Karn had mostly been fiddling with some of the mechanisms within the bridge, ears twitching as she listened to the conversation. Indeed, riding around in this beat up airship would probably give them away. It would need to be repaired anyway and now it is on the radar of pretty much anyone who pays attention to anything. So it probably be better for the princess to start traveling a different way. It's a bit of a trek, but it wasn't something too bothersome for regular travelers. Being in this big of a lot could be problematic, but with as much monster activity as of late, it would make sense for someone to hire this many if they weren't much of a fighter and a bit skittish. Monica definitely wasn't much of a fighter. Even if she was, she could play off as she wasn't easily. Plus with a few bodies, it be easier to hide the princess behind them.

"Sounds purrfect." Karn responded in her usual calm, expressionless tone as she fiddled with a screwdriver against a screw.

Blank was leaning against a wall, arms crossed over his chest as he listened before moving off it and moving closer to Baku and muttering to him. "Boss, you sure we should send Karn with them? The Princess has plenty of protection and Monica and Wylde will be with them. If anything, you could send me instead." he inquired. Mildly concerned over sending the small demi-human blonde on this mission. Any mission like this really.

“That’s a sound plan, boss.” Wylde agreed at them being dropped at Dali. It was indeed a decent strategy to deal with this situation they were in. The princess needed to be brought away from the ship as it was a pretty much dead giveaway indeed.” We also will need some disguise for the princess. They would have people looking for those with her likeness at any checkpoints they could get to.” The former soldier stated, realizing she’d also need some disguise.” And I will also need to get disguised, while most of the crew are safe from being well recognized on the spot, I’m still a former soldier, they have all my info and appearance recorded.”

“Do we still have hair paint? We should still have some left over from the play preparations right?” She asked. The bare minimum she needed to do is color her hair. Though she had plan for bigger… let’s say changes.

Itzal nodded and gave Cassius a salute, "Aye, aye sir. Whatever team you feel you need to put me to... I will go without hesitation." He answered simply, his tail swishing lightly.

He wanted to show Cassius that he was ready for any sort of plan and would follow his orders to a tee, he had become quite impatient over the last week and was itching to see some more action. While he had been afraid to act the last time... It certainly wouldn't be the case from now on and he was proudly going to prove himself to his fellow Lumyian.

While Itzal didn't have a certain team that he wanted to be with in mind, he sort of hoped he'd at least be partnered with Hitori, he had found himself attracted to the Kumiho, not that he'd actually admit that to himself and especially not to anyone else.

Minerva Fairchild -- On Foot We Shall Go

Silently, the Knight would listen as the group discussed what their plans were for the next leg of the trip. She had to admit, as far as bandits went, this little group was far from the worst she had ever seen. Though, there was certainly room for improvement.

Keeping her arms guardedly folded, the moment Garnet turned to face her and inquire if she agreed with the plan, the Knight nodded calmly.

Concern was growing in her mind, as it was revealed that Cassius wasn't skilled with a blade. Leading her to suspect that the majority of the crew was likely the same way. The Lioness' eyes narrowed then, with such revelation giving rise to the thought that she would likely be the only competent swordfighter in the group, she would not be able to rely on the others.

A slight scowl grew, but Minerva would make herself heard.

"If we are to go forward with this plan, the Princess and I will need disguises, or commoner's clothing. If you will." The Knight's intense gaze shifted to Monica then, as she continued. "Miss, perchance might you have skme spare clothing that might fit the two of us? Because you very well know they are looking for a Noblewoman, and the Princess. Our clothes are half the problem."

“Anyhow, going to be back in a few minutes.” Wylde stated, turning and walking back towards the women's quarters. She had most of the things she needed in there. Clothing, accessories, other random bits and bops. She was going to disguise herself well enough though she sure disliked what was going to happen.

Once inside and by her hanging bed, she opened the trunk underneath it and pulled some clothing from within. It was time to leave all her stage garments and get into something more comfortable for traveling and fighting, but lacking all the tackyness of the stage costumes.

After about 10 minutes of dressing up and preparing, she finally reached to her rapier and went by the mirror.' And I had just started to like my hair longer...' She thought, before catching all her hair in a hand and with her rapier cut her hair, turning it into a nice barely shoulder length haircut. Following that she pulled a small pair of scissors to add a few more touches before finally being ready to return to the others.

“Alright, I'm done... almost.” She said with a smile.” Still need to color my hair, but I could do that at later date.”

Karn's ears flicked, lifting her goggles from her eyes to gingerly rest on top of her head, cracking her knuckles as she seemed to be done fiddling with the device. Standing up, her catlike eyes glanced toward the others and shrug a little. "Well luckily, quite a bit of the clothing and outfits are still around. And they are enough that look ratty to do just fine for any common person. Women's are in the women's resting quarters in some of the boxes. So as long as Princess Gemstone and Ser Bearish can act like the common lass, should be easier to get by." the Demihuman said, throwing her thumb casually over her shoulder and after Wylde to the woman's quarters.

Hopefully they could find something that would hold the journey. It will be nice to go to Treno. Could stop by the Doc's to get some good medicine. Maybe gamble a little bit. Treno was quite a nice city to spend night's at.

When Wylde returned, the short blonde ambiguous female glanced toward her with the usual neutral expression. Emerald eyes casually doing a once over as they roamed over her companion before looking directly at her. "Purrfect. Glad you cut that hair of yours. It's heavenly color and length was driving me Wylde." Karn said calmly before smirking mischievously and giving a playful wink, earning a groan from Blank as he face palmed.

"Karn, can you just not? You make my head hurt." Blank whined.

Karn just rolled her eyes, shrugging with her arms out in a sort of like 'i dunno' manner, though the mischievous smirk remained. "Awe what's wrong bro? Don't tell me I leave your..." Karn started before being interrupted by the red spiky haired man.

"No." Blank stated firmly, his hand slowly sliding down his face.

"Mind." Karn continued, grin growing wider as she slowly leaned her body closer to her comrade until they were touching arms and shoulders.

"Don't you dare." Blank warned.

"Blank." Karn finished while poking his cheek with a gloved index finger as she watched in satisfaction while Blank growled and groaned, smacking both hands against his face.

"That's it! Come here you little cat!" Blank said before promptly tackling her. Though she seemed prepared for this because as soon as she started falling, she slammed both hands to the ground, catching herself while her legs wrapped around her brother in arms. Flipping along with the momentum and promptly swung him slam his back against the ground. The shirtless man grunted but quickly rolled and grabbed her thighs in order to try to flip and pin her. Though she smacked him in the face with her tail to distract him, rolling and flipping them both on their bellies. Getting up to her hands and feet to quickly leap a bit to land on top him with a evil smirk on her face while sitting on his back, hands raised wiggling threateningly before taking off the gloves to reveal her claws.

"Prepare to meet your ultimate demise, Blank Shirt." The feline hummed before tickling her claws against the bare skin around the ribs. Blank started to uncontrollably laugh, starting to thrash as he tried to throw her off.

"Say Carbuncle." Karn demanded with a smirk.

"Hahahaa..... NEVER! OW hey! Hahaha" Blank snickered.

"Alright you asked for it." Karn shrugged before closing her mouth and swishing her tongue and sucking around her mouth. Creating quite the wad of saliva.

"Ah Ah AH! Wylde! Boss! Cinna! Marcus! Assist! Timeout! Tagout!" Blank called, reaching to struggling and smacking his hands on the ground. Though Cinna and Marcus just looked up from their card game for a moment, shrugged then continued.

"Nah bro, this is one time I ain't saving ya." Marcus mused, casually shifting through the cards in his hand.

"Traitors!" Blank whined.

Sticking her left index finger in her mouth, she drew it out to have a nice glop of moisture as she grinned like a Cheshire cat ready to deal out the worst.

"Fine Fine! Carbuncle! Carbuncle!" Blank said, giving in and faceplanting on the ground in relief as the Demi-human seemed pleased, swallowing the rest of the spit before just wiping the loaded weapon of it against Blank's back and got back up. Reequipping her gloves with a victorious smirk.

Blank stood up and glared at her from under his leather belt headband before shrugging and shook her head. "You tell them they need to act like the common girl, yet you don't act anything like one." He said before laughing as Karn drew her right hand upwards to smack him upside the head. Before ruffling the spiky hair messily.

"That's because I hang around you louts." The feline mused cooly.

"But there's Monica and Ruby." Blank pointed out.

"There's more of you louts. And I guess I just find you all more... amewsing." Karn grinned, earning another groan.

Ritsu Wrapped his arms from behind Cassius and grabbed him by his waist, nuzzling into the nape of his neck affectionately, "You seem tense, Is everything alright? Are you seeing Someone behind my back? I bet he's not as Wild as me." Ritsu said with a flirtatious tone. "In all Seriousness though things could be going much worse, I think so at least. The Company isn't bad, I can even learn to tolerate Fox Breath. I know he's one of your oldest friends." Ritsu said in a playful manner as he spun Cassius around and held him in the crook of his arms like a dancer holding his partner before setting him back and laughing.

Hitori on the other hand had found some odd place to sleep and was curled up in a mass of white fluffy tails that only flickered every so often, The mass of Fluff had decided that under a Cabin bench would be the ideal nap spot and dreamed. Inside his dream was a tall winged thing with burning eyes and a Witches hat on strings, like some strangely made Marionette that seemed less playful and more like a cruel parody of life, in the Dream Hitori was devouring the Liver of some ancient forgotten monster and took a detached interest in the thing, it seem ominous and Hitori didn't get to be as old as he was Ignoring omens. It was Stricken from heaven and it fell into the Mist of the Spirit Wilds below, shattering into a million pieces which sparked like Coins falling or Silver Fairies dancing in the shadows. It was definitely a pretty dream, Hitori thought as the Swam through a dreaming sky; yipping and twitching softly under his pile of tails.

Perrin had shared his end of the bargain with Hitori or rather possibly a new roommate long before the week’s start of course. There was no real intention on keeping that as bargaining chip but either way it had struck up a conversation if only briefly at the time. He would of course make note of the ingredients mentioned in the manner they were to the best of his ability in order to create a ‘pizza’ later. Time went on for much longer than Perrin would have originally hoped for. A couple of days did not seem too bad at first, he was not used to traveling by air so the length of any trip was rather, uncertain. Yet it continued to stretch out and for most of this period Perrin would fall into deep bouts of sleep in hopes to make it move faster, or be up thinking about creating a pizza.

At some point he briefly caught wind of a conference to be meeting soon and decided to take that opportunity to try it. He took the time to get into the kitchen and try to cook up a large pizza (or in his own case likely a medium or normal size) with the basic ingredients he can find and some of his own. He was briefly tempted to use some sweet fruit that had been preserved among his other food rations, but recalling it was pineapple he decided to go with the monsieur’s taste and go against such. Besides, the fruit was already quite sweet and having preserved it honey would have likely added on to that, perhaps too much so. Anywho with Perrin’s luck and carefulness he managed to the thing done. A regular pizza for the most part with the addition of some ham Perrin had in his rations. He briefly thought upon asking for a refund from the trip do to its unfortunate encounter to pay off for using the kitchen facilities but figured perhaps it would just even out. It also seemed somewhat bad to request money back from a ship that may well need it for the repairs.

Now with that and a complete loss of time and uncertainty of it. Perrin prepared the pizza and began taken it on its way. Aiming to distribute it among the conference as to see whether or not it tasted well. During that time it seems he had rather forgotten where the conference itself was. Lucky for him, there seemed to be someone nearby a roommate who had apparently chosen a rather uncomfortable or tight looking spot to nap instead of the cabin beds. Hopefully it wouldn’t be much of a bother to wake him and find direction yet again. Perrin would softly try to nudge and whisper, “Hey” to Hitori in hopes of waking him up softly. Perrin of course balanced the pizza on a wooden board of sorts with one hand softly nudge at Hitori with the other.

Cassius was caught of guard as he was held in the crook of Ritsu's arm, his face actually had color in it for once. "Ohh... hii..." He was certainly trying to adjust about being open about who he was, taking off his mask was a start, but he definitely felt naked without it. "Meeee? Seeing someone? How did you know?" Cassius teased as he went to stand back up. "It was with sir Jimothy no less." Cassius teased before seemingly going into deep refection of his upbringings.

"Heh... I just remember when Alphonse decided to adopt me, his daughter took no interest in me... yet he wanted me away from the labor forced due to..." Cassius took a breath, whispering in Ritsu's ears. "That... Secret." He wasn't talking about his race either. The gem around his neck was well concealed into his top. The layers definitely kept his safe. "You go away for two years and say you're a hunter! Pish posh!" Cassius mocked his care taker.

Baku took interest in what was going around. Blank and Karn seemed to be having fun, it was rather cute if even childish; which was how he preferred it, everyone expressing themselves without a need to be haughty about it. Something about that to him was very human, he didn't mean the race either. But Monica spoke up to address Minerva, Wylde, and Garnet.

"Right, lassies, I have spare clothing that is less theater, but I am not sure if many of my clothes will fit Ser Knight so much." She said blatantly. "However, I have many robes that can conceal one's armor." She stated. But she also had some form of powers in place with her."This is a dye I been working on, several rather. Place them in one's hair, and you can disguise it, sadly I don't have time to make too many colors." Monica spoke with a smile before passing the bowl over to Wylde. "Aaand... It can be used as eye liner and make up, such as rouge and blush."

"I wish to hear about your upbringings a bit lad. Just a wee bit." Baku spoke as the ladies were preparing not far away from the conversation at all. "If not, I'll have you do a song and dance with Blank, never know, your mate might have something to worry about after that dance. He is known to get touchy as a thief." Baku joked with a grin. He loved picking on his crew, such an expressive bunch.

Cassius took a moment. "Well... I wasn't always a hunter, wasn't born into a linage, in fact I wasn't much of anything growing up." Cassius nervously twirled a long lock of his hair. "As you heard, I was adopted by Lumyians in Lindblum. You might not remember it... But you kinda did play a hand on it before you had this hair ship. You just will never guess who I was." Cassius smirked somewhat, but only because he was right. Baku never could recall encountering Lumyian children in his travels. Just humans, demihumans, and occasionally other races. He never particularly got along with Hitori's race. A tricky bunch they were.

"But, that part isn't so important. What was, is that I was adopted by Alonso Syriac Stephen... Or as he is known as on the streets... Ass." The worst part of this set up, is Baku could tell he was not joking, he just felt himself grinning way more than he should have.

"Pff..." Monica even suppressed a laugh as she went back to looking at the Crystal, listening in for any new information.

"Alphonse, was tricky to deal with. His wife Mira was much nicer in fact, and... understood how complicated it was... to be told to live as they did. As... their race." Cassius held his breath for a moment. "As a result... They tried to keep me from working from Research and Development in Lindblum. When I came as... myself, I was shooed away with a broom."

Monica blinked several times. "Oh god... it's him...? That Alphonse...? You're th-" She held her breath.

"A Broom? To push your own kid away? What did you do as an act of defiance? This is that kind of story, right?" Baku placed a bit of thought into it. It definitely made sense that way for it to be followed up with an act of defiance.

But then there was freshly baked Chicken, Baku could not help but take a leg of it. It wasn't bad by any means, but he took another leg before offering to Cassius who simply gestured with his hand to say "In a moment." Baku of course nodded. He was on a tangent, and it certainly showed Cassius did need to pay attention to even what he was regurgitating in terms of his personal life.

"He... Actually tried to hire Hitori all the way from Alexandria, to keep an eye on me. He kept an eye on me... But he simply taught me how to sneak about better. Showed me a bit of his magic and how to make salves." Cassius smiled before walking a few spaces about to look for the Fox, but never leaving the room. "Hmmm... I was about to pet him... But oh well... He was like the perfect friend growing up simple because... No one of the Lumyian race liked me as I was. But Hitori told me they simply care way too much about outside appearances and live in shallow delusions and should find my own happiness." Cassius smiled before walking back to Ritsu.

"So you found this Monkey man?" Baku spoke, stroking his own chin as he engulfed the rest of the leg.

"Please chew..." Cassius stated, Monica laughing somewhat. "Yes, I was trying to be a Hunter... and at the time I went to Treno, Very beautiful in terms of architecture, very chaotic with how many people will try to con you. Ritsu, oddly never tried to con me. He conned other thieves out of their money and would randomly throw dinner at me. I was very skeptical for the longest time, but he's watch me in places I cannot reach conventionally... So..." Cassius chuckled. His white teeth showing. "So I had to adjust to verticality as someone trying to get a bounty, and it took me so long... to realize he was who the regent was looking for. See, I never knew was a Bounty to be taken in alive. When you see him, you don't see someone to point a weapon at... or some elaborate trap... and this went on for months." Cassius sat down, hugging Ritsu in a side bench.

Baku chuckled. "The most charming people live in Treno. Or have lived there. But how did you catch him?"

"I formed a pact with Anubis... The wraps helped me climb to places I could not normally traverse... And there was little point of me shooting at Ritsu, he was very... close, so I could only use a straight sword in a fight, because he has WAS supposed to be taken alive. So we fought and ended up almost falling, but he caught me, and we landed in a boat. A little row boat... And know what he said to me...? 'This last year is the most fun I had in ages... will you marry me?'. See, this threw me way off... Yeah, I had fun, way too much. It was like an overdone theatrical performance of a higher scale... I put the straight sword away and laughed... and... I could not say no..." Cassius' face went red.

"How did Alphonse respond to it? The 'Daddy'." Baku was clearly invested.

"He was pissed, he may as well have been breathing Ifrit's fire, went on and on about it was to be an arranged marriage to some Knight with wealth. But fact was, I was already wearing the ring. I did not need his approval, and the Regent gave me a job as a hunter. So it was like two giant middle fingers in 'Dad's ' face. And so... I am here today." Cassius stated.

Anubis manifested as he tried to shove the chicken leg into Cassius' mouth. It was clear Familiars always made sure their pact holders were well vitalized. "Eat." Cassius blinked at the dog, and complied. Familiars were always amusing.

Itzal listened to Cassius' story with deep interest, since he had never seen another Lumyian until him and had been deeply curious about his past, not that he really felt like sharing his at the moment... He was still a bit cautious around his fellow teammates and was still not as comfortable around them as he would like. Perhaps when the moment was right, he would share with one or two of them. He hesitantly took a chicken leg and started to nibble on it, watching Cassius interact with Anubis with a small smile on his face. He slightly wondered where Hitori was as he continued to eat before turning his attention to the ladies, apparently they would need to change their appearances slightly. While Itzal himself was no stranger to cosmetics, he prayed that he wouldn't have to wear any, he was already mistaken enough as a girl due to his face and figure. He blushed slightly as he thought what Hitori might think of him if he did indeed try on some cosmetics. He was soon broken from his thoughts as his familiar ripped the chicken leg from his hand, causing his tail to frizz up in annoyance as he went back over to get another piece.

Minerva -- Incognito

Grimly, Minerva internally grimaced over the fact that she would have to bear a disguise. Yet she understood the necessity of it, the reason they had to remain hidden. Though while Monica offered a small wardrobe's worth of clothes, the first thing that happened was a conjuring.

One which brought about a Valkyrie to stand face to face with the Alexandrian Knight. With a sigh of resignation, she spoke simply.

"Hildr, my dear." She began with a regal tone in her voice. "It seems as if we must hide within plain sight. Keep them safe with you, until I need them. Okay?"

Silently nodding, the heavenly Valkyrie raised a hand towards Minerva, and with a brief flicker, there was a change. The armor she still wore, the swords and shield she always bore had thin lines of light trace across them. Then, and only then, they seemed to break apart into thin wisps of light. Each flickering and shimmering as they dissipated into thin air.

For now, it would seem as of the Knight were completely unarmed.

Drifting over to the potions and disguises, her fingertips traced absentmindedly over the selection until there was a color she liked. Plucking up the bottle, she popped off the cork and lofted it over her head. In a liquidly smooth transition, the chestnut brown locks she held seemed to unfurl into a fiery red.

Digging for some eye liner, she drew up a nearby dressing room mirror closer to her, and meticulously got to work. Then taking a deep crimson lipstick, the extraordinary color would be applied lightly. Examining herself in the mirror, she found the change to he satisfactory, albeit a sharp difference from her regular appearance.

Quirking a brow at Garnet, she then proceeded to move over towards the miniature wardrobe. After digging around momentarily, the Knight extracted a deep emerald sun dress. Dipping behind a screen to change her clothes, the regal noble's garb was tossed over one side nonchalantly as she went about her work.

However, once it was done, a striking girl, a far cry from the hardened knight she had once been stepped barefoot from behind the screen for the others to see.

"Well?" she inquired softly, "Is this a sharp enough of a difference? I feel it is satisfactory."

Pausing, she glanced over to where Cassius was speaking. "Also, if you don't know how to use a sword. I will teach you. You will learn, for her highness' life is just as much your responsibility as it is mine. Get used to it, for it will only get more dangerous from here."

"As much as I don't like your tone, I do appreciate it." Cassius stated to Minerva, but he was going to give her a nickname. "I'm going to call you "Emerald" while you're in that..." Cassius stated as he stood up, but not before planting a kiss on Ritsu's cheek. "Though, I must admit you look lovely, pleasant even. But if your personality was less prickly, I might even dance with you." He raised his hand in a "One moment" gesture as his index finger was out.

Baku chuckled slightly. Cassius opening up to others was a nice change. But he quickly gave Blank a glance. "Boy, why don't you help him with posture at the very least... Jack of Trades, Master of none, but Master of verity... I can see why the Regent would value even... a somewhat weaker person... Strong front, weak insides." Baku thought aloud. "He is going to break a lot of swords." He joked. He then looked to Wylde "Maybe you could do stuff to help them out too?" Baku grinned.

Monica chuckled. "Garnet, you trained under Beatrix with a sword, perhaps even you can help with postures and positional strikes... Not doubting the fair knight, but different tools for a person who only uses tools, wouldn't you agree?"

Garnet grinned somewhat, it was a girlish one no less where she felt like she'd be helpful. "Alright, I'll show him things he can do... But Perhaps there is a room where there is wide enough space?"

"Aye, I'll show you the way when he gets back." Monica stated, only to see moments later Cassius returned with his cane blade. He slowly showed the well maintained blade to Minerva, handing it to her for inspection. From what she could see, it was well cared for, had a moderate weight with the pommel, which means a firm hand was needed, and it showed a value of control with strikes. He slowly took the blade back before placing it in it's sheathe.

As Monica stated, she took them to a rather large room, there were many props held in place in the back, but for the most part it was empty, but there were a few seats to the sides, in the inner most area, there was a cage like arena in the center, it was wide, and it certainly was meant for practice and sparing. Knowing your team lets you cover their weaknesses, and let's one flourish from their strengths.

Cassius walked into the cage before holding his blade firmly in his right hand, waiting for Minerva to show him the ropes from her perspective. They might have had a hard time together at first, but at least now they could bond over something and leave that behind for a common goal. Garnet however watched from outside as a spectator.

Karn and Blank mildly listened to the Lumiyan speak of his backstory before the spikey red head clicked his tongue and rubbed his chin, glancing to Karn a bit curiously. "Ya know Karn, it's kinda funny. I've never seen a Lukiyan before but now that I have, you look more like one then a actual Demi-Human. They tend to be more furry like Perrin. You look human besides your cat ears, tail, claws, fangs and eyes." He mused.

The feline simply glanced at her companion. Shrugging slightly as she crossed her arms behind her head. "Who knows. I am a Miscegenation Syndrome child so who the fuck knows? Do know I don't see into the future and shit like Lummox or the kit." she answered quietly before turning away and started heading out.

Blank nodded, shrugging before glancing at Baku. "Sure thing, be good to teach him a few lessons." he said, mildly irked the boss ignored his concerns but brushed it off for now and looked at Karn. "Why don't you go get a meal? You're too scrawny." he teased, yelping as he bunched in the arm and the force knocked him to the ground.

"Gonna go check up on the engines. Try not to get hurt too bad Shirtless." the feline said before heading to the engine room to do more repairs. She didn't used swords nor didn't really wish to play around with them. Walking beside a barrel full of water, she took a mug and scooped some out. Digging into her pocket and pouring a vial of greenish liquid into the water. Before chugging it down. Nose twitching, she clicked her tongue as she felt a bit better.

Blank rubbed his arm as he stood back up before following the others. Standing on the sidelines as he watched with interest toward Cassius and the knight.

Minerva Fairchild -- The Fang

Cassius' teasing compliment fell only to a flat look from the Knight as he gave her a nickname. Frowning all the same, she would let 'Emerald' slide simply because it would make for a good alias in a time when such things were direly needed.

Nodding in agreement to find a sparring place, the Knight blinked briefly when Cassius handed her his blade. Sharply, she unsheathed it and meticulously inspected it for any faults in the steel. Finding none, and returning it to him, she followed in silence beside Garnet into the practice room.

There she sat distantly, while he prepared for the lessons to begin.

Minerva only blinked once as with her will, traces of light appeared about the midst of her back and upon her right forearm. From thin air were Caladbolg and Durendal summoned, and with it she drew the first of two swords smoothly. Twisting her arm about woth the heavy shield, she looked across the short distance to Cassius.

"Lesson One." She started with nonchalantly. "Keeping your head while under pressure, remaining focused while your conscious is lined with fear. Your enemies will show you no quarter. As I will not."

With a shift in her wrist, she hurled the first sword straight towards Cassius! The blade whistled as it sliced through the air as if singing for his blood, blur past his ear and dig into the bulwark of the ship with a bone-jarring slam!

What was most important, and most terrifying, was that the moment she threw her blade, Minerva tore across the ground with a low, but blindingly swift procession. Keeping her eyes upon him over the edge of her rushing defense, the second the blade impacted the wall, she would practically be upon him!

Once she had drawn close enough with the blindingly swift procession, the shield rose as a wall to try and slam into him with horrendous force. What was more, was that whether he dodged it or not, a snap of a quick pirouette brought the shield to try and slam into his flank, and another blindingly fast twirl brought the shield around again to try and uppercut the bottom of his chin with the hardened steel bulwark!

It seemed that even without her heavy armor hindering her, Minerva was a terrifying force to behold!

Cassius held his cane blade in left hand, he was ready to defect any blow if he was able, yet her dash seemed very power driven, while he wasn't weak in a traditional sense, he side stepped in the direction of the sword arm, Her sword going forward with a heavy slam. He veered clear of her attack, before rolling to the side away from her slashes at great force. He knew that if he was to combat her trial, he'd have to understand her biggest stregnth, was her greatest weakness. The attack was very obviously telegraphed for obvious reasons. But it a real fight an experienced blade would rend her arm asunder, leaving her attacks weakened.

"Hmm... From what I gathered, move away yet toward the sword arm, it means one can disable it if carefully choreographed... I see." Cassius spoke, take a few steps back, perfectly aware of the cage acting as a means to restrain him from getting too far. But it was large enough for him to learn a different set of fundamentals.

Garnet pursed her lips in slight amusement. It was at least nice he could spot a few things out in a fight, for if he was not at least the strongest, he at least had more tools to use if a fight. Rending a primary hand would certainly even odds, or tip the scales.

Garnet thought of how she would have handled it in his position. Her fight thought would have been a sweeping kick to trip the fighter so that she may plunge the blade into the back, yet this required force. Fortunately she knew the force of the earth if the need arises. But one thing she could conclude... Cassius would never master anything.

"Anything else? Or just dodging strikes?" Cassius asked. He felt something. "I'm... Only asking because I fear within an hour or so we might have unwelcome guest." Cassius stated, holding his head as he felt a rather sharp headache.

Itzel had no troubles seeing a vision of people in tattered clothing boarding the ship, they all wore masks and demanded resources as well as a means to claim the bounties of the ship. It was but an hour away, none of them had time for too many lessons. They only had time for brief burst.

If Minerva had nothing else to contribute, Garnet would take her place. "Min- Emerald." Garnet took a moment, taking after Cassius' nicknaming convention. "If you have nothing to give such in terms of lessons, then permit me to teach him about a sword form, one that involves parrying for an open versus overpowering. He might have quite the fist, but it isn't quite the same as the way you fight. You're more oriented for outlasting and overpowering. Yes?" Garnet raised her question. She then took to Blank.

"Judging by your lack of clothing, you put your whole body into it? As if jumping... Plunging? Please correct me if I am mistaken. There is only so much I can be aware of at any given moment." She tried to maintain her formal composure, but the fact of the matter is she only had a blind guess to go with here. And while she did see the benefits of Cassius mastering nothing at all, Minerva was correct that he should at least understand his way around a blade. A man of tricks was only as good as the variety he had; these techniques would be just a new hand to play.

Minerva Fairchild Each Day is Different

Nodding in agreement with Garnet, Minerva actually responded smartly in kind as she strode to the other side to retrieve the blade that had been thrown. Twisting it in her wrist once and working it out of the hardwood, a splintering snap announced its release, and a snap defined the return to its sheath.

"Sorry, your highness. My style depends entirely upon the situation that I am facing, alongside the burden I am bearing." Wondrously, the shield dissipated into fragments of light as it left only two blades which lay sheathed at the midst of her back. Smoothly, she would unsheathe both, and hold them.

Garnet had seen her fight like this before ages ago, and how could she possibly forget? Raw power combined with maddening speed to boot, even moreso since Minerva was no longer encumbered by the weight of steel plates.

Twirling both blades in her grasp, Minerva looked across the distance to Cassius.

"Alright then, your footwork seems sufficient enough. How about your offense, hm? Let me see what you can do to defend her Highness."

With her disguise made, Wylde found herself with rather good amount of free time to waste. She walked around the ship a few times and was just about to go have a nap somewhere when she heard the distinct clank of metal.” What… are they fighting without me?” She asked as she followed the sounds until she found a few of the new additions of the crew plus Blank, to be kind of sparring or something like that, she was not exactly sure what was happening, but the knightly girl and the princess were there too.

She watched for a little while. The Minerva girl was showing some impressive skills. Good mobility while also having a lot of raw strength, but it only amount to that much in the end. It was impressive, but with the right skill and style it was easy to counter when she was not in her armor.

“Good, good, I see the army had not neglected their training regiments while I was away.” She said, clapping her hands a few times to applaud the show she witnessed.” Rather impressive actually.” She said and with what appeared to be a incredibly fast dash, was already by the princess to have a better angle to observe the show.” Do not mind me, I’d love to see how this plays out.” She said to Minerva and Cassius.

Cassius held his blade vertically in front of him before placing it in it's sheathe, he took a breath. "I don't want to cut you. So I'll be careful to aim for your sword. Besides, I think we both might have enough scars from escapades." Cassius stated before jolting forward, rolling into a thrusting strike. Minerva could see there was a great deal of force into it, enough to possibly cause her swords to wobble, but still easy to coriograph, but the um-prepared would more than likely end up with a blade going through their chest out their back. He stood up with a diagonal slash going up to the right. This simple action would indicate he would be decent at causing bleeding.

Garnet mused for a moment, nodding. "From what I can tell... Rolling throws your body into it, which suits your frame and posture. Risky, but safer than charging into someone head on. Swift enough, especially in a narrow hall. The rising slash could cripple a sword arm." She smiled at this. She could tell he had some form of grasp. "You could easily go behind from that point and finish with slash to back of one's knees, or go into a backstab. Depends on the situation." Garnet really was taking fascination from this.

Cassius moved back to his half of the ring, nodding to Minerva.

"Suffice to say, he could learn a few tricks..." Garnet this time stepped in with a wooden sword she found on a rack. She took a proper stance, right leg forward, left back, yet she had a targe on her left wrist. Her right arm was out, sword closer to her abdomen to breast. This was a proper stance that allowed for freedom. With the blade not too far away, or too close, it gave a good middle ground on fakeouts, or to tricking one's offense for a counter attack.

Cassius saw this stance and took note.

"This is closer to a altered fencer's stance. It uses every aspect of your body for leverage, control, and with this stance you can defend to go right into initiation. It is safe, but not entirely risk free. No stance will ever be risk free." Garnet began.

"Hmm... I can see what you mean. Easy to overstep, and understep." Cassius nodded.

"At least you notice, and that is where the difficulty comes in. But with this shield, I have better chances of emergency defense... I want you to do a few basic swings." Garnet gave him a nod to proceed.

Cassius assumed his stance, with the blade in it's sheathe, he went for a thrusting strike, Garnet used the wooden sword, deflecting it to the side before bringing the shield quickly to his chest, stopping only to give him an idea what can be done.

"This is one method of knocking the winds out of one's sails." Garnet gave a gentle smile, gesturing with a nod for Cassius to take a step back to begin again.

Cassius went for a overhead swing, Garnet perfectly flicked her left hand from the right to the left, she redirected his force, applying strain to his right arm. She giggled somewhat at the shock in his expression.

"It's okay to not see that coming, really." Garnet placed the wooden sword to his chest. "But this is a means to counter initiate as well. A good critical strike that isn't quite overwhelming. With force at this point, I can push you to the ground by using your fear to try to back away from the pain so I can end you thus."

Cassius was a bit amazed she knew all this, but not shocked. "I take it Beatrix taught you all this?"

"Mmm... No. The stance, yes, the counter? No. That was something I learned on my own. The force principle was something a certain doctor from Treno told me about. To redirect one's force makes one overextend, which exhausts them. I just applied that here. With all your force from your body being used against you, it would be easy for anyone to inflict serious harm. But if I wanted..." Garnet began, somewhat swatting forward at his forehead, a horizontal slash from her left hip to center, to a vertical rising slash, to thrusting down at his collar area between his shoulder and neck. "This would kill you in a real fight. You'd be much to weak to use that side of your body even if you did survive." Garnet took a step back.

"Well damn... I'd imagine so... But Lindblum did entrust us with flask for potent potions that heal all that right up..." Cassius took a breath imagining how badly that would hurt.

"Hmmph... Yeah, I guess YOU'D survive. But the unprepared would not. But it would be inconvenient to use your strongest resource just in a battle of endurance, no?" Garnet raised a brow with a slight grin.

"No, you're correct. I'm honestly quite proud to say you even surprise me. Princess or not." Cassius nodded.

"You're correct, Royalty does not entitle merit for intelligence, but merely the pursuit and willingness to seek and learn entitles that. Based on your life escapades, you live and learn by said fundamentals." Garnet gave a gentle nod, Cassius did in return before she placed the wooden tools away, now outside the cage once again. All that was left was Blank, possibly even Wylde if she so wanted to.

Blank simply just cocked a eyebrow from under his headband at the princess as she questioned him. Simply just shrugging in response. "Sure, if you want to call it that. I'm less graceful then Karn when it comes to footwork nor really pay too much attention to specifics. Just fight the way that feels right at that moment. I just don't like wearing clothes." the red head answered with a smirk as he shrugged his shoulders with his arms out like a pose of 'eh whatever' before relaxing as he crossed his arms over his chest.

The Princess... Seemed alright. Though he still thought Karn should sit it out. The feline didn't like any sort of nobility and so far, the current display the Princess showed wouldn't be enough to impress the cat. Too picky. Took her awhile to even remotely warm up to Wylde. She's only annoy the rest of the party. Maybe except Wylde who was used to it. Maybe it's just a cat thing.

"Pretty nice moves you two got." he mused with a grin.

Hitori began to Mutter in his Sleep as Perrin tried waking him, "Eye of Newt...Tongue of Frog...Wing of Bat...Tongue of Dog...Adders Fork and Blind Worm's Sting...Barbados lime...is Just the thing...Fragias Salt like a Sailors Stubble...Flip the Switch and let the Cauldron Bubble-SNNERKWHA?" Hitori said as he rose from his pile of tails in fox-shape before looking at Perrin.

"Oh...it's just you...I had a Dream about Liver and Silver Fairies Dancing in the Mist. I then remember making Drinks and then Waking up....I'm sorry this all must be terribly Boring to you. Did you need something?" Hitori asked as he got up from the bed and shook his form, resuming a More Typical Humanoid Shape seen in Kumiho.

____________

Ritsu watched as this display of training and one-upping continued and couldn't help but smile, "that's all well and good but none of you could Catch a proper thief in an Urban Jungle with that Technique. You need to be much more crafty and to be able to think on your toes, it's all about getting inside your opponents head and toying with their hearts Desires...Careful though, the Game is a Double Edged Blade and you might end up getting cut right back. Isn't that right Cassius.~" Ritsu said teasingly to Cassius, referencing how he was the only person to take his heart from him only for Ritsu to want him to keep it.

"Besides, blades are only so useful. A Pole or a Staff though, that is where the magic really lies." He said with an Impish Smirk.