Final Fantasy Hacktics

   "'Ey, , you gonna be a'ight? You shou' eat somma Xun's stew, if there's any left, i's good, ya know."

Rhyhorn, calming some and hearing the puking , stops and slips out of his harnesses for a moment.  He walks over to and slips off his wetskin, placing his shiny orb tight between his feet as he picks the wetskin up by the rope and offers it to the sick lass, along with the pack of Rations also around his neck.

"I would be delighted..will it take the sme..SMELL out of the air?" She asked, clutching her stomach with both hands. Seeing Rhyhorn offer her the glorious magic liquid known as water, Nathalie quickly grabbed it from him, upsetting the stomach more and granting a sort of "thank you" in some sickly way of communicating before taking a miraculous swig of that messiah liquid.

"I feel like I finally know how it feels when fires are put out.." She muses, feeling much more relaxed if still a bit queasy.

   "Put out fires?" Yvonne's lips twist in a sneer. "Heresy!"

"Thank you Rhyhorn, I feel much better now.. She says, giving him back the wetskin, "I suppose I could take a few rations too.. Accepting the gifts, Nathalie felt a little bit better now and walked with less of a zombie trot and more of a normal strut.

"Oh, I know how you feel about fire," She replied, "But seared flesh made me..do that."

Hogarth, incensed by the talk of wizardry, continues on with her rant. "Killing wizard not easy. Must be fast, cunning. Rush in, break hands, rip off lips. Defenseless without able to make symbols or talk. Then you grab honor. Send wizard screaming down to their hateful eternity."

Rhyhorn nods, glad to see his friend doing better.  He passes the rations on his neck, replaces his wetskin, and picks up his shiny orb before slipping back into his harnesses and leading the group back to town once more.

"You come here as a job yes?  From what N'zla overhear.  How can you blame this Mr. Sparkles for a choice you made?  It sad that your friend died, but you only continue the circle of hate and sorrow if you take that man's life."  N'zla's speech was especially unstable, a sign of his growing weariness.  He also did not understand the sickened response of the one woman.  After all, the fresh tree sap should have covered up the smell of burning flesh.  The incense of nature is all he could smell.  

Nathalie, after overhearing Hogarth explain the ways to kill a wizard, felt compelled to touch her lips to make sure they were still there. While Hogarth's method would no doubt prove useful, she found violence to only be a last resort option.

"Look, let's just talk to the guy.." Nathalie explained, taking a bite of Rhyhorn's emergency food, "Perhaps we can weasel our way into an agreement where we get paid more and information about what we just pulled out of the goblin cave?" Nathalie continued to eat the delicious food before her stomach gave a slight kick of uneasiness. The illness felt a little odd, as while the smell of burnt objects usually displeased her stomach, perhaps it was her delayed reaction to the death of a comrade.

   "Oo said anythin' 'bout blamin' Mr. Sparkles?" Yvonne finds herself at a loss about what her companions are thinking. "I mean, yeah, sure 'e di'n' say nothin' 'bout the cave, but we knew we'd pro'ly 'ave ta fight a few goblins." She uses hand gestures to punctuate her speech. "And yeah, it's sad Elia di'n' make it, but I made them goblins pay dearly fer their mistakes, an' I returned 'er body to its baser state. She'll be at peace now. An' now we've met you. You seem like a decent 'ealer. Mebe we c'n convince Mr. Sparkles ta give ya Elia's share."

Hogarth decided to chew on N'zla's words for a bit. Had Xavier told them about the goblins? Yes. Had he mentioned there was a HORDE of goblins and that was their nest? Yes. Did they KNOW it was dangerous? Yes. Hogarth could feel righteous fury slipping away.

But then again, he DOES sparkle. And he was suspicious. His words, they sounded perfect. Wait! That's it he bedeviled us to get us to do the job." Hogarth pauses, then realizes she's actually been saying most of her thoughts out loud. She shakes her head and clears the mind of the thoughts. She turns to the Ek, seeking to ease her paranoid fears of being judged by an insect. "Hogarth not think well. Thinking hard, and confusing. I leave to you, Friend N'zla, and the rest."

"I know a thing or two about schmoozing, and that Xavier is a bonafide expert," Nathalie adds, "I wouldn't trust him one bit. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if our share was somehow "reduced" by way of "unforeseen difficulties!" He's a villain of the worst kind--a smooth criminal!" Nathalie's slight anger over being out-schmoozed was beginning to show, and she is still bitter about the sparkling humanoid's job. Goblins are never to be trifled with.

   Yvonne floats down so she is even with Rhyhorn's massive mouth. "Wha's the deal with the orb?" She stares at it for a moment. "I's pretty..."

Rhyhorn looks down at the fey, still walking and keeping the glowly awesome blue orb held tight in his mouth.  He merely nods, keeping his grip on the orb tight, not replying in text because the orb is occupying the part of his body he requires to be free to write.

   "Me see?"

Rhyhorn shakes his head left-to-right, refusing to loosen the grip on his shiny awesome ball.

   "Awww..." the flame fey pouts. "Why not?" She darts under the stone rhino's chin to come up on the other side. "I wanna see it!" She tilts sideways in an attempt to get a better view. "It's all shiney and stuff. It's gotta be magical!" She zips up and his brow and returns to her original position. "I wanna see it!" she repeats.

The Rhino pulls his head to the side, moving the orb possessively away from her.  He liked the dear friendly fey quite a bit, but Rhyhorn refused to let anyone near this particular thing, hence it not being part of ALL THE THINGS.

   "Open wide!" Yvonne coos, making her way in front of Rhyhorn, facing him and floating backwards so as not to directly impede his stubborn progress forward. "Jus' a little peak is all I want. I won' even take it outta yer mouth. I jus' wanna see it... Mebe touch it... stroke it... feel it... caress it gently... oh so gently... yes..."

Rhyhorn holds fast, still walking, still refusing to loosen the grip on his prized orb, no matter how much the small and fluttering pocket lighter begs.