Dancing Fox Inn XI: The Menu's Made Up and the Drinks Don't Matter

[Recaiden]

Leah shifts awkwardly, not knowing how to answer.
"Honestly I'm not sure. Yes, we can recover from dying...sometimes. 'If you die in a dream, you're fine in the next dream' and all that. But there are things that do us in for good. Make us as dead as anyone, at least."
Like iron, divine weapons, stronger fae.
"I guess I ran into one of those, and had to get better through normal means."
That's not actually what happened, but it seems reasonable enough.
"So I'm stuck like this for now, but probably not forever."
Leah gives a bright cheery smile.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist smiles at the woman. "Thanks. We try." They don't make the sherry, but they do try to get good stuff.

---
Well, that's fine. It's not like I have any idea of what happened.
Mist still frowns, but he does seem brightened a bit.
"Well, good then. No offense, but I do prefer your look with hair." he says teasingly.

[Recaiden]

Just so we don't get as many confused questions when the horrible but exciting truth is revealed.

"Hah."
Leah runs her left, less mechanical hand over her scalp, laughing.
"Didn't realize I'd really care about it till it was all gone. Maybe I can come up with something though. Or maybe you'll get to like it. I wouldn't try it yourself though."
And of course upon imagining a furless Mist, she has to laugh for a moment.

Her face brightens up then, remembering.
"Plus side, unrelated: I can taste things now! Not as well as a human even, but like, real actual senses like other people get."
Why there just happened to be a bunch of artificial tongues but no working limbs in Kes's warehouse of parts is a question she never got answered.

[Holy-hunter]

Arlen chuckles at the old lady's burp the way a young carefree boy should. The peaks of his laughter reach through and materialise as soft sounds. He looks around the room at people he already regards as friends and smiles waitingly.

Next second he is behind Leah examining the shiny metallic contraption on her back, running a finger across the edges, enjoying being able to touch.
He begins talking to Mist then remembers and looks to Naku,
-"please ask the owner (Mist) the way to the dragons den, or if a large old man named Shoyler ever visited here, or any of his companions Ivaz, Alistair, or even..." He pauses as his memories bring a soft smile to his face, he looks to the hall behind the bar following his memory and his smile slowly fades and he ends the conversation there as he focuses on his hands as he begins inquisitively trying to open Leah's wings.

[Mee]

Arlen's sudden excitement fades away with a shrug of his shoulders. Rubbing his chin as he thinks.
-"it's been along time but I met him at the black dragons den."

Listening as Leah talks about her death A strange new thought popped into Arlen's head and once again his focus diverged as he was distracted.

He begins by circling Mrs McGinty, eyeing her up and down, analysing the old woman as he goes around, then he moves onto Mist.
Are you guys dead too? He eventually tries to ask forgetting no one can hear him. His train of thought now leading to the idea they are all dead in some way and this is a halfway place.

-"She is pretty old" he mouths to back to Naku while standing behind the old lady slightly nodding.

Naku started to grin and nod in agreement, but then Mrs. McGinty answered him apparently.

"I've been older..." Mrs McGinty replies, unbidden and without seeing the boy's lips move. "I've also spent enough time dead to know that's not where I am right now. In my experience, death doesn't do good sherry..." She lifts the pint mug to her lips, and drinks deeply once again, pausing then to wipe her mouth on the sleeve of her cardigan, before giving a nod of affirmation. "And that's a very good sherry."

*Burp*

Naku . . . did not expect this. She blinks several times. She could read lips, but that . . . was crazy.
". . . how did you hear him?" This could be important! This could help Arlen get his voice back.

Arlen chuckles at the old lady's burp the way a young carefree boy should. The peaks of his laughter reach through and materialise as soft sounds. He looks around the room at people he already regards as friends and smiles waitingly.

Next second he is behind Leah examining the shiny metallic contraption on her back, running a finger across the edges, enjoying being able to touch.
He begins talking to Mist then remembers and looks to Naku,
-"please ask the owner (Mist) the way to the dragons den, or if a large old man named Shoyler ever visited here, or any of his companions Ivaz, Alistair, or even..." He pauses as his memories bring a soft smile to his face, he looks to the hall behind the bar following his memory and his smile slowly fades and he ends the conversation there as he focuses on his hands as he begins inquisitively trying to open Leah's wings.

Naku is able to give him directions to the Dragon's Den on her own, and inform him that she didn't remember seeing any of them, though the names did seem familiar. Mist might know more.

She stands as he goes to play with Leah's wings, and smiles at him. He's a good kid. Naku likes kids.

[Mrs McGinty]

Naku . . . did not expect this. She blinks several times. She could read lips, but that . . . was crazy.
". . . how did you hear him?" This could be important! This could help Arlen get his voice back.

"I, erm, saw his reflection in my pint mug?" lies Mrs McGinty, unconvincingly.

[Mee]

"I, erm, saw his reflection in my pint mug?" lies Mrs McGinty, unconvincingly.

This truly bothers and upsets Naku. "That was entirely uncalled for." She informs Mrs. McGinty, her expression harsh and unamused. "This poor boy lost his body, and no one can hear him, save for sporadic, quiet words now and again. You apparently can, and are trying to lie about it.

So I ask again." Naku says through mostly clenched teeth. "How did you hear him?"

[Mrs McGinty]

This truly bothers and upsets Naku. "That was entirely uncalled for." She informs Mrs. McGinty, her expression harsh and unamused. "This poor boy lost his body, and no one can hear him, save for sporadic, quiet words now and again. You apparently can, and are trying to lie about it.

So I ask again." Naku says through mostly clenched teeth. "How did you hear him?"

Mrs McGinty sighs deeply, her shoulders slump, and her face suddenly looks much older than before. "I couldn't hear him. At least not in the way you're thinking. There was no sound. And my ears played no part in the process. I just... knew." She stares into what remains of her sherry for a moment, before looking up, directly into Naku's eyes, her face set in a terrible intensity. "Please trust that you do not want me to explain any further. Nobody can experience what I have without learning things..." For a moment there is a glint of genuine terror in her gaze. "...things that should not be known."

[Holy-hunter]

"So you sorta died" Arlen excitedly states more so than asks Mrs McGinty, now knowing she can hear him.

If any look toward Arlen or are distracted by the blury blue glow waving behind Leah they will notice him sitting on the floor within a chair.
With his butt on the ground his upper torso protrudes through the seat, he bares a proud 'I was right' smile and a deep complex focus in his eyes. However nothing about the scene can be taken seriously as his arms frantically wave about in a new combined mixture of swimming and flying moves.

Some may have noticed it unraveled as so:
Arlen fell back into a chair looking a Leah's wings, having been caught up in a new obsession and infatuation. (regardless of the out come of him playing with them)
After a small moment of sitting 'on' the chair the sudden realization caused him to fall though it.
Having only moments ago been thinking about flying, his logical thought process leads him to think he was flying above the chair.

And that is why you will now see a young semitransparent smiling, concentrating torso flapping and making vertical swimming motions as he tries to fly upwards from an old dirty tavern seat.

[Mrs McGinty]

"So you sorta died" Arlen excitedly states more so than asks Mrs McGinty, now knowing she can hear him.

"More than once" she replies, with a sad smile. "More, in fact, than I care to remember. To start with, you fear each time will be the last. Eventually, you get to hoping it is."

[Recaiden]

Arlen chuckles at the old lady's burp the way a young carefree boy should. The peaks of his laughter reach through and materialise as soft sounds. He looks around the room at people he already regards as friends and smiles waitingly.

Next second he is behind Leah examining the shiny metallic contraption on her back, running a finger across the edges, enjoying being able to touch.
He begins talking to Mist then remembers and looks to Naku,
-"please ask the owner (Mist) the way to the dragons den, or if a large old man named Shoyler ever visited here, or any of his companions Ivaz, Alistair, or even..." He pauses as his memories bring a soft smile to his face, he looks to the hall behind the bar following his memory and his smile slowly fades and he ends the conversation there as he focuses on his hands as he begins inquisitively trying to open Leah's wings.

Leah's wings are 'feathered' with solar panels, to eventually fold out to great surface and soak up light to keep her running. Mostly polished, but there's a few places with exposed wires.
She turns to note the boy's curiosity with a laugh.
"I don't know that you can fly, Arlen."

[Arkhosia]

Arlen meets an old friend

The door opens and a gust of wind heralds the approach of Sophia by the steam that blows inside. Sophia, her muscular and (unlike most) not curvy form clad in a Magtok-Purple sweater under her uniform, enters, her cheek cut and seeping steam. She looks slightly tired, and is oddly not equipped with her 3dmg.
She enters, looks about, and her draw hops when she spots Arlen.
Arlen? Is that you?
She asks,with joy cautiously held at bay.

[Holy-hunter]

Arlen totally freezes under the sound of the newcomers voice, still within his chair he slowly turns to see her, a pale expression of disbelief clung to his face.

Quicker then he could flash his wide ecstatic smile he burst from the floor darting 'at' Sophia, the edges and outlines of chairs and tables softly sparkle with blue as his incorporeal body passes through and over anything between them.

"Sophia" the name softly yet excitedly echo's faintly of every tavern surface, eerily seemingly originating from nowhere.

He comes to a sudden halt as he reaches her, wide eyed and happy, his arms wave in an awkward flap as he stumbles between the idea to hug her, shake her hand or tap her shoulder. (Even tho he probably couldn't do any)


He takes in a deep imaginary breath before exploding in a fast paced flurry of motions, his hands wave around as he speaks his lips moving incredibly fast and even if Sophia was going to lip read in Arlen's excitement he keeps turning his head to his new friends behind him.

As he slows he scratches his head.
"So yea, I might be dead but how have you been" Sophia will see his lips move.
"Glad you kept your promise and are still alive"
He adds before a silent chuckle.

[Arkhosia]

Sophia grins at the sight of her friend, and is a le to lip read in fact!
Well, I'm hard to kill, after all. I do have regenerative powers. Not much has happened on my end. Met a scientist under my dad's employment, helped to stop a kidnapper terrorize a holloween party though he kidnapped a couple people, may have accidentally crushed a building, the usual.
It 's great to see you, though it is rather sad that it had to be with you in such a condition. I know a temple nearby that might be able to resurrect you though!
Sophia replies, smiling broadly at this turn of events. Arlen is back and she can help him out easily!

[Holy-hunter]

Arlen's excitement grows even further and his hand blurs through Sophia's like a soft blue breeze as he tried to grab it and pull her to meet the others, realising it failed he motions for her to follow.
With the old lady able to hear him he faces Naku so she can read his smiling lips, "this is my friend Sophia, she thinks she might be able to help me... Will you come too?" An eagerness and hopefulness grows in his eyes during the last part.

Spinning back to Sophia taking a more relaxed stance and flicking back some ghostly hair he mouths,
"So glad your ok! Last I remember you saved me from those giants when I got lost in the woods.. Then nothing... By the way these are my friends" he nods as he waves his hand guesturing to the small group conversing around him "helped me realise what's happening, So how far is this temple?"

[Mee]

Mrs McGinty sighs deeply, her shoulders slump, and her face suddenly looks much older than before. "I couldn't hear him. At least not in the way you're thinking. There was no sound. And my ears played no part in the process. I just... knew." She stares into what remains of her sherry for a moment, before looking up, directly into Naku's eyes, her face set in a terrible intensity. "Please trust that you do not want me to explain any further. Nobody can experience what I have without learning things..." For a moment there is a glint of genuine terror in her gaze. "...things that should not be known."

((So first off, sorry for this post taking so long to be made. It's been quite the week.))

Naku chuckles slightly. "You speak of things that shouldn't be known as if you're the only one with memories like that. But as you wish. I won't ask again." Naku says without malice nor ire being aimed at Mrs. McGinty, just statement of fact, and acceptance of McGinty's desire to not speak about it.
With that, she looks over to Arlen, and grins at him.

With the old lady able to hear him he faces Naku so she can read his smiling lips, "this is my friend Sophia, she thinks she might be able to help me... Will you come too?" An eagerness and hopefulness grows in his eyes during the last part.

"If my boss doesn't mind me taking the time off, and I don't think he will, I would be delighted to go as well." Naku also nods a greeting at Sophia. "Would we leave soon, or in a bit?"

[Arkhosia]

Sophia thinks for a bit.
about a 30 minutes walk away from here.
She replies.
I should be able to get us all over there on my titan form, but I'm not sure if you'll be able to keep up with it or stay upon it...

[Holy-hunter]

While Arlen smiles at the idea of riding a Titan and there is a noticeable longing in his eyes for that adventure, he starts.
"Let's all go by our own feet, no rush."

"Naku! No drinking my blood when I'm alive again, ok?"
"Mrs McGinty are you coming too?"
"Sophia who are we meeting there?"
"Naku can you go out in the day? We will wait till night if we must."
"Mrs McGinty, are you alright to walk that far?"

Arlen's enthusiasm is obvious, however general concern caught him on the last two questions as he span in a circles facing each person he questioned.

He finally stops and stares at Sophia with a contempt smile, when she notices him he jumps up over to Leah and Mist giving them the puzzled 'are you coming too' look and lip motions.

[Mrs McGinty]

"A walk might be nice" replies Mrs McGinty. "And don't worry about my old legs slowing you down - I'll keep up alright." With that, she drains the last of the sherry, and starts doing some stretches by way of a pre-stroll warm up. As it turns out, she's surprisingly flexible.

((So first off, sorry for this post taking so long to be made. It's been quite the week.))

((No worries. I've had a pretty crazy one myself.))

[Mee]

((No worries. I've had a pretty crazy one myself.))

((Thank you.))

While Arlen smiles at the idea of riding a Titan and there is a noticeable longing in his eyes for that adventure, he starts.
"Let's all go by our own feet, no rush."

"Naku! No drinking my blood when I'm alive again, ok?"
"Naku can you go out in the day? We will wait till night if we must."

Arlen's enthusiasm is obvious, however general concern caught him on the last two questions as he span in a circles facing each person he questioned.

"I wouldn't drink your blood anyway, even without the request." Naku informs him, grinning slightly. "And no. The sun won't stop me. But this all depends on Mist."

Speaking of Mist, Naku stands, and addresses the good man!
"Hey, Mist. Do you mind if I," she's quite proud. She avoids saying 'babysit' here. "accompany these guys on a thing?"

[Arkhosia]

Sophia grins happily when she sees Arlen inquire so cheerfully and excitedly, like a kid who wants to badly go to a certain theme park found in the U.S. Retirement Home State and just can't wait to get on the next plane there. She missed the joyful and naive hopeful hero.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist looks over and shakes his head. " 'course not Naku. You're the one who always encouraged me to take a few breaks and have interests outside of work."

[Holy-hunter]

Arlen's resurrection
The quest begins

With Mists reply Arlen jumps with a burst of excitement as he fist pumps the air. He looks at the group brimming with excitement.

"Yea lets go" the words almost audible, driven and filled by his vibrant energy!

He runs to the door then last minute detours for the wall and vanishes through it in a soft splash of blue light.

He will wait outside and follow Sophia to the temple.

((Ark can you please make first post at, and post a link to, the temple?)) ((thanks))

[Arkhosia]

Arlen's resurrection
The quest begins

With Mists reply Arlen jumps with a burst of excitement as he fist pumps the air. He looks at the group brimming with excitement.

"Yea lets go" the words almost audible, driven and filled by his vibrant energy!

He runs to the door then last minute detours for the wall and vanishes through it in a soft splash of blue light.

He will wait outside and follow Sophia to the temple.

((Ark can you please make first post at, and post a link to, the temple?)) ((thanks))

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/shows...&postcount=608
Tadah!

[Recaiden]

"Yes, yes; I'm coming too."
Leah smiles at the ghostly boy's enthusiasm, turns and winks at Mist, and goes to head out the door.

[Holy-hunter]

After Leah leaves the tavern a soft sparkly blue face appears through the door, and without words Arlen asks
'So are you coming too?'

After all the tavern is nearly empty and it's only a short walk away and shouldn't take too long.

[Mee]

Mist looks over and shakes his head. " 'course not Naku. You're the one who always encouraged me to take a few breaks and have interests outside of work."

"Thank you, Mist. So I'll need a few minutes, everyone." Is at least what Naku starts to say, before everyone just runs out the door.

Well that was kind of unexpected. She quickly hops over the bar, and grabs her swordbelt from its fastened position underneath, while muttering about how a minute to grab armor would have been nice. Oh well.
"See you later, Mist. Good luck." With a tip of her invisible hat, she took off with everyone else.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Alysha is here!

The peppy vampire is sitting at the bar at the moment. There's a paper in front of her. There's a pencil in her hand. She's currently chewing on the eraser, lost in thought. The paper has a crossword puzzle on it.

[Deathkeeper]

((sorry about the delay; I dozed off again.))

There's the sound of someone sitting down at a stool near her, and shortly thereafter, a voice.
"Alysha? That you? Oh geez, it's been a year, hasn't it? Sorry about that, I was pretty busy with the Irregulars. How've you been? You look exactly the same, although I guess that's to be expected."
The voice belongs to a large griffin sitting next to her, black from his head to the feathery fan at the end of his tail, though his beak is yellow. A combat helmet with a pair of flight goggles are on the bar next to him, and he's wearing only a shoulder-holster with a sleek black laser-pistol and a black armband with a white Union star on it. (He didn't ask to match his uniform's colors!)
Now, the voice does sound exactly like one Nick Richards who Alysha spent an afternoon with a year ago before having to deal with some Irregulars questioning about a giant robot, but unless Alysha's memory is very subjective she'd probably remember that fellow as a man in a dark coat, and not a griffin.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Alysha turns to the sound of the voice, the pencil still in her mouth. She takes a moment to look over the griffin, then tilts her head a bit.

Okay...you sound like somebody I met. We were in a robot. I think it ate us, maybe?

You definitely don't look like him, though. He was human. Not saying how you look is bad! It's just different.

Alysha goes into a thinking pose now. What was his name again? Rick? Mick? Nick? No...hm...