Sand-dunes and Sandstorms - A Neopets RP

[Raichi]

Alrik mentioned having a grandniece, and possibly a past student, that happened to be a big fan of Fiwa while inspecting him. Chuukou thought it was silly how nobody realized Fiwawou's picture perfect behavior was all an act, there didn't seem to be a fan-girl in the world who considered he might not be the person he pretends to be in front of the media.

 

When the eyerie offered to fly Fiwawou to the hospital Chuukou stood up, holding Fiwawou in his arms. "I'd love to trust you, but my contract states I can only leave his side with his permission" he looked down on the Aisha "and seeing he's now incapable of giving permission I just can't." For a moment he looked around the desert, thinking of a solution. He had a bit of a frown on his face, taking Fiwawou's hat off and offered it to the eyerie. "There is something you can do; if you can take this to the Sakhmed Neolodge and tell them about the jet-crash, they can arrange transportation for Fiwa and me."

 

He was hoping Alrik would accept, but the eyrie's desire to get Fiwa to the hospital worried him. If the media got word of Fiwawou's jet crashing in the desert it would be front page news, meaning more interviews before his Sakhmed concert. "It's really best if he stays away from the Hospital, he'll recover just fine at the hotel. Please, I'm sure he'll offer some kind of reward as a token of gratitude if you do this for him." Being a bodyguard Chuukou couldn't guarantee the reward, but his adviser would probably make sure Alrik's efforts wouldn't get taken for granted.

[antiaircraft]

((

 

Okay, here goes!

 

Username: Random Invisible Guy

Name: Kylar Munroe (after leaving SIGMA, he tried to go back to using his real name, but soon gave up, so he still goes by his old call sign "Sapper")

Gender: Male

Colour and species: Brown Eyrie

Petpet: Albat

Petpetpet: None

Home: No home in particular

 

Personality:

Normally quiet and withdrawn, Sapper's tranquil appearance masks focused determination, an unquenchable will, and an indomitable sense of moral duty to Neopia. His experiences have turned him into a world-weary veteran soldier who has resigned himself to the fact that he won't be retiring for a while yet, not while he still has a job to do. While he lacks the enthusiasm and open sense of honour exhibited by many of Neopia's more classic heroes, he rides a much deeper, more personal drive that has often left him plodding steadfastly onward where Neopia's finest have turned back. Even he can't really explain why he doesn't just find a more easygoing occupation - he's old enough, and he's certainly done more than his fair share for the safety of Neopia.

 

Sapper is an intelligent Neopet, a highly competent tactician and a good judge of character. He naturally distrusts anyone unknown to him, but keeps his thoughts to himself and reserves his confrontations for clear moral or logical errors. His trust is difficult to gain, but even more difficult to lose. Whenever possible, he prefers to mind his own business and avoid interfering with other people's affairs. He'll step in if he sees that there's nobody else to do what's right, but he hates conflicts (whether or not they're physical), especially when they cause lasting damage. Even when he does intervene, he tries to slip away as soon as he can find a resolution. He's extremely uncomfortable with attention, and tends to shrink away from anything that brings him closer to the spotlight (he won't shirk responsibility however). While his calm, emphatic logic makes him a good mediator (when people decide to listen to him), he's certainly not much of a leader.

 

Other:

Background

Sapper is a former member of the elite vigilante commando force known as SIGMA. He was served with a dishonourable discharge after an incident where he disobeyed orders and refused to fire on innocent civilians. After discharging him, in order to ensure that no secrets were leaked (and to cover up the aforementioned incident), SIGMA contracted a number of assassins to make sure he never spoke up. After the A-list of Neopia's top assassins was pointedly reduced by 40%, assassins started turning down SIGMA'S contracts, and they eventually gave up. Sapper remained true to the oaths he took when he first joined the force, and has never revealed anything about its operations.

 

Sapper has since joined the Defenders of Neopia volunteer service, successfully completing various minor missions around Neopia.

 

Present

A few weeks ago, the Virtupets Resistance uncovered information about a space station module that was de-orbited by Doctor Sloth somewhere around the time of his first attack on Neopia. The module was powered by an antiquated, ageing nuclear reactor that was never properly deactivated. It's likely that the reactor's containment system suffered considerable damage upon re-entry and landing, and the reactor's continued operation will gradually wear down this system until it fails catastrophically. The reactor is not particularly powerful, and its failure alone would probably involve a small and pretty harmless explosion, with very little fallout. Of far greater concern are the various high-energy weapons units that were inside the module. If any of these were to be triggered when the reactor failed, the resulting blast could very well raze the cities of Sakhmet and Qasala, as well as douse the surrounding Neopian worlds in clouds of highly toxic (and possibly mutagenic) chemicals.

 

The Resistance wasted no time in relaying this information, along with the module's approximate landing site, to the Defenders of Neopia. Sapper was assigned to locate the module and safely power down the reactor. Operating out of a small inn in Sakhmet, Sapper has so far failed to find the module, but he still has several hundred square kilometres of desert to search.

 

Other other stuff

During his early days as a soldier in the Meridellian army, Sapper's left wing was struck with a nasty curse cast by a rogue Dark Faerie (who was later captured and carted off to Queen Fyora). The curse destroyed most of his wing and tainted his bloodstream, crippling his body's natural ability to heal (he almost died when a surgeon attempted to amputate the wing). As a result, he now has a visibly charred and useless left wing, leaving him unable to fly. He also heals extremely slowly, even with the aid of modern medicines and powerful magic, meaning that the slightest wounds could potentially prove fatal.

 

The fact that this injury occurred before Sapper completed a successful military career (eventually rising to command one of the United Neopian Army's best special forces teams, then proceeding to enter the ranks of SIGMA alongside many of the most skilled Neopian soldiers that have ever lived) really says all there is to say about his combat prowess.

 

Note: SIGMA is a creation of mine for TURBULENCE. As with anything else in the TURBULENCE universe, I'd appreciate it if you checked with me if you decide you want to use it.

 

Yeah, I think that's about it. :P I hope I didn't bore you too much.

 

))

[Parry]

((livvy, second character accepted. Random Invisible Guy (do you mind if I abbreviate/shorten your name?) I must say, I'm very impressed by your app, accepted. I think we're ready to go even further into the main plot now, so any current subplots you'll have to put aside for now.

 

The general idea is that at some point you see Alesha chasing after a group of Petpets, and you should somehow recognise some of the Petpets as your characters'))

 

-------

 

Alesha and Beta had wandered away from the group, but as they passed Peopatra's stall, a faint ruffling caught Alesha's eye; she gently kicked Beta to tell her to stop, and then leapt off her back. From under the tent, a Wadjet emerged; this was curious enough, but Alesha found it even odder that it was headed in a specific direction. She was tempted to chase after it, but she stopt - what if the Wadjet was going to lead them to the missing Petpets? This was too good an opportunity to miss - she immediately leapt onto Beta's back and, whilst being gentle on her wound, dashed through the city searching for Marik. When she couldn't find him, they charged straight out of the gate, wondering whether he was in the desert.

 

By now, the Wadjet was quickly disappearing out of sight. Realising there was no time to seek Marik, the two Neopets changed direction and headed after the Wadjet. When they drew closer, it became evident that the Wadjet was not the only one - with a startled cry that seemed to continue to a certain distance, Alesha and Beta recognised a Selket and a Djuti as their own.

 

"After them!" vociferated Alesha as she pointed ahead. Immediately Beta ran as fast as her wound would allow her to, and a furious trail of sand trailed them as they made a desperate dash, unaware that the Petpets seemed to be going in the direction of the long river, way past the pyramids and into the rural lands.

[livvy]

Alrik frowned slightly. It was as he had suspected. The thought of leaving these two alone in the desert did not please him, but he could do nothing without Chuukou's cooperation. The Gelert's request had not been unreasonable. Alrik took the hat in his beak and flipped it onto his head - it looked ridiculous by proportion - and slung his sack off his shoulder. Handing it to Chuukou, he said, "Here. I have water and a bit of food in here, along with other research supplies I doubt you'll need. I'll fly as quickly as these old wings will carry me." He backed up about 10 paces, opened his wings, and leapt into the sky.

 

---

Alrik was 3/4 of the way back to Sakhmet when he noticed an odd trail of dust on the ground. This wasn't terribly unusual, as nearly all things moving in the sand leave a dust trail, but whatever creature was making the trail was either too small or too invisible to be seen. His old curiosity got the better of him, and he swooped lower. The creatures he saw were petpets, much like the ones Marik had described to him as missing. Several dozens at least, all marching a in loose pack, straggling in from the general direction of Sakhmet. Leading the herd, Alrik noticed with surprise, was the Mauket Liliana had befriended. He wanted to follow the pets, but the hat on his head slipped lower over his eyes, and he remembered his mission. He pushed the hat back up and pumped his wings as hard as he could to regain lost altitude and speed.

 

When I get back, he thought, I must tell Marik of this strange occurrence.

 

---

He circled the city once before making a soft landing on the roof of the Neolodge. Entering downstairs with Fiwawou's hat would certainly lead to the kinds of distractions he needed to avoid. Alrik sat and rest his head on his paws, reflecting that he had hardly had this much excitement in... far too many years to count. His old body was exhausted, but his spirits felt full of youth again. He was excited, invigorated... and by now, quite passed out.

 

 

((Nom, you can call him RIG. Or AA. Or Theo. But you're more likely to remember RIG. :)))

[Raichi]

Chuukou accepted the sack with a thank you and watched the eyerie fly off into the sky. Perfect, food and water, just what I needed, he thought. He sat down in the sand again, letting Fiwa lean against his chest as if he were a chair and put the bag next to him.

 

Even though he was eager to drink he patiently opened the sack and took the bottle of water, drinking half of it in small sips. He knew that out in the desert it wasn't good for you to gulp down water. He then held Fiwawou's face and carefully poured little bits of water into his mouth. It was a reassuring thought that they were going to get picked up by a vehicle soon that would bring them back to the comfort of a hotel room.

 

Just when Chuukou put the cork back onto the now empty bottle of water Fiwawou slowly started regaining consciousness again. Chuukou quickly put the bottle back into the sack and inspected Fiwa's half opened eyes "Fiwa." he said and gently slapped the star's cheek. Fiwawou mumbled a bit until suddenly his eyes spread wide open, he was back. He felt incredibly tired though, as if his body hadn't any energy left "Uugh.." he groaned, everything that had happened coming to his mind again. "How long was I out for..?"

"About an hour I think"

Fiwawou sat up a bit, his way too long antennas bending in a curve, dangling in front of his face. Embarrassed he pressed them backwards with his hands, not letting go of his head because that would make them shoot right up again. Now he was angry. He had always been embarassed by his ears and antennas, his ears because they purked to the side instead of upwards like normal Aisha's, and his antennas because they were too long so they bent downwards in a curve. A hat or beanie to press his antennas and ears down was the only thing that made him look cool, and without it he looked like a fool. "Where's my hat!!!" he said upset, his eyes hastily looking around to see if it was in the sand somewhere, but instead spotted the sack beside Chuukou "And how did you get that sack!!"

 

With a sigh Chuukou started to explain the story; they had to wait for help to arrive anyway.

 

OOC: Did Alrik just faint?? O.O;; or was he just very tired? I had in mind that the Hotel staff would drive some kind of desert car with Alrik after hearing of what happened. Because Alrik would have to ride along to lead them to Fiwa.

[jumpingbeans]

(( I don't really know what to do, since one of my characters is a Fountain Faerie right now, and the other, talking to the 'Fountain Faerie', but I'll try and wrap it up))

JB gave a slight wink to the newly-appeared Fountain Faerie. Sher winked back. Knowing that she really was his brother, she said, in a voice that the other bickering Faeries could hear.

"Well, Ms. Real Fountain Faerie, what can we do for you?"

Nothing much, I was just wondering if either of you happened to have a Rockfish.

The little boy started to say 'No', but JB quickly said "Yes, just at my house. Would you mind waiting here?"

Just then,they heard Alesha cry "After them!"

With another quick wink, JB started dashing towards Alesha's voice, saying "I'll go get it, be right back!"

When he knew the kid couldn't see him, he started sprinting towards the where Alesha's voice came from. The problem was, he didn't know exactly where it had come from. He, because of that, turned the wrong way, and started heading towards the pyramids. He didn't know where it was, and he was getting very tired, but he kept on running to where he thought Alesha was, and her cry of "After Them"

He soon found himself lost, in between two Desert pyramids. He didn't know where to go. Just then, he asked his pet Rock where to go. He didn't get an answer, as he expected, so he asked, very simply, 'which way to go?' to his petpet. Still no answer, so he looked down, and he realized his Rock wasn't there. He screamed in terror, and then very quietly, with his eyes closed, he whispered 'Good King Coltzan, please help me.

"My pleasure." Said a deep voice from in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw the ghost of Coltzan III.

[livvy]

((He was very very tired. Keep in mind, he's quite old. He'll wake up in... oh... now-ish.))

 

Alrik's eyes blinked open. It was quite dark. Alrik shook himself to wake up, and the darkness disappeared instantly. After a moment of puzzlement he realized the hat had fallen over his eyes again. The hat! Alrik rose quickly to his feet and descended down the Roof Access Ladder. Waiting at the bottom of the ladder was a rather peeved-looking orange Yurble with a broom in his hand. The Yurble yelled angrily at Alrik for opening the Roof Access room and letting so much dust in and... Alrik politely excused himself and headed toward the main desk. Upon seeing the clerk, he quickly whipped the hat off his head and tucked it under his wing.

 

"Professor Alrik!" the pink Skeith gushed. "So happy to see you here!"

"Yes, Tilda, it's always good to see a former student," he smiled. "Now, I need to speak to your manager."

Tilda frowned. "What could you possibly want to talk about with that stuffy old goat?" Alrik gave her a look. She sighed and said "Sure, professor. He's back there."

Alrik nodded a thank you and turned in the direction the Skeith indicated.

"Oh!" she called as he walked off. "Did you know? Fiwawou sometimes stays in this hotel! This VERY hotel!" Alrik smiled, knowing that even if Fiwawou were in the hotel now, she would never realize it.

 

---

"I'll meet you with an Emergency Rescue Vehicle out back in 15 minutes," said the salt-and-peppered Ixi.

"Very good," Alrik agreed. Just enough time to find Marik and tell him what I saw. Alrik thanked the Ixi, left the hat in the office, and strolled out of the hotel. As he stepped out into he street, he very nearly collided with Marik himself.

 

 

((Who controls Marik, by the way?))

((And Raichi, yes, I promise they'll be there shortly. I just need to find out if I can make Marik say stuff.))

[jumpingbeans]

(( I think we all can))

"C-C-C-Coltzan?" JB gasped "Is that really you?"

"Yes, I suppose so. Even though I am dead, my spirit lives on, as I know you can see. Or can you?" Coltzan added, suspended in the air.

"Of course I can!" JB said, a bit louder than he meant.

"That is good." Coltzan continued "Because only the pure at heart can. So, what is your troubles, young one?"

JB quickly explained how he had taken a wrong turn after he had heard Alesha's voice.

"Very well. Just wait one moment" the king's ghost said. then he disappeared, leaving JB to stare at nothingness, very bored.

 

frank4t, meanwhile, was waiting, still disguised as a Fountain Faerie, for JB to return with a Rockfish. Seconds turned to minutes, and he thought it might of even been hours. Meanwhile, the child was trying to strike up a conversation.

"What color do you think I should get?" he ranted on "I'd like Royal, but I know you can't give that. Or is that just a myth? Because I'd love Royal. If not, just Desert, so I could blend in. Unless that other person will get it. Because he's already painted a really neat color."

frank4t tried to look patient, but he was getting very hungry, and bored. He, therefore, said to the kid "Let me go find the other man. I can then bring him back". And with the kid's nod, he ran off to the outstanding distance.

[livvy]

-~-

When Lili finally caught up with Marik, she found him standing with her professor. "Welcome back, Professor," she panted. "Find anything int-" She noticed the grave look in the Eyrie's eyes. "Is something wrong, Professor?"

"You ought to know as well, Lili. Listen." He turned to the Lutari. "I saw the strangest think as I was flying over the dunes today. Something I've never seen before in my many years. A herd of petpets. Much like the ones you were talking about, Marik."

"Petpets!" Marik exclaimed. "Maybe that's where Alesha ran off to."

Alrik looked thoughtful. "Yeeessss... Now that you mention it, there was a Uni running after them. I didn't notice the rider. I thought they were herding them."

"Do you know where they were going?" Marik asked, displaying great agitation.

"No, but I should be able to see them from the air. I have another..." The professor hesitated, and Lili wondered what he wasn't telling them.

Marik spoke half to himself. "I know Alesha can take care of herself, but with Beta injured..." He looked up at the Eyrie. "You'll follow them, won't you?" Professor Alrik nodded.

"Professor?" Lili asked quietly. "Shall I be staying behind?"

Alrik smiled. "Can you think of a good use for an aerial view?"

"Mapping," Lili answered quickly.

"Very well then," Alrik knelt down as he spoke. Lili carefully climbed on, digging a pencil and paper out of her satchel. She gripped his fur tightly as he took off.

 

The sensation of flying was very new to her, and for the first time she realized the true expanse of the endless dunes. Below her was a group of pets following after Professor Alrik's shadow. Alrik refused to explain.

 

((The bit in {} MIGHT be RPing another player's characters. Nom, if that's the case, I'll remove it.))

[Raichi]

((I think Nom Nom Nom, not sure though))

 

Fiwawou crossed his arms after hearing the story and mumbled to himself "Great! Just great..! I could of been in my private suite if I hadn't fainted!" His antennas flopping on front of his face again, causing more frustration to the star. He put his hands back onto his head again to push down his antennas in aggravation "Out of all the clothes I'm wearing you just HAD to give him my hat!!"

 

"W-well, the necklace seemed too valuable... and anything else would have left your skin unprotected"

 

Annoyed because he couldn't counter Chuukou's remark he looked away with a frown and changed the subject "What's taking them so long! How much time has passed since the Eyerie left!" Being spoiled, he wasn't one to have a lot of patience.

"I don't have a watch, but I think about twenty or twenty-five minutes"

 

Fiwawou didn't even reply to Chuukou's answer. "I'm thirsty" He got on his knees, grabbed the sack and browsed through it; thin books, small notes, writing and research materials, ah! Pyramibread. Fiwa took the bum sized pyramid shaped bread from the sack and stuck it in his mouth, only to continue ruffling through the sack. For a moment he felt victorious as he took the water bottle from the sack, only to see it didn't contain any water so he tossed it back in.

 

He left the sack open, the inside quite messy, shoved it back to Chuukou and sat down on his behind again. A complaining sigh escaping his nose as he ate the bread. "I'm worried about you getting burned, please allow me to shadow you.." Chuukou offered carefully, he was well aware Fiwawou didn't appreciate chit chat.

 

The Aisha raised his eyebrow and swallowed the bread "No way! You can keep your cuddly gay stuff to yourself"

[jumpingbeans]

JB was getting bored of waiting. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed, and Coltzan still hadn't come back. Shaking him out of his mind, imagining that he was just a mirage, he started heading off towards the pyramids, hoping to find Alesha. He looked inside the first pyramid, yelled, and didn't get an answer, so he went on to the next. Inside this one, he heard something. He quickly ran in, and looked around. There were three paths. Left, Right, and Middle. He had to decide quickly, so he yelled in them, and heard a voice in the right one, so he ran down that corridor.

frank4t, on the other hand, was already at the place where JB had stood, waiting for Coltzan to return. Not seeing anything, he kept on running through the Desert. He, too, was getting hot, but he kept on running towards the pyramids. That's when he stopped, dead in his tracks. He looked up, and saw King Coltzan the III.

[antiaircraft]

It was an unusually cool day out among the dunes west of Sakhmet, but that was speaking in relative terms. No Neopet could seriously expect to stay lucid after working under the desert sun for too long, and being warm-blooded, Eyries were particularly prone to overheating. Which was why, after a particularly fruitless night and half-day of searching (a sandstorm had cut off access to a considerable portion of the search area), Sapper reluctantly stowed his scanning equipment, swung back into his vehicle, and pulled up the shade. A full field of vision would have been preferable, but of little use to a Neopet suffering from heat stroke. The small, solar-powered dune buggy started smoothly and soon began wearily chugging its way back towards the city.

 

Half an hour of driving later, the Eyrie's sharp eyesight homed in on what seemed to be a silhouette standing out against the sand a few kilometres away. Squinting against the desert glare reflecting off the dunes, he managed to make out a pair of figures, accompanied by a sack of some sort. The figures didn't appear to be Desert pets, nor were they carrying any survival gear or shelter of any sort. Frowning a little more than usual, Sapper adjusted his course and headed towards them.

 

As he approached, the figures resolved themselves into the outlines of a Speckled Aisha and a Shadow Gelert, and it was clear that they were nowhere near properly equipped for a trek this far out into the desert. It wasn't uncommon to see poorly prepared tourists struggling through the sand in this region, but a pair of them this far out was definitely unusual. After instinctively sweeping the area for signs of an ambush, Sapper stopped the buggy and switched it back to charging mode. It was a sturdy, reliable vehicle, but it was also old and by no means fast. It would be sufficient to have it nearby, and cover the remaining distance on foot.

 

Grabbing a large bottle of water, a first aid kit, and a temporary shelter, Sapper stepped out of the buggy and continued towards the strangers at a run. Once he was well within earshot, he raised a hand in greeting and called, "Good afternoon. Does anyone here require shelter or medical attention?"

[Raichi]

((RIG, they're not that far out in the desert anymore, they've walked several miles since the jet crashed and are now at a distance where Sakhmet is in sight, perhaps no longer then an hour and some minutes walking))

 

Celeberties were stubborn, that's for sure. Chuukou only wanted to protect him and nothing else; he laughed a bit, after all, Fiwawou was the only person he had ever met that dared to be rude to him. Even though he didn't look like a bodybuilder, his well trained muscles showed and he was fairly tall, often keeping bad people at a distance.

 

From a distance he noticed a vehicle approaching, but it wasn't the vehicle they ordered. It came straight from the desert instead of from Sakhmet. This was either good news, or bad. Once it stopped Chuukou grabbed Fiwa by his waist and pressed him under his arm, the Aisha struggling to get out of his grip "I told you!! No cuddly g-!" that's when he noticed a vehicle parked in the sand, and an Eyerie approaching waving his hand in the air asking if they needed shelter or medical care.

 

Chuukou loosened his grip on Fiwa a bit seeing the Eyerie had no bad intentions, but was still on guard; Judging from the looks of him he was most likely a veteran or also a bodyguard. The gelert frowned a bit as his eyes fell on the crippled wing, he had all the reasons to be wary. "We got stranded; help will be here any minute now"

 

Fiwa finally managed to release himself from Chuukou's loosened grip, shooting backwards into the sand. He shook his head and dusted off his clothes, flopping his antennas backwards again, keeping his hands on his head. He wanted to approach the Eyerie "Well I'm not going to sit out here waiting any longer." but Chuukou stretched his arm out blocking the way. "What's the meaning of this!"

 

Chuukou realized his cautious behavior, not regretting it of course, he had to, but he did feel it was necessary to appologize to the Eyerie. "I'm sorry sir, it's been a terrible day so I can't, well, you seem.. I mean you're" he struggled over his words, finding it embarrassing and awkward to admit the Eyerie seemed to be capable of defeating him.

 

He allowed Fiwa to pull down his arm. "Five minutes, if they aren't here by then I'll take a ride from this guy" The star seemed unaware of the dangers of taking rides from strangers, nor did the Eyerie offer him a ride, so he was terribly cocky to assume all he had to do was snap his fingers and people would be at his feet and bid his commands.

 

OOC: Agh, everytime I want to write Sakhmet I write Shenkuu, I have to correct it every time it's so annoying xD Does anyone do this or am I the only one?

[antiaircraft]

((Heh, fortunately for me I've added Sakhmet to my spell-checker, but not Shenkuu yet, so I can still manage to catch that error when I make it. xD Oh, and still, an hour's walk is a long way out for unprepared tourists.))

 

Sapper sized up the Chuukou with an inherent edge of caution, which was only prudent considering the Gelert's honed build and the fact that he stood with the subtle, steady combat stance of a skilled and highly experienced professional fighter. However, trepidation soon gave way to a tinge of sympathy as Sapper observed that the stranger's surreptitious (and not-so-surreptitious) manoeuvring was defensive rather than aggressive. The Eyrie had been in Chuukou's position many times before - to politicians no less. Perhaps not quite as demanding as your normal breed of celebrity, but certainly far more venomous.

 

"That's all right sir." Sapper replied, addressing the bodyguard and largely ignoring the irritated Aisha (standard protocol in situations where the client's opinions were rather less than valuable). He placed the bottle and portable shelter on the ground at stepped back.

 

"Take your time to examine them as you need to." the Eyrie invited. "Don't worry, I'm carrying a number of long range weapons in my vehicle," he added, following a line of cold logic that only a bodyguard or soldier could find comforting, "if I had wanted to harm your client, I would have engaged from a considerably greater distance."

 

((Yeah... slight lack of people skills. xD ))

[Parry]

((I don't mind if you control Marik, just not too excessively. I only brought him in caus of his relation to Alesha, although I don't plan for him to follow us all the way to wherever the Petpets lead us))

 

"Where could they be going?" murmured Alesha to herself as they continued to chase after them. Their tracks would be noticeable, not to mention the sand cloud they were kicking up was fairly visible from a distance. "Come on Beta, keep going!" She didn't want to push Beta too much, but at the same time she felt it crucial that they knew where the Petpets were disappearing to. At least that would mean a calmer Peopatra.

[livvy]

Lili held tightly to professor Alrik's fur. For the first time she discovered that she was not terribly fond of heights. She willed herself not to look down, but look she did, and cried out with surprise at what she saw. "Professor, there are pets down there! Three of them!"

Alrik muttered something Lili couldn't quite make out, but it sounded vaguely like "two here last".

"Professor Alrik," she ventured, "do the pets following us have anything to do with the ones down there?"

"Yes. But I'm afraid I cannot explain further, young one." Alrik banked left, circling over the group of pets several times. Lili felt ill, and was certain that her fur would be permanently green if he continued. "Are you alright?" Alrik called back.

"Yes, Professor, I'm- ohh..."

Alrik immediately straightened his path. "I'm sorry. Now that I've given the signal, we can continue. Or... would you like to land? You look awfully sick."

The young Aisha placed her paw over her mouth and nodded. Holding tight with one hand, she covered her eyes with the other, and did not open them again until she felt the jolt of landing. As she slid off the professor's back, she found herself greeted by a large Shadow Gelert, a disfigured Eyrie, and a Speckled Aisha whom she had seen on every media imaginable.

[antiaircraft]

Sapper watched as Desert Eyrie and its Aisha rider circled in for a landing, stepping back further so they would have plenty of space to compensate should the sand prove to be a looser landing surface than expected. Fortunately, the Eyrie was an experienced flyer, and set down with only the slightest of jolts to disturb his obviously less experienced rider. Sapper gave the newcomers his customary once over - they didn't appear immediately threatening, and he recognised them as a pair of archaeologists he had seen studying some ruins several times before. In the distance, a rising plume of sand indicated the approach of another group of Neopets.

 

"Well, it seems the help you mentioned earlier has arrived." he said to Chuukou, acknowledging the arrivals with a nod. "I should be on my way. Have a pleasant afternoon now."

[Raichi]

With the Eyrie offering his items for examination, and the mentioning of the weapons in his vehicle Chuukou felt he could trust him. "I understand" he said with a gentle smile and offered his hand for a greeting "My name is Chuukou" he was about to continue his introduction when he noticed Sapper's attention turned to the sky. Following his gaze Chuukou saw Alrik was going to land nearby so he backed away a bit as well.

 

At first he was glad, this meant Fiwawou's rescue would be there any second. "Alrik!" Until he saw girl; Chuukou was under the impression the Eyrie knew Fiwawou had to avoid crazy fan-girls, though he couldn't express his worry in front of her. Fiwawou had an image to hold high. "I see you've brought someone.."

 

Fiwawou had put his arms behind his head as soon as Alrik landed, making it seem as if he was just leaning his head against his arms while in fact he was holding back his antennas. Fiwawou didn't care about either of the strangers, all he could think about was getting back to the lodge as soon as possible. Chuukou on the other hand was shocked to have a two witnesses already, Sapper and Lili. It was of great importance Fiwa's stranding in the desert wouldn't leak to the media, so they had to make sure both of them kept silent.

 

Just then a vehicle stopped behind Fiwa, turning around he saw his employees were inside of it. "Finally..!! Did you guys bring one of my hats?" An orange wocky with long curly hair wearing a short black office skirt, white blouse and a black tie stepped out of the vehicle and slid one of Fiwawou's beanies over his head.

 

"Well, it seems the help you mentioned earlier has arrived." Sapper spoke to Chuukou, though everyone's attention focused on him when he spoke up "I should be on my way. Have a pleasant afternoon now."

"Wait!" Chuukou was a bit surprised about himself, calling on impulse like that. "I mean, Fiwa's dancers and the jet-pilot are still trapped. Your help would be greatly appreciated.. There's not much time left before their oxygen runs out."

 

Fiwawou wanted to get in the vehicle to reach the comfort of his private suite ASAP, but the wocky, his adviser whispered in his ear "The Eyrie and the girl mustn't leak this to the media.." upon which Fiwawou looked at Lili and nodded. He approached her and stopped before her, lifting her chin up with one hand while resting the other on her shoulder, looking her deeply in the eyes "You wouldn't speak about this to anyone.. right.." he spoke softly. He hated socializing with commoners, but this was the only way to make a fan-girl keep her mouth shut.

[livvy]

Lili had just regained her sense of balance when she found her gaze being directed at the singer's face. She stiffened uncomfortably under his touch. There was an air of forcefulness in his expression as he asked for her silence, though his touch was soft and his words gentle. He probably thought her a fan, she reflected, and expected her to like this. Well she very much did not.

 

She did not wish to offend the Aisha by telling him she was not really a fan, so she said politely, "If you wish to avoid publicity, Mr. Fiwawou, I certainly won't tell anyone." She hoped he would soon let her go. Being forced to look upward was beginning to unsettle her stomach again.

-~-

Alrik caught the dismay in Chuukou's eyes when Lili dismounted. He approached the Gelert and apologized, "I would not have landed at all, Chuukou, but my student was getting a bit airsick. I know your feelings towards attention and fan-girls. You needn't worry about Lili though," he said with a hint of grandfatherly affection. "She is very level-headed and of great discretion."

 

Alrik turned to the other Eyrie. "I'm not sure how you found these two, but I'm very grateful that you did." He spoke kindly enough, but could not suppress his feeling of suspicion about the Eyrie's mangled wing. "If you would be so kind as to stay...?"

[antiaircraft]

The moment Chuukou mentioned the possible survivors on the downed jet, Sapper pulled a blocky, well-worn portable display from his backpack and began scrolling through the data he had aggregated in his search. There was something that had caught his attention earlier...

 

The Desert Eyrie's speaking diverted his attention from the search briefly. Not wanting to seem rude, he reoriented his gaze towards the archaeologist while using his peripheral vision to continue to keep tabs on the screen. With a hint of amusement, he noticed Alrik glancing at his left wing - it wasn't particularly unusual for that to draw attention, but Sapper still found it curious that people could find such interest in an injury he had learned to live with so many years ago.

 

There! Annotated with a blue label he had added when he'd first analysed them, several lines of scan data scrolled their way towards the centre of the screen. Sapper turned his gaze back to the screen to take a closer look. He frowned.

 

"I'm afraid staying here might not be the best option sir. During my work earlier today, I picked up a particularly curious anomaly, but I disregarded it at the time because it didn't match the pattern I was scanning for. The anomaly consisted of an extremely strong aluminium signature, mingled with lower concentrations of titanium and magnesium, as well as traces of kerosene. I believe it may represent the location of the downed jet." Sapper unfolded a scrap of paper and scribbled some quick calculations on it. "I should be able to determine the precise coordinates of the anomaly's position... here." He passed the paper to the Eyrie.

 

((Any chance the petpets could run across the crash site?))

[livvy]

Alrik blinked in bafflement at the paper, the device, and the Brown Eyrie who had produced them. He shook his head and chuckled, "I give up trying to keep up with you younger Neopets and your technology. NeoBook, FacePets... But I digress. That nifty device has done just what I was going to ask you to do. I'm afraid I can't stay and deal with the jet issue myself, but if it isn't too much of an inconvenience for you..." Alrik glanced back at his pupil. "I realize it's quite a request, and you may certainly decline, but would you mind taking Lili with you? She's a bright girl, very pleasant..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "And I really think she'd rather not fly again."

 

((Bleh, I don't like this post. It's all... rambly. But I'm a little constrained, seeing as Fiwa hasn't let go of Lili yet, so the only person who can really talk is Alrik, and most of what he's saying is conversation stuff, and now I'M rambling and making up dumb excuses. =[ I shouldn't write when tired and made boring by Econ homework.))

((Also, I like that idea.))

[antiaircraft]

((Heheheh... the screen is actually really old and beat-up, and very heavy for its level of functionality. It's a CRT unit (so it's blocky and very thick), with two buttons for scrolling up and down, and a telephone keypad positioned awkwardly on one side. This particular model was actually fairly popular in moderately-funded archaeological dig sites about a decade ago. Like most of the DoN volunteer service's equipment, it was contributed by a military salvage team.))

 

Sapper frowned a little more at Alrik's somewhat unusual request. People rarely entrusted him with the care of another Neopet (and certainly not one so young) unless they were familiar with his operational record. He sized up Alrik once more, but quickly dismissed the notion of the Desert Eyrie being a high-ranking SIGMA intelligence operative working undercover. He turned his attention to the Aisha he'd been asked to take with him. She was certainly young, and didn't exhibit the traits you'd expect to find in a hardened desert explorer, but her clothing and some nuances of her behaviour suggested that she was used to working out in the open. Her intelligence would help to fill any gaps left by inexperience.

 

"I have no objections sir," he replied, "but are you sure she'll consent? I'm not exactly a cheery travel partner."

[Parry]

((I was planning on Alesha running into you guys, actually, but I only stopped caus I was uncertain as to where your location was. Anyway...))

 

"Look there!" said Alesha, pointing ahead. "That's Lilia and ... some other people." The Petpets were still eagerly running, and they crudely broke through the group. Beta drew a natural halt, and Alesha got off. The Uni resumed galloping, presumably to ensure she didn't loose the petpets. "Come on, there's no time to explain, those petpets are going somewhere, and some of them are from Peopatra's."

[Raichi]

Lili's response was certainly not what Fiwawou was used to. Normally the girls would melt away, faint, get speechless or ramble silent 'okay's'. With a confused expression he released her and turned around. "Chuukou." he spoke clearly while walking towards the vehicle.

 

Knowing Sapper had already located their crashed jet on his machine Chuukou knew it would be no trouble if he continued his duty. "I'm sorry" he looked at both Eyries "Work calls; I'm in Shenkuulodge 304 if you need me" and with a friendly wave goodbye he walked over to the vehicle. The Wocky staying behind when it headed back to Shenkuu.

 

"You're all probably wondering why I'm staying with you" she spoke out loud, the three neopets had probably not even noticed her until now. "I'm here to keep an eye on you; call me Gwen" she had a very pleasant voice to listen to, though her words were confident and dominant. Her appearance giving away a certain strictness and a whole lot of beauty. Just as she had put on a nice smile a herd of petpets rushed close-by, causing her to lose balance and fall on her behind. She watched the petpets run away and heard a new female voice "Come on, there's no time to explain, those petpets are going somewhere, and some of them are from Peopatra's." when she looked back at the group she saw a desert Aisha and striped Uni had appeared.

 

Gwen quickly stood up, angered because the petpets had caused her to fall into the sand. She pointed her finger against Alesha's chest with her hand in her side "We've got our own bussiness to attend to, and I honestly couldn't care less about those stupid petpets!" She then turned back to the other three, placing her other hand in her side as well "Or are you going to let my colleagues die for some silly petpets?!" Her face was strict, though her eyes were worried. She had a reason to act the way she did, as Fiwawou's adviser she had a lot of responsibility.

OOC: My time is GMT+2

You have to understand the only time most of you post is in the late evening and midnight for me so it's more convenient if you post early in the evening rather then late because that would allow me to participate more.

[antiaircraft]

((Right, so it looks like we'll be splitting into two groups then - Lili, Gwen and Sapper to rescue the jet survivors, and the main group pursuing the petpets and the main plot. Does that sound all right?))