Welcome to Gaia! ::

While poke did have better table manners then riyo and mitsu and was using her fork and knife, she wasn't being slow about it. Once the food had been set in front of her, she thank daeik for it and immediatly jabbed her fork into the tender flesh, ripping out a huge proportion and shoving it into her mouth. She repeated this a few times, and then took one of the drinks of the table and skulled it. To say that she was hungry was an understatement.

In realtively short time she was finished, Fortunately remembering not to burp outloud. However as she finished of the rest of her 2nd drink, she blinked a few times and then almost slumped on the table. It appeared that her metabolism was not any better then mitsu's, and she must have taken one of the alcohols by mistake. "gahh, I ordered lemonade, not a jack danials!" she groaned

“All right, all right.” Taking hold of both pieces of glass, Neko prepared himself for the possible scream. Simultaneously, Neko drew the pieces of glass from Yuki’s back in one quick tug. The ends were jagged but they seemed to come out with little trouble, not leaving any small pieces in the wound. Giving Yuki a short time to settle after the initial shock of having glass ripped from his back, Neko went about disinfecting the wounds and cleaning up Yuki’s back. Reaching for his bag one last time Neko produced a smaller leather pouch that contained pine tar. Smearing the thick sticky substance over the larger wounds to keep them from bleeding, Neko left the other wounds to close up on their own. Pine tar wasn’t the best thing to use but it worked and for now it would have to do. “I’m going to have to restock on supplies thanks to you.” Neko joked as he stood back to his feet after collecting everything back in his bag.

Placing the bag back on his belt, Neko walked back around in front of Yuki and offered him a hand up. “Let’s go find your sister, just don’t over do it. You’ll probably be light headed for a while.”

------

Having been helped to find her food, Mitsu smiled gratefully. Firmly holding the fish with both hands Mitsu wasted no time shoving nearly the whole thing in her mouth and swallowing only after a few short chews. Satisfied she went about picking through her vegetables with some difficulty but it seemed she was picking up rather quickly how to work around the effects of her drink.

Looking back up at Poke through half glazed eyes she questioned. “Who is Jack Danials?” But her attention was quickly averted to Riyo as she downed one of the colorful drinks as well but as she turned her head her vision reeled a bit. As the world seemed to keep moving Mitsu took hold of the table and placed a hand on her head as if that would help keep everything in place.

[{ Alright its long, but I'm now in the same room as most everyone else.}]
[{So from here on out they should be getting much smaller. ^_^ }]

"Come on its right over here." "Are you sure its safe out here?" Of course it is, your prize is right through here." The magician told the boy as they approached the clearing. The magician looked back at the boy as they entered the clearing, and the boys face was filled with horror. "What is this? Why did you bring me here?" Grabbing the boy by the arm he said, "Because if I let them have you then I get to live forever, and Thats someth..." The magician almost seemed to choke on his words as he noticed the disfigured corpse his demon. "What the hell is happening?" "Your getting a glimpse of whats in store for you." As the magician turned to check on the boy he felt a tight grasp on his wrist. He slowly followed the hand up the arm and found himself staring at the back of a black hood. With a squeeze the magician released the boy. "Go back to the village boy." Without hesitation the boy took off running back towards the village stumbeling as he ran. "Well done you saved the boy, but you have no idea who I am do you?" "Your scum, thats all I need to know." "Ha!" The magician scoffed."I'm not just scum, I'm a full fledged human/ demon hybrid. Sees as how your so intent on being a hero I guess I'll show you what I do to heroes."

With a clench of his fist, a bone spike jutted out of the magicians arm. He attempted a shot to the back of X's head, but he replied by letting go of his wrist and sweeping him. As the magician fell to the ground X grabbed the wrist with the spike and placed his foot on the hybrids shoulder. Wrapping his other arm around the spike he let out a grunt and leaned back with a sudden motion snapping the bone. He then proceeded to twist the arm, slowly, agonizingly slow, full of malicious intent. He could feel the tendons begin to stretch and pull as they tightened."lets not rush this. I'm in the mood to drag this out." He felt his foot drop about an inch as the freaks shoulder popped out of socket. The magician let out a scream. "Hurts huh? How bout this?" X reached down and began to slowly insert the bone spike into the dislocated joint. The magician writhed in pain screaming. After getting it good and started X lifted his foot off the halflings chest and instead placed it on top of the broken end of the bone, and proceeded to force the spike deeper into the socket. He then let go of the arm and stepped away from his opponent. The magician rolled away and sat in a crouch for a moment, the pain that was shooting through his arm was nearly unbearable. "Get up." The halfling made his way to his feet, "You'll pay for this. You got lucky, but I wont be caught off guard again." he boasted. "You know they call me the magician, because my victims dissapear without a trace. I've been doing this for years, I've killed 97 men, Youll be my 98th." He then took a running start at X, X then stepped to the side grabbed the attacking arm, yanking it he drew his opponent in clos and gave him an elbow to the ribs. He then simultaniously spun, twisting the caught arm and kicking the side of the knee on his side folding it inward, instantly tearing the cartlige and hyper extending the muscles. Grabbing the magician by his hair he folded his arm behind his back and leaned in to his ear and whispered. "The magician huh? Well maybe youve heard of me. My names Joachim Xerome. They call me..." Speaking in unison he magician finished X's sentence with him." The messenger of death." "So you have heard of me, well Mr. Magician I have a trick for you." Holding his left hand in front of the halfling face he mocked, "Nothing in my hand." He then grabbed the magicians arm and said."Alakazam!" As he summoned Rikimaru since he was holding the wrist of the magician the sword formed as in normally would, only there is something already in that hand. So Rikimaru manifests itself inside the arm splitting it in two with a sickening wet "SCHLAP!" The magician screamed in agaony as he fell to the ground. "

"Would you quit whining?! SUCK IT UP! COME ON!!!" Grabbing him by the collar X pulled him to his feet. "Come on demon! Show me how you kill!" Turning away the magician attempted to run away, hobbling at a crawl at best there was no chance of escape. Tears streaming down his face the magician pleaded for his life. "Please don kill me, Please, have mercy." Grabbing the spike he twisted it in place, the magician once again fell to his knees screaming. "Mercy? How many asked you for mercy?" He then lifted a swift knee into his ribs snapping at least two of the floating ribs free. He then did it again this time mid rib cage, several broke this time. The magicians screams now had a slight gargel to them. X grabbed him by the face, the magicain then coughed up blood onto the cold gaze of the skull. "You know what that means mister killer? That means your lungs are now filling with blood. That means its only a short time before your body while attempting to save itself will infact, drown you." Sure enough just as X had promised the magicians vision began to dim as he struggled an a panicked effort to breath to no avail. He could feel his life slowly slipping away.
X then pulled a leather bag out of his jacket and opened it. Summoning Rikimaru again he removed the head of the magician and placed it in the bag and pulled the drawstring tight. He then removed his mask, placed it back inside his jacket and slowly, solemly began his walk back to town.

Time creeped by as he made his way to the brothel and made his way to the owner. "Im here to claim a bounty." The owner pointed him to a room off the side of the front desk. Walking towards the door he noticed Jasmine was no longer at the table. Entering the room he was suprised to see a man in a visor sitting behind a glass window who looked up at him through his visor."What do you want?" "Im here to claim a bounty." The man behind the glass opened a slit in the window and held out his hand. X placed the bag in his awaiting hand. The Man pulled it back in opened the bag and exclaimed. "The magician! Do you have any idea what this means?" "No, and frankly I dont care. Can I just have my money?" "Not much of a socialist are you, but here is your reward. The man handed him a bag equal to the size of the one with the head in it back through the window. Opening the bag X noticed immedietly that it was full of gold coins. "Isn't this a bit much?" "The magician was the biggest bounty in this town, there were a lot of people that wanted him gone, but no one here had the skill. You my friend have done this town a service. Take that as a token of our grattitude." With a smile X replied, "Well, if you insist, I guess I'll just have to accept it." The man acknowledged the jest with a smile. X turned to exit the room but paused for a moment. "Hey, where can a guy get a good drink in this town?" "Theres an Inn just down the street called the Saunter on Inn. They'll have a better variety than most of the other places in town." "Thanks." X fipped a coin to the man in the office and exited the room.

Wondering around town for several minutes he finally came across the place. "The Saunter on Inn, Hm, nice name." he quipped under his breath. Walking in he found a table in the front corner where he could watch the door and the room. He walked slowly to the table and pulled out a chair. Sliding accross the floor the chair let out a slight moan before coming to rest far enough out for him to sit.Raising his hand to try and flag down someone to take his order he noticed Mitsu across the room, it didnt seem as though she had noticed him yet. Funny running into her again, but at least she hadnt left town yet, knowing that was a comfort.

Oh no, Poke and Riyo were picking up the alcohol, too. Hitsu sighed gently, and shook her head. It wasn't until Poke complained that she realized that her incident had been a mistake. While Hitsu had tried to help Riyo with the possible problem, she seemed to like the drinks. Though, that probably wouldn't be for the best if she had any more. "No, Riyo." Hitsu said calmly as she saw her reaching for another beverage. She pointed to the water on the table, "Have that one, okay?"

She glanced over to Mitsu when she'd spoken, frowning a bit when she clearly had trouble just trying to look around. "It's best that you finish everything on your plate. If you get all of the food in your stomach, hopefully it'll help you sober up faster." Of course, not all of them had listened to her before, but Hitsu would sure as hell try.

Ears picked up sound of a chair scraping the floor, and general curiosity caused her to look up for the source. She only briefly looked at X as he sat, silently thankful that Daelik had another customer. At least now he'd have another customer to tend to, instead of trying to find an excuse for hovering around their table.

-----

Despite trying to prepare himself for the worst, Yuki had tensed when he felt Neko take hold of the remaining shards of glass. Unfortunately, he'd jerked them out just as quickly. Yuki did indeed scream, though only for a moment, as he quickly tried to cut it off. Jaw clenched tightly, his cry quickly muffled before he fell silent again completely. It wouldn't have been smart for him to draw attention to them, just encase any questionable persons were around.

His back was throbbing, but thankfully only where Neko had removed the glass. That too seemed to fade somewhat quickly, giving Yuki the idea that whatever he'd been chewing on was beginning to do as intended. At least he'd be able to walk without tripping over his own feet. Or, at least he could hope. He gave a grunt when Neko blamed him for his dwindling supplies, "Right. My fault. I went up stairs waiting for a woman, not a man. Let alone one that wanted to set me on fire." He reached up for Neko's offered hand, using it to pull himself up as he tried to balance. Light headed wasn't a lie, and once he was on his feet he stood awkwardly a moment in order to let the slight dizziness go away. Not much unlike the sensation one got from getting up too fast.

[I'm going to assume the descriptions of the effects are okay and at least mostly accurate. XD I will change them if need be.]

“Hey I hadn’t planned on the fire wielding dragon man either. You just have bad luck or something.” Neko frowned a bit to himself at that thought. A demon black cat much like himself wasn’t know for causing luck, much the opposite, but then again that kind of stuff rarely concerned him. He gave the issue only a second more of thought before casting it aside as nonsense.

Once Yuki was on his feet, Neko patted him on the back lightly. “Right, well lets get going shall we?” Heading back toward the entrance to the alley, Neko waited for a short moment for Yuki to follow before he moved on into the crowd and back toward where they had parted ways with Hitsu and the others so that they could follow their path to the shops and vendors.

---------

The drumming in Mitsu’s ears was becoming loud as the effects of the drink were at their peak. Just barely hearing Hitsu through the sound crashing against her eardrums she nodded her head and started to pick at her vegetables again eating them slowly. Within a few moments her condition seemed to improve and the world began to settle back into place. To Hitsu it would probably appear as if her suggestion to eat had worked when in fact it was Mitsu’s metabolism working through the alcohol. Having been spliced her metabolism was far above what was normal, which was why she needed to eat almost constantly, but also why the effects of alcohol were going to be short.

Leaving him little option for what to order X replied,"Well I guess Ill have whatevers available, and a glass of your stronest." With a little nod he added, "And leave the bottle." As he finishes his order he hears a young woman adress him from accross the bar in a drunken stupor. He acknowledged her with a slight wave and a gentle smile. X leaned over to Daelik still smiling spoke under his breath. "You may want to cut her off."

(( A billion, million years later.... ))

Yuval read the letter with an impassivity honed by his training. He did not feel indignant towards the man's assumptions of his work, or lack thereof. What the tracker could not shake was the piteous amusement he felt towards Adolphus' unintelligible script. Sight-hound or not, he had to lean forward and squint his eyes to make out the child-like letters.

And by the gods...he smelt the paper and drew backwards. It really was crayon.

With one hand, he deftly folded the letter, regarding the bird on his arm with raised brows. Had Amjad-bey been so desperate for customers that he had accepted this mad man's request for assistance? Last he had checked, the family had been quite well off due to other successful dealings. His gloveless hands stroked the creature's downy chest, head canting back.

"Your master's insane, my dear," he said with a hint of pity in that metallic voice of his. Yuval unfastened the burden from the falcon's leg. He did not even spare the parcel a moment of his attentions before it was slipped into the satchel fastened around his waist. Adolphus had told him what it was, and that was enough for him.

He lifted his arm a mite, paused, and smiled, "Would you mind accompanying me a bit? I assure you I am not half as unhinged as your beloved keeper."

So said the man speaking to the bird. Yuval continued through the forest, his quest resumed.

At last Mitsu seemed normal again and being done with her meal she began to look around the room, her attention being directed to the person Poke was yelling at. Turning back toward the man Mitsu looked at him for a moment, she recognized him. Why did she know him? They hadn’t even been apart for more than half an hour and their brief encounter was already starting to slip from her mind. Moving in her chair she heard the coins at her side jiggle and that seemed to stir up the memory of cotton candy. “X” The name, well letter, slipped from her lips before she realized it and then the memory flooded back to her. “X!” She exclaimed with more confidence waving to him for her seat. She would have gotten up but for some strange reason her legs didn’t quite feel like they were there.

--------

Neko didn’t make a reply to Yuki’s comment, more because it was very true. Making sure Yuki wasn’t far behind he paused and waited. “It’s up this way, I’m sure we can track them down from where we left them.” Neko gave more attention to Yuki’s state now that they were in better lighting. With a solemn look on his face he turned back toward where they were headed not saying a word. It only took a matter of minutes for them to make it back to the spot where they and the girls had parted ways.

“It looks as if the shops may be up that way,” Neko pointed up the street where a flower shop was. Making his way up the street he would pause every once in a while to make sure Yuki was still following okay. Once he was certain he could make it Neko would keep going. Once in front of the flower shop Neko glanced around and caught sight of a clothing store. No doubt they had gone in there and maybe if they were lucky they would still be there.

“Come on,” Neko motioned toward the clothing shop as he made his way to the front door and entered. There was a boy at the front counter, but there was no one else inside. Letting out a sigh, Neko walked up to the lad. “Were there three young ladies in here not long ago? We’re looking for one in particular. Short,” He held his hand up at about his chest level where Hitsu stood. “Brown hair, soft complexion, teal eyes. Was wearing a shirt that loops around the neck and a very nice short skirt,” He said the last part very softly to keep it from Yuki’s ears.