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Rhone sighs and slowly turns toward Max.
"ya see? It was so awful it made Blues punch herself in the head."
"It wasn't us! She punched her head because of puberty!"

Hunter tilts his chin up and scratches the side of his head.

"Back when I was younger, mom told me that during puberty, girls-"

Rhone quickly covers Hunter's mouth with the back of his hand.

"It's not puberty. Max...stop messing with Hunter's head."
"But it's so easy!"
"My point exactly..."

Chiaro and Oscuro paused their quarreling for a moment to blink in befuddlement as they heard everything through Azriel's ears. "They...actually fell for that assumption as well...?" O___o

Now as red in the face as she could be, Azriel flailed her arms and blurted out, "No, I am not going through puberty!" >A<;; A little embarrassed at making such an outburst, she stopped flailing and continued in a lowered tone, pointing at Sirea with her thumb. "...She's...just about right. I just...kind of have these really weird mood swings, that's all. sweatdrop Aaaaaanyway, we were having a round of introductions, weren't we? Well, I can't hope to top what the Pirates did there, so I obviously have to settle for simply stating..." Here, she daintily picked up the sides of the lower part of her coat and did a curtsy. "...that I am Azriel Serafina, and it's a pleasure to meet you all. I mean...yeah, the people I haven't gotten acquainted with yet at all. Aheheh...because...yeah, now I know---" She pointed at people as she called them out, "---you're Lilith, you're Kai, you're Lloyd, and you're Colette." She looked at the blonde-haired former Chosen just in time to see her fall on her bottom. "Oh my, are you alright?" O.O;;

Azriel clearly wanted attention away from herself.

Lloyd raised a brow at her, with a look that said he didn't know what to make of her behavior. "I...could've introduced myself, Azriel, but...thanks?" sweatdrop He then proceeded to go over to Colette and extend a hand out to her to help her up.

Rin's feline ears twitch a bit from hearing Azriel introduce herself. "It's pleasure to meet you, little lady." He said with a grin. "My turn!" He would turn his attention to the group and gave a bow. "My name is Rin Schrodinger. I hope you all like cats because as you all could see, I'm a werefolk of the feline variety! Nice to meet you all."

Colette looked to Azriel. "I'm fine." She said before hearing Eduardo apologize. "You don't need to apologize. I'll be alright." She smiled softly. She would take Lloyd's hand and placed her other hand on Eduardo's shoulder then got back up on her feet. "Thanks, you two."

Rin blinked when he had heard Azriel mention Lloyd and Colette's names. "Whoa! Hold on a moment!" He made a time-out gesture. "Am I hearing that right?" He looked over at Lloyd and Colette with dumbfounded look. "You two are THE Lloyd and Colette? Gadzooks! I never thought I'd bump into a couple of celebrities." He would give a bow to them.

"You don't need to be formal with us, Rin." ^.^; "We're all acquaintances here."

Might as well get it over with. She thought to herself after Eduardo had finished his introduction. She then looks at everyone. "I'm Sirea Elric and it's nice to meet you all." She said with a small smile then turned her attention to Lloyd and Colette. "And it's an honor to meet you both."

"Hey, Little Miss Riding Hood! What are you hiding under that hood?" Rin asked as he walked up to Sirea.

Her fox ears perked up within her hood when she heard Rin's question. These ears sure have a mind of their own. She thought to herself then shook her head slightly. "N-Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Always, Colette." ^_^

Lloyd sweatdropped at all the formality he and Colette were receiving. He added after her, "Ahahah... Yeah, in fact I'd really appreciate if you just...treated us like you would any normal person! It's fine, really. ^_^;; And it's a pleasure to meet you all too!"

"Eeeeeeeeeee---I was right!" emotion_kirakira Oscuro squealed. Sharing her dark otherself's enthusiasm, Azriel rushed up to Rin, gushing and immediately hugging him. "Why yes I do love cats I love them very much You must be so adorable in your full-on cat form I would love to see that But of course I'm not gonna force you to show me or something because that would be terribly rude of me Oh gosh am I being too touchy here Sorry!" And as quickly as she came, she let go and straightened herself up. She was blushing a bit, but positively beaming.

Lloyd swept his glance across the group, getting a good look at everyone. At the same time Ilene was staring at him, he stared back a moment longer as well, although he didn't really notice she was staring. There was just something about her looks that was kind of familiar...but he couldn't quite place his finger on it just yet. Overhearing what she said, he walked over to them and spoke up. "Say...that IS a point of interest for me. I wanna know what that guy's talking about...he wanted to stop Rhone's project because there's a war about to start? Heck, I want to see if we can reach a compromise and stop this war before it begins together."

Starting to bear a pensive expression, he put a hand to his chin and started to stare skyward. "I wonder if this has to do with that prophecy..."

((Uuuuuuummm...okay, so. I'm sure the characters might be interested in hearing. The idea here is for someone to speak up and say this isn't the ideal place to tell stories so we can jump to camping. ))

"A war? I know there has been some hostility between Sylverant and Tethe'alla but I did not think it was enough to spark a war"

Lilith rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance

"naive as ever I see... regardless it would be best to leave this area, after all you ARE traveling with wanted criminals now.".

Eduardo absentmindedly spoke to himself. "Wars, huh? I don't really like wars." Still crouching, he assumed a thoughtful pose, rubbing his chin a bit. "And prophecies mess things up if you try anything."
He raised his head to look over and Rhone's fire, then did another shuffle over to it. "But I do like campfires!" All thoughts of needles forgotten, he produced his trademark food from his backpack and held it close to the fire. "Get over here, guys! Everything's better with fire!"

((I am suffering a writer's block along with you, Lee. It's why I've been taking so long to post sometimes. That and I get these frequent bouts of ADD lately. sweatdrop ))

Azriel blinked in bewilderment at Rin's response. "Am I? Oh...yeah. I forget about---right." She was on the verge of saying, exactly, how fearful people can be of the Werefolk, and she stopped herself because she thought it a sensitive subject that would dampen the mood.

Lloyd turned to give a nod of agreement to Colette for what seemed like just a second, then the next thing he knew, the pirate trio was setting up camp rather quickly. He blinked a couple of times, simply uttering, "Whoa..." before snapping out of it and turning to Lilith with a smirk. "Heh. Wanted criminals and pirates. But I agree with Rhone, and after that fight, I'm sure the rest of us could use a break."

Catching that some were interested in hearing about the prophecy, he looked to the others and said "I guess it's okay to share...as long as you guys promise to keep it between us. C'mon, I'll tell you all about it by the fire." He walked over and stopped by Rhone, then waved at the others inviting them to come take a seat. After he sat down himself, he looked over at Colette with a smile and patted the spot beside him, non-verbally telling her to make herself comfortable.

"Oh, I'm interested in hearing this too..." Azriel said to herself...or rather, her otherselves within her, as she watched the others walk over to the campsite.
Chiaro crossed her arms and made a concerned expression. "With all due respect...I still think it too risky to stay in a group for long."
Oscuro threw her arms up in protest. "But what about my regular sessions of soul-hunting??" gonk
"C-could you please hold off, just this once...?"
Her dark self now folded her arms as well, and pouted. "Just this once..." she parroted in an airy tone.
Mistaking this for compliance, Azriel finally went on to take a place by the fire across from Eduardo. She sat cross-legged and leaned forward in the direction of Lloyd, staring and listening intently.

((To move this along quicker, I'm going to assume the other characters have taken their places, okay? ))

Once everyone was settled, Lloyd cleared his throat and began.

"Martel came to some of us in a dream---those being me, Colette, and the friends we have who could extend their lives like we do. She warned us that...we're going to see a threat from another world soon. We kept it to ourselves because we don't want widespread panic and people on the lookout for who to point fingers at. If we announced what we were told...I'm pretty sure the Werefolk would be catching a LOT more heat than they do now." He glanced at Eduardo and Rin, still unaware that Sirea was a Werefolk herself. "Look, I mean you guys no offense, but...I only said it like that because the race looks a lot like it might've come from another world. Because it sure didn't exist a hundred years ago. And Wingfolk, we witnessed the evolution of."

((I'm not sure what Colette can add, but if you've got something, Sirea, feel free! 3nodding ))

Rhone sighs and stares into the fire.
"Humanity pisses me off sometimes. Whenever anything goes wrong, the first thing they do is point the finger at those who are different, just because they're afraid. Half-Elves...Wingfolk...Werefolk...doesn't matter. It always turns out the same. At least there are exceptions to that..."
Rhone glances at Lloyd and Colette for a moment before returning his gaze to the fire.
"I've seen too many people I care about get hurt because of the ignorance of humans. Glad you two are different. Martel chose wisely when she delivered her vision to you two. I wouldn't mind taking a break from reverse pirating if it meant helping you out....I just have one condition first."