"I'm Cherry..."

Cherry's voice had a slight girlish inflection, like a child everyone tried protect from the world. Cherry possessed a certain... innocence. She probably hadn't even intended to steal, Marinette lessened her grip as she considered this, the girl was trying to be safe... albeit, in a very untrained and blunt manner. She couldn't steal from the noobie, not in good conscience anyway. Okay, she definitely COULD steal in bad conscience, but a quick look told Marinette that Cherry didn't have anything that good, the only person she knew who even used guns, Hazard, didn't even use the kind the girl had.

Nah, she'd let the girl go, but it was her moral responsibility as a citizen of Paradise to make sure she never tried anything this hamfisted again. A menacing whisper in her ear wouldn't be enough. Marinette searched her own mind for inspiration, who did she know that could inspire that kind of fear? Something that would be simple and easy to do, but memorable enough that the memory of this little episode would be associated with general... unpleasantness. A single name came to her mind, a character Ness was particularly spooked by when the old re-runs of Sherlock came on.

Charles Augustus Magnussen

It didn't take many licks to her face to inspire the fear of the Loa into Cherry, "Aaahaa w-what are you doing, s-stop it!" Oh my Gods, is she actually crying? It took all of her being not to respond with laughter, that would have been even crueler than the girl had bargained for. Grey gave away his presence with his characteristic "two clicks" and suddenly, the two engaged in friendly banter, almost as if Cherry wasn't there, the girl practically being held hostage at this point. It wasn't until Mari offered her a piece of jerky that Cherry even spoke up, over the occasional sniffle. "Can I really?"

"Sure!" lightening her mood a little, that seemed to have calmed the girl down, "You ever had Paradise bear before...?" As the words left Marinette's mouth, the rustling of the grass gave way to another companion of her's, Raijin, followed by his wolf familiar Void. He had a dagger out, but his expression wasn't hostile toward the girl, Cherry, no, he seemed to recognize her, as well as showing some minor surprise.

"Hey there Cherry, long time no see. It seems you have gotten yourself into an a little bit of a pickle." Huh, so they knew each other, he then turned to Marinette after directly addressing Cherry, more confused than anything, "Geez, What she try to do that you had to pull a knife on her?"

Marinette let the girl free of her death grip as she answered this question, "You're little friend tried to mug me!" As the girl moved to pick up her rifle, Marinette moved to pick up her own discarded weapons, as well as the now useless cigar butt, it pays not to litter! She continued, half mocking Cherry "I wouldn't mind that so much, but she was really bad at it! I was just giving her a few pointers!" She gestured to the jerky eating cyborg in closing, "Grey can vouch for me!"

"No need, I can see it now and I'm sorry I missed it. Oh, when you guys are down chowing down, head back to the Cave. Cat's icthing to level, so I figured we should get movin' soon,ya know. I'll catch ya guys on the filp side after I have a little chat with Cherry over here." Raijin turned back towards the Philorite Pilot, an uncharacteristicly stern expression on his face.

"So, you tried to mug Mari, huh Lil' Firecracker. Next time you try to get the drop on someone, makes sure you play to your strengths of which close range is not. If she had been a PKer, you would 'ave just been PK'd. You should have just avoided her."

He kept quiet for a little to let that sink in, before bring his fingers to his mouth with mischief on his face, and blowing out a short whistle. Cherry suddenly found herself knocked over and being licked to Death by Void. Raijin was standing right above her, a genuine smile on his face.
"But I can't say I'm that upset since I got to see you again So, why don't ya come with me to the Cave so you can meet everyone else, and tell me what'cha been up since we last got together?" Raijin gave another whistle, letting Void no it was time to get off. Shetrotted over to the Cave entrance, then sat down to wait for them.

Cattypea frowned when Raijin left the cave, without much of a word as to where. Was something up? After a moment, She rose, going to the mouth of the cave, raising an eyebrow at the seen she saw. What was going o? She tried to figure out what had happened, and if it was going to get worse, but beyond the simple everything seemed fine, she had no clue what had happened. Obviously, Raifin knew the young girl, or at least the young looking girl. For all anyone knew, she could be a fifty year old man. And she thought, wasn't that just creepy?

She decided not to dwell on it. Instead, she debated on going over there and dragging Void off the girl, when Rajin whistled once more. "Attacking girls Raiin? Sicking your wolf on them?" She said in a approving tone. "Honestly, you need constant watching" She lost her composure and smiled, "Obviously, you know the girl. What happened?" She asked, in a curious tone.

Kalinda liked to know things. And it was no different for her in this world, as Cattypea, or in the real world. The simple fact was that she considered knowledge as a form of power. How could you do things, if you didn't understand them? And figuring out people was her greatest curiosity. Figuring out their likes, dislikes, how they thought, how they did things, what their prospects were for the future...it was like a puzzle, and she would learn each and every piece of it. Knowledge of events were just as exciting, just as thrilling to discover and take apart.

You're doing it again, Kali. Thinking too much. You are probably standing there, looking like an idiot, your mouth agap. Pull yourself together but her thoughts continued to drift, and yet not one of them was about having to log out. Still, she pulled herself together. At least her mouth hadn't been open like a fish gasping for air. She looked back to Raijin, eyes darting to the girl. It didn't seem like she could have done anything wrong. She looked too...innocent.

Of course, looks could be deceiving.

"Where is everyone going? We gonna level or something?" asked Hazard out loud as he watched one person after another leave the cave. His curiosity ended up getting the better of him and he too got up, following behind Catt. As he followed, Void walked past him and sat at the cave entrance, so he continued onward to where the wolf came from. Eventually he came to where Marinette, Grey, Raijin, Catt, and some other girl he hadnt met before all standing together. The girl's face looked... wet for some reason, assuming she mustve been a victim of Void's tongue.

"Whos the new chick?" Hazard asked, his rifle resting on his shoulder with his other hand at his hip. He tilted his head at the girl in curiosity, she didnt seem too high of a level, judging by how she looked, and she looked too innocent to be a pker. Plus Raijin seemed to know her, which put him at ease to any thought of threats.

Mantam saw people slowly starting to leave The Cave. First went Raijin, then Cat, then Hazard, and by the Mantam's interest was surely piqued. She turned to break off her conversation with Cynthia, "It looks like somethings afoot. I'm going to go investigate." Mantam said with a wink, before jumping up from the crafting table, leaving her work for another day. She found those that departed, along with Grey and Marinette, who had left earlier. They were all crowded around something, and as she approached, she found what appeared to be a girl. You can never be too sure in MMOs. The girl seemed young, and innocent, and perhaps a bit flustered by the group that was forming around her, or whatever caused them to take interest. Mantam quickly spoke up, "Who's this? A friend of ours?" She said, smiling at the girl.

As Mantam scanned the girl, something clicked in her head. Goggles, gun, wrench, tacky looking military attire... she was a Pilot. Mantam quickly took control of the situation, grabbing the girls hand and gently but forcibly leading her out of the crowd. "Group conference!" Mantam declared happily, giving no one a chance for retort. She rejoined the circle, and whispered to the group, "I don't know who she is, but she looks like she's a friend of yours, Raijin, if I'm reading the situation right. I don't know if you guys have been keeping track, but the only class our group needs is a Pilot, and she's pretty clearly a pilot... we should invite her in, if she can be trusted."

Miko

Miko wasn't struggling anymore and just tried to co-operate with the girl to maybe get to be free once again, she could already feel the knife not being so close to her throat anymore. It felt definitely more comfortable to not have a knife holded against your throat for the whole time, while there is being played with your ear. Her face turned a bit red when she was half crying from the nasty feeling around her ear. It felt really embarrassing to be humiliated like this in front of another person and he didnt even care Miko was being threatened like that, must have been some really weird friendship between the two people she just met. The behaviour of the girl also seemed to have changed a little bit when the Cyborg joined in their little play of hostage and kidnapper.

The food cheered her up a bit more but the fact that she was still held hostage at this point wasn't the greatest thing there could be. She tried to grab the jerky from the position she was in, but it was no use she could get a hold of the jerky, unless she wanted to cut herself badly onto the knife Mari was holding It's to far Miko said with quite an annoyed voice. Before she could try it again the girl asked her a simple question and a immediate reply from cherry sounded quickly afterwards No, not really. I want to try it tough. Miko tried once again to reach out for the jerky but was halfway through distracted by some rustling in the bushes near them. Even more people showed up after the Cyborg. She wasn't bothered by who it was that jumped out of the bushes. The reaction to her friend didn't sound to sure, since she had no idea on how to reply to someone so casual after not having heard from each other for the past week or so Y-yea, haven't seen you for a while.

Miko felt the knife being removed from her throat when Raijin entered the conversation, her reaction to it wasn't to great but it was close to good. Miko grabbed one of the jerkys out of the bag while stumbling to run away from the girl towards Raijin. The jerky was quickly found in her mouth when she was standing behind the thug like builded Raijin. Miko noticed that her gun was still lying in front of the girl so she dashed out to grab it in only a few seconds while she got a quick glance of the snake in front of her face. After standing behind Raijin again she poked her upper body and head out a little from the right of Raijin while hearing what the girl said just now about mugging her. Miko just simply blurted out in reply I didn't! She stepped out a little more when she got angry for being blamed by the girl. The jerky in her mouth disappeared into her right hand while she sheathed the pistol away with her left hand You weren't giving me pointers. You where only harassing me and i wont forgive you about that! She was stamping with her foot onto the ground while balling up both her fist with the piece of jerky still in her right hand. Her teeth where gritting over each other to let out her anger a bit.

Mari was referring to someone called Grey like the colour. must have been the robotic looking man eating the jerkys. Raijin suddenly started talking to the two other to say that they should go to the cave to help cat. Was this morse code or something since it didnt sound that normal to Miko, something about leveling a cat in a cave, well she would leave that to another time to figure out what it means. Her expression turned somewhat more questionable when she heard Raijin wanted to talk to her for some reason. She faced Raijin while she waited for the other two to leave the two of them alone for a short time. The expression on Raijins face didn't look to happy to notice she caused all this ruckus. Miko dropped her eyes a little to avoid any more eye contact, was he mad at her for doing something wrong? He began talking and after hearing only the first word he said she started blurting words out again You know I hate being called like that! After talking while making eye contact she folded her arms and looked away from him while pouting half. After hearing him out she replied again I was sure I had her! and it wasn't even my intend to hurt her since i felt curious about what she was doing. her voice slowly dropped in volume when she kept talking while it quickly became quiet between them.

Miko pulled up a confused face when Raijin started blowing his fingers. Was it time for his friends to come out or something. It only took a matter of seconds before she could feeling something heavily pressed against her left side while still facing Raijin. Her face slowly turned towards the object while her weight dropped sideways to the ground Oooff a loud thud sounded when she hit the ground with the wolf on top of her. Miko could only notice that it was Void before being licked to death by the wolf that was standing onto her upper body. A loud giggle sounded from Miko when the tongue of the wolf was rapidly licking her face Stop it Void, it tickled to much Hahaha. She continued giggling and tried to cover her face with both hands till the wolf was done licking. Miko heard the talking from Raijin from before when she was being licked and gave a quick nod at him while asking Why a cave, don't you have a base or something. It will be way nicer out here if you are gonna talk with the rest of your group.

Miko felt a bit startled when three new people suddenly approached Raijin with definetly their focus on herself. A girl even helped her get Void partly off of her, she gave a quick Thank you to the girl with a little bow after it. She took a closer look at the girl without getting to much attention, she had some of the aspect of an animal like the ears and the tail(s). Miko liked how she looked but didn't show much of an expression or any comments, Miko felt a little flustered when the girl said something about Raijin attacking her with his wolf but didn't pay much more attention to the conversation between them and was more focused on the two still walking this way. The boy looked like he could be a marksman, the huge sniper definitely showed of that he was indeed that class. The boy also started talking but Miko thought it fitted Raijin more to explain it to him. Her eyes wandered to the last person approaching, it was another girl where she couldn't be sure about how she would react or what class she is.

Miko gave a gentle smile at the girl to hear almost the same question three times in a row, she still didn't talk much but instead looked over to Raijin again for an explanation. Out of no where her hand got grabbed by the last girl pulling her out of the group some feet away from the others, she was left standing there alone with a somewhat dumbfounded expression on her face. Was this a normal thing to happen out of nowhere? Well she surely never experienced this before, her glance didn't go away from the group talking.

(Why does this)

(just hate me)

Cynthia was starting to get annoyed now. She could handle Prince leaving, he always did that, and Mari was just odd sometimes, plus Grey was a bit of a loner, but ALL of them at once had left. This was supposed to be the day they all gathered and got off this rock, but instead half the group, including one of the two people they were here for, was missing. She got up and decided it was drill sergeant time. She equipped her armor and all three of her swords as she walked out of the Cave, and hadn't walked far when she found what most of the group was up to.

"At attention!" She barked, imposing now in her full getup. She strode purposefully toward the group, taking in details as she went. "I want to know what in nine worlds is going on, starting with you." She pointed at the new girl suddenly. "I want your name, your level, your class, and your version of the story."

Raijin got inbetween Cherry and the rest of the group, she see was quite nervous.

"This is Cherry, a friend of mine, and you all are crowding her a bit. So if you would all ju-"
Before he could finish, Drill Sgt. Cynthia came out, and she was not happy.

Raijin's ears instinctively went down, his tail between his legs. A show of subordination, he was in no hurry to get her pissed at him. He didn't move from where he was though, keeping Cherry from being exposed to the full force of Cynthia's anger. And while tried his best to resist the urge, a low growl manged to sneak out, just a small one that was quickly silenced.

Cattypea saw the girls eyes on her, studying her, and gave the girl a smile. She figured the girl didn't want to make it obvious that she was taking in her appearance, but Catty was very observant. She liked watching people. At Cynthia's shout to attention, Cattypea rolled her eyes, yet nevertheless, turned her attention to Cynthia. She knew that she probably shouldn't have just gone off. But the scene had just been too interesting to ignore.

She cleared her throat, mimicking Raijin's subordination, lowering her ears and tail, and keeping her eyes on the ground. it seemed the simplest way of not having her butt kicked Verbally or physically. Besides, she needed to level today, or she would continue to feel as if she was holding the group back, and she did not want that.

She pursed her lips when she heard Raijin's growl, glancing over to him, seeing the protective stance he had in front of the girl, Cherry. Interesting. Did they know each other in real life? Did they have something between them? Questions she dearly wanted the answers too.

She looked to Cynthia and said "Maybe just back off a bit, before Raijn loses control and bites your head off" She said in a tone that she hoped broke the tension she felt growing among the group.

Cynthia glared at the comment, though the expression lacked any real threat. "Cat, we were almost ready to start today's task. We were only missing one person, and now there is exactly that many people who are where they are supposed to be. If Raijin wishes to challenge me, all he has to do is speak up, but until that time I want to know why six of our group of nine people are standing around here, and I want to hear it from her because no offense Mari and Grey, I have this strange feeling it's mostly your fault." Her expression softened now that everybody was listening.

"Now," She said to the new girl, smiling as if she hadn't just given her team an earful. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Raijin cautiously moved away from Cherry, his instincts keeping him from leaving her side completely. This wasn't the first ti e his animalistic side had taken a hold of him. He didn't no why, as he didn't think Cat had the same problem, but he hsd always had to be careful in order to keep them in check, or else stuff like what just happened,well, happened.

"I don't plan on challenging you Cynthia, just couldn't help myself. I tried to stop it, but I just haven't gotten the hang of it, that's all. Plus your sudden, and loud, appearance sure didn't help. I guess I just feel a little protective of the lil' firecracker here." Even though this was all said in a calm manner, Raijin was always terrified of these moments, though he tried not to worry the other's about. He was afraid of losing control of that side, or worse having it come out IRL.

"And I'll vouch for her, if that means anything at the moment."

If there ever was a time that Hazard was ever anything besides happy, it was when Cynthia went into her drill sergeant mode. The commanding tone, like she had some kind of rank to pull over him, it reminded him too much of how his parents were, and that left a bad taste in his mouth. Of course he enjoyed Cynthia, he wouldnt trade her for the world, but some things in his own personal life just couldnt be helped. Unlike the two who backed off, he stood his ground, a defiant habit that had formed from the numerous arguments he had with his parents in the past.

"So sorry, drill sergeant, didnt realize we were playing a war game. I'll just head back to my post" he said, putting emphasis on the words drill sergeant, shouldering his rifle and walking past her, not acknowledging her should she call back to him. It would only take a few short minutes before he was back to his joking self, but for now he held a bit of a scowl as he went to the mouth of the cave, sitting down and leaning against the cave side. He never liked acting this way, he knew Cynthia wasnt trying to be anything over him... it was hard to explain. For the first time in his life, Hazard had gotten to do what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it... the thought of losing that... well, lets just say he didnt take kindly to the thought.

She swayed with the beat... not caring if they noticed.

Marinette and Anima Sola had wondered off again-- not too far from the group surrounding Cherry, a few feet, actually. Mari quite liked Cynthia going full on Sergeant Hartman mode-- but something about that always made her feel like Lieutenant Kilgore... Jesus man, those movies are like 100 years old... Still, she fell on her back on a patch of grass away from the group. She was lighting another cigar with her rather unreliable spell.

Spark. Spark. Spark.

The small fire between the snap of her middle finger and her thumb just wasn't enough to light the cigar it seemed, she used it another time when she heard Raijin, "--And I'll vouch for her, if that means anything at the moment." The fire took.

Finally!

Marinette took a few bitter puffs before yelling, "I'll vouch for her too! Anyone that bad at mugging can't be all that bad!" As she finished, she noticed Hazard walking back to the cave. Marinette considered Hazard a good friend, a sentiment Ness shared, holding out her arm to let Anima sliver up to her shoulder, she followed the gun toting Esquen back to the Cave. He leaned against it's entrance, he could see her approaching.

"Hey man," She said, took another puff of the cigar before holding out to Hazard, something of a peace offering, something of a gift shared between friends, "What's up?" She didn't make an effort to hide her slightly concerned expression.

Hazard noticed his Esquen comrade approach and managed a small yet dry smile. He looked at her as she held out the cigar and he took it with a nod of gratitude. "Thanks" he said before taking a few puffs from it and handing it back. He sighed and let the smoke blow out of his nostrils, a familiar stinging feeling left behind as he did so. He normally didnt smoke, but considering in game smoking wouldnt hurt him IRL, he figured it wasnt a bother. Besides, it was the respectful thing to do since it was offered by a friend. Both being Esquen, Hazard already took to being close friends with Mari, her attitude was something he liked about her, and her taste in music wasnt half bad.

He sighed when she asked what was the matter and he shook his head, "It's nothing... I just hate it when Cynth gets all commando on us. We didnt go too damn far, we were just curious what was going on." he said rather bitterly, as if he were justifying to Mari why he went, though he knew she needed no justification. He shook his head again and said "Im just... not a fan of people ordering me around. Too much of that shit in real life. I come here so I dont need to deal with that, you know?But hey, im fine, Happy Hazard al over again" he said as he forced a smile, albeit a dry one at best.

Miko

Miko folded her arms together and raised her eyes a little to see what the group was up to. It all seemed a little suspicious to be pulled away from them so they could talk in private. Maybe they where planning to pull a prank of on her? No Raijin wouldn't do that to her... well, she hoped atleast. Her eyes wandered around the group a little in boredom, why did she got to be left out, didnt they like her? Miko was pulled out of her toughts by a commanding yell from Cynthia that had just arrived at the small group of people near the cave. A sudden shiver went along her back as she turned around to look at the girl coming straight from the army to have Miko being interrogated.

The girl looked pretty innocent to her, maybe someone else yelled at them. Raijin jumped in front of Miko to protect her from the girl. His back was big enough to completely make her vanish but she didnt use most part of his back, just a little to prevent the other girl from hurting Miko with her sword. Miko moved a little towards the girl while the girl started asking some things to her but Miko just wanted to be sure if she was really talking to her by pointing her index finger at herself while looking casually at the girl.

When Raijin left her almost fully exposed, she turned towards him and balled her hands up to fists while she stamped onto the ground in anger I'm not a firecracker! she stood still for a few minutes looking away from Raijin with her arms folded again JeezA puff escaped her mouth as she took the bait from the girl and walked towards Cynthia while giving an glance back to Raijin and quickly said one last thing I'll be fine her pace continued towards the girl while looking at the the other three that where still standing there. One of the three tried to sneak out of it and it mostly seemed to work. Miko stopped in front of the girl, her face as serious as it could possibly be. She raised her hand at the girl expecting she would give a handshake CherryLover, level 4, class pilot. I'm here for no reason and intended to be leaving before i saw my friend here. she gestured at Raijin as her brow raised. Her arms quickly folded again when she was slightly leaning on her right foot now Why would you need to know.

Mantam sighed as Cynthia appeared in full regalia. She played the part of the drill sergeant perfectly. She gave a sympathetic look to the girl, who she now knew as 'Cherry'. She strode over to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. Mantam smiled at the girl and whispered to her, "Don't worry, we're not as crazy as we seem. Cynthia comes on a little strong, but she means well." Mantam disengaged from her and next walked to Cynthia. She leaned into her, putting her mouth to her ear, whispering to her next, "Cynth, girl, you know I love you, but please tone it down next time. Remember, this girl's a Pilot, and you know we still need a Pilot." Mantam smiled at her, and moved on, next heading back towards the mouth of The Cave, towards Marinette and Hazard. Mantam let out an audible sigh as she reached them. "Another happy day at The Cave. We finally find a Pilot, and Cynthia has to do this." Mantam smiled at Hazard, and placed a hand on his shoulder, "You know Cynthia means well, right? I'm sure the ways she sees it we need someone to crack the whip, Prince being lazy as he is. If it weren't for her, we probably wouldn't get anything done." Mantam said with a small giggle at the end. "Come get me when we get moving, alright? I've hand enough of whatever's going on out here."

Mantam advanced into The Cave, waving back at the pair before leaving their sight. She saw Prince, napping as usual. She sighed. How typical. Mantam hit him lightly on the chest, "You better wake up or Cynthia may have a few choice words for you. Or you can nap, up to you." She thought for a moment and added hastily, "She's in drill sergeant mode, so you should be careful."

Hazard looked up at Mantam as she tried to cheer him up, knowing her intentions were good but it made him uncomfortable. He never was a fan of being cared for like this, as he never wanted to be seen as Kyron the kid who needs cheering up. He was supposed to be the wise cracking happy one in the group according to him. When she let go of his shoulder and walked into the cave, he wiggled and somersaulted across the grass saying "Ehhhh... stop being caring it makes me feel all weird!". This of course was his way of showing he had gotten over Cynthia's drill sergeant mode and was ready to be back to his carefree self, not needing people to be concerned. He rolled around a little longer before stopping, his head laying next to Mari's leg as he looked up at her. "Mari, play some music!" he said as he stretched out his arms and tried to reach for her cigar playfully.

"Mari, play some music!"

Marinette watched with a smug amusement as Hazard returned to his old self, rolling in the grass, almost as if to shake off the affections she and Mantam had showered him with. He was someone who could be serious when he needed to, but obviously preferred to keep things light and carefree, it was something she admired in him.

In Ness' experience, it was those types of people that always made for the most chill bros.

She took another puff and exhaled, "Oh, I got the perfect one!" She changed the function of her... weird... rose-thing... from headphone to speaker and leaned against the cave wall in a way that found her slowly sliding down, until she sat in the grass. She toyed with the cigar, keeping it just out of his reach, before tossing it into the air, game logic dictated he'd probably catch it perfectly in his mouth.

"Y'know what I wanna do?" She leaned against the wall, just barely hearing Mantam address Prince inside the Cave, "Go out and fuck some shit up-- like really--- I like the social aspect of this game, but a lot of the time, I wanna go do something crazy, like... team fight a lvl. 20 orc or something. Y'know?"