Chocobo Tales: Jade Regent

[Kombinant]

"C'mon, Chad-for-Short, Amieko just needs help in the kitchen. It's not something crazy or anything."

Cowpies77

Ryoga can hear him crowing and the sounds of things being pushed around inside

"What are you even doing in there, Chad-for-Short?"

Ryoga paces a bit impatiently as he talks at the door, accentuating his sentence with a short bang on the door.  

[Cowpies77]

Kombinant

"What are you even doing in there, Chad-for-Short?"

Ryoga paces a bit impatiently as he talks at the door, accentuating his sentence with a short bang on the door.

There's a loud thunk from the other side of the door after Ryoga bangs on it. Ryoga pulls back a little when he sees the pointy metal bit sticking out where he had hit.
The door opens a little and the tengu sticks his beak out through the crack to sniff a bit. Cautiously opening it up a little wider, he sticks his head out, looking quickly from side to side.
After seeing relatively empty hallways, he says to Ryoga slowly "I've seen some things, man. Lived through things that I'd rather just... never again. Never. Again."  

[Kombinant]

Ryoga, seeing the near crazed look on Chad-for-Short 's facebegins backing away slowly."Alright, alright... uhh,I'll leave you alone now, ok? Ameiko can deal with it herself."  

[Cowpies77]

Slipping back downstairs, Ryoga sees Ameiko give him a hopeful look. Having to avert his eyes, he quietly slips out and tries to avoid either seeing the Innkeeper's wrath or her despair.

Davros meanwhile opted to carry the chests of cave plunder upstairs to stash in his room, before joining Ryoga on the night out.

The two opt to have some chicken soup (from a chicken that Davros "found" in someone's chicken coop, Ryoga suspects) and wild vegetables. The monk quietly notes that Davros' martial skill doesn't translate at all towards culinary skills as they eat. The pair also occasionally catch sightings of Kim wandering here and there with an elf, looking rather animated.

The trio spend the night in their beds, with Davros and Ryoga both opting for the Window-side entrance rather than risk running into Ameiko again.

Waking up early, Kim, Davros and Ryoga all make their way down towards the dining area, with the latter two seeing if Ameiko is still angry at them. Instead, Ameiko appears more tired than anything, looking like she's nodding off a little before business starts waking up for another day.

Davros calls for a little team meeting upon seeing a Tengu sitting at a table by himself. Shuffling over, he says "Well, nice ta see you willin' ta join us fer breakfast, Chad-fer-Short."

The tengu turns and fluffs out a bit, and says "I'm not 'Chad-for-Short', you pig-headed slob. My name is Ura-Meki-Mehi-Huma-Nua-A'-Pua-A'-Al-Laki!" Squinting hard at the confused half-orc, who looks like he's still trying to piece together what the hell is up with Tengu names, he says "What, you think we all look the same? Ugh, you prole..." With a wave of his feathery hand, he says "Away with you lot. I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with your sort this morning. I'm here to deliver something to Chaka-Chaka-Chuuko-Bucha-Buka-Wikki-Wikki. Or at least try to. This was his last known address."

Davros blinks a few times as he moves to a different table with Kim and Ryoga. Slowly, he says to the two "Ura-Mixing-mecha... uh... I'm not sure if I should just grab my run him through with a sword or not. Anyway, so, what are we gonna do with the treasure we got? There's a lot of it... and we still don't know very much 'bout it.  

[MT the Clown]

Tapping her chin, "Davros, you separate out the treasure into the following piles: coins, miscellaneous goods, weapons, and sundries." Turning to the birdman, "I can take the deliver to Chad if you want, I still have a few things to say to him, Mister.... I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name there."  

[Kombinant]

"Kim, having a few words with Chad-for-Short might not be the good of an idea. He wasn't exactly stable last time I talked with him. You shook him up pretty well. And Urameshi-mecha-mehi-whatever, providing he didn't slip out last night Chad-for-Short should be in his room. I can take you there if you want, maybe another Tengu can calm him down, I know I sure as hell can't..."  

[MT the Clown]

Shrugging, "That might be true, but I do feel bad about it. Who knows, maybe it's best to hear the apology from me."  

[Cowpies77]

Davros, looking at Ameiko, says quietly "Might be safer to just eat rashers o' jerky than risk breakfast anyway. So, I'm gon' take my leave fo' now..." Turning, he heads back upstairs.

The Tengu sighs and says very slowly "Uuuuuraaaaa-Meeeeekiiiii-Meeeehiiii-Huuuuma-Nuaaaaa-A'-Puuuuuua-A'-Aaaaaal-Laaaaaakiiiiii. Come now, it's not that hard. Uramekimehihumanua'apua'al'laki. And I'm sorry, but I'm entrusted to make the delivery to Chaka-Chaka-Chuuko-Bucha-Buka-Wikki-Wikki and no one else. As for your offer, perhaps in a little while. I would like to finish the chapter I'm reading first. If you would like to take care of your business with him first, you're welcome to. I also need some time finish double-checking the quarterly earnings report ledgers, and I don't like to do that when people are hovering."

Kim, opting to head upstairs to make amends, knocks on the Tengu traveler's door. The alchemist can hear shuffling around from the inside, as well as heavy things being moved around, and eventually several bolts sliding around the door frame. Opening the door a crack, Kim notes that there's still several chain, rope and cord locks (of varying levels of wear and tear) on the door frame to keep it secured. The tip of his beak sticks out and takes a couple sniffs of the air, letting off some suspicious-crowing / growling sounds. Kim notes that he appears to be holding a loaded crossbow near the crack in the door, and seems to have strapped a pair of knives to the device as well.
He doesn't say anything for a long moment. Just standing there, sniffing with his crossbow at the ready.  

[MT the Clown]

Standing there quietly playing with the end of her apron, Kim carefully picks her words, "A few years back, I was soldier in an army on the other-side of the world. My general sent my group to secure a bridge for his own personal glory and I got captured. The nights I spent in the enemy camp as their plaything still haunt my dreams... What I'm trying to say is... I understand that I may have said and done something that brought back traumatic memories and I am sorry. If I am that much of a bother, I will leave if you ask me...." Sniffing a bit, "You also have a friend downstairs who wants to deliver something to you."  

[Cowpies77]

MT the Clown

Chad-for-Short sticks his beak out a little and narrows his eyes, saying "Well then you should know better than to joke about it then. But I'll forgive you this time."

After a couple minutes of unlocking things, Chad-for-short comes out of his room, wearing a steel dome helmet strapped to his head, his armor and his b*****d sword, but thankfully not much else in terms of armaments. Coming out, Kim sees that he has a backpack full of something, and a tube going from it to his mouth, filled with brown fluid.

The two head downstairs and Chad-for-Short brightens up considerably, as he says "Oh, you didn't say it was Uramekimehihumanua'apua'al'laki... He's my second-cousin." Waving over at him, he says "Oy, Second-Cousin-Lucky~" The two have a nice bro-hug, before talking quickly in squawks, which everyone present generally assumes is Tengu. Handing over some papers, Chad-for-Short looks them over, and puts a mark on some.

Crowing as he goes behind the counter and sees Ameiko, he helps the owner to her room, with promises to watch the front.
"Are you sure you're going to be alright, Second-Cousin-Chad?"
"Oh, I'm going to be fine. I haven't slept in like, three days but I feel GREAT." And he takes a long sip of the backpack's contents
"What... what is that?"
"Super-condensed Java. It's fantastic, once you get used the twitching."
Second-cousin-Lucky takes that in for a minute, before saying "Maybe I should stick around a little while and help you out, Cousin..."

After the two birdmen get the kitchen going (and the inn starts smelling of bacon), Chad-for-Short crows to Ryoga and Kim (as the latter two eat a plate of bacon, scrambled eggs and cornbread with honey-butter) "Second-Cousin-Lucky came to tell me that United Shires of Tyral and the Czardom of the Umegal City-States have joined forces and declared war on the Diving Monarchy of Rastagrant!" Getting a blank look back from the monk and alchemist, who have never heard of Tyral, Umegal, or Rastagrant, Chad-for-Short sighs and explains "These three countries are a bunch of small island nations that have had these frosty relations for like, the last hundred years. But my family and I put in some investments and started up some trading companies for swords and other weapons, and Second-Cousin-Lucky was telling me that we won a couple of sizable bids for weapons for Rastagrant because they're now in need of some good quality swords and sword-training for their recruits. It's a good time for profits. I might actually be able to have enough traveling money to head out to continue traveling in a couple weeks.

Second-Cousin-Lucky is one of my family's investment managers. He has his feathered fingers in scores of companies. Good times."  

[MT the Clown]

Nodding her head, "I really don't get what you're talking about, until the bit about weapons. Whenever wars are brewing, the armorsmiths and weaponsmiths gets all the funding. Alchemists like me and my brother had to prove ourselves for just a bloody copper piece." Shaking away a very sick look in her eyes. Smiling again and holding up her plate to Chad, "I'd like more please!"  

[Cowpies77]

MT the Clown

Smiling again and holding up her plate to Chad, "I'd like more please!"

Serving up another plate of food, Chad-for-Short says "Well, it's a lot about connections, really. Wartime economies are always spending-heavy, and anyone who knows which people you need to woo to grease some wheels can definitely stand a better chance of turning a profit. If you were interested in funding some groups, I can ask Second-Cousin-Lucky if he knows some people."

Davros, by this time comes lumbering down the stairs carrying large burrito-like monstrosity of food that is almost as large as his bicep in one hand, the other busy carrying the loot from the cave.

"So, any takers of this crap, or should I just sell off e'erythang?" Taking a large bite out of his burrito, he says "We 'ot a'out..." *swallowing* "139 gold and 1,037 silver each. Before we sell anything, that is."
Davros follows this by plopping down three sizable pouches with heavy thunks on the table. (Each pouch is over 23 lbs of metals. Just an FYI)  

[Kombinant]

"Hmmmph?" Ryoga wisely adds to the conversation his mouth full of bacon and delicious cornbread. After swallowing he adds, "Oh right loot! I don't remember anything catching my eye except those shuriken we found. I might keep those for myself. Act like a ninja, y'know?"  

[MT the Clown]

"Hmmm. I can check to see if any are magical... and please don't even mention ninjas again. Sorry, bad memories."  

[Cowpies77]

Kombinant

"Oh right loot! I don't remember anything catching my eye except those shuriken we found. I might keep those for myself. Act like a ninja, y'know?"

Davros rolls his eyes and says "Yes, you can have the pretty little throwing nails. If I'm going to throw anything," Davros pauses long enough to bring out a two-fist-sized sphere of metal on the table, "I'm going to use something that might actually hurt someone, like my traditional Orcish shotput. It's a REAL man's weapon." He adds a thump on his chest and a snort of approval as he goes back to eating his monstrosity of a food entree.

Chad-for-Short adds "That is probably the second stupidest thing I could imagine as a weapon. The first being this tribe of huge muscle-bound gray people I found in the mountains a few years ago. They stood like, 7 or 8 feet tall, and used boulders, slings, and occasionally trees to throw at their opponents to kill them. I learned not to make light of people that will rip a tree out of the ground to use it to hit someone on an opposing mountain. They also thought I was sad because I didn't want to do a standing long jump over a 12' wide chasm on the technicality that it was a 780 foot drop to my screaming death if I don't think I can jump three times my height in horizontal distance. One of the 'runts', at only 7' 6", grabbed me by the back of my head and lobbed me beak-first to the other cliff. It was a very painful three months of hiking, because it turns out that they do that sort of thing a lot..."
The Tengu begins rubbing his beak as he thinks back to those days.