here because you're in trouble, tho. ...not this time, anyway. ] ( Then the other part. Yay! ) (I've never been in trouble. o/~) (Nope, never.) [ It's a pretty long line, currently, but through perseverence you've managed to get to the point where you're next in line. Minisession start! ] * HKenji waits patiently, sipping at a cup of tea. * Tia chases her tail gleefully. * Patrick reads a book? calmly. "What do you think she wants to talk about?" * Will yawns. Maybe she'll give us cookies! * Patrick smiles. "Cookies would be nice." ^_^ * Ariake leans against the wall. "Hmm..." * Tia starts following her tail in the other direction. * HKenji smiles a little. I hope she goes easy on us. Is it our turn yet? [ Tia knocks over benches and people. None of you guys, fortunately. Just some goths from the Black Death house, who promptly begin spewing verse on the misery of life in general. ] * HKenji scowls. * Ariake eyes them. "Not this again..." * Tia doesn't seem to notice and just grins. I find your poetry insufficiently skilled. Please cease your spouting of mindless drivel. Hey, it's what they do. Just make fun of them at open mike night again. * Patrick grins. [ The goths rail against established society, labeling Kenji 'The Man' and noting that they rage against him. Meanwhile, a group of burly men from the Stone Fist house come out of the office doors nearly in tears, wondering aloud how she could reject them if they're so thick. This means, among other things, that it's your turn to go in and make your sales pitch. ] Ooh! Our turn! * Ariake smiles. "Here goes nothing..." * Tia stops immediately and dashes into the room. Headmistress Bygasse!! * Ariake follows Tia, rather more carefully. Let's get this over with. * HKenji stands and slips his now empty teacup into a sleeve of his kimono. Hi!! * Tia is smiling toothily. * Patrick shrugs, smiles, and walks in. "Calm down Tia." * HKenji gives the impression of rolling his eyes at the goths without actually doing so, and then enters the headmistress' chamber. * Tia glances at Patrick. "Okay!" She grins back sheepishly. "Sorry." * Tia blinks. "Uh, I forgot what we were supposed to be talking about." Our summer vacation, Tia. The trip to the Shadowlands that aren't? * Patrick chuckles. Oh! Summer vacation! Right. * Tia turns back and grins at the headmistress. [ "Yes?" asks Beatrice Bygasse, a purple-haired lady who is for more beautiful than she has any right to be. There are various rumors about her nature, pinning her as everything from a dragon in disguise to a collection of squirrels in an elaborate getup. ] ( That name is so wrong. ) We wanted to talk to you about summer vacation! * Tia is bursting with excitement. ( She's mice. ) * Ariake bows politely to the headmistress. * HKenji bows slightly to the headmistress (Ooh, diss!) * Patrick saluts the headmistress, then goes about trying to keep Tia from making TOO much of a fool of herself... Which means he does nothing for now. * Will remembers his manners and bows awkwardly. * Tia looks around, then follows suit and gives a hasty dip of her head. We seek sanction for an expedition to this place known as the... Underdark. Yeah! * HKenji almost stumbles around the unfamiliar word. [ The headmistress acknowledges the bows with a nod. "Yes, you are the students from the Flying Couches home, yes? I believe this will be the first time you've petitioned for an expedition, so I'm expecting something good." She smiles warmly. ] * Patrick grins back. But then again, he's always grinning. * Tia smiles back. * Tia 's tail wags eagerly. [ "And it's 'Underworld', young man. 'Underdark' is the layman's term for the place, and since it has it's roots burried deep in superstition, I'm not particularly fond of the term." ] * Patrick lets Kenji do his sales-pitch. ( Wherein the GM makes much to do about nothing. ) [ "But please, go ahead. Oh, and would any of you care for something to drink?" ] * HKenji bows again. "My deepest apologies, Headmistress. I was not aware of the term, having until recently believed that the entire underworld was the Shadowlands." Yes, please! * Tia grins. * Ariake smiles. "Thank you very much, Headmistress." * Patrick shakes his head. "Not at the moment, thanks." ^_^ [ Beatrice nods understandingly. "That is entirely understandable." She thumbs through some pages on her desk, and pulls from one of them a teaset set for the bunch of you. And herself, of course. Ah, the joys of magic. ] * Tia thanks the Headmistress and carefully takes a teacup between a large thumb and forefinger. * HKenji politely accepts a teacup and sips delicately. * Ariake bows again, takes a teacup, and sips. * Tia empties the cup in one gulp and places it back carefully. * Patrick doesn't take tea, because he declined. ^^; [ Bea has some tea, and then says "Now, I do hope that this expedition to the Underworld involves something more than 'bashing orcs' or somesuch?" ] Can we blow up things too? I do believe it was our intent to pursue the matter of a friend's vengeance for his departed parents. I also understand that there will be much freeing of slaves, and merciless slaughter of drow slavers. [ The headmistress glances at Tia, then decides to answer that one, uh, later. ] * Ariake nods. Oh, right! * Patrick chuckles as he glances back at Tia. * Tia grins. And hopefully also map some uncharted Underworld caverns. I wouldn't so much say "slaughter" as "calm, collected delivery of extreme pain." Slavers are bad people! * Tia is proud that she remembers. [ "Ah, a noble quest. But since it is a largely private matter, why should... hm. And how can you be certain they are uncharted?" ] Yes, which is why we're going to cause extreme pain to them, Tia. * Tia nods. "I'm good at pain." I believe they would certainly be uncharted with regards to us, since we have never been to the underworld with mapping equipment. * HKenji smiles calmly. Certain people can use all the basic cartography practice they can get. What's cartography? * Ariake smiles. "Mapping, Tia." Drawing maps. Oh! I like drawing. Can I help? * Tia grins. * Will nods. "We're all going to help map, Tia." ( Only if you bring your crayons and don't break them. ) ( ;) ) ( ^_^_v ) [ Beatrice smirks. "Clever. More important, however, would be some guarantee that other surface-folk have not made attempts to charter this stretch of the Underworld." ] * Tia looks around. They haven't, have they? They may well have chartered it, however, the Ikoma Libraries will not accept the submission of gaijin-crafted maps and charts, and so I undertake to draw them myself. * Tia is doodling a childish drawing of the headmistress on a piece of scrap paper. * Tia finishes and hands it to the headmistress. "See! I can draw!" * Patrick is standing proper, all while grinning. * Tia 's picture reads, "HEDMISTRES BIGASS" ( *SNERK* ) (Bad dragon! Bad! ;_;) ( ;) ) * Will looks around at the room, trying to hide his laughter. ( You were all thinking it, and you know it. ) * Tia stands proudly. (her literacy is, like, 1) * Patrick doesn't hold his laughter too well, as many stifled chuckles come out. [ "While I do not wish to offend you by saying so," says Beatrice while not noticing the picture for the moment, thus giving someone the chance to hide it before incurring the anger of an epic sorceress, "I'm afraid I care little for the Ikoma Libraries' references to such things." ] * Patrick takes the drawing away *very* quickly, and rips the part that says 'bigass' up into tiny unrecoganizable chunks, pocketing the chunks to keep the floor clean. * HKenji flinches a little and bows deeply. "I take no offense, of course. However, there is one final significant fact. The entrance we will be taking must be enlarged, for it was barely large enough to allow egress for a single elf of but ten years age. * Tia blinks at Patrick. "Hey! My picture..." I imagine that if the tunnels beyond have been charted, they were likely charted by pixies, who do not share such things easily. We'll fix it later Tia. It's, uh... a surprise, right? ^_^ (Pictsies!) * Tia looks reassured. "Right!" She grins. * Patrick grins a little less mischeviously, and nods to Kenji. (Since when did I become Tia's keeper?) [ The Headmistress grins. "Now, that does sound promising. Do you have the means to enlarge this tunnel? And are you taking the rest of your house- mates with you?" ] (Babysitter? ;) ) ( No, keeper. Tia's too danerous to be babysat. ;) We can blow it up! (Hahahaha XD) * HKenji nods and gestures to Ariake. "We have enlisted the aid of a friendly technician and explosives expert to enlarge the hole as necessary. Our company shall not be much larger than this, but all the usual suspects, as you so neatly put it last time we met, shall be in attendance." Quite. Ariake can go over the details with you, if you want to know more. ^_^ * Ariake nods. "I've planned out a way to use explosives without, I believe, caving the entire area in." * Tia nods along emphatically. [ "Excellent. Your expedition is approved. You have one week to prepare the details and present them to me for review, and then we shall discuss funding." ] * HKenji bows deeply. "It shall be done, Headmistress." We're approved!!! * Ariake bows. "Thank you very much, Headmistress." * Tia dances. Thank you, Headmistress! * Will cheers. "Thank you, Headmistress" * Patrick nods and smiles, saluting again. "Thanks." ^_^ * Tia moves to give the headmistress a hug. ( Fulminate of Mercury! Fulminate of Mercury! ) ( BOOM! ) [ You all chibify and to the Final Fantasy Victory Dance, except not really. ] Tia, come with me. (The jumping jacks thing? ;) ) ( Yes! ) Huh? Okay! ( 'Xactly. ^.~ ) * Patrick steps between Tia and the headmistress before Tia crushes the sorceress. ( I do that in real life, sometimes. ) * Tia turns and follows Kenji. (... Now I got the Final Fantasy vicotry music stuck in my head. :( ) * Patrick speaks back to the Headmistress. "She can be quite a handfull sometimes, but she's *very* good at what she does." ^_^ [ Beatrice looks thankful for the intervention. "Ah. That is well." And it's time to wind up, because the DM is having trouble keeping his head up to look at the screen. ] You are very talented, Tia, but you simply must work on your memory. Do you still remember how to open the puzzle box? * Tia nods. "Yeah! I think so!" Um. * Tia thinks. * Patrick waves and walks out casually. Which means for him with a grin on his face. It was the head...then the paw... * Tia thinks more. Yeah! I remember! The mouth! * Tia grins proudly. Very good. And what do those three signify? * Will gives the Headmistress a final salute then walks out the door. * HKenji slowly walks out of the headmistress' room. * Ariake bows once again, and heads out. Um. Hm. Something to do with war. * Tia sits down and looks thoughtful. Planning, I think? and hitting! And, um. Oh, mouth. Right. Talking. * Patrick is glad Tia forgot about the drawing. ^_^ * Tia grins widely. (Yup, go short attention span. ;) ) Very good. And the clue to the puzzle box? I opened it all by myself! Well...almost. War! ...Right? Something like that, Tia. Something like that. * Tia grins! I got it right! * HKenji continues on out of the building and back to the Flying Couches house, which has become his unofficial home, since staying in the Pen and Sword house is agony. * Tia trots after Kenji. * Patrick goes to the Flying Couches house, shceeming yet another prank. * Ariake follows. * Will is feeling tired and looks forward to plop down on a couch soon. [ End minisession! The plot thickens! ]