"I'll hold his arms for you. Just don't hit him as hard as you did that vampire. I can't fly... I think."



"To be honest, most of the time I sleep better on a couch then a bed. No idea why. Of course this isn't even my own FRACKING BODY, but... that's okay. Maybe I'll be lucky and wake up in my own room, in my own body, with some strange material to turn into a short story. Couch will be fine."



"Don't worry about offending me. You'll have to really try to piss me off... unless whatever taught me how to fight and put on a bra also put some random berserk button landmines. Wouldn't THAT be just a treat. Uhhh... to answer your question... I have no fracking clue. I think of myself as a guy but... you start using the male pronouns and it will probably attract some strange looks. Let me sleep on, okay?"

"If you insist, Alex-san. And perhaps you will be so fortunate." Never mind the fact that manners and decorum any so much else demand that I take the worse of the two beds... No, I offered, she declined. Just... Don't sweat it. You'll drive yourself mad.



"As you wish, Alex-san. And you are right that, in public, such, ah, pronoun trouble, would draw attention. If you wish, I can refer to you by your aparent gender in public, and your actual gender in private. But either way, I shall let you, as you say, 'sleep on it' and I shall defer to your decision."

In a somewhat awkward silence, he prepares for the night's sleep, mind still racing.

At least for me, it's not permanent. It's inconveniant, since I still don't have the hang of manipulating my ki in female form, not nearly so well as I manipulate it in my own body, but still... I think I can only have the vaguest idea what she's going through. I wish I knew more, wish I could help more.

Merciful Kamis, please helps us find Dragoneye tomorrow. And please, let him measure up to his reputation.

And so the night comes to an end. Both our heroes sleep well enough, and both wake up in the motel room without any other surprises.

Alex woke up slowly, after a night of strange dreams. He stretched, yawned, then sat up with a jolt. He stares down at his very female chest, and says in a small voice "Not a dream after all..."

At the exclamation, Jiro woke. After a moment for his brain to catch up, he said, "Ah. I remember that reaction." He stood and stretched, rolling his shoulders to the tune of several quick cracks and pops.

"For what it's worth, you're doing better than I did, my first morning after I was cursed. We were outside, and the dew that night had been heavy." A frown at the memory. "Yes, your reaction is better than mine was. Much calmer."

A last stretch. "Still, we have a long day ahead of us and a mage to find. Do you want first crack at the bathroom, or may I take it?"

Alex just waves at the bathroom door. "You know... I should be freaking out right now. I'm a pretty laid back guy, but not THIS laid back."

"Huh, I think I am freaking out. It feels like I am, only it's really distant and there is this wall of calm between me and it. Come to think of it, that's exactly what happened last night. When those guys attacked, I just... boom. In the zone, and fighting like a pro. Fear was so far from my mind, I didn't notice it until afterwards."

Alex closes her eyes tight for a moment and takes a deep breath. "I don't think my body is the only thing that was changed."

Jiro paused in the bathroom doorway at Alex's words. "I, too, understand that, and I know full well how... unnerving a feeling it is." He glanced away, cheeks heating. Why'd you say that? You gotta explain now, and this is way too embarassing?

Because a comerade in arms is in pain, and this might help. What is the quote... shared pain is lessened, shared joy increased. Thus do we refute entropy.

He looked back. "My mind is also affected by this curse, at least somewhat. In my cursed form I... notice things... that I should not. About... how attractive some men are. It is distracting, and embarassing." He tried to smile, knew it would be hollow and faint. "At least you have been given excellent skills and useful knowledge."

Embarrassment overtook him. Unable to make himself wait for a response, he retreated into the bathroom, pulled the door shut. Well done, baka. She probably thinks you're one of the biggest perverts on the planet now. That'll really help things. He stripped and turned on the shower, waited out of the stall for it to heat, and looked to the mirror. "Hopefully I just got my daily allotment of stupid words out of my head. Kamis, I hope we can find this mage."

Alex doesn't respond to Jiro at first, just allowing him to retreat in silence.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one..." she whispers as the shower starts.

Jiro wanted to linger over the shower, but knew he couldn't. If nothing else, there was probably a finite amount of hot water - it was a fairly cheap motel - and to leave others without it needlessly would be poor form. He cleaned up, confirmed that, like always, he had nothing in the way of shaving to do. Hadn't since the curse. Which made sense, and he'd lost a little sleep on more than one occasion wondering what else it was messing up in his body's systems.

All too soon, he was done, and had to face his fate.

"Sorry if I said anything out of line, Alex-san," he began, "And I did not mean to insult your skills." Even though I've been training since I could walk to get where I am, and you, by your own admittion, got handed strength, skill, and power without any time put in. "Once you're done in the bathroom, why don't we break our fast and start looking for that mage." And did she ask for those skills and powers? No! They came along with a curse as bad as your own, Koji, so stop being a resentful jackass.

Saying his peace, he gets out of Alex's way at the door and digs his notes out of his backpack, reviewing what he knows about Dragoneye in preparation for finding him.

"Insult me skills? How do you think you... never mind. Tell you what, since you've been apologizing constantly since I've met you, and I've been saying thank you for the same amount of time, let's just call it even and save our respective verbal tics for something major." Alex grins. "Say... if I slap you then you'll know that an apology is needed. Until the, I'll let it ride. It's not like you are trying to insult or belittle me. Hell, even if you were, it's not like I can't take it after this long."

Jiro couldn't help himself, he snorted. "That is fair enough, Alex-san. Let us prepare for our search." Either I'm being oversensative or there's just some cultural differences involved. Or both. Probably both. Stop overthinking this, Koji. You have much to do, and likely not enough time.

If that vampire had friends, this night will be interesting.

Jiro doesn't have much information on Dragoneye.

1 - Dragoneye has been active in the city for some time, and seems to be associated with the local Chinese Community.
2 - Dragoneye is elusive. Either reclusive or busy.
3 - Dragoneye is probably a male, but Jiro isn't sure.
4 - Dragoneye is reputed to be powerful, but the details are sketchy. This isn't the most promising lead that Jiro has ever had, but it's far from the worst. At least it's in a city.

After the shower, Alex comes out to join Jiro. "So what do you know about this Dragoneye?"

"He's a bit of a recluse, but he associates with the city's Chinese community, and is reputed to be powerful, though I grant I have less details than I like." He grins. "By my standards, this is actually a fairly good lead, to be honest. If it does not pan out, I have a few others in America, but it would be some travel reaching them."

A shrug. "Still. Breakfast first. Searching on an empty stomach seldom goes well. I have the address of what is reputed to be an excellent Chinese restaurant at the edge of Chinatown." A careful question or two while eating might even speed our search.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Thu 03 Feb 2011.

"Hmmm... sounds like it's worth a shot. Breakfast, at the very least, sounds like a plan to me." Alex said. "Before we go there though, do you think we could stop and get some sandals or something? My feet held up just fine last night but... it wasn't really comfortable."

"Not a problem at all. I spotted a dollar store yesterday, they should have sandals." Do not make a joke about her only being a girl for a day and already wanting to go shoe shopping. She would kill you, and you would deserve it.

Setting an easy pace, and keeping an eye on the streets as he walks, Jiro looks for anything suspicious or out of place, both to the store and beyond it. Kamis willing, this will go smoothly and we'll at least be able to find Dragoneye. Beyond that, who can say?

[OOC: Taking 10 on notice for a 22 as we walk]

"Thanks. This barefoot thing is getting old."

The trip to dollar store is uneventful. Alex soon finds a cheap pair of flip-flops that allow her to avoid the hazards of barefoot travel. They aren't anything fancy, and Jiro certainly wouldn't want to fight in them, but they work.

The pair makes a couple other quick stops where Alex grabs a couple other essentials, like a purse and a wallet.

While the name wasn't the greatest, The Most Auspicious Chinese Restaurant turns out to have good food. It's a smallish family run business, and the teenage boy serving the pair is obviously a bit smitten by Alex.

While doing the shopping, Alex makes a point of picking up a half decent multi-tool and a small 3" or 4" bowling ball. If asked, she just shakes her head. "Just seems like a good idea for some reason."

At the restaurant Alex can tell she's been checked out, and while the guy isn't a jerk about it, it does clearly make her uncomfortable.

Szechuan wasn't Jiro's favorite style of cooking, but this place certainly did it well. And it's better than most Western crap. And what most Western restaurants pass off as Japanese cuisine. Noticing their server's obvious twiterpation with Alex was a bit annoying - he'd been where she was, and knew how uncomfortable it could be, but there wasn't really a way to deal with it that he could see. Overtly telling the kid to back off would make it seem like he was defending 'his' girl from a suitor, which would be the wrong message to send Alex right now. The wrong message by far. And in the close confines of the restaurant, he couldn't exactly offer words of comfort - far too easy for those listening to wonder just how a man like him could know about that sort of thing.

He settled for catching her eye and giving her a sympathetic look. Once they had more privacy, he'd talk more openly.

He could, at least, distract the youth. "My friend," he began in Chinese, shooting Alex an apologetic glance at excluding her by language - but given what he wanted to ask about, anything to make him seem less like an outsider was likely to help. "I am wondering if you could help - I am new to the area, and wish to learn more." Once he has the waiter's attention, he begins making small talk, and trying to learn about the local Chinese community in general, and Dragoneye in specific.


[OOC: 16:05, Today: Jiro Koji rolled 15 using 1d20+7. Gather info on Dragoneye.]

Alex seems to recognize what Jiro's doing and does what she can to help. Since she can't speak the language, she simply makes a point to smile at the boy.

For some reason she knows it will do the job.

[OOC: 19:28, Today: Alex rolled 20 using 1d20+10. Diplomacy. ]

It's a slow morning, and the kid is happy to chat. Especially with a pretty girl smiling at him while he's doing it.

The kid fills Jiro's head with all kinds of trivial, yet potentially useful information. The marital artist starts to get a good handle on the community. It sounds like it's quiet, secure, and well run. A good place to live.

When the conversation gets steered towards Dragoneye, the kid falls quiet and looks uncomfortable. He looks like he'll decline to say anything else, but Alex chooses just that moment to bend over and scratch the side of her leg. The kid is rendered momentarily speechless as he gets a look down the front of her shirt, and blushes bright red as she sits up and looks at him. Stammering a bit, he leaps to answering the question to change the subject.

"Dragoneye. You don't want to get on his bad side. He's the reason everything's so good around here. If you make trouble, he and his men make trouble for you. I really don't know much about him, but if you want to see him be careful. He doesn't like outsiders much."

"That is fair enough. I intend no trouble - quite the opposite." 'He and his men?' oh, that's a good sign. Sounds like a strongarm man. "I seek only knowledge, and have heard of him from afar. Do you know how one such as I might contact him?"

[OOC: Taking 10 on Sense Motive with Skill Mastery for a total of 22 - why does he seem so scared of Dragoneye?]

"Me? The only way I KNOW to contact him is to start making a trouble and you wouldn't want that... Uhh... If you really need to see him for some reason, try asking around down near the waterfront. He knows everything that goes on, so he'll find you."

[OOC: Jiro gets the sense this isn't the fear of a bad man per say, but rather more like a force of nature. Dragoneye is so much bigger then the kid that he doesn't want to attract any kind of attention. Even if he wasn't planning to do so, he could crush the kid like a bug.

Also, Jiro is quite sure the kid is telling the truth.]

"My thanks, friend. Your aid is appreciated." Once the waiter retreats, he switches back to English and turns to his companion. "Dragoneye is a power here. The boy, at least, considers him like unto a force of nature. He suggests searching near the waterfront." A pause. "And Alex-san? Thank you for.. distracting him. I believe it helped a great deal." In a voice pitched to carry no further than her ears, he added, "I know full well how uncomfortable that kind of attention can be."

Quickly, he finishes eating and settles the bill, thanking their waiter once more for help and leaving a healthy tip. To the waterfront.

[OOC: as we hit the road, taking 10 on my notice for 22 as we go. Looking for anything that stands out as dangerous or out of place.]