Unity, Sorta'

[Tixxi Eldixac]

{Tixxi's eyes caught Len in his march to the south. Their mental link didn't just fix itself, so Tixxi started jogging toward Len and periodically yelled,}

Tixxi: Hoy, first mate!

{It wasn't long before Len noticed her and stopped. He turned to look back at her, then projected his mental link to Tixxi again. Having woken up from the ride in Len's jacket, Ted, the pet carrier robin, flew up from in front of Len and accompanied Tixxi on her way to catch up. Len just stood there as he waited. L: I take it that you don't know where Komo is. T: No. You and he disappeared about the same time. I haven't seen him. L: Perhaps it's just as well. The odd jack said something about bringing "bad luck" to the people that he's around. T: So far as I know, Hulk is the only superstitious one among us. Still, the fact that Komo said this doesn't bode well. L: Apparently, seafarers in many others worlds have a stereotype of being highly superstitious. I mentioned that to you, before. He seemed to know just what Pegshot was saying when she told him your ship's story, so he must be used to sailing and scuttlebutt with others. T: Hm, right. That would explain it. Whether he's bad news or not, though, I am a bit worried for him. The Mythic Thicket is an odd place for a foreigner to get pushed into right away. L: Agreed, but we can't go back for him, right? T: No, no. We'll just keep him in our prayers. Come on; let's get over to the southeast. Indeed, the reunited pair turned SE without Komo. Maybe he'd catch up later.}

[NPA]

*_A cluster of "meadow" vivillon flew by from just west-northwest of Tixxi and Len. Some of them looked at the pair to watch for attacks, but they were mostly just moseying along, dropping pretty scales as they flew._*

[Tixxi Eldixac]

{Tixxi briefly considered shooting some down in order to get some spoils. Then again, it was likely that a few of them had the Friend Guard ability, so each of them would probably be much harder to take down than what one might expect. Plus, their defenses are crap, but, when you have enough powder being dropped on you to paralyze you and put you to sleep, you have some getting faster and more powerful with Quiver Dance, and they're shooting hurricanes, sound beams, and psybeams at you enough, they can be pretty dangerous. In stead, Tixxi followed behind them, picking their shiny scales off the ground, with Len taking the hint and doing the same. Maybe they could be used for decorations. If nothing else, they're highly flammable. If Tixxi and Len end up staying outside, tonight, they'll want to start a fire. Thankfully, since the bugs were heading east-southeast, it wouldn't be a huge detour to pick up a lot of scales, then continue to Meidkuad Castle.}

[NPA]

*_Good bloody thing, too, 'cause these butterflies were gonna' fuck some shit up, you'd better believe! They kept flying along for a while without trouble, but they didn't exactly wait up for anything, either. They outpaced Tixxi and Len, but the skies were easily clear enough to watch them alter their path upon coming close to Meidkuad, doubling back to head toward Mistvalley Lake. The shipmates could follow and pick up some scales without trouble, if, you know, you're into that sort of thing._*

[NPA]

+No, it isn't! The sky darkens as clouds shift closer together, forming a thick overcast before swirling around each other. The swirling is no accident, as the wind whips up into a spontaneous tornado! It shoots down to the ground, but touches down in such a small area that a small car can't even fit in the eye of it. Oh, and it's touching down about ten feet in front of Tixxi. Yeah, hi. The twister spins into nothing, the clouds settle back into the overcast that they were before the show, and a person is standing in the wake. Len's Libra scan has no effect on her. Her skin is a pale shade of pink. Her hair is shoulder-length, covering her ears, velvety, and brown, with two locks for bangs turned up in front of her forehead and overlapping one another in a gravity-defying helix. Covering some bands that gave away the fact that the bangs are extensions, there are a pair of barrettes with green swirls on them, obviously also meant to represent wind. Her face is round, with a small, perky nose and eyes that are so small and squinted that she must be either blind or really close. She's not visibly busty, and- Okay, what the fuck is she wearing on her hands? Okay, no, those are her hands. She has three fingers and two thumbs on each . . . paw. Yeah, those can only be called paws. They have curved claws at the ends of the fingers, okay? They're paws, period. There are tufts of white fur on the back of each paw and a mage's staff, which looks like a straight, three-feet-long stick with a black mage's hat on a small, red orb, clutched in the right. She wears a white smock-frock and what appears to be a pair of leather, Greco-Roman boots with a pad of thinner, darker leather between her legs and the bootstraps, extending all the way down to cover over and tuck under her toes. The same leather pads extended up almost to the knees, apparently working as shin guards. The smock-frock isn't really long, but she's short, looking to be no more than five feet tall, so it reaches down to just above her knees. She's also glaring at Tixxi and Len menacingly, holding her staff up in front of her chest, and looking like she may- Oh, yeah, she's running at them. She's attacking. You're under attack by some . . . mutated gnoll or whatever, and you just saw her get here a couple seconds ago. Why? 'Cause fuck you, clearly. She shoots a small orb of wind at Len from her left paw. It's weak, but it's enough to push him well out of the way while she dips her staff downward-leftward, then grunts as she brings it up in a rightward backhand swing at Tixxi's face. The attack looked to be easy enough to evade, but she boosted the speed of it with wind enough that Tixxi would barely have a chance to react, especially with her hands full. If successful, another small blast of wind would accompany the strike, sending Tixxi some distance back. As she appeared and attacked, the girl exclaimed,+

I am Ezrapa, the Wind Foremole! I fight to prove that my race is not forever bound to the earth!

[Tixxi Eldixac]

{Len braced himself against the blow, shooting back a small distance and landing on his feet. Pocketing the few scales that he had grabbed, he then just sat and watched, feeling understandably useless, at the moment.}

L: We are Tixxi and Len, and we have no idea what you're talking about!

{Tixxi stuffed the scales that she had in her hands into her pockets and tried to lean back out of the strike, but was too slow. Hoping that her foe wouldn't expect it, Tixxi brought up her left hand as she took the hit, falling backward and attempting to catch the staff so that she could try to use the backward force to help her to yank the weapon away, or at least get a solid enough grip on it that she could eventually freeze it effectively. She inhaled with Charybdis Vortex because she expected that Ezrapa would try to pull back from the seizure, and she also shot an Awnuwo Slipstream in order to slow the wind mage down.}