And Shadows All Around

    It's evening. The date.. evades Wake at the time. She's been on the move constantly, pausing only to speak. Well, speak and to occasionally be forced to sleep, bathe, or eat by the many friends who manage to intercept her in the wilds, as coordinated by Tae. Due to their efforts, she has survived this long and even largely avoided debuffs.

    This evening Wake is under the interlocked leaves of trees, broken here and there where the fading light of the day cuts through as long bars of soft green-gold.

    Shadow to shadow, Wake moves. She isn't perfectly stealthy, it is true, but she leaves little to no trail and she makes even less sound. Considering her pace, it's a remarkable achievement.

Goldenblade is driving a wagon inexpertly along ... well, it was a road some way back. It's a new-looking wagon and a different grunty pulling it than she's had before, but the load is the same. A portable smithy with a bellows-fed forge, with a tap to pump air to a strange suit of possibly-brass plate armor. "Where's the beach?" she grumbles, standing up to peer into the darkness.

It's lucky that Wake is under a tree, because Goldenblade doesn't see her until she's almost on top of her, passing her by actually, and is that a body under the tree? It's Wake! "Augh!" She jumps nearly out of the cart in surprise, and the grunty continues on for a few steps before coming to a halt as well. "Wake?" she asks. "Is that you?" Goldenblade looks awful and smells worse. It's not just BO, she's been doing her own tanning, and that's worse than papermills. Without the benefit of a Tae to send caretakers her way. "What are you doing out in Carmina Gadelica?" she wonders, lost.

And the slightly awkward moment is made a little more awkward when a familiarly wrapped 'care package' is promptly depositied in Wake's hands via Dark Pony Express delivery. Courtesy of one slightly winded looking Nightmare Bard that as per usually manages to just be there when no one is paying attention in one direction. Granted, considering neither is in their usual sense of clarity, her subtefugal approach may be more effective than usual.

Though none the less Kauchemar has a bemused smirk, tired or not. "You are getting harder and harder to keep up with, even for me."

So where was the Baroness? She'd got herself into trouble then again? Gwen knew how a mood could effect someone pretty badly so here she out looking for the Baroness. Given the invasion she was very worried about her wellbeing. If the Palace Landers got ahold of her? Who knew what foul things they would do to the Baroness.

She would thanlfully be a bit behind Goldenblade.

"Baroness?! God where have you been we were concenred for you."

It's a good thing she's got some food water and the stuff to do clothing repairs...

    Wake skids to a stop, her blades drawn as she directs her attention towards Goldenblade. It takes her a moment to recognize the situation as safe, and no sooner has she put her weapons away than she receives the usual package. Tae always wraps them in in beautiful scarves that bear her usual scent and a design based on the Rose of Eas.

    "Where am I?" she asks, vaguely aware of what Goldenblade has said. The Baroness looks at the waters in front of her, noting, somewhere in the back of her very fuzzy head that the sun is west of her (it being the evening and all) and she raises a hand to massage the bridge of her nose.

    "But.. aren't we.."

    She's interrupted in her thoughts as she first hears Kauchemar's comment and then hears Gwen's voice, as well.

    "I am trying to be hard to keep up with. And hard to keep track of." Wake pauses, sighs, stares at the water a moment, lost in thought, and eventually directs a portion of her attention back to Kauchemar and Gwen.

    A few blinks later, she slides into a curtsey. The strange mood doesn't detract from the execution of that gesture. If anything, Wake makes it seem even more lovely, shifting in such a way that the fading light catches her hair and brings an almost blazing glow to it.

    "My friends, you have come so far to meet me." Shes look to Goldenblade and amends, "Well, some of you have. I suspect some of this meeting is merely blessed fortune."

Goldenblade starts at the sudden appearance of Kauchemar, almost falling off the wagon again. "I am?" she asks incredulously, then realizes Kauchemar's addressing Wake. "Oh right." And then a second person shows up with a care packge for Wake. Tae has really knocked herself out sending caretakers after Wake. Gwen may or may not be happy following her cart as the smell of tanning permeates the air, it is rank enough to overpower her stinky debuff, which is pretty high. Luckily her clothes aren't torn, but that's because Goldenblade is still wearing her chainmail coat and trousers, which is pretty impervious to the mischanches of the wilds that others suffer.

It -is- blessed fortune that Goldenblade is meeting Wake and her caretakers, though, her own hunger buff has been building for days, and she looks eastward towards the water, nodding slowly. "That's what I'm looking for." But what she's looking for now are her reins, she dropped them before, and now she can't find them. As to where Wake is, Goldenblade says, "Well, the damned Palace Landers attacked while I was working on the beach on the Isle of Beginnings, I had to get a new cart and grunty. And we came here. Though .... this does't look like the beaches on Isle of Beginnings...."

Gwen Says "We're at war at this point...Baroness." She does look very concerned as she goes to get some food and water out. Which she would head to he firne to offer it too.

"You should eat and drink here have this I made some food. It should be good." She will see if the Baroness will take what shes offered.

"Yeah we should expect them to fight without humanity."

"Yeah. That was rude of them. And then we had a Siren seducing people to almost literally dancing to death to feed some sort of parasitic.... ugh, it was -sick and wrong- even by my standards." There's an aggitated twitch in the equine were fang's tail at the memory, then Kauchemar shakes her head. "No, you two have managed to find your ways onto a Ninetails beach. Fortunately on the opposite side of the Undead problem, though I hear that matter has been diminished finally as well."

    Wake's etiquette standards ensure that even in the midst of a strange mood, she holds herself with poise, dignity, and manners. Well, at least some of the time. With Tae's food in the package the offer of drink, Wake has to either be rude or polite.

    Wake also has to determine how to deal with the matter of a large body of water being in her path. She needs to think. Without much ceremony, she settles herself on the ground and begins to eat.

    "So the war has begun at last," she murmurs. "I have not acted prematurely. Whether or not I have acted in time remains to be seen. As for acting with humanity, my friends.. this is a conflict between China and Japan. There is a very nasty history in play. I expect horrors to unfold the likes of which haven't been experienced for over half a century. I fear we must all brace ourselves for terrible things. And yet.. there is hope. Perhaps this generation shal prove it can be better, regardless of how poorly this has begun."

    Wake looks to Goldenblade, "You need to be bathed. And you should come sit and eat with me. We can discuss your work." She is able to focus on others, though there is clearly an effort involved in it.

    "You should all sit and eat with me. You have journeyed far, and there is enough to share. And.. a siren, was it? Oh, and the undead, yes. We dealt with them. Along my path I was able to assist. Doing that is vital to my work. People can hardly be marshalled against a mortal threat when an immortal one threatens their every border."

Goldenblade peers at Gwen, confused. "Of course they're going to fight with humanity. They're fighting with humanity and werefang-ity and and sylph-ity and /everyone/. No one's safe." Goldenblade's low on sleep, between the hunger and exhausted debuffs, she's only marginally coherent. Which is to say, she can misinterpret people's words instead of having to imagine them from scratch.

"Ninetails?" she asks, baffled by Kauchemar's declaration. She's not 100% delusional! "How'd we get to Ninetails?" It's not clear if she's asking any of her friends that have just shown up, as if they'd know where she's been, or asking her grunty, which may know, but is wildly unlikely to say. Well, it's been a good conversationalist these last few days.

She nods to Wake about the war having begun, but says smugly, "We threw them back from the beach on Isle of Beginnings. That'll teach them to interrupt my project. They wrecked my wagon, too." Grumblegrumble. But it explains why this one looks new. At the offer to sit down, she points, "I just need to go ... and then her footing slips and she tumbles to the ground, almost into Wake, and drags herself up as she mumbles, "Food?"

Kauchemar chuckles a bit. "Trust me, I am all too familiar with one can lose track of time and place when they're .... so intently focused on a project that consumes every waking hour. The struggle towards a goal to bring more to the world than it once held." She of course is not going to object to sharing. Not when it involves provisions from both Gwen -and- Tae. "Also the people are more willing to rally with one that is willing to fight and act alongside them, not just direct from the background or in some safely secluded chamber."

Gwen looks back to Kau for a moment as she looks to Kau "I heard about that damn fine work against the Siren."

She now make sure the BAroness is going to get some food and water into her one way or another.

"Given what China's up to these days I'd have expected players from it to be hardcore into the NWO way of thinking can't make us go back. Guess I was wrong looks like they wanna empire build here."

She makes a face. "Then again not the most adepet with Poltics god if I hadn't had people backing me up at that party..."

She shudders and she owes a certain bun some serious thanks for that.

"Though the Palace Lands have people form Korea and Mongolia too."

She shreugs..

She'll move to sit down crossing her legs as she does so.

"I'm worried about Uta...if I'm being honest." She'll off up the food and the water ot everyone who wants some.

    "So true, they come from other countries as well, which is most odd, is it not? China has taken great pains to make enemies of all its neighbors and it is not by any accident." Wake is very deep indeed into the politics of it all.

    "And yes, food, Goldenblade. Sit, eat, tell me what you seek to do in the water. Perhaps someone can also help me get across it. I must reach the far shores as swiftly as possible. I wonder.. could I swim it?" Sher is, unfortunately, serious.

    She eats Gwen's food, Tae's food, and enjoys the drinks. At least, as much as she can, which is honestly not as much as the offerings deserve.

    Without any warning, she rises and turns away, "I imagine we'll be doing the usual procedure?" she asks, appearing to be well on her way to disrobing. The darkening evening and a handy shrub that she steps behind preserve her dignity.

    "I can't allow anything to get in the way of this goal. The enemy has to be brought low, and I suspect it must come from unlikely places."

Goldenblade will devour any food she's offered. Truth be told, she'd eat menu food just as happily. But as far as people willing to help, that's definitely her. Not that she made a good impression, babbling incoherently, but it was heartfelt, which hopefully excuses the babbling. She's not one to shirk a fight.

She peers at Gwen, but doesn't recall there being a siren in her fight. Though with all the shouting, it would have been very hard to hear it. She can only shrug about global politics, though. "They all hate China, but they fear it, too. But they hate Japan so much more. There's so much bad blood, it's almost not surprising they're doing this."

She peers at Wake stepping behind a tree, and laughs, "You know, you can use the menu for that. It doesn't feel as nice, but eh, who cares, really?" which is a very Strange Mood perspective. Goldenblade has been know to enjoy blisteringly hot baths, as old men are wont to do. As to getting across the water, she says, "My diving armor's not ready or I'd offer that." That must be the suit of strange brass armor on the armor stand in her wagon.

Kauchemar rolls her eyes a bit. "Even I cannot swim nor cross that alone, and you know how in tune I am with aquatic elements. You will have to see to sweet talking someone into chartering a boat. Something that won't draw needless attention." A pause as she takes a bite of food. "-AFTER- you've been properly tended to. Tae made sure to include proper wash and grooming supplies in her package, and while I may not be at her level I've done enough stage work to make sure one is presentable while working to save the world from the end."

    "I find that reliance on the menu takes away some of the wonder of living," Wake replies casually. "It is rather ironic that I opt to do something traditional and you are suggesting this technological option."

    She looks to Kauchemar, "Speaking of aquatic elements, a bit of water would speed this up, dear." She sorts through the contents of the package and smirks as she finds what she seeks. Tae has to continuously supply her with the means to clean herself. Wake always leaves it behind.

    "I am confident I can find someone with a boat of some kind to the south of here. Barring that, a few logs and some willpower will have to suffice." She sounds serious.

Gwen says "We'll have to deal with this one way or another. Though we may need to deal with whoever is giving the marching orders in the kingdoms to them. Even if we have to deal with Lander Nobles and deal with them." She frowns. "I never wanted to be involved in having to think like this. God in heaven... they just won't leave us /alone/."

She'll start eat her food for a moment thinking.

"Yeah it's like an agro table of hate."

"WE need a bigger steam ship if we could do that we could out manouvere them and be able to strike faster then they thing we could back in their own domain."

Goldenblade hrms at what Kauch says, but diplomacy probably requires a more thorough washing than just menu-scrub-up. Anyhow, prying her out of a mail coat sounds problematic. The menu-scrub will clear her BO condition anyhow, if not the worse reek of the tanners. That's bad enough that soap and water aren't sufficient.

She shrugs about it being out of character to suggest a technological option. She's so out of it, it's hard to say what she'd suggest. "But if you want water, just ..." and she'll walk toward the shoreline, it's just right there, and she'll sit down in the shin-deep water and let the waves crash over her. "The Navy guys I knew would call this a saltwater washdown."

She hrms to Gwen, and says, "You know, if we can make a steam ship, we can /probably/ make a submarine. They were roughly contemporary, you know. Well, the first monitors weren't true submersibles, but Ben Franklin developed The Turtle back in the 1700's. It ran at periscope depth, if I remember right. We oculd outfit it with wizards instead of torpedoes..."

"Fortunately for you I've had reasons to find ways of doing so more conveniently." Kauchemar makes a few quick somatic gestures, conjuring up a large bubble of water. One that hands can be easily passed in and out of without popping to use the water, like a sort of elemental washbasin. "Not nearly as fun as using it to sneak up on Uta to dunk her as part of her water training, but useful." She shrugs her shoulders again. "The menu commands have their time and place of convenience, but it's not the same as the feeling of giving yourself a good scrub." She smirks coyly at Wake. "Or giving someone else a good scrub, according to Tae."

    Wake busies herself with the washing. Her mind is on guessing how long it might take to find a boat to cross the sea. At least, until Kauchemar's comment registers in my mind. Is that a blush coloring her cheeks?

    "I cannot argue with my dear messenger, nor my patient lover. It is indeed far better to be cleaned and to clean the ones who hold the greater share of our hearts."

    It seems love is quite strong enough to pierce through her strange mood. In addition to that rather personal comment, Wake goes on to comment on the other topics at hand.

    "The first step in war is to win battles. Should that fail to take place, we must make take advantage of distance, making it very costly for our enemies to hold on to whatever territory they gain." A pause for consideration as she thrusts her head into the water and then draws it out again. "I do love that part! Now, submarines would be interesting. Artillery has great value as well, as do wise tactics."

    Wake paces behind the bush, drying herself. "I have to get to the east. It's absoltely critical that I complete the circle of alliances in time. It is vital to appear.. almost prescient in these matters."

    Abruptly, Wake jars herself back to the moment. "Gracious, I can be so awful at these times, can I not? My friends, thank you all for helping me. I am blessed with the very best of friends and I do not recognize you nearly enough."

Kauchemar gives a brief mane swishing shake of her head. "You and Tae took care of me, and several others, when we were in such mindsets. It would be ignorant and ungrateful to not return the favor.... besides, chasing after you gets me back on the field as well. I spent way too long huddling away in a corner."

Gwen says "You really have a way with words Baroness Wake, way more than a country bumpkin like myself could." She doesn't seem bothere and she thinks.

"Though the art of war could be useful given the nature of the warfare we are fighting here."

"No problems so many people do the same for me when I get in a mood..."

Goldenblade hrms at what Kauchemar says about giving people a good scrub, and she sighs. Sometimes, she really misses her own wife. And then a particularly large wave smacks her in the face and she's coughing and hacking and standing up. "Enough baths," she grumbles, heading for the wagon again.

She's pulling on the diving armor when Wake mentions artillery, but she says, "I don't know enough chemisrty to make explosives, and magic fireballs seem adequate for most purposes. Though the boom of a line of riflemen would be pretty intimidating. Do troops here march shoulder to shoulder, like in the 1700's, or in loose formations like in the 1900's and later, I wonder?" She absolutely wasn't paying attention in the fight she was involved with. "It was accurate repreating artillery that forced infantry formations to disperse. Before that, concentration of firepower was more useful than the vulnerability to volleys." Yes, she's rambling.

As she rambles, she finishes donning the diving armor, and starts pumping the bellows of her cart, and once it's got a full bag of air, the weight of the top of the bellows slowly squeezing it down the tube, she will wander into the waves.

    Wake gets herself dresssed and stretches. With a relaxed tone, she says, "It is appreciated."

    She lids her eyes, lets out a soft sigh, and once again feels the mood start to take over her again. "This.. insanity thankfully does not last too long."

    She is ready to stride off, but pauses on the way to hug Gwen. "Thank you, dear! You are no bumpkin. You make the best clothes in the world!"

    Next, she glides over to Kauchemar, who gets a kiss on the cheek. "My dear messenger, how many miles have you put on to cater to my every need? When this all ends, I will set aside some time to simply.. relax with you and Tae."

    With an impish grin she turns away, heading off. She casts a quick glance over her shoulder, and then goes on, looking for a boat.