OOC: This meeting is for those who have a Lander Hero as their Patron.

Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"I still can't believe you pulled that off."

"I keep telling you."

"Oh yes - the strongest man in the world. I wonder what the Adventurers think of that - haha."

A rather unusual pair step into Hostess of Fertility. A young man with bright red hair, wearing loose clothing and carrying something that almost looks like a coffin on his back. A box containing who knows what, which he puts down next to his chair as he steps on in. Following right along with him is what looks like a Bun Bun Cait Sith - a young lady with blonde hair and a pale cloth that suggests some kind of noble heritage.

"The others should be right along." The girl expresses, before raising her hand; "Mia! Could we get some of the good stuff?!" She calls out to the chonky and muscled Gnome that runs the bar.

"One of the girls will be right with you, Nashetania love~." The Gnome answers, and one of the Pookas soon joins on in.

"Of course I'm stronger than the Adventurers." Adlet declares boldly. "Hey you!" He points to Nevarri. "You seem like the good Adventurer type! Come over here! Let's armwrestle! I've got something to prove. I'll buy you one of the /good/ drinks if you win!"
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"... Huh."

Kaleido looks up from their plate of fruit. "That looks like..."

The birdish were fang narrows their eyes, watching the group coming in through the front door. One of them looks familiar - by description or static image, or perhaps just by the personality of the person they've been interacting remotely with.

A moment later, they stand up, dusting themselves off, and double-checking their appearance in a hand mirror before heading over towards the Cait Sith. It occurs to them to just use their 'investigate' function, but...

"Excuse me," the were fang says. "Nashetania? Is that you, in the flesh?"
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

It isn't that there's a lack of interest in the Landers made their way into the Hostess of Fertility, but Nevarri had never been expressly good at dealing with Landers, at least on a regular basis. She was always more of a explorer type anyway, and had usually gone out a lot on her own for the most part.

Sometimes though, you just get pulled in, right?

The redhaired salamander girl blinks a little from her seat, munching on her own little plates of fruit, her attention drawn to the Landers mostly out of curiosity since they were here...

And then one of them points her out...

"..." She blinks and looks about her vicinity before pointing at herself, "Wait, me? I think you've confused me for one of the muscle types, Mr. Lander."
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"You're a Salamander aren't you? Come on, show me what you've got!" It's clear that Nevarri has tried to rebuke him with a suggestion she is too weak to prove a challenge. "You're an Adventurer! Come on!" He taps the table and puts up his arm, waiting for Nevarri to take the invitation.

"Adleeeeet - don't be mean to the Adventurer. You can tell she doesn't want any of this."

"But this is important! Come on." Adlet complains back, "Hah! Look over there, it's a distraction." He then points to Kaleido, who seems to be approaching.

"I won't fall for tha~ Oh! Heeeeey!" Pause, ponder. She rather cutely places a finger to her lips, pondering dearly about the bird's name, before she adds: "Kaleido!" She got it in one, though it did take her a moment. "Come come! Sit!" She pats the big bench next to her as one of the Pooka comes over with /amazing/ smelling wine.

She puts it down for Nashetania, and then looks at her questioningly while nudging her head towards Adlet. "Oh him? Just get him a water or something. Or maybe a juice."

"I'm not a little kid." Adlet rejects Nashetania's presumption. "I'll have what she is having."
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

A flicker of a a frown crosses Kaleido's beak when it takes Nashetania a moment to recall his name, but it passes quickly.

"Ah - gladly, gladly," says the bird, taking a seat. "I'd been meaning to talk to you - but so many other matters pop up."

They does a mock-half bow. "Please, please do forgive me - I know you have been *sorely* deprived by my lack of presence, and I shall seek to endeavor to correct that, forthwith. Surely, you shall have all the Kaleido you can handle - a surfeit of Kaleido, a surplus, overflowing your silos and spilling out into your streets."

"... Though what brings you out here to Aine, of all places?"
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Nevarri blinks as the only person in this room that understood where she was coming from gets promptly distracted, before sighing and pushing herself up from her seat and making her way over to Adlet and begins flicking her fingers in front of her so she can give the Lander a bit of a preliminary scan.

"Alright, alright, but don't be surprised if I'm surprisingly flimsy... Adlet?" She double checks his name, as she sits in front of him, putting her arm up into arm wrestling position, though from her lack of bracing she clearly doesn't do this on a regular basis.

She may as well converse with the guy, "There really are other, more strength based adventurers around, you know, 'Mister Strongest Man in the World'." She gives the guy a good once over just to be sure. "I'm a caster type. Magic is more what I do... And you know... Drawing maps."
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Nashetania grins at that little frown of Kaleido's. How does on even see a frown with a Fang anyhow, when they have a beak like that? "Just so many colors." She interupts a little bit into Kaleido's tirade in just how much Kaleido she's going to have to deal with, and she reaches forward and tries to touch the sides of that beak to get a better look.

"Wow." She titters excitedly, like the playful noble brat she is. "Oh? Me and the rest of the Heroes were going to meet up!" She explains. "With You and the Adventurers all /stuck/ here once again, things finally stop being in this state of status quo! So we're hoping we can make some magic happen between the lot of us!" She explains.

"Of course, that requires all of the Heroes to actually get here on time." She looks around. "But it looks like it's just me and Adlet for now!"

Speaking of Adlet, the youth grips Nevarri's hand and braces himself. "Here, put your leg like so." He shows it off. "And then put your other hand like this so you can counterbalance your push." Normally he's all for cheating. But he's gotta show off to Nashetania!
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Kaleido lets themself be touched, but doesn't stop talking during it.

"That actually raises a very good question, one that's been on my mind..."

Kaleido orders some more fruit, if the server comes back around.

"We adventurers have our goals - long lists of short and long term ones, of which forging a pathway home is just one of them. I could spend the whole evening talking about them to you - what we hope to accomplish, how we hope to accomplish it, what intermediate steps we're taking towards those goals, and what we will and won't do to achieve them."

"And all that's been the subject of considerable debate, the drawing of lines in the sand, so on and so forth - already we've broken into three groups, you might have noticed..."

"... I'm rambling a bit. My point is. I know a lot about what adventurers want."

Kaleido flicks one of Nashetania's ears gently.

"What I don't know, is what do *landers* want? What do *heroes* want?"

"What do *you* want to accomplish, more concretely than 'changing the status quo', since that's going to happen anyway?"
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"Okay..." Nevarri does actually indulge Adlet by following instructions, shifting her seating to accomodate the now proper arm-wrestling method, left hand gripping the side of the table, and once she's ready she just nods, "Ready when you are, I guess.." Not actually expecting to put up much resistance arm-wrestling wise.

Her blue eyes peer up at Adlet, as she tilts her head, "So... Heroes huh? Is that an official title then?" Curiosity getting the better of her, always having been a bit of a lore junky. Came with the territory of searching for secrets in the game world.
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"Hmmm? A question?" Nashetania asks, tilting her head just a little and releasing Kaleido's beak. "What, already trying to go home? You only just got stuck here." She remarks.

"Nashetania, try to think of them. They got plucked straight out of their world and are now stuck here - if the legends are to be believed. You wouldn't like being dragged into some other world, and being stuck there, would you?" Adlet chimes in, right as his arm comes down, and presses Nevarri down to the table!

"HAH! I win. Strongest man in the world." The wine then gets delivered just in time, and he sniffs at it... then crinkles his nose, and pushes it to Nevarri. "A gift." He decides. Seems he doesn't want to have weird fruity alcohol after all. "Yep. Hero!" He pulls his shirt aside a bit to show off part of his bare chest, with a logo of what looks like a flower just below his collarbone. "One for each race!"

"Except for the Spriggans." Nashetania quickly chimes in, which gets her a little scowl from Adlet. "Yes yes - except for the Spriggans. As far as we know." He remarks, before looking back to Nevarri. "Exemplars of our species, they call us. There's always one of us around. Some say that we inherit the powers of the Travelers."

In the meantime, Nashetania continues on talking with Kaleido. "I mean... we'd like there to be no more Monsters. If we could freely expand across our territories, that'd be great. The Undine want to take back their underwater Kingdoms as well." So she explains. "Some Landers want you lot gone - as Adventurers tend to cause /allllll/ these problems. But you solve more than you cause. So on average, I think they also want you to stay."

She then glances to Adlet. "As for the Heroes, we want what the rest of the Landers want of course. To keep our people safe, and defeat the Monsters and secure a peaceful time." She explains. "Kill the Leviathans, clear out all of the monster nests. But unlike the Adventurers... we are not immortal. We're just super strong."
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Kaleido goes poker-face at the 'Adventurers cause all these problems' line. It's true, though.

"Reclaiming the underwater kingdoms..."

Kaleido street-magics a book out of their inventory, and makes a note in it. "Clear out monster nests, kill leviathans, reclaim underwater kingdoms."

"The theme there seems to be as you say - space to expand. Area control versus the monster threats..."

"... Do you think it's possible to clear spaces out permanently, though? The monsters don't just respawn?"

The avian fang raises an expressive eyebrow.
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"You'd be surprised how many of us aren't in a rush to get back..." Nevarri interjects into the subject of Adventurer's wanting to leave, though she does shift her focus onto the arm wrestling contest to at the very least give Adlet a fair shot, but as she had previously established, she does not have the physicality.

So she relents and pulls her arm back, shaking it a bit of the soreness before it seems to go away naturally. "Strongest man huh? I mean, I'm sure beating girl in an arm wrestling contest is pretty up there in achievements." She sticks her tongue out at him to let him know the sentiment is in jest.

She sits back and stares at the wine, before looking to the bar and asking, "Water please..." She looks to Adlet and sighs, "Even if I did drink, I'm not even going to get my hopes up of it actually tasting like a real drink."

She grabs another apple and munches onto it, enjoying the luxury of her taste buds there, before her attention is back at the pair of heroes, "The apex of your races huh? You guys really must be a big deal... Though I guess if that's... Nine of you? Yamato's a lot of ground to cover between you all."

There is a lingering pause, before she leans, "Who're the Travelers?" She had been so caught up in trying to be comfortable enough in the game world that she hadn't put as much time into digging at the lore as she used to.
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"Hmm? Oh, if you clear Monster Nests, they stop breeding." She tilts her head, almost like she didn't quite hear him. "You see, when a monster daddy and a monster mommy love eachother very much..." Nashetania begins, before she just bursts out in laughter and motions both hands in front of her. "Ahhh, what am I saying." She touches her face, looking a bit embarassed.

"Some of them keep congregating to the same areas. Others roam a lot. But their source is always Monster Nests. If you clear a Monster Nest, they stop appearing in that region. There's probably a monster nest in every direction within a few hours reach from here. Most roads had weaker monster nests that got cleared out by us a while back, as well as some Adventurers. But if you get far enough from the main cities and the main roads, you're bound to run into trouble." She explains.

"But." She raises her finger. "It's not just territory. It's peace of mind. We've been fighting the monsters non-stop ever since about three-hundred years ago. Right after Glenn and the rest defeated the Scrapped Princesses. Adventurers have always lessened the load, whenever your people would come back to our world. The status quo would change each time... but I think we've got enough people now that we could defeat /all/ of the monster nests!"

Adlet in the meantime, leans back. "Hey, I can't help that I'm this strong." Adlet answers Nevarri boldly. He seems to go right along with that Jest. "But that's okay. Hey - if you ever need someone tough like me, let me know. I'll give you a hand." He's a little bit arrogant, but he's clearly good-natured about it. His tone is warm and friendly, regardless of some of the words coming from his mouth.

A Pooka comes back with a water for Nevarri soon, while Adlet puts the drink to his glass. "Oh, you got given some of the mass produced stuff? Yeah, that stuff is pretty awful." He admits. "This wine isn't though." He then adds. "Being one of the Heroes has its pros." He takes a single sip... jerks his mouth-muscles, and just kind of... pushes it off towards Kaleido and Nashetania.

"Yeah, we all kind of tend to stay in our own yard - out near the Kingdoms." He explains. "Hmm?" She then notes on the Travelers. "I don't really know much about them. Supposedly some super strong people who came to this world way back, before you Adventurers even arrived. I don't really know anything about it."
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Nevarri goes wide eyed and just lunges at Adlet and just grabs him by the chest armor and she demands, "Can you get me good tasting Sushi? Tuna? Octopus? Eel? SALMON?! Please I haven't had it in a month, and I can KILL FOR IT right now!"

There's a pause, before she releases the guy and sits back down, "Ahem... So, the Travelers.. Like us Adventurers, except from a long time ago..." She actually considers that for a moment, "I guess that does mesh with the lore... Sounds like something to dig up... I haven't gone on a good secret hunt since the Apocalypse happened either..."
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"No thank you - I've had enough of soggy rice crackers... wait."

Kaleido focuses in on Adlet. "It tastes terrible to you, too? Not just to the adventurers?"

He also looks back to Nashetania. "Okay. I might see if my guild will go hunting for nests... and look into the Undine kingdom... but also."

"Anything *you* want?" he asks, specifically to his patron. "Short term, long term? Medium term? Something I can do to help tip the balance on the scales between us a bit?"
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Adlet is lunged at, his cloth grabbedand he is pulled over the table. "Wooah-ha! So you do have some fight in you!" He calls out boldly. "Well... of course I can! You just gotta make sure to pay them extra! Food is like, in major demand with the sudden influx of Adventurers." Adlet remarks, touching Nevarri's hands in an attempt to be released.

He's released, and he sits back down. "You probably won't find much. Last I heard, the Travelers just kinda went on to do their own thing and hid." He explains. He then looks to Kaleido. "Well... yeah. Of course it does. Do you think we lack tastebuds? We just kind of deal with it when it's all we can afford, you know?"

Nashetania pouts as Adlet gets all of this attention. "Anything I want? Well, honestly, I could do with a nice song and dance routine. My daddy's court hasn't had a good performer in ages. And I hear that Adventurers know songs outside of the fourty-two songs granted to us."
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"... It sounds like you could use a new songbook entirely," says Kaleido, getting an idea.

"If someone was to compile a book of adventurer songs... do you think that's something that non-adventurers would buy?"
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Nashetania touches her chin and looks up for a moment, glancing up and away. "Songbooks?" She tries to think about this, before looking down toward Kaleido. "What is a songbook. How would you... write song? Song is performed." She proposes to Kaleido in a rather confused manner. "Is this that 'notes' thing the old nobles used to speak of? I guess there's a few of those around in the world. But I don't think there's anyone left that knows how to read those." She explains to Kaleido. "I think performances would sell better."
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"Money is no object where sushi is concerned." Serious business.

Nevarri does return her attention to the subject of the Travelers after that little side comment, and she grins, pushing her glasses up upon her nose as she replies, "Probably won't find much? That sounds like a challenge for the Explorer's Guide to Yamato if there was one."

GLASSES GLINT.

Her attention is drawn to Nashetania and she blinks, "Wait, Only Forty-Two songs? Now that I think about it, I don't think the Lore gave gave us any information about the music..."

She glances between the two Heroes, "I don't suppose either of you can hum one of the songs? Like a snippet?"
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"That's... interesting. No system for writing down music..."

"Huh. How would you-" Kaleido cuts themselves off. "Wait, no, if you only have 42 songs, it'd just be... oral tradition..."

"... But, okay. Performances. I'll see what I can do. I've got a pretty impressive set of pipes..."

"..."

Kaleido springs to their feet, and from there jumps up onto an unoccupied table, dramatically posing with one foot on a chair and one up on the table itself. "But don't take my word for it - or rather you *should*, but not as a speech, but as a song! And a one and a two-"

They start belting out a catchy bit of pop music.
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"I mean, as I said, we used to, or at least some nobles did so. But everyone just knows the songs while being raised, so why bother?" Nashetania raises a hand and twirls a finger through her hair. "You Adventurers are strange." She clearly thinks this is absolutely normal. "Pipes? Oh, Adventurer slang for your singing voice, right?" The girl asks, watching Kaleido jump onto the table. "Ooooh!"

She claps her hands together, and is immediately spellbound. Adlet just puts his hand under his chin and stares at Nashetania, who is so quickly and easily enraptured by a singer like that. So instead he focuses on Nevarri. "Yeah, just fourty-two. Hmm, they're not really hummers though." Adlet explains.

He touches his chin, "Most songs aren't really meant for just one person singing them." He then adds, "~ and I'm not a great singer. Strongest man. Not best singer." He leans back a bit and remarks, "I guess the First song is..."

The youth touches his neck a bit and provides; "Rrha ki-ra tie, yor ini en nha..." He pauses for a moment, then adds; "Wee ki raaa, parge yor-ar-ciel." He then shakes his head. "Nah, it really doesn't sound right when it's just me."
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Kaleido finishes the song, and makes a flourishing bow.

Correction, a series of flourishing bows, in every direction. "Thank you, thank you... I'll be here all week, try the buffet - er... nevermind. It's a joke where we're from."

He hops across to rejoin the others. "So. A performance. I think I can set something up."
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility


    Nevarri squints a little at the singing that Adlet does, listening intently, before it sort of clicks, "That's... You're singing from the soundtrack of the game... The Chorus of it anyway." Before she starts humming out the melody that goes with that particar bit that Adlet's singing.

It was also everything she could do to keep herself from singing along that stupidly catchy song Kaleido was singing, "Also, thanks Kaleido, I had just gotten that song out of my head months ago..." It wasn't bad, but being a Blind person in real life, Music was kinda one of the few other outside of the game entertainments she had.
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"The what? It's the first song of the people." He remarks, giving Nevarri a bit of a look, tilting his head. "Yeah, that's it. That's the melody of it." He is keeping his voice lower, so he doesn't interrupt what Kaleido is doing.

By the time Kaleido is done, the entire Bar is looking his way. Well, at least, the Landers are. Some of the Adventurers are rolling their eyes at something so 'sugary' being sung. Of course, others were attentively listening and quite enjoying it.

Nashetania pulls Kaleido down with a hand on their cloth, and siddle closer. "Okay, you are going to /have/ to teach me that song now. I never considered you could just... sing in that language like that. That's weird. You're weird. But that was nice!" She tells Kaleido. "I can't wait."
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"I'll take 'you're weird' in the best possible meaning, I think," says Kaleido dryly.

"Tell you what, I'll teach you some adventurer songs... the ones I know off the top of my head. In exchange, you teach me the lander songs?"
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"Deal." Nashetania answers Kaleido purposefully and with a bold face. "But I can't really teach it to you on my own. Hmmm... tell you what. Come to my place in the Ninetails Dominion, and we'll figure something out. As Adlet mentioned earlier, our songs aren't really for singing... solo." She explains, motioning her hand a little.
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"... How many do you need?"

The note-taking book comes out again. "Duets? More than that?"
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"Most of the songs take at least three people." Nashetania explains. "Some of them are duets." She admits, "But three is the safest bet. I can provide the people and the singers. But..." She glances around in the Inn. "You want them to be good singers." She remarks at a hushed tone, and then glances to Adlet. Who stares back at her, huffs, and then glances away.

"I can't help that I wasn't born a good singer."
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Nevarri slowly nods, piecing together what she knows now about the nature of the world, if only because it's just all very interesting. "Soundtrack... Um... Well, the thing about the music is that we're already sorta familiar with it... The music was always in the background of our adventures, I guess is the way to put it. It's always there, but unless the... Story really needed it, the music wouldn't go too crazy..."

There is a pause, "Wow, when I say it like that, it does sound weird."
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Adlet just stares at Nevarri as if she's speaking Spanish. Or some other language that Adlet clearly doesn't speak. Or perhaps it's more like he didn't even hear her, while her mouth flaps did move. It's hard to tell. He just kind of moves his lips in a mild frown eventually, and shakes his head. "Adventurers are strange." He comes to that conclusion pretty easily. Because they are. "Anyhow. I think I'm going to figure out where the rest of the Heroes are. Nashetania, hold down the fort?"
Kaleido
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"Sounds like a plan. You arrange to let me learn the music, I'll put on a performance..."

Kaleido gets to their feet. "And my allies are telling me there's a... something going on on our front lawn, so I'm going to go see what's happening with that, if you don't mind."
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"Alright, we have a deal." Nashetania boldly proclaims. "Don't keep me waiting too long." She notes, and then gets up and nods to Adlet. "I've got this." She chipperly declares, and heads on to talk to the Gnome keeper of the Hostess of Fertility.
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Nevarri blinks as Adlet just up and starts walking off! "Oookay..." She looks about, "Was it something I said..?"
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Nashetania laughs. "Oh no, nothing like that. He just doesn't know how to sit still." She answers Nevarri as she turns back and sits back down with her, "He's the type who constantly goes out there and has to /do/ things." She explains to her.
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"Seems like one of your shonen hero protagonists if there ever was one." Nevarri comments before sighing a bit as she leans back and sips on her water, before stretching, "I really need to get out there doing stuff... Looking for hidden places again. I miss doing that."
Liminality
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

"Hidden places? Sounds right up Adlet's alley as well. You may want to check with him. He tends to find places all the time." She explains. "Honestly, he gets himself into trouble constantly. He could really use an Adventurer watching his back." She pauses for a moment, then grabs a pouch and offers Nevarri some money. "Here. Just take some of your friends and watch him as he tries to clear a dungeon. Knowing him, he'll go out and do something stupid after we have our meeting later. Some of the other heroes tend to 'piss him off' as he likes to say."
Nevarri
Alne - Hostess of Fertility

Nevarri blinks asthe other hero hands her a some money, nodding slowly, "I was kinda trying to needle some information about places to go from him before, but the whole music discussion distracted me... I'm just a big exploration nerd, and Lore leads to exploration. But sure, I'll keep an eye on him."