Mel still obviously using her message spell, but also obviously not quite calm enough to sub-vocalize,
Barely a pause, "I will repeat myself: Suishen is not comfortably being away from his bearer."
A beat, "Or did you think that I would presume to speak for him without asking first?"
Another pause, "And why do you have to clear any conversations with me? Suishen isn't mine, if anything it's the other way around.
"What part of our story?" Ulf asks. "How we know each other? Why we do what we do? How we got tangled up in the knotted pile of intestines that are the Guilds in this town? Why I pulled dumbass stunts more than a decade ago that it looks like I'll be trying to pull again?"
"He'll talk like that forever without saying a damn thing if you let him, you know," Uksahkka comments, her eyes closed as she relaxes in the steam. "Except at some point he'll start throwing in more similes."
"Mmm," says Hrunndalf in amused acknowledgement. "I suppose you learn to make the most of your conversation stock, out in the ice. Let's hear your side of the story first, then."
"Why must you pick a fight with me every time we talk? I did not know Suishen had permanently chosen you as his one and only bearer. It was a perfectly reasonable assumption that the ancestral defender of the Amatatsu would feel comfortable being borne by the last Amatatsu for a few hours. Furthermore, I did not know you were in telepathic communication with Suishen as a matter of course. As you can imagine, my experience with intelligent artifacts is limited."
"Let me rephrase, then. Suishen, would you be willing to cast Air Walk on Ameiko and me tomorrow, to ensure our safety on our hiking trip? You could safely remain here with Melinda, then."
Another pause, "And why do you have to clear any conversations with me? Suishen isn't mine, if anything it's the other way around."
Hrunndalf just looks at her for a second. "Really. I should just have walked up to you and struck up a conversation with your scabbard? That doesn't strike you as rude?"
A muffled "Thank you" from a still very tangled Mel. She may have extracted an arm by now, but not much else. Once she does and is scrambling for her own clothing, she seems to be putting a supreme effort into not noticing that she or anyone else in the room had been naked.
Zaiobe stops and looks uncertainly between Melinda and Alaric for a moment, then starts putting her clothes on.
<Maybe we should try something other than Tian or Ulfen, as long as we're in the big city,> Zaiobe comments. <I have a feeling we're going to get plenty of both of those ... I hear there are some good gnome restaurants over on the west side.>
She breathes, calmer now that she has said what has been bothering her since the liberation of their friends. "Obviously, since you don't care what the rest of us do, you don't remember me giving Suishen to Ameiko. She asked me to bear him, as he can better protect her when he is not in her possession."
She lets the sword speak for himself.
Hrunndalf just looks at her for a second. "Really. I should just have walked up to you and struck up a conversation with your scabbard? That doesn't strike you as rude?"
"Not particularly. I mean it would be nice if you said 'hi' to me as well, but if you need to talk to someone, they are the person you should address."
She breathes, calmer now that she has said what has been bothering her since the liberation of their friends. "Obviously, since you don't care what the rest of us do, you don't remember me giving Suishen to Ameiko. She asked me to bear him, as he can better protect her when he is not in her possession."
"I am well aware of that fact. Yet none of that implies that Suishen would resent being carried by Ameiko for a few hours. Especially if Ameiko is miles away from you during that time."
"Well," says Suishen. "I will say this - I should never be far from the reach of my bearer. If Amatatsu Ameiko wishes to change who my bearer is, I will defer to her wishes, but I do not think I should be ... handed over merely for the asking, especially by another."
"But if instead it is spells that you wish to be cast, I will leave that to my bearer's judgment in this instance. So I will say what matters here is if, in Melinda's opinion, the risk of attack by our enemies is low enough that she deems it safe for me to expend my most powerful magics on whatever purposes you have in mind."
"Mmm," says Hrunndalf in amused acknowledgement. "I suppose you learn to make the most of your conversation stock, out in the ice. Let's hear your side of the story first, then."
"Ulf and I were raised together," Uksahkka says. "My dad basically adopted him when his mother died. When I was fifteen, he saved my life. Glad I could finally kinda sorta return the favor."
"No kinda sorta about it," Ulf objects. "From what I hear, without you, I'd still be an ogre's chewtoy every alternate Fireday night."
"So what happened, back then?" he encourages the two.
Turning back to Mel, Hrunndalf looks almost... pleading. "Well, it's up to you. If you don't feel like doing me a favor, please consider doing it for Ameiko. I do believe a bit of healthy exercise in the fresh air and the exhilarating views from Vörðurhorn would help her take her mind off the horrors of the past days, and the trials that lie ahead."
Mel nods to acknowledge that she heard Hrunndalf, then turns to find Alaric and Zaiobe, her movements precise and controlled.
Hrunndalf frowns, then shrugs, and goes back toward his room. "פרויען..."
Mel knocks quietly on the door of room Ameiko and Myri are sharing, hoping to talk to Ameiko. Mel looks embarrassed and very young.
A wane smile, "Mornin'," a pause, pregnant with teenage stupidity, "I am so sorry." She rushes on, "Hrunndalf came to me yesterday to ask for Suishen's help for the secret cliff-walking outing that you two planned together.... I wasn't thinking clearly and I kinda snapped at him."
She smiles, "First, it sounds like a fun outing. Sorta jealous that you asked Hrunndalf to go with you instead of..." she shrugs "but I know you two are close. I just kinda wish you had asked instead of him... Sometimes his phrasing rubs me wrong." she finishes with a happy smile.
"So will you help me apologize to him? Because while I meant some of the stuff that I said to him last night, some of it was really unfair." She finishes, the embarrassed flush returning to her cheeks.
Buttersnips smiles. "So. A definite possible qualified maybe, then?"
Myri smiles broadly, "Absolutely!"
"But," she gazes up at you through lowered lashes, the smile returning to her face, "If you find my more sartorial creations personally ... appealing, then I would be happy to wear them. For you. Whenever you want." Her voice has dropped to a near whisper.
Myri runs the tip of her tongue across her upper teeth. Her left eyebrow raised just slightly...until she realizes what she's doing and her eyes bury themselves back into her menu trying to will away the heat in her face.
"Hmm? Oh, I haven't the faintest idea. I can't read Tian. I was just planning to point to something random."
Myri nearly chokes and for the most part stifles her laughter. She's still grinning when she looks up again, "Okay, adventurous then. I can see time with you probably won't often be boring." Myri scans the menu & picks something "fishy" or with mushrooms, noting it's location on the menu, then looks around at dishes going by to see if there's anything that looks like it might be of particular interest to her.
After mentally picking some sort of dish Myri's attention turns back to Buttersnips, "Now..." Myri's brilliant blue eyes meet the piercing green of Buttersnips, "I...do have one...no, make that two more issues that I am aware of. One, I...was raised that it would be ideal to find one man that I could focus on..devote my life to, to raise a family with. & um...not only are uh, neither of us male," Myri's eyes run over the quicklings very feminine curves, "we aren't even of the same species & therefore I think um, well raising a family is kind of problematical if not completely out of the question...unless you think this is just a fun fling...in which case I guess number two probably isn't such a big thing." Myri's jaw tightens just slightly perhaps with a small degree of frustration and her eyes go sideways towards whoever or whatever happens to be in that direction. Her eyes return to the slender elf-like creature, again not being able to help but admire her feminine figure, "I'm sorry, are first date's normally this..um..this...I don't know what the term is..."heavy?"
"I would say that beauty and mystery are in the eye of the beholder, mu kallis," says Kalimac. He pauses to wrestle with his chopsticks, and to try and decide whether to press for how Ameiko's last adventuring stint ended.
Kalimac's chopsticks get away from him and he sends ground meat and noodles over the table.
"Oops. This is trickier than it looks." As he cleans up the mess he made, he continues the conversation. "Sixteen? That seems so young. I mean, among halflings you're not considered of age until you're 33. I myself am just out of my tweens." He shakes his head. "Rumor around Sandpoint was that you went adventuring with Sandru. That couldn't have been overly boring."
As you get closer and closer, she slows down, drawing it out as you grow more and more frantic, until each stroke of her tongue almost brings you there in and of itself, each one a separate experience of almost coming, until you are teetering on the crest, cannot possibly stop the release, the next one is certain to bring you over ...
And then she stops being slow.
Whimpers, sounds of pleasure and frustration, as you build and build her towards a release that you deny her, drawing out amazing sensations, bringing her to tremendous heights... right at the point where she is convinced she will perish, that she cannot take anymore, you take her over the edge.
She cries out. Hands wrapped around your hair, pulling it tightly and sensually. Partially bent over you, as you hold her up, you feel her hot breath against your ear. You hear her moan, just for you, as her body spasms uncontrollably. She is like putty in your hands, completely at your mercy, unable to resist.
Kalimac's only response is a beatific smile.
"Good man," Alaric says wryly.
The first stop on the shopping trip is the purchase of a suit of Full Plate +1, accompanied by the trade in of a suit of masterwork chain.
Next, to Kalimac and Melinda (and anyone else that shows up). "So I was thinking that Sandru likes to drink, and he's got a lot to drink about. So I was going to get him some good booze. Anyone in? Or want to help drink it?"
Mel still obviously using her message spell, but also obviously not quite calm enough to sub-vocalize
Noting Melinda's mood, Alaric turns an angry glare at Hrunndalf.
Alaric gets the mind-reading look at Zaiobe right before she goes to retrieve her clothing.
"I've never had gnome food. Let's do that."
Mel nods to acknowledge that she heard Hrunndalf, then turns to find Alaric and Zaiobe, her movements precise and controlled.
And Mel gets a protective hug.
At an appropriately barbaric time in the morning, Rhost knocks at the door to Koya's wagon.
"Ready to gawk?"
Rhost holds Kelda's gaze -- then very slowly smiles.
When they arrive home at the room, parcels in hand, Alaric purposefully sets them down, then leaves. He shuts the door behind him, Mel inside. A moment later, she hears a knock.
Mel opens the door, confused but smiling.
As for his own shopping, Kalimac is on the hunt for one of these Rings of Sustenance all the kids are talking about these days.
A sidelong glance at Melinda. "Not tonight, though. I... um... I have plans."
At some point during the day, Lio asks each of you to join the group in a discussion on tactics, since everyone has acquired new abilities, and it has been a while since the party has discussed what they can do, and what the best ways to employ their talents during combat could be.
Whimpers, sounds of pleasure and frustration, as you build and build her towards a release that you deny her, drawing out amazing sensations, bringing her to tremendous heights... right at the point where she is convinced she will perish, that she cannot take anymore, you take her over the edge.
She cries out. Hands wrapped around your hair, pulling it tightly and sensually. Partially bent over you, as you hold her up, you feel her hot breath against your ear. You hear her moan, just for you, as her body spasms uncontrollably. She is like putty in your hands, completely at your mercy, unable to resist.
Shalelu holds you, waiting until she is entirely sure you can stand upright on your own again. Then she looks up at you, flashes you a grin, releases you, and slides into the water like a fish.
A wane smile, "Mornin'," a pause, pregnant with teenage stupidity, "I am so sorry." She rushes on, "Hrunndalf came to me yesterday to ask for Suishen's help for the secret cliff-walking outing that you two planned together.... I wasn't thinking clearly and I kinda snapped at him."
She smiles, "First, it sounds like a fun outing. Sorta jealous that you asked Hrunndalf to go with you instead of..." she shrugs "but I know you two are close. I just kinda wish you had asked instead of him... Sometimes his phrasing rubs me wrong." she finishes with a happy smile.
"So will you help me apologize to him? Because while I meant some of the stuff that I said to him last night, some of it was really unfair." She finishes, the embarrassed flush returning to her cheeks.
Ameiko looks mildly perplexed. "It's not exactly secret. And he planned it and asked me on it, not the other way around. Honestly, I'm not even sure he knows you snapped at him - he certainly didn't say anything about it when he told me about the trip. But he might have just been hoping it would blow over ... I'd be happy to help sort things out if you wanted."
After mentally picking some sort of dish miso soup? calimari? tempura? seared ahi sashimi? fugu??? Myri's attention turns back to Buttersnips, "Now..." Myri's brilliant blue eyes meet the piercing green of Buttersnips, "I...do have one...no, make that two more issues that I am aware of. One, I...was raised that it would be ideal to find one man that I could focus on..devote my life to, to raise a family with. & um...not only are uh, neither of us male," Myri's eyes run over the quicklings very feminine curves, "we aren't even of the same species & therefore I think um, well raising a family is kind of problematical if not completely out of the question...unless you think this is just a fun fling...in which case I guess number two probably isn't such a big thing." Myri's jaw tightens just slightly perhaps with a small degree of frustration and her eyes go sideways towards whoever or whatever happens to be in that direction. Her eyes return to the slender elf-like creature, again not being able to help but admire her feminine figure, "I'm sorry, are first date's normally this..um..this...I don't know what the term is..."heavy?"
A waitress comes by and takes your orders. Buttersnips indeed simply points at something somewhere in the middle of the menu.
"No," she replies, "On first dates, usually people are desperately polite, on their best behavior, careful not to say anything that offends, or might scare the other person off, or imply that they are anything but nice, pleasant, likeable people. I have to say I rather like this version better."
"In regards to your first concern ... Well. I am not male. I am rather unlikely ever to be male, and I rather like being a woman. So if that is the issue in itself, there is little to be done."
"If the issue is a family, children ... well, of course we could have children together. I am fey," she says, as if that explains everything. "And if you're wondering, I shall do something one is truly never supposed to do on a first date, and say that if we become serious, I would indeed eventually want children. Which I trust answers your question about whether I consider this 'just a fling'. I am, in fact, hoping for more than that."
"And your second concern?"
Shalelu holds you, waiting until she is entirely sure you can stand upright on your own again. Then she looks up at you, flashes you a grin, releases you, and slides into the water like a fish.
She watches you slip into the water. Her eyes follow you, down the curves on your body, fascinated by the drops of water that roll down your skin, tracing wet lines.
After a long moment, she approaches, and lowers herself into the water next to you. She only has eyes for you.
At an appropriately barbaric time in the morning, Rhost knocks at the door to Koya's wagon. "Ready to gawk?"
The door opens. Koya is already dressed and ready to go.
"Let's go. I aim to stare with astonishment at some mighty tall buildin's while locals laugh 'n point at me."
Very colorful. And very bright. It hurts the eyes to look at it, a little.
She seems very happy to tag along during the alcohol purchases, although she knows nothing about them and doesn't have the money to buy anything herself.
Next, Alaric drags them to a bookstore. One book he picks out quickly, as though he had something in mind. The second... takes awhile. To Mel: "I want to get Zaiobe something. Help?"
In the morning, Hrunndalf rises early. He has some to take care of in town before lunchtime. First, however, he needs a final answer from Melinda.
She watches you slip into the water. Her eyes follow you, down the curves on your body, fascinated by the drops of water that roll down your skin, tracing wet lines.
After a long moment, she approaches, and lowers herself into the water next to you. She only has eyes for you.
She pulls you close and kisses you once again. She is warm and wet.
"So ..." she says. "Miss me?"
Mel looks confused. "But... he asked me to keep it a secret." Then with a small surprised tone, "He waited up for you to come back from your date with Kalimac?" Another pause, and Mel looking even more confused, "But he said that you and he wanted to take Suishen with you..."
"No, he told me about it right when we got back to town ... He was quiet about it when he asked me, too, but I think he didn't want to be rude, invite me to something not everyone could go along on because ..." She trails off. "You'd ... need to bring Suishen to cast the spell, wouldn't you?"
A waitress comes by and takes your orders. Buttersnips indeed simply points at something somewhere in the middle of the menu.
Myri also orders something, which she hopes to be possibly one of the items that caught her eye as it passed. If the waitress spoke Taldane, then perhaps there is a slightly better chance of this, but realistically, she doesn't really care.
......
"If the issue is a family, children ... well, of course we could have children together. I am fey," she says, as if that explains everything. "And if you're wondering, I shall do something one is truly never supposed to do on a first date, and say that if we become serious, I would indeed eventually want children. Which I trust answers your question about whether I consider this 'just a fling'. I am, in fact, hoping for more than that."
Myri look thoroughly and honestly confused. "Wait, what? How? How do fey have children without...? That's incredible."
"And your second concern?"
Myri looks down at the table. The silence begins to stretch a bit long, she looks back up, "Buttersnips, I don't know how to say this, but...I...am not sure of my feelings yet. I..don't want to hurt you, but I...my Dad said not to immediately commit to the first person I meet..and um, I...I don't think I'm ready for a completely...well..." she sighs, "I really suck at this, I guess the fact is I know I have feelings for Spivey as well...though I think she's more in it for the fun and games. ... Are relationships always this complicated, or is part of growing up and finding out how things work? ... So, does this make you see I'm not all that you thought I was? or do you think there's still some sort of chance for us?" She takes a drink of tea(?) and watches Buttersnips reaction over the edge of her cup.
Sense Motive:
"because, if there is...well, I guess either way, if you don't mind keeping my company, then I have a few more questions for you."