The Ruins of Serathlia [Intermediate/Beginner Fantasy]

[Irishroseh]

Lan commited the other names to memory, hoping they would stick. When the girl came to her name, she looked shocked, not aware she had actually given her real name for once, instead assuming she had just said 'Lan,' like she told everyone else. When the man- no, Eikre, started talking, Lan's opportunity to correct the other female was gone. She decided she would just do so if anyone ever used her real name again.

Listening to Eikre, she learned the woman's name, Fayette, something she had forgotten to mention. Privately she wondered if the two would mind if she gave them nicknames. She reckoned Eikre wouldn't like it, but wasn't sure about Fayette. She tuned in to hear them talking about Fay's dress and immediatly was disinterested. She sat back on the ground in the shade to wait for everyone else.  

[Blood_Covered_Pheonix]

Rinor rubbed her eyes as she sat up, she looked out the window and realized that the sun wouldn't rise for two more hours. She looked down at herself, she was still wearing her clothing. She looked around the cheap inn room, her weapons, oil, cleaning cloth, and sharpening stone were all on the flimsy table that served as a desk.

'Must have fallen asleep during my nightly meditation, I'll have to add fifty more push ups to my execizes today.' She thought as she stood up and streached. She got into the push up position on the floor, she did two hundred push ups and then did one hundred one armed push ups with her left and then did the same thing with her right arm. After that she did three hundred sit ups and then finished off the training period with two hundred verticle push ups. She stood up and was aware of the sun on her back, she smiled a little and then assumed the lotis position on the bed. She meditated for an hour or two.

After meditating, Rinor stood up and went about brushing her hair and cleaning her face, she fixed her dark brown hair with a swipe of her hand, and then tucked a few locks behind her ears. She grabbed her mostly full pack off the floor and did a provision check. She had a few trail rations and two water skins full of fresh water, along with a few pieces of dried meat. She also had two other outfits like the one she wore now, one was ratty, the other was almost new. She had three fifty foot coils of metal wire and a sowing kit. She picked her bedroll off of the floor and put it in her pack.

She threw the pack on the bed and put her oil, cleaning cloth, and sharping stone into the pack. She put on her vest and put her kunai in the pockets ment for them. She straped the sheaths of her kodachi and ton-to to her belt and then slid said weapons into their sheaths. She glanced at the sun and realized it was getting late, she threw the pack on her back and walked to the meeting place.

As she arrived she realized she was a little late. "Sorry I lost track of time." She said as she came to a stop infront of them. She looked over her traveling companions, from the way they looked they weren't much. A bard, a drunk, and a pretty girl. This didn't look good, well there was one more, hopefully this would get better. She sighed and said. "If you don't remember I'm Rinor."  

[Irishroseh]

Lan watched the newcomer approach through half-slitted eyes. She took in the woman's tanned skin, dark brown hair, and numerous weapons. She decided that the woman must be Rinor Iillis, and how did Fay put it, oh yes, she was the 'Japanese Ninja.' From what she could see of the muscular Rinor, she decided this to be true. She traced a pattern in the dirt as she absorbed all this. When she looked down at what her absentminded fingers had drawn, she curled her lip in disgust and dashed it away with a hand.

She also noticed, as Rinor drew level to them, was that she, Lan, was in fact, taller than Rinor, but she was still certain Rinor, maybe she would like the nickname Rin? Probably not. could probably kill her with her bare hands. She gave a half wave, deciding that Rin didn't look like bubbly was welcome. As she slumped back against the wall, she realized that she probably looked like a drunk, which she wasn't, she only drank hard on special occasions, she just frequented the tavern for the connections and information, the alcohol was just something extra.  

[Otulissa]

Fayette wasn't a telepath. Eikre was simply being paranoid; it was kind of obvious that he was wondering about Lan's and Faye's attires. Fayette was just superbly good with names and such, and normally she had great memory.

Faye glared at Eikre at his comment on her bandaged attire. "My clothing isn't made of bandages! It is just a bit ripped up... and I didn't want to re-sew it." Faye rolled her eyes haughtily.

Faye brightened up as the Japanese Ninja, Rinor, approached. "Greetings!" she sang out. She was looking forward to getting more acquainted with Rinor. Ninjas had many weapons, and Faye was always interested in being introduced to more weaponry sorts. She wanted to wield a katana; they looked fairly simple to wield and probably slightly resembled the long sword. She had seen katanas before, and thought they were precise and deadly... and not too heavy.  

[Blood_Covered_Pheonix]

Rinor looked up as she heard Fayette. "Hello." She said stiffly as she looked down to scruntize the ground, she felt the other girl, Melanie's gaze on her. She sighed and sat down, her hair faned around her face as a soft breeze blew by, she quickly put it back in place and looked up. "So does anyone no when the other one is coming or where she's staying so we can go get her?" She asked as she looked down at the dirt and started to draw x's in seemingly random spots.

Rinor turned her full atention to the dirt as she began to place arrows and circles in the dirt as well. Soon other shapes found there way into the picture as the ninja seemed to be disiding something. She shook her head and dashed it away and then started again. She began to mutter to herself as she did this.  

[Otulissa]

Fayette replied, "I really don't know where she is... or where she is staying." Fayette paused for a moment, and then added, "I am sure she'll be here soon."

Then, Faye scrutinized Rinor's strange drawings in the dirt. She pondered what they may be, and really did not know. She came to know conclusion. She watched intently for a longer moment, and heard Rinor muttering, although she could not understand it.

"Um..." Faye started. "What are you doing?"  

[Irishroseh]

Lan brushed her hands off on her breeches, frowning at the reddish bown smears they left on the well worn fabric. She listened to Fay talk for a moment, they were back on the topic of clothes again. She looked down at her own outfit, not new by any means, obviously darned several times, but they were servicable, and would suit Lan's purposes just nicely.

"So does anyone know when the other one is comming or where she's staying so we can go get her?" Rin asked, startling Lan.
"I really don't know where she is... or where she is staying." Fay replied, "I am sure she'll be here soon." Lan shook her head, hoping the girl would just show up already. It would be... Karia F- Fel... Fel-something. She mentally shrugged her shoulders, last names didn't really matter much. Then Lan had an idea. If the girl didn't show soon, they could leave a message with the owner of the inn, with instructions to give it to a girl who seemed to be waiting outside his place. And give him a tip so he'd actually do it.

When Lan looked up again, she noticed that she wasn't the only one drawing in dirt. Why the sudden preoccupation with dirt? She watched Rin dash something away, like she herself had done moments earlier. She was fairly interested in the way the ninja was behaving, and her thoughts mirrored Fay's as she asked her question.  

[Blood_Covered_Pheonix]

Rinor looked up at Fayette and rolled her eyes. "Experamental battle plan, I've been tring out a new fighting style latly and I was tring to come up with a new stratigy." She explained as she looked over her current plan. "Though I haven't been able to think of much, most of my scenaroes end with me getting killed or having to retreat." She sighed and filled a circle back in and drew and arrow from one of the x's to a square that was five inches away. She bit her lip and thought for a second. Then she drew another circle then put a line through it.  

[Irishroseh]

Lan listened interestedly, her brown eyes flickering back and forth across the dirt diagram. She wasn't much for battles, but tatics had always interested her. She leaned forward on her elbows and watched Rin sketch out another battle plan. She absorbed the information, and couldn't figure out a way for Rin to win either. Struggling with the puzzle, she glanced up at Eikre, who hadn't spoken since the ninja's appearance. She looked back down at the diagram, then up at Eikre again, then to Fay, and then down at the dirt again.

Silently, she reached over and drew three [X's? Squares?] on the diagram, behind the one the stood for Rin, and then looked up at her. She grinned cheekily. "You got us now, Ninja. At least, 'till we find this 'treasure'." She leaned back, considering her work done, and leaving the thinking to Rin.

[Eh, if the last paragraph isn't okay, just ignore it and I'll edit it later]  

[Otulissa]

Faye listened intently and with rapt attention at Rinor's explanation.

Hmm...battle tactics, eh? Apparently this girl likes to plan things out, Fayette thought with a grin. She herself loved battle tactics, and admired any tactician. Of course, she didn't always plan out battles, since most of the battles she fought were just by chance, and there wasn't any time for proper planning. She usually just made up moves as she went along, and followed her intuition and her instincts. She did possess very accurate intuition.

Faye laughed good-heartedly when Lan added the three figures on the diagram. She nodded, and added, "Yup, you won't be fighting alone now!"

I wonder how I'll handle fighting with a team. I have never fought alongside anybody else before... pondered Faye.  

[Blood_Covered_Pheonix]

Rinor only shook her head and sighed, she turned her attention back to the dirt and scratched her chin. Then a bright idea struck her and she dashed away the previous plan.
She drew a triangle. "First a slash," She drew a circle. "then a stab," She drew a square. "then a fake out left slash," she drew a line. "followed by a combo slide." She rocked back on her heels. "Good for melee." She commented but I need another straghtigy for ranged." She sighed and started drawing shapes below the first set and more than once dashed away the plan. "Hmm so many posibilaties, so many ways to die." She closed her eyes and thought again. "Maybe if I put this here and then move that there, and added a thingy here. It works." She said as she filled in and drew new shapes. A ghost of a smile was on her lips but soon it faded to her normal dull expresion.  

[Irishroseh]

Lan rolled over on her back, already bored, and they hadn't even begun yet. She was ready to get this show on the road. Briefly, she tried to recall the map from the night before, but the contents were hazy in her mind. She was just about to start humming when she remembered her companions and stopped herself. She sighed heavily and looked up at the clear noon sky. "Can we go yet?" she asked, more to herself than to any of the others. She sighed again and twisted a strand of hair around her finger.  

[Otulissa]

Fayette continued watching Rinor's random tactic doodles. She commented, "I really don't see the point of planning ahead right now... seeing as if we don't even know who and how many people we are going to run into. There are too many possibilities to make a good strategic plan right now. There could be one enemy, or twenty, or even a hundred for all we know! And the skill levels range wide at the moment, since we know almost nothing of the journey ahead of us."

Faye then answered Lan's question: "I think we have to wait for the last person... An elf lady."  

[Virgil Lifeson]

[OOC]I hate IRL. Note to self, do not host RPs when going to other countries in seven days [/OOC]

Eikre stayed uncharacteristically quiet while the girls were discussing amongst themselves. He decided to stay out of it for now, in the interest of not diving into a pool full of estrogen, and being completely smothered in it. However, someone sounded really whiny, and anxious to go. "We'll head out soon enough. We'll wait a little longer, and then set off." He said confidently and calmly, trying to set an example. It wasn't going to work, more than likely, but it was an attempt.  

[Blood_Covered_Pheonix]

Rinor sighed at Fayette's comment. "I'm not doing this to come up with a stratigy for a battle that might never happen. I'm coming up with random battles to work on my skills at coming up with a plan when faced with battle." She explaned and then shut up so Eikre could speak.

She nodded after he had finished and shifted into a more comfortable position. She took off her pack and layed back. She looked up at the sky and groaned softly. "Well were not getting far today."