[Last Time, on El WHAT?!: Our heroes decided to break camp and head off into the newly minted forest all around them. They followed the road, and then the road was no more. There was only an elf so old he rather resembled an ape of some sort, and appeared as if he could use his ears for a lasso. The elf took them through a pair of odd tests, and then made our heroes define themselves.] [When our heroes awoke from the blackenss proceeding the defining, they were back in their tents, and the newly minted woods had disappeared. Was it all a dream? THey might have thought so, if not for the fact that they've all had lovely tattoos carved into the flesh of their backs.] [We open as our heroes make the discovery of the tattoos, right where we left off last time. It's late evening, and no other heroes have deigned to make their appearance.] [Session... START!] * Speaking of other heroes, the newest addition to your little farsical troupe makes her appearance, just in time to get a good eyefull of shirtless Nick and Harold, both with pretty tattoos on their backs. * Nick kind of stands around, trying to get a better look at his back. * Chiaki blinks, her mouth open in surprise, then blushes pinkly. ..Oh. Hey, Chiaki. * Sophie is outside, keeping watch. -- eh? * Harold turns around, his tunic bunched up in his arms to put back on. * Chiaki is still blushing. "Hi." Like the back-art? * Harold seems on the verge of blushing himself, and quickly reshirts himself. "I see you're back! You missed... quite the little adventure." * Nick seems totally oblivious to the embarrassment. * Chiaki eyes the monkey and nods. "Is that...new?" Still stings, so.. yeah. We're not sure how we got them. * Chiaki nods again. Her cheeks are still somewhat pink. "Have I been gone a long time?" * Sophie comes along from 'over there'. "Hullo, Chi. Nice to see you're back with us." Well, you missed us walking through a forest, jumping off a cliff, and.. talking to a weird-ass dog-elf. Oh, hi, Sophie! It's nice to see you too. "Weird-ass dog-elf"? * Nick seems fairly bursting with excitement. "Yep. Baggy skin, huge ears." Mmm... Yes, some strange creature decided he had to test us for something. I don't think we ever found out what he really was. Sophie won't show us her tattoo, though. * Nick grins, leaning back and stumbling. As you can see, Nick wants an excuse for me to remove my shirt. I assure you it's not going to happen. * Chiaki laughs. "So...everyone got tattoos, then?" ..What, you? That's disgusting. Well, we have to take Sophie's word for it. Please, you two, I'm too tired for this. * Chiaki nods thoughtfully. * Nick leans forward, stage-whispering. "I think she's embarrassed about the tissues." Tissues? * Harold rolls his eyes in exasperation. Nothing, Chiaki. * Chiaki smiles bemusedly. Well, I'm glad everyone seems to be all right. * Sophie nods. Have any of you seen Ochizora again? I beg your pardon? ...Um...Falling Sky, I think it's translated as. Well, Nick and Harold jumped off a cliff. They-- Why? It was a leap of faith. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Hmm? * Sophie shrugs. "Your guess is as good as mine." * Chiaki runs a hand through her hair. "Strange how so much happened since I was last here. I feel like I'd only blinked." * Harold coughs, and offers a serious explanation. "It was part of the test the strange person we met put us through." The same test as the one with the..."weird-ass dog-elf"? Yes. * Harold nods. What was he testing you for? If a strange elf told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it? I don't know. He wouldn't tell us. I imagine it has something to do with our 'special destiny' or whatever. I...I don't know. It sounds dangerous. Oh, it was. But all of this is, really. Will someone tell me about this "special destiny"? I know it has something to do with this mark we have on our hands... * Sophie shrugs. You know as much as we do, Chiaki. * Harold shakes his head sadly. * Chiaki looks obviously disappointed. "...Oh." It'll be alright. We're working on finding a way home, and now that you're with us, we can all work together. * Chiaki nods. "Thanks, Harold." She smiles. I wonder if the tests mean that the elves have forgiven us. I hope that's the case... but I sort of doubt it. Who can tell? * Chiaki nods. "I guess we can hope. We're all still alive, anyway." We've been lucky, so far. Yes...I hope we stay lucky. Irish luck. * Sophie is not Irish, is she? * Sophie is not. * The sun sets. * Sophie resumes watch. Anyway... try to get some sleep sometime tonight. I'm going to ahead and rest up now. * The first watch passes quickly, and soon it's time for Harold's graveyard shift. * Chiaki is sleeping. * It's up to Sophie to wake her partner in arms. * Sophie does not have Harold in her arms, thankyouverymuch. * Sophie goes to Harold's tent. "Oi, Harold. Wake up." * Nick suddenly appears, still shirtless, in the middle of camp. "..Dammit." * Tiffany follows suit, "Good morning...?" * Tiffany reappears, but is not shirtless ~_^ * Sophie looks thataway. "Oh, hullo Tiffany." * Chiaki pokes her head from out of a nearby tent. "Is something wrong?" * Harold wakes up, slowly, and trudges outside. "Mnnf." ..Hey, this means other people have watch tonight. Score, I'm gonna grab some Z's. Um, hi, Soph. * Nick waves and heads to bed. Tiffany might notice the back-spanning monkey tattoo he has. * Chiaki waves sleepily to Tiffany, then disappears back into the tent for more sleep. * Sophie waits until Nick's gone before saying, "Not like I'd want him standing watch. But now we've got a problem." * Harold settles down, his blanket wrapped around himself to ward off the cold of the night. * A hand with a protruding middle finger extends from Nick's tent briefly. * Tiffany glances at the tatoo, looks somewhat suprised, and then shrugs it off. "Does this mean I'm on watch?" Could you? Or Harold could wake Chiaki instead. I'd do it, but personally I'm exhausted. I can do watch myself. Two watches? * Somewhere in the darkness, a twig snaps loudly. * Sophie blinks, and glances sideways in that direction. * Harold glances up in that directly. * Tiffany draws a dart from her monk's clothing and stares into the darkness in that direction. * There seems to be nothing out there, as far as anybody can see. I... don't see anything. Guys? * Sophie shakes her head. * Harold also shakes his head. "It could just be an animal moving around." * Tiffany lets out a deep breath. "Well, with all the trouble we've been having lately, my nerves must just be getting the better of me." And all of us, too? I don't think so. I mean you're all pretty nervous too. I mean... look, I drew a weapon as a natural response to a sound in the darkness. What kind of response is that for a teenage girl to have? * In the distance, a wolf howls. Perfectly normal for one who may have people trying to kill her hounding her nightly. I... I suppose. Anyone on watch with me? You can wake Chiaki. * Off in the direction of the river, two more wolves howl in the night. * Tiffany smiles a little. "You mean I can try." Then, to Chiaki, "Chiaki, wake up and be on watch with me." Tiff wanders over to her sleeping arrangements. Um... Harold was going to... Oh, nevermind. they can have a third watch. * Chiaki stumbles out of her tent, straightening the wrinkles from her pleated skirt as well as she can. * Chiaki rubs her eyes sleepily. "Okay." * Tiffany smiles warmly. "Thanks." * Chiaki drags her bow and quiver from the tent. "No problem." She yawns. I ought to get some sleep myself. Wake me if that noise turned out to be something. * Chiaki nods. "Noise? What noise?" Something in the forest. Maybe just an animal. There was a sound out in the darkness a few moments ago. I'm not sure it was anything though. * Chiaki nods, but she frowns a little. "Okay. We'll be careful." * Sophie heads to her tent. "Good night." Good night, Sophie. * Nick snores. Loudly. * Chiaki glances in the direction of Nick's tent and giggles quietly. * Tiffany returns her gaze to the darkness surrounding the camp. * Chiaki does so as well, as she adjusts the strap of her quiver and shoulders her bow. * Chiaki 's quiver has recently been decorated with a Shuunyanko sticker. * Tiffany notices the sticker. "What's that, Chiaki?" * Chiaki grins. "It's a cat," she explains, "in a, um, pastry." * All through the watch, the wolves continue howling at sporadic intervals. Maybe it's the moon. * Tiffany looks somewhat taken aback. "In a pastry?!?" * Chiaki nods. "It's a popular character in Japan." ... the howls. They're getting closer! * Chiaki straighens and holds her bow at the ready. "Wolves don't usually attack people, do they?" Normal wolves don't, but I don't expect much of anything to be normal around here. * Chiaki nods and doesn't look reassured. "You're right." * Chiaki looks around cautiously. * A lone wolf howls, definitely closer this time, and a moment later, dozens of howls erupt into the calm night air. * The horses rear in terror. * Harold gets to his feet, and heads over to the horses in the vague hope of calming them down. He already has his crossbow out in one hand, his staff in the other. * It becomes impossible to sleep as the howls echo into the night. * Sophie comes out of her tent, sword drawn. "Damn. I KNEW something would happen." * Chiaki jumps and nocks an arrow, just in case. She stays close to the fire. * Tiffany draws a dart and moves toward the center of camp, somewhat afraid of the darkness. * Nick keeps on snoring. * Chiaki peers into the darkness. * Sophie thinks for a minute, then starts towards the horses. "Come on. We had better get out of here." I... Is that a good idea? Shouldn't we stay by the fire where we can at least see them? Or do you think we can outdistance 'em? All I know is that if we get swarmed, we're done for. * Nick emerges from his tent, clad in armor and rubbing his eyes. "What's the big ruckus?" * Chiaki nods, but she seems reluctant to leave the fire. Wolves. They're coming closer. We're packing so that we can move, Nick. Get your stuff ready to go. * Sophie starts packing. * Chiaki shoulders her bow temporarily and gets to packing. * Nick nods and starts folding up his tent. * Tiffany wasn't unpacked for the evening yet, so she turns to the group. "Everyone, pack up your stuff. I'll get the horses ready." * Chiaki finishes packing and starts carrying her belongings toward the horses. * Nick places his things unceremoniously on Stu. * Tiffany goes to get the horses ready and is having very little success. They're just too flustered for her to calm down easily. * Tiffany does indeed have little success. Until a friendly warhorse steps in and exerts his authority, allowing her to calm them down. * Tiffany looks over at Thundar. "Uh... Thanks, guy." * Thundar grins horsily at Tiffany. I swear, Sophie, your horse is smarter than you are. You're certainly not one to judge intelligence, Nick. I just call it like I see it. You see like a bat. * Chiaki wordlessly packs her things into Stu's saddlebags. * Nick just taps his ears, grins, and mounts up. * The howls begin closing in as the horses are saddled up and prepared. * Tiffany mounts Max. * Sophie mounts up. * Chiaki does so as well. * And so our heroes ride off into the night. As they tear off into the darkness, the howls take on the more urgent tones of the chase. [Session... End.]