Finally, got a chance to work on this v.v. Ok, so here ya go.
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"Oh, hello Tomo. And Mr.Prior.", Sakaki gave us a curt bow. She was dressed rather..strangely. Head to foot, she was covered in animal skin clothing. Fur ringed her jacket, gloves, boots, everything. She even wore a rediculous headpiece. The damn thing had horns for Jynark's sake. That odd cat-like beast followed her around like they had known each other for ages. Sakaki seemed in control in this relationship.
"The hell are you doing?", Tomo asked slowly.
"Oh, I was lost. I wandered for days in the mountains before a man found me. He nursed me back to health and taught me the ways of a beastmaster. I love it...", Sakaki mumbled the last sentence.
"About damn time we found you!" ,said Tomo, holstering her weapon.
"Where's everyone else?", Sakaki asked.
"Oh, Yomi is back at the camp. Along with some other wackjobs.", Tomo told her friend.
"What about the others? Chiyo? Yukari? Osaka? Kaorin?", Sakaki sounded worried at the prospect her friends might be in danger.
"I have no idea where they might be. Prolly got abducted by space aliens or summin...", Tomo postulated.
For all we knew that could have been an acceptable explanation. There had been no sign so far of Yukari, Chiyo-chan, or Osaka. They could be anywhere, but making sure Kaorin was ok was our top priority.
"Oh...", Sakaki said, eyes on her booted feet. Her soft voice always seemed worried or hurt. It could also be reassuring. All of a sudden as if to start a war Tomo interrupted.
"OK! We need some food! AHH! A CHEETAH!" , this statement was quickly followed by a prompt gunshot to the head of the animal that was following Sakaki. All of this happened within a range of 3-4 seconds. Me and Sakaki barely had time to react before the beast's form slumped to the ground, half of it's head blown to bits. Sakaki looked to be on the verge of tears.
"Why...?", she asked the sky as she ran her hands along the thing's soft fur.
"Well, we needed something to eat and there just HAPPENED to be a wacky cheetah followin' ya.", Tomo answered non-chalantly. Sakaki stood up with a sigh. From there Tomo happily made me carry the bloody corpse of the beast all the way back to the campsite where someone had managed to create a blazing fire out of the small shrubs that littered the ground.
"Ah! Sakaki!", Yomi said with fervor as we came into sight. She ran over to embrace her equally tall friend.
"Hey! No hug for me?", Tomo said, trying to sound hurt.
"Quiet, numbnut.", Yomi answered quickly before turning back to Sakaki. "Where have you been"
"Oh..I've been...here...", she answered in her characteristic soft voice.
"And why are you dressed like this?", Yomi said, tugging on her furred helmet.
"She's a beastmaster! I shot her pet for food!", Tomo interjected and began to growl like some sort of wild animal.
"Yea...ok, calm down wildcat. We better cook this thing.", Yomi said in refrence to Tomo then the cat-like beast.
"Oh boy! Coeurl! That shit is gooooooood! Let em take care of the cooking!", Sess suggested and drew his katars from his side.
"Sess, don't make a mess with those things.", Leslie chided.
"I'll be fine.", he said before diving headlong into the in-depth chopping process.
"Are you ok, Sakaki?", I finally had time to ask.
"I'm fine. Just a bit worried about everyone else..", her voice trailed off.
"Did you tell her about Kaorin?", Yomi asked.
"What about Kaorin?", Sakaki's head returned to it's original position and her eyes opened in expectant fear.
"Oh! HAHAH! I totally forgot about her!", Tomo laughed off her mistake.
"What about Kaorin?", Sakaki's voice grew a little louder.
"You should tell her.", Yomi said.
"Yea, but..", Tomo began.
"WHAT ABOUT KAORIN?", Sakaki practically yelled.
Everyone stood dead silent. It was a vast rarity to hear Sakaki speak above a whisper, much less yell. Even Sess stopped his butchery to stare at her with blood covered blades. Tomo's mouth had dropped open and even Yomi gave a bizzare stare.
"I..I'm sorry..", Sakaki said, turning red with embarassment.
"No,no. It's ok.", Yomi reassured the flustered girl. "It's just that...Kaorin is in danger...that's why we're travelling. We need to rescue her from some guy who has her captive for god knows what reason.", Yomi said, turning a bit red herself.
"So we gotta be heroes!", Tomo said with a very wide grin.
"I'll make sure I do my best.", Sakaki said and wandered past us to sit by the fireside.
Me, Tomo, and Yomi each shared glances before we took our own places by the warm fire.
"Ok, we're ready!", Sess announced as he displayed three gigantic chunks of bloody meat placed on a thin rock. "Just gotta cook this and we'll be chowin' on some kick-ass stuff!", he said as he placed the rock amongst the blaze. Our mouths watered with anticipation. Wel, mine did at least, but we all looked starving. Except for the Soulforged. She just stared at the flames. That must have been boring. After a fairly violent struggle and some burnt hands on Sess' part he managed to pull the meat out of the inferno.
"Here ya go guys!", he announced and handed us each a steaming hunk of meat. It was delicious to say the least. I managed to gobble mine down in a matter of seconds. As did Tomo. Leslie, Sakaki, and Yomi were more dignified in their eating habits. Sess ate his like a caveman. The Soulforged on the other hand didnt even touch the stuff.
Noticing this Tomo spoke up, "Ya gonna eat that missy!", with an index finger pointed at the meat. The Soulforged shook her head and Tomo took the oppertunity to shove the steaming flesh into her gullet.
"Man, that's good!", Tomo lay back looking quite satisfied.
"Geez, Tomo! Talk about a glutton.", Yomi said.
"Ahh, shush.", Tomo chided. "I'm just trying to...", her voice faded off as she fell fast asleep.
"She can sleep anywhere. But, it wouldn't be a bad idea if we all got some rest.", Yomi told us all as she herself wrapped an arm around the sleeping Tomo and lay down beside her.
"You got that right..", Sess said before he lay on the rocky ground.
As I began to lay down the last thing that caught my eye was the Soulforged, awake as ever. I decided not to interfere and I let myself glide into unconciousness upon the horrendously uncomfortable rocks.
Light bit through my eyelids and I sat up. Yay, morning. Everyone save Tomo was wide awake. I looked at the Soulforged standing stiff like something unliving and doubted that she had slept at all. "Morning, Mr.Prior!", Yomi said sweetly as she sent a vicious kick to Tomo's backside.
"OWW!", Tomo yelled and sat up, groggy as all hell.
"Excellent, it's time to go.", Yomi said and tromped towards the waiting pack.
We followed a trail cut from the rock itself across the deserted wasteland and under a huge white, ropy thing that resembled a spinal column.
"The hell is that?", Tomo asked pointing at it.
"Beats me.", said Sess.
"...It's Dogaroga's Spine.", Sakaki whispered.
"Doga-wha?", Tomo said in utter confusion.
"I don't know what it does, but the man who nursed me called it by that name.", Sakaki answered.
"Freakin' sweet.", Tomo said happily.
We walked. And walked. The sun had reached it's apex by the time the ground colour began to change. The reddish-orange rocks and dust slowly began to change to a pale purple shade. Petrified trees blocked the trail before us and shells of rock structures covered the landscape.
"The hell happened here?", Tomo, of course, asked.
"We're getting close to Jeuno.", Sess said with excitement.
Alas, we were close to Jeuno. Following the trail we soon spotted the gated bastion of Jeuno.
"Wow...", Leslie whispered out of awe at the size of the gate.
When we had passed the portcullis it seemed to me that we had reached the edge of the world. The ground stopped abruptly and in place of it was a tremendously long bridge stretching out over the water. People of all shapes and sizes were crossing the structure toward or away from the cylindrical Dutchy of Jeuno. We added our own footsteps to the array of travellers crossing into the great city of this world.
"Jynark's Pressure-washer...", I said upon entering the city proper. The streets were filled with people. Jostling back and forth among the various doorways which above hung signs denoting their use. The four most prominant signs lauded airship travel to Bastok, Kazham, San D'Oria, and Windurst. A moment after noticing these I was able to witness an airship for myself. It began with a rumble. Every one of us turned our eyes to the sky to see a grat blue wonder pass overhead with great speed and power. It was amazing. I've seen better...,but it was still amazing.
"Now...where is the palace...", Leslie said. It drew my attention away from the flying ship. She was right, where was the palace?
"Should we ask somebody?", I suggested.
"Yea, maybe someone around...", Yomi began. "Hey, where's Tomo and Sess?"
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Freakin' sweet. I can get a chapter or so done a week. A little slower than before, but eh, v.v SO, keep tuning in for the next installment woooo!
-peace-