Ahh! Got it done faster than I expected. ;; Well, here ya go.
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Pushing my way through crowds of people I puttered my way along the cobbled streets of Al Zhabi looking for Kaorin. She had run off...somewhere...where, I didn't know. I had to force my way past all sorts of beings, large and small. None of them gave my a second glance as I shaved my way past them. I guess it was normal to have a robed man running through the streets yelling "Kaorin!" Anyhow, navigating the streets was not easy. The city was divided into squares and each square was connected to at least two others by passages through the walls. I looked high and low for signs of the distraught girl. I even stopped to ask a few passing travellers if they had seen her.
The first was a wickedly tall, and wickedly arrogant, man with enormous ears resembling those of elves. He was garbed in a loose fitting outfit of neon orange colour. Hanging by his hips were hand-held katars. I shivered as I caught sight of them. Reminded me of Mistress Elina. Regardless, he pretty much questioned my sexuality, laughed at my clothing and practically inferred that I was a stalker intent on murdering and raping Kaorin, in that order. I had no idea how to respond to his haughtiness. I shrugged off his comments and thanked him. He walked off, laughing like a rich fool. Not much help, but the next person I asked offered a bit more assistance. She was human. That was a relief. Seemed to be a lack of humans on this world. Now, don't call me xenophobic, but talking to alien species can be a bit odd at times. I assume it's just genetic programming to feel more comfortable with one of your own species, but that's just my guess. Anyhow, this girl was a real cutie. She couldn't have been out of her teens. She wore her ebony hair up in a bun plastered to the back of her head. Her bright, green eyes were the color of a placid lake. She was dressed in a white tunic with red and gold fillagree on the chest. Her legs were covered with odd looking pants of the same colour and pattern as the top. A cute little outfit on her.
"Excuse me, madame?", I asked politely as she passed me.
"Yes? Can I help you Sir?", she asked in a quaint, almost whispered, voice. Also the first time I've ever been called Sir for any of you taking notes out there.
"Umm..I'm looking for a friend of mine. A teenage girl, about sixteen years of age. Kinda short. Cropped black hair that stops just above the shoulders..err..blue shirt..", it was sort of embarassing to describe her to a stranger when I had to approximate her age. I guess I did seem like a stalker.
"Oh! I saw a girl like that run through the main square a few minutes back. She looked like she was crying. Poor thing. I should have offered her one of my snoll gellatos and then I could have asked if she was ok and"
I cut her off. "That's her..thank you.", I said. I didn't know any of the signs of respect on this planet so I gave a small bow and turned to leave.
"DO NOT LEAVE!", came a booming voice from behind me. The vocie was strong, but it carried a hint of insanity upon it. "Sess, just leave the poor guy alone! He's looking for his friend.", the girl I had just spoken with whispered to her newly arrived companion.
Her friend looked like a clown. A freakin' fool per se. Dressed in black highboots lined with jewls and a red and black poofy top, also lined with red jewels, the man looked like some sort of nightmare. To add to the foolishness he was followed by a clunky looking automaton with a rediculously oversized head. Must be one of the puppetmasters Shihu-Danhu confused me with. How the hell he could confuse me with this numbnut I don't know. Regardless, the man's tremendous grin below glinting eyes hinted at a loss of sanity.
"I heard you mention a girl. Your friend.", the man called Sess said as he leaned foward with a squint as if to inspect me.
"Y..yeah..", I garbled, not totally believing this man was real.
"You do not know where she is, do you not?", he was grinning and walking circles around me. I didn't look straight at him lest he transfix me with his instability.
"I..I'm looking for her, yes"
"Sess...just let the guy go..", his cute friend said, exasperated.
"No, Les! I need to make sure he's...alright.", his toothy grin filled my vision. Idiot.
"Never mind Sess here..Mister..umm...", she began.
"Prior.", I finished.
"Mister Prior eh?", Sess said suspiciously, as if he didn't believe it was my name.
"Yea..that's me.", I said with shifty eyes.
"Well, then! Nice to meet you Prior!", his demeanor changed completely as he offered his black gloved hand to me to shake. I shook it sheepishly, not quite understanding what exactly was going on. "I'm Sess and my friend here is Leslie. I see you've already met her"
I inclined my head slightly in a semblance of a nod.
"Oh!", Sess exclaimed, "This here is Lobo!", he grinned enthusiastically as he picked up his automaton and showed it off like a prized kill. The electronic companion wizzed, clicked and otherwise emitted sounds accociated with mechanical activity from it's body. "Cute isn't he"
"Sure.", I said. Lobo wasn't really cute...it was...awkward looking. As Sess placed Lobo back on it's feet I wondered how in the nine suns of Yalmek it could walk on those spindly legs.
"Lobo can sniff out this friend of yours in no time!", Sess proposed.
"That thing", I said indicating Lobo,"can sniff"
"Sure it can! The sensors in it's cranial unit can detect scent from quite far away. It simply needs something to take the guide scent from.", Sess said proudly. Leslie rolled her eyes distantly.
"Well, then...here.", I said holding out a small piece of cloth I had ripped from my robe to blot Kaorin's forehead while she was under the poisonous influence.
"Hmm...this has her scent on it?", Sess asked, holding the material limp in his hands.
I nodded. Sess then shoved the velvet cloth quite violently into a hold in the bottom of the automaton's metal skull. Whizzing, buzzing, clicking, clanking, and whining was emitted as Lobo's metal skeleton began to shiver.
"Ahh...it seems he's picked up the scent.", Sess stated moments before Lobo began to lumber off quicker than those legs of his should have been able to carry him. Sess and Leslie reacted quickly to his moments and followed him down one of the corridors. I skittered behind them as the robot led them into the main square of the city.
Pushing through the bustling crowd I tried my best to keep sight of them. A few times I lost them amongst the pressing bodies, but as I emerged into a smaller square I was able to locate them once more.
This square was different from the others. It was a port with a ship just beginning it's docking procedures. Lobo was standing frozen behind the dock master's station and Sess was arguing with a very large and bulky creature at the entrance.
"That's your sutomaton? What's he doing here?", demanded the large pale creature in green.
"He's sniffing out a lost girl for a friend of mine! Now get outta my way!", Sess told him, trying in vain to push by.
The muscular creature held him back easily. "It's 100 gil to ride the ferry.", the towering being said calmly.
"We're just looking...", Sess said while struggling. Leslie placed a few coins into the giant's palm.
"There's 300 gil.", she said with an air of total peace, "Don't mind my friend"
"Thank you, ma'am. You may now pass.", the broad being said and moved his bulk to one side.
All three of us passed the gates and approached Lobo. The automaton was unmoving and silent.
"He lost her scent at the docks. Maybe she went to Nashmau.", Sess postulated.
"What's in Nashmau?", I asked innocently.
"Not much. Unless you like danger. And I LOVE danger!", Sess said with an overemphisized fist pump.
"She wouldn't get on a boat. She has no money.", I said, now quite worried.
"Maybe someone paid for her...", Leslie broke in softly.
"She wouldn't just...", I began.
"My guess is she was either befriended by a stranger or simply taken against her will.", Sess said, face filled with thought.
"I'll ask the boat dude.", I said as I approached the giant again.
"Umm..excuse me..", I said to the rock of a creature.
"Yes?", his basso voice rumbled.
"Have you seen..umm a girl..about sixteen in human years...with a blue shirt...come by here? She may have been crying.", I couldn't look him straight in the eyes. The things eye were too hard. Too stony.
"Hmm...I did...I did...she got on the boat an hour or so ago with a well dressed man in black. He talked to her like he knew her. That's all I saw", he shrugged me off.
I walked back with a million questions flooding my head. Would be a great waste of space to write them here. I'm sure you know what they'd be anyhow.
"We have to go to Nashmau.", I said, sounding defeated.
"Really..", Leslie said with a frown.
"All right!", Sess cheered and grabbed us both by our sleeves. He dragged us up the plank and into the ships wooden hold. Lobo came clonking after us as we settled ourselves to see the unknown.
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...and it continues. I love adding new characters . Oh well, next one is in the works.
-peace-