Would A Bird Sail In The Crow's Nest?

With the latest batch of Adventurers and fresh Ninetails sailors dispatched to Seeker's Landing the ship was prepared for it's return trip back to Yamato. Which never seemed to be as harrowing as the venture to reach the Palace Lands, but it was still a long sailing trip and they had to be prepared.

Shiruba was amongst those prepared on the shore, having helped hunt and forage some food supplies for the return trip... Though she also seems to have plenty of her own gear packed up as well. Must be a reason for it, the explorer wouldn't simply leave again without one...

With people coming and going now things seem to really be picking up here. The green haired elf had just returned from a couting missiont to find her friendly rival at the 'docks'

She waves to shiruba nd boucnds along towards her. She comes to a halt now and looks her friend over again.

"So just what are you doing heading back to Yamato?"

Yeowang had been here at the landing, in the backfield, as far as the advance into the Palace Lands goes, and she'd been aiding with the hunting to some extent, though she's been spending most of her time punching and kicking a tree very hard. She's got her long hair pinned up in a loose bun to keep it out of the way, and she's wearing cloth wraps around her fists, and both her fists and her boots have been doused in chalk, and so each strike leaves a mark on the tree where it's struck. She seems to have struck a pretty good amount of area, though this does not please her.

So when Shiruba shows up, gear packed on the shore, she will break off her training, and head over to greet Erufu and Shiruba on the docks.

Shiruba glances over her shoulder when she hears voices. "Hello Erufu." Then turns her attention back to the ship. "A lot of things. I need to check in on Guild matters in Shibuya. See if our patrols have come up with anything new concerning the Forgotten army. And to go talk to Rylen at his ranch about some training." Her tail wags in a bit of anticipation. "He agreed to help me learn more about handling animals, so I can use my Peko for more than just racing. Seeing as how big this region is.... But until we knew more about it I didn't feel safe about bring Tradewind with. So I need to retrieve him as well."

She glances over and chuckles a bit. "Hello Yeowang. You defeat that tree yet?", she jokes.

    It is time to get a little relaxation while Merek takes the time to put on his dark attire, a beltcape about the man's waist while the hood also is up. There's a rolled cigarette which he takes the time to light, it's no different than a kiseru except he decides liking paper is better. Then, he's taking a look about the place.

Erufu catches sight of Yowang and waves to her as well.

"Training hard from the looks of it Yeowang?"

She also turns back to Shiruba for a moment as she listens ot what she has to say.

"That's true the army is still on the march even if they are quiet. Oh a Pekos? Think you could get some extra ones shipped here?"

She looks over to the kind of Coffee for a moment and waves to him as well then pauses ae he's looking to smoke and facepalms. She does not comment as commenting would break her persona and Nao is dead and burried at this point.

Yeowang listens up curiously as Shiruba relates her status, nodding about the self improvement thing, and including Erufu in the nod. Training pretty hard, indeed, she's built up a good sweat. She smirks about defeating the tree, and says, "I think I might be able to, in a few heavy kicks with some of my more powerful attacks. But for the moment, I am working on improving my accuracy and precision rather than brute force. Once I can focus power at a point, more power is beneficial. More power is almost always beneficial. But if I cannot apply it precisely, too much of it, and too much energy, is wasted."

So, she's training. But in a lengthy and convoluted way. And if she's concentrating on accuracy, she clearly has some work ahead of her to judge from the broad area of smudges.

"Not too many, because they would be tempting targets to predators as well. But yeah. Even I don't want to have to constantly hike on foot with the distances we are going to need to travel," Shiruba replies as she glances off in the general direction of the Great Tower for a moment. "But if we're going to ride, I need to be able to better handle an animal companion in tense situations." She rubs the back of her head with one hand. "I mainly had to worry about using my abilities to beat challenges in the races, Tradewind was a natural. Won't cut it when we come across danger in the wild though."

Then wolfgirl waves to Merek, and nods to Yeowang. "That is very astute. You could have all the power in the world and it'd be pointless without the means to properly apply it." She's an archer, she is making no objections on accuracy.

Erufu says "Ah so you seem to be keeping on it, I been big on archery since I was only a few hundred years old!" She beams at this. No she's never seemed to ever drop it, but is it really that dangerous? She looks back to Shiruba for a moment.

"As someone doing scouting it would help a great deal as well for me if you could bring one back fdor me I'll cover the gold cost. I have heard about yout racing you ahve left quite the impression."

She'll pull an apple form somewhere and take a bite before going on.

"Sounds almost something like Orcbalg might say..."

    Merek nods a bit to Shiruba, while he thinks about it, "It makes me wonder just how powerful we can possibly get in this world," he will admit. The man takes the time to relax and watch the place.

Yeowang smiles to Shiruba as she agrees about accuracy being important. As far as pekos go, she gives a weary sigh. "I wish I had the time and attention to spare for that. Alas, I do not. But I can run pretty well, just on foot. Not to compete with a peko, but I don't need additional care and feeding at the end of a long journey."

She eyes Erufu curiously as she mentions scouting. "I would also help with the scouting. I have been, as much as I am able, but I am not familiar with all the woodland lore in the game." And a hundred years sounds like a long time to have been practicing archery and scouting. Computers have only been around since ... Wait, this is /the RP/, isn't it? She's heard of that, though she isn't particularly skilled. At all. It's one of the bits that confuses her. She ahems, says, "If you might assist me in improving my woodland skills at some of the normal woodland hunter tasks, I would be grateful," she says.

Shiruba picks up her pack of stuff and hands it off to one of the sailors to load onto the ship. "That is true. And another reason we don't want to being too many at one time. Though now that we have clean water access, it's less of a hurtle. Still needs to be considered though."

She chuckles a little as Erufu confuses people briefly. She's gotten use to it... and really, she herself is the same. It's not just 'RP'. As long as they are here, Shiruba is who she truly is. "Trust me, every little bit helps, regardless of what it might seem like. We've got plenty of mouths to feed, and the area around the camp needs to be watched vigilantly. I'll try to not be gone too long."

A wolven ear flicks in Merek's direction. "The only real limit is how much time and effort one is willing to put into something."

Erufu says "mmm there are some places amount can not go." She makes a note she looks to Yeowang for a moment and she grins.

"So you need to help I'm pretty sure I'd be happy to do so to teach you what I can. If your looking to learn I would be happy to teach."

She takes another chomp of her apple.

The thing with Yeowang and RP is that she used the body scan to make her avatar, and picked a class that seemed to match her RL skillset, mostly, so it's almost entirely been RL Yeowang in a fantasy environment, mostly confused and kicking the crap out of monsters with moves she knows from RL. Which is what has led to her current dilemmas. One, that the game won't match her speed and skill in RL, which frustrates her and has her playing catchup as hard as she can, and two, with the skills the game /says/ she has, but with which she's not very skilled at all in RL. It constantly surprises her when she uses her woodland skills successfully, which is not much of the time, sadly.

Yeowang nods as Erufu agrees to teach her, bowing her head. "I am at your service, woodland lore-sensei," she says entirely seriously. Though it sounds more like something you'd hear in a martial arts dojo. Come to think of it, she's had quite a number of aged senseis that were quite spry despite their years. Perhaps Erufu is not as unusual as all that?

"I will help too once I return," Shiruba pitches in. "I've got no problem with helping others better understand the wilderness environment, as Erufu will atest to." With her main pack of stuff loaded on the ship she starts flicking through her personal inventory for another check. "Speaking of I need to restock my mapmaking supplies while I'm back in Yamato. Probably stop by the forge for more arrows, too."

    Merek seems to be listening, while he nods along to Shiruba's words. The man seems to think about it, "Anyway, I need to be back in Yamato on business for a while myself."

Erufu grins at Yeowang and will make sure to send her a friend invite to make sure she cna be contacted when needed. The apple it finisehd off an the core explodes into shards of light hwen she tosses it away. She thinks for a moment and then says. "I'll get you a list of basic thing you'll need for some of it. Though i would strongly suggest the book Pela wrote to help when it comes to plants."

She looks to Merek and nods. "Ah your company then?"

she also looks to Shiruba for a moment. "She did teach me a few things I did not know impressive for someone so young!"

Yeowang nods gravely to Shiruba, "Thank you very much," she says formally, using all the honorifics due a guildmaster. "I will seek your aid when you have the time to spare." She smiles to Erufu and blinks as the apple is disposed of. After a year, it still comes as a small shock sometimes. But she nods about the basics, which is where she'll definitely need to start. She was a city girl in RL, and a year hasn't broken that habit. "Thank you as well, Erufu," she says, again formally. "I will seek out this book you speak of."

Shiruba points at Merek. "As long as you keep bringing back more coffee!" she teases... though seriously, with all the hours they have to put into scouting and patrolling the camp? The caffiene is a godsend.

She rubs the back of her head again. "Ahaha. I'm an explorer at heart, so it's all just a matter of learning to read the land around you. You never know what's out there, so it's a matter of learning to be able to adapt, and then you'll see the oppritunities otherwise overlooked." At the mention of Pela's book she nods her head. "I am pretty sure the Library they started in Shibuya has at least one copy."

Erufu Says "Very well then I will look forward to it." She notes before she looks back to Shiruba nad laughs. "That you are, perhaps you could see about buying one and bringing it back?"

Yeowang considers the discussion of the famous book, and says, "When I am ready to train in earnest, I will return and seek the book out. For the moment, I will remain here in the Palace Lands, the higher level of monsters provide a higher challenge. A bit too high to solo, or even take on in a group, if our last foray was any indication, but if the risks are commensurate with the rewards, I do not want to miss out." She smiles to Erufu, and says, "If you would allow, I will accompany you on such scouting expeditions as you may go upon." When inspected, her class shows as Shadowfist, which implies the game didn't expect her to go out of the way on the wilderness lore, either. But she ekes out every advantage she can.

    Merek nods a bit along to Shiruba, "I will bring back a little coffee, and probably look to find a few things to begin trading this way as well," he will note.

Shiruba nods. "Yeah. Now that we've got some direction on where they may be civilization out here, maybe we'll actually see some locals." She puts her stuff back into her inventory. "That's perfectly fine, Yeowang. We need the capable people out here. I'll try to not be gone longer than necesary."

Yeowang, ironically, might be more useful if we -do- find people. She is a people person, in a top-down, directing-them-around kind of way. But that implies a fairly high level of personal understanding, to be good at the directing thing, and a forward personality not shy about dealing with strangers, which is sometimes lacking in the Alliance. "If we do meet locals, we can hopefully enter into positive negotiations with them and learn a great deal as well as gaining resources." But it seems Shiruba has a ship to catch, she won't delay her with idle chat, so she bows her head and bids her, "Farewell." Erufu has gone off elfing, so Yeowang will return to her melee training, beating the smack out of the poor tree.