Thread: [CLOSED] Pulp Inc. Presents: Thrilling Tales of the New Continent! [Deante & Lasciel]

Siona's ears perked and her tail swished in noticeable delight as Tasa approved her request. It meant she would be off water-duty and, if all went well, would stay off water duty. It really was an awful waste of magic. Better still, she would have a chance to learn more about the local plants and animals?, helping with Anlen's efforts as well as increasing her own knowledge. There was a dire lack of paper for her to take notes on, but Siona suspected that the broad and leathery leaves that grew in abundance could be re-purposed into an acceptable substitute without too much trouble. In the meanwhile, she had many spare pages in her spellbook, and anything she scribbled could be erased later with only minor magical effort. Of course, if there was something truly important or a new spell!, she would take the time to properly impress the words into the page and protect them, removing the possibility of casual erasure by a misapplied spell. Of course, Omani had seemed so reverent of her easy use of magic, would that mean that whatever spells they had would be too closely guarded to share with outsiders? Perhaps whatever this tribe had for leaders would be able to shed more light-- ..three cases of someone waking up in the jungle nearby... Tasa had started to explain something, and Siona hastily cut off her wandering thoughts to tune back in. She nodded in response to the wolf's question. She didn't know the individual's name, and had Razel not recognized the individual Siona would've instead assumed she'd merely yet again mixed up two similar-looking wolves. As it was, Siona now wondered if the other individuals so affected had also seen someone they recognized. Of course, it sounded like the other victims hadn't remembered a whit of what had happened. A small shudder passed through the fox, at the thought of what had almost befallen her. Omani said there wasn't much to fear down on the beach that Lerron and I woke up on, but that was... She pointed to the far side of the river on the map. Kanjalli is sort of shaped like this, She explained, summoning a pinch of magic to draw a faintly glowing line just above the surface of the map, illustrating the rough h that Omani had shown her. And we were here, and the cat said something about the river, or the river's spirit I guess, keeping out other threats. But I guess if we're here... She moved to point to their present location, outside the crook of the h, that no longer applies. She shrugged, and let the glowing lines dissipate. She mentioned other tribes, so there's at least some other race out here, which could be a problem. The biologist admitted. Much to both women's mutual disappointment, she was again assigned to Razel or rather, Razel was assigned to her, in addition to a fox who looked to be a man of similarly few words as the mink. But when Cesarin was added to the group, Siona's mood lightened. While she had thankfully kept clear of the raccoon's apparent tendency to cause drama, he was clever and charming and would do more than just glower at her throughout the mission. And if Cesarin couldn't get Razel to lighten up and actually talk, then Siona suspected that nobody could. Unfortunately, Cesarin proved to be as devoted a cartographer as he was normally a troublemaker. Fortunately, there were plenty of unfamiliar plants to stop and take notes on or clippings of, pressing leaves and flowers or their petals, when the often mammoth flowers proved too large to wholly fit in-between empty pages in the back of her spellbook to be more properly preserved later. Part of the reason Siona had jumped at the mission, besides a general urge to go somewhere new, was in the hopes of writing up her findings in this new and uncharted land as a book. Her position on the second ship the first being purely military-types ensured that she would be the first proper biologist with feet-on-the-ground, giving her several weeks or even months! of head-start on her colleagues. Of course, the matter of how she would send her manuscript back to the Continent was an issue not yet resolved, but she hoped that the third boat would come with the more sophisticated version of the contact device in Tasa's office that would let her easily transmit her notes back to the mainland. Between Siona's note-taking and Cesarin's drawing, Razel found their pace frustratingly slow. But after seeing Anlen's response to the moss they'd gathered the day before, and knowing how vital the cartographer's work was for the entire mission, she found her reserves of patience a bit more well-stocked. Better, this walk seemed to take them farther from the camp than she'd ever gone before, up to the river that the little fox had called Kanjalli and that Tasa had called a variety of more colorful names. She rolled up her trousers and then made to cross, stopped only by a harshly barked warning from Siona. Her own blue eyes narrowed suspiciously as the biologist explained the need for tribute , but she wasn't one to disobey a direct order, and waited now im patiently as each member of their party tossed in a coin or bauble, before throwing in her own offering and stepping across. Nothing about the river seemed supernatural, but she trusted the stories her colleagues had returned with when her unit had first tried to cross the body. By midday Siona found herself drenched in sweat and panting constantly. She'd gone as far as tying her blouse up just under her small bust, and rolling her pants as high as they could go on her thick calves, in a desperate attempt to keep cool. More than once she'd looked longingly at the river they followed, wishing she knew just how much or little the river would accept in exchange for a cool drink, before resorting to spellcraft to refill her canteen. Before embarking she'd been warned that her arctic-adapted physiology wouldn't play nicely with the jungle's tropical climate, but Siona had underestimated the severity of the issue. Worse, they seemed no closer to the village than when they'd first crossed the river. When Garrin perked up and reported that he'd found tracks, Siona was as grateful for the chance to enter deeper shade as she was to find Omani's tribe. When Siona and Garrin seemed to freeze in place, smelling something that Razel's own less-sensitive nose couldn't pick out, she wondered if it was time to unstrap her battle-axe from her back. When Siona explained that they were close to the village, she instead opted to move her hands to the hunting knives at her waist. They offered a less intimidating but no less deadly option should these locals turn out be less friendly than the arctic fox expected them to be. When Siona went through the party and begin chanting and gesturing in a way that the mink knew meant magic, she debated using the knives to instead dissuade the biologist. But when the biologist explained it was a spell to allow her to understand the foreign tongue Omani's people spoke, she begrudgingly let herself be enspelled, making a threatening sound in the back of her throat as she felt the magic tingle through her. They approached then, Siona on point despite Razel and Garrin's hesitancy. The village was as Siona had envisioned it, though Razel was surprised to find so little activity this late in the day. Not that the mink said anything, and thus the acrtic fox couldn't reply and tell her that they were night-hunters and so probably slept in pretty late, and then none of it mattered as they were suddenly spotted. The kitten at the newcomer's breast let out a yowl of surprise or terror? and the party suddenly found themselves surrounded, though Siona was quick to hold out two empty paws, hoping to show that she meant no harm. Razel gave a low growl of warning, paws flexing on the grip of her knives but not yet drawing them, noting that the warriors who surrounded them weren't exactly pointing their spears at them and having enough expertise to know how and when not to make things worse . Before Siona's own questionable skills of diplomacy were called upon, Omani and then Romandi showed up, and the small fox gave a noticeable sigh of relief. As the two ocelots reassured their companions and the tension seemed to dissipate, Razel eased her hands away from her knives, but still kept her bright blue eyes alert and attentive for potential threats. Omani, Romandi, She greeted with a nod to each, which served to also introduce the two to the rest of her entourage. Cesarin is a map-maker, and while Razel and Garrin are warriors, we don't intend to cause any trouble. Siona explained, seeing no reason in even attempting to mask the professions of her two more heavily-armed companions. We were hoping to talk to your leaders? She added, smiling politely. Razel looked around as they were lead, skeptical at being accepted so quickly and with no effort to disarm them. It meant either that the strange, spotted cats were all idiots which seemed extremely unlikely, or that they were confident that they could handle the small party with ease, even when armed. Of course, given that they seemed to voluntarily live in spitting distance of a magic, vengeful river, perhaps their wisdom needed some re-assessing... Siona offered a respectful bow to the two leaders or so she assumed they were that approached, glancing out of the corner of her eye at her companions and hoping they followed suit. For her own part, Razel gave a small nod, but was hesitant to have her eyes away from the collection of armed and, possibly, magic cats that had assembled any longer than was strictly necessary. I am Siona, a scholar of plants and animals, the fox introduced herself, then turned to gesture at her companions, introducing each in turn as she had to Omani and Romandi. At the end, she added, we can all understand you, though if we intend to speak for a long time I'll need to renew the spell. She paused, considering her next action. When Siona had first applied for a spot on the expedition, she'd been warned of the many tasks she would be asked to undertake, but first contact with locals had not been on the list. Alas, she was here now and had to hope she wouldn't botch it too terribly. And for better or worse, the experience was so far outside her wheelhouse that she didn't even realize she'd failed to think to bring some sort of gift or offering for the people, rather than just the river. Are there things you'd like to ask us? We, well, mostly me and Cesarin, she gestured at the raccoon, have a lot of questions for you, mostly about the local area but also about plants and animals and some... strange occurrences we've been having back in our camp. Siona explained, choosing to be blunt rather than spending an eon in figuring out how to she was supposed to get to her purpose via politicking and speaking in circles.