Pop - Splash

Liya appears at her destination.

Liya appears at the hot springs, naked and leaving her belongings behind with Tanique. She stepped into the water and stayed close to the edge waiting for the trump contact.

She accepts the contact with a smile.

Tanique blinked in surprise as Liya left her clothes behind.  She declined to do the same.



She walked through, still in her personal armor/dress, and smiled at her cousin.
"My apologies, Liya.  Perhaps I'm still a little light headed, but I didn't realize this was a clothing optional event."

Liya laughed, "Did I forget that part? The way I used doesn't bring my stuff with me. Its more of an escape route than anything. I really need to make a trump of this place."

Tanique looked at her with amusement.
"I'll admit that I usually don't use my escape routes so causally.  You're very confident, I like that.  I'm assuming you don't have any problem leaving here, right?"

"We can leave whenever we want, and I'll use the Hydra's Path to get us back to the Creche. If nobody's come looking for us that is."

Liya moves in the water to make room for Tanique. "Bastion gave me a ring with some spells on it, and that was one of them. There's another one that does the same thing but with my stuff."

Tanique nodded and started disrobing.
"I'd imagine that my queen will give me the night off, but just in case I'm needed my father has a trump of me as well."
Her body was badly bruised, with many scars, fresh and even a couple old, but it's definitely the body of a warrior, muscular and powerful, even with its feminine curves.

"Hopefully we'll be back before anyone notices we're gone. These springs should help with the sore muscles at least. And there is food too if we get hungry."

Tanique laughed.
"My dear cousin, I'm Always hungry!  Bring on dinner, if you're buying!"
She sighed in contentment

Liya laughed and leaned her back against the side of the spring closing her eyes. “This does feel good. Some peace and quiet, nobody trying to kill anybody.”

She liked to Tanique, “ The city isn’t far from here, we can go there for dinner. Or we can go into shadow and find something there. Or we can do both. Possibilities are endless.,” she says with a smile.

Tanique laughed, then winced as the motion hurt her ribs a bit.
"If the city nearby has good food, we can start there.  That's the problem with unlimited possibilities; you can get overwhelmed with choices.  I'm a little bit intimidated by it, I'll admit.  It's like a shopping spree where there's no time limit.  I can probably have everything, so I don't know where to start."

Liya gave Tanique a sympathetic smile when she winced in pain.  “We’ll submerge ourselves here for a bit then hit the city.”  She laughed then, “I’ll need to find some clothes first though.”

Tanique chuckled
"I'll see if I can help you.  I don't have problems with public nudity, but i know some people get weird about it.   When I was just a child, i used to shun the heavy shirts and jackets my mother made me wear during my first years of sword practice.   Especially when all the boys went shirtless, because it was so hot out.   So, I got fed up and shed my top, and ran around shirtless."
She grinned ruefully
"It wouldn't work well these days, of course.  If i fight topless these days, I have to watch out for Centrifugal Motion, or I'll start spinning around."

OOC:  my favorite family portrait

OOC: LMAO it’s accurate ^_^

Tanique looked thoughtful
"What is your kindgom like, at the Hydra?"

Liya sat up in the water and smiled. ”The Empire is several allied kingdoms, and Violet’s kingdom is actually a lot like Amber. I haven’t been to the other kingdoms yet, but I love it there. And Violet is a lovely woman.”

"Tell me about Violet, if you please?   In all the commotion tonight, I'm not sure if I ever really learned much about her. "

“She’s been mentoring me for about a year now, preparing me to walk the Path. I really learned a lot from her. She’s also the spitting image of Florimel but not as airheaded. But also like Florimel, she’s beautiful and she knows it. And of course uses that to her advantage,” Liya laughed.

Tanique smiled wryly.
"I met Aunt Florimel in a trip to Amber, but never got the chance to know her well.  Sadly, i know her mostly from my father's less than stellar opinion of her.  Though I've been told I somewhat resemble her as well, genetics being a strange roll of the dice."
She shrugged
"my mother says that i should use my own looks to my advantage, but it always felt like cheating somehow "

Liya chuckled. “I met her briefly when Mother brought me to Amber to walk the Pattern, but I never got to. Violet showed up with her delegation, and mother decided to postpone my walk. Then I’m in the Hydra Empire next, and here we are now.”

“I think if the two of them were in the same room you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart just by looking at them. I think Violet holds herself differently than Flora.”

Tanique looked confused
"Is Violet a Hydra version of Fiona?   And who's your father, by the way?"
She asked in a slightly embarrassed way like she should know but has lost track of the vast and convoluted family trees in their worlds

She nodded  “Yes, she’s Flora’s double.  I think it’s one reason Flora was bent out of shape.  She has actual competition now,” she giggled.

“My father was a baker. He won my mother’s heart with chocolates.”

Tanique grinned
"Fiona has a thing for chocolate,  eh?   that's a side of her I've never seen, I'll admit "

“It’s one of her many secrets,” Liya laughed.  “He used to make sculptures out of chocolate. They were so beautiful, I never wanted to eat any of them. I get my love of cooking from him.”

She smiled warmly at her cousin. “You are the spitting image of your mother. I hadn’t met her before tonight.”

Tanique grinned and chuckled.
"People say that there is a resemblance, but I don't really see it.  But I know that's a compliment, so thank you."

“It is a compliment. Lady Ellika is a bad ass.”

Liya is happy to stay in the springs for as long as Tanique wants before finding a place in the city for dinner.

Tanique laughed.
"Yes, that I can definitely agree with."

She sighed as she stretched.
"She is definitely a high bar in the Knighthood.  I hope to be as good as she is one day.   But Having Julian as a father is a big reputation to live up to as well.  Having a master chef for a father, though, is definitely having friends in high places."

“Our generation has big shoes to fill.”

“If we can ever swing it, you should come visit me in the Hydra Empire and I’ll cook is a great meal. So, what do you want to do in the shadows?”

Tanique frowned in thought.
"Visiting the Hydra Empire sounds interesting.   I should be familar with our neighbors.   I'm not sure where to go in shadow, though.  It's all a bit much, you know.  Maybe to see something beautiful, like a perfect storm or a rare animal."

Liya feels a trump contact.

“We can do that. What ki—“. Liya stops talkin.

She gets a far off look in her eyes as she accepts the contact.

"Liya, where are you. Oh. You left the Storm Kingdom?"

It took Tanique a moment to realize that Liya was having a trump contact.  She'd never seen someone have one before.

Liya smiled, “Oh, hi.Bastion. Yeah, Lady Tanique and I are at the hot springs. Is everything alright?”

"Ok, she is with you. Her father and mother were shall we say concerned. I was concerned about you as well. I am still looking out for you. If you are at hot springs then does that mean your clothing and everything are laying about somewhere? If so I want to make sure your things are safe. Say hi to Lady Tanique for me."

Tanique perked up at hearing that the handsome king was sending a trump call, then she grew concerned at how much he could see.  She sunk down just a little bit lower

“We’re safe. We just decided last minute to get some R&R. I suggested the springs for her sore muscles. I apologize for worrying anyone.”  She blushed lightly,  “My clothes and things are in her room. Thank you Bastion.”

Tanique looked concerned, hoping her cousin wasn't in trouble

"I will try and gather them up for you, the next time I trump you. You two have fun."

Liya nodded and let the contact end. She giggled and turned to Tanique. “So, your parents were concerned, as was Bastion. He says hi by the way. He said for us to have fun.”

Tanique giggled
"It's good to keep them on their toes.  Though I suspect my father's heart has gotten strained over the last few years."

“I just hope we don’t get into too much trouble when we get back. Might as well enjoy ourselves while we can.”

"Honestly, it was something my father taught me. 'If you're getting punished for stealing, You might as well be punished for stealing gold rarher than stealing silver'."
She grinned
"Though, Honestly, he might be starting to regret that advice "

Liya laughed, “We’ll have to use that against him.”

Tanique laughed
"I couldn't have said it better myself "

She sighed
"I think I've soaked long enough.   How about we head into town?"

Liya nodded, “Sounds good to me. I’ll have to seek out some clothes along the way, but that shouldn’t be too hard.”

Tanique got out of the water,  and summoned a wind to dry her off.  It was a weird sight to see essentially hurricane winds blowing against Tanique

When she was finished, she reached for her clothes and nodded to Liya
"Want some?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:16, Sun 12 Mar 2023.

Thank you, I’d appreciate it.” She climbed out of the water as well.

Tanique summoned wind and blow dried Liya as well.  She also handed her a brush for her wind blown hair
"Never leave home without it"

Liya takes the brush and runs it through her long hair.

“Stay close. I’ll have to shift us a little bit to find some clothes.”

It takes but a short time to find some clothes hanging from a tree after shifting a couple shadows before returning. The sky in that other world, had thick clouds of smoke in the sky.
Now back in the original world you set off for the city which is not far off.

The lazy sound of buzzing could be heard in the air as well as song birds.
Some of the locals seeing the pair bowed slightly as they passed.

The smell of hot miso soup came out of a little restaurant. Smoke from ovens or fireplaces could be seen rising from several homes.

Liya inhaled the smells around them and smiled. “Mm, that soup smells good.”

Seeing the different shadows was fascinating, and Tanique enjoyed the ride.
Back in their original shadow, Tanique gave the locals a friendly wave
"Soup sounds lovely.  Soup and stew are the perfect foods for stormy weather"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:51, Sun 12 Mar 2023.

The two find a friendly family serving a few people in the restaurant and soon a nice steaming bowl of miso soup is set before each lady. It's rich smell fills their nostrils.
A serving boy describes some of the local dishes they serve and seems quite attentive to the exotic foreigners.

Liya enjoys the food and attention and happily engages in conversation with the locals and Tanique.

“Soup is good for the soul.” She smiles

Tanique smiled at everyone, enjoying the attention.
"And is there any bread?  Something warm and buttered?"

“We should probably start shifting back to the Crèche after dinner. I’m pretty sure we’re in hot water with you parents. Plus, it’ll give us the chance to shift through the worlds and let you see how it is.”

Tanique and Liya receive a loaf of bread with a distinctive sea food after taste to it, as well as a small melted container of butter.

At some point after their meal Liya feels a trump again.

Liya gets that far off look again, “Excuse me a moment Tanique.”

She answers the contact “Hello.”

"Ahh hello, Liya. We have never met though I am a fellow head of those representing the Hydra Empire. Candelu Mendali, I am sure Queen Violet has told you about me."

Liya looked a little surprised but smiled. “Yes, she has.  It’s nice to put a face to the name finally.”

"I wanted to congratulate you on your successful walk of our Hydra's path. Also to provide you with this a holy medallion of the high church of the Hydra to provide you comfort and a sense of your belonging to our family." He has a medallion that looks quite beautiful a bronze, silver, gold, platinum and palladium figure of the Hydra each head has small gems for eyes.

"Has Queen Violet taught you how to accept items through her magic cards?"

Her eyes light up at the gift and she smiles warmly. “Thank you Candelu, I appreciate it. I imagine it’s not much different than bringing a person through one. Am I correct?”

"Your welcome, my dear. Yes very similar though you only take the item to you instead of bringing or trying to bring me through to you." He hands the medallion through to her.

"There you go, and should you ever wish to visit me, let Queen Violet know, and I shall make sure to have a proper greeting for you here."

She takes the medallion and smiles at Candelu. “I will certainly let her know, and I’ll look forward to seeing you in person. Thank you again.”

"Of course, and again it was a pleasure to meet you my dear." he passes his hand over the trump closing the contact.

Liya holds the medallion up for a closer look. “It’s beautiful. That was Candelu, another Head of Hydra, wanting to congratulate me on walking the Path.”

Tanique wasn't sure if she liked the fish flavored bread.  She liked fish, and she liked bread, but was more of the mind that one could keep them separate
She looked up at Liya and smiled.
"That's excellent!  I remember when I finished riding the Thunderbird.  My fellow knights had a huge party.""

She held the medallion out to Tanique, “This is beautiful. Bastion gave me a ring after I walked the Path too.”  She smiled warmly looking at the Hydra in her hands.

“You know, I’ve really grown attached the Violet and the Hydra Empire.”

Tanique took the medallion and looked at it, her eyebrows rising in appreciation.
"This is absolutely beautiful.  It reminds me, a little, of the badge I received after becoming a knight.  Yours is fancier, though.  Truly it's lovely."
She gave it back and smiled sympathetically.
"Hopefully, you can do well by both Empires.  As someone who also somewhat straddles two Empires, please let me know if there's anything I can do to help you.   I want all of us to get along, which was why the kerfuffle at the party hit me so hard.   I mean, with Endless Shadow, it seems totally asinine to have some kind of turf war over infinite territory."

“Right. That was crazy tonight, but I’m glad it all worked out in the end.”

Liya heavily buttered another piece of bread and washed it down with hot tea. “What would you like to do next?”

Tanique grinned at her cousin.
"Well, my parents DID say to 'take it easy', so I'm up for doing some shopping in town, if you'd like.  But if you'd prefer to head back to the Creche and check in, we can do that."

Her eyes lit up and she smiled wide. “Let’s go into shadow and some shopping. I’m sure Bastion will contact me again if we’re needed back. Plus, I want to take you out in shadow more too.”

Tanique grinned
"Please, my friend, lead on."

Liya stands turns to Tanique, “Stay close. I really do t want to lose you. It’s possible we might travel close the Deep Well, that’s where the Hydra is. I came really close once to the edge and almost fell in with a cart and horses.”

Liya will lead the way, using her abilities to shift through the worlds for a place to go shopping and entertainment for two young royals.

As the two of them head out, Liya brings the Hydra’s power to mind and she begins shifting them through the worlds. She started first with subtle changes, the bright sky turning dark with threatening clouds and the ground getting rougher under their feet.  She took them through worlds burning from molten lava then through a world of giant snakes and porcupine dogs.  They traveled through dark worlds along jagged cliffs and canyons, she could almost hear the sounds of the Hydra hissing around her she moved them through to another world.

After some time has passed, Liya brings them to a world with storm clouds in the sky, the area around them a dingy and dark alley. “We should be able to find a better place here for what we want. This part of the city is more on the rougher side of things.”

Tanique as a flying knight who also knew how to transverse shadows, worked to keep an eye on her guide, while also appreciating her surroundings.  She was expecting something fairly generic, or at least very similar to what she'd done with the Thunderbird, but Liya's technique and the surroundings she saw completely fascinated her.  She grew a good appreciation for the Hydra techniques.

In the alley, she looked around with a practiced eye for ambush and other dangerous situations, and pulled out her multitool, transforming it into a fancy walking stick that looked like something a rich woman might use to guide her steps, but was capable of breaking bones.
"No problem.  I can go first.  Watch out back, and let's see what this city has to offer us, shall we?"

The ladies see a group of men with disfugurements headed their way. They looked rough in tattered clothes and had weapons in their hands. Mostly blunt weapons some just rocks.

Liya nodded with a tired smile. “There’s a night club a few blocks south of here, and a shopping center a few blocks from there.”

She sighed at the group of men coming towards them. “If they start anything, I can blast them with lightning. Unless you want to fight them, then we can do that too,” she said with a grin.

Wait wrong pic

but you get the idea.

Tanique smiled and nodded.  She was still hurt, but felt like a tussle with some local ruffians wasn't out of the question

"I can keep it subtle, and stick to hand-to-hand combat, or I can summon some winds as well.  Unless we can avoid the situation altogether."

With a practiced eye, she looked for an easy escape route.  She loved a good fight, but she also hated to waste her time and energy.

“I can go either way honestly. Although, I haven’t had much time lately to really practice any hand to hand combat. It would be good exercise..”

She stands straight and smiles at her blonde cousin.  “Let’s see what they choose to do first.”

There were definitely alleys and shadowy places they could dash off too. Something though played in her mind. These people probably knew this place a lot better than her and Liya. Still the option to run was there including a rusty fire escape down one of the alleys but that led up a building which for normal folk would mean being trapped on that building. They were far from normal folk though.

The intent of the men seemed pretty clear though they didn't speak their eyes were locked on the two nicely dressed women. They didn't even seem surprised at Tanique having a hammer in her hands.

Reaching into the storm, Tanique caused the winds to pick up.  Nothing impressive yet, just some good breezes that she can work with when she needed them.  She knew that hurricane winds were hard to summon from a dead calm.

As the group got closer, she set her war hammer on her deceptively slender shoulder and grinned at the men in a positively predatory way.
"Hello, Boys!!  So...who dies first?  "

Liya giggled and wiggled her fingers ready to cast lightning. “Eeny meeny miney mo…”

The men laughed some of them ending their laugh with coughing.

One of them says, "No one needs to die, why don't you join us. You might even like the initiation." Giving the same predatory look back.

Tanique raised an annoyed brow
"Join you?  Doing what, exactly?"

“Or, you could join us. I’m sure you wouldn’t like the initiation though.”

"Well it's dangerous out here. Folks need to band together less something happen to em." says the same man.

Another says, "Yeah people end up dead."

Though some of them look at the second man no one speaks out against him.

"We can keep yah safe, feed yah an..."

A younger man speaks up, "They don't look right, funny clothes don't look like theys from the city."

This actually sets them to mumbling amongst themselves.

The first one says, "Don't matter none, pretty ladies can always afford membership."

Tanique sighed with annoyance, getting to the end of her (admittedly) short supply of patience.
"You're right.  We're not from here.  So we don't care about your town or whether any of you live to see the next sunrise.  I could easily kill ever single one of you and forget you ever existed by next week.  So either come closer so I can kill you and get one with my evening, or go away and live a bit longer in whatever this is that you call a life."

“Well, one of them is smarter than they look. Tani, would you like the first hit?”

Liya smiles playfully and laughs.

The men laugh in that almost condescending way and one of the big ones from in back comes forward. He doesn't say anything as he begins striding up to Lady Tanique.

He has some kind of metal device strapped to one arm and Tanique quickly assessed it to be some kind of shield. In his other hand was a twisted piece of metal with sharp circular blades somehow attached to it.

He says something like shame or shane or something when he is about twenty feet away as he keeps coming.

Tanique steadies herself.  At first impression, these men seem like generic, random thugs, that were a copper a dozen.  However, a trained warrior took nothing for granted, especially with the somewhat exotic weapons and shield the man seemed to have.  She studied the man's movements, how he balanced and how he seemed to pivot.
When he walked up, she let him take the first swing, ready to dodge and return a strike to his primary shoulder.

She read his movements and she judged he was strong and while not graceful his movements suggested he had been in many battles. There were little tells that showed signs of past injuries.

About ten feet away he beat on the shield type device which looked heavier than necessary and reminded her of a carriage door. An intimidation display she had seen some other warriors use. It created light sparks. He then lunged closing the distance but she was able to side step the swing of the circular bladed device an ax by the way he was wielding it. She then returned a blow with her hammer which he barely blocked and it caved in the shield and sent the man spinning across the road into a boarded up building. Several of the boards cracked when he hit them.

The other men looked to each other and that is when Liya noticed the guns some had that they were shakily reaching for.

Liya frowned at the men. “Guns are not allowed in this fight. But if you want to play dirty so will I.”

She used the spell in her ring to cast a lightning bolt at the men with guns

The men try and see if Liya has a gun or rifle or something which she doesn't at the moment. They see her doing funky things with her hands but...

None of them expect lightning to come flashing out and fry to cinders two of them and burn another badly.

All scatter that can.

The man Lady Tanique hit is getting up and kind of shaking the cobwebs from his head looking over her way.

"Truck." He says looking at Lady Tanique.

Tanique smiled as she sent the thug spinning away.  Looking back at the rest of the rabble, she started to smile and say something fun, but then she noticed the guns.  Her face immediately turned angry.
Through clenched teeth, she spoke angrily.
"Okay Children, Here's the deal.  If you come forward, as warriors, and fight with honorable weapons like your friend did, I'll leave you battered and bruised, but with no hard feelings.  HOWEVER... if you draw those cowardly guns on me, I swear by my ancestors that I..WILL..KILL..EVERY..SINGLE..ONE..OF..YOU!
Do we understand each other?"

She gave v them her meanest glare, angry that c they brought guns to a sword fight

Liya laughed at the men that scattered away. She turned to the man that was getting up and smiled sweetly at him. “Not a truck. Tanique. I think your friends left you behind though, so you should try and catch up with them.”

She looked to Tanique, “Shopping or dancing first?”

He looks off at the backs of the men running off those he can still see.

"Lefme." His arms hang at his sides and for all the world the large man looked like a small boy abandoned by all his playmates.

Tanique looked at the man with a much sympathy as she can muster, which isn't much
"Go home.  And next time, find better friends "

She came back to Liya and smiled
"Always shopping first:

The man shadows the ladies.

"Betfrens." He says when one or both look back at him.


Liya sees it first a wide-open trading market. It looks and smells better than the area they had come from.

Liya chuckled. “I almost feel bad for him. Let’s go shopping.”  She looked at the sad man and sighed. “If you behave you can come with us for a little bit. We could use a guide for this place.”

She checked the pockets of the men that didn’t get a chance to run away for any local money. “I think tonight should be on them.”

“This place looks great. I wonder what we’ll find.” She heads to the market

Tanique started to look concerned
"I didn't think i hit him THAT hard"

He watches them when they get to the trading market he stays back.

"Danger." He looks at what seem to be guards. "Painstick." They do seem to be carrying light clubs of some kind. Though with the look of some kind of tech to them.

The guards seem to have no problem letting you in but eye your new friend with suspicion.

"Your vouching for him?" Asks a guard.

Liya looks back to them then to the guards and nodded. “Yes, I’ll vouch for him. He’s our guide. We’re new here.”

“Come on, catch up.”

“Tanique, what do you want to shop for first?”

He trots up to the ladies.

He looks all around.

"Fanctown." He says. He has a sad look.

Tanique notices the shield is actually wired to the mans arm in a way that does not look comfortable and honestly does not look like something he might have done on his own. She can also see that arm has been mostly hanging and might be dislocated.

Inside the ladies and their guide are given arm bands.

Hot pastries almost immediately assail the senses as one clears the entryway.

Various fruit drink stands are past the bakery stands.

Tanique, skilled in field medicine, looked at the man with growing pity, and tried to fix his dislocated shoulder.   She tried to be quick and as painless as possible.

Liya helps Tanique with the man’s arm, taking the shield off him carefully. “What’s your name?  I’m Liya and this my cousin Tanique.”

She inhaled the various aromas and smiles. “Let’s grab some drinks as we shop.”

For what it was worth he seemed to understand what she was doing. Liya undid the barbed wire holding the car door shield to the man's arm. Tanique was able to tug his arm and get things back in place.

He looked at her, "Med Sin woman?" He flexed his fingers and arm as if he had not been able to fully do so in a long time. Infact the tanning and dirt buildup showed that the shield must have been attached to him at least months ago.

"Med sin woman." he said looking at Tanique, "Truque."

He looked at Liya, "Witch woman. Liynina zap."

He then tapped himself, "Buck."

It all came to Tanique as she listened to the man.  He was a strong, but slow witted, person, and the thus had taken advantage of him, taking him into being their muscle against innocent victims.  It made her want v to track them all down one by one and end them.

She smiled at the man
"Hello Buck. I'm happy we can be friends "

Liya smiled at the childlike man. “Buck. I hope we didn’t hurt you too much. But you really should find better people to hang out with. Those other guys were bad and got what they deserved. Here, let’s get you a drink too and maybe something good to eat as well.”

She looked to Tanique, “How about a makeover for our new friend?”

Tanique grinned
"That sounds like a noble quest "

“Come on Buck. We’re going to take you shopping. Then drinks and dancing!”

Buck looked at them with a kind of fascination. He followed along but as they bought him things to eat and drink he started to cry. He ate and drank readily whatever they offered him.

"Like sisers."

He tried and failed to find a way to carry the shield in a conventional way and so left it behind. He didn't seem so attached to the barbed wire which he discarded right away.

Tanique let him discard the shield.  She could get him something better

In reply to Shadow of the One True GM (msg # 118):

“Oh, don’t cry my friend.  And don’t worry either.”

She whispered to Tanique, “He’s going to break my heart. I almost want to bring him with us, like a lost little puppy.”

Tanique shrugged and smiled
"With the proper training, which i confess i doubt I'm capable, he might make an acceptable guardsman.    But I'll give you first dibs"

Buck wipes his eyes with his one good sleeve when Liya tells him not to cry.

"Sorry, Sorry witch woman."

He tries to man up and not look like he was crying.

She shook her head and smiled warmly at Buck. “You don’t need to apologize. But let’s go have some fun for now and we’ll figure things out later.  How does that sound?”

Liya then turned to  Tanique, “I think I can find him a world that would be nicer for him, after we’re done here. Let’s go find some nice dresses and shoes.”

Buck nods and follows along looking like he is now protective of the ladies.

Tanique smiled at Buck.
"You can cry if you want.  Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't cry.  But this is also a happy day.  The start of a new life.  We'll find a good place for you to be a good person so you can help people."

She nodded to Liya and they continued their journey

"Buck help." He nods.

He gets a serious look like you asked him to do something, and he is taking it as an important request.

People come out to sell, trade and even buy things which includes services. It seems this world has been through a very serious war and is recovering. They talk almost behind Buck's back about how kind you must be for taking one of them in. Or how did he get in here. Or similar things.

Buck doesn't seem to notice.

Liya ignores the looks and comments and just enjoys herself

Tanique i used to people whispering when she walked by, so she worked on finding things  for them

You get clothes and find a place where dancing happens though it is a bit slow currently. A nice music is playing though and drinks are being sold there.

Tanique looked at Liya and nodded towards the dancing and drinks

Liya smiled back and moved towards the dance floor.

Tanique looked at their new friend and smiled
"Come dance with us, Buck!  Let's enjoy the night"

Even Buck swayed and tried dancing alone to the music when he saw others doing it.

Liya feels trump contact.

Liya sighs but smiles as she accepts the contact. “Hello.”

"Hello, I gathered your things. I tried reaching you earlier but busy signal." He holds up her items, clothes neatly folded.

Liya smiled sheepishly then giggled. “We were traveling through the worlds for a place to have some fun. Would you like to join us Bastion?”

"I am here at the Queen's request for at least a day or so more. After all this whole thing was a major political incident. I can't talk about it currently when I see you in person again though perhaps. I do hear music though." he smiles.

"Want your trumps, clothes and things ?"

“Well I do owe you a dance, but  duties come first.” She says.

“I’ll take everything but the clothes, thank you.”

He hands over the gun and bullets, the trumps and her melee weapons.

"There you go."

“I’m, on second thought, keep the sword. I can’t really hide that as well right now. Almost wish I had the gun earlier,”

Liya takes the items through the trump, and places what she can in her new purse. “I’ll see you later then. Thanks for getting my things for me.”

He holds off on sending her sword through, "Probably a wise choice. Ok then So your not wanting to come through to me now huh.  You have my card when you need it. Though try and use it so Lady Tanique can get home relatively soon."

He gives her a little wink and waits to see if she has anything else to say.

Buck, "Witch woman." eyes widen as he sees things suddenly get handed to her guns, some kind of poker cards and things.

Tanique smiled at Buck to reassure him that everything was good

Buck looks to Tanique.

"Majic real." He said to her with all the wonder of a child.

She smiled and nodded.
"Yes.  Magic is real.  But you don't need magic to be a good person, and to help people.  "

In reply to Bastion (msg # 141):

She smiled back, “We’ll be back soon enough. We just started having fun. But we’ll try to keep track of the time. If we are needed back sooner though, let me know and we’ll come back.” Liya says goodbye and ends the contact.

Liya smiled at Buck and Tanique, “Sorry, had to grab my things real quick.  I was told though that you should probably call home and check in if you can Tani.”

Tanique smiled and nodded her thanks to Liya, but rolled her eyes dramatically at being told to check in so soon after heading out.
She took out her trump of her father and tried to use it.

"Hello?"

Tanique smiled brightly

"I was told to check in with home.  Is anything exciting going on?"

"Tanique Stormborn Barimen, what were you thinking. Your Queen has an assassination attempt you stop twice perhaps. Your severely wounded. There are major political implications and you wander off? Your Queen wished to speak with you, and yet you weren't here. I even thought that shadow king might have melted you or some such with that canister he gave me. You know better."

Tanique frowned.
"They told me to take it easy, and that's what I'm doing. Okay,  I'll leave a note next time."

"You should have told one of us."

She shrugged
"You seemed busy.  I figured I'd back before I was missed."
The princess gave an impish grin.
"Apparently I'm more loved than i realized "

"Your due more lessons in etiquette than I realized. Still I shall tell your mother you are well, you are well aren't you? There were questions that you were the best to answer, though that time may have passed."

Tanique sighed and smiled wryly
"I'm well.  and I'm well protected.  and I'll come home soon "

Buck, "Hi angry man." Buck waves seemingly at Julian. Which is something Liya notices.

"That is what you mean by well protected?"

In reply to Shadow of the One True GM (msg # 156):

Liya looks at Buck with surprised interest. “You can see and hear him,Buck?”

Buck nods.

"Truque, witch woman too?" He looks to Liya.

Liya chuckled. “I don’t know if she has ‘magi’ like I do, but we can both talk to people with our cards. How can you see him though? She’s talking to her father, Lord Julian.”

"Her Da?" Buck looks again "Look mad."
He looks back to Liya, "Look diffrant." he motions towards his own torso.

Liya laughed. “Her dad is mad. We snuck out to have some fun.”

She looks at his torso curiously. “Different how?”

Buck looked like he was really thinking.

"Old armor." he finally said.

“Oh, okay. We’re not from here Buck. Our homes are different than your home. Tanique’s father is a knight so he wears that kind of armor.”

"Where from?" He looked fully at Liya.

“I’m from a place called the Hydra Empire and  Tanique is from a place called the Crèche of the Four Winds.” She smiled warmly at Buck.

Buck nods.

He taps himself, "From south."

“Would you like to go back to your home, Buck? We could bring you there, or to any place you want.”

He shakes his head.

"Home gone." He makes an explosive motion with his hands, "Boom."

She frowns, “I’m sorry Buck. Is there a place you would want to go, if you could?”

"With You."

Liya grinned at his answer. “I will see what I can do.”

She looked thoughtful a moment. “Buck, do you know how you can hear Tanique’s  father? Usually a person has to be touching the card to hear both sides of the conversation.”

"See him" He looks over again, "Window." He looks confused.

He looks back to Liya pointing at her, "Talk diff man."

"Majic."


Note to the both of you. Buck does not look like he has down syndrome or anything like that. He does though seem very simple in his replies and slow in understanding or expressing himself. His appearance though is otherwise normal.

Tanique chuckled.
"No, he's a stray we've picked up.  I was refering to being here with Liya, who is at least as capable as I am, and is connected to other help if we need it.   But I'll be home soon, and I'll be around as long as my queen needs me."

Julian's eyes narrow.

"I'm getting another trump. I will talk with you soon Tanique."

Tanique smiled apologetically
"Of course, Father.  I'll talk to you soon."

In reply to Buck (msg # 173):

“A window? That’s very interesting. I’d love to hear more about that. Can you do magic?”

When Tanique was done with her trump contact Liya grinned playfully. “Are you in trouble, cousin? We don’t have to leave yet do we?”

Buck shakes his head, "No."

Tanique chuckled.
"Yes, I'm in big trouble.  I might be grounded when I get back.  But it was worth it.  We should leave when we can.  But what shall we do with our large friend here?
I'm in enough trouble, I suppose, that bringing him to the Creche might not be a good idea.  I don't want my queen's annoyance to wash over him."

Liya pouted, “I guess we should get back then.   It, I think I want to bring Buck to the Hydra Empire to see Violet. He saw your entire trump contact with Julian like a window. I think he would like it there.”

Tanique smiled and nodded.
"Sounds delightful.  Shall I take us to the Creche, or would you like to split up and head to the Hydra Empire with Buck?"

“You should go back definitely. I’m going to contact Violet and speak with her first. But if it comes up again, I’m your cousin’s double, like Violet and Florimel.”

Liya looked to Buck, “I need to talk to someone for a minute before we head out too.”

Buck nods

"Ok." He waits patiently.

Tanique smiled
"I'll head out, then.   See you soon, Liya. "
She gave her cousin a hig, then turned to Buck.
"Good luck with your new life, Buck.  We'll see each other again one day, I know it"

Unless she was stopped, she headed out, looking for a secluded place, preferably on the edge of town

"No leave." Buck looked sad as Tanique walked away.

"Why Med sin woman leave?" His lip trembled a bit.

Liya hugged her back, “I’ll see you soon.”

Liya turned to Buck and smiled reassuringly at him. “Tanique had to go home for now. I’m sure you’ll see her again someday. Let’s find a corner table to sit at so I can contact someone.”

She leads him to a table in the corner somewhere and takes out her trump of Violet.

Keeping an eye out for more thugs and miscreants, Tanique walked to the edge of town

Staying within the good part of town where there were guards Tanique had no problems.


Liya and Buck were able to get a table.

Buck says, "Like Truque, strong."

Liya nodded, “She is very strong. And a good person too.”

She concentrated on the image of Violet.

Summoning the Thunderbird, she started walking through the stormy ground, moving towards the Creche

Calling up a zephyr Tanique begins to head home. It is somewhat easier the winds first bringing her back through where they had been attacked but soon passed that and onward to the seat of storms her home.


In the dance club Liya reaches Violet.

"Hello Liya."

“Hello Violet. I just wanted to check in and see how things are going there? I also wanted to talk to you about someone I met. “

Violet is dressed much more regal like a monarch, "Oh, meet someone special at the Creche ?"

She looks around and her brows rise slightly spotting Buck, "Is that him?"



Tanique can travel at the casual rate of the Zephyr or call up a storm if she wants to travel faster.

Tanique will save her strength and ride the Zephyr.

In reply to Violet Benu (msg # 193):

She smiles, “ Not at the Crèche but in another world. Yes, this Buck. He has the strange ability to listen in on trump contacts.”

"Oh! does he?" She waves.

Buck waves back. "Pretty woman."

"So he does. Unusual indeed."

“Buck, this is Queen Violet of f the Hydra Empire.”

“Would it be okay to bring him back with me? I thought the Empire would be a good place for him.”

"You wish for me to bring you through?"

"Wait, your not with Bastion anymore?"

“Uh, no. Lady Tanique and I snuck out for a little fun. I was planning to head back later though. Bastion is helping with an incident that occurred. Things have calmed down I believe,” she replied.

"An incident, really what kind of incident?"

"Does Bastion know you snuck off, if he was watching after you, I can't imagine he isn't looking for you."

Liya giggled, “He didn’t know right away. He contacted me after he couldn’t find us.”

She frowned, “There was an attempt on Queen Morrigan’s life.” Liya tells Violet about the nights events at the Crèche.

"What really? come through, bring your friend. I would rather talk to you in person."

She extends her hand.

Liya takes her hand and brings Buck through with her to Violet.

Buck is amazed and looks around immediately.

The room you are brought into is a large marble room a beautiful pink and silver color with columns every few yards. There is a small group of musicians playing instruments of which the acoustics of the chamber compliment them.

Violet is on a throne she stands when she brings you through.

"Welcome home, Liya. Welcome to the Hydra Empire Buck."

Buck just stands in amazement, "Hi."



Tanique you are slowly making your way through the worlds you think within two days you should be able to get home at this rate.

“I’m happy to be back.  I hope I didn’t miss too much.”

Tanique realizes that another two days might just rub her elders the wrong way, so she picks up the pace and rushes home.

Tani builds up speed and gets picked up by the winds to speed her travel.



Violet says, "No just maintaining the realm. So Buck has an unusual ability, I will have to talk with him about that. First though, tell me what happened to Queen Morrigan?"
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 01:03, Fri 17 Mar 2023.

“We followed the black road to the Crèche, they were having a festival of sorts to welcome some demon lords. One of them tried to kill Queen Morrigan but failed.”

Liya tells Violet about what happened with the first attempt, “Then as we were watching the Festival of Storms, Lady Tanique stopped another attempt by the same demon. He didn’t make it.”

"Who is this Lady Tanique, did you and Bastion help her Majesty at all ?"

“Lady Tanique is the daughter of Lady Ellika, commander of Halo Legion, and Litd Julian of Amber.  I helped tend to Lady Tanique after she was injured while Bastion helped the Queen.”

"Well that is good I am glad that you were able to provide some form of assistance. The Demon Kingdom is not one to be trusted. I would have warned Queen Morrigan about that. I am sure Bastion did. So Julian of Amber, interesting so someone of Amber was there."

She looked at the two of them, "Are either of you hungry or thirsty, or in need of bathing facilities." The last more directed at Buck.

Buck was listening to the music at the moment.




Tanique Where do you end up when it is heading on to your first full day of storm travel? You can keep going and get there or you can take a breather if you wish.

She'll keep traveling through the night, if necessary

In reply to Violet Benu (msg # 211):

“I’m glad we were there to be of some help.”

She turned to Buck and smiled. “Buck, let’s get you freshened up before dinner.”

Buck nodded, "Ok."

He looked back at Violet, "Bye Pretty Woman."

Violet said, "I am Queen Violet, but I like that title as well." She smiled and waved the two off.  She motioned to a servant, "Show them to a guest bath house."

The servant moved up, "Follow me then." Leading them downward through halls and stairs till they were in a large pool like room. Where there were scented soaps and oils. There was no one there right then.

Buck looked at the water, "Lake."

Liya asks the servant if they could find something more appropriate for Buck to wear, and turns to him. “Not quite, but it is large. It’s a hot bath.”

The servant nods, "Of course I shall try for something in his size."

The servant moves off.


Buck looks at the water, "Bath?" He looks confused.
"So much." He bends down almost touching the water, "Safe?"

“It’s safe. You get undressed and get in the water to clean up.” She shows him the different soaps and oils and tells them how to use them.

“I’ll stay with you if you want. But you are safe here Buck.”

"Safe water." He stripped down not seeming to be embarrassed to do so in front of Liya.
He slipped into the water and it was apparent it had been a while since he had truly bathed.
He found one of the soaps he liked and when she showed him he was soon scrubbing and enjoying the bath. Though he did not swim in the water. Staying by the stairs leading into the pool.

Liya could see there was some kind of flow to the water as well as feel the water was warm if not hot. Buck did splash around a bit at first.

Liya stayed with Buck until a servant came back with clean clothes for him. “Are you ready Buck? Her Majesty is waiting for us”