Ch.2: "Trouble in Paradise" / Volcanic Paradise Island Arcadia

[Legendary Sidekick]

It turns out that the first ferry is at dawn.

Aphrodite tells Kell, "The warning is just for Leto. I assume you will accompany her from Ogygia to Nyse, but there's no harm in you taking the ferry with Vin."

Hess tells Leto, "Me and all the fairies will go through the hearth with you. You won't get stuck traveling alone."

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell says, "I should probably go change into something better suited for travel than this dress." She goes back down to the women's bathing area, removes her Aqua Scrunchy, then puts it back on, changes it to the riding outfit she put on right after arriving in Arcadia, the one with the Helix boots.

Returning back upstairs, she takes Vin's arm and gives him a happy grin. "It's a date, sort of! You can ride Helix with me to get to wherever Valkyrie's at, then riding the ferry at dawn sounds romantic, though I need to talk to you about some things, too. How long will it take you to get Valkyrie, load up her things as well as whatever you want to take with you on the road, and get her down to the ferry?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Vin says, "The ranch is in Palm Springs. It'll take a couple hours I guess... about the same as walking from the village. Only this way, I get to see the Fairy Springs. I've never actually been there before. We can talk while we walk. I'll bet if we Lea e now, we can catch the first ferry.

"Then again, speed-walking isn't romantic. We can take our time, grab breakfast at the ranch, and still be in Ogygia before noon."

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell says playfully, "Now that sounds like a date I can enjoy, horseman. I'd love to stop at the Fairy Springs with you."

She tells Hess, Buck, Desma, Leto, and the fairies, "See you guys back at the Hearthland."

She hugs Heph, then tells him, "Thank you for your hospitality in hosting the wedding, and for hitting me with your hammer." She giggles at how silly that sounds. "I'm sure the new knowledge will be quite useful."

She also hugs Kell-Pi. "It was a privilege to get to meet you, namesake, and I hope we can keep in touch." Then she whispers to her, "I might have a mission for you, different than the one I asked you about last night. It would be a really important one, though. I need to talk to Aphrodite first, though."

When she gets to Aphrodite, she says, "Thank you for helping make my new friends' wedding special. Not everyone can say that Aphrodite herself was there at their wedding. Thank you also for being willing to talk to the van Donks about their mother. That's the whole reason they traveled to this part of the world, and I know it means a lot to them, and it means a lot to me to be able to help them fulfill their quest."

Then she pauses as awareness floods into her. "Oh, I had wanted to talk to you, and we didn't get around to that, did we? Could we possibly get together at some point after Leto, Vin, and I get to Nyse? I really think there needs to be a clearing of the air between us. I also have an idea that might help in the war between the Immortals that I want to talk to you about."

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"Of course we will talk in Nyse," Aphrodite says. "Now go on your date. Have a good time, just not too good."

 

[tbgg]

Ch.2: "Trouble in Paradise" / Volcanic Paradise Island Arcadia

Kelleia

Kell smiles and says to Vin, "Let's go, then."

As they start walking, Kell tells what she's learned about how nymphs get pregnant, saying, "In case for some reason any of that makes you decide you don't want to be with me. I thought about having my egg destroyed when I was younger, but only because other nymphs were doing it. I mentioned that to Niobe one day, and since she had never been able to get pregnant, she asked if I would wait a few weeks. She invited me to go walking with her after our lessons one day and we wound up down at the other end of the park where I'd originally met her, where apparent it's common for mothers to bring their babies and chat together. She started chatting with a few of them, and before long, the mother handed her the baby. Niobe eventually handed me the baby, and showed me how to hold it. I, of course, thought they were very cute. On the way back, the tears just streamed down her face, and she had such a look of longing on her face. We went back several times, and each time, it would just rip her apart afterwards. She was apparently determined to keep going back until there was a nymph mother there with her baby. That, of course, cemented it for me. I tried talking to the other nymphs back at the villa about what I'd experienced, but it was just another thing that made me a misfit in their eyes. I'm not sorry, though. I think Aphrodite should do something similar at the villa, only bring the mothers and babies there. Some will probably still destroy their eggs, anyway, but some won't,"

She adds with a wry grin, "And I also figure that knowing I'll get pregnant the first time we come together will help induce both of us to behave."

"So tell me about an important decision your younger self faced," she suggests, hungry to know everything there is to know about Vin.


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[Ireth]

Leto

Leto rejoins Buck and the others as soon as she's finished her armor, which takes longer than she'd anticipated. She returns the borrowed gown and robe, and pins her wyvern-slayer badge to her breelhide armor.

She smiles when Hess assures her of having company in the Hearthland. "Thank you. Having company will make the trip go by faster, I think."

Leto also thanks Heph for his hospitality and help, both in using his hammer and letting his maidens join their journey. Unfortunately, she has no idea what to say to Aphrodite in the wake of that upsetting bit of information. She still has more questions about that, but she doesn't want to risk angering the goddess if she herself gets more agitated or angry. Then she remembers the offer of training to control their desires, and quietly offers thanks for that.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

((@Ireth, roll #2d6 to see what bonus effect you get for the breelhide armor!))

 

[Ireth]

((

))

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Leto's armor barely reacts to the badge, and the effect is strange. She somehow has a feeling she unleashed the power of the breel's roar, but if she tries to roar while wearing it, she'll probably just embarrass herself. Maybe if she beast-speaks to a lion, the lion will roar like a breel.

((The actual effect is that when you beast-speak, you can make an animal roar extra-loud once. If it's a lion, that'll be a breel roar. If it's a mouse, well...))

 

[Ireth]

Leto

Leto blinks at the odd feeling that comes over her thanks to the badge on her armor, and wonders when she'll get the chance to put it to use. There are sure to be beasts in Nyse or Sardis big enough for a magnified roar to have devastating effects on an enemy. Maybe she should invest in some sort of earplug for her and her friends' benefits before trying that out.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Vin tells Kell of a time that shaped the kind of person he is.

"Farmwork made me strong, but the work is peaceful and productive. Other boys were into sports, football, beach volleyball. I didn't get into that, so these guys assumed I was a wimp. One in particular gave me a sand bath. That's when you shove someone's face in the sand and kick sand all over them, get some down the back of the pants. He had three friends to help him; we were nine at the time.

"For the next four years, I was afraid of him, until one day I had enough. He threatened to beat me up, and I said, go ahead and do it. At the time, I hadn't considered that the one time he attacked me it was four-on-one. I certainly didn't think farming made me stronger than the typical sporty thirteen-year-old. But after I mouthed off, this boy Tony punched me in the stomach. My friends got punched a lot. Chris and Greg cried whenever they got punched by a jock, so I just assumed punches really hurt.

"It didn't. He hit me again, and I just stood solidly. I was smiling, and Tony was shocked. He punched me in the face. His face turned red because I was laughing, I was so surprised how painless it was. His friends were laughing. They kept saying 'Vin's gonna win.' After a while, Tony asked if I still wanted to fight with him, and I told Tony to go home. He didn't give me any more trouble.

"At the time, I felt like I wasn't a fighter, but after what happened recently, I see the lesson a little differently now. I don't want to hurt other people if I don't have to. When the chief asked me to take Jenny as my wife, I couldn't. Yeah, I bought into the religion—the chief's talks of virtue, he said the right words. I know I was fooled now, but I guess I should've known when he asked me to take Jenny as if what she and Wilbur had was meaningless. The cow thing was so ridiculous, I should have known not to believe that. I should've known the chief was a bully, worse than the kind I knew growing up."

 

[tbgg]

Kelleia

Kell smiles at Vin. "I like that about you, Vin Cobbler. Bounty hunting isn't just about killing everything we find - sometimes restraint is necessary. That being said, sometimes it's kill or be killed. I think I've only directly attacked monsters, but I've contributed to the deaths of several men. At least some of the men on the volcano might not have died despite what I did had they not fallen into the pit, but the ones I hindered in Ogygia in the incident where I met Leto definitely died because I intervened, even though I didn't directly kill any of them."

And she tells Vin about finding an Amazon warrior bound and about to be executed in Ogygia, deciding to intervene, the ensuing battle including aid from an unknown archer, the appearance of a mysterious child, the death of Judge Xarris, setting plants to grow to flee only to have a huge tree grow, and their flight to the Underground and Buck's intervention in helping them to flee.

Returning to the original subject, she says, "It's no bad thing to think the best of people, but the trick is to not be naive about it, and that means recognizing suspicious behavior when you see it. Leto and I can help you know what to look for, and if you mention this to Buck, I'm sure he will as well. Being suspicious at the right moment can save your life."