Port Bowry is a relatively normal port city in its general functions and sea-fairing influence. But it's also a touch more corrupt than normal. The city pays protection to some pirates who frequently dock here. There is an orphanage, but it's really just a glorified slave camp where the kids crawl into the smaller places of the copper mines. The upside is guaranteed room and board. The downside is the grueling and potentially lethal work. Lethal because the copper mines are so close to the shore, frequent cave-ins and mine floods happen. Of course, if you would rather help with the maintenance of the light tower, that is a temporary reprieve from mining. The man who works there, though, is a grouchy drunk who frequently sends kids back with bruises. And if he decides to add a complaint on top of that, you're punished by the orphanage.

It is actually up for debate whether it's worse to be on the street, surviving off trash.

The heroes of this story are children. Some are orphans from this mining establishment. Some from the street. Others still might not even be orphans per say. But all of them are children and thus, not worthy of respect from adults.

Eli is twice-orphaned. His original parents died when he was an infant. Then he was adopted by some gnomes, who also wound up dead when Eli was 6. It's been 2 years since then and he has been surviving in the wild mostly. Today, he comes to Bowry, curious of the port city and its goings on.

(OOC: Introducing one kid at a time to get what their story, background, etc is in this setting. Also note, this setting doesn't tie in with any others.)
(To anyone not Chris or Tim: Due to the unity thread being canceled and due to Chris and I talking about a kids-only scenario for a while, I decided why not DnD as the setting for child characters? So I'm starting this thread for Chris and I. It's meant for just us two, but if you really want in, send a PM. Child characters only.)

Lucky is one of the unlucky kids who belongs to the city orphanage.  Or one of the lucky kids, because he's not dead yet.  He doesn't remember ever having parents, adopted or otherwise.  The story he was told by the staff is that he was found by some travelers near a dead shifter woman who had many arrows and such sticking out of her.  At the moment, Lucky is working in the mines in a lonely tunnel.

Jake has parents after a fashion.  Technically not an orphan.  Just that his wealthy parents hire people to take care of him while they do their more important things.  Said employees are very very paranoid about anything bad happening to him because that would mean them losing a job.  So Jake is in the city studying various topics including court etiquette.  Booooring.  He gazes out the window dreaming of a life of adventure free from all the restrictions of being a duke's son.

(( Moh ))
This message was last edited by the player at 05:24, Sat 23 July 2011.

Antoinette is Jake's younger sister. Her autism is mistaken as stupidity since this era doesn't understand autism. But nobody can mistake a sweet girl for being mean. Antoinette is more known for her being quiet and gentle than for being stupid. Partly because Jake protects her, but also because her parents' employees protect her from bad rumors. In her case, if word got out that the duke had an "idiot" for a daughter, that would injure his reputation.

Liberty is in the orphanage. She was on the streets, but recently entered the orphanage on purpose to begin figuring the place out and hopefully learn how to spring the kids free. Unfortunately, she is slowly coming to the realization that the kids wouldn't really have anywhere to go. This may be a dangerous place to live, but... it's a place to live at all. Liberty is unsure what to do. And, lost in her thoughts, winds up bumping into Lucky from a conjoining shaft.

Miranda's background is in her cast click, actually. It still applies. Her parents are now on the poor end of the merchant class, thanks to all they invested in keeping the girl alive. Such as it is... she now looks different. Most merchant kids keep away from her. Most *merchants* keep away from her. The girl has a new perspective on life and death, though. And most would rather she keep that to herself. Thankfully, she usually does.

Today, she walks into Jake's classroom. The teacher gives her a disapproving glare for a brief moment before getting even more annoyed once he sees who is disrupting class...

Lucky's eyes go wide when he sees Liberty.  "Oh!  H...hi.  M-my name's L-Lucky, heheh...  Nice to meet you!"

He wiggles his fingers at her and gives a bashful smile.

Jake imagines himself wearing armor.  Goblin armor.  Because he's on a forced march.  He imagines his teacher as the taskmaster with a whip.

I can't, I can't continue! he imagines himself saying, Antionette we've got to break ranks!  But we can't while old whipper is watching.  I sure hope an opportunity presents itself soon...

Salvation arrives in the unlikely form of Miranda!  Something rather creepy about that girl.  And not just the purple skin.  That's just... weird.  Whatever the case, she's still a very welcome interruption.

"Hi there!" Jake chimes cheerfully with a smile and a wave, "Name's Jake!  This is my little sister, Antionette.  Nice to meet ya!"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:49, Sat 23 July 2011.

Miranda says, "My name is Miranda." she hands a note to the teacher on her way over to Jake. "I'm here to give you a break from your usual studies in exchange for some different studies."

The teacher is annoyed, but as he reads the note, his expression turns more jaded. He waves a dismissive hand at Jake as if OKing the interruption.

Antoinette stands from her seat and waits next to Jake. The moment Jake stands, Antoinette grabs his hand out of habit.

---

Meanwhile, Liberty says, "Lucky, eh? I'm Liberty. I heard you grew up an orphan. But nobody knows if you were always in this orphanage or not. Were you?"

Lucky's eyebrows raise, his ears perk up, and his tail begins to wag.  "Liberty.  Nice name.  No no, not always.  I've only been back a few months after a few years away.  Came back by way of pirate ship.  Kinda.  So...  how 'bout you?  What's your story, Liberty?"

He bites his lower lip and laces his fingers together under his chin with an eager expression like he just asked for ice cream or something.

Jake raises an eyebrow in surprise, taking his sister's hand out of habit.  He gives a swift bow to his schoolmaster then Miranda.

"Most welcome news, mam.  May I please see that note, Schoolmaster, sir?"

He approaches the teacher.

The teacher hands the note to Jake. It's an official note from Jake's parents, informing the teacher that Miranda is part of an idea to help Jake give his brain breaks with outdoors, fresh air, maybe some physical activity... in so many words, the note is snob for "Maybe Jake should have friends and be involved in sports. Maybe."

Miranda patiently waits for Jake. When he's ready, she leads him out.

---

Liberty gives Lucky a crooked smile as the cat showing such interest in her is a little flattering. "My story? I was a slave. Freed myself. But then came here to this orphanage. I planed to free the kids here. But... where would they all go?"

Jake gladly heads out with Miranda, happy to be leaving the classroom.  He's unable to decipher that the note implies he should make friends and takes it at face value.

"So...  Have ye a title, mam?  Or would you like me to address you by your first name?"

For all he knows, she could outrank his parents.  Best to err on the polite side at first.

Lucky awws at Liberty's story, a look of pity in his eyes.

"Sorry you were a slave.  Hate it when that happens.  Glad you were able to escape, though.  As for where the kids would go from here?  I really don't know.  Hard work in the mines sure beats... well... pirates are mean.  You should stay away from the docks if anyone decides to leave with you."

He glances around nervously.

"You know... we could get in trouble if we don't get back to work soon."

Miranda says, "Please just call me Miranda." as she heads out with Jake to the outdoors. "I've heard of your tinkering..." she comments, "Someone said they saw you through your window and that you created a warforged..."

---

Liberty says, "We'll talk more tonight around bed time." as she turns to get back to work.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:13, Sat 23 July 2011.

Jake rubs behind his head with a bashful grin.

"Ahem, heheh... yeah.  It's uh...  Well it's true.  Robbie's great, uh, but, uh...  Yeah."

He fidgets.

"Mom and Dad don't think it proper for me to be studying magic before completing all the other junk they want me to study, and my various teachers think it too dangerous for me to be tinkering.  So I uh...  I kinda hid Robbie.  If I need him, I can summon him for about 5 minutes.  But only once a day at most.  Sometimes I don't even get to see him that much.

"How 'bout you, Miranda?  What's your favorite thing?  I mean... favorite thing to do.  Ant here's favorite thing to do is help people in need.  She's a real sweetheart.  But tends to only speak when spoken to."

Lucky nodnods and smiles with misty eyes.

"So nice to have a friend at last...  We are friends, right?"

He can't bring himself to turn to leave just yet, so he's just carefully walking backward, watching Liberty and waiting for her answer.

Miranda says, "I have been given magic power from a powerful spirit of the Feywild. I didn't have to study it, I can just... do it."

She looks at Antoinette. "A nice girl? I've heard." Miranda cracks a smile of her own. She looks back at Jake. "I came here to talk about our magic and how we can use it for better things. Like rescuing people or saving the world."

---

Liberty nods at Lucky. "I'm sure you have more friends than you give them credit for..." she says, backtracking as well.

Jake ahs.

"The feywild?  Wow.  You ever been there?  I haven't.  I hear its...  well...  wild.  Use magic to save the world?  Kinda grandiose.  Unless...  This fey spirit have a name?  Well your fey spirit patron.  Did they tell you about some world threatening danger or something?  I'm sure there's many more capable people than myself whom could be of better help.  Not that I'm unwilling.  Just...  Why ask me of all people?  I'm a novice at best."

Lucky looks a little downcast.

"Down here, people try not to get attached.  Hurts too much when a friend dies or gets sent away.  But you wind up lonely.  Especially if you're the only one of your kind.  I hope you're right, though."

Miranda says, "I too am new to this power like you are new to yours. I haven't been to the Feywild. As for saving the world? Well someone's gotta do it. I wanna get strong and stop evil. As for what my patron wants... he said he wants me to find people to take with me on a quest."

Some gruff man is passing by and eyes Jake, Antoinette and Miranda with contempt. He's drunk and looks like he just might be stupid enough to harm the trio even though they are rich kids.

---

Liberty pauses, staring at Lucky. Lucky then hears Liberty's voice in his head, <<Hold on just a little longer. Help is coming.>>

Lucky hears his current supervisor yelling "Found anything?!"

Jake acts like he doesn't notice the glare, but is sure to nonchalantly put himself between the gruff drunk and his sis, while not-so-nonchalantly putting his hand on the hilt of one of his many knives.

"A quest?  For stopping evil?  You bet we'll help!  Ant here is a healer, and I'm convinced she's been chosen by the gods for greatness.  I'll uh...  I guess I'll just try and keep up.  I'm a little bit of a healer myself, but it's through basic admixtures.  Nothing divine about me, heh."

(( Jake bluff to appear like he didn't notice gruff drunk: 11 ))

Lucky's eyes go wide when he hears her voice in his head.  He nods and waves, blink-blinking from the surprise.

"Y-yessir," he answers, "F-Found lots of solid rock, sir."

He gets back to work.

The drunk man looks like he's going to hurt Jake when a demon's face appears in front of the man, flames spewing from its eye sockets. "Leave..." it whispers in a multi-voice. The drunk man is terrified and runs.

Miranda goes from worried to scared. Antoinette tugs on Jake and points to Eli, who is peeking out from an alley, wiggling his fingers as if casting a spell.

---

Liberty leaves and Lucky's supervisor supervises. Lucky/Liberty shelved until later in RP.

Jake is clicked like a mushroom from Maple Story.  But when he notices Eli, he ohs.

"Well... Thanks for pointing that out, sis.  Yeesh.  Here I thought this was another one of those, uh... things.  Yeah.

"Hey, nice illusion, there, buddy.  It was an illusion, riiight?"

Eli nods. He waves a hand and the demon vanishes. He speaks up, "Uh-I'm Eli... I just... didn't want anyone to get hurt..."

Miranda says, "Golly. It's like my group of heroes is forming itself."

Jake nods to Eli.

"Well thanks, sir.  My name is Jake, and this is my sister Antoinette, and my friend Miranda.  We were just talking about using our abilities to help people and you come along and do more than just talk.  You demonstrate."

He glances at Miranda.

"I'm beginning to think that the four of us meeting is no coincidence.  These kinds of things just... happen... around my sis.  Hence my saying I'm convinced she's chosen by the gods for greatness."

He looks back at Eli.

"Care to join the chat, Eli?"

Eli nods and timidly comes over. "R..really? Chosen? As in destined?"

Miranda nods. "Seems that way. But there's only 4 of us. Maybe there are others in the area." She looks at Jake. "Like at the orphanage, where kids are mistreated."

Antoinette says, "Yes."

"I'm starting to see a pattern here," Jake says, "You may very well be chosen too, Eli.  Come on.  There may not be much time.  Let's go to the orphanage to see what we can find out there."

Still holding Ant's hand he heads off and...

"Wait.  I don't know where it is, do you?"

Antoinette points in a direction. "That way."

Miranda says, "Yeah. As the crow flies, I think she's right."

Eli says, "I'm new here.. couldn't tell ya."

Miranda says, "Well let's go. Worst thing that happens is we're wrong and have to try another direction."

"Heh, yeah.  Ant tends to give direct directions.  Sometimes makes me wonder if she's getting tips from someone with a bird's-eye view."

He heads in the direction indicated.

"So... What brings you to the city, then, Eli?"

Eli squirms. "....I was just... going this direction, is all." he manages to not stutter.

Miranda asks, "Where were you before?"

Eli answers, "The woods..."

Miranda asks, "And before that?"

Eli rubs his arm, "I've been in the woods for a long time."

Antoinette says, "He's shy."

Jake gives a loving smile to his lil sis and nods.

"So you live in the woods then?  Neat!  I don't get to go out in the woods often.  I'm usually stuck in a boring classroom.  So what's your favorite thing to do, Eli?"

Eli answers Jake, "Learn. Mostly about how things work. And then inventing new things that can help people."

The orphanage is a boring building built up against a cliff side and has a large area of sand in front of it. The kids can see it up ahead and Miranda says, "Yeah... I think that's the one."

"Wow, really?" Jake answers Eli excitedly, "Those are two of my favorite things, too!"

He takes a look at the orphanage and rubs his chin.

"I doubt the direct approach will do any good.  We need to ask the kids about any troubles without any interference from the adults.  Any suggestions?  Sneaking is not my thing at all."

Miranda says, "Might I suggest the direct approach? You and I, Jake, are of a class these people can not bully. We can go in there and freely walk around. Maybe with an adult escort, but still more free than having to sneak around."

"True enough," Jake answers, "Let's do that.  Stay close, Eli."

Jake takes the lead because he's the only rich guy around.

The adults, as Miranda predicted, are a bit more accommodating than normal, bordering on butt-kissing to Jake. See, Jake is just old enough that one false step could be remembered easily when Jake becomes an adult in a few very short years.

The tour is pretty boring at first. Though Jake is seeing a lot of children less fortunate than himself. A girl with golden hair looks into Miranda's eyes and then Jake's. Soon, the four hear a voice in their heads, <<My name is Liberty. I'm hear to free the captives. Are you going to help?>>

Jake blink blinks and nods.

Wow.  A psychic?  Can you hear my thoughts?  I'm not sure what you mean by free the captives, but if help is needed then help will be given.  Hmm...  Not with money, though.  I don't have enough myself, and my parents aren't ones to spend it on something that might be politically...  oops!  I guess I was thinking out loud there.  Sorry.  Name's Jake.

Liberty 'paths, <<Everyone here is a captive. They either work with lethal risk, or they go into the street and starve to death. I'm looking to free those who would rather risk starving than continue working here.>>

Eli squirms. His voice is then heard in Jake's head. <<I could show them how to live off the land...>>

Liberty 'paths, <<A community formed by children? Could work...>>

Wow!  We can all hear each other's thoughts?!  This is amazing!  We could give it a try, I guess.  Worse comes to worse, they can come back here willingly.  Maybe.  Or they get eaten by wild animals.  Whichever comes first.  So...  Um...  How are we supposed to get them out of here?

The thought conversation is interrupted by the guide. "Why are you staring at the girl? Do you want your own slave?"

Liberty telepaths, <<There will be an opportunity at night time... I can meet with you at the backyard fence tonight when the lights are out.>>

"Huh?  What?" Jake answers, snapping out of staring at Liberty, "M-my own... slave?  Eheh... eh.  I uh...  Heh.  Yeah.  I um...  I'm thinking about it.  Yeah.  Parents would pitch a fit if I got one without their permission, though, eheh.  So...  I'll be armtwisting and such.  Right.  So...  Thanks for the tour!  Seeya tomorrow if all goes well.  Oh!  How much for the pretty blonde?"

<< Gods this is embarrassing.  I'll try to find a way to be here, but it won't be easy to get past my guardians in the evening, so...  I'll just have to not go home till after we've rescued the slaves. >>

Eventually, the "tour" is over and the kids get to exit. Miranda faces the other 3. "We got a decent look at the layout of the place."

Eli smiles bashfully as he wiggles in place, pulling out a parchment on which he scribed a map of the layout.

Miranda raises an eyebrow, blinkblinking.

"Wow, nice work, Eli!" Jake commends, "With this we can make actual plans!  We should make copies for each of us in case we get separated.  This place looks like where Liberty told us to meet her.  From there, it looks like the best way out is down this way.  If that way is blocked or something, the second best looks like this way."

Jake randomly does his best to make a good plan now that he has a map to make a plan with.

Antoinette hugs Jake's arm for no apparent reason, leaning her cheek on it. She had been silent all this time and not giving an opinion or thought since they got to the place. But now that they are out of there, she points at the spots on the map that Jake points at whenever he does. She has a smile on her face and starts to giggle if looked at. Just playing "copy the brother". But she isn't copying what he says. That's annoying.

Time skip! Night falls and the group has a plan literally mapped out; each member of the team with a copy of the map.

Once they get there, Eli prepares his cantrip. Seeing a lone adult who is there pretty much to make sure kids stay on the premises, Eli uses ghost sound to cause the sound of a couple children whispering around a corner. The man, of course, goes to investigate, which allows for Eli and the bunch to enter the courtyard without any problem.

Liberty is there, waiting for them. She nods to the others as she sees them. She then speaks to their minds, <<I'll keep our communication sound-free. Let's go.>> She leads the group inside and paths, <<Out of all the kids here, I found only a few who were willing and wanting to leave. They are waiting at a rendezvous point, but before we meet with them, we need to rescue one. One girl was put in solitary confinement for something she didn't even do.>>

She leads the bunch to the solitary confinement room, which has 3 adults playing cards in front of it. The group can can see a tiefling girl behind bars, laying on the cold concrete ground. She is curled up and hiding her face, her tail and arms wrapped around her legs.

<<She knows we're here now and is remaining curled up to fool the guards. Now let's see about getting the men out of the picture somehow...>>

Jake of course smiled at his sister's adorable antics.

When Lib mentions the girl in solitary, Jake puts on a serious face and nods.  He looks at the adults and narrows his eyes.

<<I don't think Eli's earlier clever diversion will work on three.  The'll likely only send one to investigate unless...  Unless they see and smell smoke like there's a fire.  If not...  well I guess we just ambush them and knock them out.>>

Eli paths, <<But... they're grown-ups. What can we hope to do to them?>>

Miranda paths, <<Don't need to if fooling them works. But if it doesn't, I have magic. And so do you.>>

Liberty paths, <<Try it, Eli...>>

Eli gets to making some illusory smoke seep out the door, then adds the smell of smoke into the area where the men are playing cards. After all, he can't fill a whole room with smells.

Jake stays hidden and tries to be as quiet as possible, but he does draw a dagger just in case.  Fortunately, he's skilled enough with the weapon to not kill anyone with them and most of his powers don't require a weapon in the first place, but it's there if he needs it.

The guards soon notice and head out the door. It's all the distraction needed as Miranda rushes, grabs the keys from the card table, unlocks the prison door, and helps the tiefling girl to her feet.

Liberty paths, <<Now let's get out of here while we still can...>>

Fast forward: The group makes it to the meeting place, where Lucky was also told to meet with Liberty.

Lucky is of course waiting where he was told to, and smiles when he sees so many kids coming his way.  But he doesn't recognize most of them.  Odd.  He tilts his head and earpirks in curiosity and waves.

Jake of course waves back.

<<I'm guessing this one knows not to speak out loud?>> Jake paths.

Liberty nods. <<We rescued Shina.>> she explains to Lucky, displaying the bruised, tear-stained tiefling girl. <<And looks like all the others I asked you to bring are here. Let's go.>>

Lucky nod-nods and follows along, offering Shina an arm-around to comfort her.

<< Thanks for everything, Liberty!  So is this new friend of yours also telepathic?  I could hear his thoughts too. >>

Liberty paths, <<Nope. I'm just relaying what people are thinking.>> soon, the kids are all out of town and headed for the woods. This is where Eli takes point and tries helping the group find a good spot to camp.

Eli asks, "So... what if the grown-ups come looking in the woods?"

Miranda says, "Where else is there to hide? The town is too obvious..."

"Don't worry," Jake says, "I doubt they'll have any expert trackers on hand, so we're just looking to cover our tracks against amateurs.  We should all be very careful to stick to packed ground.  Avoid soft soil or mud.  Be careful not to snap any branches or twigs on live plants.  Dead stuff, they likely can't tell if it wasn't broken long before tonight."

"Wow," Lucky says, "You seem pretty confident in your know-how.  Name's Lucky by the way."

"Jake.  And this is my sister Antionette.  And this is Miranda.  Liberty I'm guessing you've met."

Lucky nods.

"Nice to meet you all."

Antoinette says, "Hi."

Liberty says, "And this is Eli. He's supposed to be the one to show us around the woods?"

Eli nods. "I lived here for a while..."

He looks around, finds his old stomping grounds, and takes the group there. It's a cave, wherein there is a hidden entrance to a room. Eli lights up the room with his light cantrip, which gets a lot of ooos and aahhs from the other kids. Including Liberty, Miranda and Antoinette.

The room looks like someone lives there. There is a makeshift bed, a table, a desk, a chair at each, a bookshelf with books, and many doodads. It's obvious to Jake anyway that Eli is also a dabbler in magically infused technology as well as straight up tech. "I only have one bed, though it's big enough for grownups..." he looks around.

"Antoinette, Jake and Miranda don't need to sleep here. They have homes to go to."

That's 3. But he notes Liberty, Lucky, Shina, and the 4 other kids that Lucky managed to talk into leaving, 3 of whom are boys. Conner (human), Maverick (human), Galinndan (eladrin), and the girl Mialee (elf). That's 8 if Eli includes himself. "It'll be crowded, but we can all fit on the bed."

It's sad, really. Many a kid might say "I want my mommy", but none of these kids CAN say that.

"Nice place, Eli," Jake says with a big smile, "I see you share my interest in the mechanical.  Maybe we can compare discoveries together some time.  But your right.  I need to get back home or they'll send a search party if they haven't already.  I'll bring food first thing in the morning if I can get away from my tutors."

He waves his goodbyes and heads out.

"Thanks!" Lucky answers waving back, "And thanks to you too, Eli and Liberty!  This IS a nice place!"

He crawls around in circles on the bed and purrs with a big smile.

Once the rich folk leave, Eli looks back at Lucky. "G... good night..." he offers before finding a corner of the bed to lay on. The kids all start crowding the bed chaotically. Liberty offers an orderly way to sleep in the bed that winds up maximizing the number of people who can sleep on the bed. It's crowded... but everyone manages to fit.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:40, Thu 06 Oct 2011.

"I hope they'll be ok," Jake muses out loud on the way back home, "Not sure what we're going to do after breakfast tomorrow.  I don't think they can get away with living at that place for long."

---

Lucky of course praised Liberty's smarts and offers a huggle to the nearest kid.

"Anyone know any good bedtime stories?"

Miranda looks over at Jake. "They are lucky already, though. They have 3 rich folk backing them, all of whom have powers. And among them, they too have powers. A psychic and a wizard. You have mentioned your sister just seems to know things. Perhaps she too is a psychic. You are known to dabble in magic and I have a pact with an otherworldly being. Yet all this and I agree with you... they can't stay there for long."

---

Liberty blushes from Lucky's compliments. Then gives a "trying hard to think back" look when asked if anyone knows any stories. Eli nods. "A few..." he says bashfully.

Shina smiles and hugs Lucky back, rubbing cheeks with him.

"Good points," Jake says, "Now that I think of it, I seriously doubt that the badguys have the resources for an extended search, much less do they consider a few lost kids worth the effort.  Probably best for the kids to just lay low somewhere in the city for a day or two.  After that the search will likely be given up."

---

"Feel free to share, Eli," Lucky answers, purring and smiling at Shina, "If you'd rather not, I can make one up."

Miranda nods, gives a curtsey to Jake and Antoinette. "See you tomorrow."

---

Eli says, "Well... I... there once was a world made mostly of metal. It sat deep in the stars and was unknown to the people of our world for many centuries. The people on that world were also made of metal and had the power to change their shape into forms that could move faster than their person form. All of them had magic crossbows that shot beams of light that were made of concentrated fire." he demonstrates with a cantrip, making a crossbow made of metal. But there is no bow on it and he fires a quick burst of light at the wall with a sound effect accompanying it that sounds like nothing the kids ever heard before!

"Gnite!" Jake says before returning home.

---

Lucky's eyes go wide.  "Wow!  Neat!  I've never heard a story like this before!"

*Fast forward*

The next day comes and Antoinette is standing next to Jake's bed, staring at him. Not an uncommon occurrence as Jake knows it's just something she does once in a while. "Good morning." she says softly.

---

Lucky wakes up the next morning to find Shina's tail is flopped over his neck. Some boy's foot is at Lucky's chest, and Liberty's face is right in front of Lucky's though upside-down.

Jake gives a sleepy smile, yawns, stretches, and waves at his lil sis.  "Mornin.  Let's sneak out as soon as possible."

He gets dressed and ready to head out.

---

Lucky's heart is so full of happy, hopeful, family love, he could just burst!  He lays there a few moments basking in the warmth of his new friends, wishing the moment to never end, but he begins to worry about the group being discovered so he decides to wake everyon... gently.  He begins purring and rubs his cheek against Shina's tail.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:44, Wed 26 Oct 2011.

The various kids wake up as Lucky wakes them (Oh the randomness). They all have messy hair and frazzled looks, but are all smiling. Even Liberty gives a tired smile as she wakes up.

Eli looks around, then at some odd magical sundial that seems to be giving time as if the sun were hitting it. But nobody is sure what light is casting the shadow or how the sun is in the room. The room isn't bright as the outdoors either. Odd device. Eli says, "Good morning. We need to get to making this place invisible..."

"Neat sundial, Eli," Lucky says with a smile and tail-wag, "Sounds like a good plan.  What can I do to help?  I have no idea how to make a place invisible."

Eli says, "We need to gather twigs and brush from around the area." he goes outside and immediately gets everyone to work on gathering the brush to the entrance of the cave.

Meanwhile, back at the estate, Antoinette says, "We need to distract people from looking at the woods."

"Aye-aye, Cap'm!" Lucky answers with a salute and a smile.

He hurries to help out with the others.

Jake skews his lips.

"Well I could pull a prank involving Robbie pretending to be a suicide jumper," he suggests, "That'd be pretty distracting.  What did you have in mind?"

Antoinette says, "We could pretend we're poor orphans and make them look for us. Then when they find us, tell them we are nobles. Miranda could do this too."

"That sounds like a better plan," Jake says, "Let's do that!"

He takes his sister's hand and goes looking for Miranda.

Miranda is found easily enough. She notices Jake coming and nods to him. "Jake." she says in acknowledgement. When Jake reveals the plan, she agrees to it and soon wears a cloak over herself.

Jake lifts his hand and gets himself and his sis a disguise as well.  He then does his best impersonation of a poor orphan and grins at the girls.

Antoinette does a good peasant impersonation as she tends to stare off blankly. Just change her clothes, let her hair down and tada! Although she had to get dirty and stuff. Speaking of, Miranda has a hooded cloak and a grease smear on her cheek and a smile, doing a good Raven impersonation.

The plan is a success. Most people are fooled. But it's also insightful... Jake and Antoinette get to spend a day in the shoes of peasant children. Most grownups, even peasant grownups, treat them poorly. Some bark at them for merely existing. Others ignore them. Others put them down when they try to play. Still others expect the kids to do absolutely anything they tell them. Any act of defiance is met with a smack to the face.

It sucks to be a peasant child.

Miranda seems oddly unphased by it. Antoinette cries often.

Jake starts with a big smile at how cute the two girls are but before long his smile turns upside-down as his romanticized fantasies about the freedom and fun that peasant children enjoy are crushed.  Sure, he had no illusions about mistreatment of slave children by their masters or peasants by the wealthy, but he had guessed that peasants at least treated each other with love and respect.  Maybe he got that impression because peasants and servants are on their best behavior when rich folk are around.

He sure isn't used to being bossed around or reprimanded by total strangers for minding his own business.  As angry as he is for being mistreated, he's even more angry that his sister is.  He keeps himself from using his magic or his blade on these insolent beggars because... well..  for one, he's a kid... not a Maverick with ice in his veins; and for another, the orphans are counting on him to be a diversion.  So he winds up crying right along with his lil sis.

The "poor orphan" ruse manages to fool and hold off the bad guys for several hours, but soon enough, Jake and Ant's caretakers find them. The down side? The ruse is over. The upside? This happens JUST as the orphanage slavers were about to take the kids for a serious beating due to not believing they were nobles.

The even better side? The slavers get taken to jail to be flogged for intent to harm a noble. Sometimes stupid justice done purely on "I'm bigger and you ticked me off" comes back to bite practitioners of the same justice.

Antoinette is either unaware these people are being punished for something they didn't do, or she figures they are getting punished for treating kids badly. Which... is technically true. Either way, as usual, the caretakers shelter Antoinette from seeing said flogging since they know she'll cry and throw a fit otherwise. Jake, however, they permit to see it if he wants. Miranda too.

Jake is more focused on comforting his lil sis than seeing ironic poetic justice executed.  Besides... even as angry as he is at the nimrods... he feels guilty when someone gets punished on his account.  On that note, he approaches the family servants responsible for making sure this sort of thing doesn't happen to him and Antoinette.

"It goes without saying that Mom and Dad will be furious if they find out about this.  I'm guessing they're liable to replace the entire staff...  if they find out.  I don't hold any grudges against any of you and I don't want any of you to lose your jobs.  So Mom and Dad don't have to find out.  But I'll tell you why this happened..."

He explains about the escape of the mistreated slave orphans and the diversion plan.

"So right now they're scared and hungry and homeless.  I need help figuring out what can be done for them.  Any ideas?"

The men ponder a bit. One says, "Nothing says you can't tell your parents that you *heard* about poor, starving orphans who hated that place so bad they ran away from it, risking death. After all, your sister is the sort to learn of these things. If your parents know of this much... perhaps they can help."

Jake rubs his leg.

"At best they'll claim they're too busy or can't afford to help.  At worst they'll ask Ant for the details and she'll let the cat out of the bag.  But nothing ventured nothing gained, I suppose..."

One of the men facepalms. "Well.. can't you keep your sister from blowing the whistle?"

Antoinette says, "Let's visit them." and starts walking off.

"I could try and reason with her...  erm...  well it looks like it's time to go check on the...  Hold on, Ant!  They probably need food and water.  Let's not go empty handed, ok?"

He rushes to catch up with her to take her hand so she doesn't wander off.

Meanwhile, back at the cave, the children have gathered an impressive amount of foliage, but it's FAR from being enough to cover the entrance. "I'll do what I can with this... it's a temporary fix, but with people looking for us, we will need it..."

He begins casting a spell of some kind and the runes he had drawn around the entrance glow briefly before vanishing. "There. Now when we here people coming, we all huddle into the cave and when I say the magic word, the foliage we gathered will become a camouflaged wall."

Lucky of course helps out as best he can with the gathering of the foliage.  He gives a bright smile at Eli's magic.

"Wow!  Neat!  We sure are fortunate to have you helping us.  Thanks so much!"

He'll give Eli a big hug if it looks like he'll let him.  If not, he'll give a grateful bow.

Lucky and Eli hear some people approaching. So Eli goes inside the cave and motions the others to go in with. He activates the spell and the foliage pops up, covering the mouth of the cave.

Upon arriving, Jake and company see the cave that USED to have a mouth, now has a large growth of vines and dense leaves in place. The mouth of the cave can't be seen, although many children's tracks can be.

Lucky holds his breath, wondering of they've been found or if the nice rich kids are back.  Jake has kept as quiet as he can lest he accidentally give away the slave kids' location.  When he sees the footprints he lets out a sigh of relief.  No adult footprints is a good sign.

"Hey everyone!" he whispers, "It's me!  Jake!  I brought food and water!"

Eli says another magic word and the bramble collapses back into its original form. "Hi Jake! It's so good to see you. We're famished... you brought adults?"

"These folks work for my parents," Jake explains of the adults, "So no worries.  They've offered to help.  And to keep you all secret."

Lucky gets to noming.

"Thank you so much!" 

Jake rubs behind his head.

"No prob.  Antoinette was the biggest help.  She was the one who came up with the idea of making herself a diversion.  That worked real well.  Miranda and I helped and all, but it was Ant's idea."

"Well thanks for that too!"

Lucky glomps Jake with a big smile, purring.  Jake sweatdrops, scrunching his nose a bit from the stink of unwashed coalmine orphan.

Eli notices the staple noble nose-scrunch and hrms. He sniffs at himself, but he's gotten used to his own stink (having been out in the woods for a long time even before all this "rescue the children" stuff). Nobles.

Liberty says, "Thanks for the food."

However, Miranda seems to understand the whole stink bit. "We should get them all baths as soon as we can. In fact, if we wash them up and dress them up, they won't even look like orphans anymore, but nobles or even the children of merchants."

"You're welcome," Jake answers, catching himself in a slight bow.  Apparently a day spent learning new habits that help reduce the number of beatings you receive that day leave a lasting impression.  He'll have to make it a point to break the habit of bowing to anyone underneath his rank or his parents will start asking questions.

He smiles and nods at Miranda's suggestion.  "Good idea, Miranda!  Ant and I could take some to our place and you could take some to yours.  Only...  It'll be hard to go unnoticed if we take 'em all at once.  We should probably only take one at a time each."

Lucky leans over to Liberty, wagging his tail, and whispers, "This is it!  This is the beginning of our new lives with folks who care!"

Miranda points out, "We should go boys with boys and girls with girls. Just in case."

The plan seems to work a bit. After some back and forth, the children are ALL moved to Jake's place and Miranda's place (The girls at Miranda's, the boys at Jake's). The woman servants help with bathing the children and getting some decent clothing for them. Of course, to save time and water, the kids are bathed in groups, meaning Lucky and Eli wind up in the bath with a few of the other boys. During this time, Eli seems frozen and red all over.

Lucky was reluctant to see the girls go, but he couldn't argue the practicality of the plan.  He can't remember the last time he's had a bath, if he's ever had one, so being immersed in warm water with friends is a wonderful new luxury.  He's seen enough shy people humiliated to understand why Eli is frozen.  So cute!  Must glomp!  But that might make him feel worse.  So Lucky keeps his paws to himself.  Instead he leans over and whispers, "You used magic to cover the cave entrance.  If it helps any, you can use magic to cover yourself.  If not...  at least I'm not staring at you?"

Jake of course thanked Miranda and the adults who helped.  During bath time, he keeps his sis company.  "Sure am glad things worked out," he muses aloud, "So far, anyway.  I don't know what to do next, though.  What if Mom and Dad are against helping escaped slaves?  It's technically illegal even for them.  Even they could get in trouble.  _{This shouldn't be a problem in the first place.}"

Antoinette gives Jake a gentle hug. "It will be OK." she says softly.

Meanwhile, Eli is just blushing. He casts prestidigitation to create some arcane swimming trunks. He's still blushing loads, but at least he doesn't seem frozen anymore.

Eventually, the two groups are brought together, all dressed in merchant-level clothing. Everyone is looking a LOT better. Lucky can see his reflection nearby and he's every bit as improved as the others. What he thought wouldn't make a difference because of his black fur, turns out to add a shine to his coat and less frizzle to his hair. Similar for the others as Liberty's hair is rather golden now, Eli's skin is almost glowing for it's soft, pale appearance, and so on.

Shina may still look like a demon and her freckles keep her skin looking rugged, but not only is she smelling nicer like the others, it's still obvious she is cleaner. If anything, her freckles are a bit more noticeable now, with all the dirt no longer in the way.

"Wow!" Lucky comments, "Everyone looks so good!  Thanks again for everything.  I've never been so happy!"

Jake sweatdrops and rubs behind his head. "It was only a bath..."

Liberty says, "And food. And shelter. And an escape from slavery."

Eli says, "And you don't know what it's like to go without a bath for so long.. it's been weeks for me, but probably months for them at best."

Shina says, "I don't remember ever having a bath..."

One of the lady servants nods. "We had to scrub them five times over each, m'lord."

Lucky thumbs at the others and says, "What they said."

Jake rubs his arm.  "You're welcome.  And thanks for your hard work, mam."

Lucky raises his hand and says, "I'm sure I'm not the only one eager to do some chores or something to show my gratitude for all you've done."

Jake shrugs, "I'm fine with that.  But right now I think we need to focus on making sure you don't wind up in the hands of your former masters.  So avoid windows and exterior doors and any other place you might get spotted or recognized.  Maybe hide your faces?  Ideas, Miranda?  Ant?"

Miranda says, "Your suggestion of keeping away from windows and such seems sound."

Antoinette says, "Nobody would recognize them in Charlestown." That's the neighboring town's neighboring town, about 15 miles away.

Liberty says, "A place where we aren't recognized would be good, yeah."

"Ok... But who in Charlestown would take care of them, Antoinette?" Jake asks, half expecting her to somehow know of someone who will.

"If there's some way for us all to stay together here... or there...  that'd be great," Lucky mews.

Antoinette flops on Jake in an exaggerated d'oh. Seconds later, she answers Jake, "...I don't know."

Miranda says, "Well here is still dangerous for now. Do you have any family or at least friends of the family over in Charlestown, Jake?"

Eli says shyly, "...I do..."

Jake pets his sister comfortingly and shakes his head.  "I'm sure my parents do.  They know people from all over the place.  But asking them for a reference is likely to blow our cover.  We should contact whomever it is Eli knows."

Lucky hugs Jake from behind, making him blush and sweatdrop.

"If we end up separated, I'll miss you."

"Uh...  thanks..."

Eli raises a finger. "There's a good scholar there... if you were to ask your parents permission to go there for some schooling, I'm sure they'd let you go there for a bit."

Miranda says, "You'll need to wait for a response from your parents, beats having all these orphans stay here forever."

Jake nods at Miranda's point.  "Thanks, Eli.  Please tell me all the details you know about the scholar.  Especially his full name so I'll know what to tell my parents when they ask."

Lucky mews, still hugging Jake, "At least we'll get to be together for a little while."

Fast forwarding a bit; a few hours later, Jake gets permission to visit Charlestown and manages to have enough wagon space to transport children either in a carriage, wagon, or behind a few horse riders. The trip there, however, will take a while.

Eli is silent. As is Miranda. And Shina. But Liberty is more than happy to break the silence. "Why do you care, Jake?"

Jake heavy sighs.  "I don't understand why others wouldn't care.  But I've seen first hand that they don't.  I guess I'm different because my family's different.  Mom and dad try to fix the rules to make things better for everyone, but there's so much that needs done...  Antionette's special and loves everyone with a supernatural understanding.  I sometimes wonder if she's an angel in disguise.  So i guess it rubbed off on me."

Lucky glomps and purrs again.  "So modest!  But I'm sure you'd be nice all on your own too, Jake!"

Jake blushes.  "...thanks."

Miranda says, "While your vote of confidence for Jake is kind, Jake has a point. Most of nobility is spoiled and taught that the world must bow to them and thank them for everything they do, including abuse. Jake and I both had good parents. But sometimes, someone with a good heart is born and winds up good despite bad parents or lack of parents. I think that describes you more than Jake or I, Lucky."

She looks at Jake. "But inherent goodness or not, what is important is that you are good. I'm proud to call myself friend to everyone present."

Shina looks hopeful. Liberty looks confused. Eli stares at the ground blushing. Antoinette hugs Jake. "I love you, Jake."

Jake eats radiation when Miranda paints such a negative picture of nobility.  Up until recently, he was accustomed to everyone using proper etiquette.  And then he spent a day in the shoes of a peasant on the unforgiving streets.  Miranda is putting it mildly.  How could he have been so blind to the severity of the abuse?  How can he take offense when Miranda talks honestly about it?  Emo McMuffin time!

He returns Ant's hug, blushing. "Thanks, Miranda.  Love you too, sis.  And I second what Miranda said."

Lucky mews happily, ready to glomp Miranda unless she looks like she's trying to avoid it.

"Thank you!  And I third that I'm proud to call you all friends!  More than that, you're like family to me!"

Miranda lets Lucky hug her no problem. The caravan stops.

A guard peaks in. "Jake... um... brigands."

"I'll deal with this," Jake says in all seriousness, "Eli please back me up, but stay behind cover as best you can.  The rest of you hold tight.  Don't run unless I'm defeated or yell for you to run."

He then steps out into the open and with his best attempt at a commanding voice shouts, "You have no idea what you're messing with here!"

He then summons Robbie who crawls out of an arcane circle!  Ironically, Jake has no idea what the brigands are messing with either.  All he knows Eli can do is disguise a hideout and a few cantrips.  The rest he assumes are just normal kids.

The bandits are thoroughly WTF'd at the sight of the robot crawling out of the ground. One of the bandits rather suddenly turns and attacks one of his fellow bandits, while a Soundwave voice eminates from his mouth saying "LEAVE!"

The bandits run for it. Between Jake and Eli, these bandits did NOT see this coming. They expected a caravan with a few guards. Not demon possession and giant metal demons crawling out of the ground.

Jake exhales in relief.  "Impressive, Eli.  Thanks, Robbie."

"You ^arrre welcome," Robbie answers.

"Okay everyone you can come out now.  I'd like to introduce you to my magical friend, Robbie."

Lucky peeks from where he was watching from and wiggles his fingers.  He hadn't stayed put like Jake had asked him to because as much as he dislikes violence, he dislikes standing idly by while his friends are in danger even more.

"Robbie, this is my friend, Lucky.  Lucky, this is my friend, Robbie."

"Hi, Robbie."

"He_el^lo, Friend."

Eli and the others slowly peek out so they too can be introduced to the robot.

The guards decide it's as good a time as any to take a break and eat with the kids.

After introductions, Jake explains, "Robbie can only stay a few more minutes.  Then he has to go back to where I called him from.  If you have any questions, make 'em quick."

Jake takes a bite from his lunch.

"How did  you and Jake meet, Robbie?" Lucky asks.

"Jake made me ^wiiith magic."

Lucky wows.

Eli asks, "Why can't you stay longer? Don't go..."

Antoinette greets Robbie with a hug. She knows him by now.

Robbie returns Ant's hug with his typical huge grin.  "Good to see you again, ^Antoinnnnette," he says as he begins to fade from view, "I wish I could stay.  It has ^been fun.  Farewell."

Jake waves goodbye and Robbie vanishes.  "I'll be able to summon him again starting tomorrow morning.  The spell never lasts any longer than a few minutes.  I've been trying to figure out how to fix that."

Liberty has teary eyes. "No fair... poor Robbie. Well maybe after we learn how to survive this whole mess, we can figure out how to help Robbie!"

All the kids yell "YEAH!"

Afterwords, the group gets back to caravaning. Eli asides to Jake. He squirms, bites his lower lip, and asks, "...have you heard of the ritual called "permanence"?"

Jake blushes and smiles at the strong support for Robbie.  Lucky's so sensitive, his eyes are misting up just seeing Liberty's eyes, and he moves to give her a comforting hug.

"Thanks everyone," Jake says, rubbing behind his head.

To Eli's question he shrugs.  "If I have, I don't recall.  Why, what's it do?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:25, Fri 20 Apr 2012.

Eli says, "It allows you to keep an enchantment on something permanently. So like... if I were to perform the "Magic Mouth" ritual, then follow up with permanence, the Mouth would stay there until I disenchanted it."

Liberty hugs Lucky back.

"Wow neat!" Jake says with a big smile, "Talk about useful.  Soo many applications!  You wouldn't happen to have a copy of it, would you, Eli?"

Lucky cheers up and smiles at Lib.  "It sure is nice to see you in daylight.  If your parents were angels it sure shows.  Your hair looks like liquid sunshine!  Thanks again for helping me escape.  And for being my friend.  I love you."

Eli rubs his arm. "Uh... no. I wish. I just happen to know about it. I'm sure if we could find an experienced wizard, he could lead us to it..."

Meanwhile, Liberty blushes, looking shocked. "Thanks.." She grabs her hair to look at it and seems to look like she's having an "oh yeah" moment. "Geez... never underestimate what a good bath will do for you. My hair really DOES look gold. And your fur is so soft now..." she pets Lucky.

Eli gets curious and for a rare moment, forgets he's supposed to be shy and also pets Lucky.

"One can hope," Jake answers with a nod.  He blushes that the others are still making a big deal out of being bathed.

Lucky of course is more than happy about being pet.  He purrs and pushes into the petting with a big smile on his face.

"Thanks!"

Liberty giggles from Lucky's antics. Shina says, "Well then let's hurry. The sooner we see this guy about the spell, the sooner we can rescue Robbie from being grounded 23 hours a day."

Eli says, "Well... we still don't know if that spell will do the trick. But then, I've also heard about a spell that only the bestest magic users know called Wish. Does what it sounds like it does."

The other kids woah there as they look at Eli. Liberty's like "Gosh, what would I wish for... what would YOU wish for? I mean, besides freeing Robbie, of course, since that's the plan if the perminant-thingy doesn't work."

Eli says, "I'd wish for everyone in the world to stop being mean."

Shina sighs. "Yeah... but wouldn't someone have wished for that by now? Probably doesn't work."

Liberty says, "Yeah... since it's a spell, it probably has limits like any other spell."

Lucky smiles, licking his upper lip, then brings his paws up to his chest to mew at Liberty, wagging his tail.

Jake nods.  "Right right.  We should get going."

He helps everyone back on the wagon and has the driver continue the journey.  "Wish spell.  Haven't heard of it.  But every story I've heard told of something that grants wishes always end up with something going wrong.  Wish for gold, get accused of stealing.  Wish for love, she winds up dead.  Wish for resurrection, get a zombie.  The way I understand reliable magic and enchantments, each have a very specific task to perform.  If a wish spell exists, it wouldn't surprise me if it has unintended side-effects.  Don't worry about Robbie being grounded.  He told me that when he goes back to his demiplane it's like going to sleep.  As much as I like his company, it's more important to focus on getting you all situated first."

There's a little bit of silence before Liberty speaks up. "Well securing our own well-being will secure Robbie's. Without us to help him, who will?" This seems to cheer up the other kids.

Much adorable child antics later, the group arrives at Charlestown and soon, the estate of Eli's 'friends'. The group is greeted and led inside.

Eli looks shy as ever. "Hello again, Auntie Fran... these are all friends of mine."

Fran is somewhat chubby and has short hair. She smiles at Eli. "Oh my! You?! With SO many friends! I'm sooooo happy for you, Eli darling!" she scoops him up into her arms and kisses him all over the face, making him blush and giggle. "Please! Please! Come in, everyone! Let's eat!"

(Fran looks about like this: http://desmond.imageshack.us/H....jpg&res=landing )

At the sound of "eat", the kids all get excited and cheerfully follow.

Lucky is just as enthusiastic as the others about food and tail-wags happily.  "Gosh your auntie Fran sure is beautiful, Eli!  I guess good looks runs in your family."

Jake sweatdrops and follows along.  "Jake Haze, son of Baron Johnathan von Spielberg.  A pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Madam.  This is my sister Antoinette.  These children are orphans rescued from cruel slavers.  We brought them here for fear of their being recognized in my town.  On our way here we were ambushed by bandits.  I'm sure you would like to know that Eli's magic helped scare them off.  He also helped a lot with the initial rescue.  We're privileged to call him friend."

"What he said!" Lucky chimes in with a side-hug for Eli, "Eli's the bestest!"

Fran blushes from Lucky's compliment and giggles. When it's revealed about Eli, he immediately says, "But Jake did some magic too... summoned a giant metal golem.."

Eli is side-hugged and half-clings to Lucky out of reflex.

Fran leads the way. "Eli here has a gift for the arcane and, well, anything mechanical. What's the background behind your magical know-how, Jake?"

Lucky grins at Fran and purrs and mews at Eli with a big smile.  "Thanks again for rescuing me, Eli.  I'll love you forever for that."  He leans in to nuzzle and kiss Eli's cheek.

Jake eyebrow-perks and smiles at Fran's boast of Eli.  "Really.  Me too!  My background is simple.  I showed interest, so my parents hired a tutor.  Of course, they figured out how much I enjoy learning magic, so they dangle that as a carrot to make sure I keep up with my other studies."

"Thanks for the food," Lucky chimes, "And welcome us into your home."

"Yes, thank you," Jake agrees.

Fast-forwarding a bit, Fran feeds the kids and then gives them a place to sleep. It's cozy, but was clearly made as some kind of servant sleeping quarters.

Eli opts to spend the night with the other kids and invites Jake to do the same. When they are all in the room and ready for bed, Eli lights up the room with his light spell, a smile on his face as the other kids oo and ah at the cantrip. "Looks like Fran's agreed to take care of you all until she can find a good place for you all to stay. Chances are, you'll find some families here in this town. So tomorrow, the plan is to go parent-shopping."

Shina looks downward. "Nobody's gonna want me..."

Lucky mews and immediately goes for a Shina-glomp!  "Aww?  You're plenty want-able!  I sure want you.  Auntie Fran's been so nice, maybe she'll take us.  Then we could be Eli's cousins!  And we'll be each other's siblings!  I'd love to be your brother."

He'll pour on as much kitty affection she'll let him minus any kisses on the lips.  Even Lucky has his limits.

Jake heavy sighs.  "Anyone who isn't human is going to be less likely to be adopted by a human.  But Lucky's got a point.  Less likely doesn't mean impossible.  And...  well...  Just be careful.  Not everyone who acts nice is nice.  But I'm sure Ms. Fran knows the folks around here well enough to steer you away from bad parents."
He smiles at Eli.  "Looking forward to sharing magic and mechanics with you when time allows."

Shina is glomped and smiles a little. "A family complete with a brother. That'd be nice." Shina's tail wraps around Lucky in a hug-like manner.

Eli huhs at Jake. "You mean there's people who would pretend to be nice in order to adopt someone, and then turn around and be mean? Why?"

Antoinette says, "Sometimes, it's because they don't wanna be mean, but they are anyway. Sometimes, it's because they want to look good in front of other people when they aren't actually good."

Liberty says, "Don't worry, Jake... I'll keep an eye out. I can read people and if they are mean, I'll know it."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 05:52, Sat 26 May 2012.

Lucky returns the tail-hug and smiles at Shina with tears in his eyes.  "Thanks.  That means a lot to me.  I love you, Shina."

"Uh...  What Antoinette said," Jake agrees, "And thanks, Liberty.  I uh...  didn't know you could do that.  I guess that's...  Well that's affirming.  Good.  So.  Sleep.  We'll need to get to that."

Lucky curls up with Shina, endlessly purring.  Jake tries to find a spot that doesn't crowd the others.

The next day comes and after the children get some breakfast, Fran tells them she will be going out to the market to shop and while she's doing so, she'll be on the lookout for nice couples who might want the kids. Or even nice singles as beggars can't be choosers.

Fran puts Jake in charge since he's the oldest, which means Fran expects Jake to help her keep an eye on the kids to make sure nobody wanders off or gets lost. She also depends on Eli some. After setting boundries and rules, Fran finally leads the kids out to the market, not even bothering to put a disguise on Lucky or Shina.

Shina looks worried. "Miss Fran? If people start throwing rocks at Lucky or I, what should we do?"

Fran says, "If they do that, you leave those people to me. Eli, you can watch for that and deflect any rocks."

Eli nods. "Yes ma'am."

Liberty says, "I can deflect rocks too." She glances at Jake and Lucky and they can hear her thoughts projecting, "And bring the rocks to my hands and throw them right back."

Antoinette says, "People shouldn't hurt each other."

Jake and Lucky of course thank Fran for breakfast and for helping look for families.  "We should stay close to Ms. Fran," Lucky suggests to Shina, "Grab hold of her dress and don't let go."

Lucky takes his own advice and grabs hold.  "Please don't throw any rocks, Liberty," he mews, "That'll just make them madder."

Jake nods.  "What they said.  But I doubt that'll come up.  Most will recognize that some of us are wealthy.  If we have any trouble, it'll more likely be with armored guards.  If that happens, just keep quiet and let ms. Fran do the talking.  Oh.  And Ms. Fran?  Liberty is telepathic if you haven't been told yet.  We were answering her thoughts."

Liberty looks angry. "Being rich or poor shouldn't be a factor.. " she growls.

Antoinette hugs Liberty. "Jake and I got to be poor for a day. We know how sad that is."

Eli says, "Just don't throw rocks back at them, Liberty. Please? For us?"

Liberty says, "I won't throw rocks."

Shina rubs her arm and grabs Fran's dress as advised.

After whatever conversation comes of this, the group meets a number of couples who Fran knows. The worst the group puts up with are Lucky and Shina getting glares from people they pass when going from one place to another. Fran treats the children to some goodies at a bakery at around lunch time.

Lucky of course joined in the hugging back.

Jake noded.  "I agree, Liberty.  People should treat each other with respect no matter what their caste status is.  For what it's worth, I respect you, Liberty."

"I respect you too, Liberty!" Lucky mews, "In other words, we love you!"

Jake sweatdrops, but doesn't contradict Lucky's assertion.  Both of them of course thank Fran for the goodies.  "So whatcha think, Auntie Fran?" Lucky asks, "Any one thinking of adopting any of us yet?  Anything we can do to improve our chances?"

Liberty blushes. "Gosh... you all love me?"

Antoinette says, "Yes."

Eli blushes, but forces himself to say, "Y...yes..."

Shina nodnods. "You're a hero, Liberty. Like Jake, Eli, and Antoinette."

When Lucky asks about adoption, Fran sighs. "I..." just then, a bunch of guards approach the table. "Madam Fran? The King would like to see you and the children who are with you."

Fran looks surprised. "Wow. Um. OK." she gets up. Looking around, she sees the children have pretty much finished eating anyway. Good timing. "Lead the way, officers."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:37, Wed 04 July 2012.

Fluffay!  Lucky huggle-snugs the adorable blushing Liberty and noddles with a big smile and tail-wag.  "Told ya!"

Jake near panics at the guards' claims.  "The King's here?!" he gasps, "And he wants to see us?!"

He gulps.  "W-What an honor!"

While Jake is nervous, Lucky is excited!  "Wow, neat!  The king must be real nice.  Those nasty slavers were always complaining about him.  They'll be sorry when he hears about all the mean things they say and do."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:11, Fri 06 July 2012.

The group gets taken to the king as they are. But then, with Fran having cleaned them up before the day, and clothing them with decent clothing, they are technically presentable anyways.

Once brought before the king, the king says, "Welcome. Allow me to cut to the chase; I had a child who was taken from me a long time ago. She would be about your age." the king is human. "So when I heard a human girl about her age was among you, I figured I'd call you all in."

Jake is struck speechless and he just keeps his eyes on the king's feet as he was taught to do, sweat beading on his brow.  Lucky gasps, bring his fists to his mouth, trying to contain his excitement!

"Wow!  Liberty might be reunited with her original family?!"  He's about to burst into tears of joy.  "This is a dream come true!  Let's get closer so he can have a better look at you, Lib!"

He reaches to hold her hand so he can help guide her closer, expecting her to be at least a little shaky.

Liberty turns red. The king has her step forward and asks, "What is your name, child?"

"Liberty", she answers.

"Liberty. Do you have the power to speak to minds?"

She widens her eyes. "Y...yes?"

The king says, "Speak to my mind, then."

Liberty stares at the king. There is silence, and then the king walks to her. "It is you! You are my daughter!"

Fran and the others are dumb-struck.

Lucky gasps then squeals for joy!  "It's true?" he cries, "Oh Liberty!  I'm so happy for you!"

He bursts into tears of joy.  Jake is just as dumb-struck as the others, save for a nervous gulp.

The King says, "You are all invited to have a feast with me, in honor of this momentus occasion!"

Fran is flustered. "Is what we're wearing OK, your highness?"

The King says, "Of course! Come, now, Lady Fran... it's not like what you are wearing is rags. And even if it was, the only reason I would care is for your own sake. Besides.. we're going to party, so if it makes you feel better, think of it as wearing play clothes?"

Liberty looks at what she's wearing. "This is the best clothing I've worn in my life..."

The King says, "And it will only get better!"

(Fast Forwarding a bit)

Food has never tasted better.

At the feast, the King hears of the childrens' plight, how they came to be in this area, and what they were looking to do; namely get adopted. The King says, "Ha! I'll take care of that. No problem." He looks past everyone. "Ah! My son! At last, you can meet the guests! And your long-lost sister!"

Wearing clearly princly clothing, Maverick walks over to be at the King's side. When Liberty is introduced, Maverick hugs her without hesitation. Judging from the tears in his eyes, he has missed her possibly as much as the dad has... even though he's probably younger than Liberty by a few years.

Antoinette smiles, and as if the sight inspired her, turns to hug Jake.

Liberty is, as has been the case lately, blushing.

The King has the entertainment enter the room. Court jesters, acrobats, and other such occupations wind up making the already amazing experience even better.

SEATING:
Fran, Eli, Shina, Liberty, King, Maverick, Jake, Antoinette, Lucky

Lucky is on cloud nine, nonstop smiles and purrs.  Jake is calming down from his initial nervousness, but is still careful to mind his P's and Q's.

"Pleased to meet you, my Prince," he says with a bow.

When hugged by his sis he cracks a small smile and gives her a hug back.  Lucky waves welcomingly to Maverick then leans against Ant and mews happily, wagging his tail.  He perks up and claps excitedly for the performers, occasionally gasping at an amazing stunt or bursting out laughing at the silly jesters.

Maverick nods in response to Jake. As the party continues, it's clear the prince is a quiet one and the king is a jovial one. Liberty is frequently smothered both by the king and Maverick.

Lucky, meanwhile, easily discovers Antoinette's habit of returning hugs out of reflex.

When the evening comes to a close and the sun has set, the King says, "Good news! My servants have brought me the people I had asked for. People who will be happy to care for these children properly!"

The kids are then introduced to a nun of the church of Pelor. She and her sisters explain to the children that they run an orphanage and that the orphans there actually get adopted on a relatively regular basis (about once a month). They also reassure the kids that Maverick frequently visits, so they should be able to see Liberty on a regular basis too.

Liberty bids the group good night and gives hugs all around before the nuns take the orphans (Which is basicaly just Shina and Lucky at this point) to the orphanage.

When the two arrive at the orphanage, it's too late for any of the resident orphans to greet them since they have gone to bed a while back. The nuns assure the two there will be plenty of time for welcomes tomorrow. Lucky, of course, finds out boys and girls are kept separate. So he is given a bunk in the boys' room while Shina is taken off elsewhere. Not that he isn't tired at this point. So what lonliness he may experience from being alone in a room full of sleeping boys is quickly shut down by sleep.

Meanwhile, Eli, Jake and Antoinette are given a guest room. Due to Antoinette's needs, she is roomed with Jake. Eli is permitted to sleep in the same room as Jake, so he winds up chatting with the two until the three kids fall asleep.

Liberty is horded by her dad and bro. But the next day rolls around and those three are more than happy to greet the other three at the breakfast table and Liberty shows a desire to visit the orphanage with Maverick. The king is a busy man, so he decides to let the two go on without him. So the children all get bathed and dressed for the new day. A habit all but Liberty are used to. Liberty, of course, cleans up well and now has a princess gown. Fran is asked to escort the kids, which she is more than happy to.

Meanwhile, at the orphanage, Lucky is taken to the "community tub" and bathed with about 4 other boys in a large basin. He is then given standard peasant clothing, which is still a step up from what he had before he met Fran. Since the nuns found out the more expensive clothing belonged to Fran, they hold on to those for when Fran stops by. As soon as Shina spots Lucky, she rushes to glomp him. "I missed you last night!" she says, watery-eyed.

The nuns see this, and smile with adoration.

Lots of happy mews from Lucky when Ant returns his hug.  Speaking of happy hugs, Lucky glomps the nearest nun, burying his face in her chest and crying.  "Thank you for giving us a home!"

Jake remains quiet until enjoying nerd conversation with Eli once in the privacy of the guest room.  At breakfast, he resumes having a not-mouth, speaking only when spoken to.  Perhaps making him resemble his quiet sister that way.  On the way to the orphanage he tries to pick up last night's conversation with Eli.

Lucky does his best to befriend the boys in the tub, praising his heroes who rescued him from slavery.  lucky smiles big when Shina-glomped, licking his upper lip, and gives her a loving embrace in return.  "I missed you too, Shina."

Followed by fluffay cheek rubs, tail wags, and purring!

The nuns have had so many children crying on them when taken in. But still, that doesn't mean they get used to it. The nuns happily cheered up and pet Lucky.

Eli seems to generally keep his nerd talk so down to Earth that a child could understand what he's saying. Mostly. But with all the things Jake brings up, it doesn't take TOO much to dig the backwards Egyptian out of Eli and before long the two are talking it up like two teenage girls gossiping.

Eli has some amazing ideas. It seems the boy especially has a focus on new sources of energy, means of defense/protection, artificial limbs, and well... the thing he and Jake have in common: Artificial life. Granted, Eli seems in humbled awe of the idea, but he feels he MUST anyway. For science. He also seems to have an outrageously high opinion of the goddess Ioun.

Antoinette is quiet as usual, looking at a fly cross-eyed as it lands on her nose. Maverick is also quiet, not saying a word to either of the boys, though he frequently squeezes Liberty's hand or puts an arm around her. Miranda just kind of looks at the boys like they are from Mars. She chats with Liberty a little about the shape of the clouds. But soon, the royal bunch arrive at the orphanage just in time to see Lucky and Shina cheek-rubbing.

(KNEW I was forgetting someone! Miranda!)

Jake loves innovative ideas and all, but some of Eli's more imaginative ones challenge even his openness to creativity.  But he remembers hating being told, "That'll never work."  Even if it were true.  So whenever he's skeptical, he answers, "interesting," rather than nay-say or poo-poo the idea.  He avoids the topic of religion.

Lucky of course is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the arrival of his friends.  "Wow hey, hiya, everyone!  Good to seeya!  Oh my gosh!  Look at Liberty!  Sheesh.  She looks breathtaking!  Like some kinda legendary magical princess descendant from a mighty demigod or something!"

Maverick examines Liberty again. Then looks back at Lucky with a smirk and a nod before looking back at Liberty. "And that's without the standard Princess garb." he says before kissing her hand.

Liberty's face is on FIRE. If she blushes much more, blood will ooze from her pores. "...thanks, guys." She puts her hands on her cheeks.

Eli says, "How's the orphanage? You like it here?"

Antoinette is smiling. "I wanna dress like a princess." she says softly.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 12:18, Fri 20 July 2012.

Biig smile on Lucky's face as he continues to huggle Shina.  "You're welcome, Liberty!  Sure is nice to see you in daylight not covered in dirt."

He nods to Ant.  "I'd like to see that.  Shina too!  I'll bet you two would be just as pretty as Liberty."

He grins at Shina.  "Maybe even just as red."

Lucky then cheerfully answers Eli.  "It's great!  Everyon'es so nice!  No one's called me a monster!  Not even once!"

Jake nods.  "I must confess I'm impressed with how well you and Shina have been treated."

Liberty says, "Well mission accomplished. We got you all to safety AND to a decent home. And hopefully, soon, to some parents."

Eli asks bashfully, "...so now what?"

Miranda says, "Now we relax, enjoy not being on the run, and play?"

Shina giggles from Lucky's comment about being red.

"Mission accomplished big time for you too, Liberty!" Lucky reminds, "And you totally deserve the nice family you got!"

He smiles and lip-licks before suddenly reaching to tag Miranda.  "TAG!"

If successful he'll squeal and run!  Jake can't help but smile at how well things turned out for his new friends.  "There goes one happy-go-lucky Lucky, heh."

The kids get to play for a bit. Various new friends are made from the orphanage. Some never knew their parents, some had single dads who died in a war, some are ex-slaves (meaning they still have parents SOMEWHERE, but they don't know where), and some were abandoned.

Eventually, though, play time is over and the orphans are called in for lunch. Fran takes the royal kids to the market to enjoy some marketplace food. Of course, many a salesman is excited to get nobility to try their food. Bragging rights and all that, if nobility says "this is good!"

Eli is staring at a fuzzy caterpillar on his finger. He feeds it a leaf and smiles endearingly.

Miranda looks over at Jake. "All this is too good to be true. I have a bad feeling..."

Liberty says, "Sometimes, there really are happy endings, Miranda."

Miranda looks down as if trying to figure it out. She has a curious expression on her face.

Antoinette says, "But it's good *now*, Miranda. Enjoy it." she hugs Miranda, who blushes lightly, hugs back, and smiles.

Lucky noms happily with the other orphans.  It's no royal feast, but it's not a crust of moldy bread either.  And nothing improves the flavor of humble porridge like friendly company.  Meanwhile Jake is smiling at happy hugging girls and caterpillar admiring Eli.

"You all have good points.  Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and be sure to enjoy the best when it comes.  Though this ought not be the end of our story.  Those slavers who mistreated Liberty and the others remain unpunished.  And that's not all.  Don't forget what Antoinette and I went through to keep Lib and the others from being recaptured.  There's plenty of room for more to be done."

Maverick says, "Unfortunately, from what Liberty told me, slavery is perfectly legal. As is the mistreatment of orphans. However, since the princess was being enslaved, and you, Miranda and Antoinette are not orphans, better still, are nobility, I think something can be done about all that has happened in the past week."

He glances aside. "Even if nobody will be punished specifically for mistreating Shina and Lucky, they will still be punished."

Miranda says, "Then we should get to it."

Liberty says, "If slavery is legal and mistreating orphans is legal, we need to fix the rules."

Maverick says, "Take it up with dad."

Eli squirms. "Don't forget how your parents might react, Jake, when they find out what you did."

Maverick says, "I'd be interested to see how your parents react when they find out your heroics led to the king getting his long lost daughter back..."

"I'll be surprised if slandering the Crown is legal," Jake answers, rubbing his chin, "And I remember Lucky mentioning that the slavers never had anything good to say about the King.  Maybe Liberty remembers what he's talking about.  I'm guessing that the things they complain about might be a clue on how best to deal with slavers.  Or they were just griping about normal stuff like taxes."

He nods to Eli and Mav.  "I'd be interested to see that too.  And maybe they'll be more favorable toward my magic study when they learn how Eli and I protected everyone with magic."

Antoinette says, "Mom and Dad love us."

Maverick sweatdrops, "...that's good."

Miranda asks, "What's that got to do with what we're talking about, Antoinette?"

Antoinette says, "Mom and Dad won't be happy we put ourselves in danger. Even if they are happy the king got Liberty back."

Liberty says, "I'm glad they care. Well let's get to it like Miranda suggested."

Fran nods and escorts the kids back to the king. She tells the king of the points that were brought up and he looks angry. "Yes. Liberty told me she and her friends were mistreated. I am already on it. You all will be summoned as witnesses when they are brought in. But as for those who mistreated Jake and Antoinette, I will have to have you two go back to that town with your parents and find those who mistreated you. Since they weren't slavers, the only way for me to find them is for you two to identify them."

Jake nods and side-hugs Ant.  "Yup."

Jake of course returns to being a nervous mushroom when back in the presence of the king and bows.  "As you say, your Majesty."

It's a couple days later. Jake and Antoinette have returned home and their parents are now informed of what all happened. Deciding it urgent to have justice done, the parents and their personal guard accompany the children to search for those who abused them. The parents are, of course, rather upset. The mother occasionally just pulls the children close to her. But the dad says something somewhat surprising.

Jake's Dad: "Jake. I'm proud of you, son. The fact Liberty happened to be the King's daughter is a wonderful turn of events, but what you did for her and the other children is why I'm proud of you. This act of yours wasn't rebellion. It wasn't some selfish need for adventure. It was all about helping others."

He then looks down at Antoinette. "Antoinette, sweet-pea... you know I'm proud of you too. And I know what I say won't have as much impact on you as it does Jake. But it's still important I say it and that you remember to tell people who do good that they have done good." he pets her, leans down and kisses the top of her head.

Antoinette smiles from the kiss, then says, "I love you, Daddy. I love you, Mommy. When I notice people do good, I will tell them they are doing good." Conveniently, Antoinette is rarely unresponsive when it really matters.

---

Meanwhile, back at the orphanage...

A nun approaches Lucky and says, "There's a couple here to see about adopting you." before escorting him to the couple.

The first thing Lucky notices is they are human and seem to have a daughter. The second thing he notices is they are somewhat rich and geared up like adventurers. The man is white, had white hair that looks incredibly soft, and looks angelic. The woman is black, has black hair with a hint of waviness. Their daughter has very wavy black hair, with skin tone somewhere RIGHT in between her parents'. Human Angel. She looks to be about Lucky's age, maybe slightly older.

The trio all look excited at the sight of Lucky. The dad gives Lucky a bright smile that almost seems to shoot sunbeams. The mom gives an endearing smile that seems to fill the air with relaxation. The daughter looks at Lucky curiously and then a Jr Asparagus smile.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:29, Wed 01 Aug 2012.

"Thanks, Dad," Jake answers with a blush, "I'm real proud of Antoinette too.  She stuck with me the whole time without complaining or asking to go home.  But even as mad as I was at everyone that mistreated us...  it was...  normal!  That's now normal kids are treated all the time, let alone slaves!  It feels unfair that we should be avenged and no one is punished for mistreating normal kids.  I mean...  Even the slavers will be punished over Liberty, but not Lucky or Shina.  And what about the slavers that abuse other kids but have nothing to do with the ones who owned Liberty?  Or the nobles who beat normal kids in the open street but never crossed paths with me or Ant?  Is there any justice for kids who don't belong to a rich family?!"

He's trying to hold back the tears, but he's been holding this in since day one.

"Alright!" Lucky cheered excitedly when the nun told him he might be adopted soon.  But he then immediately covered his mouth, mewed and cringed pitifully, ears ducked and tail tucked, instinctively expecting a beating or a cave-in.

Head bowed humbly, he followed the nun timidly and allowed himself only a few furtive glances at the smiling family.  He gulped and whimpered, shivering.  "G-gosh...  w-what a b-beautiful f-family."  *mew*  He squints his eyes and clenches his fists to brace himself.  "You deserve a nice girl like Shina.  And she deserves a nice family like you."

He grits his teeth, trying hard not to cry, but the tears flow anyway.

Antoinette hugs Jake. "Don't stop yourself... it's right to cry." she says softly.

Jake's dad nods. "Don't worry. All that can be done will be done." he puts a hand on Jake's shoulder and leads him and Antoinette off. "First thing's first; we're collecting the homeless from off the streets."

---

The mother goes to squat in front of Lucky. "Who's Shina, honey?" she pets Lucky from the top of his head to his left cheek.

Jake bursts into tears on his sister's prompting and glomps his dad when instead of excuses he hears a promise to help.  "Thanks, dad.  Whatever I can do to help, please let me know."

With tears still streaming down his face, Lucky gulps, mews, purrs, and reaches up to pet the hand touching his cheek.  "Shina's my friend.  She's an orphan like me.  She's really nice and friendly and smart and pretty and obedient and hard working and brave and honest and generous and cuddly and she...  she's friends with the princess!  We were slaves in the same mine together.  Then a wizard and a summoner rescued us.  The king was very grateful to have his daughter back and was real nice to all of us and had the nuns take us to this orphanage which is very nice but Shina needs a real family to love her."

He tries to catch his breath and mews sadly.  "I'm going to miss her."

Antoinette starts coughing. The family heads off to gather the homeless, but as they work to get people off the street, Antoinette's cough not only persists, but worsens. The mom gets worried and immediately takes the girl home to hopefully see some physicians. Meanwhile, Jake's dad seems to have need of every helping hand possible. Jake's usefulness would be simply to offer an extra pair of hands.

It's left up to Jake whether to stay with his dad and try to help or go with his mom to oversee his sister.

---

The mom is listening to Lucky's words and gives him an endearing smile. "Tell you what. Let's have a look at Shina and get to know you both. Then we can make a decision from there."

Soon, the family meets Shina and talks with her. Shina is nervous, glances at Lucky a lot, and simply asks, "Well... CAN you afford to adopt us both? I'd love to be his sister."

The mother says, "Well... sort of. I have an idea. I'll go looking and see if there's anyone else willing to adopt one of you. If there is, and they do, we'll simply adopt the other. If there isn't... we may adopt both of you."

OOC: If Jake were genre savvy, he'd start making funeral arrangements.  http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw...ncurableCoughOfDeath

But he's not.  Instead he knows that his healing powers don't cure the common cold, so he just lets his sis know she has only to send for him if she needs his company and leaves her in the capable hands of their mother and the hired healers.  He then does the best he can to help his dad, healing any serious injuries he may find.

Lucky is quivering in excitement and anxiety.  He reaches to side-hug Shina to brace himself and to thank her for asking if he could be included.  "I'd love to be your brother too."  *Mew*

He gives the nice mommy a hopeful smile and tearfully says, "I hope we both get to have you as a mom.  You're so nice."

Of course he's including mother-in-law if he winds up in a different family from Shina then marries her.

The homeless are soon housed in a temporary facility while Jake's dad gets busy with a bunch of manly men on gathering materials and getting to work on building. The homeless, of course, pitch in, knowing they are basically being given the chance to build their own home.

After a few day's work, though, Jake's dad takes him home. He doesn't look happy. "Your mother sent word. Antoinette's condition is worsening."

---

Also passing a few days by is Shina and Lucky. Shina seems anxious, nervous, and otherwise fussy. She winds up snapping at other kids at random or bursting into tears at random and plays loads of pranks on kids and nuns alike. Needless to say, the nuns are not too happy about this and punish her severely on the um-teenth offense. Shina is kept locked in a separate room. Similar to solitary confinement, but with food, books and people tending to her.

It's during this punishment the family shows up again and request to see Lucky.

Every inch of Jake's body is aching for all the hard work.  He has lots of ideas for machines that could have made the work easier, but inventing even one of them would have taken more time than the work itself.  And Jake's pride wouldn't allow him to take it easy with physically fit full grown men running circles around him.

Of course he too is very worried when he hears the news about Ant.  He hurries with his dad to visit her, saying several prayers for her recovery as he walks.

Lucky is very nervous too, still conditioned by his time as a slave to shield himself from a beating and apologize if someone so much as frowns at him, but he hasn't forgotten his friends.  He asked that a nun let Liberty and Maverick know the good news that he and Shina could be adopted soon, and asks that they get word to the others.  He does his best to be supportive to Shina - offering hugs when she cries and such, and talking to her through the locked door to keep her company.  He promises her he'll BRB when he's summoned to see the family.

"Can you come with me, please?" he asks them, "Shina is lonely and could really use our company."  He'll then lead the way back to her room.

When Jake gets home, he can see his very sick looking sister. Wet hair from having been sweating. Various cloth with blood stains. The mom and dad start going back and forth with each other about options on what to do. Jake's mom seems to think it best to ask the king to loan his physician. Jake's dad seems to think the king's physician isn't any better than their own, and making Antoinette travel could make her condition worsen.

Antoinette slowly looks over towards Jake, locking eyes with him. She manages a tired smile and although Jake can't hear it from where he is, she seems to be saying "hi".

---

The nun guarding Shina's room headshakes at Lucky. "She's lonely because she's being punished. She's not permitted to see anyone. She's been warned her actions could cause her to be punished on a day when someone might come and adopt or visit her, but she didn't listen."

The mom says, "What if someone wanted to adopt her today? Can she be adopted?"

The nun says, "If she's asked for specifically, then we can not stand in the way of a family and their child. Are you saying you wish to adopt her?"

The mom says, "I found someone who will adopt her. Someone who will be able to empathize with her more than we could. We came to pick up Lucky and to let Shina know about the new parents. A pair of tieflings will be coming by to pick her up today."

The nun ohs and smiles. "That's good to hear."

The mom looks down at Lucky. "You ready to come with us?"

Jake is in tears to see his sweet sister suffering so.  But he's just as desperate as his parents for her to get well.

"Dad's right," he agrees, "Travel bad.  I'll go to the king and ask him to spare a physician to send here.  What about the church?  Antoinette's a favored of the gods...  Ant?  Have they told you anything about your sickness?"

Lucky squeaks a happy mew and tearfully glomps the mommy!  "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" he cries, "I love you!  So happy Shina will have a family who understands her!  So happy I get to have a family too!  You hear that, Shina?!  You've got a family now!"

Happy clingy wah-wiggle orphan is now face-attached to his new mommy.

Antoinette says, "Yes. I am linked to the level of justice. As long as the justice system is sick, so shall I be. It is a sign from the gods to show our kingdom's need and to show how much your efforts will help. They say not to worry. I won't die. But I will be sick until things are fixed."

---

Lucky can hear Shina's voice saying, "For real?! No way! Well don't keep your family waiting, Lucky!"

And the family leaves with Lucky, the mother petting him. "My name is Velocity. This is Billy. But you will call us Mom and Dad from now on. This is our daughter Angel, who you can refer to as "sis" whenever you wish, but can also call her by name. When was the last time you had a family?"

Jake is completely flustered by Ant's answer.  "G-glad to hear you're not going to die," he manages to say, "Did they give instructions on how to fix things?  Surely they know better than we do what steps we should take and in what order...  And who best to assign to each task?"

He's trying hard not to be angry with the gods.  "Good job risking your life to rescue orphan slave children, Antoinette!  Your reward is you get to suffer!  Until something way beyond your power to fix is fixed!  Which even if it were in your power, could take decades or generations!  Have fun with that, mortal!"

Of course he realizes he could be completely off about his assumptions.  For all he knows Bahamut plans to show up with an army of angels and will fix everything in a day.

"Thank you so much Mom 'n Dad!" Lucky cries, "I'll keep in touch, Shina!"

Lots more happy tearful clingy former orphan.  It's hard for him to answer Velocity's question but he eventually forces himself.  "I don't know.  The circus people never let me call them family, but they helped me escape when the villagers wanted to kill me.  The slavers were just as mean to me as they were to the others but they let me call them family.  I don't know...  Which hurt worse."

Antoinette says, "Step 1: Free the slaves."

Jake's dad says, "What? Easier said than done. In the case of the orphans, that was an escape that the king found was because of the mistreatment of the children. An exception to the rule... But lords, ladies, dukes, duchesses... all have slaves. Even the king will need to tread very carefully on that one."

Antoinette says, "Free the slaves..." then closes her eyes.

---

"Being allowed to call someone family and BEING someone's family are two very different things." Velocity explained. "Now let's get you some clothes..."

The family goes shopping at a tailor's stand and find 2 sets of clothes Lucky really likes, buy them for him, go get him freshly bathed, and dress him. Of course, the dad does that while the girls are in another room.

"K... K... K..." Jake rages between his gritted teeth.  He buries his face in his dad's chest to hide his tears.  But his mind eventually determines he'll not add to his sister's suffering by wasting time with tears.  So he starts to calm himself to think through various options.

"We've got two things going for us.  One, the princess was a slave.  Two, the gods have sent a message condemning slavery.  We need to milk them both for all they're worth.  The king can vow to turn a blind eye to anyone who 'illegally' frees a slave without having to officially outlaw slavery.  Then the church can spread the news that anyone who frees a slave will have the blessing of the gods.  Then the smart lords will voluntarily free their slaves to court the favor of the crown, the church, and the people.  The not-so-smart ones will have a hard time holding their slaves with as many vigilantes out looking to court blessing, glory, and royal favor as they'll have to deal with.  Knowing now that Antoinette won't die, maybe we should take her to the palace and the cathedral to get started."

Lucky gives his mommy a misty-eyed smile like he's a little orbot who was just told she doesn't have to be human to be lovable.  "I love you, Mommy!"

More clingy huggle fluffs.  He's of course very grateful for his new clothes and thanks profusely.  During bath time, even as intimidated as Lucky is by men, angelic fluffay men included, it doesn't take him long to warm up to his new daddy anyway and he winds up just as clingy huggle fluff with him as he is with his new mommy.  "I love you, Daddy!"

Jake's dad nods. "To get people believing Antoinette's words are straight from the gods will prove difficult. But I agree... I trust what she says, so transporting her shouldn't kill her."

The mom lightly objects, "But it could still hurt her.."

The dad counters, "Actually, as we're finding out, even if it does hurt her initially, it will help towards her healing. I don't want her hurt any more than you do, dear, but we've been given a clear answer how to help her."

The mom relents and soon they are en route back to the king.

---

The dad is, of course, more than happy to hold Lucky and rub noses and generally treat him with the affection he's longed for. Once dressed, Lucky is brought to the girls.

Velocity says, "Lucky, darling... while Shina can understand what it means to be an outcast, we adopted you specifically because... we know what you are. And we are of the same kind." She then shifts into her anthro black cat form. "Well... to be more specific, we are the same species. I, specifically, am exactly the same type of that species."

To demonstrate what Velocity is talking about, the dad shifts into his anthro bunny mode. And then, so does Angel.

"Liberty will vouch for Antoinette," Jake answers, "We should be able to leverage that to persuade the King to vouch for her too."

He hugs his mom and follows his parents to the wagon.

"How long do you think Antoinette will have to suffer?  Wouldn't it make more sense to strike the slavers with a plague instead?  If the gods are being indiscriminate with their punishments, just how ruthless should we be in freeing the slaves?  Would death threats, blackmail, or plunder be acceptable?  How about deception or intimidation?  And exactly how do we define 'slave?'  Isn't a paid laborer or a prostitute who is barely able to make ends meet no better than a slave?  They cannot leave their profession because if they did they'd starve.  Would it be acceptable to employ people at slave level wages to maximize profits if that money is used to free more slaves?  I ask because... who's going to hire former slaves and what jobs will they be given?  What wages make them no longer a slave?  Or no longer affordable?"

He pulls on his hair, "It's not fair!  How can the so-called 'good' gods expect us to fix something they haven't been able to fix in the entire history of the world?!  How do they expect us to be just if they punish Antoinette for other people's crimes?!"

He hides his face in his hands.  "It's not right."

Lucky gasps, at the same time frightened and overjoyed. "M... maybe we're related?  Does this mean I can change to look human too?"

He cautiously reaches to touch his daddy's arm, expecting to wake up any moment now.

Antoinette says, "We are here. The gods aren't. In that way, we have power the gods don't." She looks at Jake. "It is right to be upset. But I love you and I will be OK."

---

Velocity says, "You can become human, but something has locked that ability away from you. I'll be finding out what. If you are related to me... I'll find that out as well."

The dad's arm feels just like rabbit's fur ought to.

Velocity then says, "I'll need you to come with me, but we're going someplace far. So if you wanted to say goodbye to your friends first, you may. You might not see them for a long time."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:47, Thu 23 Aug 2012.

As is often the case, Jake is stumped by Antoinette.  He reaches to pet her while he dries his own eyes.  "I love you too, sis."

He then sits in silence, thinking about how to answer his own questions.  He eventually concludes that his own best contribution won't be on the political end of things but rather to invent a profitable gadget and employ the former slaves himself to build, distribute, and sell it.

"I need to visit Eli," he says at last.

Lucky marvels at his daddy's soft fur then glomps his mom.  "Thank you!  This means so much to me!  It's a dream come true!  How long is a long time?  Can any of my friends' families come with us?"

Jake's dad nods to Jake. Once they arive at the king, the dad informs the King of what's going on and the king seems to listen. Jake's dad then has Jake escorted to Eli's place while the parents stay with Antoinette and the King.

Jake arrives at Eli's after sunset. The butler explains Eli is in his room, burning the midnight oil. So Jake is led to Eli's room.

Jake would see Eli surrounded by all kinds of things. Gears, springs, metal plates, glass tubes, open books, vials... he also looks a little tired.

---

Velocity says, "How long... let's just say it could be months. And while I would be fine with your friends coming, I doubt your wealthier friends could come even if they wanted to. Who do you want to visit first?"

This time around, Jake is far less nervous in the presence of the King and far more grim.  But since his dad does all the talking, he has nothing to add before leaving for Eli's place.  He thanks the butler for the escort and waves at Eli.

"Hi, Eli.  Good to see you again.  Sorry about the bad timing, but this is urgent.  Antoinette is very sick.  It's supernatural, and the only cure is to establish justice in the kingdom, starting with freeing the slaves.  My dad's already started working with the king on that, but someone will have to hire all those slaves once they're freed, or they won't be able to afford food and shelter.  My parents won't have the time and money for that, so I figured I'd go into business myself selling lots of some lucrative gadget.  Which is why I'm here.  I figured we could come up with something together.  Whaddya say?  Will you help?"

Lucky looks relieved.  Sure several months is a long time, but he was worried he wouldn't see his friends again till after he was all grown up.  Mommyglomp!

"Shina's family would be closest, right?  So...  Shina?  Thanks again for everything."

Eli says, "Working with you? I'd be honored... so tell me more about why she's sick and what's going on?"

While Jake explains, Eli puts aside the project he was working on in favor of a brand new project with Jake. Once all is explained, Eli says, "Sounds serious. But we can do it. All we gotta do is find bad people and punish them or make them be good. Right?"

---

Lucky is taken to see Shina. Her new family looks interesting. There's a young teen (13? 14?) boy tiefling and his parents. Shina brags a little, saying her new parents are retired adventurers and her new brother is an aspiring fighter of some kind.

Velocity and Billy get to chatting with parents while the kids go to hang out. Angel is in human form as she hangs out with Lucky, Shina and Morthos (Shina's new bro)

"Sounds simple, but it's far from easy," Jake says, "How do you know who's bad?  And how bad is bad enough?  And how much punishment is too little or too much?  For example: Antoinette isn't perfect and sometimes disobeys our parents.  But if they punished her so severely that she couldn't even move for something our neighbor did, that would be bad.  But that's exactly what the gods have done to her.  So should I start by punishing the gods?  Even if I were powerful enough, who would take over their responsibilities?  Then if we punish lords, ladies, guards, farmers, bakers and all the people who ave done wrong, the whole nation will collapse for lack of people to keep it running.  I guess if we get that far we can try and replace 'em with all the freed slaves.  Just hope they can figure out their new jobs fast enough.  Or...  if we find that permanence spell, we can replace the guilty with constructs like Robbie.  But anything we do will probably be espensive.  So first step is to figure out what gadget well be most profitable.  Or gadgets.  Ideas?"

"Nice to meetcha, Morhtos," Lucky says cheerfully, "I'm Lucky and this is my beautiful new sister Angel!"  *Side hugs Angel!*  "My new family is a race called Hengaiokai which means they can change to look animal-like.  I'm Hengaiokai too, but for some reason I'm stuck looking like a kitty."

He looks at Shina.  "Mom and Dad are going to take me on a journey to try and heal me.  Could take months.  I'm hoping your family will come along.  I'd miss you if we were separated for so long."

Eli seems to cringe at Jake's every words as if he were spitting meteorites for saliva. Even bringing his arms up to his chest, beginning to take a defensive posture. When Jake finally pauses from talking, Eli is giving him a kind of scared look like Jake is a rabid wolf. "...w...w...we c-could... make... um... a message delivery system so people could communicate quicker without needing to learn magic?" the last part said quickly and in the form of a question like a student who thinks he's in trouble and has to give an answer before getting spanked.

---

Morthos says, "Fixed, eh? Well I guess if changing shape is normal for your kind, you should be able to. I wonder if they see other races as handicapped since we can't change into other shapes..."

Shina grabs her tail and glances at Lucky. "You ever feel sorry for humans because they don't have tails?"

Jake didn't think he was raising his voice, but perhaps there was something just as frightening when he talks about his troubles matter-of-factly.  And of course his negative mindset races through plenty of reasons Eli's suggestion would be a bad idea.  He exhales an sigh and bows his head.  "I'm sorry to burden you with Antoinette's troubles, Eli.  It's just..."

He clenches his fists and tears stream down his face.  "What little ability she had has been taken away from her, and now she'll spend the rest of her life suffering.  She may as well be dead."

Lucky's tail swings over to wrap itself around Angel's waist and he shrugs with a smile then shakes his head.  "More like I felt sorry for myself for being different.  I thought maybe if I weren't so different someone might love me.  But then I became a slave and met you and the others and we became friends in spite of being so different from each other.  Do you ever feel sorry for boys because they don't get to be as pretty as you?"

He grins as if proud of his clever, silly compliment.

Eli says, "Antoinette? I'm sad for her, sure, but was more... frightened by the number of negative things you were saying about the gods. But if she's so bad off she may as well be dead... are you saying she can't even talk? Doesn't look at you?"

He then brightens up, "And how do we know for sure that's the only way to cure her? Maybe there's a magical loophole. I've heard about extremely powerful curses being foiled by not-so-powerful people who found clever loopholes. Maybe we could do the same."

He looks at a book shelf and becons a bunch of books off shelves. He then begins skimming through them.

---

Angel leans on Lucky's side, shoulder to shoulder, with a smile. The two girls giggle at Lucky's question. Morthos bats his eyelashes. "What? I'm not as pretty as Shina?"

More giggles.

Shina says, "Of course not. But I know I like my tail and can't imagine losing it." she demonstrates its use by casually swinging a toy around with her tail, as if to show it's like a 3rd arm for her.

(OOC: After all, my original intention on her build was to take advantage of the feats that make tiefling tails become more of an appendage)

Jake dries his eyes and days quiet for a bit.  "Thanks, Eli.  Good point.  I've been so upset that never occurred to me."

He skims the books with Eli, not expecting to find anything.  "Antoinette can still talk when she's not sleeping, which isn't often, but even then is very tired.  Like a normal illness.  She was the one who tole me the cure.  She's never wrong about this sort of thing.  This time I really wish she were."

Lucky giggles with the girls, hapy his joke went over well.  His tail swings to his other side and nod-nods to Shina.  "I feel the same way about my tail.  But I'm not as good at grabbing stuff with it as you are with yours."

His tail swings back to hug Angel again.  "But I'm happy with what I can do with mine."  He smiles over at his new sis and purrs.

Eli very quickly proves his genius as he and Jake frequently compliment each others' thought processes. Granted, he still comes up with fantastical things that make Joey think Eli is still stuck thinking like a child.

But Eli also seems to be coming up with ideas in the meantime for the possible "make people build it" idea. He fights sleep, but soon just falls unconscious on Jake.

---

Angel seems happy to have Lucky act this way. And Shina is her usual friendly self. But inevitably, the whomobile boots Angel and Lucky.

Jake of course praises Eli's genius and his mood improves since progress is being made.  When the boy falls asleep, he has the butler help carry him to bed.  He then returns to his family to catch some sleep himself.  The following morning he lets his family know what progress was made.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:51, Wed 19 Sept 2012.

Lucky of course is all smiles, purrs, huggles, and compliments.  Come bed time he asks the whole family snuggle up in bed together.  "Lifelong dream of mine," he explains.

Tears of joy to have family either way.  The following morning he asks to be taken to visit Princess Liberty next.

Jake's parents seem happy Jake finally has a peer. Someone who can trade genius thoughts with him. They don't really seem to understand half the ideas or reports of progress, however, reminding Jake they simply don't know that mechanical stuff like Jake and Eli do.

Liberty and Maverick had joined them for lunch (Jake woke up late, after all) as they were invited to eat with the king. Both Liberty and Maverick seem to be TRYING to understand Jake and Eli's ideas, occasionally piping in with childlike insights, such as comparing things from their everyday experiences.

It becomes clear Liberty is more insightful while Maverick is more methodical/logical in their ways of thinking. Which ironically makes Liberty seem smarter in this circumstance.

Eli eventually walks into the room, rubbing his eyes. "I dreamed I was working on a huge ritual with you and we used it to travel back in time..."

A servant goes to the King, whispers in his ear, and the King nods. Anyone paying close attention will hear him saying "let them in."

---

The family seems more than happy to accomodate. Not only with sleeping together, but taking them to see Liberty. However, the palace guards don't recognize Lucky and seem highly sceptical that he's in any way affiliated with the King or his children.

Velocity says, "Inform whoever you need to inform. We'll wait here. Surely, I know the consequences of wasting the King's time and will sit in prison for it if I am not telling the truth. On the other hand, if we are denied access, I'll be sure to let the nuns of the local orphanage know to tell Prince Maverick, who visits the place. If I am telling the truth, and word gets to the Prince, you know the consequences."

The guards roll their eyes, but have Lucky and family wait with some other guards (so that if they ARE lying, they can't escape at this point). Soon, they are ushered in and led towards the lunch table where Jake, Eli, Liberty and Maverick all are.

"Time travel to the past, huh?  Neat," Jake answers.

Lucky was nervous about the confrontation with the guard but is sure to thank him when escorted to the king.  When he sees the others, he can't contain himself and bursts out yammering, "Hi, everybody!  Guess what?  Me and Shina have families now!"

He glomps his dad.  "Dad's name is Billy, Mom's is Velocity, and Sissy's is Angel!  Aren't they beautiful?  Everyone, these are my friends Liberty, Eli, Jake, and Liberty's brother, Maverick.  And of course their families...  Where's Antoinette?"

"I'm sorry if I don't look happy for you, Lucky," Jake answers, "But Ant is seriously ill."  He explains the situation.

"Gosh.  Sorry.  Is she well enough to visit?"

"Should be."

"I'll be sure to visit and wish her well before we go." Lucky explains about his mom's plan.

Jake rubs his chin.  "Think you might have a book on that, Eli?"

Angel giggles. "Sissy..." she comments idly and quietly.

Billy idly pets Lucky.

When the family was introduced, of course, the children were smiling and waving. Liberty saying, "Thanks for taking Lucky in! And wow... Shina got adopted too? What news!"

Eli nods to Jake. "I'm sure I have a book on lost heritage, or at least locked ability. Such as someone cursed to not speak."

Antoinette hobbles into the room. "....hi." she says softly and with a tired smile.

Jake's parents dart to their feet. The mom rushes over to Antoinette. "Antoinette, darling! What are you doing up and about?"

Antoinette says, "Two things: 1) Lord Torshur was killed last night by some Freedom Fighters." She explains. "He was a source of corruption and suffering. I'm sad he did not repent. But I'm happy the people under him are suffering less. And because of that, now I'm feeling a little better." Antoinette holds up a finger to indicate she isn't done as she coughs into her fist. "2) Lucky and Shina were adopted, shown love. That makes me feel better too. All that is good being rewarded. All that is wrong being taken away or changed. These make my health improve."

Liberty and Maverick look slightly wowed. They had up till now not really believed about Antoinette being tied directly to the will of the gods. She never really said or did anything that indicated it around Liberty or Maverick. But technically all this proves is Antoinette is feeling a little better while good things are happening.

Eli says, "Glad you're feeling better, Antoinette..."

A visier whispers in the king's ear. And the king looks annoyed. "I invited the entire Smith family, Sertok..." he says quietly, but sternly to the visier. "Of course." the visier responds, bowing humbly (In as far as Grimer Wormtongues can bow humbly).
This message was last edited by the player at 05:29, Sat 22 Sept 2012.

Lucky grins at Angel's giggle and purrs at his daddy's pets.  He nods happily to Liberty then lights up and tail-wags at Eli's mention of curse-breaking books.  But before he can say what is on his mind, Ant shows up and causes a stir.

Jake of course jumps up with his parents and rushes over to her as well.  He gives her a gentle hug and cries tears of joy to see her so improved.  At first he's a little confused by her report.  How could the adoption of two orphans compare to the overthrowing of a lord?  But he answers his own question when he realizes that Ant never said that the two were equal in significance.

"Torshur must have been one of the worst for you to have improved so much," Jake concludes, "Here's hoping this trend continues."

He then looks the king directly in the eyes and says frankly, "If there was any doubt about Antoinette's connection to the divine, let this sign prove the veracity of her words.  I'll bet that signs like this will continue to happen."

He looks over at Angel's family and adds, "So thank you for your part in helping her to heal."

Lucky ducks his ears at the exchange between Surtok and the king and mutters, "Creepy..."

But to Jake and Ant he smiles then whispers up at his daddy, "Can we go over there and hug them?  I would like that very much."

Billy is already scooting Lucky in Antoinette's direction as he is finishing his request.

The king, meanwhile, looks unconvinced. Even as that expression Jake has become all TOO familiar with of a bemused adult trying not to chuckle. "Someone confirm for me that Torshur is dead. News should have reached my ear about that."

Antoinette smiles at the hugs. She tippy-toes to kiss Jake on the cheek. Of course, Antoinette accepts Lucky's hugs and hugs in return.

Eli is too shy to join the hugs, but is smiling and waving at Ant. Liberty goes to hug Ant as well with a bright smile. Shina wraps a tail around Ant in a kind of buddy side-hug. Angel walks up behind Lucky, not hugging anyone, but smiling.

Kitty glomp!  Mew purr!  Jake was about to do an eyebeam cheque on the king to show he means biznoss but adorable sister cheek-kiss completely disarms him.  Besides, at leas the king is looking into it.  Lucky encourages his family to join the huggle fluff and affirms Ant's claims.  "News travels so fast to prophets, they get the news before it even happens!"

Jake nods.  "She's part of the reason we wound up helping the orphans.  If not for her knowing where to look, we wouldn't have found Liberty."

He pets her and kisses the top of her head.

The bunchies are urged to finish eating, Antoinette being served a plate of her own. After eating, they are all led to the slaughter to another room while the king does kingly things. Eventually, the children are permitted to hang out together away from the grown ups.

It's then that Antoinette says to Jake, "The king doesn't believe I'm a prophet. Nor does he believe Torshur was evil. And he won't believe what we say about the corruption in his city for weeks to come. The king is one of the city's problems, but doesn't mean to be. It will take time before he helps right the wrongs."

Liberty folds her arms in a hurumpf. "He was quick to punish those slave traders because I was involved... but slavery IS still legal."

Eli says, "Slavery's been legal in this city since it was rich enough to own slaves. Which was centuries ago."

Maverick says, "My dad is in the process of making laws against the mistreatment of slaves. He *is* taking steps..."

Angel says, "Slavery is far from being this city's worst problem. We need to find the worst problems if we can ever hope to help Antoinette get well."

Jake eats radiation and squirms.  He looks over at Liberty and Mav.  "It helps to know you two believe her.  I would like for you to tell your dad exactly what she just said.  He won't want to hear it, but she did just make another important prediction that'll be all the more proof when it comes true."

"A prediction of something good happening don't forget," Lucky reminds, "And a lot of good has already started to happen.  So don't lose heart."

Jake nods and looks over at Angel.  "So if slavery isn't the worst problem, then what is?  And what can be done about it?"

Angel says, "Slaves, at least, get to live. Murder already trumps that. Then there's people like Torshur who scheme to make entire populations of people suffer with the stroke of a pen. Wrongful imprisonment. Breaking families apart... aren't you a noble?" that last part said with a confused tone.

Eli says, "We nobles are taught how to deal with politics and how to rule the lower class. We're not taught of the suffering that happens under us."

Antoinette says, "In class, the teacher says the bad thing is when people rise up against nobles."

Angel says, "...sounds like you noble types need to learn a bit more about what people have to deal with every day. You can't solve a problem if you don't even know what the problem is."

Imagine the fainting blue-beaks swooning over Lucky and Eli in the same room.  Add to that the blue-beaks discovering how furious Captain Maverick is now.  And Angel's army of blue-beaks.  And Antoinette's.  And Jake's.  The gravity caused by such a huge swirling vortex of lunatic blue-beaks collapses space-time into a peckularity!

Jake clenches his fists and grits his teeth, too upset to speak.  Lucky side-hugs Angel and mews sadly.  "Liberty knows as well as I do," he reminds, "And she's noble."

To Ant he affirms, "Rebellion is bad.  Especially when against nice nobles like you.  Angel is just pointing out that there are other bad things too."

He looks back to Angel.  "Do you have any ideas on how to solve the problems listed?"

Liberty says, "By crushing the ones responsible?"

Angel says, "Liberty is kind of on the right track. When defeating someone, mom says there are several ways; There's the classic way of just beating them up or killing them. There's making yourself so powerful your enemy can't hope to be influential with you around, or they simply don't dare defy you. There's making the person ineffective through other means such as taking their power away, distracting them long enough for someone else who'd more powerful. Finally, along those lines, there's making the person believe in what you believe, or in other words, make them join you."

Maverick says, "That last option makes all the others seem like a piece of cake..."

Shina says, "Yeah. But ALL the options are hard! I mean... how do we do any of that? People rarely gain power, they're born into it. And unless you're powerful, you can't make powerful people weak. And bad guys who are powerful don't pay attention to weaker people, no matter what the weaker person believes."

Eli says, "Give me a lever and I will move the world... sounds like Angel is suggesting a lever, but for emotions instead of for objects. But each problem has a different solution, even if every solution shares one of the suggestions you gave, Angel."

Angel says, "Well let's take a tour of the kingdom, find out what the worst problems are first, then start tracking down who is responsible for those problems. Make no mistake, since this is about morality, it will never be a what, but a who, at the end of our searches. There is always someone to blame, usually one person, for a given problem."

Liberty glances at Jake. "....I'm glad your so angry. For what it's worth, it's actually a really good sign that you, Antoinette, Eli and Maverick all care. I used to think ALL nobility didn't care at best, and was responsible at worst. Glad I was wrong."

Jake nods to Liberty but remains silent.  Lucky smiles at Shina and points out, "But powerful good guys do listen.  Especially to their own kids.  Maverick and Liberty have a king for a dad.  When we find any powerful badguys, they can tell their dad and he can have them arrested."

"We may not even have to look," Jake says, "I'll ask Antoinette to list the worst villains.  She probably already knows.  I'll be back soon.  If you'll excuse me."

He turns to go see his sister.

Antoinette is still in the room with the others. When Jake asks her who the villains are, Antoinette begins giving a list of names. "That is not everyone. I only know some. Not all." After all, D&D is a world with NOT-omniscient gods. They see a lot, albeit, but not ALL.

The list Ant gave consists of 2 major ranking people (About the same rank as Jake's dad), 5 under them, and about 13 of various ranks under them. Total of 20 corrupt people.

Maverick says, "Liberty and I have the power to keep an eye on those two dukes. Jake and Eli can deal with the ones under them, and the rest of you can look into those lower-ranking ones."

Jake of course writes down the names and their ranks and begins making copies for the others.  "Thank you, Antoinette."

He nods at Mav.  "Obviously we should get a copy of this list to your dad.  I'll be giving one to my parents and will ask him to handle the middle rank villains so Eli and and I can focus on solving the problem of what to do for the slaves once they're freed."

Lucky huhs?  "Aren't they mostly grown-ups?  The grown ups can take care of themselves, and the children can go to the orphanage like Shina and I did."

Jake sighs.  "Life isn't so simple as that, Lucky.  Even a skilled worker can end up starving if there are no jobs for him so he can't earn enough to buy food."

Lucky mews sadly.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't know."

Angel says, "Don't forget... we need to have assigned times we take breaks. If we wear ourselves out, we won't be able to handle the bad guys."

Maverick says, "Should be easier to do now that we have a list of names. We can find out what times the bad guys do their bad thing and then, we take breaks during times they don't do bad things."

Liberty says, "I *hope* it'll be that simple."

Angel says, "We should also meet up regularly in order to share information and, more importantly, unwind. Whether playing together or whatever."

Shina nods. "I miss playing with you guys already..."

"Me too," Lucky mews, "But where can we meet?  I'm not sure where everyone's parents are staying except Maverick and Liberty, but the guards acted like they didn't recognize me and didn't want to let us in."

"Probably different guards from the ones that saw you return Liberty to the king," Jake points out, "They need breaks too, after all."

"Oh."

"The palace is where most of us are staying right now, so it makes sense as a meeting place.  Specifically Antoinette's room because she'll probably be moving about the least among us.  Meeting time should be breakfast.  Even the most eager of villains won't have much opportunity for evil first thing in the morning."

"Wow!  Sure is nice you all are so smart about these things!"

Angel puffs up with a proud smile to what Lucky says.

Liberty says, "Even if evil is that eager, I'll know. Don't forget I can read surface thoughts."

Angel raises an eyebrow, looking over at Liberty. "Really? What am I thinking right now?"

Liberty looks over at Angel, looking ready to answer, but instead looks shocked. "....I... can't read your thoughts!" she sounds somewhat panicked, turns to look at Shina and starts to calm down. Then looks at Eli and scriggly-faces. "...seems I can read anyone but Angel."

Angel hrms. "Odd. Well no offense, but I don't believe you."

Liberty says, "OK, fine. Hold your hands behind your back and I'll tell you how many fingers you have held up."

Angel does so and Liberty says, "4... 7... 2... 8..."

Angel says, "If you can't read my mind, how are you doing that?"

Liberty says, "I can see things as though I were somewhere else, I can move things without touching them, and I can read minds." She demonstrates by making a doll in the room levitate.

Shina squeaks and covers her mouth.
This message was last updated by the player at 16:42, Thu 15 Nov 2012.

Lucky leans over to side-hug Angels with a proud smile.  "Guess she's just special that way."  He turns to her and says, "Sorry I didn't tell ya about Liberty's telepathy, Angel, but things have been happening so fast it slipped my mind to tell you all the details of the escape."

"I knew about your telepathy but not the other stuff," Jake says, "Now that I think about it, it would be a good idea for all of us to share with each other what we're capable of.  We all know now that Antoinette is a prophetess and about Liberty's powers, so I'll go next."

He runs down a summary of his skills and powers.  "How about you, Lucky?"

Lucky ducks his head bashfully.  "Wow...  I uh...  I see good in the dark?  I don't have any super powers...  I think...."

Angel says, "Apparently, my power is that my mind can't be read. But I'm also pretty decent at darts and crossbows... and I've got some good balance..."

Eli says, "I like to invent machines like Jake does. Also, I have studied magic with a focus on abjuration, which is the study of protective magics. Last, but not least, I can remember anything said to me."

Shina says, "I can... throw fire around and _{make things burst into flame.}"

Liberty says, "Woah, cool... really?"

Shina blushes, sliding her foot and nodding.

Maverick says, "I have no powers. But I am very sneaky. I frequently sneak past my dad's guard."

Angel raises an eyebrow, but doesn't comment.

Antoinette says, "I have the power to walk, to see in color, detect smells, taste food, and feel things like the invisible wind..." She then bends over, touching her toes. "And I can touch my toes."

Angel looks to be at a loss for words.

Shina giggles and says, "I think everyone in the room can do most of that, Antoinette..."

Antoinette says, "Oh..."

"Antoinette tends to not take things for granted," Jake explains.  He looks at Maverick.  "Impressive.  Looks like you and Liberty's will be the most useful skills for finding evidence against the bad guys at this point."

"Well I know now who to turn to to keep warm!" Lucky says with a smile, walking over to Shina to rub against her side and purr.

Once Jake has made a copy of the list he hands it over to Liberty.  "Please see to it that your dad gets this.  And if you haven't already told him about your mind reading, it is important that he know."

Shina blushes. "It's not to be toyed with, Lucky.. I really could set you on fire by accident." she squirms.

Liberty says, "But you haven't. So far, so good."

The kids proceed to find something more fun to do before everyone is given the whomobile.

Which means Lucky and Angel are taken away by their parents again. Velocity explains to Lucky it's his last chance to say goodbye. Once he does, she takes him and Angel out of the castle and soon to an inn...

"I'll bet your mom and dad can help you with that, Shina," Lucky says with a reassuring side-hug.  When momma mutalisk wraps her tongue around him, he cuppy-cakes and gushes tears.

"I realize that Eli has important things to do, but he might have had a chance to look in his books for a solution since I last saw him.  Could we ask before we go, please?"

Meanwhile Jake is sure to get the list of nimrods to his parents before working on building a business to employ the ex-slaves with.

Velocity says, "....very well." and lets Lucky check with Eli.

Eli slides his foot and says, "I really wasn't able to find much on the hengeyokai. They were allies to the humans long ago, but have since become reclusive. Outside of looking into your race, I tried looking into curses that lock shape-changers into a specific form... we could try one of the cures to those?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:23, Sun 18 Nov 2012.

Lucky glomps Eli!  "Thanks so much!  Yes!  Let's try!"

Not only has he been dreading being separated from his friends, he's been feeling guilty about inconveniencing his parents on such a long trip on his account.  Not to mention this while the others are trying so hard to help fix things for Antoinette.

Eli has Lucky sit in the center of a circle and gets to work on the ritual. 10 minutes later, he completes the ritual. "So here's the thing... even if this worked, you've been under whatever curse your whole LIFE... so... when I say "try to change", you honestly can't because you don't know how. You've never done it. Still... worth a try, I guess?"

Angel says, "It's kind of like moving your arm. When you want it to move, it moves."

Lucky gulps, glancing at everyone present.  He takes a deep breath, concentrates, and his nose changes to be more human!  He gasps and grabs at his nose!

"It worked!  It worked!"

He tearfully glomps Eli!

"Thank you so much!"

(OOC: I'm guessing you were leaving it up to me that Lucky was cured.)

Eli scriggly-smiles. "Wow... didn't think it would. Well... um... just do what you did and get good at it?"

Velocity interjects, "You'll only be able to turn human or into a cat. So don't be disappointed when you try to turn into a tiefling and can't pull it off."

She then looks at Eli. "That is VERY impressive... you and I will need to talk about your magic studies some time soon..."

Velocity looks down at Lucky. "Still need to head out for a while. Thankfully, Eli just shortened the length of time we'll be gone, but there were a few *other* things your father and I need to go over with you that can only be done far away from society."

Luckys just so happy he glomps everyone present with tears of joy!  "I'm a Hengaioki!  The curse is broken!  I have a family!"

When his mommy says there's still a reason to leave town he hust nod-nods with his happy sobbing face buried in her chest.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Tam smiles as she can feel Lucky's maniacal laughter from breaking a curse.

Back to Lucky, though, Velocity stays long enough to eat lunch with the bunch and bids farewell before heading off with Lucky deep into the forest wilderness.

Velocity takes horses there, Angel riding with Lucky on the same horse, having Lucky right behind her and holding on to her. "Real excited for you... I can't imagine what it's like. It'd be like if I never knew I had an arm and then POP! Out comes an arm!"

Somewhere, every metal, emo, pop, rap, you-name-it band sings, "You don't know what it's liiiike!"

Lucky mews and purrs and huggles his pretty sister.  "That's exactly what it's like!  I've never been horseback riding before.  None of the circus people would let me.  And I was scared.  They're so big!  But being with you and mom and dad...  I'm too happy to be scared!"

He glances waaaay down at the ground and squeezes tighter.  "Maybe a little nervous."

Angel giggles. "Lookit my face, Lucky." she smiles over her shoulder at him. "The horse is safe."

Once they all are deep enough in the woods, Vel has them all dismount and set up camp. They are near a waterfall. Velocity leads them to behind the waterfall to reveal a hidden passage. Once they are all inside, Velocity turns around and says, "Close." to which, the rocks obey and seem to mold like clay into a closed wall. She then turns and says, "The reason I brought you out here is so that nobody else could hear what we're going to tell you."

"So... pretty!" Lucky squees when his sis tells him to lookit her face.  He can't help himself and goes to kiss her cheek.

"Woooow..." he says in awe of the waterfall hideout.

Lucky then looks at his mommy with big, expectant eyes and gulps.

Angel, of course, would have giggled and blushed at Lucky's comment on her prettiness.

Velocity says, "I am a goddess. A real one. With worshipers. It is a destiny of mine, written in the stars. As such, you and your sister are half-gods and have inherited powers you may or may not fully understand yet."

Lucky is one of the most naive and trusting souls on top of being a kid, but THIS... stretches even his ability to believe what he's told.  He blink-blink-blinks and head-tilts, trying to figure out why she would say that.  Now he's wondering if she's testing to see if he's stupid.  He blushes and tilts his eyes and ears down, rubbing his arm and mewing plaintively.

"Wow... that's uh...  really something.  I've never heard of someone inheriting traits from an adopted parent."

He gulps and fidgets, afraid he's failing the "test" horribly, glancing at his dad and sister, hoping for some hint on what he's supposed to do or say to "pass."  Maybe she means "god" in a different way than he understands it.

Velocity ohs. "...I suppose I hadn't told you yet. You are my son by blood. It's how I knew you are what you are. One of my enemies took you from me when you were a baby."

Lucky stares in slack-jawed shock a few moments before tearing up, glomping his mommy, and sobbing into her chest.  "This is too good to be true!  Oh how I've dreamed of finding my family and learning that I was wanted!"

More clingy hugs and tears ensue.

Meanwhile, back at the estate, Liberty and Maverick meet up with Jake and Antoinette. It's been a few days and seems Antoinette isn't completely bed-ridden, but close. Although her health HAS been improving, indicating some progress.

Suddenly, Antoinette gasps and grabs at her heart, tears rolling down her cheeks. I tiny squeak comes from her as she leans on her bro.

Liberty and Maverick, of course, look immediately concerned. Antoinette says, "Eli's in danger..."

Jake tearfully huggles and comforts his sis.  He covers her ears before shouting, "Guards!  Eli needs help!  Send help!"

He looks at Lib and Mav.  "I'll get her to mom and then meet you at Eli's place...."

He uncovers Ant's ears and asks, "Unless Eli's not home?"

Antoinette says, "Eli isn't home."

Liberty says, "I'll tell my dad what Antoinette said. For my dad's sake, maybe Maverick can check Eli's home, meet up with us at the throne room, and confirm Antoinette's report."

Jake stops himself from cursing and nods to Lib.  "Good plan.  Be careful, Maverick.  Meet you at the throne room."

He rushes off with Ant to inform his parents, lets them figure out what to do for her 'cause he's at a loss, then hurries to the throne room with or without them.

Later on, at the throne room, the king looks annoyed. But judging from the fact Maverick is there with Liberty, Mav has already confirmed Ant's report.

The king addresses Jake. "I realize Eli is a friend of yours and I respect that you want to do something about him, but now it is in the hands of professionals. So you're part in searching for Eli is done. You kids can take a break."

"Thank you," Jake answers with an appropriate bow.  He turns to Maverick and Liberty.  "Might I suggest we go keep Antoinette company?  If she has any other insights on Eli we'll be able to relay them to your dad."

The two nod and head to Antoinette with Jake.

Once there, Jake can see Antoinette drinking a glass of water. She looks at Jake and smiles. "....hi."

Jake smiles, reassured that she's not dead.  "You look like you're feeling better.  Does that mean Eli is ok too?"

Antoinette says, "He's scared and lonely. But he is alive and healthy. He's lost, deep in an underground place."

"I wish there were something we could do for him," Jake says, looking dejected, "Do you know of anything else that could be helpful, Antoinette?"

Antoinette says, "Eli is there because of research. If you go to his place and search his room, you can learn more."

"Thanks Antoinette."

Jake looks over at Liberty and Maverick with a proud smirk.  "She's something else, isn't she?  I had a feeling she might know something important.  We can send a messenger to your dad with this latest clue while we go looking at Eli's room.  Time is of the essence!"

He gives his sis a goodbye cheek kiss before sending a messenger and hurrying to Eli's room.

Maverick and Liberty smile and get to it. Antoinette smiles from the kiss.

Later on, when Jake gets to Eli's room, he finds out why nobody could have POSSIBLY found a clue here, no matter what kind of detective they were; Eli's notes are gibberish to anyone but a genius like Jake.

The notes clearly involve a special mineral compound found deep in a nearby abandoned dwarven mine. According to Eli's notes, this mineral is not only good for use as a magic component, it's also got some properties that make it able to be used as a focus for magical effects. In effect, it can be used as a magnifier for abjuration magic.

Jake does his best to summarize for Mav and Lib.  "I hate to have to waste time explaining this to professionals your dad sent, but if one of them isn't an expert in magic theory they'd have to take my word for it...  which I doubt they will.  Maybe if you told them it might carry more weight.  Care to lead the way?"

Maverick leads the way and tells his dad. The king orders a couple experts to examine the documents. Notably, he has them do so separately in separate rooms. When they report (separately), they have the exact same conclusion. The king nods. "Those two NEVER agree. Send someone to the mines!"

A detachment of soldiers is sent. "Good work, Maverick." the king commends. "I knew telling you to take a break be would be pointless..."

Maverick says, "Actually, it was Jake who found and deciphered it. I was only telling you what he found."

The king nods, looks at Jake, then says, "Good work, Jake. You were smart to have my son report it. You three can rest assured that your friend will be found, now that we know where Eli is."

As soon as they are dismissed (Unless Jake speaks up to the king), Liberty and Maverick go aside with Jake and Liberty suggests, "We could follow the soldiers in case they need someone small to crawl through a crevice that only kids could crawl through..."

"Thank you," Jake answers the king with a bow.

He follows Mav and Lib and nods at her suggestion.  "Good point.  And even if they don't need us for that, I'm sure Eli would appreciate some familiar faces at his rescue.  Not to mention your special abilities might be needed."

He glances at Mav.  "Your dad wasn't annoyed when he said, 'I knew it would be pointless,' was he?"

Maverick says, "...no. He's just come to realize I don't sit still when there's spying to be done."

When the kids make it to the mine, Liberty senses Eli and carefully follows the guards. "They're going the wrong way... should I tell them?"

Jake oh at Mav's explanation.  To Lib's question he blinks in surprise.  "Why wouldn't you?"

"Because we're not supposed to be here? We tell them, they'll tell US to scram."

Jake ohs.  "Then let your brother do the talking.  Being the crown prince carries some weight, apparently.  Also, in this case I think they'll be grateful for the correction.  If they fail to find Eli because they ignored you two, that would make them look bad.  But if they succeed with your help they'll have a good excuse for allowing you to be helpful."

Maverick goes to the men and informs them. The one in charge says, "It's only a search mission, so you can come along. But if things get too dangerous, we'll have to send you bunch home."

Liberty leads the way, using her power to hone in.

Soon, the group comes upon Eli, who is curled up and shivering. But there seems to be a 15-foot gap between the group and Eli.

"Eli," Jake whispers, hoping to not startle the frightened boy, "It's your friends.  Jake, Liberty, and Maverick.  We're here with some guards to rescue you."

He carefully approaches the gap to get a peek at how deep it is and tells the others if no one else looks down first.

When Jake goes to peak, the moment any part of him hovers OVER the gap, he feels something hit him with both a shocking and kinetic force, pushing him back about 5 feet. Along with it is the sound like a giant took a giant spoon to a giant dome dish.

Eli looks up when he hears that sound. He waves his hands as if indicating for the group to not come closer. It's also clear now he's been crying for a while.

"Ow..." Jake groans from the shocking force.  he thumbs-ups at Eli to indicate he understands and picks himself up off the ground.

"Careful about that force wall," he warns the soldiers, "I get the feeling that even touching it with a spear might hurt."

He looks over at Liberty.  "Wunna try your telepathy to reassure Eli we're going to figure out how to rescue him?"

Liberty looks at Eli. The two of them seem to be able to communicate as they stare, but give varying expressions. Liberty ohs. "See all that stuff on him? It's the mineral he talked about in his notes. He needs someone to wallow in the minerals and then cast dispel on him. According to him, the minerals act as power storage that allow them to empower the spell to last. Unfortunately, dispel is one of those spells he's never had to use, so..."

As much as Jake's inner Spock wants to say "fascinating" he's more focused on getting Eli rescued.

"So the barrier blocks physical but not psychic or magic," he concludes aloud, "In that case ask him if he needs any of my healing infusions before we go fetch someone who has the dispel spell prepared...  Or maybe we could try using our combined arcana skill to poke an Eli sized hole in the barrier?"

The two mages are able to support a hole in the forcefield. Liberty then levitates Eli through the hole (since otherwise, he would have to STEP on forcefield and get hurt and lose concentration). Eli is safely extracted!

Jake is a little surprised that worked.  "Alright!  Fantastic!  Thanks for the help Liberty!"

He heals Eli with one of his infusions.  "Feeling better, I trust?"

Eli nodnods. "I'm better now..." he looks around. "This stuff... it's great! It works even better than I thought!"

Maverick says, "Just what my in-fighting kingdom needs; a precious resource for people to fight over..."

"That part can't be helped," Jake admits, "But what can be helped is turning this to your advantage as much as possible.  I was brainstorming with Eli the other day on how best to employ the freed slaves when we get that far and this could be the best solution.  If we put them to work mining this stuff, that won't be competing with any existing jobs, so no one will lose their job due to a sudden influx to the workforce."

To Eli he asks, "So what happened?  I'd assumed you were kidnapped, but I don't see any kidnappers."

Eli says, "....I wanted to test the rocks, so I made a forcefield empowered by them. You know the spell: Shield. Well.. it worked too well and I wound up trapped inside the shield spell as you saw. I thought I was going to be trapped forever and starve to death."

"Glad to hear you weren't abused at least," Jake says, "Antoinette is the reason we found you so fast.  She knew right away you were in trouble and predicted we'd figure out where you were by investigating your room.  Then Mav and Lib helped as well.  Mav was the one who convinced the king to send a search party to these caves.  Lib was the one who sensed what direction you were in.  So yeah.  You coulda been waiting much longer if not for all that.  So speaking of starving, you hungry?  Let's get you back home in any case."

Liberty says, "But didn't Antoinette act all heart-attcky when she was saying about Eli? We should go straight home and find out how she's doing. If it was really this simple, great. We'll just need to keep a better eye on each other. If not, maybe Eli is still in trouble and we don't even know it yet."

"Good point, Liberty.  Let's do that." 

While heading home, Jake glances at Eli and asks, "Any serious heart problems recently, Eli?"

Eli is blushing and stares at the ground, shaking his head. He seems mostly quiet the whole trip, only speaking when spoken to.

Moving on, when the group gets to Antoinette, she seems to be feeling no better. "Eli... is still in danger..." is all she manages before falling asleep.

Eli squirms. "That doesn't sound good..."

Jake frowns.  "Yeah...  I'm thinking two possibilities.  Either it's a sneaky disease or he's being targeted by something magical.  Not much to go on, but it's a start.  Let's have an experienced healer check his health then we can look into the magical possibility.  Here's hoping we can find something that'll help."

After a healer has a look at Eli, the guy says, "He's fine, health-wise."

Maverick looks over at Jake. "Well... magic is something you do, right?"

Doing arcana checks on Eli results in nothing. No trace of magic besides that which Eli carries on him.

Frustrated, Jake exhales in defeat. "While I'm glad Eli isn't sick or cursed, I'm stumped.  Antoinette's predictions have never been wrong, but I'm out of ideas on what to do for Eli beyond just waiting for Ant to wake up so we can ask her what's wrong.  Thoughts?"

Maverick says, "There's always conspiracies. They don't need magic or poison to work. If Ant was worried for Eli, maybe someone is plotting to kill him. He *is* a noble, after all..."

Jake hmms.  "An assassin?  Stalking Eli?  Hadn't considered that.  But I haven't the first idea on how to foil an assassin.  Maybe we should ask the captain of the guard."

The captain of the guard thinks about it. "....aside from getting to his parents, I can't figure any reason someone would go after Eli, much less kill him. Politically speaking, Eli just wouldn't be on anyone's radar for assassination."

Maverick asks, "What if it didn't have to do with politics? Really, we just wanna know how to protect him."

The captain shrugs. "He's probably as protected as he'll be by being with you, sire."

Jake smacks his lips.  "Welp.  Looks like there's nothing we can do.  Sorry, Eli.  So!  Back to the original mission.  Beyond helping to develop that substance Eli discovered, any thoughts on how I can help in the effort to rid the kingdom of injustice?"

Eli says, "Well for starters, doesn't it make sense that we could enhance the kingdom's defenses magically on a large scale?"

Maverick says, "And maybe people who can detect good or evil will be able to do so all day every day thanks to this new stuff..."

Eli is quick to counter with, "But it only works for arcane..." though when the others look at him, he blushes and fidgets. "Well... at least, I think..."

"Could be.  I think I've read of arcane spells that can etect evil, and I'm certain there is a ritual that repels monsters of a specefic tyep.  Enhancing either could be a huge step forward for promoting justice.  Let's do that."

While Eli gets started on that, a guard goes up to Jake and presents Shina to him. "This girl says she knows you..."

Shina looks anxious and lightly annoyed with the guard.

Jake nods to the guard.  "Yes she does."

To Shina he says, "Good to see you well, Shina.  Antoinette has been improving until recently when she warned Eli is in danger.  But we've done everything we can think of for him.  How've you been?  I trust the new family has been treating you well?"

Shina nods. "They are... I wonder how Lucky's doing... Antoinette didn't say anything about him, did she?"

Eli headshakes. "Just me so far. And I'm safe at the moment. So.. whatever is going on that I'm in danger, none of us can figure out."

Liberty looks upset and looks aside.

"Yeah if Antoinette did say anything about Lucky it would probably be bad news, so I'm glad we haven't heard anything yet.  Good to hear your new family is working out for you, Shina.  Not only for your sake but Ant mentioned it's stuff like that that's helping her recover."

Rather suddenly, Liberty slaps Eli so silly, he falls to the ground unconscious.

Shina squeaks and covers her mouth.

Even Maverick looks shocked.

Liberty immediately takes a defensive posture and says, "Don't be mad! This isn't Eli!"

Jake blinks in surprise at the sudden violence, but Liberty's posture convinces him she's not a threat to the others at least.

"A very convincing fake considering the physical and magical examination he just underwent.  Not to mention it was your psychic power that led us to him."

He starts searching the fake Eli for clues.

"If I'm angry, I'm angry that I didn't catch this sooner, not at you, Liberty.  So what convinced you he's a fake?"

Liberty says, "I've been searching his memories and thoughts. At first, there was a mental block, but then I could see his memories of being with us. Then I realized he had read my mind! I'm used to Eli's mind being so... complicated and garbled, constantly thinking up ideas and equations that are over my head. What hurts is... I don't know that this person, whoever he is, even realizes he isn't Eli."

Jake frowns deeply, wondering what he's supposed to do or say.

"It's a good thing you caught that, Liberty.  I guess the first thing is to tie him up."

He gets started on doing just that.  Meanwhile he thinks up a random number.  Like 413.

"Liberty, can you tell me what number I'm thinking?"

Liberty says, "...413, I *think*? But it's like you can't help but think of what numbers it's divisible by and what numbers are multiples of 413... your brain is as full of stuff as Eli's."

She then looks around the room and points at Shina and Maverick in succession. "12. 5."

The two nod.

Liberty adds, "But just 'cause I'm psychic doesn't mean I'm the real Liberty. You'll just have to trust me."

Maverick says, "I'll confirm it's her." he looks down at the unconscious Eli lookalike. "Meanwhile, I'll get a guard to watch over this one."

With that, Maverick gets a guard, then heads off to be alone with Liberty.

Shina wiggles and glances at Jake, looking slightly uncomfortable.

Jake sighs in relief at Liberty's answer, satisfied that she's not an imposter.

"Thanks.  I'll see what I can do about figuring out a secret password or something."

He combs his fingers through his hair in frustration then looks over at Shina.

"Sorry you got mixed up in all this.  I was going to see Antoinette.  Did you want to tag along to say hi?  If not I could walk you back to your parents first."

He looks at the ground.  "I hope Eli will be ok."