The Savage Relics

[spot]

The poster read clearly in Crystal's handwriting:

"All are welcome to join the Savage Relics Exploration Team. As previously announced, the first mission will take place June 15th early in the morning. Please meet in Plaga's town square, just south of the library, at 8 in the morning. Be equipped with any necessary equipment, and bring enough food to eat for the day, as we will be out for as long as the sun is up..."

"Hmm..." Crystal Backshire sighed to herself. "I wonder how many people will show up." She glanced away from the large poster board to see the sun slowly rising in the sky. It has to be almost 8 o'clock already. Last time I checked it was like 7:30. Oh? Someone's coming!

"Hey Crystal! Are we the only ones here already?" a teenager said as he walked into the town square.

"Yeah, Christopher. It looks like everyone's to scared I guess. And it's not even nighttime or anything!"

"Well that's sad; I wanted to leave early. If it does turn out to be just us, I'm sure we'll get enough done anyway. And there'll be more missions!" he said with a smile. Chris was disappointed, but he didn't let Crystal know it. "Hey, if we're just going to wait for a while, let's have a snack or something." he said, beginning to rummage through his green backpack.

"What do you have in there now? You're always carrying that backpack arou--!" She was violently cut off by a yummy cookie being shoved into her face. Shocked at first, she quickly began to inhale the delicious treat. Chris pulled out his own cookie, and the two friends waited patiently for the next person to show up.

[Jukka]

"Let's see...South of the library..ahh, well..right up here then! Vyn muttered to himself the directions to the meeting place as he walked quickly towards the destination. He knew he was a little late, but he had had a hard time deciding what to bring along for food. He hated wearing packs and everything - it only slowed him down - so he had only stuffed a few hard biscuits into a small bag hanging from his belt. As long as he was adventuring, he wouldn't need much food to keep him going.

Vyn finally reached Plaga's town square. It was seemed to be almost deserted, save for a couple sitting below the poser board. Almost running from excitement, Vyn moved towards them with a big grin on his face.

"The Exploration team...are you guys part of it?" The words spilled from his mouth in a rush of excitement, and he was quite sure that they might have had trouble understanding them. Still, he set his bow down and sat down next to the couple, eagerly awaiting an answer.

[Aleu]

She was dancing. Her hat, a bucketish thing of cloth, sat open-mouthed on the cobblestones, looking expectantly up Plaga's passerby - the library patrons often had generous hands. It was a good place to set up shop while waiting for the eight o'clock bell.

It was a pretty simple dance - the only reason people liked it was because it was flashy. It was half wide spins and arcing turns, holding her rings in one hand and then the other, whirling them around in the morning sun. Sometimes, when a large group of people came over, she would cast a spell that let them separate into individual rings and begin juggling as well. It wasn't a lucrative business by any standards, but and hour's worth of performing put enough money in the pocket to to pay for the day's meals.

”Spare a penny, spare a penny?" She called out to Chris and Crystal. "Or ten, sir?" she asked, looking towards Vyn.

[Arynielle]

"I need Brazil, the throb, the thrill,
I've never been there, but someday I will.
Adventure and danger, love from a stranger...
Let me be surprised..!"

Wings of a white shade guided Elaviel through the sky with grace and ease as her clear voice touched the clouds. These were two things she loved-- flying and singing. She couldn't fly for extended periods of time, however, seeing as her wings were only temporary. It was the boon of being Elven as opposed to an angel as she once was-- well, she was still an angel, a fallen angel if people wanted to put it that way. Many simply saw her pointed ears and assumed that she was an Elf. She mentally shrugged, knowing that there was nothing she could do to change it. With a flutter of her wings, she dove toward the small cottage which she called her own. Her singing filled the surrounding area once again as the music from her heart poured out into words.

"Today there's sun, they said there'd be snow.
When all said and done, it's fun not to know..!
What keeps my heart humming,
Is guessing what's coming;
Let me be surprised..!"

When her feet touched the ground several feet away from her cottage, she paused. The woods were such a wonderful place, and now that she had stopped singing, the melodies of birds filled the air. She paused, resting her chin on a hand. Her wings vanished in a flash of blue light. "Now, I know I'm forgetting something." Elaviel tapped her foot as she thought. She didn't have memory issues but she was a last-minute sort of person who overcame obstacles as they arrived. Her day rarely began with planning of any sort and she wasn't as organized as she wished that she was. "What could I possibly be forgetting? I know that it's important..." It had to be or else she wouldn't be so determined to remember it. This was something that happened relatively often-- she could only recall that she had to remember an event, not the event itself.

"Oh well," she finally said, her soft voice breaking the bird's lovely singing. "It won't do to stress over it. I suppose that I'll just... oh dammit." Elaviel finally remembered what she had been forgetting. It was an exploration team that she had had her eye on for a while now. She threw a brief glance at the sun dial. "It's 7:52. I still have eight minutes to get there," she muttered quickly. All hope wasn't lost quite yet. Her flight spell hadn't been completely worn out. Elaviel could pray and beg than her ancestors restore her wings one more time. There was plenty of magic left. After grabbing a small rucksack filled with necessities (namely a few muffins she had baked that morning), she did just that, whispering in hushed tones. The same blue light which had signaled the disappearance of her wings from before appeared and the white, feathery wings returned. "Right, I need to head to Plaga." With a boost from her legs, she lifted herself off the ground and soared into the sky.

Luckily, the morning air was pleasant and the climate was quite lovely in this area so flights were always a wonderful experience for the young Elf. The fact that she was running late didn't bother her as much as it could have. Her wings would get her to the town quickly enough and she would only be a few minutes tardy at the most. On the other hand, she could make it on time if she rushed. Of course, knowing Elaviel, she would do it for the sheer love of racing through the skies. It was without obstacles, pure, beautiful, every wonderful adjective she could think of. "I should be there soon... aha, there it is," she said with a smile. Below her was a town and as she flew a bit south, she could see the town square, where a few others were already waiting. "Whoops. I hope that they aren't waiting too long for my arrival..." She circled the square, finally finding the chance to land in a safe spot. Her wings vanished then since she had no further use for them.

"Good morning, everyone." Elaviel was actually on time. Either that or they were late to leave.

**ooc: Cookies for anyone who knows what movie those lyrics are from. XD

[P-chan]

"Target spotted," Kysho mumbled to himself, a smirk spreading on his lips. Perched on a tree not too far away from the plaza, he squinted his eyes as he stared at a black haired boy, rather, the bag of food he noticed on the boy's belt. "'Bring some food,' my butt; I'm not bringing my own freakin' food when I can snatch someone else's." The brunette snorted, steadying himself on the branch he was sitting on. With a light push, he leapt off to land on the ground with a thud, creating small dust clouds wavering away from his feet.

Whistling to himself, Kysho strode across the plaza towards the group surrounding the poster, and more importantly the teen he had his sights on. From what he could see, it didn't look like it would take much to trick him, and Kysho feigned a smile once people turned to see him approaching. "The being of amazing awesomeness has arrived," he declared loudly, tossing his bangs from his eyes with a flick of his wrist. Oh yeah, I think I'm cool. Continuing to walk over to them, he stopped next to the black haired boy and glanced up at the sky. "So I hear there's something interesting going on here toda- WHOA." Upon his exclamation, he thrust up an arm and pointed up, his face twisting into fake shock. "What the hell is that thing?!"

What it was was a cloud, but when the boy beside him, along with everyone else, looked up perplexed, Kysho took the moment to inconspicuously untie his bag from his belt, dumping the contents in his own loot bag, before retying the empty bag onto the belt. He worked so quickly and silently that it was like he hadn't moved at all, and when the boy looked back to the thief with a stare of confusion, Kysho gave a sheepish laugh and scratched the back of his head. "Ahaha, looks like it was nothing." Sucker, that always works on the stupid ones. Bwahaha, I'm so cool.

Lifting his arm, he brought it down onto the boy's shoulder in a friendly gesture. Kysho was aware that the black haired teen was probably wondering who in the world he was, but he didn't care. "Anyways, it's nice to see a whole bunch of, uh, cool people here today, but now that the amazing Kysho is here, your coolness has multiplied a hundred-fold."

[spot]

Chris turned and chatted with the

Ignoring the 'amazing Kysho,' Crystal stood up and officially began the meeting. "Alright, so I'm guessing most of you here are waiting for our exploration mission to begin--"

"--Cutting straight to the point, are we? Barely anyone has introduced themselves yet!"

"I'll get to that, Chris! Be quiet!"

Crystal continued on with her introduction speech, but sadly knew deep down inside that it would only end up making her look corny... or bossy. "If anyone needs to pick up some equipment or food, then I'll get to that in a minute. But first, let's all introduce ourselves." I just hope that homeless-looking girl doesn't come along too... I hate beggars! She thought. "My name is Crystal."

"And I'm Christopher." He continued with the introductions. Bored, and nor feeling a bit manic from the cookie he just ate, Chris was definitely ready to do something fun. It would take some time getting adjusted to all the new faces, but he could manage it... especially because his close friend Crystal was coming along too. Above all, he was quite curious about the flying girl that had dropped in. It didn't look like any magic he had ever used before.

[Jukka]

Squinting at the sun looking for something exciting in the sky left Vyn's vision dazed a little bit as he felt "The Amazing Kysho's" arm come down on his shoulder. Shaking his head to clear his vision, he sat down and couldn't help but laugh at the...confident newcomer. Although he couldn't quite tell if he was joking, or really that full of himself. Either way, he was sure to provide some amusement on the trip. Vyn sat down, oblivious to what had just happened, and listened as Crystal and Chris began the intro speech.

When she mentioned food, Vyn's hand went to his bag alongside of his hip. The few hard biscuits he had put in there were gone. He felt around some more in other pockets, but still found nothing. He shrugged it off, less weight to carry anyway. Plus, he knew the others, namely the leaders Chris and Crystal, had packed extra food so there was no worry. As the intro speech winded down, Vyn looked over to his..uh..buddy.

"So...Amazing Kysho huh?" Vyn couldn't help but laugh whenever the little self given nickname was said. "You the only one that calls you that?" He asked with a grin.

[P-chan]

The couple beginning the meeting were of no interest to Kysho at the moment. His thoughts were still radiating with gloats regarding his newly stolen food. The kid really didn't seem to notice anything. What a perfect target. He had to remember to pick this guy's pockets more often.

When the boy suddenly sat down, Kysho's elbow gave way, and he started to fall down. Kysho let out an exasperated grunt, but as he fell, he twirled around and maneuvered his way back into balance. He noticed his scarf smack the kid in the process and held in a snicker. Oh yeah, that was so cool. Still a bit wobbly, he also sat down, albeit a bit too fast from the sudden pain that shot up his butt. Rubbing the lower part of his spinal cord, he glanced at the boy after he spoke.

"Eh, just me? What're you on, fool? I am the amazing Kysho! That's what all the cool people call me. Cool is as cool does, you know, or something else that would probably make more sense right there..." Scratching the back of his head, Kysho looked away for a moment and frowned deeply, confusion coming over his face at his own words. "...Whatever, you're just not cool, at all, buddy. You're a disappointment."

After turning his attention back to the boy, Kysho noticed that he seemed lost in his own thoughts, looking for his food. The brunette couldn't contain a snort, and when he received an odd look from him, he immediately averted his eyes and let out a cough. "What?! Stop looking at me! I'm too awesome to have your eyes continue to dirty up my awesomeness!" Kysho raised a hand to lazily flap it at the black haired kid's face, turning his nose away with another snort. "And what makes you think you can question my name without even telling me yours? You've got some nerve! You want me to sock you one?!"

Kysho balled up a fist and shook it threateningly, accompanied by a scowl. "See this? Your shrively nose gonna end up all shriveled up like a shrively raisin if you don't start showing me more respect, bub."

[Aleu]

"'scuse me, said Silver, a note of a growl in her voice. "But I'm afraid you're blocking the street." She wrapped her rings around one hand and picked up her hat, pocketing the coins and perching it atop her head. "Now, normally I wouldn't care enough about the street nor a little spitwad like you to say anything, but I was running a business here, see." She stepped a little bit away from him with a smirk on her face.

"And see, when I'm running a business, I'd like to see people loose with the purses, not you loose with your lips. Means I'm losing money, y'see, and when I lose money, well, I gotta make it up. Know how I make it up?" Staring straight at Kysho now, she began twirling her rings around a finger, the blades glinting sharply in the morning light. Kysho could almost see fangs in her smile.

"Did you know that there's a very, very lucrative black market for..." Whzzzttt! She snapped the rings out suddenly, lashing at Kysho's pelvic area. A line of lightning crackled over the metal as it snapped back into her hands, having come within an inch of his pants.

"Balls?" And with a wide, evil grin, she left it at that.

[Arynielle]

ooc: Kysho makes me laugh and I never knew that Silver was so profane. XD *wonders why Kapu ends up marrying her*

ic: When Elaviel had flown in, she had expected the group to be a bit more professional, perhaps a bit more organized. She was completely eager for a new adventure but spending a day with an immature crew was not what she had in mind either. Sure, she wasn't as early as she could have been but she was on time, and, already, there were a few who seemed to be caught up in a fruitless argument over something that Elaviel couldn't quite put a finger on. She mentally sighed, hoping the everyone would quiet down soon so that she would be able to focus upon the mission as opposed to this pointless bickering. These days, it seemed that it was all youngsters could do-- fight. Then again, who could blame them? From what the Elf had observed, that was all they knew how to do. It was quite pitiful.

However, pity was not something that Elaviel liked to share. Although she was kind in most ways and sympathetic in others, she rarely handed out pity on a silver platter. It was just not something that she was interested in sharing, for she believed that pity was an emotion that festered in the weak-hearted, the indecisive, those who were much too soft for their own good. Then again, perhaps pity had its uses but either way, Elaviel had no intention of pitying her party members. They seemed prideful, boastful, arrogant as well so she doubted that they were searching for pity from a stranger such as herself. They could continue to be what they were; she could not change them and held no grudge because of it.

She did notice that the two standing together, a young male and female, were in charge so she diverted her attention toward them. They appeared to be pleasant enough to begin conversation with. "Elaviel Seimarwen's the name," she said briskly with a light dip of her head. "How do you do?" Her voice, a fair note in the morning breeze, was warm and congenial. She tilted her head up to the sky at a small angle. It would most likely be a wonderful day. When she was flying earlier, she felt no stray drafts of wind which could have been signs of an incoming storm. Because of her ability to fly, she was much better at predicting the weather than a weatherman of sorts. "You know," she began. "Why don't we get going and take advantage of the coolness before the sun?" It made logical sense; travel while the the sun had not fully reached the sky.

[spot]

The crowd was interesting enough for anyone, even Chris almost burst out laughing when the girl with the rings almost kicked Kysho's butt. Unfortunately, he was still holding in his excitement for going to the Savage Relics. If we was lucky, he'd be able to show off his magical skills today; showing off was always fun for him.

Crystal scowled to herself, quickly realizing that all of the people showing up today were either crazy or immature. Maybe not Elaviel or Vyn, but everyone else needed to control themselves! Even Chris was kind of hyper right now, she could tell. Secretly, she hoped that the people's immaturity wasn't making an impression on the entire group as a whole. When Elaviel finally made a suggestion to get going, the reacting was imminent. "Of course! Let's get headed off right away! Everyone who's coming with head to the boats!"

Within five minutes, the entire group was at the docks. Chris' feet pounded the ground softly as the small rowboats came into view. Crystal would only buy three for now, and they each seat three people, allowing for a total of nine group members. "Alright, some people come in this boat here." Said Crystal, jumping into one of the boats. It rocked violently, but she managed her way in. Climbing all the way to the far side, she picked up the two oars and motioned for someone to join her.

"And some people over here in this boat! But I may need some help with the paddling; I'm not as strong as Crystal." Chris jumped in to his boat the same as his friend, but nearly fell into the water. "Ah! Someone help I'm gonn--" He yelled as he actually id fall into the water.

"Chris!" She laughed. Angry and embarrassed, Chris pulled himself out of the water and into the boat, water flowing out of his clothes into the boat.

((OOC: Ok, make your choice fast! If you come along, then you either get the wet boat or the dry boat.))

[Jukka]

Vyn couldn't help but laugh - was Kysho trying to be funny..or serious? Either way, it was kinda amusing. The dancer had only added to the amusement, probably scaring the crap out of Kysho. At Crystal's command, the group got up and headed towards the docks.

Chris definitely seemed to be the uh...not so coordinated one of the leaders, Vyn decided as he slipped and fell into the water. This caused the whole group to give a good laugh. As Chris was helped back into the boat, Vyn surveyed the other members. He should probably introduce himself. There was one who seemed to be a little separated from the group. She looked all of them a bit curiously.

Vyn approached the pointy eared girl. She seemed to be sensible and think above the uh...rambunctious group that was here. He held out a hand. "The name's Vyn Lesetren. How do you do?" He didn't really care as to which boat he got on, and decided to let the others decide first as he got to know another of his teammates.

[Arynielle]

ooc; I'm assuming the pointy-eared girl is Elaviel? XD

ic; They were intent on moving so quickly which made sense because Elaviel wasn't exactly the earliest of the bunch. Perhaps they really were waiting for her. "Ah well," she thought to herself. "What's done is done." She couldn't go back in time and make sure that she was more punctual. The thought of being late was shoved into the back of her head, probably for all eternity. She wouldn't think about it again unless the topic was brought up.

Leaving was fine with the Elf anyway because she was eager to get going anyway. Staying in one place wasn't something that she really enjoyed doing. She was much too active, perhaps even described as hyperactive to some. Elaviel, although she did like peace and quiet occasionally, craved adventure and excitement. She was the type of person who always had to be doing something. What that activity was always varied but as long as she was keeping herself busy, she was happy. To those who didn't know her very well, it would seem as though she were always on the move, constantly thinking and acting upon those thoughts. She was not obnoxious by any means but she did get bored rather easily. Most of the time, she kept herself entertained with her singing. Her voice was something that she could easily use and there were many things that she could do with it. Singing had quite a few facets to its art and Elaviel wanted to master all of them. She was not formally trained but she didn't need to be. It was an activity that she had a natural talent for, and she enjoyed practicing.

Soon, the group arrived at the docks. Elaviel took a deep breath of air, feeling calmed by the salt of the ocean. It had a very serene feel to it. The early morning breeze tousled her bangs since the rest of her hair was unavailable to its reach, tied up in a loose bun. Anyone who studied her would probably notice that her eyes were remarkably blue, something like the hue that the sky was at the moment. Many would say that such a shade fit her vibrant, optimistic personality. Eye color aside, Elaviel did somewhat represent the awakening of the world, for the mornings were when she was most active. And this morning was absolutely lovely, she had noted. The ocean's waves were rather calm, lapping at the shoreline below the docks themselves.

This was where the first stage of their journey began. She didn't exactly like boats because she could simply fly over bodies of water as long as they weren't too large but she would suffer where the others would have to suffer. It was only in her nature. There was a brief discussion about picking a boat but before Elaviel could react to the boat-choosing, someone had approached her. He introduced himself as Vyn, perhaps one of the more friendly of the other explorers? With a smile on her face, she replied, "Hello there, Vyn!" Absentmindedly, she hopped gracefully from the edge of the dock onto Crystal's boat. There really was no decision on her part; she just headed toward the closest one. "I'm doing just fine, thank you." Elaviel seatered herself. "And what about you? What draws you to the Savage Relics?"

[P-chan]

Mumbling angrily to himself after the ring girl freaked the hell out of him, Kysho meandered towards the boats. He was walking awkwardly, taking larger steps than normal, and growled vehemently.

However, watching Chris take that plunge into the water made his day. Kysho guffawed mockingly and had to wipe the tears away from the corners of his eyes once he was done. Wow, I'm taking that boat. Maybe I'll get a chance to push that baboon in there again later on. At his own thoughts, Kysho snickered. "Hee. Baboon," he repeated under his breath. "Heehee. I'm cool."

Once he reached said boat, he climbed on without a word. Making his way to the boat's bow, he plopped down, making the boat shake as he did, and glanced over his shoulder with a sneer to see if the swaying was going to make Chris fall in again. He frowned, both because the boy didn't take another dip in the water, and because he say his buddy Vyn talking to some other girl.

My buddy ditched me, Kysho thought to himself, his scowl darkening. He turned back forward to stare out towards the open water, folding his arms. Now I'm crabby... His thoughts drifted elsewhere, back to the food that he had stolen before. At least now that his buddy wasn't here to watch, he'd be able to see if the grub was worth stealing in the first place.

Kysho fished around in his loot bag, pulling out a biscuit for his efforts. It was incredibly hard to the touch. His fingertips didn't leave a single mark on them, no matter how hard he pressed. Pondering to himself, Kysho whacked it against the side of the boat a few times, to become even more surprised when the biscuit was unharmed. "What the hell is this," he murmured, lifting it close to his face, narrowing his dark brown eyes at it. "Damn thing..." Regardless, he shrugged and opened his mouth, deciding to chomp down on it.

Which was a bad idea, and Kysho's jaw succumbed with pain after his teeth met with the iron force of the biscuit. He howled out in agony, the biscuit falling from his hand as he clutched his cheek. "Sabotage!" the thief shrieked out. "That jerk planned to break my teeth all along!" Filled with new rage, Kysho picked up the rock hard biscuit, stood up indignantly, and hurled it at Vyn. After watching it connect with a satisfying thunk, Kysho stuck his tongue out.

"Buy something better for me to steal next time, bub!" With that, the brunette plopped back down onto his butt and continued to scowl.

((Jukka, you're getting lots of stuff thrown at you lately.))

[spot]

Kysho seemed to be fussing over a biscuit after climbing into Chris' boat, and soon after threw it at Vyn. Chris watched slightly angry, but at the same time he wanted to ignore the kid completely. Everything about his attitude made him want to shy away; he seems like someone who has a lot of ego... and with it a lot of self esteem. A guy like that won't be slow to point out someone else's weaknesses, and Chris had a lot of those.

He continued to wring out his soaked clothes, about to yell at people to hurry up into the boats. The sun continued to rise, and the only thing that he was still looking forward to for the day was exploring the ruins. Kysho couldn't manage to ruin everything in this one mission!

When he was getting a little bit drier, he finally brought his backpack into his lap to see if its contents were ok. Chris opened up the main pouch, where all of the food was, and was glad to see that his waterproof enchantment on the backpack had worked; everything inside was completely dry. Well that's cool. I was just experimenting with this too. I am lucky that Crystal's brother happened to find that limestone in a cave the other week. He thought.

Crystal, in her own boat, was wiping off her hands; helping Chris up into his boat got her a little wet too. As soon as she noticed Kysho making a short laugh, she growled, "What? You wanna go into the water too? We could have another accident if it's needed." Unfortunately, there weren't many people on the team yet, so she couldn't just kick the jerk off... yet.

Elaviel the flying girl and Vyn were chatting outside the boats, so Crystal took the chance to sit back and relax in her boat. The sun continued to rise, and it gleamed off of her wavy blond hair. It's been a while since I've had any free time... I forgot how nice it feels, I almost feel like a kid again! I'll have to thank my brother again sometime. Her brother, now around 10 years old, greatly enjoys spelunking and exploring caves. (His parents wish he doesn't.) One time, about three months ago, he was inside a deep cavern when he discovered a rich iron mine, and claimed it for his family. Crystal, who had been working two jobs, now had lots of vacation time... and loved it dearly.

"Alright, everyone! We'll be setting off in a minute or so! Hurry up and get in a boat if you're still coming!" She announced. Chris looked badly like he wanted to get going, and she didn't like to see him when he was sad. She also didn't want to see him stuck be in a boat with Kysho for longer than he had to.