GambolMuse

Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

"How else would you explain it? It's the only thing I can think of." Flight had a weightlessness to it that Yumi could only compare to floating down a river. If it wasn't for having to mind your speed and elevation she could easily lose herself in it. Just like she could lose herself in swinging, if she managed to get it down. Having gone into the day expecting to master the art in mere minutes she was humbled, and embarrassed, to be struggling two hours later. It was nothing like gymnastics - which she had only a year's experience of, and for all her strength she didn't have the flexibility to do what Shu did.

But that could change. "So... It's like kicking on a swing?" Her question was rhetorical: Shu wouldn't have any idea what she was talking about. Yumi smiled and nodded her head. And grabbing with your legs? That made sense too. Instead of contorting yourself to make sure your hands got the branch, use what else you had. "That's a good idea! Doesn't sound easy." She mused, pulling herself back up to sit. "But then nothing worthwhile is, right? And I don't plan on stopping until I get this!"

And she was going to get this. Shu was having a blast and he needed someone to play with. Takeshi didn't want to learn, Vegeta didn't have time to learn - not that she expected him to even if he did, and Viral... Was Viral. She doubted any of the others would want to play, so she hadn't considered them much. "You better watch out, before long I'm going to be swinging circles around you!" Yumi teased, winking at Shu. She carefully stood up on their branch and tested it, eyeing the nearest one. Crouching low, she sprung off the branch and grabbed onto the next, swinging back before kicking her legs, hard, and propelling herself forward.

Catch with your legs. Yumi let herself flip around and glanced backwards, seeing the branch fast approaching. She stretched out her legs and prepared to clamp down on the limb. She could do this! When her tailbone struck the branch and a pain raced down her back she yelped, flopping and catching herself on the way down, grabbing onto another branch. Hanging from one hand she nursed at her backside, blinking back tears. "I don't suppose you have any more tips?" She called up to Shu, smiling while pulling herself back up. She wasn't going to be sitting down for the rest of the day now.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith (High-Casual)

He's missing THAT equipment?

I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse.

Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

She had done a lot of difficult things in life. Learn a dozen and a half martial arts styles, help defend Earth from Saiyans, travel the galaxy and fight. Yumi was no stranger to struggling and rising above the occasion. It seemed like, however, she had finally met her match: trees. Rose she did, swinging from branch to branch, only to plummet and nearly hit the ground each time. Swinging yourself was the easy part - it was no different than bars at a gym. No, the hard part was swinging from branch to branch and managing not to propel yourself into a tree. Shu made it easy and had the benefit of the tail to help him.

Pinwheeling her arms and reaching for a branch, Yumi yelped. Her fingertips scraped against the branch and she fell towards the ground only to stop herself with her Ki. A sigh escaped her lips and she looked up at Shu, smiling as she floated up to meet him.

"You make this look so easy! I mean it makes sense - you do this all the time, but wow." Yumi laughed, settling down on the branch beside Shu and exhaling. She looked down at the gloves on her hands and clapped them twice, wiping away wood chips and bits of moss and dirt. Perhaps she'd been too optimistic when she'd told Shu she would be swinging through the forest with him today. An hour later and the most Yumi had managed were three branches in a row, and that had been at the start of the afternoon.

"It's fun though! I can't wait until I can do what you do." From her bag she took out two containers of juice, handing one to Shu before breaking open her own. "Flying is fun, but it's mindless. You just go, it's almost like floating down a lazy river. Swinging though..." Yumi took a long drink and sighed, smiling at Shu. "Thanks for letting me come with you. This has been really great." Tucking away her drink she hooked her legs about the branch, smiling and falling back, swinging and hanging upside-down. "So any tips, special instructor Shu? Anything you think I could try better?"

Adelon: Steeling the Faith (High-Casual)

Next post for me is going to have us skipping to town. Planning on being there for a few rounds anyways while they sort out things, so just be ready for a few hour timeskip guys!

Adelon: Steeling the Faith (High-Casual)

"Oh, Ethan! Ethan Campbell. Nice to meet you, Cecil!" Under better pretenses, he wished, but at least they had run into nice people; bandits could just as well have found them. Bandits... Another reason for them to keep moving. There was so much risk for those back on the beach and here they were, stood around and chatting casually. Ethan looked around at their group, with two more - three if you counted the moorcat. It was far from a small rescue party now and with how many people they had it made settling down for camp even less practical.

Which made him roll his eyes when Yarri suggested they keep moving. You were the one who suggested stopping in the first place. Ethan let that thought remain as just that: a thought. It wouldn't do any good to start arguing among themselves. "Yeah, we should get moving. And we can help carry the kids if you're so worried they'll 'slow us down'." He suggested, frowning as he glanced sideways towards Yarri. "Or we can take our time. Who knows, we might end up finding more people!" He was kidding but now Ethan worried he'd just jinxed them; no town was going to accept twenty or thirty people out of nowhere; if that were the case then they should have just brought everyone from the ship with them.

"We should keep the kids in the middle of the group. That way they're safe if we get anymore... Uh... Surprises." Somewhere in his oft-hapless mind was the training he'd received from the Church, training which he was now clambering to retrieve. There were protocols for everything and this was no different - at least he didn't think it was. Ethan smiled at Amuné, then Cecil, and clapped his hands together. "Why don't you and... Adrian?" He asked, glancing at their resident healer for confirmation. "Why don't you two walk together? Cecil, you can... Uh... Well walk in the middle of the group! And Yarri, maybe you can take the rear? You and your... Cat, can help make sure nothing's following us!"

One of the privy sailors spoke up about the proposal. "And what will you be doing exactly?"

"Leading, of course! Someone has to!" Ethan's confidence and smile waned under the doubtful look of the sailors. He had asked which direction to travel in right out of the gates, naturally people were going to doubt his navigation skills. And they were right to. With a reserved sigh, he shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Adrian. "How about you lead, then? I can uh... Watch Amuné?" Maybe he was trying to put things in their place that didn't need to be. But any successful escort mission - and that was what this had become, thanks to these two kids, involved forming a perimeter and keeping people safe. A little tricky to do given their group, but this should solve that issue.

Another sailor let out a groan and rubbed at his face. "I should have stayed back at the beach..." Another seconded his complaint, leaving Ethan standing at the front of the group with an awkward smile. Thank goodness for his training, otherwise he'd seem like a total idiot... Instead of just a partial idiot. Maybe he should have stayed at the beach too.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith (High-Casual)

Ethan had felt a similar pain before; haphazardly flying from a rope swing with friends and trying to show off, only to flop into the water with an audible smack. The wind had been knocked out of him and he'd been seeing stars for several minutes afterwards. This was akin to that pain, only slightly worse. Wheezing when air finally filled his lungs again he sat up slowly, patting down himself to ensure nothing was broken or out of place.

Blue eyes settled on the strange boy and he smiled. "No harm no foul!" Ethan laughed, cutting himself short as a pain shot across his chest. Nothing was broken but there would definitely be bruises later. "What a coincidence, we're heading to town too!" The boy's appearance was unusual and it had felt like he'd run into a solid wall, not another person. Given the events of the day however he couldn't quite find it in himself to care right now; sinking ships, rogue waves, tigers roaming around and now this. It was just a strange day all around.

Taking a moment to get back to his feet, Ethan peeled a leaf from his cheek and dusted himself down. This wasn't going remotely as he had planned. Setting up camp when they were barely away from the shore already made his head spin, now they had two new arrivals - three if you counted the big cat; having even one tiger in the immediate area spelled danger for the people at the beach. What was he supposed to do? They needed to go to town and get help, and they likely needed a Hunter to vouch for their request of aid. Someone should go back and make sure the survivors were safe too and, if need be, protect it from wildlife. Yet in their group of now five people none were Hunters save himself, and he couldn't send a civilian off on a dangerous task.

"We really need to get moving." Saying that time was of the essence was an understatement. If they didn't get to town and back in time there was a likelihood that more survivors could die; knowing a tiger was nearby made matters worse. Ethan glanced at the girl in rags and smiled sympathetically, approaching her and lowering himself to her eye level. It wasn't that he didn't feel sympathetic - he wanted nothing more than to help her, but there was so much more to do right now.

"Uh... We're going into town soon, if you want to join us you can. We can see about getting you cleaned up if you'd like!" The girl - Amuné as he'd learned, needed much more than a simple wash. But little steps first, then they could figure out where her parents were. "And you're welcome to join us too! I uh... I don't know if we can help you at all, but it's safer to travel as a group, especially with all kinds of animals wandering around at night." He added, smiling awkwardly at the boy who had nearly flattened him. "No hard feelings, huh?"

Adelon's roads were generally safe during the day thanks in large part to regular patrols. All but the most remote settlements had soldiers nearby to ensure the security of travelers; small towns had their own guards that protected the immediate vicinity. At night though people withdrew into their homes, and with it animals became active once more. Ethan's blood chilled thinking of the survivors back at shore, wondering if it had been wise to gather all the able-bodied people for this job.

Adelon: Steeling the Faith (High-Casual)

Reply coming from me tomorrow! Off two long days of family business and work, so it'll have to wait one more day ^^"

Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

"Or maybe they're trying to act brave, when the reality is they're scared." Sasha smiled thoughtfully, throwing Viral a glance over her shoulder. "I think it's annoying too, but people tend to mellow out after they see combat for the first time. Usually." Ricken never quite grew out if it and she'd come to accept that just as the person he was. Not everyone was humble and quiet, there were plenty of abrasive, arrogant and cocky people in the universe. "Then prove to them you're not, instead of hanging your head and accepting it." She left it at that, it was not her place to lecture Viral. Besides, Ricken was getting into it again with Leto and they were making a scene.

Vegeta frowned, folding his arms and looking back to the rebels. "Are they? Sasha didn't seem afraid, and Ricken looked like he wanted to fight you. But then he's just as bull-headed as Takeshi..." Viral was internalizing too much and reading into the wrong things. Who was afraid of him, exactly? The only one who showed any real sign of fear was, ironically, Korian.

"Is it primitive to know the basics of combat? I got my butt handed to me today, but the way the rebel fought was... I don't know, stiff." He was out of practice himself but Vegeta could have won handily had he been keeping up with training. "Their movements are predictable, it's like they go through a list of moves in their heads. That's no way to fight; that's how you get yourself killed." Maybe it was a product of having so many troops. It would be logistically impossible to train everyone individually, so they needed a way to get as many people prepared as quickly as possible. On paper it worked - everyone would emerge with the same skill set, but not everyone could use those skills equally. "We should probably get back, I think we're done here. Let's grab some lunch, I bet mom has something ready for us." His stomach growled on cue, making Vegeta flush slightly. "Unless you'd like to get something in town...?"

Adelon: Steeling the Faith (High-Casual)

It was a bit of a daft question in retrospect. Ethan knew everything that went into disaster relief - how could he not, having had it drilled into his head during training. Help the wounded, make sure people were safe, aid in the efforts of first responders however you could; he really didn't need to ask. They needed to be quick about this, open wounds had risk of getting infected and he doubted they had much in the way of medicine on shore. Maybe it would be a wise idea for him to use his magic, race ahead and get to town. That way they'd have supplies coming.

“Perhaps we should stop and take a short break.”

Come again? A short break was a fine idea. Surviving a shipwreck took a toll on the body, and none of them had really stopped since getting to shore; adrenaline alone drove them forward. But they didn't have the luxury of stopping - or setting up camp, not when people were dying. It stunned Ethan that not only did the Ydran suggest such a thing, but the others agreed to it.

"W-Wait, camp? We need to keep moving! There's people depending on us!" The Ydran woman was already off into the woods and everyone else settled. Unreal, were they not worried about the others? Contemplating going on ahead, Ethan looked down the road and sighed. Even if he got there could he do anything? Besides, his lack of direction made it certain he'd get lost, even if he followed path. Stopping wasn't an option, not when they had barely traveled that far from shore. If someone needed to go back or stay then fine, but the injured weren't going to stop bleeding because they wanted to take a breather.

Ethan didn't want to give orders - he'd never been terribly good at it. "10 minutes, then we need to go." Nowhere near as forceful as he'd hoped, it got the point across. Maybe. Too restless to relax, he began to pace back and forth, watching the forest for the Ydran. When she finally emerged he'd half the mind to say something, only to stop when she mentioned a tiger. Here? In this part of the kingdom? He'd heard of them being further south, sure, but he'd figured it was too... Not hot up here.

"If there's a predator lurking around is it a good idea to be eating...?" Shaela snarled at something just then, and something snarled back in turn. Unfolding his staff and looking into the forest, Ethan's eyes widened seeing a moorcat at the forest's edge. More alarming still was a child beneath it, cowering. His instinct was it had attacked her and he was quick to move, holding his staff out defensively and slowly approaching the animal.

"Are you okay?!" Perhaps a dim question to shout at a child trapped beneath a beast. As he drew nearer, a realization struck; the moorcat wasn't attacking the girl, it was defending her. Dirty but unharmed, perhaps she and it had strayed too close to camp, alerting Shaela. Ethan looked back at the panther and smiled uncertainly, holding a hand back and gesturing for her to settle down. The last thing they needed right now was a fight and more injuries, especially involving large animals.

He could salvage this, no problem. Giving the moorcat an uneasy smile he slowly lowered his staff, holding up his hands. "Hey there buddy, I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I'm your friend, see?" Crap, did he have some way of showing that? Ethan looked around and snatched a strip of meat from a trembling sailor's hands, offering it out to the animal. Tentatively, he took another step, lowering himself and keeping his other hand in view. He sure hoped this meat looked more appetizing than he did.

Ethan placed the meat down on the ground before the animal, glancing at the child beneath him. She looked awful, wearing ragged clothing and appearing in desperate need of a bath; how long had she been out here like that? "Hey uh... Kid? If you can hear me, it's alright. We're good guys, we're not going to hurt you. Come on out, okay? Let me see if we can get you cleaned up." Poor girl must be terrified - as was he, just not of other people. Ethan glanced again at the moorcat and smiled weakly, carefully nudging the piece of meat closer.

The clink of metal on metal was unmistakable, and out of place. It sounded like someone in chain or armor was running towards them, but all the way out here? Ethan frowned and turned his gaze away as the noise grew louder, puzzled to see a boy running towards him. In fact he was running alarmingly fast, and wasn't at all watching where he was going.

"H-Hey! HEY! Watch where you're going!" The only thing Ethan could think to do was hold out his hands to stop the boy, bracing himself. Hells did it feel like he'd been struck by a runaway cart! Before he knew it he found himself sprawled out on his back, stuck beneath the other boy. If everything didn't hurt before then it certainly did now. Dazed, he stared up at the darkening sky, smiling out of his mind. The universe was actually trying to kill him today. What was next? A land shark? "O-Ow..."

Adelon: Steeling the Faith (High-Casual)

So I really should have said something earlier on the matter, which again, my apologies on not communicating.

But the sudden stopping for camp has kind of thrown some events into whack. Now not blaming people because I never shared anything, so that's all on me, but I'm having a bit of trouble getting pieces into place because of it.

Since deleting posts isn't an option in RPG, and I'm certainly not going to make everyone rewrite, my post is still coming, but I'm going to be trying to get things going back in the direction I intended.